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ASOS reports global sales increase in half year results

Tom Shearsmith
07 April 2020

ASOS has announced the group’s half year results, reporting a 21% increase in sales globally with strong trading from a peak period continuing through the half year.

ASOS reported that in the period of six months to 29 February 2020, the UK saw a sales growth of 20%.

Global revenue in the six month period reached £1,596.8 million, in comparison to last years £1,314.5 million for the same time period. 

The online retailer reached a record Profit Before Tax of £30.1 million, reflecting strong trading and good progress reducing non-strategic costs throughout.

The company also evolved its trading stance to ensure they were reflecting developments in what resonates, which they report as being "successfully executed throughout the half but with most pleasing results seen during the Black Friday period", where the retailer has gained market share year on year.

The company also noted that the continued development of instalment payment methods in the UK has been a success, with 'Klarna Pay in 3' and 'Clearpay Pay in 4' translating into a good increase in items per basket sales.

COVID-19 has however had a reportedly significantly impacted the business since the end of the reported period, with group sales down 20%-25% in the most recent three weeks of trading.

There is also a level of concern for the disruption to product sourcing from China, ASOS however have reassured investors that the impact is minimal.

Nick Beighton, CEO of ASOS, commented: "ASOS had a strong start to the year, making significant progress against the priorities we set out and delivering a better than anticipated first-half performance, driven by the operational improvements we are making to the business.

"Along with other businesses, we have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Our first priority was to quickly put in place the necessary measures to ensure the health and wellbeing of our people. I have been extremely impressed with the pace of change and the flexibility our teams have shown in adopting these new ways of working.

"Since then, we have been focused on keeping our business delivering for customers whilst implementing a series of actions to mitigate the sales impact we have been experiencing. At the same time we have been working to strengthen our financial position, including reaching agreement with our lenders to provide us with additional short-term financial flexibility.

"The ASOS business model provides us with significant resilience and we are encouraged to have seen, across our markets, that where consumers are in lockdown, ASOS continues to be an important part of their lives. We have a global platform with the capacity and capability to drive our future growth as demand returns and against that backdrop we are looking to raise incremental equity capital to ensure we have sufficient resources to capitalise on the future whatever it may hold."

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