Asos sales jump 22% but full year may disappoint

Asos has posted a 22% increase in sales during the four months ending 30 June, yet warned that full-year sales growth will be at the “lower end” of expectations.

The online fashion retailer said group revenue reached £823.9m with UK sales, which saw 23% growth, making up for a third of all sales totalling £288m. International sales increased by 21% to £514.7m when compared with £425.5m the previous year.

The company revealed that its websites attracted 180 million visits during June 2018 up from 146 million in 2017 and as of 30 June 2018 it had 18 million active customers up from 15m.

It reported that 5.8 million customers were located in the UK and 12.2 million were located in its international territories 30 June 2017. Asos estimates FY18 sales will be within the 25-30% range, however warned that it would likely be “towards the lower end”.

The company also said it expects full-year profit to be in line with consensus of around £100m.

Nick Beighton, Asos CEO, said: “I am pleased with the way the business has traded over the last four months and we are on track with our plans for the year. We delivered good sales growth, particularly in the UK, better than planned gross margin alongside significant progress on our infrastructure investments.

“P4 trading has started well, particularly in terms of full price sell through. We remain confident of delivering another year of strong growth.”