Asos plc, a British online fashion and cosmetic retailer, has reported 21 per cent rise in its revenue to £1,596.8 million in first half (H1) FY20 ended on February 29, 2020 compared to the revenue of £1,314.5 million in same period prior year. Retail sales jumped 21 per cent to £1,551.4 million compared to £1,281.3 million in H1 FY19.
“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,” Nick Beighton, CEO, said in a press release.
The company reported that UK sales increased 20 per cent to £577.1 million in H1 FY20. International retail sales grew 22 per cent to £974.3 million. US retail sales grew by 25 per cent representing a significant acceleration from FY19 supported by improvements in delivery proposition and more favourable basket economics, as company reported.
Company also stated that the total orders in the first half were 41.1 million, an increase of 19 per cent on the previous year with visits to the site growing by 22 per cent.
Gross profit for the period rose from £639.9 million to £750.0 million in the reported period. Profit before tax in the first half were £30.1 million and reportedly Asos’s strongest ever H1 performance.
Asos reported that Covid-19 has had a significant impact which include: demand has been significantly impacted since containment measures introduced; group sales down 20-25 per cent in most recent three weeks of trading; most markets following pattern of demand shock before impact partially moderates; and disruption to product sourcing from China is minimal; closely monitoring European sourcing.
“Since Covid-19 outbreak, 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,” Beighton said.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk