ASOS CFO Helen Ashton to leave

ASOS said on Friday that chief financial officer Helen Ashton will be leaving the online fashion retailer in the summer.

After Ashton informed the company of "her desire to move on from her current role", it was agreed that she will step down as CFO and retire from the board on 30 April 2018. She will remain in employment until 31 August to ensure an orderly handover.

"The board expresses its appreciation for the contribution that Helen has made to the group during her tenure and wishes her all the very best in the next stage of her career."

Chief executive and former CFO Nick Beighton will cover Ashton's role until her replacement is identified.

Shore Capital analyst Clive Black pointed out that Ashton only joined the business back in September 2015.

"The news this morning is unexpected and raises some questions about why the change of CFO now given that the company is committed to a step up in the capital expenditure to £220 million in FY18 to fund infrastructure and additional technological developments.

"We wonder if there is more to this story than meets the eye and have reached out to the company to see if we can gain any further colour. In the meantime, we reiterate our positive stance noting a 3-year earnings per share compound annual growth rate of 26.2%, believing that ASOS will continue to be a structural winner, given the channel shift online."

At 0915 GMT, the shares were down 1% to 7,102p.