ASOS reports 30% rise in retail sales

Total retail sales grew to £500.5m from £386m in 2015, beating analysts’ expectations of around 23% growth.

Sales in the UK were up 28%, while sales in the US rose 53% and EU sales advanced 32%.

In the rest of the world, sales were up 16%, while international retail sales grew 31%.

The company said it had 12m active users at 30 June, up 24% on the year.

Chief executive Nick Beighton said: “We now anticipate full year sales growth at the upper end of the 20-25% range. Our retail gross margin guidance of up to 50 basis points of investment remains unchanged and we remain confident in delivering current market profit before tax expectations for the year.

“Given the increased momentum within the business combined with our strong financial position, we will maintain our successful programme of reinvestment to take advantage of the opportunities currently available to us.”

ASOS’ group margin was down around 180 basis points on the previous year as it moved its main clearance sale into the third quarter and due to the company’s planned price cuts.

At 0817 BST, ASOS shares were up 5.9% to 4,556p.

Shore Capital reinforced its ‘buy’ recommendation on the stock on the back of the update. It said “the company’s performance is in contrast to the wider retail market and the business is supported by a healthy financial position with more than c£130m of cash on the balance sheet”.