Asos half year profit down 10%
Online fashion retailer Asos has reported a 10% fall in pre-tax profit following price cuts and investments in its infrastructure.
In the six months to end February, profits fell to £18 million although retail sales surged by 14% to £536.4 million as the company enjoyed a “record” Christmas season.
While UK retail sales soared by 27%, there was 5% in growth in international markets.
Nick Robertson, Asos chief executive, said: “With our continued investment in our international price competitiveness gaining traction, momentum in the business is building. This gives us confidence in the outlook for the second half and that full year profit and margin will be in line with expectations.”
The retailer had 9.3 million active customers at 28 February, which was a 13% rise on the previous year.
Looking ahead Robertson said: “We are pleased with progress in our investments in our warehousing and IT infrastructure, and we continue to focus on building capacity to reach our next staging post of £2.5 billion sales.”
