Asos has reported sales increases in all of its markets, which led boss Nick Beighton to hail an “encouraging start to the year” for the pureplay retailer.
For the four months to December 31, 2019, Asos reported a 20% increase in total group revenue to £1.1bn. The fashion retailer said this reflected a record Black Friday and “strong customer engagement” throughout the period.
UK retail sales were up 18% to £408.9m, while EU sales jumped 22% to £332.5m and US sales surged 20% to £139.3m on a constant currency basis.
Asos flagged what it called “strong customer momentum” during the period, with site visits soaring 23% year on year – an increase of some 1.4 million customers.
The results will be encouraging for the pureplay fashion giant, which endured a torrid period of trading in 2019 that resulted in a number of profit warnings.
It said the “actions we took to rebuild customer momentum during the peak trading period delivered a better than expected sales performance” and that it had made “good progress against the clear priorities we set out for the financial year 2020” – including improved availability and product choice.
Beighton said: “Asos has delivered an encouraging start to the year. Strong customer acquisition activity supported by robust operational performance has driven good momentum in all our markets.
“As we said in October, the focus for this year is to further enhance our capabilities and leverage the investments we have made. It is still early in the year and much remains to be done, but we are encouraged by the progress we have made so far. We remain confident in our ability to capture the substantial opportunity ahead of us.”
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