Asos profits soar as customer numbers rise

The online fashion specialist posted group revenues up 26% to £2.42bn.

UK sales climbed 23% to £861.3 and international revenues rose 27% to £1.49bn.

Asos said that active customer numbers rose 19%, the average basket value edged up 1% and order frequency was ahead 7%.

Asos reported: “The UK had an outstanding year, all the more pleasing given the widely reported difficult trading backdrop; delivering full year sales growth of 23%, accelerating as the year progressed, and representing a further demonstrable market share gain in our 18th year of operation. UK active customers grew by 15% accompanied by an i10% increase in average purchase frequency.”

The retailer continued to build its technological capabilities, releasing 2,900 innovations or improvements during the year compared to 1,300 the previous year. Initiatives included new sites, new languages, improved recommendations algorithms and its first “first meaningful move into AI-driven conversational interfaces”.

Asos chief executive Nick Beighton said: “This has been another year of substantial progress. Our reported profit increase was achieved despite bearing material transition costs due to our investment programme. All our financial and customer key metrics have shown positive growth.

“Our guidance remains unchanged both for the current year and the medium term, despite our record levels of investment.

“Asos is moving fast and is as differentiated as ever. The potential for our business is huge and we remain focussed on building Asos into the world’s number one destination for fashion loving twentysomethings.”