International sales and faster-than-expected UK growth supercharged sales and profits at Asos , as more than 7m people shopped with the fashion-forward retailer in its latest financial year. The fashion-forward retailer today said sales from its Russian website were strong and that it would imminently launch its China website as it unveiled strong sales and profits growth.
Chief executive Nick Robertson (pictured) said that its longstanding £1bn sales target was now “firmly” in Asos’ sights as the company reported 39% growth in group revenues, to £769.3m in the year to August 31, up 39% on the same time last year, while pre-tax profits rose 37% to £54.7m from £40.1m last time.
Retail sales grew by 40%, with UK sales 34% ahead and international sales up by 44%. International sales now account for 63% of Asos’ total retail sales, and the company now has eight local language websites, including the UK, UK, Australia, four European sites, and its newest, Russia. It will soon launch in China as well.
“Our goal is to offer our international customers the same mobile and tablet access we offer our UK customers and we launched dedicated mobile sites in all markets where we already have local language websites during July 2013,” it said in today’s statement.
Robertson said: “During the year we continued to make progress towards our goal of being the world’s number one fashion destination for 20-somethings. We reached the milestone of 7 million active customers worldwide, following significant investment in our product offer, delivery options, customer experience and marketing. We also successfully launched our dedicated website in Russia during May 2013 and will soon launch our China operation.
“We have started the new financial year positively. Our £1 billion sales target is now firmly in our sights and we have stepped up our investment in people, technology, logistics and marketing to support the significant global potential of the ASOS business.”
