ASOS posts drop in sales as it works to become “faster, more agile and more profitable”
ASOS has reported that its adjusted first-half revenue declined by 18% to £1.5 billion, although the fashion retailer said it is making good progress on its turnaround strategy to make the business “faster, more agile, and more profitable”.
In the six months to 3 March, the retailer posted a pre-tax loss of £270 million which was an improvement on the loss of £290.9 million seen at the same time in the prior year.
Commenting on the performance, José Antonio Ramos Calamonte, ASOS chief executive, said: “At the beginning of this year we explained that FY24 would be a year of continued transformation for ASOS as we take the necessary actions to deliver a more profitable and cash generative business.
“Under our Back to Fashion strategy, we set out three priorities for the year – to offer the best and most relevant product, to strengthen our relationship with customers and to reduce our cost to serve.
“We have delivered on each of these in the first half of the year, including right-sizing our stock ahead of target to drive our best first half cash performance since 2017 and seeing excellent results in our Test & React model, which is growing at pace.”
ASOS has reiterated its full year guidance for a sales decline of 5 to 15%. It also said that adjusted EBITDA is expected to be significantly higher than FY23 and FY24 and will be driven by materially higher gross margin following removal of old stock and the higher full-price sales mix of flexible stock models.
Ramos Calamonte added: “ASOS is becoming a faster and more agile business, and we are reiterating our guidance for the full year as we lay the foundations for sustainably profitable growth in FY25 and beyond.”
In a separate announcement, ASOS said it has appointed Dave Murray as its new chief financial officer.
