Fire at Barnsley Distribution Centre

RNS Number : 2380K

ASOS PLC

23 June 2014

 



23 June 2014

Released at 07.00 BST

ASOS plc ("the Company")

Fire at ASOS Barnsley Distribution Centre

At 9.50pm on Friday 20th June a fire broke out in our Barnsley Distribution Centre. A full evacuation was conducted successfully. Thanks to swift action by our team at the site, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue and our security systems, we are very grateful there were no injuries.  Barnsley is the centre of our distribution capability and in order not to disappoint our customers we subsequently suspended taking orders. At 31st May 2014 the business held £159m of stock at cost, of which around 70% is held at Barnsley.

 
None of the technology, automation or structure of the building has been affected by the fire. Our initial estimate is that approximately 20% of the total stock at the site has been compromised by fire damage and the sprinkler systems. The clean-up process commenced on Saturday morning and progressed quickly. Consequently at 2am this morning we recommenced taking orders. We are fully insured for loss of stock and business interruption.

 
We have been advised by the South Yorkshire Police that after initial investigations, they are treating the incident as deliberate and have commenced a criminal enquiry. We are cooperating fully with this investigation.

For further information:

ASOS plc	Tel: [phone]
Nick Robertson, Chief Executive
Nick Beighton, Finance Director Greg Feehely, Head of Investor Relations
Instinctif Partners	Tel: [phone]
Matthew Smallwood / Justine Warren / Jamie Ramsay
JPMorgan Cazenove	Tel: [phone]
Luke Bordewich / Gina Gibson
Numis Securities	Tel: [phone]
Alex Ham

Background note

ASOS is a global fashion destination for 20-somethings. We sell cutting-edge 'fast fashion' and offer a wide variety of fashion-related content, making ASOS.com the hub of a thriving fashion community. We sell over 75,000 branded and own-brand products through localised mobile and web experiences, delivering from our UK hub to almost every country in the world.

We tailor the mix of own-label, global and local brands sold through each of our nine local language websites: UK, US, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, Russia and China.

ASOS's websites attract 83 million visits per month (May 2013: 69 million) and as at 31 May 2014 had 8.6 million active customers¹ (31 May 2013: 6.5 million), of which 3.3 million were located in the UK and 5.3 million were located in our international territories (31 May 2013: 2.7 million in the UK and 3.8 million internationally).

¹ Defined as having shopped in the last 12 months

www.asos.com                          www.asos.es

www.us.asos.com                      www.asos.com/ru

www.asos.de                             www.asos.cn

www.asos.fr                              m.asos.com  

www.asos.com/au                     marketplace.asos.com  

www.asos.it                              fashionfinder.asos.com

 

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