Trading Statement

RNS Number : 8097L

ASOS PLC

14 January 2016

 

14 January 2016

ASOS plc ("the Company")

Global Online Fashion Destination

Trading Statement for the four months ended 31 December 2015

	Four months to 31 December
£m1	2015	2014	Increase	CCY2 Increase
UK retail sales	206.2	165.5	25%	25%
US retail sales	49.7	34.9	42%	35%
EU retail sales	111.0	86.3	29%	40%
ROW retail sales	80.0	78.5	2%	13%
International retail sales	240.7	199.7	20%	28%
Total retail sales	446.9	365.2	22%	27%
Total group revenue3	459.7	374.7	23%	27%

¹All numbers subject to rounding

²On constant exchange rate basis

³Includes retail sales, delivery receipts and third party revenues

Four months to 31 December 2015 highlights

·    Retail sales up 22% (UK retail sales +25%, International retail sales +20%)

·    International retail sales 54% of total (55% last year)

·    Retail gross margin down c.40bps

·    10.7 million active customers⁴ at 31 December 2015 (+18% year on year)

·    Strong balance sheet and cash position

⁴Defined as having shopped in the last 12 months

Nick Beighton, CEO, commented:

"We have traded well through peak and are continuing to invest in the future growth of the business. We are on track with our plans for the year as a whole.

Retail sales for the four months to 31 December 2015 grew by 22% (+27% on a constant currency basis) in line with expectations. We had record sales over cyber weekend in late November and have seen further growth in average order frequency, average basket value and number of orders, alongside an acceleration in active customer growth to +18%.

UK growth remained strong at +25% and our improved international sales growth of 20% (+28% on a constant currency basis) was underpinned by our continued price investments, further deployment of our zonal pricing tool and continued strong full price sales mix. As a result the retail gross margin declined by a net 40bps.

We are progressing well with our warehouse and technology investments and in December construction began on our EuroHub 2 facility." 

Analyst/Investor conference call:

ASOS will be hosting a conference call for analysts and investors at 7:45am (UK Time) today. Please call Guy Scarborough at Instinctif Partners for dial-in details on 020 7457 2047 or email [e-mail]. A recording of this conference call will be available on the ASOS Plc investor centre website later today: http://www.asosplc.com/investors.aspx

Photography:

Latest photography will be available at: http://www.asosplc.com/media/image-library.aspx

For further information:

ASOS plc	Tel: [phone]
Nick Beighton, Chief Executive
Helen Ashton, Chief Financial Officer Greg Feehely, Director of Investor Relations
Instinctif Partners	Tel: [phone]
Matthew Smallwood / Justine Warren / Guy Scarborough
JPMorgan Cazenove	Tel: [phone]
Michael Wentworth-Stanley / Caroline Thomlinson
Numis Securities	Tel: [phone]
Alex Ham / Luke Bordewich

Background note

ASOS is a global fashion destination for 20-somethings. We sell cutting-edge fashion and offer a wide variety of fashion-related content, making ASOS.com the hub of a thriving fashion community. We sell over 80,000 branded and own-brand products through localised mobile and web experiences, delivering from our fulfilment centres in the UK, US, Europe and China 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 114 million visits per month (December 2014: 98 million) and as at 31 December 2015 had 10.7 million active customers¹ (31 December 2014: 9.1 million), of which 4.2 million were located in the UK and 6.5 million were located in our international territories (31 December 2014: 3.7 million in the UK and 5.4 million internationally).

¹Defined as having shopped in the last 12 months

www.asos.com

www.us.asos.com

www.asos.fr

www.asos.de

www.asos.es

www.asos.it

www.asos.com/au

www.asos.com/ru

www.asos.com/cn

m.asos.com

marketplace.asos.com

www.likes.asos.com

Appendix 1 - Retail sales growth by period¹ in sterling

Year ending 31 August 2016

£m2	P11	YOY%	P21	YOY%	P31	YOY%	P41	YOY%	2015/16 YTD	YOY%
UK retail sales	206.2	25%							206.2	25%
US retail sales	49.7	42%							49.7	42%
EU retail sales	111.0	29%							111.0	29%
ROW retail sales	80.0	2%							80.0	2%
International retail sales	240.7	20%							240.7	20%
Total retail sales	446.9	22%							446.9	22%

Year ending 31 August 2015

£m2	P11	YOY%	P21	YOY%	P31	YOY%	P41	YOY%	2014/15	YOY%
UK retail sales	165.5	24%	65.9	36%	158.4	27%	84.1	29%	473.9	27%
US retail sales	34.9	8%	19.6	35%	44.5	43%	20.5	41%	119.5	29%
EU retail sales	86.3	(1%)	49.9	24%	105.8	21%	52.0	26%	294.0	15%
ROW retail sales	78.5	(5%)	35.8	7%	77.3	(2%)	40.9	3%	232.5	(1%)
International retail sales	199.7	(1%)	105.3	19%	227.6	16%	113.4	18%	646.0	11%
Total retail sales	365.2	9%	171.2	25%	386.0	20%	197.5	23%	1,119.9	17%

Year ending 31 August 2014

£m2	P11	YOY%	P21	YOY%	P31	YOY%	P41	YOY%	2013/14	YOY%
UK retail sales	133.7	37%	48.4	21%	125.1	44%	65.0	27%	372.2	35%
US retail sales	32.3	28%	14.5	41%	31.0	13%	14.5	0%	92.3	19%
EU retail sales	87.3	69%	40.3	57%	87.4	36%	41.4	16%	256.4	44%
ROW retail sales	82.4	19%	33.5	3%	78.6	(1%)	39.9	(4%)	234.4	5%
International retail sales	202.0	38%	88.3	29%	197.0	15%	95.8	4%	583.1	22%
Total retail sales	335.7	38%	136.7	26%	322.1	25%	160.8	12%	955.3	27%

¹ Periods are as follows: 

P1: four months to 31 December

P2: two months to 28/29 February

P3: four months to 30 June

P4: two months to 31 August

² All numbers subject to rounding

Appendix 2 - Retail sales growth by period¹ at constant currency

Year ending 31 August 2016

£m2	P11	YOY%	P21	YOY%	P31	YOY%	P41	YOY%	2015/16 YTD	YOY%
UK retail sales	206.2	25%							206.2	25%
US retail sales	49.7	35%							49.7	35%
EU retail sales	111.0	40%							111.0	40%
ROW retail sales	80.0	13%							80.0	13%
International retail sales	240.7	28%							240.7	28%
Total retail sales	446.9	27%							446.9	27%

Year ending 31 August 2015

£m2	P11	YOY%	P21	YOY%	P31	YOY%	P41	YOY%	2014/15	YOY%
UK retail sales	165.5	24%	65.9	36%	158.4	27%	84.1	29%	473.9	27%
US retail sales	34.9	9%	19.6	25%	44.5	31%	20.5	31%	119.5	22%
EU retail sales	86.3	6%	49.9	34%	105.8	37%	52.0	41%	294.0	26%
ROW retail sales	78.5	1%	35.8	13%	77.3	4%	40.9	13%	232.5	6%
International retail sales	199.7	4%	105.3	25%	227.6	23%	113.4	28%	646.0	17%
Total retail sales	365.2	12%	171.2	29%	386.0	24%	197.5	28%	1,119.9	21%

Year ending 31 August 2014

£m2	P11	YOY%	P21	YOY%	P31	YOY%	P41	YOY%	2013/14	YOY%
UK retail sales	133.7	37%	48.4	21%	125.1	44%	65.0	27%	372.2	35%
US retail sales	32.3	28%	14.5	45%	31.0	24%	14.5	10%	92.3	25%
EU retail sales	87.3	60%	40.3	55%	87.4	41%	41.4	24%	256.4	45%
ROW retail sales	82.4	27%	33.5	15%	78.6	12%	39.9	4%	234.4	15%
International retail sales	202.0	39%	88.3	34%	197.0	25%	95.8	13%	583.1	28%
Total retail sales	335.7	38%	136.7	30%	322.1	31%	160.8	18%	955.3	30%

¹ Periods are as follows: 

P1: four months to 31 December

P2: two months to 28/29 February

P3: four months to 30 June

P4: two months to 31 August

² All numbers subject to rounding

 

END

 

 

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