Asos insists it is fighting fit after 'disruptive' year

Profits at Asos have plunged, driven by significant tech investment and warehousing issues in Germany and the US.

Despite an increase in sales of 13%, the pureplay, which has issued two profit warnings in the past 12 months, made a pre-tax profit of £33.1 million in the year to 31st August, down by 68% from £102 million in 2017-2018.

Asos invested significantly in its global platform, although this was “more disruptive than we originally anticipated,” CEO Nick Beighton stated. “Having identified the root causes of our operational issues, we have made substantial progress over the last few months in resolving them. Whilst there remains lots of work to be done to get the business back on track, we are now in a more positive position to start the new financial year,” he added.

The focus now shifts to “ensuring that we enhance our capability to drive an improved customer experience and leverage the benefits from the investments we have made”.

“With over 60% of our revenue coming from international customers and a strong global logistics platform with capacity to grow, we are well positioned to take advantage of the global growth opportunity ahead of us,” Beighton concluded.