Asos PLC

Earnings Release • Dec 9, 2014

National Storage Mechanism | Additional information

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RNS Number : 1755Z

ASOS PLC

09 December 2014

9 December 2014

ASOS plc ("the Company")

Global Online Fashion Destination

Trading Statement for the three months ended 30 November 2014

	Three months to 30 November
£'000	2014	2013	Increase	CCY^ increase
UK retail sales	104,804	84,370	24%	24%
US retail sales	23,975	22,024	9%	12%
EU retail sales	59,001	59,547	(1%)	7%
ROW retail sales	58,549	62,333	(6%)	0%
Total International retail sales	141,525	143,904	(2%)	4%
Total retail sales	246,329	228,274	8%	12%
Total group revenues*	252,200	232,737	8%	12%

*Includes retail sales, delivery receipts and third party revenues.

^On constant exchange rate basis

Three months to 30 November 2014 highlights

·    Retail sales +8% (UK +24%, International -2%)

·    International retail sales 57% of total (63% last year)

·    Retail gross margin down c.170 bps on prior year

·    Mechanised pick solution at Barnsley now live

·    Zonal live in UK, Australia and France

·    Business interruption claim completed; further reimbursements received of £6.3m

·    Strong balance sheet and cash position

Nick Robertson, CEO, commented:

"Total retail sales for the quarter grew by 8% (12% on a constant currency basis).  September and October were challenging as we completed the automation programme in Barnsley in time for peak. Our sales have since gathered momentum and we had our biggest ever trading week over cyber weekend in November.

Our strong UK performance continued at +24%, however international retail sales declined by 2% (growth of 4% at constant currency). International trading conditions remain challenging.

We have commenced investment into our international pricing and have started to roll out our zonal pricing capability, which combined will help us to address our international performance. We continue to focus on our major investment programmes, upgrading our IT platform and investing in our logistics capability.

During the quarter, we received £6.3 million of insurance proceeds related to the fire at Barnsley in June, which we are deploying to accelerate our investment in international pricing. After taking this into account, we expect full year profits to be in line with expectations".

Analyst/Investor conference call:

ASOS will be hosting a conference call for analysts and investors at 8:30am (UK Time) today. Please call Guy Scarborough at Instinctif Partners for dial-in details on 020 7457 2047 or email [email protected].

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: 020 7756 1000
Nick Robertson, Chief Executive
Nick Beighton, Chief Financial Officer / Chief Operating Officer Greg Feehely, Head of Investor Relations
Instinctif Partners	Tel: 020 7457 2020
Matthew Smallwood / Justine Warren / Guy Scarborough
JPMorgan Cazenove	Tel: 020 7742 4000
Luke Bordewich
Numis Securities	Tel: 020 7260 1000
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 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 attracted 90 million visits during November 2014 (November 2013: 81 million) and as at 30 November 2014 had 9.0 million active customers1 (30 November 2013: 7.6 million), of which 3.6 million were located in the UK and 5.4 million were located in our international territories (30 November 2013: 3.0 million in the UK and 4.6 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

Appendix 1 - Retail sales growth by quarter1 in sterling

Year ending 31 August 2015

£'000	Q1	YOY%	Q2	YOY%	Q3	YOY%	Q4	YOY%	2014/15 YTD	YOY%
UK retail sales	104,804	24%							104,804	24%
US retail sales	23,975	9%							23,975	9%
EU retail sales	59,001	(1%)							59,001	(1%)
ROW retail sales	58,549	(6%)							58,549	(6%)
International retail sales	141,525	(2%)							141,525	(2%)
Total retail sales	246,329	8%							246,329	8%

Year ending 31 August 2014

£'000	Q1	YOY%	Q2	YOY%	Q3	YOY%	Q4	YOY%	2013/14	YOY%
UK retail sales	84,370	36%	97,670	29%	91,880	43%	98,321	33%	372,241	35%
US retail sales	22,024	16%	24,725	50%	24,765	17%	20,797	0%	92,311	19%
EU retail sales	59,547	79%	68,079	54%	64,710	37%	64,049	21%	256,385	44%
ROW retail sales	62,333	21%	53,571	6%	61,600	1%	56,854	(5%)	234,358	5%
International retail sales	143,904	39%	146,375	32%	151,075	17%	141,700	6%	583,054	22%
Total retail sales	228,274	38%	244,045	31%	242,955	25%	240,021	15%	955,295	27%

Year ending 31 August 2013

£'000	Q1	YOY%	Q2	YOY%	Q3	YOY%	Q4	YOY%	2012/13	YOY%
UK retail sales	62,053	24%	75,526	28%	64,347	39%	74,101	49%	276,027	34%
US retail sales	19,048	57%	16,503	50%	21,255	59%	20,872	59%	77,678	57%
EU retail sales	33,337	15%	44,120	58%	47,215	56%	53,036	73%	177,708	51%
ROW retail sales	51,357	42%	50,319	33%	60,796	38%	59,922	26%	222,394	35%
International retail sales	103,742	34%	110,942	45%	129,266	48%	133,830	47%	477,780	44%
Total retail sales	165,795	30%	186,468	37%	193,613	45%	207,931	47%	753,807	40%

1 Quarterly periods are as follows:

Q1: three months to 30 November

Q2: three months to 28 February

Q3: three months to 31 May

Q4: three months to 31 August

Appendix 2 - Retail sales growth by quarter1 at constant currency

Year ending 31 August 2015

£'000	Q1	YOY%	Q2	YOY%	Q3	YOY%	Q4	YOY%	2014/15 YTD	YOY%
UK retail sales	104,804	24%							104,804	24%
US retail sales	23,975	12%							23,975	12%
EU retail sales	59,001	7%							59,001	7%
ROW retail sales	58,549	0%							58,549	0%
International retail sales	141,525	4%							141,525	4%
Total retail sales	246,329	12%							246,329	12%

Year ending 31 August 2014

£'000	Q1	YOY%	Q2	YOY%	Q3	YOY%	Q4	YOY%	2013/14	YOY%
UK retail sales	84,370	36%	97,670	29%	91,880	43%	98,321	33%	372,241	35%
US retail sales	22,024	15%	24,725	53%	24,765	28%	20,797	10%	92,311	25%
EU retail sales	59,547	68%	68,079	51%	64,710	42%	64,049	29%	256,385	45%
ROW retail sales	62,333	27%	53,571	16%	61,600	16%	56,854	3%	234,358	15%
International retail sales	143,904	38%	146,375	36%	151,075	28%	141,700	14%	583,054	28%
Total retail sales	228,274	37%	244,045	33%	242,955	33%	240,021	21%	955,295	30%

Year ending 31 August 2013

£'000	Q1	YOY%	Q2	YOY%	Q3	YOY%	Q4	YOY%	2012/13	YOY%
UK retail sales	62,053	24%	75,526	28%	64,347	39%	74,101	49%	276,027	34%
US retail sales	19,048	57%	16,503	54%	21,255	54%	20,872	55%	77,678	55%
EU retail sales	33,337	25%	44,120	63%	47,215	52%	53,036	62%	177,708	51%
ROW retail sales	51,357	42%	50,319	33%	60,796	36%	59,922	28%	222,394	34%
International retail sales	103,742	38%	110,942	47%	129,266	44%	133,830	44%	477,780	43%
Total retail sales	165,795	33%	186,468	39%	193,613	42%	207,931	45%	753,807	40%

1Quarterly periods are as follows:

Q1: three months to 30 November

Q2: three months to 28 February

Q3: three months to 31 May

Q4: three months to 31 August

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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