ASOS has reported growth in quarterly sales but warned that it needed to recalibrate its expectations for the current financial year following a difficult November.
The online fashion retail group delivered “solid” sales growth of 14 per cent for the three months to 30 November 2018 but admitted that its performance during the month was “significantly behind expectations”.
The company added that economic uncertainty, coupled with a weakening in consumer confidence, has led to the weakest growth in online clothing sales in recent years.
“We achieved 14% sales growth in a difficult market, but in the light of a significant downturn in November, we think it’s prudent to recalibrate our expectations for the full year,” said CEO Nick Beighton.
“We are taking all appropriate actions and our ambitions for ASOS have not changed.”
ASOS generated total group revenue of £656 million for the three-month period, which included £237.1 million in UK retail sales and £402.9 million in international retail sales.
But after a disappointing November, a month which is normally “very material” from both a sales and cash margin perspective, ASOS says it has “recalibrated our expectations for the current year accordingly”.
Despite being in a period of heavy costs, the company stressed that automation of its Eurohub2 facility in Berlin will continue as planned.
It added that its US distribution centre is currently operational and on track to achieve 100 per cent local fulfilment during the current financial year.