Online retailerAsoshas reported
sales growth of 47% in the first half of this year.
The company claims to have
gone from strength to strength throughout the recession,
despite much of the retail industry suffering.
UK sales grew by 33%, and international sales by 112% year on
year. Operating profit increased by 14% in the half year to 30
September 2009, compared with the same period last year.
The company
reported a good start to the second half of the year, with
sales for the seven weeks to 15 November up 46%. It said it is
"cautiously optimistic" for the coming Christmas period.
Asos invested fairly heavily in technology this year to support
its fast growth, but said it does not expect to maintain this level
of spending.
The company said, "The step change in these [head office
running] costs was down to a significant investment in the IT
function and infrastructure to support the core system replacement
programme and the development of the website. We do not expect this
rate of increase to be maintained for the remainder of the
year."
The investment included the replacement and enhancement of the
warehouse management system, the merchandise planning system and
the datacentre.
Nick Robertson, chief executive of Asos, said of the company's
good performance, "Fundamentally, the internet is the retail
channel with the greatest potential and Asos is ideally situated to
exploit it."
Asos said it concentrated on managing stock and costs tightly
during the first half of 2009 while investing in new technology.
Its new warehouse management system, which was rolled out in April,
meant it could improve the number of delivery options and
introduced free returns for all UK customers.
It introduced a further 12,700 products to its site, taking the
total number to 34,000.