Asos profit plunges 68% despite 13% rise in sales in 2018

Asos doesn’t come back to the game. The British ecommerce group, which in the last year has issued three profit warnings, has plunged 68% its profit in its fiscal year ended on August 31. The British company achieved a profit before tax of only 33.1 million pounds, although it increased its sales by 13%.

Asos’s sales stood at 2.7 billion pounds. The increase was driven by sales within the United Kingdom, which rose 15%, to 993.4 million pounds. Abroad, the group’s revenue arrived at 1.6 billion pounds, 11% more than the previous year. 

“This financial year was a pivotal period for Asos, where we have invested significantly and enhanced our global platform capability to drive our future growth; regrettably this was more disruptive than we originally anticipated.” stated Nick Beighton, chief executive officer of the group. 

Asos investments had a bigger impact in its global growth than expected 

“However, having identified the root causes of our operational issues, we have made substantial progress over the last few months in resolving them,” concluded the executive. Beighton stated that the company is prepared to face its global expansion due to its strength in logistics and the volume of its international business. 

For its year 2020, Asos has set the goal to increase its product choice, availability and newness, strengthen its organisational capabilities to deliver effectively into the future and enhancing customer propositions.