Online fashion firm Asos has seen half-year sales slump by nearly a fifth after slashing stock levels and taking action to turn around the business.
The firm said sales fell by around 18% in the six months to March 3.
It blamed the fall on overhaul efforts, having cut its stock in-take by about 30% year-on-year to “right size” stock levels.
But the group said the sales drop was in line with its expectations and kept guidance unchanged for full-year sales to drop by between 5% and 15% and to make earnings on an underlying basis, helping shares rise 5% in Tuesday morning trading.
The business, which operates a tech hub in Belfast, has been on a mission to reduce its stock and costs and improve its profitability.
It is also making changes to be more agile and quick to jump on fashion trends, with moves to bring “high-fashion product from design to site in two to three weeks, increasing our agility in responding to rapidly evolving customer demand”.
The company has previously said it wants to get “back to fashion” as it targets a market of 20-somethings who like shopping for clothes.
Jose Antonio Ramos Calamonte, chief executive of Asos, said: “Asos is becoming a faster and more agile business, aided by the incredible work of our teams to speed up all of our processes to deliver the fashion, quality and prices that our customers want, when they want it.
“I’m excited by the performance of our new collections, while we have also made great progress in monetising inventory that built up over the pandemic and in improving the core profitability of our operations.”
Previous actions under its overhaul saw it mothball one its warehouses.
The move came after efforts to reduce stock levels saw large parts of the warehouse in Lichfield, Staffordshire, sitting empty.
