Online fashion giant ASOS has seen a fall in its annual pre-tax profits, following a challenging year for the firm. Profit before tax came in at £46.9 million compared to £54.7 million the previous year. The company has issued three profit warnings in the past year and has pledged to cut prices in order to make gains in its international markets.
ASOS attributed the reduction in profits to a combination of factors, including 'significant' investment in its warehousing, the launch of its new business in China, the strengthening of the pound and the fire at its Barnsley warehouse in June.
Nick Robertson, CEO said: "Despite all that happened this year, we still delivered 27% growth in sales, with the UK a standout performance at 35% growth. Our customer engagement was exceptionally strong, with highest ever average order frequency, conversion and average basket size, and we exited the year with 8.8m active customers, an increase of 25% on last year.
"ASOS has always been about the longer journey to a very big prize: to be the world's leading fashion destination for 20-somethings, and we are firmly focused on our next staging post of £2.5bn sales."
