ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT IS DRIVING THE ADVANCE OF ASOS IN A TOUGH CONSUMER ENVIRONMENT?
PHILIP DORGAN | ALTIUM SECURITIES
With the launch of the US website going well, ASOS has accelerated its growth, as expected and management has reinvested margin gains in the offer, again, as expected. We are maintaining our ‘Hold’ recommendation. We are bullish that ASOS will hit its sales target, but think that the short-term outlook is discounted by the shares for now.
NICK BUBB | ARDEN
The UK growth of ‘only’ 23 per cent is disappointing, given weak comparables [stock shortage a year ago] and it may well be that the snow disrupted Christmas orders and deliveries. International saw mind-blowing growth of 156 per cent. With full-year profit before tax to be only in line with expectations, we still think ASOS is over-valued.
SIMON LLOYD | DTZ
Growth in the area of internet sales has accelerated in the last two to three years with online being the fastest growing area of retail sales during the last 12 months. This trend will have contributed to the enhanced sales seen by many internet retailers over the holiday period.