ASOS have dropped quite significantly in the past week for no particular reason and I view this as the perfect opportunity to invest as I can see them bouncing right back up to the 5.50p mark in the next 2-3 weeks. STRONG BUY!!

Personally I think ASC were very fortunate that the LSE agreed to a suspension. I agree with Dil on this one, particularly as I was short prior to the Buncefield explosion. Having read the RNS this morning, were I long I would not be all that reassured.

* Business should be fully operational by mid January 2006

Should is not a word I ever like to use, it means nothing, they either will be or wont be. If they will, say so.

* Loss of profit and damage to assets covered by insurance

I can accept that damage to assets will be covered by insurance, but how on earth will the loss of profits over their busiest period of the year be calculated, I just can't see it myself.

* Results for the year ended 31 March 2006 likely to be in line with
market expectations

Likely? another term for should!

* Confident that no long term damage has been done to the brand

No way of knowing what long term damage has been done to the brand, only time will tell.

Essentially, this RNS says very little more than what was known two weeks ago and strikes me very much as an attempt to prop up the SP folowing what has to be regarded as outrageous ill fortune.

All just IMO of course and I accept that my vested interest will colour my judgement, but I'm not going to rush to close my short just yet!

Good luck to existing holders.

pth

MAM Stockwatch isn't telling the full story this morning due to the outage. There have been over half a million shares traded thus far today, of which only 16K would appear to be buys. It seems that the smaller investors are following the lead set prior to Xmas by the bigger players and at the very least protecting profits. Not only have ASC missed out on the busiest trading period of the year, by the time they are up and running the post Xmas sales frenzy will also have passed them by.

Patholden,
What is your target by June 2006?

Ahoj

I think I will have closed my trade by June and amd really looking at this from a 3 month perspective. Worst case (best case for me) is a fall to the 45p level tested in May of this year. I really can't see what ASC can do to regain the sales lost over the festive period. I know that they are insured, but since when have insurers ever paid out the full value of anything? I understand they will be having a sale when open for business again, but clearly this will further erode profitability.
As you can see from the chart, it seems that the uptrend has now come to an end and I expect the SP to commence testing not only support level at 70p, but also the 200EMA which is coincidental. If they fail, then we will probably see tests at 5p levels over the coming months.
Personally, I quite like the ASC business model and they have certainly sustained huge growth during the last two years. But as they recently admitted, this growth is slowing and has come to a grinding halt due to the Buncefield fire. I think it will take some time to get going again.

60p first target.

Is the welsh pomp doing his round on all the threads......

Anyone noticed two 350,000 transactions - one buy and another T trade. I think there are some big buys about and the SP may hover around 70p. Fingers crossed!

Fidelity obviously have confidence in this stock

ASOS PLC
03 January 2006


ASOS plc ('ASOS' or 'the Company')

Holding in Company

ASOS was advised on 29 December 2005 that Fidelity International Limited, and
its direct and indirect subsidiaries, have acquired a further 750,000 ordinary
shares in the Company and now hold a total of 8,794,359 ordinary shares, which
represent approximately 12.26 per cent. of the entire issued share capital of
the Company.

Of the total shareholdings notified: 1,792,600 ordinary shares are held in the
name of Bank of New York Brussels; 600,000 ordinary shares are held in the name
of Northern Trust London; 534,000 are held in the name of Mellon Bank; 56,000
ordinary shares in the name of Clydesdale Bank plc; 694,500 are held in the name
of Citibank London; 394,600 ordinary shares are held in the name of State Str
Bank and Trust Company London; 3,519,359 ordinary shares are held in the name of
Brown Bros Harriman Ltd Lux; 153,600 ordinary shares are held in the name of
Brown Brothers Harriman and Co; and 1,049,700 ordinary shares are held in the
name of Bank of New York Europe London.

hi guys, thinking of buying into asos, any views, i am a bit loathed to as i was contemplating buying at 10p but never did, they still seem good value long term though

Well done to all those who have the dogs dangly bits and holding on and not panick selling (baaaaaa), now making a steady rise to original price before the fire.

Perhaps they should make more of their phoenix style online return. Investor confidence is impressive. When is the next trading statement due?

have a look at http://www.companyannouncements.net/ will give you all the answers.

I'm still in. Sweated a little but faith seems justified today. Onwards & upwards from here!

Business



The Times January 17, 2006

Asos returns with record sales
By Sarah Butler



ASOS, the internet clothing retailer, enjoyed its best sales day yesterday as it relaunched its website after its warehouse was shut down by a fire.



Customers rushed on to the site to buy the Victoria pencil dress, reminiscent of Roland Mourets Galaxy dress, and the Sienna lace bow dress, a copy of a dress won by Sienna Miller, the actress.

Asos was forced to close its warehouse in Hemel Hempstead five weeks ago. The buildings doors were blown off and its sprinkler system activated by a series of explosions at the Buncefield fuel depot 750 yards away.

Nick Robertson, chief executive, said that sales were double those forecast: Anybody with any doubt that we would have kept customer goodwill over the closure will have those cleared up.

The company offered discounts of up to 75 per cent on its range.

The warehouse in Hemel Hempstead was now fully operational and insurance would cover loss of profits and damage to assets, the company said.

It said that profits for the full year were likely to fall within market expectations and that new spring/summer ranges would be available in days.

Mr Robertson said: Its been a frustrating five weeks for all of us, especially the 19,000 customers whose orders we had to refund in the run up to Christmas but were back now and stronger for the experience.

Asos shares were suspended after the fire, which damaged the firms warehouse, holding about 5.5 million of stock.

The shares resumed trading on December 23. They rose 5p or 6.8 per cent to 78p yesterday on hopes that recent trading had gone well.

Interesting article woodie which shows how strong the ASC customer loyalty is, and how wrong some of the doom & gloom merchants on this thread have been.

queen1 might not all be loyalty copied this part from above article
The company offered discounts of up to 75 per cent on its range.
what is not clear is how much stock is being sold at a heavy discount and if it is fire related to clear and coverd by insurance.what the derampers have got wrong is the amount of traffic that is currently being shown in the figs.if they can get a full year without any problems the s/price will be over a 1 heres hoping.

Can't believe it has held up so well , well done to all those who kept the faith.

Regards

I think the traffic is key Woodie although good spot on the discounting.

Just reviewed the mens sale section. At a glance most stuff is 50% and sale ends 31 Jan. You can grab a fly wool coat for fifty quid--- a snip.

The great british disaster(thankfully no loss of life this time). While the fires raged the name ASOS was cleverly inserted into the brains of the viewing public or everyone in the entire country and large parts of the western english speaking world and once the company assesesd the damage the media again helped them announce a date of the comeback and more mental notes were made. This synaptic trickery combined with the simian part of the human brain which controls bargain hunting has led to the phenomena seen this week.
F

dil thanks.frodo thanks for feedback do you know if these discounts are the same as last year? or are the discounts larger