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!!

..

ASOS set to smash 1 bln stg sales target a year early
Reuters - UK FocusReuters - UK Focus – 5 hours ago.


* Set (KOSDAQ: 027040.KQ - news) to hit 1 bln stg of sales in 2013-14 year

* Q4 retail sales up 47 pct to 207.9 mln stg

* 2012-13 retail sales up 40 pct 753.8 mln stg

* Sees 2012-13 profit ahead of expectations

* Shares rise up to 10.8 pct (Adds CEO, analyst comments, detail, background, shares)

By James Davey

LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - British online fashion retailer ASOS (Other OTC: ASOMY - news) is on track to hit its 1 billion pound ($1.6 billion) annual sales target a year early, underscoring the dramatic shift to internet shopping and the urgency for traditional store groups to adapt.

ASOS, founded by former advertising executive Nick Robertson in 2000, has been the big success story in British retailing in recent years, with its fast-changing fashions snapped up by internet-savvy twentysomethings and attracting fans including U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and singer Rita Ora.

Its shares have rocketed - the firm now has a market value of 4.3 billion pounds, more than Debenhams (Other OTC: DBHSY - news) , SuperGroup (SES: E1:S10.SI - news) , Ted Baker, Laura Ashley (LSE: ALY.L - news) and French Connection combined - and could be a member of the blue-chip FTSE-100 if it switched from the junior AIM market.

Robertson, the great grandson of tailor Austin Reed, said there was no sign of growth slowing. UK online sales are currently rising around 14.4 percent year-on-year, according to researchers Kantar Worldpanel, while data on Thursday showed total UK retail sales up 2.1 percent in August.

ASOS has also expanded overseas and plans to launch a Chinese-language website in October.

"It's feeling that this (2013-14) should be our first billion pound year," Robertson told Reuters, after ASOS posted a better-than-expected 47 percent jump in retail sales for its fiscal fourth-quarter and said profit for the full financial year would be marginally ahead of expectations.

The target to achieve 1 billion pounds of sales in 2014-15 was set three years ago, when ASOS was turning over 223 million pounds. Robertson said revenue targets were likely to be reset when ASOS reports full-year results in October.


SHOOTING THE LIGHTS OUT

"A phenomenal model and first rate execution," said Jefferies analyst David Reynolds, though he raised some concerns about a potential rise in returned purchases and the cost of delivering goods more quickly to ever more demanding shoppers.

Some analysts are also unnerved by ASOS's sky-high valuation, which means it has little margin for error.

The company is one of the most highly-rated shares on Britain's stock market, trading at 99.9 times analysts' 2012-13 earnings forecasts, according to Reuters data. That compares with 27.7 times and 25.6 times for world's top two clothing retailers, Inditex and H&M respectively.

On Thursday, however, ASOS shares made further strong gains, and at 0955 GMT were up 9.7 percent at 5,302 pence. The stock was floated at just 20 pence in 2001.

"The UK shot the lights out," Robertson said of fourth-quarter sales, noting best sellers included slip dresses, pink fabrics and styles with a nod to the punk scene of the 1970s.

Group retail sales totalled 207.9 million pounds for the three months to Aug. 31, taking the total for the full year to 753.8 million pounds, up 40 percent.

Fourth-quarter UK sales jumped 49 percent to 74.1 million pounds, with international sales up 47 percent to 133.8 million pounds, driven by stronger growth in countries where the firm has dedicated websites and in-country teams, notably in the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

ASOS sells over 65,000 branded and own-label products, shipping for free to 237 countries.

Prior to the fourth-quarter update, analysts' were on average forecasting a pretax profit for the 2012-13 year of 52.5 million pounds, up from 44.5 million pounds in 2011-12.

Robertson said the firm had no current plans to switch to the FTSE-100 index.

($1 = 0.6262 British pounds) (Editing by Kate Holton and Mark Potter)

findus - if you want to be such a total disseminating prick, that is your choice .... ditto if you want to send me to the "naughty step" ..... i really do not care one iota

Cynic......................................

i have no problem with that, but arseholes (please note) like me make rings round pricks like you, and you don't emerge smelling of roses either :-)

lol

Asos, the online fashion retailer, enjoyed a good summer this year with sales soaring 47 percent in the past three months compared with the same time last year, as the company continues its rapid growth.

Total retail sales for the group were £207.9 million ($335.5 million) driven by strong growth in the UK and abroad, compared to £141 million the year before, with overall group revenues up 46 percent for the quarter to £212 million.

"International growth continues to be driven by the countries in which we have dedicated websites and in-country teams, and was particularly strong in Europe, driven by France, Germany, Italy and Spain. We also saw strong growth in the US and in Russia, following the launch of our Russian website," the ASOS CEO Nick Robertson said in a statement.

(Read more: UK economy 'needs more time to recover': Philip Green)

UK retail sales were up 49 percent in the three months up to August 31 while US and EU retail sales increased by 59 percent and 73 percent respectively. This fuelled a 39 percent increase in Asos' yearly revenue, which hit £769 million.

Launched in 2000 as As Seen On Screen Ltd, the company sells own-brand clothing as well as designer fashion. Analysts say the way the company tailors its pricing to target its key audience has been a big factor in its success.

"At one point last year, we saw slowing sales. But the company has had a new lease of life in the UK by cutting prices on their own products, appealing to a core customer base of twentysomethings," Tamara Senders, fashion analyst at Mintel told CNBC.

"They are really starting to feel the pinch and becoming more conscious. So Asos have responded to this and has cut prices and introduced sharper prices."

(Read more: Skin deep, big margins: Betting on beauty growth)

Shares in the AIM-listed company were up around 11 percent trading at £53.79 Thursday.

Asos has shown a strong performance on the stock market with shares up 97 percent year to date. Some analysts believe, with a market capitalization of about £4 billion, the company is big enough to list on the FTSE 100.

"Market cap-wise they are big enough to be comfortably be on the FTSE100 if they so desired. But that comes with more expenditure and listing fees," Richard Hunter, head of U.K. equities at Hargreaves Landsdowne told CNBC.

(Read more: London Fashion Week: Is sustainability on trend?)

Asos still has the potential for growth in developed markets, but will need to localize more to sustain strong growth, according to analysts.

"I think they will do a good job opening up dedicated localized sites," Stephen Mader, director of retail insight at Kantar Retail told CNBC.

"They are not going to go incredibly localized because that would be detrimental to what has made them successful up until now. They don't want to tinker with that too much. But localizing is probably going to happen."

just swiched on a little bit of sky news and...my baby asos there..kind of little cheer up propaganda..:)

here we go! first 10 min and mega push 55 just gone like nothing happened, 56 , ... f...k yea!! love it ! on the money big time :)

Yeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaaa

truly gob-smackingly amazing

57 come on !

Yep come on.

YOUR NOT SINGING ANYMORE.........YOUR NOT SINGING ANYMORE ....cynic.

Pants on fire cynic.

for goodness findus, do stop being such a total pratt
i know you don't like your calumnies being destroyed, but i haven't held any position long or short here for a quite while now and have no intention of so doing
you really are just so DULL

as for BLNX - another of your nonsenses - i have never ever been short, and my current long there dates back to february

5734 out of all spreads, being pretty heavy this time as was adding tuesday/wednesday even thursday so thank you asc huuuge time!:) i'll keep stock.

glad you've banked profits (for a change!) ..... hope you made a bundle and can now afford a decent meal - or even a holiday :-)

no sweetie, no holidays , too busy with my Bayliner's fresh water head system.still no food.maybe one crispbread.

WTF is "Bayliner's fresh water head system"?

I thought you would have gone for a Sunseeker on your profits!

o yea skinny, on the picture is the nasty Predator, lets say 84...price £3m +.it would be game over..:)