Asos half-year loss narrows as it keeps full-year guidance
Asos PLC on Thursday reported lower first-half revenue but a narrower loss, as the online fashion retailer said trading remains in line with expectations and left its full-year guidance unchanged.
The London-based online fashion retailer said pretax loss narrowed to £137.9 million in the 26 weeks to March 1 from £241.5 million a year earlier.
Revenue fell 14% to £1.12 billion from £1.30 billion, while gross merchandise value declined 9% to £1.17 billion from £1.28 billion.
Shares in Asos rose 5.3% to 237.00 pence in London at midday on Thursday.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 51% to £64.0 million from £42.5 million, while adjusted loss before tax narrowed to £52.4 million from £69.5 million.
Asos said the first half showed ‘significant progress and momentum’, with improving trends in key areas including UK trading, womenswear and new customer growth.
The company said new customer growth in its top four markets returned to positive territory on a six-month rolling basis, while UK gross merchandise value outperformed the group with a 5% decline year-on-year.
Adjusted gross margin improved by 330 basis points to 48.5% from 45.2%, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of year-on-year improvement. Asos said this reflected benefits from its commercial model, higher full-price sales, supply chain efficiencies and growth in flexible fulfilment.
Chief Executive Officer Jose Calamonte said: ‘The first half of 2026 has seen significant progress and momentum for ASOS.’
He added: ‘Together, we are taking decisive steps towards re-establishing ASOS as a leading online fashion destination.’
Asos said it has taken steps to manage inflationary pressures and supply chain disruption linked to the conflict in the Middle East.
‘We have taken proactive actions to help mitigate inflationary impacts and supply chain issues arising from the conflict in the Middle East. We continue to monitor developments closely and are continuously reviewing a range of levers to protect profitability whilst ensuring seasonally relevant product arrives to meet customer demand,’ the company said.
It also said it has started the process to pursue refunds related to around £7 million in tariffs paid in the first half.
Looking ahead, Asos said current trading is in line with expectations, with gross merchandise value trends showing ‘further sequential improvement’ in the third quarter to date. New customer growth for the group was 9% in March, the first monthly increase since September 2021.
The company reiterated its financial 2026 guidance, continuing to expect adjusted Ebitda of £150 million to £180 million, gross margin improvement of at least 100 basis points, and broadly neutral free cash flow.
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