Asos to raise 230 million to weather the corona crisis

Asos wants to raise more than 200 million pounds (230 million euros) with a new share issue, following the announcement of strong half-year figures. During the corona crisis, however, sales fell by almost 25 %.

Robust half-year figures

In the past three weeks, the British webshop saw its sales drop by a quarter due to the corona crisis, although countries such as Italy are already showing some signs of recovery. Nevertheless, the final impact of the Covid-19 pandemic can not yet be estimated, the online retailer says. The company did pride itself in saying supply problems have remained limited.

To deal with the uncertainty, the company is launching a new round of capital funding: the fashion retailer, which now has a market value of 1.3 billion pounds (1.5 billion euros), intends to issue more than 200 million pounds worth of shares. According to Bloomberg, the online retailer also wants to expand its credit facilities. Although a final decision has not yet been made, the share price skyrocketed straight after the intention was made public.

Stock market enthusiasm is also due to the robust half-year figures, which Asos announced for the six months ending February. Turnover rose by 21 % to over 1.5 billion pounds (1.7 billion euros), a new sales record. Profit before tax rose even more markedly from 4 million to 30.1 million pounds (34 million euros). There was double-digit growth in all markets, the web retailer reports.