Shares in Asos decline after chief executive sells stake worth £20m
Shares in online fashion retailer Asos declined on Thursday after chief executive Nick Robertson sold £20.2m worth of shares, reportedly in order to pay a "big tax bill".
ASOS
356.80p
16:49 19/04/24
FTSE AIM 100
3,595.66
17:08 19/04/24
FTSE AIM 50
3,943.93
17:08 19/04/24
FTSE AIM All-Share
745.67
17:08 19/04/24
General Retailers
3,864.64
17:09 19/04/24
Robertson sold 744,600 shares for a price of 2,716.5p each. The sale left him with a 8.36% take in the £2.3bn group.
The sale by Robertson, who founded the firm in 2000, comes after a sharp plunge in the shares over the past year, having slumped by nearly 60% in 2014 alone.
Asos reported this month a 15% rise in retail sales over Christmas, driven by a 27% jump in sales in the UK.
Broker Shore Capital said at the time that the growth in its domestic market would encourage investors following a tough 2014.
Meanwhile, Liberum analysts said: "What was previously a low risk ‘pull’ model where customers worldwide ordered stock from the Barnsley warehouse has become a more traditional model where Asos must send out stock to warehouses across the world and second guess weather and customer demand, implying much higher markdown risk.
"Asos now has all the stock risk of a traditional retailer but without the bulk buying and long lead times that offset markdown risk."
The broker gave a 'sell' recommendation and a 1400p target price.
Shares were down 2.55% to 2,558p on Thursday at 11:13.