Young fashion trio's figures stand out in the flat retail sector
The fashion tribe are keeping the tills ringing at Asos, Mango and JD Sports with the trio, whose stores are a mecca for the under-30s, reporting bumper figures on Wednesday.
The Spanish chain Mango said sales rose 11% to €1.3bn (£1.15bn) in 2010. The retailer, whose glossy campaigns have featured actors Penélope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson, signalled its confidence in the future with plans to invest €135m opening 550 stores around the globe this year.
Analysts say young fashion is a bright spot in an otherwise moribund retail sector, which has seen a string of profit warnings from major high street names including Dixons, HMV and Carpetright in recent weeks.
At the online retailer Asos, sales jumped 70% in the three months to 31 March as young women continued to scour the website for the high street versions of the latest designer outfits worn by celebrities such as Kate Moss and Alexa Chung. Sales increased 70% to £93.4m in the three months to 31 March as Asos was buoyed by both the growth in the online shopping market and the success of new websites in the US, Germany and France. International sales surged 161% to £48.4m during the quarter to overtake the UK operation in size for the first time.
"You have to give customers something a bit different... your price has got to be keen and you've got to give them a reason to buy," said Asos chief executive Nick Robertson, who added that annual profits would be at the top of end of analyst expectations of £26m-£29m. The shares closed up 14% at £19.50.
Privately-owned Mango, which did not disclose its profits, said internet sales had increased 80% to €21m in 2010 and it expected that figure to double this year. The chain was founded by Turkish-born entrepreneur Isak Andic who emigrated to Spain when he was a teenager. He started selling clothes in a street market in Barcelona and today the group has more than 2,000 stores in 105 countries. This year's investment, which will go into IT and logistics, will be focused on China and Russia, where 60 and 40 stores will open respectively, but also far-flung markets such as Bermuda, Cambodia, and Yemen.
At JD Sports, which sells brands such as Adidas and Nike, as well as its own labels McKenzie and Carbrini, annual profits climbed by more than a fifth to £81.6m. However, chairman Peter Cowgill said JD was "extremely cautious" about its prospects for the coming year. Citing higher VAT and rising youth unemployment, he said the retail sector had "recently been significantly impacted by adverse fiscal changes in addition to multiple current economic pressures", adding: "You've got to watch that you don't type up a suicide note in terms of the macro side."