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Nick Beighton, the chief executive of Asos, is to step down with immediate effect as the online fashion retailer warned that supply chain problems and rising costs will affect its profits.
Asos said Beighton and the board had agreed it was “the right time” for him to go. It said after the departure of Beighton, who has been at the company for 12 years with the past six in the role of chief executive, it will continue to focus on international growth.
“Asos’s management and board have spent considerable time over recent months developing and validating a clear strategic plan to accelerate international growth, building on Asos’s undoubted strength in the UK,” said the Asos chairman, Adam Crozier, who is to stand down next month to take over as chairman at BT.
“Key to that is ensuring that we have the right leadership in place for the next phase, and the changes we are announcing today are designed to ensure we deliver against our clear strategic intent.”
The company, which has benefited from the online shopping boom during the Covid pandemic with revenues up by a fifth and profits rising by a quarter in the year to end of August, warned that the global supply chain shortage is affecting its business.
“Industry-wide supply chain pressures [are] expected to continue through the first half,” the company said, “resulting in longer lead times and constrained supply from a number of our partner brands.”
Asos said that there will be “notable cost headwinds” including inbound freight costs, labour cost inflation, outbound delivery costs and Brexit duty.
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The company, which reported profits of £177m in the year to the end of August, said it expects adjusted profits before tax to fall between £110m and £140m for its next financial year. This is below analysts’ expectations of £186m.
Shares plunged more than 15% in early trading on Monday.
Beighton said: “I have enjoyed every moment of my 12 years at Asos. When I joined, there were fewer than 200 people and we had annual sales of around £220m. I leave a business reporting turnover of almost £4bn, with more than 3,000 fantastic Asos-ers delivering for 26 million customers in 200 markets around the world.”
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