Fashion giant ASOS stripped of £1bn in value after sales figures fail to satisfy City

The group, whose rapid expansion in recent years has made it one of the London market’s best- performing stocks, also warned that margins were likely to be impacted this year by investment costs, including in China.

ASOS is one of South Yorkshire’s biggest private sector employers, with 3,000 staff at its £20m distribution centre at Grimethorpe, Barnsley. Its shares dived by 20 per cent at one stage, even though the group said it remains on track to achieve annual sales of more than £1bn for the first time.

Retail sales were 26 per cent higher year-on-year at £136.7m in the two months to February 28, but this was below City expectations for 32 per cent growth.

ASOS said sales were strong in all territories except the rest of world, where it faces adverse currency movements, notably in Australia and Russia.

However, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Freddie George noted that UK sales growth of 21 per cent to £48.4m was below his hopes for a rise of 30.6 per cent. He expects ASOS to focus on a limited number of markets.

Mr George added: “The company, we believe will now focus on a limited number of markets with a view to making them as significant as the UK rather than taking a scattergun approach to global expansion.” The group’s websites attract 71 million visits per month while it had 8.2 million active customers in the last year, of which 3.2 million were in the UK.

Its shares have soared in recent years, rising from 255p at the start of 2008 to around 7000p earlier this year, giving it a value of more than £6bn. Yesterday’s warning also had an impact on smaller rival Boohoo.com, whose shares slid 10 per cent just days after the Manchester firm joined the stock market in a move that delivered a massive windfall for its founding family.