Asos loses second finance chief as it battles downturn

THE online fashion retailer Asos has lost its second finance chief in two months as it attempts to turn its business around following a fall in spending on clothes.

Katy Mecklenburgh, who had taken over as interim chief financial officer at the end of October, will be stepping down next June to take up a post at Softcat, an IT company. Asos said it is continuing its hunt for a permanent chief financial officer while she works out her six-month notice.

Ms Mecklenburgh had taken over the finance role following the exit of former chief financial officer Mat Dunn, who left as part of a restructuring of Asos’s executive team after a decline in its share price over several months.

The stock is down more than 70pc since the start of the year. The company unveiled a shake-up in June, bringing in Jorgen Lindemann as its new chairman and José Antonio Ramos Calamonte to act as chief executive.

Since taking up the post, Mr Calamonte has launched a major transformation plan including slashing costs, pausing spending on robots for warehouses in the US and cutting back on how many items the retailer stocks.

Asos expects to write off around £130m worth of old stock in the current financial year, amid efforts to cut back the number of promotions on its website. The business lost £32m in its latest financial year to Aug 31, compared to profits of £177m in the previous 12 months. It had debts of £153m at the end of the period, compared to £200m of cash a year earlier.

The moves to overhaul Asos come as it braces for a difficult festive trading period, with shoppers expected to spend £4.4bn less on non-essentials in the run-up to Christmas than last year owing to steeper household bills.

Figures from Retail Economics suggest that clothing and footwear retailers are to likely take the biggest hit.

Asos has said it is expecting the clothing market to decline over the year to next August. By October, it was already seeing more shoppers returning items after being hit with higher energy bills and rises in prices for groceries.

Asos said it was trying to get customers to return items quicker, so it could make them available for other shoppers to purchase on its website.