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Frasers has raised its shareholding in online fashion retailer Asos to 25.13%, up from 24.21%, making it the second largest shareholder in the company.
The move comes after Asos’ largest shareholder, Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen’s company Bestseller, increased its stake to 28% fuelling talk of a private takeover of the company.
Polvsen is now just 2% below the 30% threshold which would mean that he would have to make an offer for the company under UK company acquisition law.
This news comes after Asos raised its profit outlook for the first half of the year despite its ongoing struggles with volume deleverage.
The company stated that it expects a “significant” increase in profitability after it saw strong gross margin growth driven by lower markdown activity, an increased full-price mix, and continued cost discipline.
The online fashion company has projected total sales growth of 13% with an adjusted EBITDA of £34m and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 2.6%.
With its first half year results set to be published next month, it also confirmed that its revenue growth is set to align with analyst expectations.
The brand stated: “Encouragingly Asos own brand full-price sales, a core engine of its customer proposition, returned to growth in the first half. This was enabled by its market-leading test and react model, now more than 15% of own-brand sales and growing, ensuring Asos can offer the most exciting product and set the trends for its fashion-loving customers.”
Last month, the business appointed its first managing director as part of a series of organisational changes aimed at aligning its structure with its growth strategy and customer-first approach.
