Online retailer Asos is still defying the credit crunch as its young and mortgage-free customers continue to shop with abandon.

The Camden-based company said sales have leapt in the six months to the end of September by a staggering 107% to £66 million, even as the rest of the retail sector is left reeling by recession.

Profits are up 68% over the year to £4.1 million and the firm has cash on hand of almost £9 million, indicating it will be able to fund growth.

Most notably, as the economy turned ever more stormy in the past seven weeks and most businesses saw a slump, Asos said sales kept on rising.

Chief executive and founder Nick Robertson said today: “We are still on message despite the climate out there. We view the coming months with cautious optimism.”

Asos was founded in 2000, focusing on cheap replicas of items worn by celebrities. The company is no longer known as As Seen On Screen, and the product range has shifted somewhat. Asos now boasts brands such as Karen Millen, Warehouse, Whistles and Kookai in addition to its own-brand gear.

“The big story for me is the last seven weeks,” said Robertson. “Retail sales have fallen off a cliff, ours clearly haven't. We are providing job security for about 900 people and still hiring.”
For a business that once specialised in copycat items, Asos would seem to be at risk of copycat rivals starting up, perhaps with the backing of a big competitor.

Robertson, the great-grandson of Austin Reed, claims the business is now well enough developed that it would be tough for a competitor to lure away its growing legion of fans.

“If we go back in time a bit, we were more vulnerable to someone else coming into the market. This is now a sizeable business and still growing very quickly,” he said.

The shares are down from a year high of 417p, but today added 261/2p to 2831/2p, valuing the business at £187 million.