Online fashion firm Asos has revealed a sales hit of up to around £8 million from last month’s cyber attack but said the impact was set to be temporary.
The group said the incident on October 6 was estimated to have knocked group sales, as measured by gross merchandise value, by around 2% to 4%, with UK trade particularly impacted.
With around £200 million made by the group in sales each month, this implies a financial hit of around £4 million to £8 million, according to the firm.
But overall it said sales had remained flat since its August 30 year-end despite the disruption, “giving us confidence that this impact will be temporary”.
Chief executive Jose Antonio Ramos said the knock to sales had “dissipated” so far in November.
The group has completed a full internal investigation launched into the cyber attack, which it said concluded that while the hacker accessed some basic customer data – including names and contact details – this did not include payment information or account passwords.
It apologised to customers last month after they were sent a phone alert saying the online retailer had been hacked.
An initial investigation by Asos found an “unauthorised party gained access to an Asos employee account by impersonating a trusted contact to obtain log-in credentials”.
It said the hacker then used the credentials to access information on third-party platforms used by Asos.
Asos said on Thursday: “Our website and app remained operational and safe to use throughout.
“The group has since implemented further measures to strengthen security across the business.”
“As a precaution, the group temporarily paused certain marketing and customer relationship management activity immediately following the incident, returning to planned activity within two days.”
It added: “The group has remained resilient with broadly flat GMV growth and our customer base continuing to grow, giving us confidence that this impact will be temporary.”
Asos guided for underlying core profits of £180 million to £200 million for the current year to August next year, up from earnings reported on Thursday showing a 39% jump to £170.3 million in 2025/26.
It swung to a bottom line profit, with pre-tax profits of £24.4 million against losses of £281.6 million the previous year and said group GMV sales returned to growth for the first time in four years over its final quarter as a turnaround bears fruit.
Like-for-like GMV sales overall fell 5% in the year to August, but moves to trim costs helped bolster its bottom line and offset rising inflation, including cuts to its workforce.
The firm said: “Savings were delivered across a number of support functions through lower headcount, tighter control of indirect spend and ongoing efficiency initiatives.
“These actions not only reduced the underlying cost base but also helped offset inflationary pressures experienced during the year.”
Shares in the FTSE 250 firm lifted 6% in morning trading on Thursday.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “Perhaps the long nightmare for ASOS is over.
“The fourth quarter recovery in gross merchandise value points towards a continued recovery.”
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