A major shock to the system.
Shares have plunged across the retail industry on Monday morning (17 December) after online clothing retailer ASOS announced a “profit warning”.
The retail world was rocked when ASOS told its shareholders that it was expecting far less profit than they had originally projected, thanks to an especially bad November.
ASOS’s shares have been hit the hardest, and are now down 42% at £24.24, from £41.86 on Friday night.
This price could keep dropping as the fallout from Monday morning’s announcement continues.
Mike Ashley, owner of Sports Direct, House of Fraser and Newcastle United, recently said that November 2018 was the worst for retail “in living memory”.
It appears that share prices are beginning to bear that out.
It’s not just ASOS whose value has suffered.
Other brands such as JD Sports, Marks & Spencer, Next and Debenhams are all seeing their share prices fall — all appearing among the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 (which includes slightly smaller companies) on Monday.
It should be noted that percentage-wise, none of them are falling to the same extent as ASOS.
Some economists have referred to Black Friday sales as a self-inflicted wound for major brands.
ASOS offered 20% off everything in stock on the now-annual sales day, but competitors slashed prices even further.
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