Online fashion house profits rise - graduate jobs

Graduates looking for jobs in retail may do well to consider their chances at online fashion house ASOS after it confirmed a 44% increase in profits and predicted even better growth this year.

The group saw profits rise to £20.3 million in the year to the end of March. It added that results could have been even better as an over-cautious approach was adopted towards stock levels last year, with a 58% sales increase since the year-end signalling further expansion is likely in 2010.

ASOS, which sells accessories styled on celebrity trends to a 16 to 34-year-old target group, put its success down to a shift towards online shopping among young customers which is "bigger than the economic cycle".

Chief executive Nick Robertson also confirmed that the company is looking to make an impact on international markets by launching a US website in September, to be followed by sites in France and Germany later in 2010.