ASOS has raised more than £200 million from shareholders to counter the impact of the Coronavirus on company finances.

The online fashion retailer also said it would add £60 to £80 million to its existing £350 million revolving credit facility - which runs to 2024 - as well as negotiate changes to the covenant tests on that facility, and apply to access the Bank of England’s COVID-19 corporate finance support scheme.

The company expects to raise up to 18.8 per cent of existing share capital via a stock placing. Based on its market capitalisation of £1.31 billion at the close, that would equate to £246 million, according to the Financial Times.

In half-year results released alongside the placing announcement, ASOS said sales had fallen between 20 and 25 per cent in recent weeks. Chief executive Nick Beighton explained there were repeating patterns in the different territories where it operated, with demand falling sharply before website visits picked up again.

Before the pandemic, ASOS had been recovering from a challenging year, in which it warned on profits twice. Sales growth in the first half of its new financial year was 21 per cent, with statutory pre-tax profit of £30.1m and a profit margin of 4.9 per cent, compared with 2.8 per cent during the same period a year ago.

Commenting on the fundraise, Sofie Willmott, lead analyst at GlobalData, said that with UK clothing and footwear spend forecast to slump 23.5 per cent this year, even those retailers that were outperforming the market prior to March cannot afford to stand by without reacting.

"As a retailer that does not rely on a - temporarily shuttered - store estate, ASOS may have fewer worries than its multichannel counterparts that are dealing with excess stock and managing staff, but despite this, it still has to face the major issue of decimated demand – UK online clothing and footwear spend is set to fall 10.8 per cent in 2020."

She continued: "As social occasions have been cancelled for the foreseeable future, it is difficult for ASOS to market its products to its twenty-something customer base, however its innate understanding of its shoppers and its wide product range including athleisure and casual wear will stand it in good stead against its competitors.”

ASOS is not the first to seek investor support during the crisis, with WHSmith yesterday raising £165.9 million, after placing 15.8 million new shares at 1050p per share.

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