ASC in 2004 : -------------- 20 - BAGGER! -----------------

mufftitz,
wake up. high street sales are in chronic decline short and long term - short term through excessive personal debt and economic cycle on wobble, long term through distortion of retail market. watch the supermarket cartel continue to destroy competition and choice on the high street and replace it with tat from china, and the landlords lumbered with empty retail outlets jack up the rent alongside the govt stiffing business at every opportunity to fill its leaking pockets. add a truck load of crippling dictats from the eec and all the nanny state red tape crap this govt is peddling and you have bugger all incentive to be setting up shops nowadays.it was rent day on christmas day and another swathe of shops will have folded. the future of exchanging goods for money is over the internet, click of the button and bingo, it turns up on the doorstep next day, no traffic jam to fight, no screaming toddlers, no parking ticket, no drunks and junkies begging for money, no hassle no leisure time lost. its the future. internet sales are growing by 25-40% per year pending on who you believe.high street sales down 10-15%. ( the dti doesnt enquire or keep any records of internet sales yet, dont you just love tony bliars posse!)
asos had sales second to next, more than it could process despite setting up and stocking a brand new warehouse out of its own pocket , and had stopped advertising to concentrate on existing customers. everything was roses and it was fully insured for all losses. christmas trading for everybody else turned out to be better than expected so the insures will be coughing up for demonstratable losses of trade on the higher end of the scale, as well as pay all wages and all repair works while asos rebuilds and tweaks its setup. all that stock that was damaged is effectively sold to the insurers at full price in one go. nice sort of customer if you can get it! blank cheques in the post every week out of action is even better than being in action.
the share price is bound to drift down in the aftermath as the sheep bleat and bolt for the gate , but this company had a great set up, a huge customer base, enough cash to build its own warehouses, and was in the only retail growth market going. unless the insures dishonour their contract the explosion wont have cost asos a penny and could well have made them money if they are a bit cheeky with their claims. they might have lost some customers from the end of the long queue but that just takes the pressure off a bit.
the future is via the mouse in your hand right now as you read this, not via the pavement on the high street. who cares if the sp is 70p or 65p right now, next year both will seem an absolute bargain.

(i dont own any asos shares now, but will buy in very soon.)



dont invest in asos muff, see if anybody cares