The new boss of Asos was pushing his luck in describing the full-year performance – a collapse in operating profits from £190m to minus £10m – as “resilient”, but then one realised he was referring only to the UK, which has suddenly acquired the label “core operation”. Implication: the rest of the world was a disaster zone.
Indeed it was, though José Antonio Ramos Calamonte spared shareholders the details of how poor returns on capital have been outside the UK, particularly in the US. “Disappointing,” he said, without putting a number on it. Assume shocking.
