AIM News

While the world has recently been riveted to both the death of Osama bin Laden and the majesty of the Royal Wedding, AIM-50 constituent and the junior market’s second-biggest company ASOS wowed investors with yet another excellent update.

In results for the three months to March the online fashion retailer reported an impressive 70 per cent growth in retail sales to £93.4 million, propelled by a 24 per cent rise in UK sales to £44.9 million and a 161 per cent leap in international sales from £18.6 million to £48.4 million.

The strong results led CEO Nick Robertson to enthuse that the international part of ASOS’s business was ‘becoming an increasingly significant part of our future’. A company that has repeatedly defied bearish analyst predictions of a fall in its value, its shares have soared more than 80 per cent this year alone.

It was also something of a less joyful time for Falklands oil play Desire Petroleum, which lost almost 60 per cent of its value after deciding to abandon operations at its Dinky well.

The company, which disappointed followers in October and January with news of dry wells at other sites in the North Falkland Basin, reported that it was hoping to resume drilling at the site later in the year ‘if possible’.