// Asos co-founder Nick Robertson banks £15.3m from a share sale
// Robertson sold 410,000 shares at 3722.5p each
// He retains 4.6m shares, or a 5.5% stake, in Asos
One of the founders of Asos has pocketed £15.3 million from a share sale in the online fashion retailer.
According to a stock market filing, Nick Robertson, who co-founded Asos in 2000 with Quentin Griffiths, sold 410,000 shares at 3722.5p each.
He continues to hold 4.6 million shares, or a 5.5 per cent stake, in Asos.
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As well as being a co-founder, Robertson is also a former chief executive of Asos and currently sits on the board as a non-executive director.
The sale of his shares comes after Asos’ stock was battered in December when it issued a profit warning amid slower sales and lower margins.
Just last week, Asos posted an 87 per cent crash in half-year profits – which was attributed to to “temporary transaction costs” linked with US expansion, heavy discounting and poor trading leading up to Christmas.
In its interim results for the six month period ending February 28, the online retail giant saw profit before tax come in at £4 million compared to the £29.9 million recorded the year prior.
Despite a recovery since its initial profit warning, shares in the company are down 38 per cent over the past 12 months and currently stand at 3851p.
Two years ago, Robertson grabbed headlines when he sold £46 million worth of shares to help pay for a costly divorce settlement.
Back then, Robertson sold 1.3 million shares, or 1.6 per cent of his stake in Asos, to help pay his ex-wife £70 million following a High Court divorce battle.
Robertson stepped down as Asos chief executive in 2015, paving way for Nick Beighton, after steering the online retailer’s growth from a UK business to one with international operations in the US, France, and Australia.
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