Online retailer ASOS is back in fashion with an 8.7 per cent share price rise after it reported bumper sales for the end of 2019 and a record Black Friday.

In the four months to 31^st December, group revenue rose by 20 per cent and ASOS’s share price now stands at 3,300p at the time of writing.

Could this be signs of a turnaround for ASOS, which was besieged by problems in 2019, including a string of profit warnings and some serious operational issues when it tried to accelerate international expansion. It looks promising for the retailer right now – as well as the revenue rise in a tough retail environment, it also gained 1.4 million additional active customers. Black Friday was particularly successful, and it finally seems to have organised its operational capacity and increased its product choice. Its international expansion also looks to be paying off, with the US recording growth of 20 per cent and the EU recording a rise in revenue of 22 per cent.

Despite the stellar results though, the group’s full year outlook remains unchanged and there is no earnings upgrade or dividend due thanks to the retailer’s expansion plans which may have dampened excitement slightly for investors.

Analysts are generally optimistic about the outlook for ASOS though, while pointing out that the retailer’s next challenge is to improve on its profit margins. Russ Mould from A J Bell described the company’s long-term future as encouraging while raising some concern about its tactic of cutting prices to encourage customer acquisition. He said: “Having got growth back on track, the next challenge for management is to boost the company’s wafer-thin margins.”

It’s not such good news for fashion rival Ted Baker, which has seen its share price plummet seven per cent after it revealed its stock accounting blunder is more than double what was previously claimed.

It was initially reported that the chain had overstated its stock value by no more than £25 million but an investigation by Deloitte has revealed the figure is actually £58 million. It is the latest in a long line of disasters for the besieged brand – last year former boss Ray Kelvin quit amidst allegations of misconduct and the group’s sales and profits plummeted as it struggled to regain relevance in the fashion world. Ted Baker’s share price now stands at 290.00p at the time of writing, ahead of the release of its latest trading update next week. Just before Christmas, the fashion brand reduced its expectations for profit before tax for the year to just £5 million and executives Lindsay Page and David Bernstein both announced they were quitting with Page describing the past year as the ‘most challenging’ in the company’s history.

A full investigation into the reasons for the balance sheet misstatement will be concluded in March, but with Ted Baker itself revealing that trading over November and the Black Friday period was below expectations, it doesn’t look like the brand will be sweeping the style stakes any time soon.