ASOS profit falls on expansion costs

LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - British online fashion retailer ASOS (Other OTC: ASOMF - news) posted a 22 percent fall in first half profit, reflecting its move to step-up the pace of infrastructure investment to meet future demand.

The firm, whose celebrity fans include United States First Lady Michelle Obama, said on Wednesday it made a pretax profit of 20.1 million pounds ($33.4 million) in the six months to Feb. 28, down from 25.7 million pounds in the same period last year.

The outcome was in line with guidance issued on March 18 when ASOS warned that accelerated investment in warehousing in the UK and Germany as well as start-up costs in China would hit annual profit.

ASOS said the extra costs would be disproportionately borne in the first half, resulting in a likely first half/second half pretax profit split of 30 percent/70 percent.

At the time it guided to a full-year pretax profit of about 65 million pounds.

"ASOS is not and has never been about the short-term; the scale of the global opportunity remains as exciting as ever," it said on Wednesday. ($1 = 0.6011 British Pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton)