Nimmo's UK Smaller Cos fund set for lift as ASOS rises 12%

Standard Life Investments' UK Smaller Companies fund, run by Harry Nimmo, is set for a boost as ASOS shares jumped 12% this morning after international sales grew 93% last year.

The online clothing retailer bucked the trend of falling sales to post a 46% increase in revenues in the third quarter.

Several businesses in the retail sector have recently called in the administrators, such as Peacocks, as the downturn has hit profits.

ASOS shares responded well to the news, rising 12.2% to £16.74 by 10am.

Nimmo is the largest investor in the stock with 2.92 million shares, according to Thomson Reuters, amounting to 3.8% of the £1.02bn fund, the third largest holding, as at the end of November 2011.

Other recent holders of the stock are Artemis, Fidelity and Newton.

The online retailer said sales abroad have contributed to the huge jump in sales and it is confident it will meet analyst expectations as international sales surged 93%. Sales in the UK also grew by 10%.

Last year the website was opened to Australian, Spanish and Italian customers as the chain targeted £1bn of annual revenue by 2015.

Nick Robertson, CEO, said in a statement: "I am pleased to report a strong third quarter performance across all territories including the UK. Overall retail sales were 46% up year on year and our retail gross margin was 300bp higher over the period, in line with guidance.

"With the business continuing to perform well through these challenging economic times, we remain confident about the outlook and expect our full year results to be in line with market expectations."

Revenues for the last three months of the year were £146.5m, up from £100m for the same period the previous year.