LONDON: British online fashion retailer ASOS warned on Thursday it would miss profit forecasts after seeing a significant rise in product returns as inflationary pressure impacted its twenty-something customers.

       The company, which also appointed a new chair and chief executive, said it expected revenue to grow by 4% to 7% in the year to end-August, with adjusted pretax profit coming in between 20 million and 60 million pounds ($24-$73 million).

       Analysts had expected profit of 83 million pounds, according to a consensus compiled by Refinitiv.

       Chief Operating Officer Mat Dunn said ASOS had noted at its half-year results in April that the impact of inflationary pressures was yet to be felt by its customers.

       "What is now clear, based on the significant increase in returns rates that we have seen, is that this inflationary pressure is increasingly impacting our customers shopping behaviour," he said, adding that it was too early to know how long this would continue.

       ASOS said it had appointed Jose Antonio Ramos Calamonte, currently chief commercial officer, as chief executive, and non-executive director Jorgen Lindemann as chair. - Reuters