Crozier fashions new role as chair of online titan ASOS

Adam Crozier, the former chief executive of ITV (Frankfurt: A0BLQP - news) and Royal Mail Group, is being lined up as the next chairman of Asos (LSE: ASC.L - news) , the British online fashion sensation.

Sky News has learnt that Mr Crozier has been identified by AIM-listed Asos's board as the leading candidate to replace Brian McBride, its chairman since 2012.

An announcement could be made about the appointment as soon as this week, according to a person close to the company.

If confirmed, it will add the Asos role to a growing portfolio of directorships for Mr Crozier, who stepped down as chief executive last year.

Since then, he has become chairman of Whitbread (Frankfurt: WHF4.F - news) , the FTSE-100 hospitality group which is preparing to demerge its Costa Coffee division; Vue Entertainments, the cinema operator; and Stage Entertainment, the Dutch theatre producer behind the Lion King and Les Miserables.

His appointment at Asos will underline the growing maturity of the 18 year-old company, which achieved a significant milestone last November when it overtook Marks & Spencer (Frankfurt: 534418 - news) in terms of its stock market value for the first time.

Since then, Asos's shares have continued to trade higher, with the company now valued at £5.1bn, against M&S's £4.79bn.

That comparison is ironic because Mr Crozier's former boss at ITV, Archie Norman, is now the chairman of M&S.

It also underlines the diverging fortunes of bricks-and-mortar retailers and their online peers, which are not saddled by the same tax regimes and fixed cost-bases as their traditional rivals.

One source pointed out that by becoming chairman of Asos, Mr Crozier would be completing a transition from companies - such as ITV and Royal Mail (LSE: RMG.L - news) - facing disruption from digital rivals to one partly responsible for that disruption.

Sky News revealed Asos's search for a successor to Mr McBride last month.

It has become one of the most prestigious roles in the British fashion industry as a result of its stellar stock market performance.

In the food retailing sector, Ocado, a start-up that was for many years derided by high street rivals, has also proved sceptics wrong by striking a series of major deals with international grocers.

Mr McBride's departure from the Asos board will not leave him short of work.

A former boss of Amazon in the UK, he chairs Wiggle, the online bikes retailer, sits on the board of AO.com, the white goods e-commerce site, and is a senior adviser to Scottish Equity Partners, which has backed companies such as Skyscanner, the online travel group.

Asos's success has spawned a huge number of imitators, with other online fashion start-ups now joining the race to go public.

Farfetch, which is expected to be worth more than $5bn, could list in New York later this year, while the global luxury brands powerhouse LVMH recently backed a funding round by Lyst, another digital fashion platform.

The recruitment of Mr Crozier as chairman of Asos will complete a shake-up of its top team, with Nick Beighton replacing founder Nick Robertson as chief executive three years ago.

Mr Robertson remains on the company's board and continues to be a substantial shareholder.

Announcing its half-year results in January, Mr Beighton said:

"Our customer engagement is going from strength to strength and we've achieved more than a billion site visits for the first time.

"Alongside our investment in our people and our technology, we are accelerating investment in our distribution and logistics, laying the foundation for £4bn of net sales, a further step in building Asos into the world's number one destination for fashion-loving 20-somethings."

Asos could not be reached for comment on Monday.