Retailer Asos to create 1,500 UK jobs over three years

British online fashion retailer Asos plans to add 1,500 new jobs at its London headquarters and invest £40 million ($50 million) to renovate its building in Camden, North London. It said it would increase its London workforce by 60% over the next three years from the current 2,500.

The new jobs in technology, marketing and retail follow announcements from Facebook and Google in the last month that they plan to invest in Britain.

The chief executive of Asos, which has annual sales of more than £1 billion ($1.3 billion), said the Brexit vote had not featured in the company's thinking. "The decision today is nothing to do with Brexit," Nick Beighton said in an interview on Monday. "These plans had been put together pre-June 23."

In recent months, Britain's tech sector has proved more resilient in the face of the upcoming EU exit than other industries such as financial services, where banks including Goldman Sachs and Citi are said to be considering shifting some jobs abroad due to Brexit.

For tech executives, London's talent pool and creative culture have convinced them of the city's importance whether Britain is in the EU or not.

"Asos is a mixture of fashion, technology, creative and design capability all in one place. There are very few places where you get that hotspot of those talents in one place so London's very good for that," said Beighton.

Asos has benefitted from the devaluation of the pound since the Brexit vote as more than half of its sales are made outside Britain.