Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Annual General Meeting of ASOS Plc for the financial year ended 31 August 2021. I'm Ian Dyson, Chair of ASOS. It's now just after 12: 00 P.M. , and I note that the necessary quorum of at least two people entitled to vote is met, and therefore I declare the meeting open. We are live streaming this meeting onto our website again this year. Firstly, just a few housekeeping matters. Can you kindly ensure that any mobile phones are on silent? Should the fire alarm sound continuously, you must leave the building. Your nearest exit from here is on the left as you exit this room. There'll be fire wardens on hand to guide you. The ASOS assembly point is at the top of Mornington Terrace.
Can I now introduce the Board, starting with Jørgen Lindemann, seated on my left, who joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director on the first of November this year and brings deep experience of leading digital-first businesses. The rest of the Board you know are from my right, Mat Dunn, our Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and Non-Executive Directors, Mai Fyfield, Eugenia Ulasewicz, and Nick Robertson. To my left is Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee, Karen Geary, and our General Counsel and Company Secretary, Anna Suchopar. Unfortunately, Luke Jensen has had to send his apologies as he's recently tested positive for COVID-19. As you know, I took over the Chair of ASOS just over a week ago when Adam Crozier stepped down after three years in the role.
ASOS is a great business with strong brands and a talented team, and I'm proud to be taking over as Chair at this important time in the company's development. As the new Chair, I have three key priorities over the next year or so. First, I'll lead the process to recruit a new CEO, the search for which is underway. Second, I'll work with Matt and the rest of the executive team to ensure we deliver against our compelling plans and so position the company in the best place possible for the transition to a new CEO. Third, we'll build the strength of the Board. The immediate priority is the appointment of a Senior Independent Director and Audit Chair to replace the role I held prior to becoming Chair, and the process for this is well advanced.
Thereafter, following the CEO appointment and acknowledging my already long tenure on the Board, I will work closely with the new Senior Independent Director and the rest of the Board on the appointment of my successor as Chair. Before we move on to the business of the meeting, I'd like to say a few words about our achievements in the past year. Despite ongoing uncertainty due to COVID-19, we saw a continued strong performance in 2021. At our full year results, we announced 13% growth in our active customer base to GBP 26.4 million. In the same period, we saw sales growth of 22%, with exceptional growth in the U.K., up 36%, and strong growth in the U.S., up 21%, which drove further increases in profits.
The acquisition of the Topshop brands in February is one of the standout moments of the year, and we're pleased with the progress of the integration, as well as the strong performance of these brands on the ASOS platform. Our strategic partnership with U.S. retailer Nordstrom is gathering pace, and we're looking forward to unveiling the first ASOS DESIGN Topshop range in 2022. Operationally, we've continued to move the business forward with further investment in infrastructure and in the customer offer. The TGR system has been implemented and embedded across the business, and we're pleased that our Lichfield fulfillment center, which we announced at the start of the calendar year, successfully opened just seven months later. Our automation plans for Lichfield and for Atlanta are on track for completion by the end of the financial year 2023.
We're also proud to launch our new Fashion with Integrity 2030 program in September with ambitious new ESG goals. Achieving these will make us a Net Zero business that embraces more circular systems and uses more sustainable and recycled materials in our products and packaging. We will continue to collaborate and engage with other brands, civil society organizations, and government to drive lasting change in this area. As we said at the full year results in October, our performance in the coming months is likely to be constrained by demand volatility and global supply chain and cost pressures that are affecting the sector as a whole. We are confident in our ability to capture the opportunities ahead and to execute our medium-term plan.
At our Capital Markets Day held last month, Matt and the executive team presented the detail behind that new medium-term plan, which targets GBP 7 billion of sales over the next three to four years. A recording of this event is available on our corporate website if you would like to watch it. Now I'll move on to the business of the meeting, and with your permission, I propose that we take the notice of meeting as read. Are there any objections? Thank you. At this meeting, we can only address matters contained in the notice. Please note that only registered shareholders, their proxies, or appointed corporate representatives are eligible to vote and speak at the meeting. The voting at this meeting will be conducted by poll as permitted by the company's articles of association, and also widely regarded as best practice, being proportionate to individual shareholdings.
I'll explain the poll procedure after taking questions on the business of the meeting. Shareholders are given the opportunity to ask questions of the board via email ahead of the meeting, but we haven't received any such questions. Before I open the floor, I'd like to briefly run through protocol for shareholder questions. Only those with a poll card have the right to ask questions and may speak at the meeting. If you received a guest card upon admission, you may only ask a question at my discretion. If you have a question on any of the resolutions, please raise your admission card. If your question is permitted, please wait to receive the microphone before speaking. When asking your question, please state clearly your name, whether you're a shareholder, proxy, or corporate representative, and where applicable, the name of the shareholder you are representing.
I'll now open the floor for questions. It doesn't appear that we have any questions, and this is the only opportunity to ask questions you'll have during the meetings. No. Okay, no questions. What I'll do now is explain the poll procedure for voting at this meeting. If you have the right to vote at this meeting, you'll have received a poll card upon admission. If you don't have this, you may not participate in the poll. If you're here as a proxy or as a corporate representative for more than one shareholder, you should have received a poll card for each shareholding you represent. If you don't have a poll card, need additional poll cards or a pen, please raise your hand now and someone will assist you. Okay.
To vote, please tick or cross the poll card in one of the spaces marked for, against, or vote withheld. A vote withheld is not a vote in law and therefore excluded when calculating the votes for or against a resolution. If you wish to only vote some of your shares on a particular resolution or you wish to split how you cast them, you should enter the number of votes being cast in the appropriate space on the poll card. Many shareholders have appointed me in advance as their proxy, and I'll vote as they have instructed. Where shareholders have granted me discretion, I shall be voting in favor of all of the resolutions on their behalf.
Shareholders who lodged proxies with the registrars by 12:00 P.M. on Friday the third of December 2021, need not complete a poll card now unless they wish to change their vote. I now formally put to the meeting each of the resolutions as set out in the notice dated 27th of October 2021. Resolutions 14 and 15 are special resolutions and require a minimum majority of 75% to be passed. For all of the other resolutions, a simple majority is sufficient. Please now complete your poll cards, remembering to fill in the details at the top of the card and to sign your name at the bottom. The poll will remain open for 15 minutes after the meeting ends. If you have any questions about completing your poll card or need any assistance, please speak to the registrars at the end of the meeting.
Registrars, please raise your hands to identify yourselves. Thank you. Once completed, please hand your poll cards to the registrars. On the screen, you'll see an indication of the final proxy voting figures. The final results will be announced to the London Stock Exchange and published on the company's website as soon as possible following the meeting. With that, on behalf of the board, thank you very much for coming, and I now declare the meeting closed. Thank you.