European General Retail Weekly Stock Take

Research evidence excerpt

European General Retail Weekly Stock Take

J P M O R G A N Europe Equity Research

15 May 2026

European General Retail

Weekly Stock Take

The European General Retail sector was down -4%, underperforming the broader European General Retail

ACmarket, weighed by ongoing concerns on the consumer and top line outlook, Georgina Johanan, ACA

compounded in the UK by rising political uncertainty. H&M (-7%) and Inditex (- (44-20) 7134-5791

6%) were the worst performers. The former moved lower despite support from family georgina.s.johanan@jpmorgan.com

buying (please reach out if you would like our spreadsheet tracking family buying), J.P. Morgan Securities plc

dragged by growing concerns on H&M’s ability to pass through rising cost pressures Fiyin Durojaiye

to consumers. Marks & Spencer (-3%) moved down as expectations on FY 27 PBT (44-20) 3493-0455

fiyin.durojaiye@jpmorgan.com

guidance continued to drift lower ahead of next week’s results. The move down came J.P. Morgan Securities plc

despite news that the group has acquired Asos’ fully automated Lichfield DC

Shailja Maskara

(optimized for clothing ecommerce) for c.£68m – a clear positive in our view given (91-22) 6157-3318

previous plans to potentially build (we estimate that c.£300m of capex had been shailja.maskara@jpmchase.com

accounted for in mid-term guidance to support this), and also meaning that J.P. Morgan India Private Limited

efficiencies in the digital business should come through more quickly than previously

Specialist Sales contact details:anticipated. We nudged our FY 27 PBT forecast down by 1% to £940m, which we

think would be considered a reassuring result in the context of the recent Olivia Petronilho - Specialist Sales -

European Consumer

underperformance, indeed with the stock now trading on <10x PE.