Real-time Retail Round-Up: Home, ASC

Research evidence excerpt

Real-time Retail Round-Up: Home, ASC

to outperform, while Nutrition

grew +12.1% ex-Asia following the strategic pivot. Reflecting the strong start, FY26 guidance

was reiterated, and our forecasts remain unchanged (revenue +4.8%, EBITDA £100m, FCF

£38m).

Also in the Nutrition space, Glanbia released its Q1’26 trading update with Group LFL of +7.2%,•

of which Performance Nutrition LFL came in at +11.5%. FY26 EPS is now expected to be at

the upper end of the guidance range (+7-11%).

Pinewood's (Buy, PT 500p) FY25 EBITDA/PBT came in a touch ahead of expectations•

(£15.5m/£8.5m). Lookers is on track for Q4'26 completion, while Lithia US testing is underway

with c.90% of the OEM base now integrated ahead of H2'26 rollout. Existing contracts worth

£64.5m (including Lookers, Marshalls, Lithia and Japan) show a clear path to c.£50m EBITDA

from the £16m FY25 base, with only modest wins supporting confidence in the £58–62m

FY28 target.

Building merchant Howdens saw Q1 UK LFL of +2.6% (FY25: +2.6%). The RNS noted that the•

Group has ‘traded well’ thus far this year, while mindful that it is still early in the financial year

with sales H2-weighted given the Autumn peak trading period. The business remains confident

in its business model and is on track with its 2026 outlook.

Card Factory delivered FY26 revenue growth of +7.4%, though LFL store sales were broadly flat•

(-0.2%), reflecting a resilient H1 LFL (+1.3%) offset by softer footfall in H2 (-1.7%). FY adj PBT

fell -15.2% to £56m, driven by weaker store transactions during key trading periods. Excluding

the incremental contribution from the Funky Pigeon acquisition, Group sales in the first three

months of FY27 are in line YoY. The Board expects FY27 adj PBT to be in line with current

market consensus (£58.2m).