Retailing Industry: April: Weather tailwinds and rising air conditioner demand

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Retailing Industry: April: Weather tailwinds and rising air conditioner demand

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Retailing Industry

April: Weather tailwinds and rising air

conditioner demand

Industry Overview

Air conditioner demand elevated ahead of the 2027 issue 19 May 2026

Based on monthly disclosures by major retailers, the sub-sector sales trends for Apr-26 Equity

were as follows (simple average): electronics volume retailers (all stores) +14.8%, Japan

department stores (all stores) +5.8%, fashion retailers (same stores) +4.1%, drugstores Retailing

(same stores) +3.8%, restaurants (same stores) +3.1%, home centers/home Arashi Nishizawa >>

fashion/furniture stores (same stores) +3.0%, general merchandisers (same stores) Research Analyst

+2.5%, supermarkets/supercenters (same stores) +0.8%, and CVS (same stores) -0.7%. BofAS+81 3 6225Japan6402

arashi.nishizawa@bofa.com

Extremely hot weather expected over the next 3-months Daisuke Aikawa >>

On May 19, the Japan Meteorological Agency released its three-month outlook (Jun-Aug). Research Analyst BofAS Japan

Temperatures are expected to be above normal in each month and across all regions. +81 3 6225 7196

Last summer was record-breaking hot, and another hot summer is expected this year. daisuke.aikawa@bofa.com

We would like to revisit how each company plans to address the extremely hot weather

and lingering summer heat.

Tour, management meetings and investor visits in NY

During the week of May 11, we visited NY, where we participated in the UNIQLO North

America tour (13 May 2026) hosted by Fast Retailing, held a BofA-hosted meeting with

ASICS North America CEO, and visited investors. North American investors were

interested in macro topics such as overall consumption trends and inbound demand,