Prior to the EU vote, fears of Brexit undermined consumer confidence and spending patterns, and sterling weakened against the US$ and the €. Wider fears for employment, consumer spending and economic slow-down had hit Retail stocks significantly (-10% rel. YTD). Friday’s surprise Brexit vote has impacted Sterling again and will further knock confidence and spending too. The sector came under material further pressure as a result, falling 10% on the day vs the Allshare’s 3%. As noted on Friday, there are 4 stocks in our universe where forecasts are favourably exposed to FX upside risk (BCA, Boohoo, Swallowfield, Walker Greenbank), 5 stocks which we have downgraded (Debenhams, Findel, Halfords, N Brown, Howden Joinery) with the remainder left unchanged including Motor Retailers.
