Steinhoff / Matalan / Takko

Pepco’s H1 results had been previously sketched out, but the report contains some colour on how trading is going for the discounter. Unsurprisingly the report is very upbeat and management have raised guidance for store openings in H222 (to September). Basket sizes in Italy for instance seem to exceed those of CEE by 85% and even the Spanish stores, open only for one year now, appear to be trading ahead of budget. The strategy for now is to open Poundlad offshoots (Dealz) in CEE and Pepco stores in Western Europe. As per long-held thesis, the discount sector will be doing reasonably well in this environment.