Table of contents
Executive summary: Long-term leaders in Global Retail & Apparel 4
Six companies stand out as well positioned to sustain superior returns on capital 8
Superior returns are the key to alpha generation 10
Return trends vary across Retail & Apparel stocks; we assess three groups separately 15
Rewards for industry leaders are growing 19
Structural trends will drive further bifurcation in performance 20
Market structure, market position and brands drive returns on capital 40
Degree of consolidation in main geographic market (Defensive and Local Discretionary) 42
Exposure to growth in the number of wealthy consumers (Global Discretionary) 45
Market share and focus in main geographic market (Defensive & Local Discretionary) 50
Market share and focus in main product category (Global Discretionary) 53
Brand (all companies) 56
Management of ESG issues (all companies) 59
Our ESG framework – a proxy for management quality 65
Appendix: ESG scoring methodology, company snapshots and GS SUSTAIN focus list 88
Disclosures 101