Westfield kickstarts new projects in the UK as retail sales increase May 15, 2014 WESTFIELD said shoppers continued to make a beeline for its shopping centres in the first quarter, with the Australian retail giant reporting a solid performance across its two UK sites. Speciality sales at Westfield London and Stratford City rose by 1.6 per cent to £828 per square feet in the three months to 31 March, [...]
Mothercare back at the table with its lenders over debt pile May 5, 2014 MOTHERCARE is in talks with its lenders to renegotiate the terms of its banking covenants just seven months after securing a £90m refinancing deal. The mother and baby products retailer has asked its banks HSBC and Barclays for more headroom to help it invest in opening new stores as it seeks to turn around its [...]
Focus on… Stratford: Stratford’s racing to the finish line April 24, 2014 EVERYONE knows that the Olympic Games were held in Stratford, east London, nearly two years ago, but few people know it for much else. It’s true that, since the opening of Westfield Stratford City, millions of people go there to shop – but how many are looking to live there? Despite the pre-Olympics hype, house [...]
Henderson TIAA-CREF merger sealed April 1, 2014 Henderson Global Investors, the fund giant behind Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, has completed its merger with US Teachers’ asset manager TIAA-CREF to create one of the world’s biggest property investment management firms. The new company TIAA Henderson Real Estate, which launched yesterday combines Henderson’s £11bn European and Asia Pacific property business with TIAA-CREF’s European [...]
Actual Experience prepares a £17m London public offering January 12, 2014 ANALYTICS firm Actual Experience Limited is planning an initial public offering (IPO) on London’s Alternative Investment Market at the end of the month that is set to value the company at £17m. Actual Experience (AE) works with over 40 blue-chip clients including Cisco, Ofcom and Accenture to improve the experience of staff and customers using [...]
Foyles narrowly grows at Christmas January 9, 2014 Bookshop chain Foyles reported a 0.4 per cent increase in December like-for-like sales, helped by Morrissey’s new autobiography and sales of Alice Munro’s collections after her Nobel Prize for literature. The firm said its Westfield Stratford branch was doing particularly well, though the Crossrail construction work is continuing to hit footfall at Charing Cross Road.
London’s Westfield shopping malls see annual sales of £1.9bn November 13, 2013 THE TWO London Westfield shopping centres have seen “solid performances” for the year, their Australian owner said yesterday. Sales at Westfield London by Shepherd’s Bush and Stratford City were up 1.9 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively in the 12 months to September, compared to the previous year, global shopping centre giant Westfield Group [...]
Westfield turns five years old October 29, 2013 WESTFIELD London is celebrating its fifth birthday today having racked up £4bn in retail sales and 130m visitors since it first opened its doors 2008. The Australian retailer recently won consent to push ahead with £1bn plans to extend the shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush, with John Lewis understood to be close to agreeing to [...]
Westfield London plans rent rises as sales continue to grow at malls August 29, 2013 RETAILERS at the Shepherd’s Bush branch of London mall Westfield are facing rent rises, after its owner posted strong sales growth for the first six months of 2013. Sales at Westfield London rose 1.9 per cent in the six months to the end of June, while sales at Westfield Stratford City – its east London cousin [...]
Death of the high street spells doom for retail property January 13, 2013 MORE than one in ten shops in Britain now stand empty. And the situation, the worst it has been in recent years, is unlikely to get better. Gone are the days when consumers spent like lottery winners, and investors could see any high street shop with a good covenant (and upwards-only rent reviews) as the [...]