Westfield owner reports solid earnings as shopping centres show signs of recovery
The owner of London’s Westfield shopping centres today reported a 1.6 per cent bump in earnings in the first half year, with net rental income across its property portfolio reaching €1.15bn (£989bn).
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, which is headquartered in Paris, said EBITDA rose slightly by 1.6 per cent to €1.157bn (£993m).
In its shopping centre division, which includes the two London Westfield malls, net rental income (NRI) grew 2.2 per cent to €1.05bn (£909m).
Footfall across its 78 shopping centres rose seven per cent and the number of vacant shops decreased slightly, as physical retail showed signs of recovery post-pandemic.
In the UK, vacancy decreased from 9.4 per cent in December 2022 to 8.5 per cent in June 2023 thanks to strong leasing activity.
URW offices division also performed well with NRI reaching €41m (£35m) up from €36m (£30m) last year.
But NRI for its convention and exhibition centres fell from €68m (£58m) to €52 (£44m) as organised events fail to recover as quickly from the pandemic.
Jean-Marie Tritant, chief executive officer, said: “URW delivered very solid financial results in H1-2023 that demonstrate the strength of our assets and the quality of our operations and teams.
“During the half, we signed a record number of leases with an increasing proportion of long-term deals and saw a 12.5 per cent uplift in rents. Our sales continue to outperform the market thanks to the location of our assets, the quality of our customer base and our diversified retail mix.”