Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Q1 tenant sales up, US flagships strong but regional malls are weaker

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 26, 2019

French shopping centres giant Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, which owns two of London’s largest malls, said tenants at its European properties performed well in Q1, even though the calendar shift of a late Easter worked against them as Easter-related sales fell into Q2 this time.

It two London locations were among the strongest contributors to the results, easing earlier fears about the integration of the Westfield operation into Unibail-Rodamco.

The French firm took over the international Westfield operation last year in a $25bn/£18.5bn deal after the Australian company had seen its US properties underperforming.

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So what happened in Q1? Tenant sales at its European shopping centres increased by 4.3%, and by 4.8% in its flagship centres. Footfall was up 2.4% so it’s clear that sales outstripped visitor traffic growth.

Europe’s biggest malls landlord cited the Nordics, the UK, central Europe and France as its star performers with rises of 14.8%, 8.5%, 5.3% and 3.4% respectively.

In the US, it said specialty sales per sq ft were up by 5.3% to March 31, and by 10.7% on a trailing 12-month basis, with flagships up by 5.5% and 12.1%, respectively. Total tenant sales on a trailing 12-month basis increased by 4.7%, of which it saw an 8.3% rise for the flagships but a 2.8% drop for the regional malls.

The company also confirmed its adjusted recurring earnings per share guidance for this year at €11.80 to €12. The company also said it has completed €3.1bn of disposals since June, with an average premium above book value of 7.2%.