Westfield owner URW sees rising tenant sales in H1

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) – the French property giant that owns the Westfield shopping centre portfolio – has reported its first-half results, with the company describing them as a “strong performance”.

This was supported by “increased revenue and footfall, buoyant retail leasing activity… and a 24.7% increase in Retail Media revenue, with Westfield Rise on track to deliver its 2024 European net margin target of €75 million”.

EBITDA increased by 5.8% to €1.195 billion and adjusted recurring earnings per share (AREPS) of €5.14 were in line with forecast.

It was also said that despite a challenging investment market, €0.3 billion in sales had been completed or secured.

If we look at the figures in more detail, we see that tenant sales increased by 4.2%, which is more than the number of visitors, which increased by 2.9% year-on-year.

Shopping centre vacancy rates were 5.5%, with 3.5% in continental Europe, 6.4% in the UK and 8.6% in the US (including 7.4% for US flagships).

Net rental income (NRI) from shopping centres amounted to €1.065 billion, an increase of 5.3% on a like-for-like basis.

According to URW, shopping centre NRI increased by the same percentage, both for the group and for continental Europe. In the UK, NRI increased by 8.1% and in the US by 4.2%.

As noted, tenant sales in H1 were up 4.2% and footfall was up 2.9%. Within those figures, tenant sales in Europe were up 3.9%, above core inflation of 3.3% and national sales indices of 2.2%, “showing that URW centres continue to gain market share”.

The first half of the year also saw a strong increase in the performance of the Wellbeing sectors, with Fitness up 29% and Health & Beauty up 12.2%, while Fashion and Food & Beverage (F&B) continued to perform strongly, up 4.4% and 4.7% respectively.

In the US, Flagships tenant sales growth of 5.1% exceeded the US national sales index of 2.3%. US Flagships growth was driven by the performance of experience-driven sectors including Entertainment (+15.2%), F&B (+7.4%), as well as Sports (+12.6%), Fashion (+8.3%) and Health & Beauty (+6.9%). Luxury rose 5.2% and Jewelry rose 14.6%.

Group revenue from Retail Media and other income increased from €55.6 million to €60.9 million, driven by growth in Westfield Rise activity in Europe, up 24.7%.

Rise is URW’s in-house retail media agency and is seen as “the first choice for brands and marketers who want to connect with engaged audiences who want to experience new experiences and plan to spend”.