Westfield owner Unibail 9-month turnover rises after asset sales

By Jesus Calero

(Reuters) -Shopping mall owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield on Thursday posted a nearly 12% increase in like-for-like turnover for the first nine months of the year and nudged up its full-year estimate for adjusted recurring earnings per share (AREPS).

The group, whose properties include Westfield shopping centres, Forum des Halles in Paris and La Vaguada in Madrid, said it now expects full-year AREPS of at least 9.50 euros ($10.00). It had previously indicated the upper end of a 9.30-9.50 euro range.

The group increased its like-for-like Shopping Centres Gross Rental Income by 2.1%, driven by recent sales such as the Polygone Riviera shopping centre in France and Westfield Valencia Town Center in Spain.

"We made further deleveraging progress with asset sales in the US and Europe, and continue to benefit from a low and controlled cost of debt, and over 36 months of liquidity," Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marie Tritant said in a statement.

The company has completed 90% of its 4.0 billion euro European asset disposal programme, getting proceeds of 3.6 billion euros, it said.

The company's tenant sales increased 7.9% compared to a year ago, when tenant sales exceeded pre-pandemic levels after two years of on-off COVID restrictions.

However J.P. Morgan said in a note that URW faced a slowdown in tenant sales growth in the first half of the year, as it came up against tougher year-ago comparisons, despite operations proceeding steadily in the first nine months of 2023.

Mall operator Klepierre on Friday reported strong gains in rental income and footfall, despite looming macroeconomic concerns, which were previously highlighted by J.P. Morgan.

($1 = 0.9497 euros)

(Reporting by Jesus Calero; Editing by Richard Chang and Sharon Singleton)