Westfield owner URW sees revenues rise as tenant sales grow

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, owner of the Westfield Shopping Centre franchise, has reported a 8.5% increase in net rental income to £985 million (€1.15 billion) for the first half of 2023.

Net rental income lifted by 12.5% in Continental Europe, 9.4% in the UK and 1.4% for US flagships.

The total number of leasing deals signed was 1,180, up 11% against H1 2022. This reflects the "effectiveness of the group’s leasing strategy and the strong appeal for URW assets".

Tenant sales increased 9.2%, including 11.8% in Continental Europe, 6.8% in the UK and 4.6% in the US.

Sport, Health & Beauty and Fashion continued to perform "strongly", with sales up 35.7%, 17.7% and 9.7% respectively.

Sales continued to outperform footfall, reflecting the "productive nature of visitors to URW’s centres". Footfall grew 7.3%, including 8.2% in Continental Europe, 9.2% in the UK and 2.7% in the US .

Vacancy for Shopping Centres decreased to 6.3%, down from 6.5% in FY22 and 6.9% in H1 2022, driven by the group’s "proactive" leasing approach. In the UK, vacancy decreased from 9.4% in December 2022 to 8.5% in June 2023 thanks to "strong" leasing activity.

Jean-Marie Tritant, CEO of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, 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. Our sales also continued to outperform the market thanks to the location of our assets, the quality of our customer base and our diversified retail mix.

"Our performance in the first half builds on the strong platform we established in 2022, and we are confident this momentum will continue throughout 2023."