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| Westfield profits rise in every market |
   
Posted Date: 15/02/2012
By Inside Retail
Westfield Group has reported a full year net profit of $1.53 billion - up 37.6 per cent on the previous year.
For the full year to December 31, 2011,, net property income, in local currency terms was up eight per cent in Australia / New Zealand, up one per cent in the challenging US market and up 36 per cent in the UK.
Westfield Group Co-CEOs, Peter Lowy and Steven Lowy said they were pleased with the result, which was at the upper end of the company’s earnings forecast range, having absorbed the Australian dollar’s 12 per cent appreciation to the US dollar and eight per cent appreciation to the UK pound over the year.
They said the result was driven by net property income increasing seven per cent during the year, a 100 per cent increase in the group’s property management income and a 92 per cent increase in project income.
The portfolio at year end was 97.5 per cent leased, with the US portfolio at 93.1 per cent (high by US industry standards), the UK at 99 per cent and the Australian / New Zealand portfolio remaining over 99.5 per cent.
In the US, comparable specialty retail sales for the 12 months to December 2011 were up 7.1 per cent, with sales in the December quarter up 9.8 per cent.
In Australia, comparable specialty retail sales for the 12 months were up 1.5 per cent and up 1.9 per cent in New Zealand, with the strongest performance in both Australia and New Zealand being in the December quarter – up two per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively.
At Westfield London, sales for the year were over £960 million, up 10.8 per cent.
“2011 was a significant year for the group,” said the Lowy brothers in a joint statement.
“We continued to implement our strategy of increasing return on equity with the joint venturing of the £1.75 billion Stratford City and the sale of Cairns (Australia) and Nottingham (UK),” they said.
“Importantly, we expanded our business platform into strategic new markets with our entry into Brazil as well as our investment in major iconic retail development projects in Milan (Italy) and at the World Trade Center in New York.
“We continue to look at attractive development and acquisition opportunities globally, and are well placed to deliver long term sustainable earnings growth.”
WDC’s current assets under management of $61.7 billion include 118 shopping centres in five countries with around 24,300 retailers. As at December 31, WDC had total assets of $38.8 billion, a gearing ratio of 36.4 per cent (pro forma) and available liquidity of $5.3 billion.
The identified pipeline of future development work is approximately $11 billion, of which the Group’s share is between $5 billion and $6 billion.
Referring to future prospects, the pair said the company was focussed on investing the group’s capital in highly productive shopping centres with strong franchise characteristics that are resilient through economic cycles.
“We are confident in the future of the group’s business model and opportunities for growth. We will continue to appropriately manage our invested capital position, including introducing further joint ventures and dispositions of non-core assets, to deliver sustainable earnings growth and higher return on equity,” the co-CEOs said.
The company reported a record volume of leasing activity during the year, with over 5100 leases agreed covering over 960,000 sqm of retail space.
“This highlights the retailer demand for our high quality portfolio globally.” |
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 by HIS
Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting and at whose expense.
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