Australian retail property giant Westfield has posted profits of AUS$1.53 billion (£1.05 billion) in full year result published today.
The owner of several leading shopping centre in the UK & around the globe saw its net property income increase by seven per cent in the 12 months ending December 31st 2011, and a return on contributed equity of 11.4 per cent for the year.
Westfield London, the Shepherd‘s Bush based shopping centre, reported a 10.8 per cent jump in sales during 2011, reaching £980 million in total, while Westfield Stratford, which opened next to the 2012 Olympic Games site late last year, “perfomed exceptionally well” with more then 13.6 million visitors in its first 14 weeks of trading.
Westfield Group co-CEOs, Peter Lowy & Steven Lowy, commented: “2011 was a significant year for the Group. We continued to implement our strategy of increasing return on equity with the joint venturing of the £1.75bn Stratford City and the sale of Cairns (Australia) and Nottingham (UK),” the Co-CEOs 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.”
Net property income across all of Westfield‘s UK sites grew 36 per cent during the year, far outstripping its other core markets of the USA, New Zealand & Australia, and occupancy across its UK portfolio ended the year at 99 per cent.
Late last year Westfield unveiled initial plans to construct its third major shopping centre in the UK‘s Capital in Croydon, south London.
