Trading levels at property firm Westfield‘s two major shopping centres in London have continued to grow during the first three months of 2012, according to a statement from the firm today.
Westfield London, based in the Shepherd‘s Bush area of the capital, saw sales at its stores increase by 2.2 per cent year-on-year in the three months to March 31st 2012, while sales in the 12 months to the start of April were up 7.1 per cent compared to the same period the previous year.
In the six months after its opened last September Westfield Stratford, based in the east of London, has managed to take £500 million in sales, which is ahead of expectations and compares well with the Shepherd‘s Bush centre which took £968 million in sales during the full-year to April.
Steven Lowry, Westfield Group Co-CEO, commented: “This year our two world class centres in London are together expected to attract around 50-60 million customer visits spending some £2 billion.”
Across Westfield‘s five UK retail centres it has 600,000 sq m (6.46 million sq ft) of gross leasable area and has 1,270 retail outlets currently in operation with 99 per cent of its total space at Westfield London leased – as of March 31st.
The Australian-based property giant posted full-year profits of over £1 billion in February thanks to strong performance from its prime sites across its home market, the US and the UK, while it also adding to its presence in Brazil by building a new major development.
By the end of the quarter the group had a total occupancy level of 97.2 per cent across its global centres and had managed to increase sales levels in all of its geographical areas year-on-year, with its 47 US sites performing best with a collective sales rise of 10.7 per cent.
Lowry added: “The first quarter of this year has been pleasing with the group‘s operations performing in line with expectations.
“Importantly, we announced a number of strategic initiatives that we expect will enhance the group‘s return on contributed equity and long term earnings growth profile.”
