Shopping centre owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has highlighted a sizeable gain in net rental income in the UK in its latest results.
The company said group-wide shopping centre NRI of €1.72bn (£1.45bn) was down by 1.6% year-on-year in 2021, but with sharp regional differences, with a 7.5% fall in continental Europe offsetting rises of almost 13% in the US and more than 26% in the UK.
URW said even when stripping out factors in the UK including lower rent relief and an insurance claim that helped to cover loss of revenue, NRI was up by 17% – the group’s best regional performance.
Pretax loss narrowed to €1bn from almost €8bn a year ago, and at group level the company said adjusted earnings per share of €6.91 were above guidance thanks to better rent collection and higher sales-based rents. Tenant sales are now close to their pre-Covid levels, the company added.
A restructuring plan for the group is continuing, with European disposals and a portfolio “streamlining” in the US helping to cut debt by €2.2bn. The company said it had completed €2.5bn of its €4bn disposal target in Europe, including offloading Solna Centrum in Sweden and a 45% stake in France’s Westfield Carré Sénart to Société Générale and BNP Paribas, the latter deal announced today.
Chief executive Jean-Marie Tritant said: “Our operational performance over the past 12 months, achieved in the extremely difficult context of Covid-19, gives us great confidence for 2022. We saw a strong recovery in tenant sales, which are now nearing pre-Covid levels. Asset values have stabilised, and occupancy levels have significantly improved.”
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