Shopping giant Westfield Group has revealed lacklustre figures across its Australian operations for the first quarter of 2013, citing a dud Easter break and tough retail climate for the standstill.
The figures, for the three months to March 31, saw comparable specialty retail sales up 0.3 per cent in Australia, despite retail portfolios in leased at 99.5 per cent.
Commenting on the results, the company said retail sales in the quarter were negatively impacted by the timing of Easter as well as 2012 being a leap year.
However, while retail conditions remain subdued, the productivity of the portfolio remains high at $9,863 per square metre (“psm”), with continuing demand for space from both domestic and international retailers.
Average specialty rent for the Australian / New Zealand portfolio grew by 2.4 per cent from March 2012 with average rent in Australia now at $1,522 psm and New Zealand at NZ$1,127 psm.
In Australia, for the three months, over 380 leasing deals were completed. Excluding projects, this represented 2.2 per cent of specialty area, which were completed at rents 5.1 per cent lower than expiring rents.
For the 12 months to March, however, comparable specialty retail sales also slumped, up just 0.1 per cent in Australia and down 1.3 per cent in New Zealand, compared a rise of 5.2 per cent in the United States.
Going forward, the Westfield Group said work continues to progress well on the $2.0 billion of projects now under construction, with the group reconfirming its 2013 forecast for FFO of 66.5 cents per security. This forecast assumes no material change in foreign currency exchange rates.
Westfield's distribution forecast for the 2013 year is 51.0 cents per security.
Overall, Westfield Group's global portfolio comprises 100 shopping centres in four countries with around 22,000 retail shops, 1.1 billion annual customer visits and over $40 billion in annual retail sales.