In the six months to June 30, net property income, in local currency terms was up eight per cent in Australia and New Zealand, up one per cent in the US and up 36 per cent in the UK. 

Joint CEO Steven Lowy said the UK result reflects the strong performance from Westfield London and the group’s increased interest in Westfield Derby. 

 
“Our operating performance during the half year was particularly pleasing, notwithstanding the current environment, with income growth and comparable specialty sales growth in each of our regions,” Lowy said.

Westfield’s global portfolio as at 30 June was 96.7 per cent leased, with the US portfolio at 92.0 per cent, the UK at 98.5 per cent and Australia-NZ at over 99.5 per cent.

In the US, comparable specialty retail sales for the six months were up six per cent, continuing the strong trend in sales last year, he said.

In Australia, comparable specialty retail sales were up 1.8 per cent and in NZ up one per cent.

At Westfield London, sales rose about 20 per cent and the centre is on track to achieve annual sales of almost £1 billion in 2011.

During the half year, Westfield continued the expansion of its online internet strategy with the launch of the westfield.com.au transactional site, which is now leased to over 140 retailers.

“We are embracing digital technology, including the use of the internet, mobile and social media, with a major focus on driving sales into our shopping centres by providing continuous information about retailers, their products and offers to our consumers. With the launch of our transactional website in Australia, we are able to work with retailers in both their physical and online retail strategies,” Lowy said. 

 
Steven and co-CEO Peter Lowy said Wednesday’s announcement is consistent with the company’s full year earnings and distribution forecasts, and demonstrates the resilience of the business and the continuing improvement of our operating platform.

They said the result was driven by net property income increasing six per cent during the half year and a 50 per cent increase in the group’s management and development income.

Return on contributed equity was 11.4%, on an annualised basis, for the period.

“We recently announced a number of new opportunities including the World Trade Center in New York, the acquisition of a strategic development site in Milan and our entry into Brazil. We have been active in implementing our strategic plan of redeploying capital into high return opportunities,” the brothers said in a statement.

“Our investment into these opportunities is more than funded by the $2.7 billion of proceeds from the Stratford and Sydney joint ventures. We continue to look at attractive development and acquisition opportunities globally, and are well placed to continue to deliver sustainable earnings growth.”

With the recent announcement of the entry into Brazil, WDC’s portfolio will now include 124 shopping centres in five countries with assets under management of $59.6 billion. At 30 June 2011, WDC had total assets of $37.2 billion, a gearing ratio of 36.1% (pro forma) and available liquidity of $3.5 billion. 

 
The brothers said the company remains focused on investing in shopping centres with strong franchise characteristics that are resilient through economic cycles, and achieve high levels of sales productivity and profitability for our retailers. 

“We are confident in the future of the group’s business model and we continue to execute our strategy by redeploying capital in order to deliver sustainable earnings growth and higher return on equity,” they said.

Westfield Group currently has $4.5 billion of projects are under construction, with Westfield’s share being $3.6 billion. Its cost to complete these projects over the next 18 months is approximately $900 million. 

“Excellent construction and leasing progress continues at Stratford City, adjacent to the site of the London 2012 Olympics. Currently 95 per cent of the retail area is either leased or committed and the centre will open next month on September 13,” the company said in a media statement.

“We are extremely pleased at how well the Stratford project has leased up. We have assembled an exceptional tenancy mix which has more than exceeded our vision, particularly for fashion, food, entertainment and leisure, and it will be the next chapter in retail development for London,” Steven Lowy said. 

Excellent progress has also continued at Westfield Sydney with its second stage retail opening in April. This included the successful opening of Australia’s first Zara store and, more recently, the flagship stores of Prada, Miu Miu and Zegna. 

During the half year, Westfield commenced work on $570 million of new projects including the $320 redevelopment of Fountain Gate in Australia and $250 million of smaller projects across the US, UK and Australia. Total new project commencements for 2011 are expected to be between $750 million and $1 billion. 

 
As a result of the group’s Milan and World Trade Centre opportunities, Westfield’s identified pipeline of future development work has increased to approximately $11 billion.