Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) — the French property giant that owns the Westfield shopping centre portfolio — has reported its first-half results with the company talking of a “strong performance”.

This was supported by “increased tenant sales and footfall, dynamic leasing activity for retail… and Retail Media revenues up 24.7% with Westfield Rise on track to deliver €75 million European 2024 net margin target”.

Its like-for-like EBITDA was up 5.8% at €1.195 billion and adjusted recurring earnings per share (AREPS) of €5.14 was in line with its guidance.

It also said €0.3 billion of disposal transactions were completed or secured despite a challenging investment market.

Looking at its numbers in more detail, tenant sales were up 4.2%, outstripping footfall that was up 2.9% year on year.

Shopping centre vacancies were at 5.5% — 3.5% in Continental Europe, 6.4% in the UK and 8.6% in the US (including 7.4% for US Flagships).

And shopping centre net rental income (NRI) of €1.065 billion was up 5.3% on a like-for-like basis.

URW said like-for-like shopping centre NRI was up by by that percentage both for the group and for Continental Europe, while it was up 8.1% in the UK and up 4.2% for US Flagships. 

As mentioned, H1 tenant sales rose 4.2% and footfall 2.9%. Within those figures, in Europe, tenant sales were up 3.9%, above core inflation of 3.3% and national sales indices of 2.2%, “demonstrating that URW centres continue gaining market share”. 

H1 also saw a strong increase in the performance of well-being sectors, with Fitness up 29%, and Health & Beauty up 12.2%, while Fashion and Food & Beverage (F&B) continued to perform strongly, up 4.4% and 4.7%, respectively. 

In the US, the Flagships’ tenant sales rise of 5.1% outperformed the US national sales index of 2.3%. US Flagships growth was driven by the performance of experience-led sectors, including Entertainment (+15.2%), F&B (+7.4%), as well as Sport (+12.6%), Fashion (+8.3%) and Health & Beauty (+6.9%). Luxury was up 5.2% and Jewellery up 14.6%. 

The group’s revenue from Retail Media and other income increased to €60.9 million from €55.6 million. This was driven by growth in Westfield Rise activity in Europe, up 24.7%. 

Rise is URW’s in-house retail media agency and is claimed to be “the first choice for brands and marketeers wanting to connect with an engaged audience, who have the desire to explore new experiences, and the intention to spend”.