It seems Sydney based Westfield can do no wrong - in the face of dwindling consumer confidence and slumping retail sales, the company has recorded 5.5% growth this year.
Its interesting to ponder how Westfield manage to weather this storm so well. The company has a highly respectable occupancy rate of 97.3% across its portfolio, with the lowest rate being in the US where the company owns 55 centres, with a respectable occupancy rate considering the circumstances of over 92%. Australian and UK centres both have occupancies of over 99%!
Westfield seems to be defying every trend out there, with its huge cash reserves and continued plans for expansion - its just opening its first centre in London worth almost 4 billion, undertaking a huge revamp of their Century City site in LA and also significant openings and refurbishments in Australia - but is this just pride before the fall?
Refinancing and the aforementioned huge cash reserves should ensure they shouldn't run into too much trouble - but with all this large scale spending occuring in key areas with initial forecasts no doubt in a non-recession climate, you have to wonder how they will handle this. It will be interesting to see how Westfield proceed into the new year.
DS
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