Strength in leisure and food bolsters Westfield

GLOBAL shopping centre giant Westfield has reported stronger growth in leisure and food sales for its third quarter.

In a trading update for the three months to September, Westfield yesterday said leisure sales in flagship stores grew 6.2 per cent globally against the same quarter last year.

But leisure category sales in regional areas only increased 0.7 per cent.

Flagship food retail sales rose 3.6 per cent for the quarter and 1.5 per cent regionally.

Fashion sales declined 2.5 per cent in regional stores, but fashion in flagship stores gained 1.3 per cent for the quarter.

Westfield owns shopping centres carrying its brand in markets other than Australia and New Zealand, while Scentre owns Westfield-branded shopping centres here and across the Tasman.

The number of stores leased in both flagship and regional areas fell for the quarter.

At Westfield’s flagship centres, 94.8 per cent of stores were leased, down from 96.4 per cent.

In the regional category, 91.1 per cent of stores were leased, down from 94.6 per cent.

Westfield securities rallied 18c, or 2.3 per cent, yesterday to close at $8.10.