Scentre Group reaffirms guidance on strong first half

The news: Scentre Group has reaffirmed full-year guidance after a strong first-half-to-date at its Westfield shopping centres as a result of increases in customer visits and retail partner sales.

The numbers: Customer visitor numbers for the 18 weeks to 4 May were up 2.3% from a year ago to 179 million. Store sales for the three months to 31 March were up 2.8% to $6.8 billion.

The context: Chief executive Elliott Rusanow said the group continued to see strong demand from businesses to lease space at its malls, with portfolio occupancy at 99.6% at March-end and average specialty rent escalations of 4.4% during the quarter.

The group reaffirmed guidance for funds from operations per security to grow 4.3% in 2025, while distributions are expected to increase 2.5% to 17.63 cents per security.