Westfield mall owner Scentre Group says its strategy to increase footfall across its retail centres has helped boost its operating performance.
In a trading update for the first 17 weeks of the year, the group said its shopping centres hosted 163 million customer visits – an increase of 20 million, or 13.7 per cent, over the corresponding period a year ago.
Scentre Group CEO, Elliott Rusanow, said: “Our focus is providing people with more reasons to visit our destinations and so far this year, we have activated more than 3300 events.
“Our business partners achieved $6.4 billion of sales in the quarter, up 14.4 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter in 2022.”
For the first four months, cash collections achieved $864 million while portfolio occupancy is 98.9 per cent as on April 30 this year.
In February, the group reported a 20.8 per cent lift in operating profit in its full-year results driven by its “proactive customer strategy”.