Scentre Group says increased shopping centre visitation, occupancy and rents all underpinned a 17.5 per cent boost in profit for the six months to June 30, to $540.5 million. 

The listed shopping centre operator, which has 42 Westfield Living Centres, hosted more than 277 million customer visits during the period and is on track to achieve 500 million this calendar year. 

Tennants achieved more than $12 billion of sales during the half year, which was $800 million more than during the first half of Covid-impacted 2021 and $500 million more than during the first half of 2019, in the pre-pandemic era.

“Our team has continued to drive our business and deliver strong operational performance,” said Scentre Group CEO Peter Allen. 

“We have increased portfolio occupancy to 98.8%, up 30bps since 30 June 2021. During the first six months, we completed 1579 lease deals. These lease deals included 585 new merchants of which 108 brands are new to the portfolio.”

Allen said Scentre Group had increased average rents by $5 per square metre across the entire portfolio since June 30 last year to $827 per square metre. “Average specialty rent escalations were 5.6 per cent for the six months to June 30. This reflects the value of our standard lease structure with specialty leases having average annual rent escalations of CPI + 2 per cent.”

Meanwhile, the company has boosted its Westfield Plus membership program by 550,000 to 2.75 million since January.