CSC tries to tap Intu web retail with new name
MALL developer Capital Shopping Centres is changing its name to Intu Properties as it seeks to create a single brand for the company and branch out into online retail.
The company, which owns more than 16m square feet of shopping space valued at £7bn in some of the UK’s biggest retail destinations such as the Trafford Centre in Manchester, said yesterday it plans to change its name and stock ticker on 18 February.
It will also rename 12 of its 15 shopping centres, including the Metrocentre in Gateshead and Lakeside in Essex to incorporate the Intu name, it said in a statement.
The company, which was formed following a demerger of Liberty International in 2010, said it would invest £25m into creating the brand, launching an internet shopping website and installing WiFi in its centres by February 2014.
Many shopping centre owners have in recent months striven to handle the growing popularity of online shopping, which has been blamed for drawing shoppers away from high street shops and some shopping centres.
Intu will launch its own e-commerce website in April.
Shares in Capital Shopping Centres spiked in early trading but closed down 0.4 per cent, trailing its peers in the FTSE 100 index.