Westfield ramps up expansion with launch of $2.5bn projects
AUSTRALIAN shopping centre owner Westfield is gearing up its expansion with plans to kick-off $2.5bn (£970m) of projects this year, including its £600m extension of Westfield London.
The retail giant spun off its Australian and New Zealand operations into a separate business last year to focus on its growing international business.
Westfield’s joint chief executives Peter Lowy and Steven Lowy said the benefits were already being seen in the progress being made to its $11.4bn development program.
“This year we expect to commence $2.5bn of projects, having already commenced $1.6bn of redevelopments to-date in 2015 including Century City in Los Angeles and UTC in San Diego, with the expansion at Westfield London expected to commence later this year,” they said yesterday.
Westfield posted $465.9m profits for the six months to 30 June, with no comparable figure for last year when it had yet to split from its domestic operation Scentre.
The firm said the performance of the two UK centres, Westfield London and Stratford City, “remains strong” with the centres now generating annual sales of £2.1bn from over 70m annual customer visits.