Paris-listed European retail specialist Klépierre has upgraded its full-year forecast after lifting net rental income (NRI) at its European shopping centres by 2.7% over the first six months of the year.
'During this first half of the year, we continued to deliver strong cash flow growth, significantly exceeding our initial forecast, as we leveraged improved economic conditions in Europe with the highest level of consumer confidence in a decade,' CEO Jean-Marc Jestin said in a press release highlighting the first-half earnings.
Rental income grew across all the regions in which Klépierre is active, with Scandinavia and Iberia generating the highest increases, of 4.2% and 4.8% respectively. Overall net rental income rose to €527 mln over the six-month period, thanks also to additional NRI from the acquisition of Nueva Condomina in Murcia, Spain and the opening of two extensions at Hoog Catharijne in the Netherlands and Val d'Europe in France.
France continues to account for the highest percentage of the company's European portfolio, or 36% of total NRI, followed by Italy with 17%, Scandinavia (16%), Iberia (9.5%), CEE & Turkey (10%), the Netherlands (4%) and Germany (4%).
Retailer sales continued to rise over the first half thanks to improved macro-economic conditoins and favourable weather, the company said. On a like-for-like portfolio basis, retailer sales at Klépierre's shopping malls rose by 1.8% in the second quarter compared to 0.8% in the first three months of the year.
On a geographical basis, CEE and Turkey posted the strongest results - or 6.9% - with Hungary posting the best performance - or 11.6%.
The value of Klépierre’s shopping centre portfolio totalled €22.9 bn at end-June compared with €22.2 bn a year earlier. As of this date, the company's development pipeline represented €3.3 bn investments, including €0.6 bn of committed projects.
Provided that the European macro-economic context does not deviate from OECD forecasts, Klépierre now expects to generate net current cash flow per share of at least €2.45 this year, up from the €2.35-2.40 forecast earlier this year.
