Unibail-Rodamco keeps full-year EPS forecast

European listed property giant Unibail-Rodamco is maintaining its full-year 2013 earnings target after reporting first-half net profit rose 10% to €499 mln.

The group confirmed its recurring EPS growth target of at least 5% for the full year after recurring earnings per share rose 5.5% to €5.21 in the first half.

Unibail-Rodamco said the earnings growth reflected a strong like-for-like performance at the group's shopping centres, a 'significant' decrease in the average cost of debt and a focus on cost control.

Net rental income from the group’s shopping centres grew 4.7% on a like-for-like basis, an outperformance of 260 bps over indexation. Unibail-Rodamco said it signed 634 leases in the first half and achieved rental uplifts on renewals and relettings of 15.6% at its large shopping malls and 13.7% for the group as a whole. The vacancy rate stood at 2.4%.

‘These results confirm the group's continued capacity to grow and outperform in a difficult macro-economic environment and the resilience of its business model, focused on large and high footfall shopping and leisure destinations in Europe's wealthiest cities,’ said CEO Christophe Cuvillier.

Net rental income from the group’s offices division was down 1.6%, a decline it attributed to the continuing fall in rental values in the Paris office market.

Unibail-Rodamco raised €2.3 bn of medium to long-term financing in the bond and bank markets in the first half and increased the average debt maturity to 5.4 years as of June 2013.

The average cost of debt for the group fell 2.9% in the first half compared to 3.4% for full-year 2012.

The gross market value of Unibail-Rodamco's assets stood at €30.5 bn at end-June, up 0.9% on the year-earlier figure as a result of rental growth. The value of the group's shopping centres grew 1.2% on a like-for-like basis, with large shopping centres up 1.5%.