Scentre Group has met internal forecasts for the full-year in announcing a steady lift in same-store sales.
The group said comparable specialty store sales had risen 3.6 per cent, both for the fourth quarter and the calendar year as a whole.
Scentre’s funds from operations landed at $578 million, or 10.88c a share, with a distribution of 10.2c per security for the six months to December 31. The numbers were in line with forecasts provided at the end of the third quarter.
The six-month figures relate to the creation of Scentre on June 30 last year, when the company was demerged from Westfield to house all the Westfield branded shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand.
Chief executive Peter Allen said the group had benefitted from the structure change following the controversial demerger.
“The establishment of Scentre Group has allowed management to focus exclusively on the opportunities in Australia and New Zealand,” he said.
“We will invest capital into our centres to ensure that we continue to provide extraordinary retail spaces for our retailers and shoppers.”
At the end of the full-year Scentre said its portfolio remained over 99.5 per cent leased, while comparable property net operating income across the Australian and New Zealand portfolio lifted 2.2 per cent.
“The high quality shopping centres in our portfolio have delivered excellent sales productivity, almost full occupancy and continued growth in average rents and comparable net property income in 2014,” Mr Allen said.
The company forecast funds from operations will rise 3.5 per cent to 22.5 cents per security for the 2015 full year, and tipped a distribution of 20.9c.