Financial information as at March 31, 2021
• Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s (“URW” or “the Group”) Q1-2021 turnover remained strongly impacted by ongoing COVID-19 restrictions with 42 days(1) of closures vs. 13 days(1) in Q1-2020; zero days of “normal” unrestricted operations vs. 70 days in Q1-2020
• Progressive lifting of non-essential retail restrictions in the UK, Slovakia, Denmark and The Netherlands during April; however 51% of URW’s shopping centres are still effectively closed(2)
• March tenant sales(3) reached 87% of 2019 levels in the US, while Continental European countries
where non-essential retail was allowed to trade reached 76-81%; UK footfall jumped to 75% of 2019
levels during first week of reopening despite major restrictions still in place
• Successful delivery of Westfield Mall of the Netherlands: 92% pre-let(4) at opening; 70,000 visits during first weekend despite closure of F&B and Entertainment and appointment only access to
non-essential retail
• URW also announced today the sale of a 45% stake in Shopping City Süd (Vienna) and the phased
disposal of Aupark (Bratislava); upon closing URW will have completed €1.35 Bn of its planned €4 Bn European asset disposal programme
Commenting on the first quarter of 2021, Jean-Marie Tritant, Chief Executive Officer said:
“The Group’s centres were effectively closed for an average of 42 days in the first quarter, with the exception of essential retail. Combined with the ongoing closure of all Convention & Exhibition venues, the Group’s performance in the quarter was strongly impacted, and we anticipate 2021 to remain very challenging with tougher and longer restrictions impacting the Group beyond Q1. While we saw encouraging leasing activity as brands continue to choose our locations in preparation for the post COVID-19 market rebound, our overall vacancy rate did increase slightly in Q1 as a result of the lagged impact of the pandemic on retailers. We continue to partner with our tenants to navigate this environment together.
We see positive signs of a return to normality whenever restrictions are eased, thanks to pent-up consumer demand for our high quality shopping destinations. In March, sales in Spain, Austria and Sweden, where non- essential retail was allowed to trade, reached 81%, 79% and 76% of 2019 levels, respectively. Tenant sales in selected US markets where most restrictions had been removed, with the exception of capacity limits, also recovered strongly, with sales in our non-CBD Flagship centres(5) reaching 93% of 2019 levels in March and some centres even exceeding pre-COVID levels. In addition, the strong return of UK footfall, reaching 75% of 2019 levels and 1.2 million visits in the first week after reopening, despite ongoing indoor F&B and Entertainment closures, is an encouraging sign of the appetite we expect to see across all markets.
As outlined at the full year results, the varied pace of vaccination progress and the resulting recovery trajectory of each of our markets means the Group still lacks sufficient visibility to provide a full-year outlook at this time.”
Paris, Amsterdam, April 28, 2021 Press release