Footfall holding up, says Trafford Centre owner Intu

SHOPPING centres group Intu Properties said it is beating the national average for footfall and attracting more retailers.

Intu, formerly Capital Shopping Centres, owns the Trafford Centre and half of the Arndale in Manchester. Manchester’s Peel Group holds around 20% of the business which also operates 14 other retail centres.

In first quarter figures covering the period from January to May, the group said footfall was 1% lower than a year ago, although this outperformed the national average of a 4% decline.

Occupancy stands at 95%, down 1%, since December due to the expiry of seasonal lettings, but the same as March 2012. Intu signed 33 new long term leases in the quarter representing £8m of passing rent.

It said it was investing £8m in the fibre optic network at its centres which will involve the launch of free wifi at the Trafford Centre and Lakeside in Essex.

Intu is planning £1bn of developments and “major extensions” over the next 10 years to assets such as the Trafford Centre where the first phase of a 40,000 sq ft flagship Next store will open next March, and a Sealife attraction should open in June.

Chief executive David Fischel said: “In the first quarter of 2013 we have launched the first UK nationwide prime shopping centre brand, acquired a major asset with considerable growth potential funded by an equity placing and refinanced a third of our debt to achieve a significantly extended maturity profile.

“Although the UK retail environment remains difficult we have strong momentum across the business, with the roll out of our digitally integrated customer experience and our £1bn pipeline of development projects as we position each of our centres for medium term value creation.”

In the year to December revenue was up 2% to £525m while pre-tax profits jumped from £33.6m to £158.6m.