Australia's Westfield posts $1.6 bln annual profit

Australian shopping mall giant Westfield Group posted a full-year net profit of Aus$1.53 billion (US$1.64 billion), a 37.6 percent increase on the previous year. Westfield Group co-chief executives Peter Lowy and Steven Lowy said the result was in the upper end of their earnings forecast for the group, which has 118 shopping centres in five countries. The company said revenues reached Aus$4.0 billion for the year ended December 31, 2011 -- a 10.5 percent jump on the previous 12-month period. "Importantly, we expanded our business platform into strategic new markets with our entry into Brazil as well as our investment in major iconic retail development projects in Milan and at the World Trade Center in New York," they said. The chief executives, who are brothers, said they were focused on investing the group's capital in "highly productive shopping centres with strong franchise characteristics that are resilient through economic cycles." "We are confident in the future of the Group's business model and opportunities for growth," they said. The company announced a US$4.8 billion joint venture with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board over a dozen assets now owned by Westfield in the United States, and said it will sell its interests in three non-core shopping centres in Britain for £159 million (US$250 million). Despite a retail slump in Australia, Westfield said its portfolio was more than 99.5 percent leased in the country and in New Zealand, with the US portfolio leased at 93.1 percent and the United Kingdom at 99.0 percent. During the year, Westfield opened east London's Stratford City, a development the company said was the largest urban shopping centre in Europe, adjacent to the London 2012 Olympic venue.