Australia’s largest shopping mall owner and operator, Scentre Group has rung up a 94% lift in net profit after tax (NPAT) for the first half of the 2025 financial year (H1 FY25).
The real estate investment trust, which owns Westfield centres in Australia and New Zealand, said NPAT rose to A$788.9 million (US$552.0 million) in the six months ended 30 June 2025 from $407.2 million in the previous corresponding period (pcp).
But NPAT was inflated by an unrealised property revaluation of $177 million, a turnaround from a $119.5 million devaluation in the pcp.
Stripping out these valuation changes, funds from operations (FFO) grew 3.2% to $587 million on revenue, which rose 2.9% to $1,313.8 million.
An interim distribution of 8.815 cents per stapled security, up 2.5% on H1 FY24, will be paid on 29 August to security holders registered on 15 August.
“Our focus on creating more reasons for people to spend their time at our 42 Westfield destinations in Australia and New Zealand is delivering strong operational performance,” CEO Elliott Rusanow said in an ASX announcement.
He said portfolio net operating income grew by 3.7% to $1.043 billion as average specialty rent escalations increased by 4.5%, portfolio occupancy reached the highest level since 2017 at 99.7%, and new lease spreads were 3.0%.
Customer visitations to the group’s centres had risen 3% to 340 million this year, while business partners boosted sales by 2.9% to $13.8 billion, with specialty sales up 3.9%.
“Attracting more people to our destinations has continued to drive strong demand from businesses to partner with us,” Rusanow said.
Scentre Group confirmed its FFO target of 4.3% growth to 22.75 cents per security for FY25 and upgraded H2 FY25 distribution guidance to 8.905 cents per security, 3.5% more than in the pcp.
Scentre Group (ASX: SCG) shares were trading seven cents (1.07%) higher at $4.07, at the time of writing, capitalising the company at $21.20 billion.
The group was created in the 2014 separation of Westfield Group’s shopping malls business into two, with Scentre Group owning malls in Australia and New Zealand and Westfield Corp focussing on the international operations.
