Le mie ricette per la real estate communityFinancial information as at March 31, 2020
• • URW reports total turnover through March 31, 2020: +1.8%.
• • The quarter was marked by the initial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, affecting primarily the Convention & Exhibition business in France and retail activity in parts of Europe.
• • As from April 20, progressive reopening has started in Germany. Austria is expected to follow on May 2, Poland on May 4, France,the Czech Republic and Denmark on May 11, and Spain between May 24 and June 3.
• • Through February 29, the Group’s tenant sales were up by +2.8%, of which +3.3% in Europe and +1.6% in the US.
Turnover
The proportionate turnover of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (“URW” or the “Group”) for the first three months of 2020 amounted to €956.6 Mn, up by +1.8%, mainly due to the property development and project management revenues, partly offset by disposals completed in 2019 and the mandated cancellation of major events in March in the Convention & Exhibition business due to COVID-19. The strong growth in the property development and project management revenues is driven by projects in the UK during the quarter.
COVID-19 had only a limited effect on the Group’s Q1 turnover as rents are billed and paid quarterly in advance in most of Europe and monthly in the US. The impact of the pandemic will be reflected as of Q2, although at this time it is too early to reliably estimate such impact on the Group’s results for 2020.
Capital expenditures and development pipeline
As from December 31, 2019, URW had revised its pipeline categorization and removed €3.2 Bn of projects. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the Group further reviewed its pipeline and announces that it will remove an additional €1.6 Bn of controlled projects, including Westfield Milano. Lastly, URW has also deferred approximately €500 Mn of discretionary capital expenditures budgeted for 2020.
Source : Company