Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield took advantage of the Olympic Games this summer

Revenue from the rental of offices and convention centers increased by 21,8% and 48,3% respectively.

This is explained by the full rental of the Trinity Tower, located in the La Défense business district in the Paris region, and the rental of which "was done in phases", explains Fabrice Mouchel, financial director of this French property company.

"On the congress and exhibition part", whose turnover increased by 48% over a year, "we see the impact of the Olympic Games in the gross rental part but also in the services part" provided during these events, notes Fabrice Mouchel.

URW owns the Porte de Versailles exhibition center, where handball, table tennis and boccia events took place, the Villepinte exhibition center, where boxing matches were held, and the Bourget and Palais des Congrès sites, used by the media.

The operation of shopping centres, the group's main source of revenue, however saw a slight drop in its turnover, of 1,1% over one year, to reach 2,3 billion euros.

The group welcomes the sales momentum of retailers hosted in its centers, which increased by 4,3% compared to the first nine months of 2023, and benefit from a 2,4% increase in footfall in shopping centers. Two indicators scrutinized by the group because they make it possible to attract new tenants and increase rents.

The retail vacancy rate stands at 5,6% across all group assets, slightly below its level in the third quarter of 2023.

Revenues from "retail media", which refers to the marketing of advertising panels, commercial partnerships and data use, jumped by 9,3%.

Described as "solid" by Fabrice Mouchel, these results allow URW to clarify its annual outlook: the group expects its adjusted recurring net profit per share, its benchmark profitability indicator, for 2024 to be at the upper end of the range of 9,65 euros to 9,80 euros per share, announced at the start of the year.

In September, URW announced that the opening of its Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier complex in Germany had been postponed again, and is now scheduled for the first quarter of 2025, representing an additional cost of €100 million.

The cost of carrying out this project had already slipped by 500 million euros, and an audit was launched earlier this year to understand what led to these additional costs.