Shares of Scentre Group Ltd (ASX: SCG) are trading slightly higher today after the shopping centre operator released its earnings results for the six-months ended 31 December, 2014.
So What: Scentre Group was created in 2014 as a result of the global restructure of the Westfield brand. While Westfield's global operations are now controlled by Westfield Corp Ltd (ASX: WFD), Scentre Group is home to the brand's Australian and New Zealand shopping centres.
Total Funds From Operations (FFO) and distributions per security were both in line with guidance the company provided at the end of the third quarter. FFO, which measures the company's operating performance, hit $578 million for the six-months equating to 10.88 cents per share, with a distribution of 10.2 cents per security announced for the period. For the 2015 financial year, Scentre Group expects FFO to hit 22.5 cents per security with a distribution of 20.9 cents.
The company said that at 31 December 2014, its portfolio remained more than 99.5% leased and that the high-quality shopping centres in its portfolio had delivered excellent sales productivity.
It said: "Scentre Group's strategy is to own interests in the highest quality regional shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand. We will invest capital into our centres to ensure that we continue to provide extraordinary retail spaces for our retailers and shoppers. We believe the portfolio will generate strong long term growth and risk adjusted returns."
Now What: Although there was an enormous level of controversy surrounding the restructure last year, there's no denying that the move has helped unlock substantial shareholder value thus far. Since the split, both stocks have handily outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) and could continue to do so over the coming years as consumer confidence returns to the market.
