Westfield US Operations Escapes Sandy Wrath

Westfield Group said its shopping centers in the United States have escaped major damage from Hurricane Sandy, which hit the East Coast a few days ago.

Joint chief executives Steven and Peter Lowy said they are thankful that the company’s 47 stores in the US weren’t damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The two said the team did a great job of opening the stores 12 hours after the storm passed.

Westfield has several stores in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, just three of the areas affected by the storm.

Although the US operations brought it good news, Westfield Group’s Australian business is not all that great. The company said Australian sales are sluggish.

Westfield also announced its latest quarterly trading update. Data showed that its specialty retail sales growth in Australia was about 1.2 percent while it’s 1.8 percent in New Zealand. The period covers 12 months to September 30.

Westfield, however, said that even though the Australia operations are sluggish, its centers are still 99.5 percent leased.

The company also said new developments would begin next year. About $1.5 billion is expected to be invested on the new developments.