The Westfield Corp Ltd (ASX: WFD) share price is up 1 per cent to $8.01 in morning trade after the eponymous shopping centre operator delivered a trading update for the quarter ending September 30, 2017.
Across its flagship malls located primarily in London, Los Angeles, and New York it lifted average store rents 9.5% year-on-year, with retail sales growth clocking in at 3.2%.
The group is continuing its pivot away from regional malls that are suffering from the shift to online shopping, with 83% of its assets under management now under flagship malls.
The theory is that the best shopping centres in the world's major cities should be generally immune from the online shift, as capital flows and foot traffic will always gravitate to the world's premier shopping locations. This is backed up by the super-strong rental occupancy rates the flagship malls are able to deliver.
Westfield also has US$3.8 billion of current residential or commercial property development projects and another US$6 billion of development projects in the pipeline. Given its track record of delivering attractive returns on invested capital over the long term, the stock may offer a reasonable mix of growth, value, and yield at today's share price.
