(Reuters) -France’s Klepierre said on Tuesday it started seeing signs of recovery in the second quarter despite reporting a fall in revenues as its shopping mall network reopened.
The Paris-headquartered group, which owns more than 100 malls across continental Europe, said all of its stores were authorized to trade after COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns were gradually lifted in April and May.
Revenues from shopping mall rents in the second quarter rose by 48% on a quarter-on-quarter basis to 188.5 million euros ($222.94 million) but were still down 28% compared to a year ago due to longer lockdowns.
Klepierre, the main landlord for some of Europe’s biggest retailers such as Inditex, H&M and Sephora, confirmed its cash flow target for 2021 of 1.80 euros per share.
It cut its cash flow outlook in May from a previous target of 1.90 euros per share as store closures lasted longer than it had initially anticipated.
On-and-off coronavirus lockdowns over the past year have forced non-essential shops to shut for months at a time and landlords to renegotiate their rental agreements with retailers.
The company added that it was unable to estimate the potential impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the second half of the year, as the fast spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 threatens to trigger another round of lockdowns.
Klepierre reported net debt of 9.15 billion euros at the end of June and said it had enough liquidity to cover its refinancing needs until May 2024.
($1 = 0.8455 euros)
(Reporting by Silvia Recchimuzzi and Federica Mileo in GdanskEditing by Chris Reese and Paul Simao)
