S.C. Portfolio – Performance Snapshot Q4 2015

“Growth in Footfall and Retail Sales during Q4 despite Inclement Weather”

Our last quarterly update (Q3 2015) noted that the prospects in the run up to Christmas 2015 were very positive and now looking back we can report that the year finished out even better than expected.

The Bannon Shopping Centre Portfolio continued to perform strongly during Q4 2015 with footfall growth of 1.5%. As a result footfall for the entire year finished up 1.6%. This is despite some extreme weather conditions during November and December which had an impact on footfall, particularly in our regional locations.

Despite the prevailing weather conditions retail sales for Q4 grew by 11.5%. This is off the back of growth in Q1, Q2 & Q3, leading to total growth for the year of 8.8%. The star performers in Q4 2015 were ladies fashion and footwear.

A number of retailers experienced year on year growth of 20%-30% during the month of December.

Ray Geraghty, Associate Director within the Property Management Department at Bannon noted that the comparison between the growth in footfall and the growth in retail sales is very interesting. The fact of the matter is that consumer sentiment is at its highest level since mid-2008 and this is impacting positively on people’s propensity to spend. In summary, 2015 finished on a very positive note and the outlook for 2016 is no different.

At present Bannon manage over 4 million square feet of retail assets with a total annual footfall of over 70 million people. The portfolio is made up of a range of retail assets, from large regional shopping centres to small local neighbourhood schemes.

“2015 started with cautious optimism but finished with a bang”