Many Londoners will head to Westfield Stratford to do their Christmas shopping this month. Britain’s latest megamall only opened last autumn, yet thanks to its position next to the Olympic Park it has already become a familiar feature of the cityscape - attracting 5.5m visitors during the fortnight of the Games alone.
But Westfield Group (au:WDC), the £15.1bn Sydney-listed company behind the brand, is scarcely on the radar of investors focused on London-listed real estate plays. The same goes for its closest peers, Simon Property Group (us:SPG) and Unibail-Rodamco (fr:UL), which also develop, own and manage huge shopping centres like Westfield Stratford. That's a pity, as this global super-sector has been far more profitable for investors than its local British counterpart, and the outperformance shows every sign of persisting.
Deck the malls