Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield confirms its healthy cash position as more stores close

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 19, 2020

As concerns around the cash flow positions of some shopping mall landlords mount, on Thursday Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) confirmed its “strong liquidity position”.

It had said on Monday that restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus have been limiting its operations in several of its markets, and since then, further restrictions have been added in France and Germany. Additionally, the group’s US centres will also be substantially closed for the time being. 

On Thursday it said that “the duration and extent of the situation and its impact on the group’s earnings remain uncertain”.

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But this isn't likely to mean that it would run out of cash. It explained that it has taken “all precautionary measures needed to ensure its access to liquidity [and] now has €10.2 billion in cash on hand and undrawn credit lines, which provides it with the liquidity needed to cover all expected funding needs, even under an extreme ‘stress test’ scenario”.

It has also been working to actively reduce non-staff expenses, defer non-essential capital expenditure and make use of any relevant facilities or arrangements provided by the various national authorities to assist companies through the crisis. 

And it ended on an upbeat note saying “the group is already prepared to increase the scope of these measures if the crisis were to persist for an extended period”.