Food and mobile phones boost mall sales

Mobile phone sales, supermarkets and a turnaround in the performance of discount department stores all helped to underpin the half-year results for the Australian retail landlords Federation Centre and Charter Hall Retail REIT.

Both landlords own shopping centres dominated by food retailers with an array of speciality stores and some DDS, throughout the country. They said new acquisitions and mall redevelopments would continue in the coming months.

The two groups reaffirmed the full-year results were positive as lower petrol prices and the low interest rates boosted consumer spending.