Merry Hill makes £552m in six months

Merry Hill's shopping centre owner the Westfield Group has moved back into the black after ringing up profits of more than £552million in the last six months.

The Australian group, the world's largest owner of shopping centres, compared it with a loss of more than £407million a year before.

It's the first time that Westfield - which operates 119 malls in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and New Zealand - has posted a profit since the first half of 2008, which signalled the start of the global recession.

The group, with its headquarters in Sydney, gave no breakdown of its performance in the UK, except to say that sales at its Shepherd's Bush mall in London were up 17 per cent in the first half of the year and was on track to hit its target of £800million in takings this year, after being boosted by tourist numbers.

The Merry Hill complex at Brierley Hill covers 1.6 million square feet and is home to anchor stores including M & S, Primark, BHS, Debenhams and Next, as well as a new £24million food court.

The news comes as it was revealed the high street avoided a World Cup hangover in July as retail sales jumped 1.1 per cent.

The performance represented the highest month-on-month rise since February.