Higher profit reported by Vegas mall owners

Thursday, July 29, 2004 | 10:49 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Simon Property Group Inc., the world's largest owner of shopping malls and owner of the Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas, Wednesday said second-quarter earnings rose 19 percent because of higher rents and acquisitions.

Net income increased to $78.5 million, or 34 cents a share, from $66 million, or 26 cents, a year earlier, the real estate investment trust said in a statement. Revenue at the Indianapolis-based company rose 8.2 percent to $601.6 million.

Simon in June agreed to buy Chelsea Property Group Inc., the biggest U.S. owner of factory-outlet shopping centers.

In Las Vegas, Chelsea and Simon are partners in the 435,000-square-foot Las Vegas Premium Outlets, an outlet mall in downtown Las Vegas. Chelsea also owns the 477,000-square-foot Las Vegas Outlet Center, formerly called Belz Factory Outlet World.

Chelsea on Wednesday reported a profit of $27.5 million or 60 cents per share for the second quarter, up from $24.7 million or 56 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue for the Roseland, N.J., company grew almost 12 percent to $96.8 million.

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