CSC becomes Intu Properties
Capital Shopping Centres Group changed its name on Monday to Intu Properties, triggering a £25m rebrand and expansion of online retail services.
The Trafford Centre owner and Arndale co-owner began trading shares under the new name, complete with new London Stock Exchange code, INTU, previously CSCG, this morning.
The company said in a regulatory news announcement to the stock market: "We announced last month our innovative plan to give our shopping centres a unified identity, intu, with a unique digital presence including a transactional website.
"We are investing £25m in our teams and new digital infrastructure over three years to roll out intu's visual identity and our World Class Service programme at our 12 directly-managed centres; install our own future-proofed, centre-wide, high capacity fibre optic cabling and wifi networks; launch, in the spring of this year, intu.co.uk, a transactional, fashion-focused, mobile-enabled website with a curated range of products from our retailers."
The statement went on: "Our aim is to transform our digital proposition and for intu.co.uk to provide the UK's leading digital shopping centre experience. We have the scale and focus, through our operations and research, to understand what a customer wants, a seamless multi-channel experience, and to deliver it.
"Our objective from these initiatives is to generate a stronger relationship with consumers, delivering more frequent visits, longer dwell time and increased spend. This will in turn enhance our proposition to retailers and open new sources of income."
CSC bought the Trafford Centre from Peel in January 2011 for £1.6bn in cash, debt and shares. Peel chairman John Whittaker is deputy chairman of Intu Properties and its largest shareholder with 23%.
