PARIS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Sales at Unibail-Rodamco's shopping malls in 2008 should be "in line" with those of 2007, the group's CEO said, adding that traders in its large shopping centres in France had reported no slowdown.
Guilllaume Poitrinal told Les Echos in an interview that sales in the group's larger French shopping centres increased by 1.2 percent in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period last year.
But Unibail, which owns 97 shopping centres in 14 countries, saw sales in its 22 smaller French malls fall 1.7 percent in the same period and revenue in Spain, where plunging house prices have rocked consumer confidence, were 4 percent lower, he said.
"The attraction of big shopping centres is greater in times of crisis because they offer low-cost leisure time which can be shared with family or between friends, unlike the Internet," Poitrinal said.
"We have no reason to reason to freeze any mall projects and no financing problems," he said.
(Reporting by Vanessa Walters, Editing by Matt Gil) (vanessa.(walters@reuters.com; +331 4949 5331; Reuters Messaging: vanessa.walters.reuters.com@reuters.net))