SAO PAULO, Brazil — Brazilians who once flew to Miami to buy Louis Vuitton purses and Chanel dresses are spending their weakened currency at home in a gain for luxury mall operator Iguatemi Empresa de Shopping Centers SA.

“That income stays here now, and that helps,” said Chief Executive Officer Carlos Jereissati.

Brazilians spent $1.41 billion abroad in May, a third less than a year earlier, as travel was curtailed by a real that lost 42 percent of its value against the dollar over the 12 months. Investors are flocking to Sao Paulo-based Iguatemi to take advantage, sending the shares up 9.6 percent in the past year -- while the benchmark Ibovespa is down 0.3 percent -- because they know that wealthy Brazilians still want their Gucci and Cartier goods.

"Iguatemi has been helped by the currency because it has high-end malls," Marcelo Motta, an analyst at JP Morgan Chase & Co., said in a phone interview from Sao Paulo.

Brazilians are taking fewer trips abroad and purchases that might once have been made during a shopping jaunt to New York are being made at home, Motta said. Locally, Brazilians have the added benefit of paying in installments and credit card bills aren’t subject to currency volatility.

Jereissati’s company manages two of the most upscale shopping malls in Sao Paulo, the city with largest gross domestic product in the country. Iguatemi is forecast to have a bigger increase in annual revenue in 2015 and 2016 than rivals Multiplan Empreendimentos Imobiliarios SA, BR Malls Participacoes SA and Aliansce Shopping Centers SA, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Shares Contrast 

Among the four companies, Iguatemi was the only one whose shares advanced in the past year. Multiplan, the biggest shopping mall manager in Brazil, lost 7.5 percent during that period, as BR Malls, the second biggest, fell 23 percent and Aliansce, No. 4, retreated 19 percent.

“The currency isn’t helping everyone,” Motta said.

While Multiplan has high-end shopping centers, they are located in Rio de Janeiro, an area that has suffered heavily from the fallout of dropping fuel prices and a corruption scandal at state oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA. BR Malls and Aliansce have malls spread all over the country, targeting lower-income consumers who have been hurt by the slowing Brazilian economy.

Latin America’s biggest country is heading for its worst recession in 25 years as the government cuts spending and boosts interest rates to tame inflation.

Food and Fun

Shopping centers tend to perform better than stand-alone retailers in a struggling economy since they offer not only clothes and electronics but also restaurants and leisure facilities, according to Eduardo Prado, investor relations manager at Aliansce.

“The malls are able to attract the consumer who is not traveling abroad anymore,” Prado said in a phone call from Rio de Janeiro.

Iguatemi’s restaurants, cinemas and other service tenants help boost the bottom line, according to Chief Financial Officer Cristina Betts.

“People stay and end up doing everything here -- they go to the movies, they eat out,” Betts said.

Multiplan, which is also a real estate developer, said in an e-mailed response to questions that revenue from its shopping malls increased 18 percent in the first half of 2015 from 2014. BR Malls declined to comment.

Iguatemi expects second-quarter same-store sales to rise about 7 percent, similar to the first three months of the year, according to Betts. She reiterated the company’s forecast of as much as 15 percent revenue growth and a margin of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of up to 79 percent for 2015.

Jereissati may take advantage of Iguatemi’s relative strength by expanding the company’s stakes in the malls. It generally owns about two-thirds of its projects, and may look to buy out weaker partners, he said.

“There are always talks and obviously moments like this are more propitious,” Jereissati said.

 By Christiana Sciaudone, Denyse Godoy; editors: Edward Dufner, Bruce Rule, Molly Schuetz.