Oct 27 (Reuters) - Westfield shopping mall owner Unibail said on Wednesday a pick up in economic activity was helping to improve rent collections and reduce vacancy levels, giving it the confidence to provide financial guidance for this year.

"Since the reopening of all of our centres and despite some ongoing restrictions, we have seen a marked recovery in activity in the third quarter," Chief Executive Jean-Marie Tritant said in a statement.

The company, which had previously not given guidance due to the pandemic, said it expected adjusted recurring earnings per share for the full year to reach at least 6.75 euros ($7.83), slightly above 2020 levels, adjusted for disposals.

After months of on-and-off restrictions which kept many shopping centres shut across Europe in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19, Unibail now expects the fourth quarter to reflect a continued return to "more normal levels of pre-COVID activity", Tritant added.

The group, which counts Forum des Halles in Paris and Madrid's La Vaguada among its assets, noted its rent collection rose to 88% and overall vacancy levels improved to 7.9% for the third quarter.

Unibail, which suspended dividend payments for 2020, 2021 and 2022 and said it would trim its U.S. presence, said it had completed 1.8 billion euros of disposals in Europe out of the 4 billion euros it targets by the end of 2022.

Unibail reported rental income of 53.3 million euros for the first nine months of the year, down 23.3% from a year ago.

On Friday, the group's main rival Klepierre raised its full-year guidance as retailer sales and rent collection in the third quarter neared pre-pandemic levels.

($1 = 0.8619 euros) (Reporting by Lucinda Langlands-Perry and Juliette Portala Editing by Mark Potter, Kirsten Donovan)