Storage firm Safestore posts jump in profit, driven by UK
Safestore, the self-storage firm, this morning reported strong growth in profit for the first half of the year, and forecasts full-year earnings at the top end of the guidance range.
Group revenue was up 11.1 per cent and like-for-like sales were up 8.3 per cent, with a 13.9 per cent surge in UK sales.
Safestore posted a pretax profit of £167.3m in the six months to April 30, up from £99.7m in the same period last year. The London-listed self-storage group said this profit growth was driven mainly by investment gains.
Occupancy increased by 10.8 percentage points, reaching 82.3 per cent. However, like-for-like average storage rates dipped slightly by 1.0 per cent during the six months ending April 30.
The UK – where Safestore has recently opened sites in Carshalton, Sheffield and Gateshead – performed “excellently”, with like-for-like average occupancy growing by 12.2 per cent in the period.
“I am pleased to report a very strong performance in the first six months of the year with trading momentum accelerating in the second quarter driven by the strength of our UK performance combined with continued robust results from our French and Spanish businesses,” said chief executive officer Frederic Vecchioli.
“The accelerating momentum in our second quarter performance gives me confidence in relation to the outlook for the full year and I anticipate that the business should deliver Adjusted Diluted EPRA Earnings per Share7 for 2020/21 at least at the top end of our previous guidance of 37p to 38p, which would represent growth of at least 26% compared to the prior year,” he added.