Register Log-in Investor Type

News

Safestore new stores power earnings uplift

Safestore to pay final dividend as stores remain open

Safestore new stores power earnings uplift – Safestore reports that, for the year ended 31 October 2018, its EPRA NAV rose from 329p to 402p, an increase of 22%. EPRA earnings per share were up 15.5% to 26.8p on the back of a 10.8% rise in revenue. This in turn was the result of higher occupancy and more available space, offset by lower average rental rates following the acquisition of Alligator and new store openings  Like-for-like revenues were +5.2% in the UK and +5.1% in Paris.The dividend was increased by 16.1% to 16.25p.

Twelve Alligator stores were acquired on 1 November 2017 for £55.9m and have now been integrated into the business. Three new stores opened in the year at London Paddington/Marble Arch, London Mitcham and Paris Poissy. Four new stores are in the pipeline with 210,000 sq ft of new space scheduled to open in London Carshalton, Birmingham Merry Hill, Paris Pontoise and Paris Magenta.

Frederic Vecchioli, Safestore’s chief executive officer, commented: “We have delivered another successful year of growth characterised by strong organic performance, efficient integration of our recent acquisitions and good performances from our recently opened new stores. The fully integrated Alligator portfolio of twelve stores, acquired at the beginning of the financial year, is performing well. We have continued to seek high quality sites to open new stores and have successfully added four new stores to the pipeline which means we plan to open new stores in London-Carshalton, Paris-Pontoise, and Birmingham-Merry Hill during 2019, and subject to planning, Paris-Magenta in 2020. Our strong balance sheet continues to provide the flexibility to target selected development and acquisition opportunities as they arise. Over the last five years, the like-for-like occupancy has increased on average by 2.7ppts per year, moving from 63.1% to 76.6%. The company is in an excellent position and, as ever, our top priority remains the significant organic growth opportunity represented by the 1.7m square feet of currently unlet space in our existing fully invested estate. The start to the current financial year has been encouraging in all our geographies and our leading market positions in the UK and Paris, combined with our resilient business model, enable us to look forward to the future with confidence.”

SAFE: Safestore new stores power earnings uplift

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please review our cookie, privacy & data protection and terms and conditions policies and, if you accept, please select your place of residence and whether you are a private or professional investor.

You live in…

You are a…