23rd Apr 2018 10:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - Storage provider Lok'n Store Group PLC said on Monday it plans more expansion as profit and revenue for the first half of its financial year rose.
For the six months to the end of January, pretax profit rose by 21% to GBP2.6 million from GBP2.1 million, on revenue that grew by 5.7% to GBP8.8 million from GBP8.3 million, coming from occupancy growth, as prices held steady.
Total assets rose by 8.4% to GBP154.5 million from GBP142.6 million, with net asset value per share rising by 7.9% to GBP4.18 per share from GBP3.87.
At an operational level, unit occupancy rose by 6.0% on a like-for-like basis, while occupied units pricing was up 0.4%.
Lok'n Store has opened two new stores in Gillingham and Hemel Hempstead and acquired two new sites in Bedford and Bournemouth, with a current pipeline of seven contracted stores, of which four are currently with lawyers.
The company declared a dividend per share of 3.3 pence, up 11% from 3.0p the year before.
"With strong trading and reduced costs Lok'nStore's profits and margins continue to grow rapidly. We are using our robust balance sheet to invest in the future growth of the business building more new landmark stores in a structurally under-supplied market. We have opened 2 new stores in the period and added 2 more to our pipeline with four more sites currently with lawyers. Our objective is to open more landmark stores while remaining conservatively geared delivering sustainable growth and consistently increasing dividends," said Chief Executive Officer Andrew Jacobs.
Shares in Lok'n Store were up 0.2% at 410.70 pence on Monday.
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