29th Oct 2018 09:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - Lok'nStore Group PLC on Monday said its earnings grew in its recently ended financial year following a rise in occupancy and store numbers.
The self-storage company said pretax profit in the year to the end of July improved to GBP5.3 million from GBP4.0 million reported a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP17.8 million from GBP16.7 million.
Lok'nStore noted that the result was driven by occupancy increases in both old and new stores. Tight control over operating costs led to a 2% increase in self-storage margins, which has also contributed in pushing the company's profit to "record level".
Over the year, unit occupancy rose by 7.7% and unit pricing increased 0.5%. Out of 29 stores open, 15 were trading at above 70% occupancy.
Lok'nStore opened three new stores during the year and now operates 29 stores and two serviced document stores in southern England.
Additionally, the company has eight managed stores for third party owners and a further four managed stores under development.
The company's property, staff, distribution & general costs for the financial year rose slightly to GBP10.5 million from GBP10.2 million year-on-year, while finance costs fell to GBP463,000 from GBP606,000.
Lok'nStore declared an annual dividend of 11 pence per share, up 10% from 10p paid the year prior.
"Lok'nStore Group has had an excellent year successfully implementing our strategic objectives," said Chief Executive Andrew Jacobs.
"We have achieved a notable acceleration in our store pipeline to 13 sites which will increase operating space by 32% over the coming three years. This will add considerable momentum to sales and earnings growth," added Jacobs.
Lok'nStore shares were trading 10% higher on Monday at 412.00p each.
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