26th Feb 2014 11:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - Safestore Holdings PLC Wednesday said first quarter 2014 trading remains broadly unchanged compared with a year earlier, as its UK and French arms held up well.
The company, which provides storage space for businesses and personal customers, said revenue for the period November 1 to January 31, stood at GBP23.8 million down slightly from GBP23.9 million in 2012.
The first quarter is traditionally a quiet period, when the firm expects to lose occupancy and this was epitomised by the UK business which lost 2% of occupancy from the fourth quarter 2013, it said.
The UK arm saw revenue dip to GBP17.1 million from GBP17.7 million in the first quarter 2013 and company will now focus on turning enquiries into concrete deals.
"The measures we are taking to improve rental rates will take some time to impact the entire customer base and feed through to revenues but we are encouraged by the improving trend," the firm said.
Safestore said its French business had fared better, with revenue rising slightly to GBP9.7 million in the first quarter 2014 from GBP6.2 million a year earlier.
"Our effective enquiry capture and in-store conversion resulted in double digit growth in new lets in Q1 2014 compared to the prior year, which forms the basis for the strong year-on-year occupancy growth of 4.1% in the quarter," Safetore added.
Looking ahead, the firm said early results from its renewed focus on operational delivery are encouraging and when combined with an improving market outlook, it is well positioned to make further progress in its business objectives this year.
The stock was trading at 228.25 pence Wednesday morning, down 0.75 pence or 0.3%.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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