14th Jun 2018 09:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 250-listed Safestore Holdings PLC said Thursday its half-year profit rose on the back of "earnings accretive" acquisitions and new stores' openings.
In the six months to April 30, the self-storage company saw pretax profit jump to GBP81.9 million from GBP55.0 million in the comparative period a year ago.
The company said the recent acquisition of the 12 store portfolio Alligator Self Storage Chain in November is progressing well and boosted revenue in the six-month period.
Safestore said the stores opened since the Autumn of 2016 are trading "at or ahead" of their business plans, with the company set to open further four stores in the next eighteen months.
"The acquisitions and developments, opened prior to April 30, have complemented our best like-for-like occupancy performance over the last five years of plus 5.4%," Chief Executive Officer Frederic Vecchioli said.
For the six-month period, revenue increased 11% to GBP69.2 million from GBP62.2 million a year before. Operating profit soared to GBP87.3 million from GBP55.0 million.
The group's occupied space rose to 4.5 million square feet from 3.9 million square feet, with Alligator contributing 373,000 square feet of this increase.
The company, which has market presence in the UK and Paris, said trading performance in the French capital has been "strong" with like-for-like revenue growing by 5.6% to EUR18.9 million from EUR17.9 million year-on-year.
Safestore's property portfolio valuation increased by 12% since October 31, the company said.
The company lifted its interim dividend 21% to 5.1 pence from 4.2p year-on-year.
Safestore said it is on course to meet the board's annual expectations as it enters its peak trading period.
Shares were trading 0.3% higher at 558.50p each.
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