24th May 2016 06:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - Self-storage provider Big Yellow Group PLC on Tuesday hiked its full-year dividend on the back of strong revenue growth in the year ended March 31, against a "backdrop of slower economic activity" in the UK.
The FTSE 250-listed company posted revenue of GBP101.4 million for the year, 20% higher than the GBP84.3 million reported a year earlier, with a like-for-like revenue increase of 10% on the previous year to GBP87.6 million from GBP79.9 million.
Big Yellow said the like-for-like revenue excludes the 12 partnership stores it opened over the year, its Chester site, its Enfield site and its Cambridge site.
In light of the higher revenue, Big Yellow lifted its final dividend by 13% to 12.80 pence per share, up from 11.30p, taking its dividend for the full year to 24.9p, higher than the 21.7p posted a year earlier.
Big Yellow's pretax profit grew to GBP112.2 million, up from GBP105.2 million during the year. It posted an average net achieved rent per square foot of GBP25.73, up from GBP25.10, although it said it achieved a slower occupancy growth, increasing by 185,000 square feet, compared with 267,000 square feet a year earlier.
Store occupancy also dipped to 73.2%, down from 75.3% a year earlier, although the company said that on a like-for-like basis, closing occupancy was 76.7%, up 3.5 percentage points from a year earlier.
Big Yellow said it is focusing on its next goal of achieving 85% occupancy across its portfolio.
"Against a backdrop of slower economic activity compared to the prior year, we are pleased to have delivered another year of occupancy, revenue and earnings growth. We will continue to innovate, by improving our digital platform and operations to grow our market share and leverage our market leading brand. In addition, our focus will remain on London and the South East and large regional cities where barriers to entry are at their highest, and supply remains very constrained," said Executive Chairman Nicholas Vetch.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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