16th Jun 2016 06:48
LONDON (Alliance News) - Safestore Holdings PLC on Thursday said it expects its earnings for its full financial year to be "modestly above the top end of current market expectations", although its pretax profit dipped in its first half as the gain on investment properties came in lower.
The FTSE 250 self-storage provider said early trading in the second half of the year ending in October was encouraging, and it is confident of a strong performance for the full year. Safestore posted a 7.3% rise in revenue for its half year ended April 30 to GBP54.1 million from GBP50.4 million for the same period a year earlier.
Safestore said its occupancy increased to 70.9%, up 2.0 percentage points over the year across the group, whilst its average storage rate rose to GBP26.02 per square foot from GBP24.86.
The company noted a strong performance in its UK business, where occupancy was up 1.8 percentage points to 68.6%.
Safestore's Parisian business performance "robustly", it said, with rises in both occupancy and average self-storage rate. Occupancy ended the period at 79.4%, up 2.2 percentage points, Safestore said.
However, the gain made on investment properties came in at GBP28.2 million for the first half, compared to GBP43.9 million a year earlier, which meant pretax profit slipped to GBP49.1 million from GBP62.2 million.
Safestore said it will grow its portfolio over the next year, opening five new stores and completing two store extensions, which will add around 217,000 square feet to its portfolio before the end of the calendar year. The company said its portfolio will see a boost from its purchase in March of smaller peer Space Maker for up to GBP44.4 million.
The company declared an interim dividend of 3.60 pence per share, up 20% from 3.00p per share the year earlier.
"As we enter the second half of the year, I look forward to the opening of five new stores which will enhance our existing strong portfolio and I also hope to be able to confirm the addition of a further twelve stores to the portfolio with the completion of the acquisition of Space Maker," Chief Executive Frederic Vecchioli said.
"Our main focus will, however, continue to be on the opportunity presented by our 1.44m square feet of currently unlet space, the equivalent of around 30 stores. Initial trading in the second half of the year continues to be robust and the board now expects full year earnings to be modestly above the top end of current market expectations," Vecchioli added.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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