Robust trading in the first half of its financial year saw shares in Lok’nStore (LON:LOK) tick higher.
Revenue at its core self-storage business was up 5.4% in the half year to end January, like-for-like self-storage occupancy rose 2.4% and price per square foot increased 3.3%.
Lok’nStore said the performance built on solid trading last year.
Meanwhile, document storage saw revenue grow by 14.7%, while underlying profit doubled as it managed to keep costs down.
The number of boxes stored was up 11% since this time last year.
Debt and leverage remained low following an additional £2mln from the sale of the company’s old site in Reading and a further £3.5mln for the sale of the Swindon operation.
Finance costs were further reduced by a lower interest margin on its new bank facility.
The new bank facility underlines the financial strength of Lok'n Store, said chief executive Andrew Jacobs.
New stores are due to open shortly in Southampton, Bristol and Chichester.
Guy Hewett, an analyst at finnCap added that a strong market and low valuation against peers was making the company increasingly attractive to investors.
FinnCap has a target price of 399p per share, some 25% upside, he added.
Shares this morning stood at 324p up 1%.