Storage group Safestore Holdings PLC (LON:SAFE) hailed another year of strong organic growth.
The company reported a profit before tax of £185.3mln in the year to the end of October, up from £78.9mln the year before, helped by an upward revaluation of investment properties of £122.1mln compared to an uplift of £39.2mln the year before.
UK RNS today #4 -
SIG - talking a weak story re both UK and Europe construction environment but transformation plan helping profits improve in 2019
Safestore - fifth successive year of double digit profit/EPS growth. Lfl group revenue up over 5% so not just all acquired
— Chris Bailey (@Financial_Orbit) January 8, 2019
Group revenue for the year was up 10.8% year-on-year, or 10.4% in constant exchange rates (CER).
Like-for-like (LFL) average occupancy for the year was up 4.8% on the previous year, with the occupancy level at the end of the fiscal year running at 76.6%, up from 73.9% a year earlier.
The LFL average storage rate for the year was up 0.2% year-on-year on a CER basis, with improving momentum as the year progressed, as evidenced by a 1.8% increase in the fourth quarter.
The acquisition of the Alligator business did, however, have a dilutive effect on the total average storage rate for the business as a whole, with the rate down 3.3% on a year earlier in CER terms.
The dividend was upped to 16.25p from 14.0p.
"We have delivered another successful year of growth characterised by strong organic performance, efficient integration of our recent acquisitions and good performances from our recently opened new stores,” said Frederic Vecchioli, Safestore’s chief executive officer.
“The fully integrated Alligator portfolio of twelve stores, acquired at the beginning of the financial year, is performing well. We have continued to seek high-quality sites to open new stores and have successfully added four new stores to the pipeline which means we plan to open new stores in London-Carshalton, Paris-Pontoise, and Birmingham-Merry Hill during 2019, and subject to planning, Paris-Magenta in 2020.
“Our strong balance sheet continues to provide the flexibility to target selected development and acquisition opportunities as they arise,” he added.
“The start to the current financial year has been encouraging in all our geographies and our leading market positions in the UK and Paris, combined with our resilient business model, enable us to look forward to the future with confidence,” Vecchioli said.
That future will not involve the chairman, Alan Lewis, for very long as he has announced his intention to step down once a successor has been found.