Safestore Holdings (LSE:SAFE) PLC, the storage solutions company, said trading in the third quarter of its financial year has continued to be strong.
Group like-for-like sales on a constant exchange rates (CER) basis in May were up 10% on May 2021, which was slightly ahead of the board's expectations.
At present, earnings for the full year are anticipated to be at least 47p, slightly ahead of the current consensus analysts' forecasts of adjusted diluted EPRA [industry standard] earnings per share (EPS) of 45.9p, the company said in its results statement covering the six months to 30 April.
Revenue in the first half of the company’s fiscal year rose 15.9% on a constant exchange rate (CER) basis to £101.0mln from £88.1mln the year before.
Underlying earnings (EBITDA) jumped 21.1% to £65.2mln from £54.4mln the previous year while profit before tax soared to £285.2mln from £167.3mln.
Adjusted diluted EPRA EPS improved to 22.5p from 18.1p. EPRA net tangible assets per share rose by just over a third to 793p from 590p.
Shares in Safestore currently trade at 1,064p, up 2.1% on the day.
“I am pleased to report a continuing excellent performance in the period with strong average storage rates driving the results of our UK, French and Spanish businesses,” said Frederic Vecchioli, Safestore’s chief executive officer.
“Whilst performance in the first half of the year has been very strong we are conscious of the inflationary and cost of living pressures ahead. We have assessed our cost base and construction projects in the light of these factors and feel confident that we have the yield management capability and cost discipline to mitigate the likely cost inflation and are comfortable that our current pipeline projects will continue to deliver returns ahead of our internal hurdle rates,” he added.