Self-storage group Safestore (SAFE) ticked all the right boxes in the year to October, and a pre-close statement confirmed that full-year earnings are likely to exceed earlier expectations.
New lettings grew by 35 per cent in the fourth quarter, which helped to boost occupancy rates up from 63.5 per cent to 66.6 per cent. Still, this leaves plenty of growth potential from the high operationally leveraged business model. Next year Safestore will focus on filling its 1.6m sq ft of currently unlet space. Crucially, rental growth is starting to accelerate, moving up 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, although this still leaves rents down 0.6 per cent for the year.
The UK side of the business has performed well, with like-for-like revenue up 10 per cent in the final quarter. This is especially impressive because at this time of year, the trend is for an increase in net vacancies. The group's Paris operation also performed well, although an increase in occupancy rates from 71.9 per cent to 77.2 per cent was flattered by closure of the 20,000 Landy store.
