Growing consumer awareness of the self-storage sector helped Big Yellow (BYG) to push occupancy rates ahead from 73.5 per cent to 77.3 per cent in the six months to September. That same demand helped to push like-for-like rents up by 4 per cent to £25.79 per sq ft.
And while the self-storage group remains committed to improving occupancy rates still further, it also moved to increase its presence in the prosperous south east of England, acquiring two prime London sites at King's Cross and Camberwell. Together with recent openings and further sites due to open, capacity is expected to increase by up to 520,000 sq ft. Adjusted net asset value grew by 5 per cent to 536.4p from the March year-end, boosted by a £35.4m valuation uplift on the portfolio.
The improvement in occupancy is tied closely with the housing market, with nearly half of all storage space taken up by customers either renting space while they move house or change to different rental accommodation. In the third quarter, occupancy rates typically fall by a two to three percentage points before picking up in the calendar year, but following the strong summer trading, just 1 per cent of lettable area has been vacated since the reported period-end.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted EPS of 30.7p for the year to March 2016 and adjusted net asset value of 541p (from 27.1p/510p in 2015).
| BIG YELLOW (BYG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 742.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.16bn | |
| TOUCH: | 742.5-744.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 761p | LOW: 541p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.2% | PE RATIO: | 9 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 506p | NET DEBT: | 35% | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 39.9 | 35.3 | 25.2 | 10.4 |
| 2015 | 50.2 | 59.6 | 38.2 | 12.1 |
| % change | +26 | +69 | +52 | +16 |
Ex-div:10 Dec Payment:07 Jan | ||||
