Rising occupancy levels and store rates boosted Safestore’s (SAFE) like-for-like revenue by almost 6 per cent during the first half, as demand for self-storage continued to grow. However, headline profits were hit by a substantially lower revaluation gain on its investment properties.
Like-for-like closing occupancy increased by 1.6 percentage points to 72.6 per cent of maximum lettable area, while the average store rate rose by 1.7 per cent to £26.30 per sq ft. That was despite the lower-price suburban stores in Emerainvaille and Combs-la-Ville weighing on average rates in Paris.
Expansion activity continued. A site in Peterborough was acquired for a new 42,000 sq ft store and new store openings in Paris Pontoise, London Carshalton and Birmingham Merry Hill are planned for later this year. With a loan-to-value ratio of 31 per cent comfortably at the bottom-end of management’s target range, the group plans to build between two and four new stores a year. Following the acquisition of 12 Alligator stores in November 2017, chief executive Frederic Vecchioli said the self-storage specialist remains keen to take advantage of further consolidation opportunities.
Analysts at Peel Hunt expect adjusted net assets of 423p a share at the October 2019 year-end, up from 400p at the end of FY2018.
| SAFESTORE (SAFE) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 640.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 1.35bn | |
| TOUCH: | 640-640.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 663p | LOW: 493p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.6% | DEVELOPMENT STOCK: | £12.2m | |
| PREMIUM TO NAV: | 58% | |||
| INVESTMENT PROP: | £1.23bn | NET DEBT: | 53% | |
| Half-year to 30 Apr | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2018 | 357 | 81.9 | 40.3 | 5.1 |
| 2019 | 406 | 38.2 | 16.4 | 5.5 |
| % change | +14 | -53 | -59 | +8 |
| Ex-div: | 11 Jul | |||
| Payment: | 16 Aug |
