Safestore interim profits down; sees 'strong' full year

Half-year pre tax profits at storage firm Safestore fell 21.1% to £49.1m although the company said early trading in the second half had been encouraging and it was confident that the business would deliver a strong performance for the year as a whole.

Revenues jumped 7.3% to £54.1m , on a like-for-like basis the increase was 10.4%. Safestore's UK revenues were up 11.7% and its Parisian business 6.8% on a constant currency basis.

Occupancy increased 2 percentage points to 70.9%.

Chief executive Frederic Vecchioli said the company would be opening five new stores in the second half “which will enhance our existing strong portfolio” and he also hoped to be able to confirm the addition of a further 12 stores to the portfolio with the completion of the acquisition of Space Maker.

"Our main focus will, however, continue to be on the opportunity presented by our 1.44m square feet of currently unlet space, the equivalent of around 30 stores,” he said.

"Initial trading in the second half of the year continues to be robust and the board now expects full year earnings to be modestly above the top end of current market expectations."