Safestore trading stays solid in historically weak first quarter

First quarter trading at Safestore has been robust as the self storage group enjoyed a 10.4% increase in like-for-like sales, only slightly slower than the strong finish to 2015 in what is normally a weaker quarter.

Total revenue of £27m in the three months to 31 Janaury was 7.4% higher than the same period a year ago, with the 10.4% like-for-like gain comparing to the 10.8% rate from the fourth quarter of the previous financial year.

Like-for-likes in the were especially strong, rising 11.9%, with Paris revenue up 6.1%.

At the period end, occupancy of its storage units was at 3.435m square feet, 1.6% higher than a year before, 69.7% of the maximum lettable area, an improvement of 2.5 percentage points.

"Our strategy of balancing rate and occupancy growth continues to gain traction and is driving a good financial performance," said chief executive Frederic Vecchioli.

He said the long-term strategy remained to fill unlet space in the existing estate, to which existing developments at Chiswick, Wandsworth and Birmingham will now be added a new warehouse site near Disneyland Paris, adjacent to the A4 motorway in Marnes-la-Vallée.

"I am confident that the momentum in the business, supported by our new website and motivated sales teams, will allow us to deliver earnings in line with the Board's expectations for the current financial year."

Analysts at Investec was impressed by what was Safestore’s seasonally weakest quarter.

For the full year they assumed closing group occupancy rates of 75%, rising to 77.5% for 2017 and 80.0% at year end 2018.