Safestore ups guidance as revenue soars

Revenue at constant currency for the three months to the end of July rose 19.7% to £47.6m boosted by a 25% increase in the UK, where the housing market has been in a state of frenzy.

UK growth continued in August with total revenue up 27.5%. Safestore is the UK's biggest self-storage company.

Group like-for-like storage revenue at constant currency rose 17.7% to £37.5m. Paris revenue rose 5.6% and in Spain revenue was up 8.3%.

The FTSE 250 group increased its guidance for adjusted, diluted full-year earnings to 39.5-40p a share from about 38p predicted in June.

Frederic Vecchioli, Safestore's chief executive, said: "Whilst there is still potential for disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic, the inherent resilience of our business model as well as the momentum which has continued in the third quarter, gives the Board further confidence in relation to the outlook for the full year."

Occupancy at 31 July was 5.985m sq ft, up 15.5% on 2020, and stood at 85.7%, up 10.1 percentage points on 2020.

Safestore shares have increased by more than 50% in 2021 as investors bet on strong performance as people moved house to beat the deadline for the government's stamp duty holiday. The shares rose 0.9% to £11.90 at 08:33 BST after touching a record £12.03 in early trading.