Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 4222B

Big Yellow Group PLC

10 January 2018

 

10 January 2018

Big Yellow Group PLC

("Big Yellow" or "the Group")

Interim Management Statement

The Board of Big Yellow Group PLC, the UK's brand leader in self storage, is pleased to provide the following update on trading for the third quarter ended 31 December 2017. 

Results

	31 December 2017	31 December 2016	%
Store maximum lettable area ("MLA")	4,551,000	4,551,000	-
Closing Occupancy (sq ft)	3,646,000	3,436,000	6.1
Closing Occupancy (% of MLA)	80.1%	75.5%	4.6 ppts
Revenue for the quarter	£29.6m	£27.4m	8.0
Year to date revenue	£87.7m	£82.2m	6.7
Like-for-like revenue year to date(1)	£86.2m	£80.9m	6.6
Average quarterly net achieved rent per sq ft	£26.44	£26.09	1.3
Closing net achieved rent per sq ft	£26.89	£26.34	2.1

(1) Excluding Nine Elms and Twickenham 2 (acquired from Lock and Leave on 28 April 2016).

Closing occupancy was 80.1%, an increase of 4.6 ppts from the same time last year.

In our seasonally weaker third quarter, the 73 stores decreased in occupancy by 170,000 sq ft (3.7% of the MLA at 31 December 2017) compared to a loss of 137,000 sq ft in the same quarter last year (3.0% of the MLA at 31 December 2016).  Sq ft moved in for the quarter increased by 3% compared to the same quarter last year, whilst move-outs were up 5% following the strong summer trading.

We are pleased to report continued improvement in net rents over the quarter.  The average achieved net rent per sq ft for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year.  Closing net achieved rent per sq ft was £26.89, an increase of 2.1% from the same time last year and up 3.3% from 31 March 2017.

The Group's revenue increased by 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year, and is up 6.7% for the year to date.

The revenue from the Armadillo portfolio for the quarter to 31 December 2017 increased by 23% to £3.2 million compared to the same quarter last year.  Like-for-like revenue, excluding six store acquisitions made since April 2016, increased by 11% compared to the same quarter last year. 

Property

Our 55,000 sq ft MLA Guildford Central store will open in March, and the 25,000 sq ft extension to our existing Wandsworth store will complete in April 2018.

We are planning to commence construction on our landmark 60,000 sq ft Manchester city centre store later this month, with a scheduled opening in Spring 2019. 

We are continuing to progress planning on our other development sites and will provide a further update in May with our final results.

We have completed on the acquisition of a 20^th Armadillo store in Stockton South, taking the portfolio to a maximum lettable area of 850,000 sq ft.

James Gibson, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"Following strong summer trading the December quarter, as expected, saw seasonal attrition in occupancy, closing at 80.1%, an increase of 4.6 ppts from the same time last year.  Given the higher levels of overall occupancy in the business, we are pleased to have seen continued improvement in net rents driven by our pricing model.

We are also reporting improving growth in year on year revenue over the quarter, with an increase to 8.0% from 5.7% growth reported at the half year.  Importantly, although this was driven mainly through occupancy, we did see a contribution from an improvement in average net achieved rents.

We remain focussed on occupancy, January has started positively, and we look forward to delivering growth in occupancy and revenue over the current fourth quarter and continuing this into our seasonally stronger spring and summer trading period."

For further information, please contact:

Big Yellow Group PLC                                                                                                       01276 477 811

Nicholas Vetch, Executive Chairman

James Gibson, Chief Executive Officer

John Trotman, Chief Financial Officer

Teneo Blue Rubicon                                                                                                  020 7260 2700

Ben Foster                       

About us

Big Yellow is the UK's brand leader in self storage.  Big Yellow now operates from a platform of 93 stores, including 20 stores branded as Armadillo Self Storage, in which the Group has a 20% interest.  We own a further ten Big Yellow self storage development sites (including two extensions sites), of which three have planning consent.  The current maximum lettable area of this platform is 5.4 million sq ft.  When fully built out the portfolio will provide approximately 6.0 million sq ft of flexible storage space.  Of the Big Yellow stores and sites, 96% by value are held freehold and long leasehold, with the remaining 4% short leasehold.

The Group has pioneered the development of the latest generation of self storage facilities, which utilise state of the art technology and are located in high profile, accessible, main road locations.  Our focus on the location and visibility of our Big Yellow stores, coupled with our excellent customer service and our market leading online platform, has created the most recognised brand name in the UK self storage industry.

 

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