Trading Statement

RNS Number : 5520Y

Big Yellow Group PLC

17 January 2022

 

17 January 2022

Big Yellow Group PLC

("Big Yellow" or "the Group")

Trading 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 2021. 

Financial metrics	Quarter ended  31 December 2021	Quarter ended 31 December 2020	Change
Total revenue for the quarter	£45.2 million	£34.7 million	30%
Like-for-like store revenue for the quarter(1)	£38.3 million	£33.8 million	13%
Total revenue for the year to date	£127.0 million	£100.5 million	26%
Like-for-like store revenue for the year to date(1)	£112.0 million	£98.3 million	14%
Store metrics - all 104 stores
Store Maximum Lettable Area ("MLA")	6,062,000	5,994,000	1%
Closing occupancy (sq ft)	5,182,000	4,953,000	5%
Closing occupancy	85.5%	82.6%	2.9 ppts
Average net rent per sq ft for the quarter	£28.97	£26.18	11%
Closing net rent per sq ft	£29.41	£26.51	11%
Store metrics - 79 Big Yellow stores Store Maximum Lettable Area ("MLA")	4,984,000	4,913,000	1%
Closing occupancy (sq ft)	4,274,000	4,074,000	5%
Closing occupancy	85.8%	82.9%	2.9 ppts
Closing occupancy - like-for-like stores(2)	86.9%	85.4%	1.5 ppts
Average net rent per sq ft for the quarter	£30.86	£28.01	10%
Closing net rent per sq ft	£31.33	£28.40	10%
Store metrics - 25 Armadillo stores
Store Maximum Lettable Area ("MLA")	1,078,000	1,081,000	-
Closing occupancy (sq ft)	908,000	879,000	3%
Closing and like-for-like occupancy	84.2%	81.3%	2.9 ppts
Average net rent per sq ft for the quarter	£20.08	£17.66	14%
Closing net rent per sq ft	£20.38	£17.94	14%

(1)  Like-for-like store revenue excludes recent Big Yellow openings at Camberwell, Bracknell, Battersea, and Uxbridge and the Armadillo stores, which the Group acquired the remaining 80% interest of that it did not previously own on 1 July 2021.

(2)  Like-for-like occupancy for the Big Yellow stores excludes Camberwell, Bracknell, Battersea and Uxbridge.

In our seasonally weaker third quarter, occupancy across all 104 stores decreased by 245,000 sq ft (4.0% of the MLA at 31 December 2021) compared to a loss of 21,000 sq ft in the same quarter last year (0.4% of the MLA at 31 December 2020) and a loss of  193,000 sq ft in 2019 (3.3% of the MLA at 31 December 2019).  This quarter has seen a return to a more typical seasonal winter slowdown.  Last year was impacted by Covid restrictions, and therefore a more sensible comparison is to 2019.  Move-outs were higher over this quarter than in 2019, reflective of a record first quarter's occupancy gain leading up to the tapering off of the stamp duty holiday.  Customers moving out in the quarter stayed with us on average for 8 months, reflective of shorter-term use around house moves, home improvements, students and other life events. 

Closing occupancy for all stores was 85.5%, an increase of 2.9 ppts from 82.6% last year.  Like-for-like closing occupancy was 86.9%, an increase of 1.5 ppts from the same time last year.  

Closing net achieved rent per sq ft for all stores was £29.41, an increase of 11% from the same time last year, with average rate up 11% on the same quarter last year. 

The Group's like-for-like store revenue increased by 13% in the quarter.  Like-for-like store revenue growth for the year to date is 14%.  The total revenue increase of 30% includes the increasing impact of our four recent Big Yellow store openings and a full quarter's contribution from the Armadillo stores.

Development

Our new 73,000 sq ft store in Hayes, West London opens this morning.

We are currently on site at four of the stores in our development pipeline.  There have been minor delays as a result of the impacts of the pandemic which we have worked hard to mitigate, and the openings are now expected to be April 2022 (Hove), July 2022 (Harrow), August 2022 (Kingston North) and Summer 2023 (Kings Cross).

During the quarter, as previously announced, we obtained planning consent on our development sites at Slough and Newcastle.  We have also obtained planning consent to increase the size of our proposed Queensbury store to 71,000 sq ft, from the previously consented 58,000 sq ft scheme.

We are continuing planning discussions on our other development sites and will provide further updates in due course.

Covid update

In the recent wave of Covid, which first impacted London, we saw a peak of 7% of our colleagues isolating in early January, which has reduced in the last week to 2%.

James Gibson, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We are pleased to have delivered a continued strong performance in revenue growth for the quarter.  The occupancy performance this quarter has been more in line with 2019 and is a return to our more normal seasonal trading patterns.  Although it is early in the fourth quarter, we are seeing a return to growth in net reservations and occupancy. 

Average occupancy over the quarter was higher than the prior year and we have also seen a strong contribution from average rate growth, which has shown a further improvement from the half year.  As stated in November, we expect the market to return to a more normalised trading environment over the coming months. 

The acquisition, on 1 July 2021, of the 80% interest in Armadillo that we did not own is earnings accretive, and we are seeing the benefits of that, coupled with external growth  in revenue and earnings from the 260,000 sq ft of space in the four new stores we have opened in the past 18 months. 

We remain confident of the longer-term growth prospects of our business; the principal drivers being revenue growth from the existing portfolio and targeted expansion in our core area of London, its commuter towns and larger regional cities." 

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       

Ben Foster   020 7260 2700

Elizabeth Kittle

Notes to Editors 

Big Yellow is the UK's brand leader in self storage.  Big Yellow now operates from a platform of 105 stores, including 25 stores branded as Armadillo Self Storage.  We own a further 13 Big Yellow self storage development sites of which eight have planning consent.  The current maximum lettable area of the existing platform (including Armadillo) is 6.1 million sq ft.  When fully built out the portfolio will provide approximately 7.2 million sq ft of flexible storage space.  98% of our stores and sites by value are held freehold and long leasehold, with the remaining 2% 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 stores, with excellent customer service, a market-leading online platform, and significant and increasing investment in sustainability, has created in Big Yellow the most recognised brand name in the UK self storage industry.

 

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