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Seems to be in play , another bidder in the wings? Tempting to sell in the market or maybe sell half.
Wow
Rumours of a bid apparently, according to a Telegram channel.
This is suddenly heading up on no news that I can see , any ideas?
2 enormous sells today
£314,426 and £81,000
Any reason why?
As a small investor you were notified 7 minutes before the end of the working day about this offer, that seems to me to be treating us with utter contempt. The fact that the share price is now lower is irrelevant (and of course it will be lower still when the new shares are issued).
Please excuse my ignorance but what is the point of this when the SP has now fallen?
Thank you
"The Company also considers it important that existing retail shareholders have an opportunity (where it is practicable for them to do so) to participate in, to the extent possible, the equity fundraising on equivalent terms and conditions to the Placing." Issuing an RNS at 16:53 inviting us to take part, followed by an RNS at 07:00 informing us of an over subscribed placing, nothing like feeling valued is there?
Investors Chronicle 19/05/23
Directors and insiders at Lok’n Store (LOK) have offloaded nearly £11mn in shares through a secondary placing.
The 1.36mn shares were sold at a 5 per cent discount to the previous day’s closing price through the placing by broker Peel Hunt, which was arranged to satisfy institutional demand for the shares, the company said. None of the proceeds from the placing went to the company.
Chair Andrew Jacobs landed £10mn from the sale, offloading 1.25mn shares at 800p each on 5 May, reducing his ownership from 18.7 per cent to 14.5 per cent. He agreed not to sell any more shares for a year, barring certain exceptions.
The company said the placing would “broaden [its] institutional shareholder base and potentially increase liquidity in the trad- ing of the company’s shares, while also allow- ing Andrew Jacobs to diversify his investments and financial interests”.
After the placing, non-executive director Simon Thomas sold 100,000 shares at 815p a share for £815,000, reducing his stake to 4.3 per cent. On the same day, fellow non- executive director Charles Peal and his wife Antonia Peal sold 5,000 shares each from their individual savings accounts (Isas) at 831p a share for a combined £83,000, shrinking their stake to 2.55 per cent.
The sell-off comes after a mixed set of results for the self-storage company. Although reve- nue ticked up 1.5 per cent in its results for the six months to 31 January, pre-tax profit sank by over half due to a valuation hit caused by rising interest rates. However, the company indicated it was bullish about the future, increasing dividends by 15 per cent.
Director sold £90,500 Feb 28th
Buoyant trading continues with same-store sales +10%
FY 2021 and 2022 saw very strong trading results with sales up 21% and 23%, respectively. Today’s statement detailing H1 2023E same-store sales up 10.3% is, hence, very encouraging and provides further evidence of the long-term potential. Sales growth was driven by prices up 9.2% and occupied space up 2.6%. If these conditions persist, there is potential to upgrade our FY 2023E same-store sales forecast of +6%. However, with the macro uncertainty and general cost inflation, we leave our sales and EBITDA forecasts unchanged at this stage. We have updated our interest cost assumptions and assumed a further 25bps base rate rise which reduces our FY 2023E EPS by -4% and 2024E by -10%. NAV at July 2023E is expected to be broadly unchanged at 972p as operational progress offsets an increase in valuation yields and interest costs. With the current pipeline expected to add +49% to owned space (up from +44% at July 2022) and continued clear evidence that Lok’nStore is weathering the significant pressures in the UK economy well, we reiterate our view that there is very material upside to the current share price, in line with potential NAV driven by the current portfolio maturing and completing the development pipeline.
- Development pipeline will add +48.8% to owned occupied space. Building and fit-out work continues at the new Landmark store developments in Bedford, Peterborough, Staines and Basildon, all of which will be open in calendar 2023. Kettering is also on site for a managed store client and due to open in early 2024.
- Target price 1438p (+51% upside) based on potential NAV. We believe short-term valuations have reduced by -3% to -5% in response to the interest-rate hikes. This is evidence of the attractions of, and demand for, self-storage assets by investors given the scale and speed of the rate rises. Lok’nStore is valued at a -2% discount to historic NAV, which is expected to broadly hold this year, vs Big Yellow at a +2% premium and Safestore +16%.
Wish I'd topped up before these results!
Another great set of results with every key metric improving. Glad I stuck in there.
Does anyone have a handle on this share?
It’s tanked, then director buys in and it still down another 7% today.
GLA DYOR
Sounds good to me.
Lok'nStore's year-end statement details continued strong trading in FY 2022 and a positive outlook. Self storage revenue was up +17.3%, same-store revenue up +24.9%, prices up +13.0%, high occupancy levels were maintained and early trading from new stores has been strong. We have upgraded our EPS forecasts by +3% (increasing our assumptions on the managed stores) and highlight that the main drivers behind the strong progress in FY 2022 were the occupancy and pricing gains in FY 2021, meaning the +13% price rise in FY 2022 will provide very good support for growth into FY 2023. A further site has been added to the secured pipeline that will now, in total, add +44% to owned trading space and drive significant medium-term growth in sales and earnings. We reiterate our view that the current portfolio and development pipeline will support a share price of 1550p (50% upside), with further upside to come from future additions to the pipeline. In line with this theme, management has commented that an updated store valuation will be provided with the results, with values expected to rise reflecting the strong revenue growth and new store openings.
-Target price 1550p based on existing pipeline. We set our target price of 1550p at the time of the interim results, in line with our forecast for NAV per share when the pipeline was fully developed, opened and revalued. The new Bolton site will be accretive to this, and we expect the July 2022 valuation (to be revealed with the results on 31 October) to evidence good progress along the path to our target.
Asset values, pricing, occupancy and margins all rising
Lok’nStore’s H1 results show continued strong trading and market conditions, with sales up +31%, EBITDA up +47% and adj. NAV per share up +48% to 843p. The interim dividend is up +16% to 5.0p, an eleventh consecutive year of increase. Loan to value is 8.3%, supported by the previously announced sale and manage-back of four stores at a 17% net premium to the July 2021 valuations. H1 pricing was up +18.5% and occupancy up +6.0%. Trading at the start of H2 has been buoyant and we expect continued valuation increases in this undersupplied market. We have raised our July 2022E NAV per share by 5% from 824p to 864p and target price from 1296p to 1550p, leaving our EPS unchanged, allowing for potential cost increases. We reiterate our view that there is significant long-term share price upside driven by the development of the secured new store pipeline, adding further stores to the pipeline, valuation yield compression and a removal of the NAV valuation discount vs peers.
32% increase in NAV per share and accelerated dividend policy
Lok’nStore has reported a very strong set of FY 2021 results detailing sales growth of 21%, adj. EPS growth of 33%, NAV per share growth of 32% and dividend per share growth of over 15%. Loan to value remains conservative at 21%, underpinning the build-out of the secured pipeline that will add 42% to owned space (38% to total) and add considerable momentum to sales and EPS growth. Reflecting this and the stronger occupancy and pricing environment, we have upgraded our FY 2022E EPS by 14% and target price from 986p to 1245p (51% upside).
Target of over 30% more lettable space.
Why invest in gold when you can invest here :)
Lok will be reporting good growth in half year to end January 2021.
Self store is a distress purchase - no one really wants to do it -which has three key drivers.
1. Volume of house transactions. Crazy at the moment.
2. Divorce/separation. Risen with covid.
3. Deaths of old folk. Relatives cannot face taking Great Aunts belongings straight to the tip where they belong but pay for 2 years self store and then take it to the tip. Sadly covid derived growth again.
Lok are the fastest growing of the self store companies and are at a huge discount to their peers when comparing NAV per Share.
Expect this to narrow.
I just presumed that its because brexit is making most stocks risky/future unknown, and people want to invest in a recession-proof share.
Any ideas why pleasing rise today?
This aim traded company keeps looking better.
Share buyback to "in treasury" shares is in effect a high interest savings account for further investment funds in medium term, as and when opportunities arise.
Solid company won't make you a millionaire unless takeover comes, though its a reliable investment.
Very promising.
Its on Aim all-share market though feels more like ftse250, only without the shorters and day trader price movements. A boring share, yes, but thats not such a bad thing imo.
The fact that they manage stores too on behalf of other companies speaks volumes.
I don't like that they increased their debt levels, however at average interest levels below 2% i assume its worthwhile.
With people working from home more, all that clutter has to go somewhere for the new office.