Lok N Store Share News (LOK)

Self-storage firm Lok'n'Store ramped up half year profit and underlined its confidence in future trading with an increased dividend payment.Pre-tax profit soared 64.2% to £0.77m in the six months to January 31st 2013 from the same time a year earlier while revenue increased to £6.55m from £6.41m a year earlier.Operating profit climbed 36.2% to £1.34m in the six-month period. An interim dividend of 1.67p per share has been offered, up 67% from the same period in 2012.Self-storage revenue rose 3.6% to £5.62m while self-storage unit occupancy was up 8.4%.CEO Andrew Jacobs commented: "Activity levels across the portfolio have been excellent, reflected by our strong self-storage unit occupancy growth year-on-year. We expect this momentum to continue into the second half." "Revenue and occupancy growth from our existing stores, combined with the opening of the new Crawley, Maidenhead and Aldershot stores take us to 25 stores, and will provide continued impetus for our sales growth," he added. The group added that its low-risk, stable, income producing asset with built-in growth gives it confidence in the outlook for the group.CJ