Safestore Regulatory News (SAFE)

14 February 2019

Safestore Holdings plcFirst quarter trading update for the period 1 November 2018 to 31 January 2019

Strong Q1 performance, continuing momentum

Highlights 

· Group revenue for the quarter in CER1 up 6.0%

· Like-for-like5 Group revenue for the quarter in CER1 up 6.4%

o UK up 6.1%

o Paris up 7.3%

· Like-for-like5 occupancy performance up 3.2ppts at 73.5% (2018: 70.3%)

o UK up 2.6ppts at 71.8% (2018: 69.2%)

o Paris up 6.0ppts at 80.9% (2018 74.9%)

· New freehold site acquired in Peterborough and lease in Portsmouth extended

Frederic Vecchioli, Chief Executive Officer commented:

"It has been an excellent start to the financial year. Our first quarter performance has been strong, continuing the trading momentum seen in the second half of 2018 in both our UK and Paris markets.

"We continue to build our new store pipeline with three new sites in the UK in London- Carshalton, Birmingham Merry Hill and Peterborough (subject to planning), and two sites in Paris at Pontoise and Magenta (subject to planning) planned to open during 2019 and 2020. In addition, our strong and flexible balance sheet remains in good shape and allows us to continue to consider value-accretive investments as and when they arise.

"Our priority, and largest opportunity, remains the significant upside from the utilisation of our 1.8m square feet of fully invested unlet space. We are pleased with the start to the 2019 financial year, which is in line with our expectations, and remain confident in the future and focused on the continued delivery of shareholder value."

Business highlights

UK Trading Performance

The UK has performed strongly in the first quarter of 2019. Like-for-like revenue growth of 6.1% was driven by a balance of strong occupancy and good average storage rate performance. The like-for-like closing occupancy as measured by sq ft occupied was up 3.4% and the average storage rate continued its improving performance and grew by 2.9%. Closing occupancy at the end of the quarter as a percentage of MLA was up 2.6ppts at 71.8% (2018: 69.2%).

Total revenue growth of 5.3% reflected the like-for-like growth as well as the store openings in Mitcham and Paddington Marble Arch in 2018, offset by the closures of Merton, Paddington and Leeds. Both of the new stores opened in 2018 are performing well.

Paris Trading Performance

Our Paris business had a very strong quarter, growing total revenue by 8.3%. Our new 80,000 sq ft store at Poissy, opened in Summer 2018, is performing well and contributed to the total revenue figures. However, the immaturity of this store has had a dilutive effect on the closing occupancy (% of MLA) and the average rate.

Like-for-like Euro revenue grew by 7.3% in the quarter. Like-for-like occupancy performance was strong for the quarter with closing occupancy at 80.9%, up 6.0ppts compared to 2018. The like-for-like average rate, which was down 0.2% year-on-year in the quarter, was impacted by the inclusion of the lower priced suburban store at Combs-la-Ville being included in the like-for-like category for the first time.

Sterling equivalent revenue was not impacted by FX rates in the period as the Sterling:Euro exchange rate for the quarter was in line with the rate for Q1 2018.

Portfolio Management

New Store - Peterborough

In January 2019 we completed the acquisition of a freehold site in Peterborough. The site was acquired from Homebase and is one mile east of the City Centre. Subject to planning permission, the existing building will be converted into a 42,000 sq ft self-storage facility and opened in the final calendar quarter of 2019.

Lease Extension - Portsmouth

As part of our ongoing asset management programme, we extended the lease on our Portsmouth (Fratton) store during the period. The lease now has 24 years left to run and a twelve month rent free period was secured as part of the negotiation.

Lease Assignment - Merton

As announced in our 2018 Results, we closed our Merton store in July 2018 and consolidated the majority of customers into our new Mitcham site. We have now assigned the leases on the Merton store to a third party.

Ends

1 - CER is Constant Exchange Rates (Euro denominated results for the current period have been retranslated at the exchange rate effective for the comparative period, in order to present the reported results on a more comparable basis).

2 - Q1 2018 is the quarter ended 31 January 2018.

3 - Occupancy excludes offices but includes bulk tenancy. As at 31 January 2019, closing occupancy includes 14,000 sq ft of bulk tenancy (31 January 2018: 27,000 sq ft).

4 - MLA is Maximum Lettable Area.

5 - Like-for-like information includes only those stores which have been open throughout both the current and prior financial years, with adjustments made to remove the impact of new and closed stores, as well as corporate transactions.

This announcement contains inside information.

Enquiries

Notes to editors:

· Safestore is the UK's largest self-storage group with 146 stores, comprising 119 wholly owned stores in the UK (including 67 in London and the South East with the remainder in key metropolitan areas such as Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Bristol) and 27 wholly owned stores in the Paris region.

· Safestore operates more self-storage sites inside the M25 and in central Paris than any competitor providing more proximity to customers in the wealthiest and densest UK and French markets.

· Safestore was founded in the UK in 1998. It acquired the French business "Une Pièce en Plus" ("UPP") in 2004 which was founded in 1998 by the current Safestore Group CEO Frederic Vecchioli.

· Safestore has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2007. It entered the FTSE 250 index in October 2015.

· The Group provides storage to around 64,000 personal and business customers.

· As at 31 January 2019, Safestore had a maximum lettable area ("MLA") of 6.37 million sq ft (excluding the expansion pipeline stores) of which 4.60 million sq ft was occupied.

· Safestore employs around 650 people in the UK and France.