Big Yellow profit buoyed by higher self-storage space demand
(Reuters) - Big Yellow Group Plc, a provider of self-storage space, posted a 15 percent rise in full-year profit as more people rented from it at higher prices.
Temporary space providers have seen a bump in occupancy and were able to charge higher rents as a year of historically low interest rates coupled with signs of a tentative recovery in the domestic market have encouraged homeowners and businesses to switch addresses.
The London-based company, which became a real estate investment trust in 2007, said adjusted pre-tax profit rose to 29.2 million pounds in the year ended March 31 from 25.5 million pounds a year earlier.
Revenue grew by 4 percent to 72.2 million pounds.
Analysts on average had expected a pre-tax profit of 28.8 million pounds on revenue of 70.1 million pounds, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company, which partners with French self-storage company Annexx and UK transport provider Zipvan, said a scarcity of non-residential land in London and South East would limit the opening of new self-storage facilities, boosting its prospects for the full year.
"We consider that a large part of the anticipated net immigration and population growth in the UK will continue to concentrate in London and the South East," Chief Executive Nicholas Vetch said in a statement on Tuesday.
Big Yellow's 66 stores, largely in London and the South, provide people and businesses with space to store goods, equipment and furniture while moving homes and offices.
The REIT raised its final dividend to 8.4 pence per share from 6 pence a year earlier.
Shares in the Bagshot, England-headquartered company closed at 498 pence on the London Stock Exchange on Monday.
(Reporting By Esha Vaish in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
