The self-storage market has been growing consistently for over 20 years across many European countries, but few regions offer the unique characteristics of London and Paris, both of which consist of large, wealthy and densely populated markets. In the London region, the population is 13 million inhabitants with a density of 5,200 inhabitants per square mile in the region, 11,000 per square mile in central London and up to 32,000 per square mile in the densest boroughs.
The population of the Paris urban area is 10.7 million inhabitants with a density of 9,300 inhabitants per square mile in the urban area and 54,000 per square mile in the City of Paris and first belt, where 69% of our French stores are located and which has one of the highest population densities in the western world. 85% of the Paris region population live in central parts of the city versus the rest of the urban area, which compares with 60% in the London region. There are currently c. 250 storage centres within the M25 as compared to only c. 125 in the Paris urban area. The density of self-storage supply is estimated to be 0.89 sq ft per inhabitant in the UK and 0.40 sq ft in Paris.
In addition, barriers to entry in these two important city markets are high, due to land values and limited availability of sites as well as planning regulation. This is the case for Paris and its first belt in particular, which inhibits new development possibilities.
Over the last four years the Group has expanded into further attractive, under-penetrated markets in Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium with a focus on the conurbations of Barcelona, Madrid, the Randstad area and Brussels. All these new markets, particularly Madrid and Barcelona, are wealthy, high density conurbations with very high barriers to entry. The density of self-storage supply is estimated at 0.50 sq ft per inhabitant in the Netherlands, 0.20 sq ft in Belgium, 0.54 sq ft in Madrid and 0.65 sq ft in Barcelona.
| Store Portfolio by Region | London & South East UK | Rest of UK | UK Total | Paris | Expansion Markets | Group Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Stores | 76 | 61 | 137 | 30 | 32 | 199 |
| Let Square Feet (m sq ft) | 2.375 | 2.164 | 4.539 | 1.094 | 0.777 | 6.410 |
| Maximum Lettable Area (m sq ft) | 3.056 | 2.822 | 5.878 | 1.424 | 1.290 | 8.592 |
| Average Let Square Feet per Store (k sq ft) | 31 | 35 | 33 | 36 | 24 | 32 |
| Average Store MLA (k sq ft) | 40 | 46 | 43 | 47 | 40 | 42 |
| Closing Occupancy % | 77.7% | 76.7% | 77.2% | 76.8% | 60.3% | 74.6% |
| Average Rate (£ per sq ft) | 36.39 | 23.04 | 29.94 | 36.04 | 19.84 | 29.85 |
| Revenue (£'m) | 101.4 | 60.8 | 162.2 | 43.7 | 17.5 | 223.4 |
| Average Revenue per Store (£'m) | 1.33 | 1.00 | 1.18 | 1.46 | 0.55 | 1.12 |
We have a strong position in both the UK and Paris markets operating 137 stores in the UK, 76 of which are in London and the South East, and 30 stores in Paris.
In the UK, 62% of our revenue is generated by our stores in London and the South East. On average, our stores in London and the South East are smaller than in the rest of the UK but the rental rates achieved are materially higher, enabling these stores to typically achieve similar or better margins than the larger stores. In London we operate 51 stores within the M25, more than any other competitor.
In addition, we have the benefit of a leading national presence in the UK outside of London where the stores are predominantly located in the centre of key metropolitan areas such as Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
In France, we have a leading position in the heart of the affluent City of Paris market with nine stores branded as Une Pièce en Plus (“UPP”) (“A spare room”). Over 57% of the UPP stores are located in a cluster within a five-mile radius of the city centre, which facilitates strong operational and marketing synergies as well as options to differentiate and channel customers to the right store subject to their preference for convenience or price affordability. The Parisian market has attractive socio-demographic characteristics for self-storage and we believe that UPP enjoys unique strategic strength in such an attractive market.
In Spain, including three post period-end openings, the Group has fourteen stores open in Barcelona and Madrid and one open in Pamplona in the Basque Country/ Navarra region, which has clusters of population benefitting from above average economic dynamics.
The Group has fourteen stores open in the Netherlands and six in Belgium. The pipeline contains a further two stores in the Netherlands and one in Belgium.
Overall Expansion Markets now comprises 35 stores, a 25% increase from the 2023 year-end position.
Market
The self-storage market in the UK, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium remains relatively immature compared to geographies such as the USA and Australia. The SSA Annual Survey (May 2024) confirmed that self-storage capacity stands at 0.89 sq ft per head of population in the UK. The most recent report relating to Europe (FEDESSA’s 2023 report) showed that capacity in France is 0.41 sq ft per capita. This compares with closer to 7 sq ft per inhabitant in the USA and 2 sq ft in Australia. In the UK, in order to reach the US density of supply, it would require the addition of around another 18,500 stores as compared to c. 2,700 currently.
In Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, penetration is similarly low. In Spain, capacity is around 0.43 sq ft per head of population and the consumer is serviced by 1,300 stores. In the Netherlands, penetration is 0.73 sq ft per head of population (750 stores) and in Belgium 0.23 sq ft per head of population (153 stores).
The Group has a joint venture in Germany. The German market is one of Europe’s more under-penetrated markets with just 0.27 sq ft of storage space per capita and, according to the 2024 FEDESSA report, there are 1,028 facilities in the country and 24.7 million sq ft of lettable space.
Post year end, the Group entered into a joint venture in Italy. This market has the lowest penetration of major economies in Western Europe with 0.03 sq feet per head of population (130 stores).
Our interpretation of the most recent 2024 SSA report is that operators remain optimistic about their trading and the future growth of the industry. In the past few years, the self-storage industry has undergone an unprecedented period of change largely due to developments in technology. The level of development estimated for the next three years is similar to that witnessed in recent years and we do not consider this level of new supply growth to be of concern, especially as we believe new supply helps to create increased awareness of what is a relatively immature product in Europe. We estimate new supply to represent around 5% to 6% of the traditional self-storage industry in the UK. These figures represent gross openings and do not consider storage facilities closing or being converted for alternative uses. We estimate that a small proportion of these sites compete with existing Safestore stores as many new developments happen in areas with lower barriers to entry in which we tend not to operate.
New supply in London and Paris is likely to continue to be limited in the short and medium term as a result of planning restrictions, competition from a variety of other uses and the availability of suitable land.
The supply in the UK market, according to the SSA Survey, remains relatively fragmented despite a number of acquisitions in the sector in recent years. The SSA’s estimates of the scale of the UK industry are finessed each year and changes from one year to the next represent improved data in addition to new supply. In the 2024 report the SSA estimates that 2,706 self-storage facilities exist in the UK market including around 1,012 container-based operations. At the point in time that the 2024 survey was written, Safestore was the industry leader by number of stores with 133 wholly owned sites. In aggregate, the top seven leading operators account for around 20% of the UK store portfolio. The remaining c. 2,182 self-storage outlets (including container- based operations) are independently owned in small chains or single units.
Our French business, UPP, is mainly present in the core wealthier and more densely populated inner Paris and first belt areas, whereas our two main competitors, have a greater presence in the outskirts and second belt of Paris.
Our Spanish business currently operates in Barcelona and Madrid with one store in Pamplona. The metropolitan areas of Barcelona and Madrid have combined growing high-density populations of twelve million inhabitants and significant barriers to entry.
Our focus in the Netherlands market is on the densely populated Amsterdam and Randstad conurbations. The Netherlands is the second most developed self-storage market in Europe (after the UK).
Belgium is one of the more under-penetrated markets in Europe with just 153 stores and 0.23 sq ft per capita of self-storage space. In Belgium our presence is focused on Brussels and the significant urban conurbations of Liege, Charleroi and Nivelles.
Consumer awareness of self-storage appears to be increasing but at a relatively slow rate, providing an opportunity for future industry growth. The SSA survey indicates that approximately half of consumers have low awareness about the service offered by self-storage operators or had not heard of self-storage at all. Since 2014, this statistic has only fallen 14ppts from 61%. Therefore, the opportunity to grow awareness, combined with limited new industry supply, makes for an attractive industry backdrop.
Self-storage is a brand-blind product. 52% of respondents in the 2024 SSA Survey were unable to name a self-storage business in their local area. The lack of relevance of brand in the process of purchasing a self- storage product emphasises the need for operators to have a strong online presence. This requirement for a strong online presence was also reiterated by the SSA Survey where 76% of those surveyed (76% in 2023) confirmed that an internet search would be their chosen means of finding a self-storage unit to contact, whilst knowledge of a physical location of a store as reason for enquiry was only c. 30% of respondents (c. 30% in 2023).
There are numerous drivers of self-storage growth. Most domestic and business customers need storage either temporarily or permanently for different reasons at any point in the economic cycle, resulting in a market depth that is, in our view, the reason for its exceptional resilience. The growth of the market is driven both by the fluctuation of economic conditions, which has an impact on the mix of demand, and by growing awareness of the product.
Our domestic customers’ need for storage is often driven by life events such as births, marriages, bereavements, divorces or by the housing market including house moves and developments and moves between rental properties. We have estimated that UK owner-occupied housing transactions drive around 8- 13% of the Group’s new lets.
At 41% of square feet occupied, our customer base in the UK is more heavily weighted to business customers than the rest of the Group due to historic property configurations. As such we are accelerating the conversion of larger units (over 250 sq ft) into smaller ones to serve a wider range of customers. Through this partitioning programme, we anticipate significantly reducing the current c 1.0 million sq ft of larger units so that the UK ratio of domestic to business customers comes closer to the 70/30 split seen in the rest of the Group.
Our customer base is resilient and diverse and consists of around 94,000 domestic, business and National Accounts customers across the Group.
| Business and Personal Customers | UK | Paris | Expansion Markets |
| Personal Customers | |||
| Numbers (% of total) | 77% | 81% | 88% |
| Square feet occupied (% of total) | 59% | 63% | 80% |
| Average Length of Stay (months) | 17.8 | 25.4 | 24.0 |
| Business Customers | |||
| Numbers (% of total) | 23% | 19% | 12% |
| Square feet occupied (% of total) | 41% | 37% | 20% |
| Average Length of Stay (months) | 26.1 | 27.1 | 26.1 |
