Final Results: 16/01/2025

 

Safestore Holdings plc
("Safestore", "the Company" or "the Group")

 

Frederic Vecchioli, Safestore's Chief Executive Officer commented:

“We have delivered resilient operating performance in challenging market conditions and have made good progress on our strategic priorities.

Over the year, the Group’s revenue stabilised with improving performance in the UK supported by solid results in Paris and strong growth in our Expansion Markets.

In the UK, we are encouraged by the continued improvements in domestic customer occupancy with increasingly positive levels of occupied space vs prior year through the second half of the year.

We have presented our other countries combined together as “Expansion Markets” to reflect their importance in driving growth for the Group. These markets have once again delivered strong performance in the year both in like-for-like growth and in total revenue terms through the additional revenue from new stores.

In the financial year, we added 386,000 sq ft of MLA (equivalent to 5% of the start of year MLA) through ten new stores and extensions with a further five stores with 263,400 sq ft of MLA opened following year end. In addition our development pipeline includes 26 stores with a projected total MLA of 1,338,200 sq ft, reflecting 16% of year end MLA, providing a clear pathway for further future revenue growth.

The borrowings for the expansion of our asset base has led to higher interest costs, with a £5.5 million increase year on year. Adjusted EPRA earnings of £92.7 million reflect an 11.8% decrease year on year.

We have further strengthened our balance sheet by extending our RCF by £100 million to £500 million as well as its term by one year to provide additional liquidity. Following year end, we successfully issued a new €70 million eight-year USPP.

Our business performance remains robust with strong levels of cash generation and our development programme is adding the potential for meaningful EBITDA growth, so we remain confident to recommend a full year dividend of 30.4 pence per share, representing a 1% increase on prior year.

Finally, I would like to thank all of our colleagues across our stores and head office whose commitment, hard work and customer-centric approach have been instrumental in driving our performance and sustained growth.”

Highlights

Resilient Financial performance 

• Group revenue at CER grew 1.1% year on year excluding £2.2m of insurance premium tax (“IPT”) relating to the sale of customer goods insurance in FY 2023 not repeated this year 
• Group revenue flat year on year: down 0.3% at actual FX rates and up 0.2% at CER 
• Group like-for-like revenue in CER flat year on year 
• Underlying EBITDA down 4.2% in CER reflecting market inflationary pressures on key cost lines and the impact of new developments 
• Adjusted Diluted EPRA EPS down 11.7% at 42.3 pence (FY 2023: 47.9 pence) 
• 1% increase in the dividend for the year to 30.4 pence per share (FY2023: 30.1 pence per share) in line with our progressive policy 

Strategic Progress 

• Opening of ten new stores and extensions in the year with a further five opened following year end, adding a total of 386,000 sq ft of MLA 
• Development pipeline of an additional 26 stores with a total of 1.3m sq ft MLA, equivalent of 16% of the portfolio at year end with potential to add, together with other open non like-for-like stores, £35-£40 million of future EBITDA at stabilisation 
• Acquisition of 19,800 sq ft trading store in Chelsea Embankment, London 
• Purchase of the freehold interests of two stores in Le Marais (Paris) and Manchester 
• Continued growth of German joint venture portfolio with three development opportunities secured in the year 
• Following year end, entered into a joint venture with Nuveen to acquire the EasyBox self-storage business in Italy with ten operating stores and two under development totalling 780,000 sq ft of MLA. This follows the Group strategy of entering high-potential markets with low levels of supply alongside partners. Safestore will operate the business, leveraging Group capabilities 

Strong and Flexible Balance Sheet 

• 13.6% increase in property revaluation (including investment properties under construction) to £3,284.1 million (FY 2023: £2,890.9 million) 
• 14.6% increase in EPRA Basic NTA per share to £10.91 (FY 2023: £9.52) 
• Exercise of RCF accordion option to increase facility size by £100.0 million to £500.0 million. 
• Exercise of RCF extension option to increase maturity date by one year to November 2028 
• Net Debt £899.5 million (FY 2023: £810.3 million). Group loan-to-value ratio (“LTV”14) at 25.1% (FY 2023: 25.4%) and interest cover ratio (“ICR”15) at 4.3x (FY 2023: 6.7x) 
• Ample liquidity with unutilised bank facilities of £144.3m at 31 October 2024 (FY 2023: £197.0m) 
• €51.0 million USPP matured and repaid in FY 2024 and in December 2024, following year end, new €70.0 million USPP issued with an eight-year term 
   

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For further information, please contact:

Safestore Holdings PLC     020 8732 1500
Frederic Vecchioli, Chief Executive Officer    via Instinctif Partners
Simon Clinton, Chief Financial Officer     
www.safestore.com

Instinctif Partners     020 7457 2020
Galyna Kulacheck / Tim Pearson 

 

 

Ends

Notes
We prepare our financial statements using IFRS. However, we also use a number of adjusted measures in assessing and managing the performance of the business.  These measures are not defined under IFRS and they may not be directly comparable with other companies' adjusted measures and are not intended to be a substitute for, or superior to, any IFRS measures of performance. These include like-for-like figures, to aid in the comparability of the underlying business as they exclude the impact on results of purchased, sold, opened or closed stores; and constant exchange rate ("CER") figures are provided in order to present results on a more comparable basis, removing FX movements. These metrics have been disclosed because management review and monitor performance of the business on this basis. We have also included a number of measures defined by EPRA, which are designed to enhance transparency and comparability across the European Real Estate sector; see notes 9 and 11 below and 'Non-GAAP financial information' in the notes to the financial statements.

1 - Where reported amounts are presented either to the nearest £0.1 million or to the nearest 10,000 sq ft, the effect of rounding may impact the reported percentage change.

2 - CER is Constant Exchange Rate (Euro denominated results for the current period have been retranslated at the exchange rate effective for the comparative period.  Euro denominated results for the comparative period are translated at the exchange rates effective in that period.  This is performed in order to present the reported results for the current period on a more comparable basis).

3‐ Store Protect replaced our customer goods insurance programme in the UK from 1 November 2023, attracting VAT rather than Insurance Premium Tax ("IPT"). FY 2023 revenue includes £2.2 million representing 12% IPT on insurance sales for that financial year. The IPT in FY 2023 has been excluded from like‐for‐like figures to aid comparability

4 - Underlying EBITDA is defined as Operating Profit before exceptional items, share-based payments, corporate transaction costs, change in fair value of derivatives, gain/loss on investment properties, variable lease payments, depreciation and the share of associate's depreciation, interest and tax. Underlying EBITDA therefore excludes all leasehold rent charges. Underlying profit before tax is defined as underlying EBITDA less leasehold rent, depreciation charged on property, plant and equipment and net finance charges relating to bank loans and cash.

5 - Occupancy excludes offices but includes bulk tenancy.

6 - MLA is Maximum Lettable Area. Measured in square feet ("sq ft")

7 - Average Storage Rate is calculated as the revenue generated from self-storage revenues divided by the average square footage occupied during the period in question.

8 - Revenue per Available Square Foot ("REVPAF") is an alternate performance measure used by the business and is considered by management as the best KPI of economic performance of a mature self-storage asset as it is the net outcome of the occupancy/rate mix plus ancillary sales. It is calculated by dividing revenue for the period by weighted average available square feet for the same period.

9 - Adjusted Diluted EPRA EPS is based on the European Public Real Estate Association's definition of Earnings and is defined as profit or loss for the period after tax but excluding corporate transaction costs, change in fair value of derivatives, gain/loss on investment properties and the associated tax impacts. The Company then makes further adjustments for the impact of exceptional items, IFRS 2 share-based payment charges, exceptional tax items, and deferred tax charges. This adjusted earnings is divided by the diluted number of shares. The IFRS 2 cost is excluded as it is written back to distributable reserves and is a non-cash item (with the exception of the associated National Insurance element). Therefore, neither the Company's ability to distribute nor pay dividends are impacted (with the exception of the associated National Insurance element). The financial statements will disclose earnings on a statutory, EPRA and Adjusted Diluted EPRA basis and will provide a full reconciliation of the differences in the financial year in which any LTIP awards may vest.

10 - Free cash flow is defined as cash flow before investing and financing activities but after leasehold rent payments.

11 - EPRA's Best Practices Recommendations guidelines for Net Asset Value ("NAV") metrics are EPRA Net Tangible Assets ("NTA"), EPRA Net Reinstatement Value ("NRV") and EPRA Net Disposal Value ("NDV"). EPRA NTA is considered to be the most relevant measure for the Group's business which provides sustainable long term progressive returns and is now the primary measure of net assets. The basis of calculation, including a reconciliation to reported net assets, is set out in note 14.

12 - 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

13 - Expansion Markets comprise Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium plus income earned in relation to the joint venture in Germany (previously shown in the UK segment)

14 - LTV ratio is Loan-to-Value ratio, which is defined as net debt (excluding lease liabilities) as a proportion of the valuation of investment properties and investment properties under construction (excluding lease liabilities).

15 - ICR is interest cover ratio and is calculated as the ratio of underlying EBITDA after leasehold rent to underlying finance charges.

Reconciliations between underlying metrics and statutory metrics can be found in the financial review and financial statements sections of this announcement.