17 January
2025
Big Yellow Group PLC
("Big Yellow" or "the
Group")
Trading Statement
Big Yellow is pleased to provide the following
update on trading for the third quarter ended 31 December
2024.
|
Financial metrics
|
Quarter ended
31 December 2024
|
Quarter
ended
31 December 2023
|
Change
|
|
Total revenue for the
quarter
|
£51.4
million
|
£50.5
million
|
2%
|
|
Like-for-like store revenue for the
quarter(1)
|
£50.4
million
|
£49.6
million
|
2%
|
|
Total revenue for the year to
date
|
£154.4
million
|
£150.1
million
|
3%
|
|
Like-for-like store revenue for the
year to date(1)
|
£151.4
million
|
£147.7
million
|
3%
|
|
Store metrics - all 109 stores
|
|
|
|
|
Store Maximum Lettable Area
("MLA")
|
6,421,000
|
6,419,000
|
-
|
|
Closing occupancy (sq ft)
|
4,988,000
|
4,979,000
|
-
|
|
Occupancy change in
quarter
|
(180,000
sq ft)
|
(249,000
sq ft)
|
69,000 sq
ft
|
|
Closing occupancy
|
77.7%
|
77.6%
|
0.1
ppt
|
|
Closing occupancy - like-for-like
stores(1)
|
78.1%
|
78.4%
|
(0.3
ppts)
|
|
Average achieved net rent per sq ft
for the quarter
|
£34.87
|
£34.00
|
3%
|
|
Average achieved net rent per sq ft
for the year to date
|
£34.53
|
£33.34
|
4%
|
|
Closing net rent per sq
ft
|
£35.26
|
£34.65
|
2%
|
(1) Excluding Kings
Cross (opened June 2023)
In our seasonally weaker third quarter,
occupancy across all 109 stores decreased by 180,000 sq ft, a
significant improvement of 69,000 sq ft on last year's loss of
249,000 sq ft.
Overall move-ins for the quarter were up 2%,
with business move-ins up 9%, compared to the same quarter last
year.
Closing occupancy was 77.7%, an increase of 0.1
ppt from 77.6% last year. Like-for-like closing occupancy was
78.1%, a decrease of 0.3 ppts from the same time last year, and an
improvement of 1.5 ppts from 30 September 2024.
Closing net achieved rent per sq ft for all
stores was £35.26, an increase of 2% from the same time last year,
with average rate up 3% on the same quarter last year, and up 4%
for the year to date.
The Group's revenue increased by 2% in the
quarter, and is up 3% for the year.
Like-for-like operating expenses for
the quarter were up 6% on the same quarter last year, an
improvement from the 10% increase reported in the first half of the
year and we expect this to further decline to 3% to 4% annualised
for the next financial year.
We estimate that the impact of the
increase in National Insurance from April announced in the Budget
will be £0.5 million for next year. We are mitigating
this increase in full through additional reductions in store
headcount - a dividend of continued investment in
automation.
We reported for the half year to 30
September 2024 that adjusted profit before tax was up 3%, with
adjusted earnings per share ("eps") down 3% as a result of the
dilutive impact of the prior year placing in October
2023. For the nine months to 31 December 2024, unaudited
adjusted eps is up 1.5% with the dilution having washed
through and as we are now
close to the end of this financial year, we can be confident in
seeing some further modest eps growth improvement for the full
year.
Jim Gibson,
Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"Events beyond our control,
including policy making, are not making the job of running
businesses any easier; nonetheless we are confident that this
business will continue to prove itself resilient even if not
completely immune from these challenges.
A return to adjusted eps growth for
the first nine months of the financial year is encouraging and will
subsist for the full year. We are now turning our attention to our
next financial year where we expect to see a continuing moderation
in operating cost inflation. Self-evidently the
macro-economic environment is adding to volatility, and therefore
it remains to be seen whether that will negatively impact the
improvements in trading we have seen more recently.
This, in our view, is not a moment
to be carrying too much debt, and accordingly we remain focused on
maintaining our net debt to EBITDA ratio, which is currently 3
times, within our target range of 3 to 4 times.
We expect to invest approximately
£176 million over the next three years building out the next nine
consented stores (MLA of 0.7 million sq ft) and we believe this can
be funded comfortably from existing resources with our net debt to
EBITDA remaining within our target range. We are
confident that these prime new store openings, which break even at
20 to 25% occupancy, will make a significant contribution to future
cash flow and earnings growth."
For further information, please
contact:
Big
Yellow Group
PLC
+44 (0)1276 477 811
Nicholas Vetch CBE, Executive
Chairman
Jim Gibson, Chief Executive
Officer
John Trotman, Chief Financial
Officer
Sodali &
Co
+44 (0)20 7250
1446
Ben Foster
Courtney
Sanford
Notes to Editors
Big Yellow is the UK's brand leader
in self storage and operates from a platform of 109 stores.
We have a pipeline of 1.0 million sq ft comprising 13 proposed self
storage facilities. The current maximum lettable area of the
existing platform is 6.4 million sq ft. When fully built out
the portfolio will provide approximately 7.4 million sq ft of
flexible storage space. 99% of our stores and sites by value
are held freehold and long leasehold, with the remaining 1% short
leasehold. Currently by revenue 75% of our stores are in
London and its commuter towns, with the balance in larger regional
conurbations.
Our stores utilise state of the art
technology for our digital and operating platforms including
security, and we focus on locating our stores in high profile,
accessible, main road locations. We also focus on providing
excellent customer service, a highly engaged employee culture, and
with significant and increasing investment in
sustainability.
