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(Alliance News) - Safestore Holdings PLC on Thursday said profit rose in its most recently ended financial year, leading to a bolstered final payout for shareholders.
The Borehamwood, England-based self-storage company posted pretax profit for the year ended October 31 of GBP197.9 million, up 34% from GBP147.3 million a year prior.
Revenue rose 6.9% to GBP162.3 million from GBP151.8 million a year before.
Like-for-like closing occupancy improved to 81% from 78% a year before.
Chief Executive Drederic Vecchioli said: "Despite the pandemic, the group's business model demonstrated its resilience resulting in another strong performance for the year.
"The group has also made significant strategic progress during the year successfully expanding into three new countries in the last 18 months."
The three countries were Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Safestore increased its final dividend to 12.7 pence from last year's 12.0p, bringing the annual total payout to 18.6p, up 6.3% from 17.5p a year prior.
Going forward, Vecchioli said: "We believe the resilient characteristics of the self storage industry, together with our leading market positions across the UK and Paris, place the business in a strong position to withstand the economic uncertainty arising from Covid-19. Safestore's increasing scale allows us to invest in our digital marketing platforms and service proposition, and this remains a key competitive advantage in a fragmented industry.
"Although current Covid-19 restrictions have the potential for disruption, the aforementioned inherent resilience of our business model, combined with encouraging current trading, means that we look forward to the 2020-21 financial year with confidence."
Safestore shares were up 2.3% at 835.50 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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