Quarter of Access Self-Storage centres up for sale and chief exec goes as SCER tackles downturn
The UK’s largest self-storage company this week lost its chief executive and has put more than a quarter of its centres on the market.
Access Self Storage, which is owned by Security Capital European Realty, has put 15 of its 58 completed centres (43 in the UK and 15 on the Continent) on the market as well as five development sites.
It has also lost chief executive Jonathan Duck, who was appointed in 2000 to expand the business. The group has also parted company with four of its five-strong development team.
SCER, now 35% owned by GE Real Estate, invested £100m in Access to make it the biggest player in the fledgling UK self-storage market.
Other groups in the sector have had a rocky path, which analysts blame on their rapid expansion and the failure of demand to be as high as expected.
And recently, the weakening residential market has begun to hit the demand for short-term space from home movers.
Mentmore this week said its self-storage arm was underperforming and needed restructuring (see p35), and quoted specialist self-storage groups Big Yellow and Safestore are still making losses.
Safestore chief executive Steve Williams has committed the firm to sweating its existing assets, rather than expanding rapidly, which was the policy of his predecessor.
This week Big Yellow, which has 19 stores, said it was “very much on track” to meet its strategic goals, after reporting revenues for the year to March up 63% to £19.1m and losses of £2.3m, the same as in 2001.
But the company has pulled out of France, after starting to set up an operation there.
Big Yellow chief executive Nick Vetch said the group was concentrating on high-visibility sites near main roads. “The US experience shows these are the only ones that succeed.”
US-based self-storage operator Shurgard, which has 12 sites in the UK, has followed the same model. The company has 560 centres worldwide.
