Safestore said its business could flourish from sliding property values when it posted a 54% rise in net asset value for the half-year.
“Self-storage doesn’t have a direct correlation to real estate.
The flipside is that, if real estate values fall, then that provides an opportunity to buy more stores,” said chief executive Stephen Williams.
“By contrast, self-storage yields will be relatively strong, underpinned by the growth in cash flow for the sector.”
Williams also highlighted the sector’s growth potential, saying there was room for 3,000 stores in the UK alone, and around 12,000 in Europe.
Pretax profits rose from just under £1m to £24.2m for the six months to 30 April.
Safestore said this was due to higher occupancy levels and rental growth across the portfolio.
The results were Safestore’s first since floating on the Stock Exchange in March.
The UK’s largest self-storage company recently opened its 100th store in Guildford.
Williams said its target of 7-10 openings a year remained, and added that further European growth was on the agenda.
“If acquisition opportunities arise for other self-storage companies, we’ll consider them.”
He said that Sweden, Holland and Italy were markets of interest, while the Czech Republic and Poland also looked competitive.
Williams said he was not unduly concerned about rising interest rates because Safestore’s rates were fixed for the next four years.
“We’re clear what our interest rates will be until 2011, so that’s a strong position for us,” he said.
Safestore also said it was giving “full consideration” to converting to REIT status for its UK business, but would only do so when satisfied the move would not hinder its prospects for growth.
Williams said that Safestore web enquiries had risen by 100% in the past 12 months.
