Big Yellow store revenue growth slows

24th May 2011 07:04

The UK economy is recovering, albeit slowly, if the experience of self-storage barns owner Big Yellow is anything to go by, but the company is still waiting for the pace of recovery to change gear.Revenue in the 12 months to 31 March rose 7% to £61.9m from £58.0m the prior year. Store revenue for the year was up 8% to £59.6m from £55.1m the year before, with the fourth quarter seeing 7% growth.The group saw occupancy growth of 215,000 square feet across its estate, well ahead of the 140,000 square feet of growth seen the year before. The average net rent per square foot achieved during the year, after all discounts and promotional offers, increased by 2% to £26.82. Adjusted profit before tax surged 22% to £20.2m from £16.5m a year earlier. Statutory profit before tax declined to £6.9m from £10.2m, however. Store earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 13% to £37.1m from £32.7m the previous year.Adjusted net assets per share eased 1% to 449.8p from 453.3p as at the end of March 2010. Basic net assets per share fell to 421.9p from 424.0p.Group net debt reduced to £266.0m from £269.4m at 31 March 2010.The final dividend has been bumped up to 5p from 4p the year before, giving a full year dividend of 9p, more than double last year's full year pay-out of 4p."It is of no surprise to us that the recovery in the UK economy is so muted, given the combined effects of the fiscal consolidation, the pressure on disposable incomes, and the constrained lending to businesses and individuals. The next step change in the recovery of the wider economy and hence self storage is unlikely to occur until some of these pressures are alleviated," predicted Nicholas Vetch, chairman of Big Yellow."We therefore expect that the performance of this business will continue to show steady progress, however at some point we would anticipate seeing a change in economic pace which will feed directly into the growth rate of our business," Vetch added. ---jh