Safestore swings to profit; says confident of full-year results

BRITISH self-storage retailer Safestore Holdings swung to a first-half pretax profit, driven mainly by occupancy growth in the UK and Paris, and said it remained confident of its full-year results.

By The Newsroom

Published 16th Jun 2010, 10:24 BST

Updated 16th Jun 2010, 10:25 BST

The company, which generates much of its revenue from house movers, raised its interim dividend by three per cent to 1.70 pence.

For the six months ended April 30, the company said it posted a pretax profit of 6.7m, compared with a loss of 11.7m last year. Revenue grew 2.8 percent to 42.4m.

The company made a profit of 5m related to its investment properties, compared with a loss of 30m last year.

Average rental rate was up 1.1 per cent to 25.51 per sq ft, while occupancy increased by 53,000sq ft in the period, compared with a loss of 11,200sq ft last year.

Paris