Self-storage company back in the black

The group, which operates three sites in Leeds, said it is confident about full-year results as it expects to see an upward trend in occupancy.

Safestore chief executive Steve Williams said: "An interesting development has been the

trend towards people selling their home before purchasing another and, in the interim, moving into smaller rented accommodation.

"This has resulted in a higher level of reservations being

made further in advance,

indicating that self-storage is becoming part of the planning process in relation to house moves, not merely reactive to an event."

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

"We do expect the housing market recovery to really help the business, but we are not certainly reliant only on that.

"About 56 per cent of our space is actually taken by business customers," said Mr Williams.

Rental rates improved in May and June and the company said new inquiries and reservations are near to the record levels seen in late 2007.

Safestore reported pre-tax profits of 6.7m in the six months to April, compared with a loss of 11.7m a year earlier. Revenues rose by 2.8 per cent, to 42.4m.

The company said that its three sites in the centre of Leeds had performed well. Two are owned by Safestore, while the third is owned by Spacemaker and operated under a management contract.

These equate to 150,000 sq ft of space. The group has about 1,000 customers in Leeds, of whom about 60 per cent are businesses.

The group said that the number of domestic and business customers have increased by 6.5 per cent to more than 40,000.

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

The company said it expected to achieve further growth through new store openings, acquisitions and new management contracts.