Big Yellow quarterly revenue grows amid ‘aggressive’ expansion plan
Big Yellow saw its revenues rise in the third quarter as it ploughs ahead with its plan to open a raft of new sites.
The self-storage company said revenue for the three months to the end of December was up 7.1 per cent on the same period last year to £31.5m.
Its closing occupancy was more than 80 per cent, an increase of 1.4 ppts on last year, while like-for-like closing occupancy was up 2.4 ppts to 82.1 per cent.
But overall occupancy decreased by 2.7 per cent, which Big Yellow said was due to the “seasonally weaker” third quarter.
Chief executive James Gibson said: “As with the first half, this growth is coming from both occupancy and rate, and we would expect to see this continuing in 2019 as we return to occupancy growth in our fourth quarter and seasonally stronger spring and summer trading period.”
The update comes as Big Yellow pushes ahead with its plan for “aggressive” expansion, as the chain looks to open new stores in London and across the country.
In December the company said it had secured planning permission to transform its Battersea site into a new 72,000 square feet (sq ft) store.
“The development of new stores to provide external growth is, as previously reported, a key objective of the business,” said Gibson.
Big Yellow also said it remains focused on its key objective of 90 per cent occupancy across its portfolio.