Lok’n Store chief executive calls storage recession proof
SELF-storage firm Lok’n Store is defying the gloom and will continue its winning streak, chief executive Andrew Jacobs said yesterday.
Despite fears that the storage sector would suffer from the property slump, Jacobs revealed the group’s rate of storage occupancy was now up 10 per cent from the beginning of 2009, and was now achieving the same levels as “pre-Armageddon- when Lehman’s collapsed”.
Lok’n Store, currently the UK’s fourth-biggest player in the sector, last month received an approach from a potential bidder, but talks have now ended.
Jacobs yesterday said the sector was “ripe for consolidation… there’s not much difference between our competitors…. We’ve been in many discussions about being a bidder, or being bought, but as yet nothing’s come of it.”
Jacobs, a former Nomura broker, yesterday said that making the money in the storage business was relatively “easy.” He said: “It’s like in the Eddie Murphy film ‘Trading Places’ – you make money whether the market goes up or down.”
Jacobs yesterday claimed the storage sector was “recession-proof.”He said: “It’s driven by people, if they marry, if they divorce, if they’re made redundant – they will need somewhere to keep their stuff.”