Big Yellow Group Plc (LON:BYG), today announced results for the year ended 31 March 2019.
Highlights
| Financial metrics | Year ended 31 March 2019 | Year ended 31 March 2018 | Growth |
| Revenue | £125.4m | £116.7m | 7% |
| Like-for-like revenue(1) | £123.2m | £114.9m | 7% |
| Store EBITDA(1) | £84.1m | £79.5m | 6% |
| Adjusted profit before tax(1) | £67.5m | £61.4m | 10% |
| EPRA earnings per share(1) | 41.4p | 38.5p | 8% |
| Dividend – final – total | 16.5p33.2p | 15.5p30.8p | 6%8% |
| Statutory metrics | |||
| Profit before tax | £126.9m | £134.1m | (5%) |
| Cash flow from operating activities (after net finance costs) | £71.8m | £63.0m | 14% |
| Basic earnings per share | 78.3p | 85.0p | (8%) |
| Store metricsOccupancy growth(1) | 80,000 sq ft | 179,000 sq ft | (99,000 sq ft) |
| Closing occupancy(1) | 82.4% | 80.5% | 1.9 ppts |
| Occupancy – like-for-like stores (%)(1) | 82.7% | 80.5% | 2.2 ppts |
| Average net achieved rent per sq ft(1) | £27.14 | £26.37 | 2.9% |
| Closing net rent per sq ft(1) | £27.28 | £26.74 | 2.0% |
1 See note 28 for glossary of terms
Highlights
Occupancy and rate growth driving 7% revenue increase
Average rate up 2.9% year-on-year. Like-for-like closing store occupancy 82.7% (2018: 80.5%)
Cash flow from operating activities (after net finance costs) increased by 14% to £71.8 million
Adjusted profit before tax up 10% to £67.5 million
8% increase in total dividend to 33.2 pence per share
Acquisition of 7 new development sites in London and the South East taking the pipeline to 12 sites totalling approximately 820,000 sq ft (18% of current MLA)
Acquisition of freehold of 81,000 sq ft New Malden store
Placing of 7.2 million shares in September 2018 raising £65.3 million (net of expenses) to fund development of new stores
Nicholas Vetch, Executive Chairman of Big Yellow, commented:
“We have delivered another year of growth, with revenue up 7% and adjusted profit before tax up 10% year-on-year. Although activity levels in the final quarter were impacted by consumer uncertainty in the build-up to the UK’s original proposed exit date from the EU, we are pleased to have delivered further improvements in rate and occupancy over the year as a whole.
This performance has been delivered alongside the continued delivery of our expansion strategy. In addition to opening an extension at our Wandsworth store, and new stores in Wapping and Manchester, we have acquired a further seven development sites.
It has taken us time to build a sustainable pipeline of new stores. That is now accomplished and will provide a steady increase in capacity over the next few years. We will continue to add to this pipeline as sites become available, albeit the supply of appropriate property is limited. These new stores will make a significant contribution to future revenue growth, enhancing the performance we anticipate being generated by the existing operating platform.
Looking ahead, we remain focussed on our core objective of increasing occupancy to 90%, which in turn should drive traction on pricing and further rate growth. We have a proven strategy and remain confident about the long-term prospects for the Group.”
