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Financial Highlights

Record Financial Performance

  • Group revenue for the year up 15.1% (up 15.5% in CER1)
  • Like-for-like2 Group revenue for the year in CER1 up 13.8%:
    • UK up 16.8%
    • Paris up 4.3%
  • Underlying EBITDA2 up 26.2% in CER1 which, combined with an increased gain on investment properties of £321.1m (FY2020: £126.5 million), resulted in statutory operating profit3 of £417.0 million (FY2020: £212.2 million)
  • Adjusted Diluted EPRA Earnings per Share4 up 34.1% at 40.5 pence (FY2020: 30.2 pence). Diluted Earnings per Share was 176.4 pence (FY2020: 84.0 pence) largely due to the higher property valuation gain in FY2021
  • 38.6% increase in the final dividend to 17.6 pence (FY2020: 12.7 pence) giving a total for the year of 25.1 pence (FY2020: 18.6 pence)
Operational Focus
  • Continued balanced approach to revenue management and efficient marketing platform driving returns and record occupancy performance:
    • Like-for-like2 closing occupancy of 85.1% up 5.0ppts on 2020 (FY2020: 80.1%)
    • Like-for-like2 average occupancy for the year up 11.8%
    • Like-for-like2 average storage rate5 for the year up 2.4% in CER1
  • New and recently opened stores trading well and in line with business plans
  • Investment in our digital marketing platform continuing to deliver for the business:
    • o Online enquiries in FY2021 rose to 89% of our total enquiries in the UK (FY2020: 88%) and 85% in France (FY2020: 79%)
Strategic Progress
  • New freehold Birmingham Middleway (58,500 sq ft of MLA) and leasehold Paris Magenta (50,000 sq ft of MLA) stores opened in April 2021
  • New freehold store in Bow, London (74,000 sq ft of MLA), opened in December 2021
  • Three store extensions in London Edgware, London Paddington Marble Arch and Southend opened in December 2021 adding 41,000 sq ft of MLA
  • Development pipeline expanded to c. 732,000 sq ft of future MLA (equivalent to c. 11% of existing portfolio)
    • Seven London and South East developments to add 387,000 sq ft
    • Seven developments in Barcelona and Madrid to add 225,000 sq ft
    • Two Paris developments to add 99,000 sq ft
    • Two existing store extensions to add 21,000 sq ft
  • New 18-year lease signed on Hayes store commencing in June 2027
  • Acquisition of a 14,000 sq ft MLA freehold store in Christchurch5, Dorset, from Your Room Self Storage
  • Joint venture6 with Carlyle acquired three-store portfolio of Opslag XL in the Netherlands in December 2020 and a development site in Nijmegen in the Netherlands which is due to open in January 2022
  • Continued development of Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) agenda illustrated by:
    • Investors In People Platinum accreditation
    • GRESB “A” rating for public disclosures
    • EPRA Silver rating for sustainability
    • MSCI AA rating for ESG
    • Third FTSE 250 company to achieve the highest rating of five stars from Support The Goals

Strong and Flexible Balance Sheet

  • Group loan-to-value ratio (“LTV”7) at 25% (31 October 2020: 29%) and interest cover ratio (“ICR”8) at 10.5x (31 October 2020: 9.0x)
  • Unutilised bank facilities of £252 million at October 2021 and no borrowings to refinance before June 2023. In addition, a further uncommitted €115 million shelf facility available from an existing lender
  • 24.0% increase in property valuation (including investment properties under construction) driven by improved trading performance, new stores, revisions to exit cap rates and stabilised occupancy assumptions
  • As a result, our pipeline continues to be financed by free cash flow and existing debt facilities

Notes for Year Ended 31 October 2021
We prepare our financial statements using IFRS. However, we also use a number of adjusted measures in assessing and managing the performance of the business. These measures are not defined under IFRS and they may not be directly comparable with other companies’ adjusted measures and are not intended to be a substitute for, or superior to, any IFRS measures of performance. These include like-for-like figures, to aid in the comparability of the underlying business as they exclude the impact on results of purchased, sold, opened or closed stores and constant exchange rate (CER) figures are provided in order to present results on a more comparable basis, removing FX movements. These metrics have been disclosed because management reviews and monitors performance of the business on this basis. We have also included a number of measures defined by EPRA, which are designed to enhance transparency and comparability across the European Real Estate sector, see notes 6 and 13 below and “Non-GAAP financial information” in the notes to the financial statements.

1 – CER is Constant Exchange Rates (Euro denominated results for the current period have been retranslated at the exchange rate effective for the comparative period in order to present the reported results on a more comparable basis).
2 – Like-for-like adjustments have been made to remove the impact of the 2021 openings in Birmingham Middleway and Magenta in Paris, the 2021 closure of Birmingham South, the 2020 acquisitions of Valencia, Calabria, Glories and Marina in Barcelona, the acquisition of Chelsea and St John’s Wood in London, and the 2020 openings of Carshalton, Sheffield and Gateshead.
3 – Operating profit increased by £204.8 million to £417.0 million (FY2020: £212.2 million) principally as a result of an increase in the gain on investment properties of £194.6 million to £321.1 million (FY2020: £126.5 million), as well as an increase of £24.1 million or 25.7% in Underlying EBITDA as a result of stronger trading performance. Profit before tax additionally included an increase in the fair value of derivatives of £2.9 million (FY2020: net gain £0.2 million).
4 – Adjusted Diluted EPRA EPS is based on the European Public Real Estate Association's definition of Earnings and is defined as profit or loss for the period after tax but excluding corporate transaction costs, change in fair value of derivatives, gain/loss on investment properties and the associated tax impacts. The Company then makes further adjustments for the impact of exceptional items, IFRS 2 share-based payment charges, exceptional tax items and deferred tax charges. This adjusted earnings is divided by the diluted number of shares. The IFRS 2 cost is excluded as it is written back to distributable reserves and is a non-cash item (with the exception of the associated National Insurance element). Therefore neither the Company’s ability to distribute nor pay dividends are impacted (with the exception of the associated National Insurance element). The financial statements will disclose earnings on a statutory, EPRA and Adjusted Diluted EPRA basis and will provide a full reconciliation of the differences in the financial year in which any LTIP awards may vest.
5 – The enterprise value paid for Your Room Self Storage in Christchurch, Dorset, on 7 December 2021 was £2.45 million. The total transaction costs are expected to be £2.6 million subject to customary working capital adjustments.
6 – The joint venture with CERF, which represents a 20% investment, has been accounted for as an associate using the equity method of accounting, as described in the “Investment in associates” note to the financial statements.
7 – LTV ratio is Loan-to-Value ratio, which is defined as gross debt (excluding lease liabilities) as a proportion of the valuation of investment properties and investment properties under construction (excluding lease liabilities).
8 – ICR is interest cover ratio, and is calculated as the ratio of Underlying EBITDA after leasehold rent to underlying finance charges.
 
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