Financial Highlights

Strong Financial Performance

Group revenue for the year up 12.6% (10.0% in CER¹)
Like-for-like² Group revenue for the year in CER¹ up 3.3%
- UK up 3.1%
- Paris up 4.0%
Underlying EBITDA³ up 10.7% in CER¹ which, offset by exceptional refinancing costs of £16.3m, drove a reduction in Profit before Tax⁴ of 16.9%
Cash Tax Adjusted Earnings per Share⁵ up 17.7% at 23.3p
21.7% increase in the final dividend to 9.8p (FY2016: 8.05p)

Operational Focus

Balanced approach to revenue management continues to drive returns
- Like-for-like average occupancy for the year up 1.4%
- Like-for-like closing occupancy of 75.0% (up 1.3ppts on 2016)
- Like-for-like average storage rate for the year up 1.3% in CER¹
Space Maker and new stores trading well

Strategic Progress

12 Alligator stores acquired on 1 November 2017 for £56m⁶, immediately earnings enhancing
Three new UK stores in the pipeline with 146,000 sq ft of new space scheduled to open in London Mitcham, London Paddington Marble Arch and Birmingham Merry Hill
Contracts exchanged in November 2017 for an 80,000 sq ft freehold site at Poissy, in the West of Paris

Strong and Flexible Balance Sheet

Debt refinancing in May 2017 resulting in circa £3m per annum finance costs savings on a pro forma basis
Group loan-to-value ratio (“LTV”⁷) at 31 October 2017 at 36% and interest cover ratio (“ICR”⁸) at 6.7x

Notes
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 like adjustments have been made to remove the impact of the 2016 openings of Wandsworth, Altrincham, Birmingham (including closure of our existing Birmingham store) and Emerainville, as well as Chiswick and Combs-la-Ville and the closure of Deptford in the current financial year. In addition, the impact of the acquisition of Space Maker on 29 July 2016 has been adjusted.
3 – Underlying EBITDA is defined as Operating Profit before exceptional items, corporate transaction costs, change in fair value of derivatives, gain/loss on investment properties, contingent rent and depreciation. Underlying profit before tax is defined as underlying EBITDA less leasehold rent, depreciation charged on property, plant and equipment and net finance charges relating to bank loans and cash.
4 – Profit before tax decreased by £16.0m to £78.9m (FY2016: £94.9m) principally as a result of exceptional costs totalling £17.7m (FY2016: exceptional income of £4.3m), which includes exceptional refinancing costs of £16.3m, and a reduction in the gain on investment properties by £2.5m to £39.2m (FY2016: £41.7m), offset by an improvement in underlying EBITDA of £8.7m.
5 – Cash tax adjusted earnings per share is defined as profit or loss for the year before exceptional items, corporate transaction costs, change in fair value of derivatives, gain/loss on investment properties and the associated tax impacts as well as exceptional tax items and deferred tax charges, divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue (excluding shares held by the Safestore Employee Benefit Trust).
6 - The consideration paid for Alligator on 1 November 2017 was £56.0m, and is subject to customary working capital adjustment.
7 – LTV ratio is Loan-to-Value ratio, which is defined as gross debt (excluding finance leases, but adjusted for the fair value of the US dollar cross currency swap) as a proportion of the valuation of investment properties and investment properties under construction (excluding finance leases).
8 – ICR is interest cover ratio, and is calculated as the ratio of underlying EBITDA after leasehold rent to underlying finance charges

Financial Highlights

Strong Financial Performance

Operational Focus

Strategic Progress

Strong and Flexible Balance Sheet

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