Trading Statement
Q3 revenue up 2%, occupancy slight improvement, adjusted EPS growth restored for nine months.
- Total revenue (Q3) £51.4 million (prior £50.5 million)
- Like-for-like store revenue (Q3) £50.4 million (prior £49.6 million)
- Total revenue (year to date) £154.4 million (prior £150.1 million)
- Closing occupancy 77.7% (prior 77.6%)
- Average achieved net rent per sq ft (year to date) £34.53 (prior £33.34)
- Adjusted EPS (9 months) up 1.5%
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Big Yellow is pleased to provide the following update on trading for the third quarter ended 31 December 2024.
| Financial metrics | Quarter ended 31 December 2024 | Quarter ended 31 December 2023 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue for the quarter | £51.4 million | £50.5 million | 2% |
| Like-for-like store revenue for the quarter (1) | £50.4 million | £49.6 million | 2% |
| Total revenue for the year to date | £154.4 million | £150.1 million | 3% |
| Like-for-like store revenue for the year to date (1) | £151.4 million | £147.7 million | 3% |
| Store metrics - all 109 stores | |||
| Store Maximum Lettable Area ("MLA") | 6,421,000 | 6,419,000 | - |
| Closing occupancy (sq ft) | 4,988,000 | 4,979,000 | - |
| Occupancy change in quarter | (180,000 sq ft) | (249,000 sq ft) | 69,000 sq ft |
| Closing occupancy | 77.7% | 77.6% | 0.1 ppt |
| Closing occupancy - like-for-like stores (1) | 78.1% | 78.4% | (0.3 ppts) |
| Average achieved net rent per sq ft for the quarter | £34.87 | £34.00 | 3% |
| Average achieved net rent per sq ft for the year to date | £34.53 | £33.34 | 4% |
| Closing net rent per sq ft | £35.26 | £34.65 | 2% |
Excluding Kings Cross (opened June 2023)
In our seasonally weaker third quarter, occupancy across all 109 stores decreased by 180,000 sq ft, a significant improvement of 69,000 sq ft on last year's loss of 249,000 sq ft.
Overall move-ins for the quarter were up 2%, with business move-ins up 9%, compared to the same quarter last year.
Closing occupancy was 77.7%, an increase of 0.1 ppt from 77.6% last year. Like-for-like closing occupancy was 78.1%, a decrease of 0.3 ppts from the same time last year, and an improvement of 1.5 ppts from 30 September 2024.
Closing net achieved rent per sq ft for all stores was £35.26, an increase of 2% from the same time last year, with average rate up 3% on the same quarter last year, and up 4% for the year to date.
The Group's revenue increased by 2% in the quarter, and is up 3% for the year.
Like-for-like operating expenses for the quarter were up 6% on the same quarter last year, an improvement from the 10% increase reported in the first half of the year and we expect this to further decline to 3% to 4% annualised for the next financial year.
We estimate that the impact of the increase in National Insurance from April announced in the Budget will be £0.5 million for next year. We are mitigating this increase in full through additional reductions in store headcount - a dividend of continued investment in automation.
We reported for the half year to 30 September 2024 that adjusted profit before tax was up 3%, with adjusted earnings per share ("eps") down 3% as a result of the dilutive impact of the prior year placing in October 2023. For the nine months to 31 December 2024, unaudited adjusted eps is up 1.5% with the dilution having washed through and as we are now close to the end of this financial year, we can be confident in seeing some further modest eps growth improvement for the full year.
Jim Gibson, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"Events beyond our control, including policy making, are not making the job of running businesses any easier; nonetheless we are confident that this business will continue to prove itself resilient even if not completely immune from these challenges.
A return to adjusted eps growth for the first nine months of the financial year is encouraging and will subsist for the full year. We are now turning our attention to our next financial year where we expect to see a continuing moderation in operating cost inflation. Self-evidently the macro-economic environment is adding to volatility, and therefore it remains to be seen whether that will negatively impact the improvements in trading we have seen more recently.
This, in our view, is not a moment to be carrying too much debt, and accordingly we remain focused on maintaining our net debt to EBITDA ratio, which is currently 3 times, within our target range of 3 to 4 times.
We expect to invest approximately £176 million over the next three years building out the next nine consented stores (MLA of 0.7 million sq ft) and we believe this can be funded comfortably from existing resources with our net debt to EBITDA remaining within our target range. We are confident that these prime new store openings, which break even at 20 to 25% occupancy, will make a significant contribution to future cash flow and earnings growth."
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