Actualités

Scottish Self-Storage Tycoon Buys 12 Sites, Looks for More

Scottish entrepreneur Alister Jack is looking for additional self-storage sites after purchasing 12 U.K. facilities for his Alligator Self Storage chain. The properties were acquired from investment bank Macquarie Group Australia in a £20 million deal backed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The acquisition brings the total number of Alligator sites to 17. Jack is seeking additional expansion opportunities, possibly two or three more in the next year, he said.

The newly purchased facilities, previously named Storage King, will be rebranded under the Alligator name and operated out of Edinburgh, Scotland, where Jack resides. The sites are in Dumfries and Edinburgh, with a string of sites in England.

Jack is the previous owner and founder of Aardvark and Armadillo Self-Storage chains, which he sold in 2002 and 2007 respectively. Jack also owns sister company Edinburgh Self Storage, which he purchased in February 2006. He entered the self-storage marketing 15 years ago.

According to Jack, there is still plenty of self-storage opportunity in the United Kingdom, as the per-capita square footage of U.K. \storage is only a quarter of that in the United States.

Les chiffres de Big Yellow pour 2008 montrent un net ralentissement du marché annuel

uarterly highlights

• Total store revenue for the quarter was £14.2 million
– Up 1% from £14.1 million for the same quarter last year*
– Down 5% from £15.0 million for the quarter to 30 September 2008

• This excludes management fees earned of £0.3 million (same quarter last year: £0.0 million, quarter to 30 September 2008 £0.6 million)

• Revenue for the quarter in the 32 same store portfolio was £11.0 million
– Down 5% from £11.6 million for the same quarter last year
– Down 6% from £11.7 million for the quarter to 30 September 2008

• All stores average achieved rental of £26.29 per sq ft
– Up 2% from £25.80 for the same quarter last year
– Down 3% from £27.17 for the quarter to 30 September 2008

• Average occupancy of all stores in the quarter was 1,778,000 sq ft
– Down 3% from 1,841,000 sq ft for the same quarter last year
– Down 2% from 1,809,000 sq ft for the quarter to 30 September 2008

• Closing occupancy was 1,746,000 sq ft across all stores at 30 September
– Down 3% from 1,800,000 sq ft at the same time last year
– Down 3% from 1,807,000 sq ft occupied at 30 September 2008

• this excludes revenue from the Leeds store which was transferred to Big Yellow Limited Partnership in November 2007.

Store update

During the period we opened two new stores, a 64,000 sq ft store in Sheen, which had been closed for comprehensive redevelopment, and a 60,000 sq ft store in Sheffield Hillsborough, trading within Big Yellow Limited Partnership (« the Partnership »). We now have 49 directly owned open stores with a total self storage capacity of 3.1 million sq ft. Our 70,000 sq ft store at Leeds, along with Sheffield Hillsborough, trade within the Partnership.

The number of stores open and sites in planning or under development (including 13 to trade in the Partnership) now total 71. Of the 20 sites in the development pipeline, 14 have planning permission, with a further two applications submitted, of which one is at appeal. 11 of these sites under development will trade in the Partnership, of which eight currently have planning consents.

James Gibson, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

« Trading conditions continued to be tough in what has been traditionally our weakest quarter to the end of December. We have no doubt that the cyclical environment for consumer facing businesses will continue to be difficult for the foreseeable future, but we look forward to our seasonally more buoyant spring and summer period. »