REG - Big Yellow Group PLC - RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2026
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RNS Number : 7733E Big Yellow Group PLC 18 May 2026
Big Yellow Group PLC
("Big Yellow", "the Group" or "the Company")
Results for the YEAR ended 31 MARCH 2026
HIGHLIGHTS
Financial metrics Year ended Year ended
31 March 2026
31 March 2025
Change
Revenue((4)) £209.1m £204.5m 2%
Store revenue((1)) £207.6m £203.1m 2%
Like-for-like store revenue((1,2,6)) £207.3m £203.1m 2%
Store EBITDA((1)) £146.5m £143.2m 2%
Adjusted profit before tax((1,7)) £117.5m £115.6m 2%
Adjusted earnings per share((1,8)) 59.0p 57.8p 2%
Dividend ((4,5)) 47.2p 46.4p 2%
Profit before tax((4)) £126.2m £203.9m (38%)
Cash flow from operating activities (after net finance costs and pre-working
capital movements)((3))
£111.5m £111.9m -
Basic earnings per share((4)) 63.8p 103.2p (38%)
Store metrics
Store Maximum Lettable Area ("MLA")((1)) 6,721,000 6,421,000 5%
Closing occupancy (sq ft)((1)) 4,985,000 5,056,000 (1%)
Closing occupancy((1)) 74.2% 78.7% (4.5 ppts)
Closing occupancy - like-for-like stores (%)((1,2,6)) 77.0% 78.7% (1.7 ppts)
Average net rent per sq ft((1)) £35.98 £34.71 4%
Closing net rent per sq ft((1)) £36.28 £35.17 3%
(1) See note 28 for glossary of terms
(2) Excluding Staines, Queensbury, Slough Bath Road and Wembley (all opened
2025/26)
(3) See reconciliation in Financial Review
(4) Statutory metric
(5) The dividend paid in the year is all Property Income Distribution ("PID")
(6) See reconciliation in Portfolio Summary
(7) See reconciliation in note 10
(8) See reconciliation in note 12
Highlights
* Store revenue growth of 2%, with like-for-like store revenue also up by 2%,
driven by increases in average achieved rents
* Like-for-like occupancy decrease of 1.7 ppts to 77.0% (March 2025: 78.7%),
since the period end, this gap has closed to 0.6 ppts. During the year four
new stores were opened adding 0.3 million sq ft (5% of opening MLA). These
store openings are the primary driver of the 4.5 ppts decline in closing
occupancy
* Average achieved net rent per sq ft increased by 4% year-on-year, closing net
rent up 3% from March 2025
* Like-for-like store operating cost increase of 0.3% in the year, down from 7%
in the previous year
* Overall store EBITDA was up £3.3 million compared to the prior year, with
strong cost control resulting in store EBITDA margin of 70.5% in line with the
prior year (2025: 70.5%)
* Cash flow from operating activities (after net finance costs and pre-working
capital movements) broadly in line with last year at £111.5 million, however
the prior year included a one-off receipt of £4 million in respect of
Cheadle. Excluding this receipt from the prior year, cash flow from
operating activities was up 3% compared to 2025
* Adjusted profit before tax up 2% to £117.5 million, adjusted earnings per
share up 2% to 59.0p
* A 2% increase in full year dividend to 47.2 pence per share in line with
adjusted eps growth
* Statutory profit before tax of £126.2 million, down from £203.9 million in
the prior year, due to a lower revaluation surplus in the year
* £2 million invested in the year with 85 stores now having solar arrays.
This resulted in a 13% increase in capacity in the year to 9.6 Megawatts,
continuing to reduce our reliance on grid-bought electricity - energy costs
now represent only 1.2% of revenue
* During the year we opened four new freehold stores in Staines (July 2025),
Queensbury (October 2025), Slough Bath Road (February 2026) and Wembley (March
2026)
* Acquired a freehold site in Coventry, exchanged contracts on a freehold site
in Bethnal Green, London, and subsequent to the year end exchanged contracts
on a freehold site in Acton, West London, taking the pipeline to 11
development sites and one replacement store of approximately 0.9 million sq ft
(13% of current MLA). 1.7 million sq ft of fully built vacant space is
currently available for future growth
* Planning consent granted for Leamington Spa, Leicester and Old Kent Road; we
now have 9 of our 12 pipeline stores with planning; six stores are currently
under construction
Nicholas Vetch CBE, Executive Chairman of Big Yellow, commented:
"This business has again continued to prove to be resilient over the year
despite the prevailing external crises.
We recognise that the current operating environment presents considerable
challenges for businesses across the sector, and we do not underestimate the
headwinds that lie ahead. Nonetheless, we believe that we have taken the
necessary steps to position the Company in a good a place as we can.
Looking forward, we will maintain our disciplined focus on the factors that
remain firmly within our control: namely, the quality, design, and strategic
location of our store portfolio - both those already operational and those
currently in the development pipeline, the consistently high standard of
service we deliver to our customers, and the prudent and sustainable
management of our capital structure."
ABOUT US
Big Yellow is the UK's brand leader in self storage and operates from a
platform of 113 stores. We have a pipeline comprising 12 proposed self
storage facilities (including one replacement store). The current maximum
lettable area of the existing platform is 6.7 million sq ft. When fully
built out the portfolio will provide approximately 7.6 million sq ft of
flexible storage space. 99% of our stores and sites by value are held
freehold and long leasehold, with the remaining 1% short leasehold.
Currently by revenue 75% of our stores are in London and its commuter towns,
with the balance in larger regional conurbations.
Our stores utilise state of the art technology for our digital and operating
platforms including security, and we focus on locating our stores in high
profile, accessible, main road locations. We also focus on providing
excellent customer service, a highly engaged employee culture, and with a
significant investment in sustainability.
CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT
Big Yellow Group PLC ("Big Yellow", "the Group" or "the Company"), the UK's
brand leader in self storage, is pleased to announce its results for the year
ended 31 March 2026.
Financial results
This business has again continued to prove to be resilient over the year
despite the prevailing external crises.
The year-on-year like-for-like deficit in occupancy, currently our principal
focus of attention, has at the point of reporting, seen some improvement,
closing to 0.6 ppts.
Cost control has been effective, reducing like-for-like store operating
expense inflation to 0.3%. The fall in short term interest rates has helped
with our total interest bill rising just £0.1 million, despite significant
capital expenditure resulting in an increase in total levels of debt.
Revenue for the year was £209.1 million (2025: £204.5 million), an increase
of 2%, with store revenue up 2%. Like-for-like store revenue (which excludes
new store openings) was up 2% driven by improvements in average net rent.
Store EBITDA was £146.5 million, an increase of £3.3 million from the prior
year (2025: £143.2 million).
The adjusted profit before tax in the year was £117.5 million up 2% from
£115.6 million in 2025. Adjusted earnings per share increased by 2% to
59.0p (2025: 57.8p).
The Group's cash flow from operating activities (after net finance costs and
pre-working capital movements) was £111.5 million for the year, broadly in
line with the prior year (2025: £111.9 million). The prior year included a
one-off receipt of £4 million in respect of Cheadle. Excluding this receipt
from the prior year, cash flow from operating activities was up 3% compared to
2025.
The Group's statutory profit before tax was £126.2 million, a decrease from
£203.9 million in the prior year. There was a revaluation surplus for the
current year of £7.6 million, compared to a surplus of £79.7 million in the
prior year.
Investing in our platform
Our business involves the provision of safe, secure, convenient, local space
to individuals and businesses which requires physical real estate. We are
continuing to invest significantly in AI use cases, automation and
machine-learning to further improve efficiency both in our stores and head
office.
During the year we opened four new freehold stores in Staines, Queensbury,
Slough and Wembley (all in, or close to London). Sites were acquired in
Coventry, and contracted to be acquired in Bethnal Green, London, and Acton,
London. Planning consents have been secured in Leamington Spa, Leicester and
Old Kent Road, resulting in 9 of our 12 sites now having planning consents.
We have continued to focus on buying and building in central London, where the
barriers to entry are highest, and supply most constrained.
Six stores are currently under construction, with the 12 sites in our pipeline
forecast to deliver an additional 0.9 million sq ft of capacity, delivering an
estimated 8.3% return on capital deployed, or a total of £39 million of net
operating income. The pipeline's total cost to complete at 31 March 2026 is
£231 million to be deployed over the next four years.
Capital structure
The Group's interest cover for the year was 6.1x (2025: 6.1x), with the
Group's net debt to EBITDA ratio increasing to 3.7x (2025: 3.1x). Net debt
was £476.7 million at 31 March 2026 (2025: £388.7 million), on gross
property assets of £3.1 billion, and the Group has undrawn committed
facilities of £83 million. Our current average cost of drawn debt is 4.7%,
down from 5.0% at 31 March 2025, and a peak of 5.7% in September 2023.
Dividends
The Group's dividend policy is to distribute a minimum of 80% of full year
adjusted earnings per share. The final distribution of Property Income
Distribution ("PID") declared is 23.4 pence per share. This brings the total
distribution declared for the year to 47.2 pence per share, an increase of 2%
from the prior year (2025: 46.4p).
Board changes
As we announced in March, Jim Gibson has informed the Board of his intention
to retire. Consequently, he will step down as CEO and from the Big Yellow
Board with effect from 20 July 2026, following the Annual General Meeting.
John Hunter, who has been COO since April 2024 will become Chief Executive
following his appointment at the AGM.
Jim has, with the able assistance of the Company's senior management, been a
critical force in putting the Company into the market-leading position it now
holds. He has been thoughtful, strategic, bold when appropriate, cautious
when necessary, and has commanded the respect and affection of his colleagues
over his long tenure.
This transition has been four years in the making. John has been with the
Company for two years, and it has become abundantly clear that he has all the
operational, financial and strategic skills to leads us in the next stage of
our evolution. Most importantly, he has proved to be an excellent cultural
fit. The Board, our CFO John Trotman, and I look forward to working with
John over the coming years as we continue to grow our market leading business.
Helen Gordon, the CEO of Grainger plc, the current Senior Independent
Non-Executive Director at Derwent London plc has agreed to join the Big Yellow
Board as Senior Independent Non-Executive Director with effect from 1 June
2027. I am grateful to Vince Niblett who has agreed to stay on as the SID
until Helen takes up the post.
Our people
We enjoy a high level of employee engagement, with a significant cohort of
staff having been with the Company for many years. I am grateful to them for
their commitment and hard work, particularly in this uncertain macro and
political environment.
Our customer net promoter scores ("NPS") increased to 85.0 from 82.8 last year
- a magnificent achievement by all our team.
Outlook
We recognise that the current operating environment presents considerable
challenges for businesses across the sector, and we do not underestimate the
headwinds that lie ahead. Nonetheless, we believe that we have taken the
necessary steps to position the Company in a good a place as we can.
Looking forward, we will maintain our disciplined focus on the factors that
remain firmly within our control: namely, the quality, design, and strategic
location of our store portfolio - both those already operational and those
currently in the development pipeline, the consistently high standard of
service we deliver to our customers, and the prudent and sustainable
management of our capital structure.
Nicholas Vetch CBE
Executive Chairman
18 May 2026
CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S STATEMENT
Trading
We are pleased to have delivered another year of revenue and earnings growth,
which is a testament to the resilience of our business and the hard work of
our employees. The first half of the year saw subdued activity levels as we
navigated the global economic uncertainty created by changes in US tariff
policy. However, we saw stronger trading in the second half, which resulted
in a recovery in like-for-like occupancy, although some of that progress was
reversed in March following the start of the Iran war, with occupancy growth
stalling. In the period after the year end we have seen an improvement in
relative performance with the like-for-like occupancy gap closing to 0.6 ppts
at the time of reporting.
We continued to deliver rental growth through our yield management to new and
existing customers. This offset the reduction in like-for-like occupancy
experienced during the year and translated into 2% growth in store revenue.
Following a period of elevated inflationary pressures on our cost base in
recent years, it was pleasing to see strong cost control deliver much lower
increases in our operating costs over the past 12 months. In the first half
we saw lower like-for-like operating costs versus the same six months in the
prior year, which was the result of several operational efficiencies being
delivered. In the second half we reinvested some of these savings into
additional marketing expenditure to drive occupancy. We nevertheless
mitigated this with savings elsewhere, resulting in an overall 0.3% increase
in like-for-like operating costs for the full year. For the year ahead we
expect underlying store operating cost inflation of approximately 2-3%, after
absorbing a 9% increase in our like-for-like property rates.
Whilst we continue to see demand spread across a diverse range of drivers, the
largest driver of demand remains from domestic customers renting storage space
when moving home (40% of move-ins during the year, 23% owners and 17%
renters). We saw subdued levels of activity in our first quarter, as many
customers completed their house purchase prior to the changes in Stamp Duty
thresholds from 1 April last year. However, we saw an improvement in demand
from home movers in the second half, following four base rate cuts through
calendar year 2025, which helped narrow the gap in year-on-year occupancy
reported at the half year. We experienced stronger demand from business
customers in the second half of the year, with business occupancy increasing
by 16,000 sq ft for the six months to the end of March, the first growth since
early 2022 following the Covid period. We continue to see good demand from
online retailers and B2B traders looking for flexible mini-warehousing for
e-fulfilment. National business customers continued to occupy 5% of our
space and delivered revenue growth of 6% year-on-year. Businesses now occupy
36% of our occupied space, generating 32% of storage revenue and we believe
there is further growth to come from serving this important customer
segment.
Investment in our operating platform and systems
Our core purpose as a Company is to provide customers with a safe and secure
space for their possessions. Our store teams provide a reassuring presence
during normal opening hours, and we continue to invest in the technology and
the physical security of our stores to deliver an accessible and secure
environment for our customers.
We have rolled out a mobile-based access system to most of our Big Yellow
stores over the past 12 months and intend to complete the roll out to the
entire store estate before the end of 2026. This system enables customers to
unlock gates and other entry points to the store via their Bluetooth enabled
smartphone. This has the combined benefit of removing the need for customers
to remember their pin code, whilst reducing the risk of pin codes being
misappropriated. We increased our investment in Doncaster Security
Operations Centre Limited ("DSOC") during the financial year and now own 74%
of the ordinary share capital of the Company. DSOC increasingly uses data
and AI to help detect unusual behavioural patterns generating alerts to our
store teams or its overnight monitoring operators.
We also launched a digital identity verification process, Yoti, during the
year to complement our online check-in process, which allows us to validate
customers' identity prior to the move-in stage. This removes the need for
customers to bring their proof of identity into store, whilst using technology
to ensure they are indeed who they say they are.
These technology investments work alongside physical security features, such
as perimeter fencing, lighting enabled by motion detectors, individually
alarmed rooms and 24-hour CCTV. We continue to restrict access outside of
normal trading hours to 15-20% of our customers, the majority of whom are
business customers. Most of our customers are happy to access the store
during normal opening hours when our store teams are present. Our store
teams play an important role as the final check on who we accept into our
buildings as customers, and importantly allow access to out of store opening
hours. We believe this is critical to maintaining the security of our
stores, as it cannot be replicated online.
Over 90% of customers come through our digital channels, and our website saw
continual development over the past year to improve conversion of customers
seeking self storage. We continually work to identify and remove points of
friction in our online journeys and thereby drive-up conversion levels.
There is a continuing trend of customers engaging digitally in the self
storage sector, in common with most retail and consumer services businesses.
We continue to automate operational tasks performed by our store teams. We
have developed our performance dashboard reporting to allow our store managers
to identify issues more easily and speed up decision making. We have made
improvements to several back-office processes; for example, we have
centralised our packing material stock ordering to remove this task from our
store teams and generate more accurate stock orders. Our new customer
service platform aggregates customer feedback, whether from our internal
surveys or from external sources (for example, Google and Trustpilot
reviews). This allows us to easily see trends in customer feedback and
address any service delivery issues even more promptly. Our use of an
external data supplier to automatically track competitor pricing has allowed
us to become more efficient and reactive to pricing adjustments. We intend
to launch a chatbot this year to help answer simple queries from customers
online and reduce the volume of calls into our customer support centre. Last
year we automated our debt collection, which remains well managed with very
low levels of debts going beyond 10 days due, with bad debt write offs of 0.2%
over the year, in line with the prior year.
All of this has allowed us to operate more efficiently, whilst focusing our
store teams on value-adding activities. This ensures they are focused on
dealing with any customer service issues and helping to drive revenue from
ancillary services in the store. For example, optimising contents cover,
accepting deliveries for business customers, and packing material sales are
revenue generating activities that rely on our store teams to complete.
We continue to review and invest in our cyber security platform. We maintain
our digital security standards by training our teams, implementing
best-of-breed products and technologies and enhancing our policies and
procedures. Our proactive approach helps us to stay ahead of potential
threats and vulnerabilities as we look to maintain the integrity and
availability of our digital assets.
People
As ever, our continued progress as a business reflects the steadfast
commitment of our people, whether in head office or in our stores, who have
worked extremely hard this year.
The level of staff turnover and vacancies in the business continues to be at
relatively low levels over the past 12 months. This is encouraging and
reflects the strong culture of the business and the high level of engagement
and loyalty this engenders. It also supports our ability to attract and
retain the talent we need to grow as a business going forward.
Our customer feedback comments frequently refer to the excellent service
delivered by specific team members. We track our customer satisfaction
levels through our net promoter score, and our average over the year for
move-ins and move-outs was 85.0 (2025: 82.8), which demonstrates an
improvement on already very high levels of customer service. We also see
excellent customer service ratings via our Google and Trustpilot review
pages. The customer service and experience delivered by our store teams is a
differentiating success factor, particularly with those customers who
increasingly use online reviews, either via traditional search or using AI, to
decide on their self storage provider.
The continual improvement in our digital journeys, along with automation and
improvement of in-store processes, has allowed us to safely review our store
staffing structure. We have not been replacing certain positions when we see
staff attrition and we achieved annualised savings of £0.3 million in the
year. We will continue to seek further reductions in store staff headcount
levels where these can be safely achieved. However, whilst we continue to
identify opportunities to reduce headcount, our store team members will always
be required during our normal opening hours to deliver great customer service,
income from ancillary services and maintain the standards and security of our
stores.
We continue to make improvements to our culture and practices in respect of
diversity, and these are set out in our latest Inclusivity and Diversity
Report, which is available on our corporate website. Our Inclusivity and
Diversity Committee continues to meet regularly, and we believe diversity has
a positive impact on our performance. We want to ensure we have an inclusive
culture that attracts, retains and provides equal opportunity to all our team
members to drive forward our business.
ESG
The Big Yellow Foundation helps support the rehabilitation of vulnerable
people into work. Our store teams raise funds by asking our customers if
they wish to donate to the Foundation at move-in and move-out. We also
generate donations from fundraising activities carried out by our employees
across the business. The Company matches all money raised in this way.
Through the generosity of our customers and the efforts of our employees, we
raised a record £533,000 (2025: £444,000) in the year for the Foundation and
provided £414,000 (2025: £345,000) of funding to our charity partners. The
total funding since the inception of the Foundation in 2018 now stands at
£1.8 million.
We also continue to provide 12-week work placements in our stores to
candidates from some of our Foundation partner charities. These placements
help improve confidence and work chances for the candidates. Our store teams
also enjoy working alongside the candidates and find it rewarding to do so. We
continue to provide free space to small local charities and community
organisations across our store estate. At present we support approximately
300 charities this way. Our volunteering program allows our staff to give back
to the community, with every member of staff given one day a year to volunteer
with one of our charity partners or a charity of their choice.
Our solar program continues to expand across both new developments and
existing stores. During the year, seven installations were completed,
including four new developments and three retrofit installations on existing
assets. We have invested £18.2 million in the retrofit programme over the
last four years, which has taken the total number of stores with solar to
85. Alongside new installations, we have begun upgrading some of our
earliest solar arrays to improve performance and ensure they continue to
deliver efficiently over the long term. Our total solar capacity across the
estate is now 9.6 Megawatts (2025: 8.5 Megawatts).
As part of our solar strategy, our battery programme has progressed from pilot
to early-stage deployment. We installed and commissioned four battery
systems at our new stores opened in the year, alongside a programme of
retrofit installations across existing stores. Once all our current
installations are commissioned, we will have approximately 700kW of battery
storage capacity across 15 stores. We intend to install batteries across a
further eight stores in the year ahead and so further expand our battery
capacity across the store estate, benefiting over time from improvements in
performance and cost. Battery storage enables us to store and deploy energy
when it is needed, increase the efficiency of our solar generation, reduce
peak grid demand and improve the resilience of our operations.
Following a successful trial, our energy efficiency programme has moved from
pilot to scaled roll out. Taking the lessons from the initial pilot, we have
refined the solutions deployed, with a focus on lighting controls and lighting
system optimisation. During the year, 24 stores were upgraded with new
lighting controls, delivering energy savings of approximately 25% at those
locations, with a three to four year payback. We intend to implement these
lighting controls across the entire store estate in the financial year
ahead. This initiative will help further protect the business against energy
cost instability.
We maintain an updated assessment of the performance of our estate by
recertifying our EPCs, even when certificates are in date following
improvements. We are projected to have all stores (bar one short leasehold) at
A+, A or B by the end of 2026, well ahead of the 2028 requirement. We continue
to make significant progress on our journey to self-generation of our energy
needs.
Further detail, including progress on our Science Based Targets, is included
in the ESG Report.
Conclusion
Our business model, combined with continued investment in our market-leading
brand, store portfolio and operating platform, has once again delivered a
resilient performance over the last 12 months.
Finally, I have been very proud to have played my part in the Big Yellow story
from the beginning working with a great team in a great culture. I intend to
remain invested, confident that the business will continue to deliver secure,
compounding returns in the coming years under the leadership of my replacement
John Hunter alongside my co-founder and Chairman Nick Vetch and CFO John
Trotman.
Jim Gibson
Chief Executive Officer
18 May 2026
OPERATING REVIEW
The store platform and demand
We now have a portfolio of 113 open and trading stores, with a current maximum
lettable area of 6.7 million sq ft, an increase of 0.3 million sq ft (5%)
since the prior year, with four stores opening in the year.
Self storage demand is spread across a diverse set of drivers, and is largely
driven by need, with security, convenience, quality of product, service and
location being key factors. Awareness remains relatively low compared to
commoditised products, such as hotel rooms or airline seats, albeit it is
increasing slowly year-on-year with increased supply, marketing expenditure
and customer use. The majority of our domestic customers are represented in
ACORN profiled groups such as Flourishing Capital, Up and Coming Urbanites,
Exclusive Addresses, Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Surroundings,
Upmarket Families, Urban Aspiring Flat Dwellers and Privately Renting
Professionals in Flats. The largest element of demand into our business each
year is customers who use us for relatively short periods driven by a need.
Of our move-ins during the year:
- customers renting storage space whilst moving represented 40% of
move-ins during the year (2025: 41%), with homeowners representing 23% and
renters 17%;
- 13% of our customers who moved in took storage space as a spare
room for decluttering (2025: 12%);
- 35% of our customers used the product because some event had
occurred in their lives generating the need for storage; they may be moving
abroad for a job, have inherited possessions, are getting together, or
separating, are students who need storage during the holidays, or homeowners
developing into their lofts or basements (2025: 35%);
- the balance of 12% of our new customer demand during the year came
from businesses (2025: 12%), who stay longer and represent around 20% of our
customers in store at any one time, occupying 36% of the space at 31 March
2026.
Of our overall occupied space today, customers who are longer stay lifestyle
users, decluttering into small rooms as an extension to their accommodation,
occupy 10% to 15% of our space; approximately 50% of the space is customers
using it for less than 12 months, for reasons which are largely event driven,
which could be inheritance, moving in the owner-occupied or rental sector,
home improvements, travelling; the balance of 36% of our space is
businesses.
Our business customer base is comprised of online retailers, B2B traders
looking for flexible mini-warehousing for e-fulfilment, service providers,
those looking to shorten supply chains, and businesses looking to rationalise
their other fixed costs of accommodation. For these customers, who are
typically looking for rooms which could be from 50 sq ft to 500 sq ft in
facilities that meet their operational requirements, the only supply in big
cities is from self storage providers. The average space occupied by
business customers at the year-end is 177 sq ft (2025: 175 sq ft).
Domestic customers occupy on average 59 sq ft (2025: 59 sq ft) and pay on
average 16% more in rent per sq ft than business customers (2025: 17%), due to
the smaller on average room size rented. Business customers do however stay
longer, take more space and represent around 32% of revenue (2025: 32%).
The pandemic accelerated many structural changes that were already occurring,
such as the move to online retailing and an increase in working from home
facilitated by technological advances. The deindustrialisation of big cities
with the conversion of commercial space into residential and other uses, has
led to a shortage of suitable flexible mini-warehouse space from which to
operate small scale storage and e-fulfilment, particularly in London. These
developments, along with businesses increasingly seeking flexible office and
storage space rather than longer inflexible leases, we believe are long-term
structural trends, which will benefit our business going forward.
From research we carried out in the year, a typical small business using our
storage employs around two people and over 60% of them are early-stage
businesses and for 50% of them this is their only space.
In addition, we have a dedicated national customers team for businesses who
wish to occupy space in multiple stores. These customers on average occupy
approximately 900 sq ft, paying £30,000 per annum, and are billed and managed
centrally. This area has performed strongly in the year with revenue up 6%
compared to the prior year, making up 5% of occupied space.
Activity
Occupancy across all 113 stores decreased over the year by 71,000 sq ft (2025:
increase of 27,000 sq ft). Domestic occupied space decreased by 50,000 sq ft
over the year.
Business occupancy dropped 1.2% or 21,000 sq ft on 1.78 million sq ft occupied
at the beginning of the year. As we have experienced over the years, there
are businesses who outgrow us and move to their own accommodation, others
cease operations, some are seasonal, and we continue to replace any vacated
space with new move-ins from online traders, e-tailers and service
providers. We are not seeing any noticeable further softening in demand from
businesses, particularly in London, and in the last six months of the
financial year, we saw an increase in occupancy from businesses of 16,000 sq
ft.
The 77 Big Yellow same stores (see Portfolio Summary) are 78.2% occupied
compared to 80.9% at the same time last year. The 12 lease-up Big Yellow
stores added 60,000 sq ft of occupancy over the year to reach closing
occupancy of 49.2%. The 24 Armadillo stores, representing 10% of the Group's
revenue are 75.5% occupied, compared to 76.2% at this time last year.
Overall store occupancy, with four new stores opening in the year, was 74.2%
(2025: 78.7%).
Occupancy Occupancy change in year Occupancy Occupancy
31 March 2026 000 sq ft 31 March 2026 31 March 2025
% 000 sq ft 000 sq ft
77 same store Big Yellow stores 78.2% (123) 3,809 3,932
12 lease-up Big Yellow stores 49.2% 60 417 357
24 Armadillo stores 75.5% (8) 759 767
All 113 stores 74.2% (71) 4,985 5,056
All stores are trading profitably at the EBITDA level, with the exception of
our newly opened stores in Queensbury, Slough Bath Road and Wembley.
Rental growth
We continue to manage pricing dynamically, taking account of room
availability, customer demand and local competition, with our pricing model
reducing promotions and increasing asking prices where individual room sizes
are in scarce supply.
We continue to price competitively to win new customers and increase rents to
in-place customers on a range dependent on what they are paying relative to
the current asking price, and on average these were at levels slightly ahead
of wage inflation. It must be remembered that some 60% of our customers
vacate within six months and therefore do not receive any price increases.
New customers over the year paid on average 0.7% less than move-ins for last
year, and 6.9% less than customers moving out over the year. If we can
improve our relative occupancy performance, we would expect to see this narrow
and be an additional driver to revenue growth.
The average achieved net rent per sq ft increased by 4% compared to the prior
year, with closing net rent up 3% compared to 31 March 2025.
Marketing
Our marketing strategy is focused on further strengthening our
market‑leading brand awareness and leveraging this to drive the
cost‑efficient generation of enquiries, customer move‑ins and high levels
of customer satisfaction across our digital platforms and store experience.
Our strong brand, combined with continued investment in digital capability and
innovation, has enabled us to develop a market‑leading website, which now
generates over 90% of all enquiries.
Our latest YouGov brand tracking survey (published May 2024) confirmed that
Big Yellow's brand awareness remains significantly ahead of all other UK self
storage operators. Unprompted brand awareness is more than four times higher
than our nearest competitor across the UK.
The Big Yellow website allows customers to browse different room sizes, obtain
pricing, reserve online and complete their check‑in before arriving at the
store. Once a customer has moved in, our stores operate with automated
access.
We recognise that many customers find it difficult to determine the right
storage size. To support this, our online size estimator uses intuitive
animations and clear guidance to help customers make an informed choice.
Short video clips demonstrating different room sizes are also available,
giving prospects greater confidence that they are selecting the correct space.
Customers can communicate with us in real time via Live Chat or WhatsApp while
comprehensive online FAQs provide quick answers to common queries without the
need to call us directly. This digital experience is particularly important
given that around 60% of our new customers have never used self storage
before.
The seamless digital experience continues with our online check‑in platform,
which allows customers to complete the majority of their move‑in process
remotely. This has significantly reduced the time customers need to spend in
reception when they arrive at the store. Customers can sign their full storage
licence, set up authorised users, complete their storage inventory and
establish a paperless Direct Debit, all before arriving on site.
During the year, we also introduced automated identity verification through
Yoti. This removes the need for store teams to manually inspect customer ID
documents and visually match them to the individual present. The technology
automatically identifies fraudulent or expired documents and matches the ID
photo to a live facial scan of the user. This AI‑driven automation
provides an additional layer of security by giving us greater confidence in
who is storing with us, while also significantly speeding up the move‑in
process.
We also provide the ability to purchase boxes and packing materials through
our online BoxShop store. These items can be home delivered or made available
through our Click and Collect service from stores, which represents 84% of
BoxShop transactions.
Driving online traffic
Self storage is a consumer‑facing business and building a strong,
sustainable brand is inherently multi‑layered. It requires consistency in
product offering, customer service and brand interaction across all
touchpoints, particularly online.
Search engines remain our most important customer acquisition channel,
accounting for the majority of traffic to our website. Our continued focus on
building and maintaining competitive advantage in search has seen ongoing
investment in search engine optimisation ("SEO"), enabling us to sustain
strong organic rankings for both generic and local self storage search terms.
This drives both growth and cost efficiency in the acquisition of new
prospects.
As the search landscape evolves, we are increasingly focused on AI‑driven
search visibility and generative search optimisation ("GEO"), across leading
large language models. This includes understanding why certain brands are
surfaced and how we can positively influence that visibility. The strength,
authority and reputation of the Big Yellow brand, combined with many years of
investment in a robust SEO foundation, position us well for this next era of
search.
Brand search terms are a significant driver of enquiries for Big Yellow and
play an important role in improving cost efficiency. Over the past year, 35%
of all paid search clicks to our website were generated from "Big Yellow"
brand searches, clearly demonstrating the value of strong brand awareness in
driving higher‑quality prospects and improved operational efficiency. This
effect is consistently evidenced by the performance uplift seen in acquired
store portfolios following re‑branding and integration into the Big Yellow
business.
Search engine marketing remains our largest source of paid digital traffic and
is managed by a specialist search team to ensure spend is tightly controlled
and highly efficient. Continued website optimisation and a strong, engaging
user experience across our digital platforms help maximise the conversion of
web visits into enquiries and, ultimately, customers.
Digital display advertising allows us to target audiences actively considering
self storage, increasing brand consideration through engaging creative
formats. In parallel, we continue to expand strategic online partnerships with
brands that share similar customer profiles, further improving efficiency in
our cost per customer acquisition.
Online customer reviews and social media
Supporting our value of putting the customer at the heart of the business,
online customer reviews provide real‑time feedback on our service and
generate powerful word‑of‑mouth advocacy for prospective customers.
Through our structured customer feedback programme, we capture insight from
customers following both their move‑in and move‑out experiences. Customer
reviews and mystery shop results are made transparently available across the
business, reinforcing our continued focus on delivering outstanding customer
service. Over the year, we achieved an average Net Promoter Score of 85,
representing a very strong benchmark for a consumer‑facing business.
We also benefit from real‑time customer feedback via more than 45,000 Google
reviews, with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5. These reviews not only
provide valuable insight but also enhance our visibility in local search
results and help build trust in the Big Yellow brand, which is increasingly
important for AI‑driven search visibility. In addition, we have over 5,200
reviews on the independent review platform Trustpilot, with an average rating
of 4.8 out of 5, categorised as "Excellent". All customer reviews are actively
monitored and responded to, ensuring we manage our online reputation
effectively and use customer insight to continually improve our service
offering.
Social media continues to complement our core marketing channels. Big Yellow
maintains an active presence across LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok,
using these platforms to raise awareness of our services and ESG activities.
Social channels also provide customers with another way to engage with us and
are monitored in real time to enable prompt responses to enquiries. LinkedIn
is used specifically to communicate company achievements, ESG initiatives and
our company culture.
The Big Yellow YouTube channel further supports the customer journey by
allowing prospective customers to explore our stores remotely through
video‑based guides to self storage.
We will continue to invest in enhancing the customer experience and user
journey across both our digital channels and in‑store operations, supporting
increased automation and delivering further efficiency gains across the
business.
AI
We continue to identify new ways to use AI and emerging technologies to drive
efficiency and improve performance across the business. We are currently
leveraging a range of AI tools to enhance our content creation processes,
including Microsoft Copilot, Claude and Canva, enabling us to generate ideas
and content more quickly and creatively. We also use AI‑based focus groups
to provide valuable insight into customer‑facing website designs.
AI tools support the creation of training modules, the drafting of policies
and procedures, and the development of engaging presentations and visual
content. The integration of these tools has significantly streamlined
workflows and boosted productivity across our key business functions.
Alongside this, we make extensive use of rules‑based data manipulation and
automation across multiple operational areas, including dynamic pricing,
prospect management, online check‑in and the automation of customer
communications. Data‑driven access control reporting and alerts from our
stores have strengthened our audit processes, while exception reporting has
delivered notable efficiency gains. In marketing, AI is also used for paid
search optimisation and prospect acquisition, customer identity verification
via Yoti and competitor monitoring. We have implemented new software within
our financial reporting team to speed up our financial forecasting. Our DSOC
business also uses AI to help filter alerts triggered by operator security
systems, which enables its security operatives to work more efficiently.
While often delivered through third‑party services,
machine‑learning‑driven AI underpins our cybersecurity and defence
capabilities. It plays a critical role in anti‑malware protection, firewall
management, email security, vulnerability testing and Security Information and
Event Monitoring.
This is by no means an exhaustive summary of how AI is supporting and
enhancing our business, but it provides a clear indication of its impact - and
it remains an area we will continue to invest in.
Cyber security and IT infrastructure
Cyber security and IT infrastructure remain fundamental to the Group's
strategic objectives and operational effectiveness. We operate a
comprehensive framework encompassing risk management, security protocols,
regulatory compliance, innovation, and operational efficiency. Throughout
the year we have delivered substantial progress whilst maintaining our
proactive approach to identifying opportunities and addressing evolving
challenges. The Group remains committed to sustained investment in our
capabilities safeguarding our competitive position. Our Infrastructure and
Development teams continue to deliver innovation and operational efficiencies
across the Group.
Our cyber risk and security posture is subject to continuous assessment,
drawing upon the expertise of both internal specialists and independent
external advisors. Measures such as compulsory Information Security and Data
Protection training, complemented by regular testing programmes including
penetration testing and phishing simulations helps to ensure the resilience of
both our technical systems and our people. During the year our
infrastructure successfully completed a rigorous external audit attaining
IASME Cyber Assurance and Cyber Essentials certification. The Group also
maintains cyber insurance coverage to mitigate potential financial exposure in
the event of a security incident.
Our Data Compliance Officer oversees ongoing compliance with GDPR and PCI DSS
requirements, whilst also managing our Business Continuity and Crisis
Communication frameworks. Policies and procedures undergo periodic review
and are benchmarked against industry best practice standards.
Development pipeline
An important aspect of our external growth is the development of new stores,
particularly in London, where there are very few existing assets suitable to
be acquired.
Current development pipeline - with planning
Site Prominent location Status Anticipated capacity
Staples Corner, London North Circular Road Construction commenced with planned store opening in August 2026. Replacement for existing leasehold store, additional 18,000 sq ft
Epsom, London East Street Construction commenced with planned store opening in September 2026. 59,000 sq ft
Kentish Town, London Regis Road Demolition commenced, with planned store opening in September 2026. 70,000 sq ft
Wapping, London The Highway, adjacent to existing Big Yellow Construction commenced with planned store opening in December 2026. Additional 95,000 sq ft
West Kensington, London Hammersmith Road Demolition of existing building completed, with store opening anticipated in 176,000 sq ft
spring 2029.
Newcastle Scotswood Road Planning consent granted, with store opening anticipated in summer 2027. 60,000 sq ft
Leicester Belgrave Gate, Central Leicester Site acquired in June 2023. Planning consent granted, with store opening 58,000 sq ft
anticipated in early 2028.
Leamington Spa Queensway Site acquired in May 2024. Planning consent granted, construction commenced 54,000 sq ft
with store opening anticipated in summer 2027.
Old Kent Road, London Old Kent Road Site acquired in June 2022. Planning application submitted in October 2023, 79,000 sq ft
with planning consent granted in May 2026.
Current development pipeline - without planning
Site Prominent location Status Anticipated capacity
Coventry Sir Henry Parkes Road Site acquired in April 2025. Planning application submitted in November 58,000 sq ft
2025.
Bethnal Green, London Hollybush Gardens Contracts exchanged in September 2025, with deferred completion in March 68,000 sq ft
2027. Planning application submitted in April 2026.
Acton, London The Vale Contracts exchanged in May 2026, with completion occurring in the same month. 66,000 sq ft
Total - all sites 861,000 sq ft
The four new stores opened in the year to March 2026 have added a further 0.3
million sq ft of capacity; the 12 development sites in our pipeline are
forecast to deliver an additional 0.9 million sq ft of capacity. The
projected net operating income of the combined increase in our total capacity
of 1.2 million sq ft when stabilised, at today's prices, is £39 million
representing a proforma 8.3% return on the capital deployed. If we include
the replacement store at Staples Corner, due to open in July 2026, the
proforma net operating income increases to £43 million, a return of
approximately 8.4% on the total development cost of approximately £513
million, including land already acquired.
PORTFOLIO SUMMARY
March 2026 March 2025
Big Yellow same stores ((1)) Big Yellow lease-up Armadillo Big Yellow same stores Big Yellow lease-up Armadillo
Total Total
Number of stores 77 12 24 113 77 8 24 109
At 31 March:
Total capacity (sq ft) 4,868,000 848,000 1,005,000 6,721,000 4,863,000 552,000 1,006,000 6,421,000
Occupied space (sq ft) 3,809,000 417,000 759,000 4,985,000 3,932,000 357,000 767,000 5,056,000
Percentage occupied 78.2% 49.2% 75.5% 74.2% 80.9% 64.7% 76.2% 78.7%
Net rent per sq ft £38.80 £34.05 £24.88 £36.28 £37.56 £33.28 £23.74 £35.17
For the year:
REVPAF((2)) £34.99 £23.82 £21.77 £31.84 £34.80 £23.34 £21.01 £31.63
Average occupancy 79.7% 59.2% 76.7% 77.2% 82.3% 62.1% 77.3% 79.8%
Average annual net rent psf £38.45 £34.04 £24.48 £35.98 £37.08 £32.82 £23.42 £34.71
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Self storage income 149,098 13,129 18,845 181,072 148,335 11,262 18,226 177,823
Other storage related 19,330 1,820 2,972 24,122 19,195 1,607 2,861 23,663
income ((2))
Ancillary store rental 1,786 589 46 2,421 1,576 17 45 1,638
income
Total store revenue 170,214 15,538 21,863 207,615 169,106 12,886 21,132 203,124
Direct store operating costs (43,934) (6,436) (8,584) (58,954) (43,606) (5,690) (8,269) (57,565)
Short and long (1,980) (11) (218) (2,209) (2,145) (26) (206) (2,377)
leasehold rent((3))
Store EBITDA((2)) 124,300 9,091 13,061 146,452 123,355 7,170 12,657 143,182
Store EBITDA margin 73.0% 58.5% 59.7% 70.5% 72.9% 55.6% 59.9% 70.5%
Deemed cost £m £m £m £m
To 31 March 2026 752.0 220.0 148.5 1,120.5
Capex to complete - 2.1 - 2.1
Total 752.0 222.1 148.5 1,122.6
(1) The Big Yellow same stores are those that have reached 85% occupancy
during a previous financial year. Should a store move categories in a year,
we re-present the comparative information, so the store is in the same
category in both years.
(2) See glossary in note 28.
(3) Rent paid for five short leasehold properties and five long leasehold
properties
The table below reconciles Store EBITDA to gross profit in the statement of
comprehensive income.
Year ended 31 March 2026 Year ended 31 March 2025
£000 £000
Store EBITDA Reconciling items Gross profit per statement of comprehensive income Store EBITDA Reconciling items Gross profit per statement of comprehensive income
Store revenue/Revenue((4)) 207,615 1,469 203,124 1,371
209,084 204,495
Cost of sales((5)) (58,954) (4,572) (63,526) (57,565) (4,561) (62,126)
Rent((3)) (2,209) 2,209 - (2,377) 2,377 -
146,452 (894) 145,558 143,182 (813) 142,369
(4) See note 3 of the financial statements, reconciling item is
non-storage income.
(5) See reconciliation in cost of sales section in Financial Review.
Reconciliation of APMs
The table below reconciles the reported figures above to the like-for-like
metrics the Group reports:
Like-for-like revenue
Year ended 31 March 2026 Year ended 31 March 2025
£000 £000
Store revenue (6) 207,615 203,124
Less revenue from non like-for-like stores (6) (322) -
Like-for-like revenue (6) 207,293 203,124
Like-for-like store occupancy
Year ended 31 March 2026 Year ended 31 March 2025
Store MLA (sq ft) (6) 6,721,000 6,421,000
Less MLA from non like-for-like stores (sq ft) (6) (295,000) -
Like-for-like MLA (sq ft) (6) 6,426,000 6,421,000
Store occupancy (sq ft) (6) 4,985,000 5,056,000
Less occupancy from non like-for-like (sq ft) (6) (38,000) -
Like-for-like occupancy (sq ft) (6) 4,947,000 5,056,000
Like-for-like occupancy (%) (6) 77.0% 78.7%
(6) See glossary in note 28
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Revenue
Total revenue for the year was £209.1 million, an increase of £4.6 million
(2%) from £204.5 million in the prior year. Like-for-like store revenue
(see glossary in note 28) for the year was £207.3 million, an increase of 2%
from the prior year (2025: £203.1 million).
In the prior year, we reported that revenue growth was highest in our London
stores, with our south east commuter and regional stores delivering a lower
run-rate of revenue growth. In the current year, we have seen this reverse,
with our commuter and regional stores delivering higher revenue growth than
our London stores.
Included in store revenue is other storage related income, from the sale of
packing materials, insurance/enhanced liability service ("ELS"), and storage
related charges. This amounted to £24.1 million in the year (2025: £23.7
million), an increase of 2%.
The other revenue earned by the Group is tenant income on sites where we have
not started development.
Operating costs
Cost of sales principally comprise the direct store operating costs, including
store staff salaries, utilities, business rates, insurance, a full allocation
of the central marketing budget and repairs and maintenance.
The table below shows the breakdown of our store operating costs compared to
the prior year:
Year ended 31 March 2026 Year ended 31 March 2025 % of store operating costs in 2026
£000 £000
Category Change
Cost of sales 1,294 1,422 (9%) 2%
Staff costs 15,502 15,199 2% 26%
General & admin 1,397 1,646 (15%) 2%
Utilities 2,519 2,783 (9%) 4%
Property rates 21,666 20,856 4% 36%
Marketing 7,699 6,778 14% 13%
Repairs & maintenance 5,598 5,841 (4%) 9%
Insurance 3,257 3,394 (4%) 6%
Computer costs 1,151 1,193 (4%) 2%
Total before one-off items 60,083 59,112 2% 100%
One-off items (1,129) (1,547) (27%)
Total per portfolio summary 58,954 57,565 2%
Store operating costs have increased by £1.4 million (2%). The one-off
items in the current and prior years relate to rates rebates received in the
year. Store operating costs before these one-off items have increased by
£1.0 million (2%) compared to the prior year. The additional operating
expense from new stores accounted for £0.8 million in the year. The
remaining increase is £0.2 million (0.3%), with commentary below:
- Cost of sales has reduced with lower packing material sales in
the year, and some savings on purchase costs.
- Staff costs have increased by £0.3 million (2%) with the salary
review of on average 3.2% (including a higher increase to those at the lower
end of the pay scale reflecting the rise in the national living wage). This
increase has been partly offset by savings on headcount, as we drive
efficiencies into the stores through automation, and a lower bonus payout.
- Our utilities expenditure has reduced by £0.3 million (9%)
compared to the prior period, from a combination of a lower contracted energy
price, our investment in solar and the roll-out of an energy efficiency
programme across our stores. Our energy pricing is fixed through to
September 2026.
- Property rates have increased by £0.8 million (4%). The rates
payable for this year were based off the CPI print to September 2024, which
was 1.7%. The remaining increase is due to new stores. Looking ahead to
next year, following the publication of the 2026 Rating List, we anticipate
our like-for-like rates bill will increase by 8.5% in the year to 31 March
2027, with the increase moderating in the years ending 31 March 2028 and 31
March 2029.
- Our marketing expense for the year was up 14%, mainly due to an
increase in the pay-per-click ("PPC") budget over the second half of the year
to drive additional prospects in a softer demand environment. The total
marketing spend represents 3.7% of revenue for the year.
- The repairs and maintenance expense has reduced by £0.2 million
(4%) due to savings we have made across a number of cost lines.
- Our insurance expense has fallen by £0.1 million (4%)
principally due to lower customer insurance claims in the year.
- The Group's bad debt expense for the year was 0.2% of revenue,
in line with the prior year (2025: 0.2%). The Group has not seen any
deterioration in its aged debtors' profile over recent months.
For the year ending 31 March 2027, we anticipate like-for-like operating costs
increasing by approximately 2% to 3%.
The table below reconciles store operating costs per the portfolio summary to
cost of sales in the statement of comprehensive income:
Year ended 31 March 2026 Year ended 31 March 2025
£000 £000
Direct store operating costs per portfolio summary (excluding rent) 58,954 57,565
Rent included in cost of sales (total rent payable is included in portfolio 1,952 1,593
summary)
Depreciation charged to cost of sales 517 530
Costs associated with closure of Slough leasehold store - 694
Head office and other operational management costs charged to cost of sales 2,103 1,744
Cost of sales per statement of comprehensive income 63,526 62,126
The Group incurred various costs associated with the closure of its Slough
leasehold store in the prior year, including the cost of transferring
customers to our new freehold Slough Farnham Road store, and the strip-out of
the building before returning it to the landlord. These costs totalled £0.7
million and were excluded from the Group's adjusted profit for that year, as
they were a one-off item.
Store EBITDA
Store EBITDA for the year was £146.5 million, an increase of £3.3 million
from £143.2 million for the prior year (see Portfolio Summary). The overall
EBITDA margin for during the year was 70.5%, in line with the prior year.
All stores are currently trading profitably at the Store EBITDA level, with
the exception of our recently opened stores in Queensbury, Slough Bath Road
and Wembley.
Administrative expenses
Administrative expenses in the statement of comprehensive income are £15.0
million, down £0.7 million (5%) compared to the prior year. The fall is due
to a reduction in the IFRS 2 Share Based Payments charge of £1.0 million in
the year. Excluding this movement, administrative expenses remained tightly
controlled and were up £0.3 million (2%).
Share of profit of joint venture
At the start of the year, the Group had a £0.6 million investment (34% of the
equity) in Doncaster Security Operations Centre Limited ("DSOC"), a company
which provides out-of-hours monitoring and alarm receiving services, including
for the Group's stores. On 1 August 2025 the Group increased its investment
in DSOC and now owns 74% of the ordinary share capital of the Company. The
investment is treated as a joint venture, as the Group has joint control over
DSOC with the minority founder shareholder. The investment is measured using
the equity method of accounting. The Group's share of profit for the period
from 1 August 2025 to 31 March 2026 was £0.1 million.
Other income
In the current year, the Group earned other income of £0.2 million. This
was a dilapidations receipt on a development property. The prior year other
income is loss of income insurance proceeds of £4.0 million, which was the
final settlement following a fire at our Cheadle store in February 2022.
Interest expense on bank borrowings
The gross bank interest expense for the year was £23.4 million, an increase
of £0.1 million from the prior year, due to higher average debt levels,
partly offset by a lower average cost of debt following the reduction in
interest rates. The average cost of borrowing during the year was 5.0%
compared to 5.7% in the prior year.
Capitalised interest has risen significantly as we build out the stores in our
development pipeline, and was £10.6 million, up from £7.9 million in the
prior year.
Total finance costs in the statement of comprehensive income reduced to £13.6
million from £15.9 million in the prior year, due to the increase in
capitalised interest.
Profit before tax
The Group made a profit before tax in the year of £126.2 million, compared to
a profit of £203.9 million in the prior year. After adjusting for the gain
on the revaluation of investment properties and other matters shown in the
table below, the Group made an adjusted profit before tax in the year of
£117.5 million, up 2% from £115.6 million in 2025.
Profit before tax analysis 2026 2025
£000 £000
Profit before tax 126,212 203,854
Gain on revaluation of investment properties (7,574) (79,667)
Movement in fair value on interest rate derivatives (1,164) (547)
Gain on disposal of non-current asset - (8,754)
Costs associated with closure of Slough leasehold store - 694
Adjusted profit before tax 117,474 115,580
The adjustments made to the Group's profit before tax follow guidance issued
by EPRA, with additional Company specific adjustments made to give readers a
clearer underlying picture of the Group's performance. EPRA profit before
tax for the prior year is disclosed in note 10.
The movement in the adjusted profit before tax from the prior year is
illustrated in the table below:
£m
Adjusted profit before tax - year ended 31 March 2025 115.6
Increase in gross profit 2.5
Decrease in administrative expenses 0.7
Decrease in other income (3.8)
Increase in share of profit of joint venture 0.1
Increase in net interest payable (0.3)
Increase in capitalised interest 2.7
Adjusted profit before tax - year ended 31 March 2026 117.5
Basic earnings per share for the year was 63.8p (2025: 103.2p) and diluted
earnings per share was 63.4p (2025: 102.8p). Diluted adjusted earnings per
share based on adjusted profit after tax was up 2% to 59.0p (2025: 57.8p)
(see note 12).
REIT status
The Group is a Real Estate Investment Trust ("REIT") and therefore benefits
from a zero tax rate on its qualifying self storage earnings. The Group only
pays tax on the profits attributable to our residual business, comprising
primarily of the sale of packing materials and insurance.
REIT status gives the Group exemption from UK corporation tax on profits and
gains from its qualifying portfolio of UK stores. Revaluation gains on
developments and our existing open stores are exempt from corporation tax on
chargeable gains, provided certain criteria are met.
The Group has a rigorous internal system in place for monitoring compliance
with criteria set out in the REIT regulations. On a monthly basis, a report
on compliance with these criteria is issued to the Executive. To date, the
Group has complied with all REIT regulations, including forward looking
tests.
Taxation
There is a £2.4 million tax charge in the residual business for the year
ended 31 March 2026 (2025: £2.5 million). The current year tax charge is
partly offset in the income statement by an adjustment to the prior year tax
estimate of £1.1 million (2025: prior year adjustment of £0.5 million).
Dividends
The Board is recommending the payment of a final dividend of 23.4 pence per
share in addition to the interim dividend of 23.8 pence, giving a total
dividend for the year of 47.2 pence, an increase of 2% from the prior year.
The Group's policy is to distribute a minimum of 80% of our adjusted earnings
per share in each reporting period.
REIT regulatory requirements determine the level of Property Income
Distribution ("PID") payable by the Group. Based on the full year
distributable reserves for PID purposes, a PID of 47.2p pence per share is
payable (31 March 2025: 46.4 pence). The PID for the year to 31 March 2026
accounts for all of the declared dividend. The table below summarises the
declared dividend for the year:
Dividend (pence per share) 31 March 2026 31 March 2025
Interim dividend 23.8p 22.6p
Final dividend 23.4p 23.8p
Total dividend 47.2p 46.4p
Subject to approval by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting to be held
on 20 July 2026, the final dividend will be paid on 24 July 2026. The ex-div
date is 2 July 2026 and the record date is 3 July 2026.
Cash flow growth
The Group is strongly cash generative and draws down from its longer term
committed facilities as required to meet its obligations. The Group's cash
flow from operating activities pre-working capital movements for the year was
£111.5 million, broadly in line with the prior year. The prior year
included a one-off receipt of £4 million in respect of Cheadle. Excluding
this receipt from the prior year, cash flow from operating activities was up
3% compared to 2025. These operating cash flows are after the ongoing
maintenance costs of the stores, which were on average approximately £50,000
per store (2025: £53,500), a 7% reduction.
The Group's net debt has increased over the year to £476.7 million (March
2025: £388.7 million).
There are distortive working capital items in the prior year, and therefore
the summary cash flow below sets out the free cash flow pre-working capital
movements
Year ended Year ended
31 March 2026
31 March 2025
£m £m
Cash generated from operations pre-working capital movements 134.8 132.0
Net finance costs (22.0) (21.5)
Interest on obligations under lease liabilities (0.7) (0.6)
Other operating income received 0.2 4.0
Tax (0.8) (2.0)
Cash flow from operating activities pre-working capital movements 111.5 111.9
Working capital movements (2.6) 2.6
Cash flow from operating activities 108.9 114.5
Capital expenditure (100.9) (58.3)
Disposal of non-current asset - 30.6
Investment in joint venture (1.0) -
Cash flow after investing activities 7.0 86.8
Dividends (93.2) (88.5)
Issue of share capital 0.1 0.8
Payment of lease liabilities (1.3) (1.8)
Loan arrangement fees paid (0.6) (0.6)
Increase in borrowings 88.5 2.7
Net cash inflow/(outflow) 0.5 (0.6)
The Group's interest cover for the period (expressed as the ratio of cash
generated from operations pre-working capital movements against interest paid)
was 6.1 times (2025: 6.1 times). This is calculated per below:
31 March 2026 31 March 2025
£000 £000
Cash generated from operations pre working capital movements (see note 26) 134,803 131,999
Interest paid per cash flow statement (22,126) (21,657)
Interest cover 6.1x 6.1x
In the year capital expenditure outflows were £100.8 million, up from £58.3
million in the prior year. This capital expenditure was principally on the
construction of new stores. We expect the amount of construction capital
expenditure to decrease next year, as we open the stores in our pipeline.
The cash flow after investing activities was a net inflow of £7.0 million, a
decrease of 92% from £86.8 million in the prior year, due to the additional
capital expenditure, coupled with the prior year receipt of £30.6 million
from land adjacent to our Battersea store.
Balance sheet
Property
The Group's open stores and stores under development owned at 31 March 2026,
which are classified as investment properties, have all been valued
individually by JLL.
The external valuation has resulted in a total investment property asset value
of £3,111.1 million, as broken down in the table below.
Investment property
The open store portfolio has increased in value by £15.7 million (0.5%).
This increase in value arises from improvements in the projected cash flows
for the stores. The weighted average exit capitalisation rate used in the
valuations was 5.5% in the current year, in line with the prior year.
Analysis of property portfolio Value at 31 March 2026 Revaluation movement in the year
£m £m
Investment property 2,944.5 15.7
Investment property under construction 166.6 (8.1)
Investment property total 3,111.1 7.6
The table below provides a further breakdown of the open store valuations:
Big Yellow lease-up freehold
Big Yellow same stores Armadillo - same stores Total - same stores
Total
Number of stores 77 24 101 12 113
MLA capacity (sq ft) 4,868,000 1,005,000 5,873,000 848,000 6,721,000
Valuation at 31 March 2026
£2,230.9m £186.2m £2,417.1m £380.7m £2,797.8m
Value per sq ft £458 £185 £412 £449 £416
Net initial year one NOI yield
5.0% 6.2% 5.1% 2.6% 4.7%
The total store valuation in this table differs to the balance sheet due to
the non-self storage investment property that the Group owns, such as the
Harrow and Staines Industrial Schemes. The net initial year one NOI yield
for the Big Yellow and Armadillo same stores is 5.1% (2025: 5.2%). Note 15
contains more detail on the assumptions underpinning the valuations.
Investment property under construction
The Group spent £102.6 million (including capitalised interest) on investment
property under construction in the year with eight stores in various stages of
construction. Staines, Queensbury, Slough Bath Road and Wembley all
transferred to investment property during the year as the stores opened, along
with the Staines Industrial Scheme. There was a revaluation deficit of £8.1
million on investment property under construction in the year, arising from an
increase in projected construction costs.
Purchaser's cost adjustment
As in prior years, we have instructed an alternative valuation on our assets
using a purchaser's cost assumption of 2.75% (see note 15 for further details)
to be used in the calculation of our adjusted diluted net asset value. All
the significant sized transactions that have been concluded in the UK in
recent years were completed in a corporate structure. Sale in a corporate
structure would result in a reduction in the assumed Stamp Duty Land Tax but
an increase in other transaction costs reflecting additional due diligence
resulting in a reduced notional purchaser's cost of 2.75% of gross value.
This Red Book valuation based on the special assumption of 2.75% purchaser's
costs, results in a higher property valuation at 31 March 2026 of £3,231.8
billion (£120.7 million higher than the value recorded in the financial
statements). This translates to 60.8 pence per share. This revised
valuation translates into an adjusted net asset value per share of 1,370.4
pence (2025: 1,355.6 pence) after the dilutive effect of outstanding share
options.
Receivables
The Group's bad debt expense in the year represented 0.2% of revenue compared
to 0.2% in the prior year, with 81% of our customer base paying by direct
debit (2025: 81%).
Net asset value
The adjusted net asset value is 1,370.4 pence per share (see note 13), an
increase of 1% compared to 1,355.6 pence per share at 31 March 2025. The
table below reconciles the movement:
Adjusted NAV pence per share
Movement in adjusted net asset value £m
31 March 2025 2,682.1 1,355.6
Adjusted profit after tax 116.2 58.7
Equity dividends paid (93.2) (47.1)
Revaluation movements 7.6 3.8
Movement in purchaser's cost adjustment 4.6 2.3
Other movements (e.g. share schemes) 2.0 (2.9)
31 March 2026 2,719.3 1,370.4
Borrowings
Our financing policy is to fund our current needs through a mix of debt,
equity, and cash flow to allow us to build out, and add to, our development
pipeline and achieve our strategic growth objectives, which we believe improve
returns for shareholders. We aim to ensure that there are sufficient
medium-term facilities in place to finance our committed development
programme, secured against the freehold portfolio, with debt serviced by our
strong operational cash flows. Given our relatively low leverage we will
maintain a watching brief over short term rates and for the moment continue
with our flexible approach to hedging interest rate exposure.
The table below summarises the Group's debt facilities at 31 March 2026, with
a current average cost of drawn debt of 4.7% (March 2025: 5.0%).
Debt Expiry Facility Drawn Cost
Aviva Loan (all fixed) September 2028 £149m £149m 3.3%
M&G loan (£35 million fixed at 4.5%, £85 million floating)
September 2029 £120m £120m 5.9%
Revolving bank facility (Lloyds, HSBC & Barclays, £30 million fixed at
3.7%, balance floating)
December 2028 £300m £217m 4.9%
Total Average term 2.8 years £569m £486m 4.7%
In addition to the facilities above, subsequent to the year end, the Group put
in place a $225 million credit approved shelf facility with Pricoa Private
Capital ("Pricoa"), to be drawn in fixed sterling notes. The Group can draw
the debt in minimum tranches of £10 million over the next three years with
terms of between 7 and 15 years at short notice, typically 10 days.
The Group's £300 million RCF has incorporated sustainability-linked KPIs into
the loan, which include annual pre-agreed targets and are based on:
- reductions in Scope 1 and 2 emissions;
- increase in solar generation capacity;
- total annual grants to Big Yellow Foundation
charity partners; and
- the value of storage space provided free of
charge to local charities in our stores.
Performance against the KPIs is measured annually, with a margin decrease or
increase applied to the headline margin. We are pleased to report that the
Group has again met all the KPIs and is therefore benefitting from a 5bps
margin reduction on the RCF.
The Group was comfortably in compliance with its banking covenants at 31 March
2026. Further details of the Group's covenants are provided in note 19 of
the accounts. The Group's key financial ratios are shown in the table below:
Metric 31 March 2026 31 March 2025
Net Debt / Gross Property Assets 15% 13%
Net Debt / Adjusted Net Assets 18% 14%
Net Debt / Market Capitalisation 29% 21%
Net debt to Group EBITDA ratio 3.7x 3.1x
Cash generated from operations pre-working capital movements against interest
paid
6.1x 6.1x
The Group took out an additional interest rate derivative during the year,
£30 million fixed at 3.7% until September 2029, with a bank option to call
the swap in March 2027. At 31 March 2026, the fair value on the Group's
interest rate derivatives was a liability of £0.1 million. The Group does
not hedge account its interest rate derivatives. The fair value movements
are eliminated from adjusted profit before tax, adjusted earnings per share,
and adjusted net assets per share. Cash deposits are only placed with
approved financial institutions in accordance with the Group's Treasury
policy.
Share capital
The share capital of the Company totalled £19.7 million at 31 March 2026
(2025: £19.7 million), consisting of 196,818,571 ordinary shares of 10p each
(2025: 196,714,696 shares). 0.1 million shares were issued for the
exercise of options during the year at an average exercise price of £10.09
(2025: 0.5 million shares at an average price of £12.60).
The Group holds 0.9 million shares within an Employee Benefit Trust ("EBT").
These shares are shown as a debit in reserves and are not included in
calculating net asset value per share.
2026 2025
No. No.
Opening shares 196,714,696 196,195,287
Shares issued for the exercise of options 103,875 519,409
Closing shares in issue 196,818,571 196,714,696
Shares held in EBT (859,397) (881,360)
Closing shares for NAV purposes 195,959,174 195,833,336
143.2 million shares were traded in the market during the year ended 31 March
2026 (2025: 96.9 million). The average mid-market price of shares traded
during the year was £9.96 with a high of £11.80 and a low of £8.45.
Principal risks and uncertainties
The Directors have carried out a robust assessment of the emerging and
principal risks facing the Group, including those that would threaten its
business model, future performance, solvency, or liquidity. The Group
maintains a low appetite to risk, in line with our strategic objectives of
providing a low volatility, high distribution business.
The section below details the emerging and principal risks and uncertainties
that are considered to have the most material impact on the Group's strategy
and objectives. These key risks are monitored on an ongoing basis by the
Executive Directors and considered fully by the Board in its annual risk
review.
Risk and impact Mitigation Change during the year and outlook
Self storage market risk
There is a risk to the business that the self storage market does not grow in Self storage is a relatively immature market in the UK compared to other self The past four financial years have seen a challenging geopolitical and
line with our projections, and that economic growth in the UK is below storage markets such as the United States and Australia, and we believe has macroeconomic backdrop, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,
expectations, which could result in falling demand and a loss of income. further opportunity for growth. Awareness of self storage and how it can be the US regional banking crisis, the collapse of Credit Suisse, the conflict in
used by domestic and business customers is relatively low throughout the UK, the Middle East, the impact of rising inflation and interest rates, the
although higher in London. imposition of tariffs by the United States, and the Iran conflict.
The rate of growth of branded self storage on main roads in good locations has The Iran conflict has led to an increase in mortgage rates in the UK, and the
historically been limited by the difficulty of acquiring sites at affordable spectre of rising inflation. This could impact cost of living in the UK, and
prices and obtaining planning consent. the level of housing transactions may fall as the cost of mortgages
increases.
Our performance during the past six years has been resilient with revenue
growing by 62% from £129.3 million in the year ended 31 March 2020 to £209.1 The Group's activity levels can be impacted by macro-economic and
million for this year. We believe that this performance is due to a geo-political dislocations, and we saw a reduction in our activity levels in
combination of factors including: April and May 2025, and again in March 2026.
- a high quality and growing portfolio of freehold properties We have seen some competitor openings in the year in our areas of operation,
delivering higher operating margins; although the overall level of penetration of self storage in the UK remains
significantly below that of the US and Australia.
- a focus on London and the South East and other large urban
conurbations, where the drivers in the self storage market are at their
strongest and the barriers to competition are at their highest;
- continuing innovation and automation;
- an inclusive and non-hierarchical culture with a highly engaged
team;
- a focus on delivering the highest levels of customer service;
- delivering on our strong ESG commitments;
- the UK's leading self storage brand, with high and growing public
awareness and online strength; and
- strong cash flow generation from a secure capital structure.
We have a large current storage customer base occupying approximately 71,000
rooms spread across the portfolio of stores and hundreds of thousands more who
have used our stores over the years. In any month, customers move in and out
at the margin resulting in changes in occupancy. This is a seasonal business
and typically we see growth over the spring and the summer months, with the
seasonally weaker period being the winter months.
Property risk
There is a risk that we will be unable to acquire new development sites which Our management has significant experience in the property industry generated The Group has a pipeline of 12 sites which, when opened, would expand the
meet management's criteria. This would impact on our ability to grow the over many years and in particular acquiring property on main roads in high Group's current MLA by 13%.
overall store platform. profile locations and obtaining planning consents. We do take planning risk
where necessary, although the availability of land, and competition for it The planning process remains difficult and to achieve a planning consent can
Changing climate and resulting likely changes to planning restrictions will makes acquiring new sites challenging. take anything from eighteen months to three years. Local planning policy is
narrow choice of available sites further.
favouring residential development over other uses, and we don't expect this to
Our in-house development team and our professional advisers have significant change given the shortage of housing in the UK.
The Group is also subject to the risk of failing to obtain planning consents experience in obtaining planning consents for self storage centres.
on its development sites, and the risk of a rising cost of development.
We have planning consent on nine of the 12 development sites and expect to
We manage the construction of our properties very tightly, working with an open four stores during the year ending 31 March 2027.
Planning approval is increasingly dependent on Social or Environmental established professional team of external advisers and sub-contractors who
enhanced features (e.g. social enterprise at Battersea, BREEAM standards, have worked with us for many years to our Big Yellow specification.
local planners demands for green spaces) - adding cost and complexity.
We carried out an external benchmarking of our construction costs and
tendering programme during 2023, which reinforced our current approach, but
also gave some areas where further efficiencies and cost savings can be
achieved, which we have been implementing since then.
Valuation risk
The valuation of the Group's investment properties may fall due to external The portfolio is diverse with approximately 71,000 rooms currently occupied in The revaluation surplus on the Group's open store investment properties was
pressures or the impact of performance. our stores for a wide variety of reasons. £15.7 million in the year (an uplift of 0.5%), due to a slight improvement in
the underlying cash flows used in the valuations.
Lack of transactional evidence in the self storage sector leads to more The valuations are carried out by independent, qualified external valuers who
subjective valuations. have significant experience in the UK self storage industry. There have been several larger portfolio transactions across Europe over the
past four years, notably including the acquisition of Lok 'n Store by
Shurgard, which completed in August 2024 and there is a weight of
institutional money looking to invest in self storage.
There is significant headroom on our loan to value banking covenants.
Treasury risk
The Group may face increased costs from adverse interest rate movements. Our financing policy is to fund our current needs through a mix of debt, The Bank of England base rate has continued to reduce during the year, with it
equity, and cash flow to allow us to selectively build out the remaining currently at 3.75%, down from 4.25% at the start of our financial year. The
development pipeline and achieve our strategic growth objectives, which we projection for interest rates for the year ahead is uncertain.
believe improve returns for shareholders. We have made it clear that we
believe optimal leverage for a business such as ours should be a debt to During the year, the Group fixed an additional £30 million of debt, by way of
EBITDA ratio in the range of 3 to 4 times and this informs our management of a callable swap. 44% of the Group's drawn debt is fixed, with the balance
treasury risk. floating.
We aim to ensure that there are sufficient medium-term facilities in place to Debt providers currently remain supportive to companies with a strong capital
finance our committed development programme, secured against the freehold structure.
portfolio, with debt serviced by our strong operational cash flows.
The Group's interest cover ratio for the year ended 31 March 2026 was 6.1
We have a fixed rate loan in place from Aviva Commercial Finance Limited, with times, comfortably ahead of our banking covenants, as disclosed in note 19.
two and a half years remaining. The Group has a £120 million loan from
M&G Investments, which is repayable in 2029. For our revolving credit We keep our hedging arrangements under review and if the long-term cost of
facility, we borrow at floating rates of interest. borrowing for durations of ten to twelve years falls, we will consider taking
out more longer-term debt, which would increase the weighting of the fixed
The Group has a $225 million credit approved shelf facility with Pricoa element.
Private Capital ("Pricoa"), to be drawn in fixed sterling notes. The Group
can draw the debt in minimum tranches of £10 million with terms of between 7
and 15 years at short notice, typically 10 days.
Our policy is to maintain a flexible borrowing structure, with a long-term
average of approximately 50% of our total borrowings fixed, with the balance
floating. At 31 March 2026 44% of the Group's total drawn borrowings were
fixed or subject to interest rate derivatives. The Group reviews its current
and forecast projections of cash flow, borrowing and interest cover as part of
its monthly management accounts. In addition, an analysis of the impact of
significant transactions is carried out regularly, as well as a sensitivity
analysis assuming movements in interest rates and store occupancy on gearing
and interest cover. This sensitivity testing underpins the viability
statement below.
The Group regularly monitors its counterparty risk. The Group monitors
compliance with its banking covenants closely. During the year it complied
with all its covenants and is forecast to do so for the foreseeable future.
Tax and regulatory risk
The Group is exposed to changes in the tax regime affecting the cost of We regularly monitor proposed and actual changes in legislation with the help The Group has seen a significant increase in its property rates bill over
corporation tax, property rates, VAT, Stamp Duty and Stamp Duty Land Tax of our professional advisers, through direct liaison with HMRC, and through recent years, with the 2023 rating list reflecting the rise in industrial
("SDLT"). trade bodies to understand and, if possible, mitigate or benefit from their rents over the past few years, alongside higher levels of CPI inflating our
impact. cost. The rating list for 2026 was published in November 2025 and will lead
The Group is exposed to potential tax penalties or loss of its REIT status by
to a like-for-like increase of 8.5% (£1.8 million) in our rates cost for the
failing to comply with the REIT legislation. HMRC has designated the Group as having a low-risk tax status, and we hold financial year ending 31 March 2027.
regular meetings with them. We carry out detailed planning ahead of any
future regulatory and tax changes using our expert advisers. There is a risk that corporate tax rates will rise in the medium-term to fund
the increasing government deficits.
The Group has internal monitoring procedures in place to ensure that the
appropriate REIT rules and legislation are complied with. To date all REIT The Group has also experienced an increase in cost from the recent rises in
regulations have been complied with, including projected tests. National Insurance and the National Living Wage. We have sought to mitigate
the impact of these through reductions in store headcount as we continue our
investment in automation.
Human resources risk
Our people are key to our success and as such we are exposed to a risk of high We have developed a professional, lively, and enjoyable working environment The Group carried out an engagement survey of its employees during the year,
staff turnover, and a risk of the loss of key personnel. and believe our success stems from attracting and retaining the right people. which showed very pleasing results of the level of engagement of our teams.
We encourage all our staff to build on their skills through appropriate
training and regular performance reviews. We believe in an accessible and open We have listened to the feedback from our employees raised during our
culture and everyone at all levels is encouraged to review, and challenge engagement survey and made several changes to the Group's operations. This
accepted norms to contribute to the performance of the Group. has included enhancing our careers pages and launching a vacancies mini-site,
developing diversity-focused dashboards and promotion toolkits and partnering
with apprenticeship providers to support employee progression and foster an
inclusive workplace. A range of initiatives have been implemented to support
employee development, including career insights videos, virtual masterclasses,
expanded eLearning and workshops, mentoring and a video-based induction for
part-time staff. These measures, alongside new performance reviews and talent
mapping, aim to increase flexibility, accessibility, personal growth and
succession planning across the business.
Brand and reputation risk We have always aimed to run this business in a professional way, which has
involved strict adherence with all regulations that affect our business, such
The Group is exposed to the risk of a single serious incident materially as health and safety legislation, building regulations in relation to the The Group has a crisis response plan which was developed in conjunction with
affecting our customers, people, financial performance and hence our brand and construction of our buildings, anti-slavery, anti-bribery, and data external consultants to ensure the Group is well placed to effectively deal
reputation, including the risk of a data breach. regulations. with a major incident.
We also invest in cyber security (discussed below), and make an ongoing
investment in staff training, facilities management, and the maintenance of
our stores.
We work closely with our key suppliers to ensure a consistency of service from
them.
To ensure consistency of service and to understand the needs of our customers,
we send surveys to every customer who moves in and moves out of the
business. The results of the surveys and mystery shops are reviewed to
continuously improve and deliver consistent performance throughout the
business.
We experienced a fire caused by arson at our Armadillo Cheadle store in
2022. Our crisis response team worked effectively in managing the incident.
We maintain regular communication with our key stakeholders, customers,
employees, shareholders, and debt providers.
Security risk
The Group is exposed to the risk of the damage or loss of a store due to The safety and security of our customers, their belongings, stores, and our We have continued to run courses for all our staff to enhance the awareness
vandalism, fire, or natural incidents such as flooding. This may also cause staff remains a key priority. To achieve this, we invest in state-of-the-art and effectiveness of our procedures in relation to security.
reputational damage. access control systems, individual room alarms, digital CCTV systems, intruder
and fire alarm systems and the remote monitoring of all our stores outside of We have further invested in security improvements in our stores during the
our trading hours. We are the only major operator in the UK self storage year, and are in the middle of a roll-out of app-based access to our stores.
industry that has every room in every Big Yellow store individually alarmed. We have automated reports and alerts which notify our overnight monitoring
station and the operating team of suspicious customer activity.
We have implemented customer security procedures in line with advice from the
Police and continue to work with the regulatory authorities on issues of We regularly review and implement improvements to our security processes and
security, reviewing our operational procedures regularly. The importance of procedures.
security and the need for vigilance is communicated to all store staff and
reinforced through training and routine operational procedures. During the year, we increased our stake in our monitoring company, Doncaster
Security Operations Centre Limited, now owing 74% of the business.
Cyber risk
High profile cyber-attacks and data breaches are a regular staple in today's The Group engages specialist cyber security advisors and consultants to inform Whilst we do not assess the risk exposure for the Group to have increased
news. The results of any breach may result in reputational damage, fines, or our security strategy. We maintain dedicated in-house monitoring capabilities disproportionately relative to comparable organisations, we recognise that
customer compensation, causing a loss of market share and income. and conduct systematic reviews of our security infrastructure. Customer data threats across the digital landscape continue to intensify and adapt.
retention is limited to the minimum regulatory and operational requirements. Accordingly, we have maintained our investment programme in cyber security,
upgrading and replacing infrastructure components as necessary to ensure
Our policies and procedures are subject to ongoing review and benchmarking resilience.
against industry best practice by our external consultants. These encompass
defence, detection, and response protocols.
Climate change related risk
The Group is exposed to climate-change related transition and physical risks. The good working order of our stores is of critical importance to our business Our Sustainability Committee, chaired by a Non-Executive Director, has
Physical risks may affect the Group's stores and may result in higher model. delivered an ambitious strategic plan to 2032.
maintenance and repair costs. Failing to transition to a low carbon economy
may cause an increase in taxation, decrease in access to loan facilities and We visually inspect each of our stores at least once per annum and planned and We appreciate that both physical and transition risks are expected to
reputational damage. unplanned work is discussed immediately. materialise to lesser or greater extents over the coming years and costs may
go up gradually, hidden within what may be perceived as 'natural variations'.
Maintenance requirements are discussed at budget reviews; proposals are made Our focus and strong governance will allow us to continue to mitigate the
to raise climate change related issues to the Board, who may request more effects.
holistic adaptation work to be carried out.
The key mitigation strategy to address transitional risks is the delivery of
our Sustainability Strategy and the Net Zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 Emissions
Strategy. Our investment to decarbonise our business over the coming years is
expected to mitigate fully against taxation (carbon tax) risk and reputational
risks (both investors and customers).
GOING CONCERN
A review of the Group's business activities, together with the factors likely
to affect its future development, performance and position are set out in the
Strategic Report. The financial position of the Group, its cash flows,
liquidity position and borrowing facilities are shown in the balance sheet,
cash flow statement and accompanying notes to the financial statements.
Further information concerning the Group's objectives, policies, and processes
for managing its capital; its financial risk management objectives; details of
its financial instruments and hedging activities; and its exposures to credit
risk and liquidity risk can be found in this Report and in the notes to the
financial statements.
At 31 March 2026 the Group had available liquidity of approximately £92
million, from a combination of cash and undrawn bank debt facilities. In
addition, since the year end, the Group put in place a $225 million credit
approved shelf facility with Pricoa Private Capital to be drawn in fixed
sterling notes. The Group can draw the debt in minimum tranches of £10
million with terms of between 7 and 15 years at short notice, typically 10
days. The Group is cash generative and for the year ended 31 March 2026, had
cash flow from operating activities (after net finance costs and pre-working
capital movements) of £111.5 million, with capital commitments at the balance
sheet date of £54.3 million. The Group has net current liabilities at the
balance sheet date and draws on its Revolving Credit Facility (current
headroom of £83 million) as required, as it is inefficient for the Group to
hold significant amounts of cash.
The Directors have prepared cash flow forecasts for a period of 18 months from
the date of approval of these financial statements, taking into account the
Group's operating plan and budget for the year ending 31 March 2027 and
projections contained in the longer-term business plan which cover the 18
month going concern assessment period. After reviewing these projected cash
flows together with the Group's and Company's cash balances, borrowing
facilities and covenant requirements, and potential property valuation
movements over that period, the Directors believe that, taking account of
severe but plausible downsides, the Group and Company will have sufficient
funds to meet their liabilities as they fall due for that period.
In making their assessment, the Directors have carefully considered the
outlook for the Group's trading performance and cash flows as a result of the
current economic environment, taking into account the trading performance of
the Group over the recent dislocations in the global economy from Covid-19,
the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the impact of rising inflation and the war in
Iran. The Directors have also considered the performance of the business
during the Global Financial Crisis. The Directors modelled several different
scenarios, including material reductions in the Group's occupancy rates and
property valuations, and assessed the impact of these scenarios against the
Group's liquidity and the Group's banking covenants. The scenarios
considered did not lead to breaching any of the banking covenants, and the
Group retained sufficient liquidity to meet its financial obligations as they
fall due.
Consequently, the Directors continue to adopt the going concern basis in
preparing the Group and Company financial statements.
VIABILITY STATEMENT
The Directors have assessed the Group's viability over a four-year period to
March 2030. This period is selected based on the Group's long-term strategic
plan to give greater certainty over the forecasting assumptions used. As in
the assessment of going concern, the Directors have modelled several different
scenarios on the Group's future prospects.
In making their assessment, the Directors took account of the Group's current
financial position, including committed capital expenditure. The Directors
carried out a robust assessment of the emerging and principal risks and
uncertainties facing the business, their potential financial impact on the
Group's cash flows, REIT compliance and financial covenants and the likely
effectiveness of the mitigating options detailed. The Directors have assumed
that funding for the business in the form of equity, bank debt and debt
provided by insurance companies will be available in all reasonably plausible
market conditions. Whilst the eventual impact of the current economic
environment on the Group is uncertain, and may not be known for some time, the
Group has a highly cash generative business, good liquidity and has proved
resilient in its trading in recent years.
Based on this assessment the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the
Company and the Group will be able to continue operating and meeting all their
liabilities as they fall due to March 2030.
Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income
Year ended 31 March 2026
Note 2026 2025
£000 £000
Revenue 3 209,084 204,495
Cost of sales (63,526) (62,126)
Gross profit 145,558 142,369
Administrative expenses (15,044) (15,763)
Operating profit before fair value changes on property assets 130,514 126,606
Gain on the revaluation of investment properties 14a,15 7,574 79,667
Gain on disposal of non-current asset 14a - 8,754
Operating profit 138,088 215,027
Other income 3 196 4,047
Share of profit of joint venture 13d 139 -
Investment income - interest receivable 7 179 161
- fair value 7 1,164 547
movement on derivatives
Finance costs - interest payable 8 (13,554) (15,928)
Profit before taxation 126,212 203,854
Taxation 9 (1,299) (1,963)
Profit for the year (attributable to equity shareholders) 5 124,913 201,891
Total comprehensive income for the year (attributable to equity shareholders) 124,913 201,891
Basic earnings per share 12 63.8p 103.2p
Diluted earnings per share 12 63.4p 102.8p
Adjusted earnings per share are shown in Note 12.
All items in the statement of comprehensive income relate to continuing
operations.
Consolidated Balance Sheet
31 March 2026
Note 2026 2025
£000
£000
Non-current assets
Investment property 14a 2,944,495 2,807,535
Investment property under construction 14a 166,650 185,225
Right-of-use assets 14a 18,126 15,651
Plant, equipment, and owner-occupied property 14b 3,919 3,813
Intangible assets 14c 1,433 1,433
Investment in joint venture 14d 1,737 -
Investment 14d - 588
3,136,360 3,014,245
Current assets
Inventories 377 437
Trade and other receivables 16 8,208 5,822
Cash and cash equivalents 9,224 8,765
17,809 15,024
Total assets 3,154,169 3,029,269
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 17 (52,820) (52,109)
Borrowings 19 (3,658) (3,483)
Obligations under lease liabilities 21 (1,635) (1,857)
.
(58,113) (57,449)
Non-current liabilities
Borrowings 19 (478,557) (389,769)
Obligations under lease liabilities 21 (18,174) (15,222)
Derivative financial instruments 18c (119) (1,283)
(496,850) (406,274)
Total liabilities (554,963) (463,723)
Net assets 2,599,206 2,565,546
Equity
Share capital 22 19,682 19,671
Share premium account 398,509 398,444
Reserves 2,181,015 2,147,431
Equity shareholders' funds 2,599,206 2,565,546
The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and
authorised for issue on 18 May 2026. They were signed on its behalf
by
Jim Gibson, Director John Trotman,
Director
Company Registration No. 03625199
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity
Year ended 31 March 2026
Share capital Share premium account Other non-distributable reserve Capital redemption reserve Retained earnings Total
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 Own shares £000
£000
At 1 April 2025 19,671 398,444 74,950 1,795 2,071,485 (799) 2,565,546
Total comprehensive income for the year - 124,913 124,913
- - -
Issue of share capital 11 65 - - - - 76
Dividend - - - (93,223) - (93,223)
Use of own shares to satisfy share options - (19) -
- - - 19
Credit to equity for equity-settled share-based payments - 1,894 1,894
- - -
At 31 March 2026 19,682 398,509 74,950 1,795 2,105,050 (780) 2,599,206
The other non-distributable reserve arose in the year ended 31 March 2015
following the placing of 14.35 million ordinary shares.
The issue of share capital is net of expenses.
Year ended 31 March 2025
Share capital Share premium account Other non-distributable reserve Capital redemption reserve Retained earnings Total
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 Own shares £000
£000
At 1 April 2024 19,620 397,686 74,950 1,795 1,955,316 (997) 2,448,370
Total comprehensive income for the year - 201,891 201,891
- - - -
Issue of share capital 51 758 - - - - 809
Dividend - - - - (88,379) - (88,379)
Use of own shares to satisfy share options - (198) -
- - - 198
Credit to equity for equity-settled share-based payments - 2,855 2,855
- - - -
At 31 March 2025 19,671 398,444 74,950 1,795 2,071,485 (799) 2,565,546
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement
Year ended 31 March 2026
Note 2026 2025
£000
£000
Cash generated from operations 26 132,210 134,623
Bank interest paid (22,126) (21,657)
Interest on obligations under lease liabilities (747) (557)
Interest received 141 142
Other operating income received 196 4,047
Tax paid (788) (2,024)
Cash flows from operating activities 108,886 114,574
Investing activities
Purchase of non-current assets (100,840) (58,258)
Investment in joint venture (1,010)
Disposal of non-current asset - 30,591
Cash flows from investing activities (101,850) (27,667)
Financing activities
Issue of share capital 76 809
Payment of lease liabilities (1,307) (1,816)
Equity dividends paid (93,243) (88,542)
Loan arrangement fees paid (620) (632)
Increase in borrowings 26b 88,517 2,683
Cash flows used in financing activities (6,577) (87,498)
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 459 (591)
Opening cash and cash equivalents 8,765 9,356
Closing cash and cash equivalents 9,224 8,765
Notes to the financial statements
Year ended 31 March 2026
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
Big Yellow Group PLC is a Company incorporated in the United Kingdom under the
Companies Act 2006, with registration number 03625199, and limited by
shares. The address of the registered office is 2 The Deans, Bridge Road,
Bagshot, Surrey, GU19 5AT. The nature of the Group's operations and its
principal activities are set out in note 4 and in the Strategic Report.
2. BASIS OF PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The financial information set out above does not constitute the Group and
Company's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 March 2026 or 2025 but is
derived from those accounts. Statutory accounts for 2025 have been delivered
to the registrar of companies, and those for 2026 will be delivered in due
course. The auditor has reported on those accounts; their reports were (i)
unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference to any matters to which the
auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report and
(iii) did not contain a statement under section 498 (2) or (3) of the
Companies Act 2006.
The Group's financial statements have been prepared in accordance with
UK-adopted international accounting standards ("IFRS Standards") and in
relation to the parent company financial statements have been properly
prepared in accordance with UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice
(including FRS 101). The financial statements have been prepared in accordance
with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. The Group has applied all
relevant accounting standards which have been endorsed by the International
Accounting Standards Board and have been applied consistently year-on-year,
with the exception that the Group has adopted amendments to IFRS 9 in the
current year, specifically Derecognition of Financial Assets settled with cash
via electronic payment system. These amendments clarified that a receivable
should be derecognised on the date that the contractual right to receive cash
flows from the receivable expires.
Adopting the amendments resulted in a change in the accounting policy for the
derecognition of financial assets settled with cash via electronic payment
systems. The Group's accounting policy for the derecognition of financial
assets applies equally to trade receivables settled with cash using an
electronic payment system. An outstanding receivable which will be settled
with cash via an electronic payment system does not qualify as a cash
equivalent while the cash transits through the system because treating it as
such would have a similar effect as derecognising the receivable before the
cash is received. Such receivables are derecognised only on completion of
the settlement.
As a result of the change the Group derecognises trade receivables and
recognises cash later. The amendments apply retrospectively; however, the
Group was not required to restate prior periods to reflect their application
under the transitional provisions. In addition, the change in accounting
policy did not have a material effect on the Group's consolidated financial
statements for the periods presented. The impact on the current year
financial statements was to increase trade receivables by £1.2 million,
reduce cash by £4.3 million, and reduce deferred income by £3.1 million.
If the adjustment had been posted in the prior year, the impact would have
been to increase trade receivables by £0.8 million, reduce cash by £1.9
million, and reduce deferred income by £1.1 million.
The Group uses a number of APMs to monitor the performance of the business.
Adjusted profit before tax and adjusted earnings per share are the Group's
primary profit measures and reflect underlying profit by excluding capital and
non-recurring items such as revaluation movements, gains or losses on the
disposal of properties and the fair value movement of interest derivatives in
accordance with EPRA guidelines. In addition, the Group adjusts for items
such as the write off of acquisition costs, and fair value movements on the
stepped acquisition of associates. These adjusted measures should not be
considered in isolation from, or as substitutes for, or superior to the
financial measures prepared in accordance with IFRS.
3. REVENUE
Analysis of the Group's operating revenue can be found below and in the
Portfolio Summary.
2026 2025
£000
£000
Open stores
Self storage income 181,072 177,823
Enhanced liability service income 18,901 18,563
Packing materials income 2,644 2,815
Other income from storage customers 2,577 2,285
Ancillary store rental income 2,421 1,638
Total store revenue 207,615 203,124
Non-storage income 1,469 1,371
Total revenue 209,084 204,495
Non-storage income derives principally from rental income earned from tenants
of properties awaiting development.
The Group earned other income of £0.2 million in the current year from a
payment for dilapidations on a development property. In the prior year the
Group earned other income of £4.0 million. This related to insurance
proceeds for loss of income following the destruction of the Group's Cheadle
store by fire in 2022, with the claim having been settled with the insurers in
2025.
The Group has considered IFRS 17 in respect of our sale of the Enhanced
Liability Service and concluded any impact from IFRS 17 would be immaterial in
both the current and prior year.
4. SEGMENTAL INFORMATION
IFRS 8 requires operating segments to be identified on the basis of internal
reports about components of the Group that are regularly reviewed by the Chief
Executive to allocate resources to the segments and to assess their
performance. Given the nature of the Group's business, there is one segment,
which is the provision of self storage and related services.
Revenue represents amounts derived from the provision of self storage and
related services which fall within the Group's ordinary activities after
deduction of trade discounts and value added tax. The Group's non-current
assets, revenue and profit before tax are attributable to one activity, the
provision of self storage and related services. These all arise in the
United Kingdom in the current year and prior year.
5. PROFIT FOR THE YEAR
a) Profit for the year has been arrived at after charging/(crediting):
Note 2026 2025
£000
£000
N
Depreciation of plant, equipment, and owner-occupied property 14b 922 837
Depreciation of interest in leasehold properties 1,473 1,624
Gain on the revaluation of investment property (7,574) (79,667)
Cost of inventories recognised as an expense 1,293 1,310
Employee costs 6 25,277 25,826
b) Analysis of auditor's remuneration:
2026 2025
£000
£000
Fees payable to the Company's auditor for the audit of the Company's annual 612 587
accounts
Fess payable to the Company's auditor for the subsidiaries' annual accounts 56 54
Total audit fees 668 641
Audit related assurance services - interim review 68 65
Total non-audit fees 68 65
Total audit and non-audit fees paid to KPMG LLP 736 706
6. EMPLOYEE COSTS
The average monthly number of full-time equivalent employees (including
Executive Directors) was:
2026 2025
Number
Number
Sales 389 396
Administration 64 63
453 459
At 31 March 2026 the total number of Group employees was 482 (2025: 485).
The average number of employees for the year was 484 (2025: 496).
2026 2025
£000 £000
Their aggregate remuneration comprised:
Wages and salaries 19,243 19,138
Social security costs 3,269 2,981
Other pension costs 871 852
Share-based payments 1,894 2,855
25,277 25,826
7. INVESTMENT INCOME
2026 2025
£000
£000
Bank interest receivable 179 161
Fair value movement on derivatives 1,164 547
Total investment income 1,343 708
8. FINANCE COSTS
2026 2025
£000
£000
Interest on bank borrowings 23,382 23,269
Capitalised interest (10,575) (7,898)
Interest on obligations under lease liabilities 747 557
Total interest payable 13,554 15,928
9. TAXATION
As a REIT, the Group does not pay UK corporation tax on the profits and gains
from its qualifying rental business in the UK provided that it meets certain
conditions. Non-qualifying profits and gains of the Group are subject to
corporation tax as normal. The Group monitors its compliance with the REIT
conditions. There have been no breaches of the conditions to date.
UK current tax 2026 2025
£000
£000
- Current year 2,427 2,504
- Prior year (1,128) (541)
1,299 1,963
A reconciliation of the tax charge is shown below:
2026 2025
£000
£000
Profit before tax 126,212 203,854
Tax charge at 25% (2025 - 25%) thereon 31,553 50,964
Effects of:
Revaluation of investment properties (1,893) (19,917)
Share of results of joint venture 35 -
Other permanent differences 229 (8)
Utilisation of brought forward losses (35) -
Profits from the tax-exempt business (27,462) (28,535)
Current year tax charge 2,427 2,504
Prior year adjustment (1,128) (541)
Total tax charge 1,299 1,963
The prior year adjustment arose due to prudent assumptions made during the
assessment of the corporation tax provision for the prior year accounts. On
completion of the tax computations for the prior year, the actual charge was
£1.1 million lower than had been provided in the accounts. (2025: £0.5
million lower).
At 31 March 2026 the Group has unutilised tax losses from the non-REIT taxable
business of £34.2 million (2025: £34.2 million) available for offset against
certain types of future taxable profits. All losses can be carried forward
indefinitely. The losses have not been recognised as a deferred tax asset,
as there is no certainty over their future use.
10. ADJUSTED PROFIT
2026 2025
£000
£000
Profit before tax 126,212 203,854
Gain on revaluation of investment properties (7,574) (79,667)
Gain on disposal of non-current asset - (8,754)
Change in fair value of interest rate derivatives (1,164) (547)
EPRA adjusted profit before tax 117,474 114,886
Costs associated with closure of Slough leasehold store - 694
Adjusted profit before tax 117,474 115,580
Tax (1,299) (1,963)
Adjusted profit after tax 116,175 113,617
Adjusted profit before tax which excludes gains and losses on the revaluation
of investment properties, changes in fair value of interest rate derivatives,
net gains and losses on disposal of investment property, and material
non-recurring items of income and expenditure have been disclosed as, in the
Board's view, this provides a clearer understanding of the Group's underlying
trading performance.
11. DIVIDENDS
2026 2025
£000
£000
Amounts recognised as distributions to equity holders in the year:
Final dividend for the year ended 31 March 2025 of 23.8p 46,602 44,135
(2024: 22.6p) per share.
Interim dividend for the year ended 31 March 2026 of 23.8p 46,621 44,244
(2025: 22.6p) per share.
93,223 88,379
Proposed final dividend for the year ended 31 March 2026 of 45,892 46,608
23.4p (2025: 23.8p) per share.
Subject to approval by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting to be held
on 20 July 2026, the final dividend will be paid on 24 July 2026. The ex-div
date is 2 July 2026 and the record date is 3 July 2026.
The Property Income Distribution ("PID") payable for the year is 47.2 pence
per share (2025: 46.4 pence per share).
12. EARNINGS PER SHARE
Year ended 31 March 2026 Year ended 31 March 2025
Earnings Shares Pence per share Earnings Shares Pence per share
£m million £m million
Basic 124.9 195.9 63.8 201.9 195.6 103.2
Dilutive share options - 1.0 (0.4) - 0.8 (0.4)
Diluted 124.9 196.9 63.4 201.9 196.4 102.8
Adjustments:
Gain on revaluation of investment properties (7.5) - (3.8) (79.7) - (40.6)
Gain on disposal of non-current asset - - - (8.7) - (4.5)
Change in fair value of interest rate derivatives (1.2) - (0.6) (0.6) - (0.3)
EPRA earnings 116.2 196.9 59.0 112.9 196.4 57.4
Costs associated with closure of Slough leasehold store
- - - 0.7 - 0.4
Adjusted - diluted 116.2 196.9 59.0 113.6 196.4 57.8
Adjusted - basic 116.2 195.9 59.3 113.6 195.6 58.1
The calculation of basic earnings is based on profit after tax for the year.
The weighted average number of shares used to calculate diluted earnings per
share has been adjusted for the conversion of share options.
EPRA earnings and adjusted earnings per ordinary share have been disclosed to
give a clearer understanding of the Group's underlying trading performance.
13. NET ASSETS PER SHARE
EPRA's Best Practices Recommendations guidelines for Net Asset Value (NAV)
metrics are EPRA Net Tangible Assets (NTA), EPRA Net Reinstatement Value (NRV)
and EPRA Net Disposal Value (NDV).
EPRA NTA is considered to be most consistent with the nature of Big Yellow's
business which provides sustainable long-term progressive returns. EPRA NTA
is shown in the table below. This measure is further adjusted by the
adjustment the Group makes for purchaser's costs, which is the Group's
Adjusted Net Asset Value (or Adjusted NAV).
Net assets per share are equity shareholders' funds divided by the number of
shares at the year end. The shares currently held in the Group's Employee
Benefit Trust are excluded from both net assets and the number of shares.
Adjusted net assets per share include the effect of those shares issuable
under employee share option schemes and the effect of alternative valuation
methodology assumptions (see note 15).
Year ended 31 March 2026 Year ended 31 March 2025
Equity attributable to ordinary shareholders Equity attributable to ordinary shareholders
£000 £000
Pence per share
Pence per share
Shares Shares
Basic NAV 2,599,206 195,959,174 1,326.4 2,565,546 195,833,336 1,310.1
Share and save as you earn schemes
695 2,467,439 (16.1) 584 2,022,198 (13.1)
Diluted NAV 2,599,901 198,426,613 1,310.3 2,566,130 197,855,534 1,297.0
Fair value of derivatives 119 - - 1,283 - 0.6
Intangible assets (1,433) - (0.7) (1,433) - (0.7)
EPRA NTA 2,598,587 198,426,613 1,309.6 2,565,980 197,855,534 1,296.9
Valuation methodology assumption (see note 15) (£000)
120,730 - 60.8 116,110 - 58.7
Adjusted NAV 2,719,317 198,426,613 1,370.4 2,682,090 197,855,534 1,355.6
14. NON-CURRENT ASSETS
a) Investment property, investment property under construction and
right-of-use assets
Investment property under construction
£000
Investment Right-of-use assets
property £000 Total
£000 £000
At 31 March 2024 2,718,525 146,485 17,152 2,882,162
Additions 14,955 55,280 101 70,336
Transfer on opening 17,394 (17,394) - -
Disposal (22,152) - (112) (22,264)
Revaluation (see note 15) 78,813 854 - 79,667
Depreciation - - (1,490) (1,490)
At 31 March 2025 2,807,535 185,225 15,651 3,008,411
Additions 8,183 102,566 3,821 114,570
Transfer on opening 113,038 (113,038) - -
Reclassification from plant, equipment and owner-occupied property
62 - - 62
Revaluation (see note 15) 15,677 (8,103) - 7,574
Depreciation - - (1,346) (1,346)
At 31 March 2026 2,944,495 166,650 18,126 3,129,271
The right-of-use assets represent the present value of minimum lease payments
for leasehold properties that meet the definition of IAS 40 and are accounted
for as investment properties - see note 21 for further details of the
obligations under lease liabilities. The fair value of the leasehold
properties (including long leaseholds), on which the Group pays rent, of
£74.4 million (2025: £72.3 million) is included within the investment
property total.
The transfer on opening during the year is our four new stores and the Staines
Industrial Scheme moving from investment property under construction to
investment property.
The disposal of investment property in the prior year was the sale of land
adjacent to our Battersea store for £30.9 million for residential
development. The gain on disposal of non-current assets is shown in the
comprehensive statement of income and has been excluded from the Group's
adjusted profit before tax for that year.
The income from self storage accommodation earned by the Group from its
investment property is disclosed in note 3. Direct operating expenses, which
are all applied to generating rental income, arising on the investment
property in the year are disclosed in the Portfolio Summary. Included within
additions is £10.6 million of capitalised interest (2025: £7.9 million),
calculated at the Group's average borrowing cost for the year of 5.0%. 96 of
the Group's investment properties are pledged as security for loans, with a
total external value of £2.4 billion.
The difference between additions to investment property above and the purchase
of non-current assets in the cash flow statement is principally due to
capitalised interest of £10.6 million.
b) Plant, equipment, and owner-occupied property
Freehold property Leasehold improve-ments Plant and machinery Fixtures, fittings Total
£000 £000 £000 & office equipment Right-of-use assets £000
Motor vehicles £000 £000
£000
Cost
At 31 March 2024 2,369 59 769 32 1,521 1,006 5,756
Retirement of fully depreciated assets (98) (560)
- - (32) - (690)
Additions 80 - 79 40 722 - 921
Disposals - - (7) - (15) - (22)
At 31 March 2025 2,449 59 743 40 1,668 1,006 5,965
Retirement of fully depreciated assets (265) (763)
- - - (219) (1,247)
Additions 1 - 186 - 803 227 1,217
Transfer to investment property - -
(62) - - - (62)
At 31 March 2026 2,388 59 664 40 1,708 1,014 5,873
Depreciation
At 31 March 2024 (732) (24) (258) (32) (283) (557) (1,886)
Retirement of fully depreciated assets 98 560
- - 32 - 690
Charge for the year (51) (3) (176) (6) (601) (134) (971)
Disposals - - 4 - 11 - 15
At 31 March 2025 (783) (27) (332) (6) (313) (691) (2,152)
Retirement of fully depreciated assets 265 763
- - - 219 1,247
Charge for the year (51) (4) (155) (10) (702) (127) (1,049)
At 31 March 2026 (834) (31) (222) (16) (252) (599) (1,954)
Net book value
At 31 March 2026 1,554 28 442 24 1,456 415 3,919
At 31 March 2025 1,666 32 411 34 1,355 315 3,813
c) Intangible assets
The intangible asset relates to the Big Yellow brand, which was acquired
through the acquisition of Big Yellow Self Storage Company Limited in 1999.
The carrying value remains unchanged from the prior year as there is
considered to be no impairment in the value of the asset. The asset has an
indefinite life and is tested annually for impairment or more frequently if
there are indicators of impairment.
d) Investment and investment in joint venture
At the start of the year, the Group had a £0.6 million investment (34% of the
equity) in Doncaster Security Operations Centre Limited ("DSOC"), a company
which provides out-of-hours monitoring and alarm receiving services, including
for the Group's stores. On 1 August 2025 the Group increased its investment
in DSOC and now owns 74% of the ordinary share capital of the Company. The
investment is treated as a joint venture, as the Group has joint control over
DSOC with the minority founder shareholder. The investment is measured using
the equity method of accounting.
The company is incorporated in England and Wales and its registered office is
5 Hayfield Business Park Field Lane, Auckley, Doncaster, England, DN9 3FL.
31 March 2026
(unaudited)
£000
At the beginning of the year -
Transfer from investment 588
Acquisition of additional shares 1,010
Share of results 139
Investment in joint venture 1,737
Period from 1 August 2025 to 31 March 2026
100%
Revenue 1,243
Cost of sales (449)
Administrative expenses (590)
Operating profit 204
Finance costs (16)
Profit attributable to shareholders 188
Period from 1 August 2025 to 31 March 2026
Group share (74%)
Revenue 920
Cost of sales (332)
Administrative expenses (437)
Operating profit 151
Finance costs (12)
Profit attributable to shareholders 139
15. VALUATION OF INVESTMENT PROPERTY
Deemed cost Revaluation on deemed cost Valuation
£000 £000 £000
Freehold (including long leasehold)
At 31 March 2025 1,089,575 1,695,060 2,784,635
Transfer from investment property under construction 119,092 (6,054) 113,038
Transfer from plant, equipment and owner-occupied property 62 - 62
Movement in year 7,861 15,699 23,560
At 31 March 2026 1,216,590 1,704,705 2,921,295
Leasehold
At 31 March 2025 21,112 1,788 22,900
Movement in year 322 (22) 300
At 31 March 2026 21,434 1,766 23,200
Total investment property
At 31 March 2025 1,110,687 1,696,848 2,807,535
Transfer from investment property under construction 119,092 (6,054) 113,038
Transfer from plant, equipment and owner-occupied property 62 - 62
Movement in year 8,183 15,677 23,860
At 31 March 2026 1,238,024 1,706,471 2,944,495
Investment property under construction
At 31 March 2025 215,360 (30,135) 185,225
Transfer to investment property (119,092) 6,054 (113,038)
Movement in year 102,566 (8,103) 94,463
At 31 March 2026 198,834 (32,184) 166,650
Valuation of all investment property
At 31 March 2025 1,326,047 1,666,713 2,992,760
Movement in year 110,811 7,574 118,385
At 31 March 2026 1,436,858 1,674,287 3,111,145
The Group has classified the fair value investment property and the investment
property under construction within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy. There
has been no transfer to or from Level 3 in the year.
The Group's freehold and leasehold investment properties have been valued at
31 March 2026 by external valuers, Jones Lang Lasalle ("JLL"). The Valuation
has been prepared in accordance with the version of the RICS Valuation -
Global Standards (incorporating the International Valuation Standards) and the
UK national supplement ("the Red Book") current as at the valuation date.
The valuation of each of the investment properties and the investment
properties under construction has been prepared on the basis of either Fair
Value or Fair Value as a fully equipped operational entity, having regard to
trading potential, as appropriate.
The valuation has been provided for financial reporting purposes and as such,
is a Regulated Purpose Valuation as defined in the Red Book. In compliance
with the disclosure requirements of the Red Book, JLL have confirmed that:
· this is JLL's fifth annual valuation for these purposes on behalf
of the Group;
· JLL do not provide other significant professional or agency
services to the Group;
· in relation to the preceding financial year of JLL, the
proportion of the total fees payable by the Group to the total fee income of
the firm is less than 5%; and
· the fee payable to JLL is a fixed amount per asset and is not contingent
on the appraised value.
The self storage properties have been valued on the basis of Fair Value as
fully equipped operational entities, having regard to trading potential. Due
to the specialised nature and use of the buildings, the approach is to adopt a
profits method of valuation in an explicit Discounted Cash Flow calculation
and then consider the results in the context of recent comparable evidence of
transactions in the sector.
The profits method requires an estimate of the future cash flow that can be
generated from the use of the building as a self storage facility, assuming a
reasonably efficient operator. Judgements are made as to the trading
potential and likely long term sustainable occupancy. Stable occupancy
depends upon the nature of demand, size of property and nearby competition,
and allows for a reasonable vacancy rate to enable the operator to sell units
to new customers. The cash flow runs for an explicit period of 10 years, after
which it is capitalised at an all risks yield which reflects the implicit
future growth of the business, or a hypothetical sale. This is a valuer's
shortcut: maintaining the cash flow into perpetuity would provide the same
result. The comparison with recent transactions requires the evidence to be
considered in terms of the multiple on net operating profit (or
EBITDA/EBITDAR), value per square foot, yield profile etc and then adjusted to
reflect differences in location, building factors, tenure, trading maturity
and trading risk.
This mirrors the typical approach of purchasers in the self storage market.
However, in view of the relatively limited availability of comparable market
evidence this requires a degree of valuer judgment. In particular, most of the
transactions have comprised share sales due to the nature of the asset class
and the terms of those transactions have mostly been kept confidential between
the parties.
Portfolio Premium
JLL's valuation report confirms that the properties have been valued
individually but that if the portfolio was to be sold as a single lot or in
selected groups of properties, the total value could differ. JLL state that
in current market conditions they are of the view that there could be a
portfolio premium.
Assumptions
A. Net operating income is based on projected revenue received less
projected operating costs, which include a management fee to take account of
central/head office costs. The initial net operating income is calculated by
estimating the net operating income in the first 12 months following the
valuation date.
B. The net operating income in future years is calculated assuming
either straight-line absorption from day one actual occupancy or variable
absorption over years one to five of the cash flow period, to an estimated
stabilised/mature occupancy level. In the valuation the assumed stabilised
occupancy level for the 113 trading stores (both freeholds and leaseholds)
open at 31 March 2026 averages 87% (31 March 2025: 87%). The projected
revenues and costs have been adjusted for estimated cost inflation and revenue
growth.
C. The future rental growth incorporated into the valuation averages
2.2% per annum (2025: 2.3% per annum)
D. The capitalisation rates applied to existing and future net cash flow
have been estimated by reference to underlying yields for asset types such as
industrial, distribution and retail warehousing, yields for other trading
property types such as student housing and hotels, bank base rates, ten-year
money rates, inflation and the available evidence of transactions in the
sector. The valuation included in the accounts assumes rental growth in
future periods. The net initial yield for the 113 stores is 4.7% (31 March
2025: 5.0%). The weighted average exit capitalisation rate adopted (for both
freeholds and leaseholds) is 5.5% (31 March 2025: 5.5%).
E. The future net cash flow projections (including revenue growth and
cost inflation) have been discounted at a rate that reflects the risk
associated with each asset. The weighted average annual discount rate adopted
(for both freeholds and leaseholds) is 7.1% (31 March 2025: 7.1%).
F. Purchaser's costs of 6.8% have been adopted reflecting current
progressive Stamp Duty Land Tax rates.
Short leasehold
The same methodology has been used as for freeholds, but the exit
capitalisation rate is adjusted to reflect the unexpired lease term at exit.
The average unexpired term of the Group's five short leasehold properties is
13.4 years (31 March 2025: 11.4 years unexpired).
Sensitivities
Self storage valuations are complex, derived from data which is not widely
publicly available and involve a degree of judgement. For these reasons we
have classified the valuations of our property portfolio as Level 3 as defined
by IFRS 13. Inputs to the valuations, some of which are 'unobservable' as
defined by IFRS 13, include capitalisation yields, stable occupancy rates, and
rental growth rates. The existence of an increase of more than one
unobservable input would augment the impact on valuation. The impact on the
valuation could be mitigated by the inter-relationship between unobservable
inputs moving in opposite directions. For example, an increase in stable
occupancy may be offset by an increase in yield, resulting in no net impact on
the valuation. A sensitivity analysis showing the impact on the investment
property valuation of changes in yields and stable occupancy is shown below:
Impact of a change in capitalisation rates Impact of a change in stabilised occupancy assumption
25 bps decrease 25 bps increase 1% increase 1% decrease
2026 4.9% (4.5%) 1.0% (1.1%)
2025 4.9% (4.5%) 1.0% (1.1%)
A sensitivity analysis has not been provided for a change in the rental growth
rate adopted as there is a relationship between this measure and the discount
rate adopted. So, in theory, an increase in the rental growth rate could
give rise to a corresponding increase in the discount rate and the resulting
value impact would be limited.
Investment properties under construction
JLL have valued the stores in development adopting the same methodology as set
out above but on the basis of the cash flow projection expected for the store
at opening and after allowing for the outstanding costs to take each scheme
from its current state to completion and full fit-out. JLL have allowed for
holding costs and construction contingency, as appropriate. Two of the
schemes valued do not yet have planning consent and JLL have reflected the
planning risk in their valuation (Bethnal Green has not been valued as the
Group has not yet completed the acquisition of the site). The cost to
complete for the investment property under construction amounts to £169.9
million (2025: £218.2 million).
Valuation assumption for purchaser's costs
The Group's investment property assets have been valued for the purposes of
the financial statements after deducting notional weighted average purchaser's
cost of 6.8% on the net value, as if they were sold directly as property
assets. The valuation is an asset valuation which is entirely linked to the
operating performance of the business. The assets would have to be sold with
the benefit of operational contracts, employment contracts and customer
contracts, which would be very difficult to achieve except in a corporate
structure. This approach follows the logic of the valuation methodology in
that the valuation is based on a capitalisation of the net operating income
after allowing a deduction for operational cost and an allowance for central
administration costs. Sale in a corporate structure would result in a
reduction in the assumed Stamp Duty Land Tax but an increase in other
transaction costs reflecting additional due diligence resulting in a reduced
notional purchaser's cost of 2.75% of gross value. All the significant sized
transactions that have been concluded in the UK in recent years were completed
in a corporate structure. The Group therefore instructed JLL to carry out an
additional valuation on the above basis, and this results in a higher property
valuation at 31 March 2026 of £3,231.8 million (£120.7 million higher than
the value recorded in the financial statements) translating to 60.8 pence per
share. We have included this revised valuation in the adjusted diluted net
asset calculation (see note 13).
Valuer rotation
On 19 October 2023 the RICS published guidelines on a new time-limited,
mandatory rotation cycle for regulated purposes valuations. Rules are
effective from 1 May 2024, and require, after a two-year transition period, a
valuation firm to be rotated after 10 consecutive years of valuing a given
asset. These guidelines match our existing voluntary policy of 10 yearly
valuation rotation, therefore our planned valuer rotation cycle remains
unchanged.
16. TRADE AND OTHER RECEIVABLES
31 March 31 March
2026 2025
£000 £000
Current
Trade receivables 2,131 1,580
Other receivables 460 505
Prepayments and accrued income 5,617 3,737
8,208 5,822
Trade receivables are net of a bad debt provision of £479,000 (2025:
£622,000). The Directors consider that the carrying amount of trade and
other receivables approximates their fair value.
Trade receivables
The Group does not typically offer credit terms to its customers, requiring
them to pay in advance of their storage period and hence the Group is not
exposed to significant credit risk. A late charge of 10% is applied to a
customer's account if they are more than 10 days overdue in their payment.
The Group provides for receivables on a specific basis. There is a right of
lien over the customers' goods, so if they have not paid within a certain time
frame, we have the right to sell the items they store to recoup the debt
owed. Trade receivables that are overdue are provided for based on estimated
irrecoverable amounts determined by reference to past default experience.
For individual storage customers, the Group does not perform credit checks,
however this is mitigated by the fact that these customers are required to pay
in advance, and also to pay a deposit ranging from one week to four weeks'
storage income. Before accepting a new national customer, the Group uses an
external credit rating to assess the potential customer's credit quality and
defines credit limits by customer. There are no customers who represent more
than 5% of the total balance of trade receivables.
Included in the Group's trade receivables balance are debtors with a carrying
amount of £823,000 (2025: £771,000) which are past due at the reporting date
for which the Group has not provided as there has not been a significant
change in credit quality and the amounts are still considered recoverable. The
average age of these receivables is 19 days past due (2025: 15 days past due).
The creation and release of credit loss allowances have been included in cost
of sales in the income statement.
The Group measures the loss allowance for the trade receivables at an amount
equal to lifetime expected credit loss. The expected credit losses on trade
receivables are estimated using a provision matrix by reference to past
default experience of the debtor.
The Group writes off a trade receivable when there is information indicating
that the debtors are in severe financial difficulty and there is no realistic
prospect of recovery, e.g. when the debtor has been placed under liquidation
or has entered into bankruptcy proceedings.
The following table details the risk profile of trade receivables based on the
Group's provision matrix:
Year ended 31 March 2026 Not past due <31 days 31-45 days >45 days Total
Expected credit loss rate (%) 1.2% 11.1% 21.7% 50% 18.4%
Gross carrying amount (£000) 903 930 83 694 2,610
Lifetime ECL (£000) (11) (103) (18) (347) (479)
Net trade receivables at 31 March 2026 892 827 65 347 2,131
Year ended 31 March 2025 Not past due <31 days 31-45 days >45 days Total
Expected credit loss rate (%) 2.0% 33.5% 34.7% 50.0% 28.2%
Gross carrying amount (£000) 814 468 72 848 2,202
Lifetime ECL (£000) (16) (157) (25) (424) (622)
Net trade receivables at 31 March 2025 798 311 47 424 1,580
The above balances are short term and therefore the difference between the
book value and the fair value is not significant. Consequently, these have not
been discounted.
Movement in the credit loss allowance
2026 2025
£000
£000
Balance at the beginning of the year 622 579
Amounts provided in year 142 326
Amounts written off as uncollectible (285) (283)
Balance at the end of the year 479 622
The concentration of credit risk is limited due to the customer base being
large and unrelated. Accordingly, the Directors believe that there is no
further credit provision required in excess of the credit loss allowance.
17. TRADE AND OTHER PAYABLES
31 March 31 March
2026 2025
£000 £000
Current
Trade payables 4,911 9,006
Other payables 16,115 14,624
Accruals and deferred income 31,794 28,479
52,820 52,109
The Group has financial risk management policies in place to ensure that all
payables are paid within the credit terms. The Directors consider the
carrying amount of trade and other payables and accruals and deferred income
approximates fair value. The main items within other payables are VAT,
customer deposits and withholding tax on the PID.
The Group invoices its customers in advance, and hence any deferred income
balance primarily relates to amounts paid by customers for rental periods
beyond the balance sheet date. The Group's deferred income balance at 31
March 2026 was £11.3 million, a decrease of 14% from 31 March 2025 (£13.1
million), with the reduction due to the adoption of IFRS 9 (Derecognition of
Financial Assets settled with cash via electronic payment system) in the year
(see note 2).
Within trade payables is £2,521,000 of invoices relating to the Group's
construction programme (2025: £4,104,000).
18. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
The Group manages its capital to ensure that entities in the Group will be
able to continue as going concerns while maximising the return to stakeholders
through the optimisation of the debt and equity balance. The capital structure
of the Group consists of debt, which includes the borrowings disclosed in note
19, cash and cash equivalents and equity attributable to equity holders of the
parent, comprising issued capital, reserves and retained earnings.
With the exception of derivative instruments which are classified as a
financial liability at fair value through the statement of comprehensive
income, financial liabilities are categorised under amortised cost. The
Group has the following classes of financial assets:
· Trade and other receivables - trade receivables are initially
recognised at transaction price. Other receivables are initially recognised
at fair value. Subsequently these assets are measured at amortised cost
using the effective interest method, less provision for expected credit
losses.
· Cash and cash equivalents - cash and cash equivalents represent
only liquid assets with maturity of 90 days or less. Bank overdrafts that
cannot be offset against other cash balances are shown with borrowings in
current liabilities on the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents are also
classified as amortised cost. They are subsequently measured at amortised
cost. Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits at call with
banks, and other short term highly liquid investments with original maturities
of three months or less.
Exposure to credit and interest rate risks arise in the normal course of the
Group's business. Derivative financial instruments are used to manage
exposure to fluctuations in interest rates but are not employed for
speculative purposes.
A. Balance sheet management
The Group's Board reviews the capital structure on an ongoing basis. As part
of this review, the Board considers the cost of capital and the risks
associated with each class of capital. The Group seeks to have a conservative
gearing ratio (the proportion of net debt to equity). The Board considers at
each review the appropriateness of the current ratio in light of the above.
The Board is currently satisfied with the Group's gearing ratio.
The gearing ratio at the year-end is as follows:
2026 2025
£000
£000
Debt (485,968) (397,451)
Cash and cash equivalents 9,224 8,765
Net debt (476,744) (388,686)
Balance sheet equity 2,599,206 2,565,546
Net debt to equity ratio 18.3% 15.2%
B. Debt management
The Group currently borrows through a senior term loan, secured on 61 self
storage assets, a loan with Aviva Commercial Finance Limited secured on a
portfolio of 20 self storage assets, a £120 million loan from M&G
Investments Limited secured on a portfolio of 15 self storage assets. The
Group also has a $225 million shelf facility available from Pricoa Private
Capital (see note 19). Borrowings are arranged to ensure an appropriate
maturity profile and to maintain short-term liquidity. Funding is arranged
through banks and financial institutions with whom the Group has a strong
working relationship.
C. Interest rate risk management
The Group is exposed to interest rate risk as entities in the Group borrow
funds at both fixed and floating interest rates. The risk is managed by the
Group by maintaining an appropriate mix between fixed and floating rate
borrowings, and by the use of interest rate swap contracts. Hedging activities
are evaluated regularly to align with interest rate views and defined risk
appetite; ensuring optimal hedging strategies are applied, by either
positioning the balance sheet or protecting interest expense through different
interest rate cycles.
At 31 March 2026 the Group had two interest rate derivatives in place
- £35 million fixed at 4.5% (excluding the margin on the underlying debt
instrument) until September 2029; and
- £30 million fixed at 3.7% (excluding the margin on the underlying debt
instrument) until September 2029, with a callable option for the derivative
party to cancel the swap in March 2027.
Under interest rate swap contracts, the Group agrees to exchange the
difference between fixed and floating rate interest amounts calculated on
agreed notional principal amounts. Such contracts enable the Group to mitigate
the risk of changing interest rates on the fair value of issued fixed rate
debt held and the cash flow exposures on the issued variable rate debt held.
The fair value of interest rate swaps at the reporting date is determined by
discounting the future cash flows using the curves at the reporting date and
the credit risk inherent in the contract and is disclosed below. The average
interest rate is based on the outstanding balances at the end of the financial
year.
The £35 million interest rate swap settles on a three-monthly basis. The
floating rate on the interest rate swap is three month SONIA. The Group
settles the difference between the fixed and floating interest rate on a net
basis.
The £30 million interest rate swap settles on a monthly basis. The floating
rate on the interest rate swap is one month SONIA. The Group settles the
difference between the fixed and floating interest rate on a net basis.
The Group does not hedge account for its interest rate swaps and states them
at fair value, with changes in fair value included in the statement of
comprehensive income. A reconciliation of the movement in derivatives is
provided in the table below:
2026 2025
£000
£000
At 1 April (1,283) (1,830)
Fair value movement in the year 1,164 547
At 31 March (119) (1,283)
The interest rate derivative liability is shown within non-current liabilities
at the year end, as the interest rate derivatives expire in 2029. The tables
below reconcile the opening and closing balances of the Group's finance
related liabilities for the current and prior year:
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost Financial liabilities measured at fair value
Loans Obligations under lease liabilities
£000 £000 Interest rate derivatives
£000 Total
£000
At 1 April 2025 (397,451) (17,079) (1,283) (415,813)
Cash movement in the year (88,517) 1,307 - (87,210)
Lease variations - (4,037) - (4,037)
Fair value movement - - 1,164 1,164
At 31 March 2026 (485,968) (19,809) (119) (505,896)
The difference between the loans balance above and the balance sheet is loan
arrangement fees of £3,753,000.
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost Financial liabilities measured at fair value
Loans Obligations under lease liabilities
£000 £000 Interest rate derivatives
£000 Total
£000
At 1 April 2024 (394,768) (18,727) (1,830) (415,325)
Cash movement in the year (2,683) 1,816 - (867)
Lease variations - (168) - (168)
Fair value movement - - 547 547
At 31 March 2025 (397,451) (17,079) (1,283) (415,813)
The difference between the loan balances above and the balance sheet is loan
arrangement fees of £4,199,000
D. Interest rate sensitivity analysis
In managing interest rate risks the Group aims to reduce the impact of
short-term fluctuations on the Group's earnings, without jeopardising its
flexibility. Over the longer term, permanent changes in interest rates may
have an impact on consolidated earnings. At 31 March 2026, it is estimated
that an increase of 0.25 percentage points in interest rates would have
reduced the Group's adjusted profit before tax and net equity by £680,000
(2025: reduced adjusted profit before tax by £525,000) and a decrease of 0.25
percentage points in interest rates would have increased the Group's adjusted
profit before tax and net equity by £680,000 (2025: increased adjusted profit
before tax by £525,000). The sensitivity has been calculated by applying
the interest rate change to the variable rate borrowings, net of interest rate
swaps, at the year end.
The Group's sensitivity to interest rates has increased during the year,
following the increase in the amount of floating rate debt. The Board
monitors closely the exposure to the floating rate element of our debt.
E. Cash management and liquidity
Ultimate responsibility for liquidity risk management rests with the Board of
Directors, who have built an appropriate liquidity risk management framework
for the management of the Group's short, medium, and long-term funding and
liquidity management requirements. The Group manages liquidity risk by
maintaining adequate reserves, banking facilities and reserve borrowing
facilities by continuously monitoring forecast and actual cash flows and
matching the maturity profiles of financial assets and liabilities. Included
in note 19 is a description of additional undrawn facilities that the Group
has at its disposal to further reduce liquidity risk.
Short term money market deposits are used to manage liquidity whilst
maximising the rate of return on cash resources, giving due consideration to
risk.
F. Foreign currency management
The Group does not have any foreign currency exposure.
G. Credit risk
The credit risk management policies of the Group with respect to trade
receivables are discussed in note 16. The Group has no significant
concentration of credit risk, with exposure spread over 71,000 occupied rooms
in our stores.
The credit risk on liquid funds is limited because the counterparties are
banks with high credit-ratings assigned by international credit-rating
agencies.
H. Financial maturity analysis
In respect of interest-bearing financial liabilities, the following table
provides a maturity analysis for individual elements.
2026 Maturity
Less than one year One to two years Two to five years More than five years
Total £000 £000 £000 £000
£000
Debt
Aviva loan 148,968 3,658 310 145,000 -
M&G loan payable at variable rate 85,000 - - 85,000 -
M&G loan fixed by interest rate derivatives 35,000 - 35,000 -
-
Bank loan payable at variable rate 187,000 - - 187,000 -
Bank loan fixed by interest rate derivatives 30,000 - 30,000 -
-
Total 485,968 3,658 310 482,000
2025 Maturity
Less than one year One to two years Two to five years More than five years
Total £000 £000 £000 £000
£000
Debt
Aviva loan 152,451 3,483 3,658 145,310 -
M&G loan payable at variable rate 85,000 - - 85,000 -
M&G loan fixed by interest rate derivatives 35,000 - 35,000 -
-
Bank loan payable at variable rate 125,000 - - 125,000 -
Total 397,451 3,483 3,658 390,310 -
I. Fair values of financial instruments
The fair values of the Group's cash and short-term deposits and those of other
financial assets equate to their book values. Details of the Group's
receivables at amortised cost are set out in note 16. The amounts are
presented net of provisions for doubtful receivables, and allowances for
impairment are made where appropriate. Trade and other payables, including
bank borrowings, are carried at amortised cost. Obligations under lease
liabilities are included at the present value of their minimum lease
payments. Derivatives are carried at fair value.
For those financial instruments held at valuation, the Group has categorised
them into a three-level fair value hierarchy based on the priority of the
inputs to the valuation technique in accordance with IFRS 7. The hierarchy
gives the highest priority to quoted prices in active markets for identical
assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs
(Level 3). If the inputs used to measure fair value fall within different
levels of the hierarchy, the category level is based on the lowest priority
level input that is significant to the fair value measurement of the
instrument in its entirety. The fair value of the Group's outstanding
interest rate derivatives, as detailed in note 18C, have been estimated by
calculating the present value of future cash flows, using appropriate market
discount rates, representing Level 2 fair value measurements as defined by
IFRS 7. There are no financial instruments which have been categorised as
Level 1 or Level 3. The fair value of the Group's debt equates to its book
value.
J. Maturity analysis of financial liabilities
The contractual maturities based on market conditions and expected yield
curves prevailing at the year-end date are as follows:
2026 Trade and other payables Borrowings and Obligations under lease liabilities Total
£000 Interest rate swaps interest £000 £000
£000 £000
From five to twenty years - - - 24,169 24,169
From two to five years - (31) 515,539 4,759 520,267
From one to two years - 40 22,863 1,657 24,560
Due after more than one year - 9 538,402 30,585 568,996
Due within one year 21,026 89 26,309 1,657 49,081
Total 21,026 98 564,711 32,242 618,077
2025 Trade and other payables Borrowings and Obligations under lease liabilities Total
£000 Interest rate swaps interest £000 £000
£000 £000
From five to twenty years - - - 20,315 20,315
From two to five years - (485) 429,640 3,067 432,222
From one to two years - (232) 28,528 1,878 30,174
Due after more than one year - (717) 458,168 25,260 482,711
Due within one year 23,630 (131) 23,465 1,878 48,842
Total 23,630 (848) 481,633 27,138 531,553
K. Reconciliation of maturity analyses
The maturity analysis in note 18J shows non-discounted cash flows for all
financial liabilities including interest payments. The table below
reconciles the borrowings column in note 19 with the borrowings and interest
column in the maturity analysis presented in note 18J.
2026 Unamortised borrowing costs Borrowings and
£000 interest
Borrowings Interest £000
£000 £000
From five to twenty years - - - -
From two to five years 482,000 29,786 3,753 515,539
From one to two years 310 22,553 - 22,863
Due after more than one year 482,310 52,339 3,753 538,402
Due within one year 3,658 22,651 - 26,309
485,968 74,990 3,753 564,711
2025 Unamortised borrowing costs Borrowings and
£000 interest
Borrowings Interest £000
£000 £000
From five to twenty years - - - -
From two to five years 390,310 35,131 4,199 429,640
From one to two years 3,658 24,870 - 28,528
Due after more than one year 393,968 60,001 4,199 458,168
Due within one year 3,483 19,982 - 23,465
Total 397,451 79,983 4,199 481,633
19. BORROWINGS
31 March 31 March
Secured borrowings at amortised cost 2026 2025
£000 £000
Current liabilities
Aviva loan 3,658 3,483
3,658 3,483
Non-current liabilities
Bank borrowings 217,000 125,000
Aviva loan 145,310 148,968
M&G loan 120,000 120,000
Unamortised loan arrangement costs (3,753) (4,199)
Total non-current borrowings 478,557 389,769
Total borrowings 482,215 393,252
The weighted average interest rate paid on the borrowings during the year was
5.0% (2025: 5.7%).
The Group has £83 million in undrawn committed bank borrowing facilities at
31 March 2026, which expire after between two and three years (2025: £175
million expiring after between two and three years).
The Group has a £149 million fixed rate loan with Aviva Commercial Finance
Limited, expiring in September 2028. The loan is secured over a portfolio of
20 freehold self storage centres. The annual fixed interest rate on the loan
is 3.3%. The loan has a remaining amortising element of £4 million which
runs to April 2027.
The Group has a secured £300 million Sustainability-linked revolving bank
facility with Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays expiring in December 2028, with a
current margin of 1.2%.
The Group has a £120 million loan with M&G Investments Limited, with a
bullet repayment in September 2029. The loan is secured over a portfolio of
15 freehold self storage centres.
In addition to the facilities above the Group has a $225 million credit
approved shelf facility with Pricoa Private Capital ("Pricoa"), to be drawn in
fixed sterling notes. The Group can draw the debt in minimum tranches of
£10 million over the next three years with terms of between 7 and 15 years at
short notice.
The movement in the Group's loans are shown net in the cash flow statement as
the bank loan is a revolving facility and is repaid and redrawn each month.
The movement has been shown net in the cash flow statement. The other Group
loans are not revolving, and any movements in those loans are disclosed in a
footnote to note 26b.
The Group was in compliance with its banking covenants at 31 March 2026 and
throughout the year. As stated in the going concern review, we forecast
compliance with our covenants going forward. We therefore do not consider it
likely that these loans would become repayable within 12 months. The
principal covenants are summarised in the table below:
Covenant Covenant level At 31 March 2026
Consolidated EBITDA to net finance costs Minimum 1.5x 6.2x
Consolidated net tangible assets Minimum £500m £2,599.2m
Bank loan interest cover Minimum 1.75x 7.9x
Net debt to EBITDA ratio Maximum 8x 3.7x
Aviva loan interest service cover ratio Minimum 1.5x 6.7x
Aviva loan debt service cover ratio Minimum 1.2x 3.9x
M&G interest cover Minimum 1.5x 3.2x
The Consolidated EBITDA covenant is calculated by dividing the consolidated
EBITDA generated by the Group's stores by the Group's consolidated net finance
costs.
The bank loan interest cover, the Aviva loan interest service cover ratio and
the M&G interest cover covenants are calculated by dividing the EBITDA
generated by each loan's security pool by the interest payable for each loan
for each defined time period. The Aviva loan debt service cover ratio is
calculated by taking the EBITDA generated by the Aviva security pool and
dividing by the Aviva loan interest payable and facility amortisation. The
Aviva and M&G loans consolidated net tangible assets covenant is a minimum
of £250 million.
Interest rate profile of financial liabilities
Floating rate Weighted average interest rate Period for which the rate is fixed Weighted average period until maturity
Total £000 Fixed rate
£000 £000
At 31 March 2026
Gross financial liabilities 485,968 272,000 213,968 4.7% 2.7 years 2.8 years
At 31 March 2025
Gross financial liabilities 397,451 210,000 187,451 5.0% 3.6 years 3.5 years
All monetary liabilities, including short-term receivables and payables are
denominated in sterling. The weighted average interest rate includes the
effect of the Group's interest rate derivatives. The Directors have concluded
that the carrying value of borrowings approximates to its fair value.
Narrative disclosures on the Group's policy for financial instruments are
included within the Strategic Report and in note 18.
20. DEFERRED TAX
At 31 March 2026 the Group had unrecognised corporation tax losses of £25.9
million (2025: £25.9 million) available for offset against future non-REIT
corporation tax profits, unrecognised capital allowances in excess of
depreciation £0.9 million (2025: £0.5 million) available for offset against
future non-REIT corporation tax profits, future share based payments of £0.3
million (2025: £0.8 million) available for offset against future non-REIT
corporation tax profits and unrecognised capital losses of £8.6 million
(2025: £8.6 million) available for offset against future capital gains, but
which are not expected to be used, giving rise to an unrecognised deferred tax
asset calculated at 25% of £8.9 million (2025: £8.9 million).
21. OBLIGATIONS UNDER LEASE LIABILITIES
Minimum lease payments Present value of minimum lease payments
2026 2025 2026 2025
£000
£000 £000 £000
Amounts payable under lease liabilities:
Within one year 1,657 1,878 1,635 1,857
Between one and five years inclusive 6,416 4,945 5,710 4,533
Greater than five years 24,169 20,315 12,464 10,689
32,242 27,138 19,809 17,079
Less: future finance charges (12,433) (10,059)
Present value of lease liabilities 19,809 17,079
During the year the Group extended the lease on its Dagenham store by 15
years. This has increased the minimum lease payments from the prior year.
All obligations under lease liabilities are denominated in sterling.
Interest rates are fixed at the contract date. All leases are on a fixed
repayment basis and no arrangements have been entered into for contingent
rental payments. The carrying amount of the Group's lease obligations
approximates their fair value.
22. SHARE CAPITAL
Called up, allotted, and fully paid
2026 2025
£000
£000
Ordinary shares of 10 pence each 19,682 19,671
Movement in issued share capital
Number of shares at 31 March 2024 196,195,287
Exercise of share options - Share option schemes 519,409
Number of shares at 31 March 2025 196,714,696
Exercise of share options - Share option schemes 103,875
Number of shares at 31 March 2026 196,818,571
The share capital of the Company consists only of fully paid ordinary shares
with a nominal (par) value of £0.10 per share. There are no restrictions on
the ability of shareholders to receive dividends, nor on the repayment of
capital. All ordinary shares are equally eligible to receive dividends and
the repayment of capital in accordance with the Company's Articles of
Association and represent one vote at shareholders' meetings of the Company.
At 31 March 2026 options in issue to Directors and employees were as follows:
Option price per ordinary share Type of option Date first exercisable Number of ordinary shares Number of ordinary shares
2025
Date option Date on which the exercise period expires 2026
Granted
21 July 2015 nil p LTIP 21 July 2018 21 July 2025 - 239
22 July 2016 nil p LTIP 22 July 2019 21 July 2026 665 1,415
2 August 2017 nil p LTIP 2 August 2020 2 August 2027 606 2,320
24 July 2018 nil p LTIP 24 July 2021 24 July 2028 1,552 1,552
19 July 2019 nil p LTIP 19 July 2022 19 July 2029 7,545 16,824
5 August 2020 nil p LTIP 5 August 2023 5 August 2030 152,579 165,313
22 July 2021 nil p LTIP 22 July 2024 22 July 2031 113,131 130,662
21 July 2022 nil p LTIP 21 July 2025 21 July 2032 50,617 349,364
8 August 2022 1060.3p SAYE 1 September 2025 1 March 2026 - 45,660
20 July 2023 nil p LTIP 20 July 2026 19 July 2033 543,721 570,838
1 August 2023 891.5p SAYE 1 September 2026 1 March 2027 50,853 65,553
10 July 2024 945.1p SAYE 1 September 2027 1 March 2028 49,304 80,726
18 July 2024 nil p LTIP 18 July 2027 17 July 2034 522,579 548,499
9 July 2025 801.6p SAYE 1 September 2028 1 March 2029 86,439 -
1 August 2025 nil p LTIP 1 August 2028 31 July 2035 761,938 -
2,341,529 1,978,965
Own shares
The own shares reserve represents the cost of shares in Big Yellow Group PLC
purchased in the market and held by the Big Yellow Group PLC Employee Benefit
Trust, along with shares issued directly to the Employee Benefit Trust.
859,397 shares are held in the Employee Benefit Trust (2025: 881,360), and
no shares are held in treasury.
23. SHARE-BASED PAYMENTS
The Company has three equity share-based payment arrangements, namely an LTIP
scheme (with approved and unapproved components), an Employee Share Save
Scheme ("SAYE") and a Deferred Bonus Plan. The Group recognised a total
expense in the year related to equity-settled share-based payment transactions
of £1,894,000 (2025: £2,855,000).
Equity-settled share option plans
Since 2004 the Group has operated an Employee Share Save Scheme ("SAYE") which
allows any employee who has more than six months service to purchase shares at
a 20% discount to the average quoted market price of the Group shares at the
date of grant. The associated savings contracts are three years at which
point the employee can exercise their option to purchase the shares or take
the amount saved, including interest, in cash. The scheme is administered by
Globalshares.
On an annual basis since 2004 the Group awarded nil-paid options to senior
management under the Group's Long Term Incentive Plan ("LTIP"). The awards
are conditional on the achievement of challenging performance targets as
described in the Remuneration Report. The weighted average share price at
the date of exercise for options exercised in the year was £10.09 (2025:
£12.60).
LTIP scheme 2026 2025
No. of options No. of options
Outstanding at beginning of year 1,787,026 1,705,303
Granted during the year 790,205 566,193
Lapsed during the year (322,298) (41,171)
Exercised during the year (100,000) (443,299)
Outstanding at the end of the year 2,154,933 1,787,026
Exercisable at the end of the year 326,695 254,826
The weighted average fair value of options granted during the year was
£2,460,000 (2025: £1,708,000).
Participants pay the nominal value of the shares when exercising options under
the LTIP scheme.
Options outstanding at 31 March 2026 had a weighted average contractual life
of 8.0 years (2025: 8.0 years).
Employee Share Save Scheme ("SAYE") 2026 2026 2025 2025
No. of options Weighted average exercise price No of options Weighted average exercise price
(£)
(£)
Outstanding at beginning of year 191,939 £9.54 214,442 £9.41
Granted during the year 93,964 £8.02 86,354 £9.45
Forfeited during the year (95,432) £9.74 (32,747) £9.63
Exercised during the year (3,875) £10.08 (76,110) £9.01
Outstanding at the end of the year 186,596 £8.64 191,939 £9.54
Exercisable at the end of the year - - - -
Options outstanding at 31 March 2026 had a weighted average contractual life
of 2.0 years (2025: 2.0 years).
The inputs into the Black-Scholes model for the options granted during the
year are as follows:
LTIP SAYE
Expected volatility n/a 26%
Expected life 3 years 3 years
Risk-free rate 0% 4.08
Expected dividends 4.1% 5.5%
Expected volatility was determined by calculating the historical volatility of
the Group's share price over the year prior to grant.
Deferred bonus plan
The Executive Directors receive awards under the Deferred Bonus Plan. This
is accounted for as an equity instrument. The plan was set up in July
2018. The vesting criteria and scheme mechanics are set out in the
Directors' Remuneration Report.
24. CAPITAL COMMITMENTS
At 31 March 2026 the Group had £54.3 million of amounts contracted but not
provided in respect of the Group's properties (2025: £77.5 million of capital
commitments).
25. EVENTS AFTER THE BALANCE SHEET DATE
In May 2026, the Group obtained planning consent for its proposed store at Old
Kent Road, London.
In May 2026, the Group renewed its $225 million credit approved shelf facility
with Pricoa Private Capital to be drawn in fixed sterling notes.
In May 2026, the Group exchanged contracts to acquire a site in Acton, West
London for £11.5 million.
26. CASH FLOW NOTES
a) Reconciliation of profit after tax to cash generated from operations
Note 2026 2025
£000
£000
Profit after tax 124,913 201,891
Taxation 1,299 1,963
Other income 3 (196) (4,047)
Share of profit of joint venture (139) -
Investment income (1,343) (708)
Finance costs 13,554 15,928
Operating profit 138,088 215,027
Gain on the revaluation of investment properties 14a, 15 (7,574) (79,667)
Gain on disposal of non-current asset 14a - (8,754)
Depreciation of plant, equipment, and owner-occupied property 14b 922 837
Depreciation of right-of-use assets 14a,14b 1,473 1,701
Employee share options 6 1,894 2,855
Cash generated from operations pre working capital movements 134,803 131,999
Decrease in inventories 60 49
Increase in receivables (1,380) (1,024)
(Decrease)/increase in payables (1,273) 3,599
Cash generated from operations 132,210 134,623
b) Reconciliation of net cash flow movement to net debt
Note 2026 2025
£000
£000
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year 459 (591)
Cash flow from increase in debt financing(1) (88,517) (2,683)
Change in net debt resulting from cash flows (88,058) (3,274)
Movement in net debt in the year (88,058) (3,274)
Net debt at the start of the year (388,686) (385,412)
Net debt at the end of the year 18A (476,744) (388,686)
(1) Made up of a net increase of £92.0 million in the RCF facility and
repayments of the Aviva facility of £3.5 million (2025: Made up of a net
increase of £6.0 million in the RCF facility and repayments of the Aviva
facility of £3.3 million).
27. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Transactions between the Company and its subsidiaries, which are related
parties, have been eliminated on consolidation and are not disclosed in this
note.
AnyJunk Limited
Jim Gibson is a Non-Executive Director and shareholder in AnyJunk Limited.
During the year AnyJunk Limited provided waste disposal services to the Group
on normal commercial terms, amounting to £25,000 (2025: £25,000). At 31
March 2026 a balance of £1,000 was included in trade payables for amounts
owing to AnyJunk Limited (2025: £3,000).
London Children's Ballet
The Group signed a Section 106 agreement with Wandsworth Council relating to
the development of our Battersea store, which required the Group to provide
cultural space to Wandsworth Borough Council. In 2021, the Group granted a
twenty year lease over this space to London Children's Ballet at a peppercorn
rent, who in turn have agreed to enter into a Social Agreement with Wandsworth
Borough Council coterminous with the lease. Jim Gibson is the Chairman of
Trustees of the London Children's Ballet. London Children's Ballet rent
storage space from the Group on normal commercial terms, amounting to £4,000
during the year (2025: £4,000). The Group sponsored a London Children's
Ballet development programme during the year, amounting to £10,000 (2025:
£8,000).
Doncaster Security Operations Centre Limited ("DSOC")
The Group owns 74% of DSOC. DSOC provided alarm and CCTV monitoring services
to the Group under normal commercial terms during the year, amounting to
£336,000 (2025: £358,000). At 31 March 2026 and 31 March 2025 there were no
amounts included in trade payables for amounts owing to DSOC.
Treepoints Limited
Jim Gibson is a Non-Executive Director and an investor in City Stasher
Limited, which in turn has a minority investment in Treepoints Limited.
Treepoints Limited provided offsetting tree planting services in respect of
our online packing material sales, under normal commercial terms during the
period, amounting to £2,000 (2025: £2,000). At 31 March 2026 and 31 March
2025 there were no amounts included in trade payables for amounts owing to
Treepoints Limited.
Ukrainian Sponsorship Pathway UK
Nicholas Vetch and Heather Savory are trustees of a charity called Universal
Sponsorship Pathway UK ("USPUK"). In the current year, the Group has
provided free office space to USPUK worth £16,000 (2025: £10,000).
Landmark Trust and Ruth Strauss Foundation
Dr Anna Keay is the CEO of the Landmark Trust. There were no transactions in
the current year, but during the prior year the Company provided free storage
to the Landmark Trust with a total value of £400.
Vince Niblett is a Trustee of the Ruth Strauss Foundation. During the year
the Company provided free storage to the Ruth Strauss Foundation with a total
value of £6,000 (2025: £8,000).
No other related party transactions took place during the years ended 31 March
2026 and 31 March 2025.
28. GLOSSARY
Absorption The rate of growth in occupancy assumed within the external property
valuations from the current occupancy level to the assumed stable occupancy
level.
Adjusted earnings The IFRS profit after taxation attributable to shareholders of the Company
excluding investment property revaluations, one-off items of income and costs,
gains/losses on investment property disposals and changes in the fair value of
financial instruments.
Adjusted earnings growth The increase in adjusted eps year-on-year.
Adjusted NAV EPRA NTA adjusted for an investment property valuation carried out at
purchasers' costs of 2.75%, see note 13.
Adjusted earnings per share Adjusted earnings divided by the average number of shares in issue during the
financial year, see note 12.
Adjusted Profit Before Tax The Company's pre-tax EPRA earnings measure with additional Company
adjustments, see note 10.
APMs Additional performance measures that help financial statement users to better
understand the Group's performance and position.
Average net achieved rent per sq ft Storage revenue divided by average occupied space over the financial year.
Average occupancy The average space occupied by customers divided by the MLA expressed as a %.
Average rental growth The growth in average net achieved rent per sq ft year-on-year.
BREEAM An environmental rating assessed under the Building Research Establishment's
Environmental Assessment Method.
Cap rates The exit capitalisation rates used in the external investment property
valuation.
Carbon intensity Carbon emissions divided by the Group's average occupied space.
Closing net rent per sq ft Annual storage revenue generated from in-place customers divided by occupied
space at the balance sheet date.
Closing occupancy % The space occupied by customers divided by the MLA at the balance sheet date
expressed as a %.
Closing occupancy sq ft The space occupied by customers at the balance sheet date in sq ft.
Committed facilities Available undrawn debt facilities plus cash and cash equivalents.
Consolidated EBITDA Consolidated EBITDA calculated in accordance with the terms of the Group's
Revolving Credit Facility Agreement.
Debt Long-term and short-term borrowings, as detailed in note 19, excluding lease
liabilities and debt issue costs.
Earnings per share (eps) Profit for the financial year attributable to equity shareholders divided by
the average number of shares in issue during the financial year.
EBITDA Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation.
EPRA The European Public Real Estate Association, a real estate industry body. This
organisation has issued Best Practice Recommendations with the intention of
improving the transparency, comparability, and relevance of the published
results of listed real estate companies in Europe.
EPRA earnings The IFRS profit after taxation attributable to shareholders of the Company
excluding investment property revaluations, gains/losses on investment
property disposals and changes in the fair value of financial instruments.
EPRA earnings per share EPRA earnings divided by the average number of shares in issue during the
financial year, see note 12.
EPRA NTA per share EPRA NTA divided by the diluted number of shares at the year end.
EPRA net tangible asset value (EPRA NTA) IFRS net assets excluding the mark-to-market on interest rate derivatives,
deferred taxation on property valuations where it arises, and intangible
assets. It is adjusted for the dilutive impact of share options.
Equity All capital and reserves of the Group attributable to equity holders of the
Company.
Gross property assets The sum of investment property and investment property under construction.
Gross value added The measure of the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry,
or sector of an economy.
Interest cover The ratio of operating cash flow divided by interest paid (before working
capital movements, exceptional finance costs, capitalised interest, and
changes in fair value of interest rate derivatives). This metric is provided
to give readers a clear view of the Group's financial position.
Like-for-like store operating costs Store operating costs excluding one-off items and the operating costs of a
store opened in the preceding or current financial year.
Like-for-like occupancy Excludes the closing occupancy of new stores acquired, opened, or closed in
the current financial year in both the current financial year and comparative
figures. In 2026 this excludes Staines, Queensbury, Slough Bath Road and
Wembley.
Like-for-like store revenue Excludes the impact of new stores acquired, opened or stores closed in the
current or preceding financial year in both the current year and comparative
figures. In 2026 this excludes Staines, Queensbury, Slough Bath Road and
Wembley.
LTV (loan to value) Net debt expressed as a percentage of the external valuation of the Group's
investment properties.
Maximum lettable area (MLA) The total square foot (sq ft) available to rent to customers.
Move-ins The number of customers taking a storage room in the defined period.
Move-outs The number of customers vacating a storage room in the defined period.
NAV Net asset value.
Net debt Gross borrowings less cash and cash equivalents.
Net initial yield The forthcoming year's net operating income expressed as a percentage of
capital value, after adding notional purchaser's costs pre administrative
expenses.
Net operating income Store EBITDA after an allocation of central overhead.
Net operating income on stabilisation The projected net operating income delivered by a store when it reaches a
stable level of occupancy.
Net promoter score (NPS) The Net Promoter Score is an index ranging from -100 to 100 that measures the
willingness of customers to recommend a company's products or services to
others. The Company measures NPS based on surveys sent to all its move-ins
and move-outs.
Net Renewable Energy Positive Our strategy as set out in
https://corporate.bigyellow.co.uk/index.php/sustainability/strategy.
Net rent per sq ft Storage revenue generated from in place customers divided by occupancy.
Net Zero Strategy The Group's published strategy to have Net Zero Scope 1 and 2 Emissions.
Non like-for-like stores Stores excluded from like-for-like metrics, as they were acquired, opened or
closed in the current or preceding financial year. In 2026 these stores are
Staines, Queensbury, Slough Bath Road and Wembley.
Occupancy The space occupied by customers divided by the MLA expressed as a %.
Occupied space The space occupied by customers in sq ft.
Other storage related income Packing materials, insurance, and other storage related fees.
Pipeline The Group's development sites.
Property Income Distribution (PID) A dividend, generally subject to withholding tax, that a UK REIT is required
to pay from its tax-exempt property rental business, and which is taxable for
UK-resident shareholders at their marginal tax rate.
REGO Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin
REIT Real Estate Investment Trust. A tax regime which in the UK exempts
participants from corporation tax both on UK rental income and gains arising
on UK investment property sales, subject to certain conditions.
REVPAF Total store revenue divided by the average maximum lettable area in the year.
Store EBITDA Store earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation, see
reconciliation in the portfolio summary.
Store revenue Revenue earned from the Group's open self storage centres.
TCFD Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosure.
Total shareholder return (TSR) The growth in value of a shareholding over a specified period, assuming
dividends are reinvested to purchase additional units of shares.
Ten Year Summary
2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
Results
Revenue 209.1 204.5 199.6 188.8 171.3 135.2 129.3 125.4 116.7 109.1
Operating profit before gains and losses on property assets
130.5 126.6 128.4 120.0 106.6 81.5 80.0 76.7 70.9 65.3
Cash flow from operating activities
108.9 114.6 104.8 112.0 107.1 76.7 73.6 72.2 63.0 55.9
Profit before taxation 126.2 203.9 241.0 75.3 698.9 265.8 93.4 126.9 134.1 99.8
Adjusted profit before taxation
117.5 115.6 107.3 106.0 96.8 74.6 71.0 67.5 61.4 54.6
Net assets 2,599.2 2,565.5 2,448.4 2,182.4 2,184.4 1,453.9 1,163.9 1,123.9 981.1 890.4
Diluted adjusted earnings per share
59.0p 57.8p 55.9p 56.5p 52.5p 42.4p 42.1p 41.4p 38.5p 34.5p
Declared total dividend per share
47.2p 46.4p 45.2p 45.2p 42.0p 34.0p 33.8p 33.2p 30.8p 27.6p
Key statistics
Number of stores open** 113 109 109 108 105 78 75 74 74 73
Store MLA (000 sq ft) 6,721 6,421 6,419 6,292 6,098 4,930 4,688 4,622 4,631 4,551
Sq ft occupied (000)** 4,985 5,056 5,029 5,088 5,107 4,201 3,781 3,810 3,730 3,551
Occupancy (decrease)/ increase in year (000 sq ft)*
(71) 27 (59) (19) 906 420 (29) 80 179 188
Closing net rent per sq ft** £36.28 £35.17 £34.14 £32.48 £29.92 £28.71 £28.15 £27.28 £26.74 £26.03
Number of occupied rooms** 71,000 73,000 73,000 73,000 73,000 62,000 56,500 56,000 55,000 52,500
Average number of employees during the year**
453 459 464 465 427 370 361 347 335 329
* - the occupancy growth in 2017, 2022 and 2023 includes the acquisition of
existing stores
** - from 2022 this includes the Armadillo stores, which the Group acquired
the remaining 80% of which it did not previously own on 1 July 2021
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