Safestore Holdings, a U.K. self-storage firm, released financial information Wednesday, showing the company has earned a profit and is enjoying increased business.

The company said it earned a profit of £6.7 million for the six months to April, compared with a loss of £11.7 million a year earlier. The number of commercial and residential customers increased by 6.5 percent. In addition tenants are staying longer.

Safestore, which has 128 stores in the United Kingdom and Paris, said demand is being driven by increased activity in the housing market and people needing space for a new home office or to rent out a room.

"An interesting development has been the trend toward people selling their homes before purchasing another and, in the interim, moving into smaller rented accommodation,” said
CEO Steve Williams. “This has resulted in a higher level of reservations being made further in advance indicating that self-storage is becoming part of the planning process in relation to house moves, not merely reactive to an event."

The company, which recently secured new and increased bank facilities to August 2013, said it would continue to selectively acquire new sites. Its property portfolio was valued at £655.4 million at the end of April, up 1.2 percent since October.

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