U.K. self-storage company Lok'nStore Group PLC released the financial results for the first half of its 2014 fiscal year through Jan. 31, reporting increases in revenue and occupancy. Self-storage revenue was up 7.8 percent year over year, including a 9.5 percent bump in January, which was the companys largest monthly increase since June 2006.

Unit occupancy was up 7.5 percent, while price per square foot increased 2.9 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Move-ins also increased 21.4 percent year over year. The companys ancillary sales also showed improvement from the same period a year ago, with tenant-insurance sales up 20 percent and boxes and packaging up 25 percent.

Company officials attributed the positive six-month performance to improvements in the economy and strategies implemented to improve operating efficiency. "Trading in the first half of our financial year has been strong, culminating in a buoyant January, normally our quieter period, said Andrew Jacobs, CEO. It is especially encouraging that growth has been delivered in revenue, occupancy and price per square foot.

The financial report excludes the sale of the companys facility in Ashford, England, last March as well as the early returns from its new location in Maidenhead, England. Overall, officials are encouraged by the new facilitys performance and optimistic about four new English facilities scheduled to open in the next 18 months.

Looking at our development pipeline, our new flagship store in Maidenhead opened in December, and early trading gives us significant optimism and confidence that the new stores in Reading, Aldershot, Southampton and Bristol will add further impetus to sales and earnings, Jacobs said.

LoknStore builds, buys or leases large warehouses or industrial buildings and rents storage units to customers on a weekly basis. Around 60 percent of the company's 7,000 customers are residential and 40 percent commercial. LoknStore has more than 920,000 square feet of net rentable space, which is evenly split between freehold and leasehold.

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