Big Yellow Group reported a sharp slowdown in occupancy growth for its first quarter, relying on higher rental rates to lift revenue.
The self-storage company said total revenue for the quarter ended June 30 rose 3% to 51.5 million British Pounds.
This was driven by a 5% increase in average net rent per square foot, which offset a significant drop in occupancy growth.
The company added 47,000 square feet of occupied space in the quarter, a steep decline from the 220,000 square feet gained in the same period a year earlier, according to the filing.
Closing occupancy fell to 79.4% from 81.8% a year ago.
"As stated in our May results, we saw some softening of demand and loss of occupancy at the start of the quarter due to elevated levels of macroeconomic uncertainty," Chief Executive Officer Jim Gibson said in a statement.
"Despite this we have delivered strong average rate growth of 5% through our yield management processes, which has resulted in 3% revenue growth for the quarter compared to last year."
Big Yellow said it saw some improvement in demand later in the quarter, which has continued into July.
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