National Storage announced today an increase in earnings of 28% thanks to improving rentals, acquisitions and development activity in what has been a difficult year.
National Storage is the largest self-storage providers in Australia and New Zealand, with over 210 centres providing tailored storage solutions to over 85,000 residential and commercial customers. NSR is the first independent, internally managed and fully integrated owner and operator of self-storage centres listed in Australia.
Managing Director Mr. Andrew Catsoulis said, “NSR has delivered another very strong result as we continue to execute our growth strategy.”
“We have achieved record Group rate, occupancy and REVPAM growth with rate increasing 8.3% to $260/m2, occupancy increasing 8.5% to 86.1% and REVPAM increasing 22.8% to $227/m2. These results are a testament to the strength and resilience of our business model, and have been achieved despite considerable economic and market uncertainty over the course of the last 18 months.”
Underlying earnings for the period increased by 28% to $86.5 million. NSR continued to execute its acquisition-based growth strategy with 25 acquisitions settled totalling $352 million. In addition, the focus on development and expansion saw 10 projects completed during the year, adding an additional 59,100m2 of NLA to the portfolio. NSR’s NTA increased by 15% to $1.89 while total assets increased by 23% to $3.25 billion.
“Despite the challenging nature of the COVID-19 lockdowns and conditions impacting all markets in which NSR operates, NSR again demonstrated the strength and resilience of its business throughout this period”, said Mr. Catsoulis.
As a business, NSR continues to execute its ‘four pillars’ strategy, focusing on achieving organic growth through rate and occupancy increases, whilst maintaining a strong acquisition pipeline, undertaking high-quality developments and expansion projects and embracing technology and innovation initiatives in order to add further efficiencies and economies of scale to its business.
NSR is well positioned to continue its organic growth trajectory with approximately 90,000m2 of additional built capacity available before NSR reaches an occupancy level of 90%. This built capacity has the potential to generate up to $27 million of additional revenue. Given NSR’s relatively fixed cost base, the majority of this potential revenue should fall to underlying earnings.
NSR confirms the final distribution of 4.2cps (totalling 8.2cps for FY21) as previously estimated on 23 June 2021 and confirms the payment date of 3 September 2021. This represents a payout ratio of 96% of the underlying earnings of 8.5cps.
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NSR commenced the financial year trading at $1.85 against a NAV of $1.65 (+12% premium to NAV) and finished the year at $1.98 against an improved NAV of $1.89 (5% premium to NAV). The Group delivered distributions of 8.2cps for the period, equating to a 4.4% yield on the opening price on 1st July 2020. Together with the increase in unit price over the year, the Total Securityholder Return equates to 11.8%.
Financial highlights
- A-IFRS profit after tax of $309.7 million
- FY21 underlying earnings of $86.5 million, up 28%
- FY21 underlying EPS1 of 8.5cps, up 2.4%
- Total Return for FY21 of 19.5%
- Final distribution of 4.2cps bringing total FY21 distribution to 8.2cps
- Total assets $3.25 billion, up 23%
- 30 June 2021 gearing 22% – approximately $900 million of investment capacity
- Net tangible assets (NTA) $1.89 per stapled security, up 15%
Operating Highlights
- 25 acquisitions totalling $352 million settled in FY21
- 4 acquisitions already settled or contracted in FY22 totalling $33 million
- REVPAM growth with rate increasing 8.3% to $260/m2,
- occupancy increasing 8.5% to 86.1%
- REVPAM increasing 22.8% to $227/m2
Overview
NSR’s objective is to deliver investors a stable and growing income stream from a portfolio of geographically diversified high-quality self-storage assets. NSR strives to drive income and capital growth through active asset and portfolio management (including the acquisition, development or redevelopment and portfolio recycling of self-storage centres).
The key drivers of the business are:
- Organic Growth – NSR achieves organic growth through a combination of occupancy and rate increases assessed on an individual centre basis
- Acquisitions – NSR has executed over 150 high-quality acquisitions since its IPO in December 2013 – a growth rate unmatched in the Australasian market
- Development and Expansion – NSR has a highly developed and proven inhouse expertise which enables it to identify, negotiate and deliver strategic development, expansion and refurbishment projects in an efficient and effective manner
- Technology and Innovation – NSR leads the Australasian storage industry with new technology and innovation projects designed to improve operational efficiency and enhance the customer and employee experience, providing an important competitive advantage over its peers
Acquisitions
NSR has executed its successful strategy of making high-quality acquisitions throughout FY21, acquiring 22 new centres totalling $320 million, representing 128,000m2 of new NLA.
| REGION | NUMBER OF CENTRES | NLA (M2) |
| Melbourne | 10 | 47,500 |
| Sydney | 2 | 13,100 |
| Brisbane | 2 | 13,400 |
| Sunshine Coast | 4 | 29,100 |
| Central Coast (NSW) | 2 | 15,700 |
| Perth | 1 | 5,800 |
| Christchurch (NZ) | 1 | 3,800 |
| Total Acquisitions | 22 | 128,400 |
In addition, the group acquired three development sites totalling $32 million.
The acquisition pipeline remains strong with over $100 million of additional acquisition opportunities under active consideration.
Development
National Storage completed 10 development and expansion projects during the year NSR and has 22 projects in various stages of planning and development which should deliver approximately 150,000m2 of NLA over the next 2 – 3 years.
Valuation
NSR re-values all assets each Reporting Period through a combined process undertaken by both external valuers and Directors’ valuations, based on valuations and methodologies from independent valuers (m3 Property and Cushman & Wakefield). The weighted average primary capitalisation rate of NSR’s portfolio of assets reduced by 51 basis points to 5.98% and the value of the 30 June 2020 portfolio increased by $311 million. This contributed to the 15% increase in NTA which now sits at $1.89 per stapled security, up from $1.65 per stapled security in June 2020.
Balance Sheet
During the year NSR successfully completed an equity raising of $325 million by way of a fully underwritten non-renounceable rights issue. The purpose of the equity raising was to strengthen the balance sheet, replenish investment capacity and provide additional funding flexibility.
During the Reporting Period the Group refinanced part of its existing debt facilities and increased available liquidity by a further AUD $100 million and NZD $25 million, to support ongoing developments in Australia and New Zealand. The Consolidated Group’s borrowing facilities are AUD $930 million and NZD $252 million.
As at the 30th June, approx $403 million of debt was undrawn and available with a weighted average debt tenor of 2.8 years, consistent with 30 June 2020. NSR is actively reviewing its debt structure with the aim of increasing diversity of funding sources and extending NSR’s debt tenor beyond 4 years. NSR’s gearing level as at 30 June 2021 was 22% against a target gearing range of 25% – 40%, providing flexibility and the ability to act expeditiously on acquisition and development opportunities as they arise.
Guidance
Subject to no material changes in market conditions or operating environments, including no material deterioration in COVID-19 restrictions, regulations and impact, NSR is expecting FY22 underlying earnings per security to grow by a minimum of 10%.
NSR’s distribution guidance is in line with NSR’s distribution policy of 90% – 100% of underlying earnings.
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