Big Yellow

Big Yellow Group PLC (Ticker: FTSE 250 – BYG) is one of the leading UK self-storage operators with over 109 facilities, this includes the acquisition of 24 locations from the Armadilio group.

Majority of the facilities (99%) are either freehold or long leasehold, with the remainder 1% being short term lease.

The group has 13 new development sites in the pipeline for facilities like Epsom, Leicester, Queensbury, Slough, Staines, Wapping and Wembley.

Shares of BYG are classed as a Real Estate Investment Trust.

The groups portfolio can be viewed here by clicking this link.

Self-Storage operators have increased in popularity over the past 15-20 years dominated by a handful of national operators. Due to the initial capital investment that is required the barriers to entry are extremely high, therefore there is limited competition from new entrants.

The United Kingdom is a relatively small island and space is at a premium, whether space is required for retail customers moving house, seasonal students, charities or businesses the demand has grown considerably over the last ten years.

With an ever increasing diverse and transient population, temporary storage has grown in popularity and will remain so for years to come. In good times the industry thrives as new business ventures set up requiring additional working space, then in hard times when interest rates are high and housing defaults increase, even recessions can occur which is why then self-storage is a necessity if you are unfortunate enough to loose your job or house or in extreme circumstances both.

Some industry insiders and analysis’s would go as far to say the self-storage industry is recession proof, as it can be a good sector for generating reoccurring revenues during both good and bad economies.

The BYG group operates a portfolio of stores in prominent locations which has a beneficial effects when generating new customers, this increases brand awareness whilst reduces its need to pay for costly advertising, or pay per click advertising through online search engine results.

The Big Yellow brand is one of the most recognised names within the sector and one that has been published several times in annual self-storage surveys conducted by JLL.