S&P/ASX All Ordinaries (ASX: XAO), a.k.a. All Ords, share Abacus Storage King (ASX: ASK) is 4.4% higher at $1.25 after the company released its full-year FY24 results on Tuesday.
The property share is outperforming the market, with the ASX All Ords up just 0.19% to 8,044 points at the time of writing.
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ASX All Ords share rising on profitable first year
This real estate investment trust (REIT) was listed on the ASX on 1 August last year after shares in Abacus Storage Operations Limited (ASOL) were stapled to units in Abacus Storage Property Trust (ASPT).
Abacus Group's chief financial officer, Evan Goodridge, said FY24 was "a strong first financial year for ASK as a standalone entity."
Here are the highlights for FY24:
- Total revenue and other income $290.5 million
- Net profit after tax (NPAT) $138.2 million
- Funds from operations (FFO) of $81.1 million (equivalent to 6.36 cents per share)
- Net tangible assets (NTA) of $1.58 per share
- Full-year distribution of 6 cents per security, reflecting an FFO payout ratio of 94%.
What else happened in FY24?
The ASX All Ords company said self-storage operating conditions remained robust despite economic uncertainty and lower consumer sentiment.
Established store revenue per available metre (RevPAM) increased by 4.6% to $327 per square metre (psm), up from $313 psm in FY23. This was driven by rental rate growth of 3.8% to $360 psm compared to $347 psm in FY23.
There was a 60 basis point increase in the occupancy rate to 91%.
Management said the company's operating margins remained resilient at 65% compared to 66% in FY23.
Abacus said its growth drivers in FY24 included acquisitions, with $137 million invested in eight operating stores and three development sites.
This added 35,100 square metres (sqm) of net lettable area (NLA) to its portfolio — the equivalent of a 5% increase.
Management said brand recognition was also a driver, with Storage King remaining the most searched self-storage brand on Google in Australia in FY24.
The ASX All Ords share leapt 5.88% last month when the REIT announced its divestment of the remaining stake in its listed Self Storage peer.
What did management say?
Abacus Group's Managing Director, Steven Sewell commented:
Despite the inflationary headwinds, we expect our portfolio to continue to benefit from a range of tailwinds over the short to medium term, including organic growth as the Self Storage category continues to mature in Australia and New Zealand, acquisition opportunities in a heavily fragmented sector and the longer term platform initiatives to drive growth in brand, customer and revenue management.
ASK remains well positioned to leverage its key enablers and deliver recurring income and value creation over the medium term, underpinned by its multi-pronged growth strategy.
What's next for this ASX All Ords share?
Abacus said it has a significant development pipeline and expects to deliver 18 new stores in prime metropolitan locations, adding about 103,000 sqm of new NLA to the portfolio over the short to medium term.
The company is investing in revenue and data management technology, which are expected to expand margins over the longer term.
Management says Abacus Storage King also has balance sheet capacity to fund further growth initiatives.
Abacus provided FY25 distribution guidance of 6.1 cents per share, reflecting its target payout ratio of 90% to 100% of FFO.
Abacus Storage King share price snapshot
The Abacus Storage King share price is up 12.34% in the year to date.
By comparison, ASX All Ords shares have lifted 2.15% over the same period.
