Stor-Age celebrates a decade of growth with 4.5% interim dividend increase

Stor-Age, the JSE-listed self-storage focused REIT increased its interim dividend by 4.5%, locking in a decade of consistently strong operational and financial performance and growth in its portfolio of properties.

The interim dividend came to 59.74 cents per share, this after distributable income increased by 4.5% to 66.37 cents a share, year-on-year. The results mark the ten years since Stor-Age listed on the JSE in November 2015, where the company became the first self-storage REIT to be listed on an emerging market exchange globally, and the first, and still only, of the real estate “alternatives” to be listed on the local stock exchange.

During the interim period, rental income was up 8.7%, same-store occupancy up by 3 500 square metres, and net investment property value increased by 6.4% to R12.2 billion. The closing occupancy stood at 90.6% - 92.1% in SA and 85.2% in the UK.

“Since the listing, we have outperformed the JSE All Share Index (ALSI) and the JSE All Property Index (ALPI), expanding our portfolio from a R1.3bn value to R13.6bn, and the number of properties from 24 to 109,” CEO Gavin Lucas said in an online presentation.

He said, assuming R100 was invested at the listing and the full pre-tax dividend was reinvested, the investment would be worth R360.88 at the end of October 2025, while the same investment in the ALSI and the ALPI would be worth R303.27 and R113.15 respectively… “that translates into a significant 173% outperformance of our sector benchmark,” he said.

He said in line with their latest five-year strategy to 2030, Stor-Age expanded its portfolio to 109 properties - SA: 63; UK: 46 - and increased the combined value of the portfolio, including properties managed in JV partnerships, to R18.7bn, through the interim period.

The target to 2030 was to have 90 properties in SA and 70 properties in the UK. Lucas said that the company had acquired an average of over 7 properties annually since listing.

He said their guidance for distributable income per share to increase by 5% to 6% year-on-year remained in place. In the past six months, their South African portfolio produced “excellent” results, with year-on-year growth of 9.8% in rental income and 10.6% in net property operating income on a same-store basis.

Trading in the UK was more challenging, but the company continued to deliver on key metrics relative to its UK listed peers. Same-store rental income increased by 2.5%, with occupancy closing at 85.2%, and increasing by 1 400 square metres compared to 31 March 2025.

In June 2025, a new £25m property was opened in Acton, West London in the JV with Moorfield. Following Stor-Age entering into a third-party management agreement with Hines to manage the acquisition of a three-property portfolio in the UK, the two companies were now working closely on four additional development projects.

The first of these, in Chelmsford, had started development. In September 2025, a third-party management agreement was entered into with Time Investments, a specialist investment manager focused on asset-backed, income-producing investments, to manage a property acquired in Exeter, Devon.

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