Self-storage space provider Big Yellow has branched out across London, with two new stores and four development sites, as the pandemic ramped up demand.

Three new stores opened in the year to 31 March 2021 in Camberwell and Battersea and have also bought four new development sites in Wapping, Staines, Epsom, and Kentish Town which have a self-storage development cost of around £106m.

“The structural need for self-storage is now firmly embedded and so, put simply, we are building more of it focussed on our core areas of London, its commuter towns, and major cities where the barriers to new supply remain high,” executive chairman, Nicholas Vetch, said.

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“This increase in capacity, combined with the cash flow growth we can derive from our existing portfolio, given its increased pricing power, will drive performance over the next few years.”

Thanks to solid investment revaluations, the group’s statutory profit before tax surged 185 per cent to £265.8m.

This morning, Big Yellow’s share price edged 0.69 per cent higher to a share price of 1,323.00.

The group, which operates across London and the South East, saw store revenue grow by 9.7 per cent in the fourth quarter to £33.8m.

Meanwhile, revenue lifted slightly by 4.6 per cent to £135.2m which was pushed by increase in average occupancy as restrictions began to be eased.

“Risks remain and therefore, as always, we remain cautious.  There are, however, reasonable grounds to have confidence in our business model having navigated two external crises of considerable proportion since the Global Financial Crisis,” Vetch continued, as storage spaces approach the group’s target of 90 per cent occupancy.

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