Update 4/29/15 – Less Mess Storage Inc. (LMS) has released financial results for its abbreviated four-month year that ended Dec. 31, 2014. The transitional move aligns the company’s fiscal calendar year with its self-storage subsidiaries in the Czech Republic and Poland. Operational earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $2.3 million on an annualized basis, which would equate to a 6.6 percent increase from the previous year and a 12 percent increase at constant exchange rates, according to a press release. Self-storage occupancy across the company’s holdings was more than 80 percent.
Overall, the company reported a loss of $138,423 during the four-month period, compared to a loss of $1.3 million for the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, 2014. The loss was attributed primarily to costs incurred during its self-storage acquisitions last year and previous business unrelated to storage.
With the fiscal adjustment behind them, LMS officials believe the company is now poised to take advantage of a favorable European self-storage market. "International growth of the self-storage market is obviously becoming a more important topic for conversation,” said Guy Pinsent, president and CEO. “Self-storage started in North America in the ’60s and has grown exponentially. Self-storage was established in the U.K. in the ’80s and has grown to over 1,000 stores since then. We see the same trend developing in Western Europe and especially in Germany, which borders Poland and the Czech Republic. With just a fraction of the market penetration we are seeing in other regions, the self-storage market in Central Europe is poised to grow rapidly over the next decade."
12/31/14 – Less Mess Storage Inc. (LMS) is changing the end of its fiscal year from Aug. 31 to Dec. 31 to align with the financial year-end of its self-storage subsidiaries in the Czech Republic and Poland. As a result of the change, the company will have a four-month transition year that begins Sept. 1 and ends Dec. 31, 2014.
The company submitted its intent to change it fiscal filing date on Dec. 16 and 17, but issued a fiscal 2014 year-end report on Dec. 16 under its previous closing date.
12/18/14 – Less Mess Storage Inc. (LMS), a Canada-based self-storage operator with facilities in Prague and Warsaw, Poland, has released financial results for its fiscal year, which ended Aug. 31. The report reflects the company’s first 125 days as a self-storage business after its transition from a mineral-exploration company, which operated as DGM Minerals Corp.
The company said no income was realized for the majority of the year due to transaction fees and expenses related to its purchase of five self-storage assets in the Czech Republic and Poland. Overall, it tallied $1.55 million in sales revenue, which would project to approximately $4.5 million for an entire fiscal year, officials said. That annualized figure represents a 9 percent increase from fiscal 2013 revenue.
Operational EBITDA for the period was $743,646, which would annualize to approximately $2.2 million during a normal year, officials said. LMS reported cash on hand of nearly $1.7 million.
"We are encouraged by these early results from our self-storage business. Self-storage has been growing steadily year after year in Poland and the Czech Republic, and these numbers confirm this continuing trend,” said Guy Pinsent, president and CEO. “We also expect our numbers to improve significantly in future reporting periods, as the company starts to report full periods as a self-storage company, and without the transaction and high-bond interest costs included in the current period.”
Less Mess owns and operates five self-storage properties—four freehold, one leasehold—encompassing more than 180,000 square feet of net rentable space. The company reported $4 million in revenue in 2013. Though its records office resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, it also has a headquarters in Warsaw and offices in Prague. Its common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the stock symbol "LMS."
