Your Space reports record inquiries at half-year
AIM-listed serviced office operator Your Space reported a rise of 10% in rents and services revenue to £1.45m in the six months to the end of September compared to the same period last year.
Reporting its interim results today, Your Space said further contracts for new centres were being negotiated and inquiries from prospective tenants was at an all time high.
The group said its decision to take construction in-house this year is paying off with revenue of £2.2m, compared to nil last year.
The company operates ten centres around the country. In Manchester it operates two centres, at St James's Court and 23 New Mount Street, also its head office. It operates Il Palazzo on Water Street, Liverpool.
Earnings before interest, tax and amortisation for the six months was £254,000 and pre-tax profit £2,000, the company said.
Shaun Mealey, chief executive, said: "This year has presented many challenges in the current climate and it is therefore important to explain our strategy for the business. We have moved away from investment deals and have focused fully on the services business.
"As a consequence all our revenue this year is now derived from services. This is through Your Space Solutions, which offer a one-stop shop for landlords and institutions. The specialist skills within our construction division enable us to restore quality-listed buildings and convert these to serviced offices.
"Previously we would have acquired freehold buildings for restoration/conversion to serviced offices before selling on via a lease arrangement. The fluctuations and uncertainties in the investment market not to mention the levels of capital tied up in any one project meant that our growth aspirations would have been severely hampered. We believed that the current unpredictability of bank appetite levels would have placed further strains on our expansion plans. Indeed whilst others seem to have been affected as a result of high gearing levels we have been deliberately seeking where possible to reduce our borrowing levels and have done so at a time when property values were at their peak."
