eKourier Oct 2020

Sam on site - Baringa QLD

Sam Kennard with Centre Manager Kemal Sermen, outside Kennards Self Storage Ultimo in Sydney.

MESSAGE FROM SAM I t has always interested me to see how our storage spaces get used by people and enterprise. The range of life circumstances, personal change and business innovation that we play a role in, is quite amazing. and so on. Often needing new space. Peaking in August, our Australian business (excluding lockdown Victoria) enjoyed a 23% higher level of move-ins over August 2019. Remarkably, NSW (which imposed the lightest touch with

It is reasonable to assume that we should anticipate more volatility and for this reason our growth plans remain cautious and conservative. In the meanwhile, we are making progress on our new web site which will reset us in the sector. The user experience will be market leading and unique to our consumer base. We hope the experience will really differentiate us and lead us to win more business. It introduces a range of innovations that have significant operational changes. These include the new insurance offer and the new storage agreement, with its easier and more flexible execution obligations. The new agreement and its sign-once philosophy breaks new ground in the self storage industry. It departs from legacy paper-based rules and becomes more appropriate in our modern digital environment. And, importantly, the web site will hero a new headline, 'Space For Change' which could not be more appropriate and timely.

lockdown stringency) stood out with a 29% increase. In August, we also enjoyed very strong bounce in New Zealand where move-ins were up 17%. SPACE FOR CHANGE After a surge of move-outs in April and May, there was a significant and surprising rebound. As global pandemics are a new thing for all of us, we had no idea that this new demand would emerge. Everything has been moving very quickly, many changes to our lives, extraordinary new restraints and imposts on people, with many political leaders seeming to enjoy their powers, despite the inconsistency and unpredictability they demonstrate. ‘

The more people change their life or work, then it seems the more business we get. The Covid-19 pandemic and the government responses have been a supercharger for change too and we have seen a significant increase in demand (with the exceptions of lockdown areas) from July to September. As we all emerged from the imposed lockdowns in March-April, people went into overdrive to change their housing, their work, their business and so on. People have moved home; moved back to mum and dad; set up their home office; accelerated their sea-change or tree-change plans; taken business online; set up home gyms; bought cars and reclaimed their garage; re-organised their work places

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Sam Kennard Chief Executive Officer

3 Kennards Kourier Oct 2020