Safestore has reported a 24% increase in profit for the 2016 financial year on the back of strong earnings and reduced finance costs.

Underlying profit, which strips out fluctuations in property valuation, came in at £44.9m for the 12 months ended 31 October, up from £36.3m in the preceding 12 months.

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The FTSE 250 company's revenue increased by 10% to £112.5m.

Safestore is the UK's largest provider of self-storage with 134 stores providing storage to around 55,000 personal and business customers.

"The group has delivered another strong financial year, building on the improvements made to its operating performance over the last three years," chief executive Frederic Vecchioli said in a statement.

"During the last twelve months we have also strengthened our market leading positions in the UK and Paris with the acquisition of Space Maker in the UK and the opening of five new stores."

The group's average occupancy rate increased by 2.3 percentage points to 72.3%.

"As we enter the new financial year, we continue to see good levels of interest in self-storage and remain focused on the significant opportunity represented by our 1.62 million square feet of currently unlet space," Vecchioli added.