Moving and Storage Business News

The News Review:

- Safestore of value.
- Extra Space Storage Inc. Announces Conference Call to Discuss 2007…
- 1-800-Pack-Rat Improves Efficiency, Provides Real-Time Customer…
- Interest Rate Cut, Buyout Bid Boosts REIT Stocks — But For How Long?
- Take your tech recession and stuff it

Safestore of value.
Free with registration – Investors Chronicle – magazine and web… – AccessMyLibrary.com – Jan 23, 2008
| Investors Chronicle – magazine and web content (January, 2008). Algy Hall The inaugural full-year results from the UK’s largest self-storage company, Safestore , show little of the strain that has been.

Extra Space Storage Inc. Announces Conference Call to Discuss 2007…
Maketwire – Maketwire (Communiqus de presse) – Jan 23, 2008
Announces Conference Call to Discuss 2007 Financial Results and Sets 2008 FFO Guidance. Conference CallExtra Space Storage Inc. will host a conference call at 1:00 p.

1-800-Pack-Rat Improves Efficiency, Provides Real-Time Customer…
sys-con.com – Jan 23, 2008
Theportable storage and moving company is introducing TeleNav Track™, a mobile resourcemanagement service that provides real-time information for managing fieldoperations and enhanced on-the-go communications. 1-800-PACK-RAT is a leader in the portable moving and storage industry withmore than 48 company and franchise-owned locations throughout the UnitedStates. The TeleNav Track service will be used by 1-800-PACK-RAT to improvecommunication with drivers in the field and to assist with obtainingturn-by-turn GPS driving directions on demand. The new GPS technology willalso help 1-800-PACK-RAT manage scheduling, locate trucks and monitor thesafety of the fleet. With TeleNav Track, drivers may view appointment changes directly on theircell phones…
“With TeleNav Track, we saw significant improvements instaff efficiency and accountability, as well as an increase in the overallquality of our customer service. We are now better able to manage our fieldresources and provide the timely information they need to do their jobseffectively. “Transportation, storage and moving companies need a well-developedresource-management strategy in order to keep their competitive edge andattract new business,” said Dr. HP Jin, co-founder, president and CEO ofTeleNav. “With improved efficiency, enhanced customer service and instantvisibility into their inventory and fleet, companies such as 1-800-PACK-RATcan help keep their clients happy. TeleNav Track leverages GPS and wireless technologies to provide businessmanagement solutions, and operates on mobile phones and PDAs. For furtherinformation about TeleNav Track and carrier availability, please visit.

Interest Rate Cut, Buyout Bid Boosts REIT Stocks — But For How Long?
CoStar Group – Jan 23, 2008
While some execs will be optimistic — at least publicly — about 2008 as metrics continue to show relative strength, others will sound caution through the end of February as earnings are released and the picture of the economy and whether it’s falling into recession becomes clearer. Merchant developers, whose profits are most prone to leasing slowdowns and rising cap rates, will feel the sharpest pinch, Citigroup predicts. Apartments and self-storage, which have shorter lease terms and are affected earlier by weakness in the economy, are the riskiest sectors in the near term. Although apartments and storage have outperformed REITs overall so far this year, “we remain considerably below consensus for the apartment REITs, with fourth quarter results and 2008 guidance ranges likely to disappoint,” wrote Citigroupâs Jonathan Litt. “This period of uncertainty will likely persist as the economy has seemingly fallen into a perfect storm, with rising inflation, a slowdown in consumer spending, a nationwide housing slowdown, and lack of available credit,” Litt wrote. Citi says that fundamentals, while still strong, should begin to show some cracking on several fronts as demand for residential, office, industrial and retail begins to taper off. Rate Cut: Who Will Benefit, And For How Long?Historically, REIT stocks have outperformed the S&P 500 by an average of 3…
Manhattan watchers are monitoring several deals to see what direction the office market will cut. Harry Macklowe has hired CB Richard Ellis to market the General Motors tower on Fifth Avenue to offset $7 billion in debt from Mackloweâs purchase EOPâs portfolio at the height of the market last year. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch & Co. is deciding whether to stay in lower Manhattan or move to a new Midtown office tower opposite Penn Station. The firm, coping with financial losses and the departure of its CEO, is reportedly leaning toward renewing at the downtown World Financial Center. Many REITs with great management teams and assets have gotten beaten up, noted Citigroup analyst Litt. General Growth (NYSE:.

Take your tech recession and stuff it
ZDNet – Jan 23, 2008
I think we’re going to talk ourselves into a recession (rather) than there’s an actual one there. But you talk with IBM or other people in the Valley and they’re not seeing world recession. After Seagate’s quarter, one of the problem areas the company talked about was what were described as time-to-market issues. Where are you with that? Watkins: I’ve got to blame myself. I took a real hard look after last March and I cut. I stopped all hiring, I started cutting programs…
We’ve just got to make sure we’re agnostic and have all the solutions available. Do you think solid state provides any extra measure of assurance or reliability for the user? Watkins: No. There is this argument that no moving parts is better, but if you look at the returns why PCs fail to come back, the hard drive is not the No. Chips generally have a higher failure rate in the systems than do hard drives, to be honest. I think you can make an argument that less moving parts is a good thing, but again, the reliability of hard drives is pretty good. I don’t think you’ve got to pay a premium for that.