Bryan Lee

Mr Lee joins the Board to lead the storage company’s finance and IT function and will be responsible for the mergers and acquisitions strategy and the raising of funding to finance growth.

Mr Lee is a chartered accountant with almost 25 years of experience in industry and commerce, who has held leadership positions in publicly quoted, private-equity backed and family-owned businesses. His career, during which he has developed a wealth of experience of M&A, has been spent primarily in the food and drink sector with Scottish & Newcastle, Heineken and Genius Foods, with a period in the technology sector with AIM-listed Cupid plc.

Kangaroo first opened in Dundee 15 years ago and now has stores in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as stores across the North West England. The business is gearing up for a period of significant business expansion through organic and acquisitive growth as well as development of the Kangaroo brand via Joint Venture partnerships and management contracts.

Chris Stevens, Kangaroo’s chief executive officer, said: “We’re thrilled to have Bryan on board at this important time. With growing investor interest in our sector because of strong demand for our products and services, the time is right to expand. The UK market is strong and growing despite the pandemic.

“Occupancy figures have risen which indicates the defensive nature of self-storage and we continue to be well placed to support our customers as they steer their way through the continued uncertainty.

“Bryan’s experience and expertise will support us to capitalise upon opportunities for growth as we continue to build our portfolio and develop new services and products to better attract and support our customers.”

Bryan Lee added: “It is an exciting time to be joining such a dynamic sector, and I look forward to supporting the board at Kangaroo to develop and execute the corporate agenda. The pandemic has caused us all to think differently about how we work, and it has created structural change in the real estate sector. With more institutional grade investors looking to fund the development of self-storage, there are many opportunities to bring new concepts to market and to grow the value of the business.”