Weak Dollar Impacts Public Storage Earnings

A change in the foreign exchange rate contributed to Public Storage posting a 36 percentage decrease in net income when compared to a year ago. The Glendale-based company reported net income of $131.2 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, on revenues of $408 million for the quarter ending June 30. For the same period in 2009, the company had net income of $205.4 million, or $0.80 per diluted share, on revenues of $406.5 million. The decrease was attributed to the falling value of the U.S. dollar of a note receivable from Shurgard Europe due to changes in the U.S. Dollar to Euro exchange rate. In the first half of the year, Public Storage has acquired 30 self-storage facilities in California and Illinois at a cost of $194 million. The company will spend $12 million to upgrade the facilities to bring them up to Public Storage standards. The company is under contract to buy another seven properties for $27 million. Mark R. Madler