Safestay plc
Safestay plc develops and operates a brand of contemporary, premium hostels in prime locations across the UK and key European tourist cities, serving young travellers, families and business travellers. The Group pursues a capital-light growth strategy combining owned/leased hostels with a new franchising model, and at 31 December 2025 operated 22 hostels (including two in development and three franchised) across 12 countries.
FY2025 in sixty seconds
year to 31 Dec 2025 · approved 29 Jun 2026 · 131 pages · Companies House
Safestay runs hostels in prime UK and European city locations. In 2025 its revenue fell to £20.6m from £22.5m. Its loss before tax widened to £10.1m from £3.1m the year before.
Fewer guests stayed, the average price per bed fell 6% amid strong competition, and staff costs rose. Much of the loss came from one-off charges. The company wrote down the value of goodwill (the premium paid for past acquisitions) and of some hostel properties, and made a loss on selling its Edinburgh and Brighton buildings. A Covid-era insurance payout partly offset these costs.
The company ended the year with £2.7m of cash. Its borrowings fell to £21.3m from £26.7m as it repaid debt. No dividend was paid. Management said bed prices so far in 2026 are slightly ahead of last year. However, the Middle East conflict and new European tourist taxes have reduced how full the hostels are, and costs keep rising. In May 2026 the company agreed to sell its Glasgow building for £5.1m, and it has given notice to leave its Berlin Kurfürstendamm hostel. The auditor gave a clean opinion and raised no doubt about the company's ability to keep going.
Occupancy and Average Bed Rate (ABR) across the hostel portfolio
Total bed nights decreased 6% to 877,674; ABR decreased 6% to £20.06; occupancy 70.0% (2024: 75.2%); RevPAB fell to £16.43 (2024: £18.56)
page 3Higher staff costs across UK and European properties
Adjusted EBITDA fell 43% to £3.7m reflecting revenue decline and inflationary pressures, particularly higher staff costs
page 3In the year to date, ABR is marginally ahead of the prior year; however, occupancy has been impacted by consumer behaviour changes from the Middle East conflict and new European tourist levies increasing travel costs.
page 5The Directors have not recommended the payment of a dividend for the year (2024: nil); expected dividend yield used in share option valuation model is 0.00%
page 4411 years on one page · FY2015–FY2025
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GBP millions, negatives in brackets. Per-share lines in pence. Share counts in millions. Margins and returns as percentages, calculated from the filed figures. later is what a following report restated the figure to; vs is a second reading that disagrees. The figure shown is the one the original filing printed, and both readings are kept. Click any figure: opens the report page it was read from, highlighted; shows how it was calculated.
61 figures restated in a later report
Every figure is read again from the following year’s report: 309 confirmed, 7 differ, 61 restated.
| Line | Year | As first filed | In the later report |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | £10.4mFY2024 report | £7.7mFY2025 report | |
| FY2024 | −£891kFY2024 report | −£3.5mFY2025 report | |
| FY2024 | £2.8mFY2024 report | £173kFY2025 report | |
| FY2024 | £76.5mFY2024 report | £56.1mFY2025 report | |
| FY2024 | −£407kFY2024 report | −£3.1mFY2025 report | |
| FY2024 | £94.3mFY2024 report | £91.7mFY2025 report | |
| FY2024 | £30.8mFY2024 report | £28.1mFY2025 report | |
| FY2023 | £17.7mFY2023 report | £17.6mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | −£1.3mFY2023 report | −£1.4mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | £2.5mFY2023 report | £2.4mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | £50.5mFY2023 report | £73.7mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | −£722kFY2023 report | −£757kFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | £94.0mFY2023 report | £93.8mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | £3.5mFY2023 report | £3.4mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | £7.2mFY2023 report | £7.5mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | £32.8mFY2023 report | £32.3mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | £61.2mFY2023 report | £61.5mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | £4.0mFY2023 report | £4.3mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | £1.2mFY2023 report | £1.1mFY2024 report | |
| FY2023 | £1.4mFY2023 report | £1.2mFY2024 report |
41 more figures were restated in FY2015 to FY2022, which a free account opens.