SSP bolstered by sustained restoration in air and rail journey

SSP Group revenues jumped on the finish of 2023, as its journey hub operations have been boosted by a continued rebound in air and railway journey.

The Upper Crust and Cafe Ritazza proprietor reported turnover climbed by 21.2 per cent at fixed foreign money ranges to £788million within the three months ending December.

Like-for-like gross sales elevated by 14.3 per cent due to rising passenger numbers, whereas new contract wins boosted turnover by an additional 6.9 per cent.

Growth: Upper Crust and Cafe Ritazza proprietor SSP Group reported turnover climbed by 21.2 per cent at fixed foreign money ranges to £788million within the three months ending December

Trading surged throughout all areas, with gross sales in North America hovering by 30.5 per cent, partly because of the takeover of the Midfields concessions enterprise.

SSP, which operates about 2,900 shops throughout six continents, additionally achieved robust performances in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific markets.

Its income within the British Isles jumped by 22.5 per cent as airline demand sustained its post-pandemic restoration and employees commuted extra usually to their workplaces.

Britain’s railway community was much less impacted by industrial motion than within the earlier 12 months when the RMT and TSSA unions performed strikes over the Christmas holidays.

The ASLEF practice drivers’ union is presently staging a week-long extra time ban as a part of a long-running dispute with the UK Government relating to pay and circumstances, inflicting disruption to companies nationwide.

SSP expects industrial motion to persist in the course of the present quarter in each the UK and Continental Europe.

But the FTSE 250 firm mentioned buying and selling momentum had remained strong, supported by contract renewals and extensions, and new enterprise wins in markets like Thailand, India and North America.

The group can also be increasing its presence in Saudi Arabia, not too long ago signing a cope with Jeddah Airport to function 26 items for at the least 5 to seven years, and simply acquired Canada-based ECG Ventures, which ran websites at Edmonton and Calgary airports.

Patrick Coveney, chief government of SSP Group, mentioned: ‘Global demand for journey continues to develop, and we have now a powerful pipeline of secured new contracts around the globe.

‘This, mixed with our consistently bettering buyer proposition and our confirmed capability to mitigate inflationary pressures, signifies that we stay assured in our prospects.’

For the complete 12 months, SSP anticipates like-for-like gross sales to rise by 6 to 10 per cent, contract positive aspects to bolster income ‘within the area of 5 per cent,’ and underlying working earnings of between £210million and £235million.

SSP Group shares have been up 0.3 per cent at 226p on late Tuesday morning, though their worth has nonetheless halved from its pre-pandemic ranges.