Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
SSP Group PLC on Tuesday said it swung to a profit and revenue multiplied due to a recovery in domestic and leisure travel in the aviation and rail sectors.
The London-based travel food and beverage outlet operator said pretax profit for the financial year that ended September 30 was £25.2 million, swinging from a loss of £411.2 million a year prior. Revenue also multiplied to £2.19 billion from £834.2 million.
Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation also swung to £142.0 million from a loss of £108.3 million.
It said this was due to a recovery in passenger numbers in airports and rail transport hubs. Revenue recovered to 90% of financial 2019 levels in the second half of its financial 2022 compared to 64% in the first half. It then reached 104% during the first eight weeks of the new financial year.
SSP said it expected financial 2023 revenue to be between £2.9 billion and £3.0 billion, alongside between £3.2 billion and £3.4 billion during its financial 2024.
‘Whilst we continue to face into a high level of macroeconomic uncertainty and ongoing cost inflation and labour availability challenges, we believe that the travel food and beverage sector will remain structurally resilient to pressures on consumer spending and that our flexible business model will enable us to actively manage and mitigate these impacts and to deliver further improvements in profitability as the travel sector recovers,’ SSP said in a statement.
It also said it expects the resumption of dividend payments to shareholders during its financial 2023.
Shares in SSP were up 2.6% to 222.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.