SSP revenues hit £3.7bn as turnaround efforts continue in France and Germany

(Sharecast News) - Food and beverage outlet operator SSP Group said on Thursday that both revenue and profits had increased in the year ended 30 September, despite a moderation in passenger number growth in the second half. Full-year revenues were seen roughly 8% higher year-on-year at approximately £3.7bn, driven by a 12% increase in its Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and Middle East operations, a 7% jump in the UK and Ireland, and a 4% improvement in North America, all of which more than offset a 3% drop in Continental European revenues.

Operating profits were expected to be around £230m, up 11% on FY24, while operating margins were pegged to have risen by 20 basis points to roughly 6.2%.

At actual exchange rates, FY earnings per share were expected to be approximately 11.5p, a year-on-year increase of 15%, including a lower-than-expected effective tax rate and interest charge. On a constant currency basis, FY EPS was expected to be roughly 12.3p, in the middle of the planned range for the year.

SSP warned that its Continental Europe operations were not expected to be profitable in FY25 as the "scale of changes" that it chose to make and the interventions required to improve the performance trajectory in its French and German businesses "have been greater than initially anticipated" and were "not helped by the challenging market and channel environment" in both markets.

Chief executive Patrick Coveney said: "We have delivered a resilient Q4 performance against an unsettled macroeconomic and softer demand environment in some of our key travel markets.

"While our strategy for enhanced financial returns is starting to deliver, we remain focused on strengthening performance across the group. In particular, we recognise the imperative to do so rapidly in France and Germany. While we have made good progress with many of the initiatives that we have underway, more still needs to be done. We are working at pace to accelerate our actions as we enter the next financial year."

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com