Airport bar and restaurant operator SSP Group PLC (LON:SSPG) saw revenue climb in the third quarter of its fiscal year as air passengers continued to grow.
Total group revenue increased by 7.3% in the three months ended June 30, with like-for-likes, which strip out the impact of new stores, rising 2.7% compared to the same period a year ago.
Competition among the airlines has kept fares low, encouraging more people to go abroad which has kept airports, and SSP’s outlets, busy.
Sales at train stations have been “softer” though, with strikes in France partly to blame.
A stronger than expected performance across the pond in the US means the contribution from net contract gains in the second half will be around 3%, and between 4.5% to 5% for the full year.
Improved margins
Operating margins have also shown “good improvement”.
For the nine-month period from 1 October 2017 to 30 June 2018, group revenues are up by 10.2%, including LFL sales growth of 2.8%, net contract gains of 5.6% and revenues from acquisitions of 1.8%.
In line with previous expectations, SSP expects to take a 2% hit from currency movements this year.
The FTSE 250 group also repeated its guidance of like-for-like sales growth of between 2-3% across the year.
Shares rose 2.1% to 672.1p in early deals on Tuesday.