SSP Group plc (LSE:SSPG) said sales and profit for the year to end-September will be slightly ahead of its previous guidance as air and rail travel recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Full-year sales are now expected to be around £2.17bn, with underlying profit (EBITDA) coming in at £140mln, the operator of restaurant and café concessions in airports and train stations said in a trading update.
“The strength of our second-half EBITDA performance reflects the benefit of operating leverage, as sales recover, as well as our ongoing management of inflationary cost pressures through productivity and pricing initiatives,” it said.
SSP said it had seen a “strong” fourth quarter, with revenues recovering to around 91% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels, led by domestic and leisure travel across both the air and rail sectors.
Revenue in Continental Europe and North America reached 95% of 2019 levels, while in the UK it was 86% of pre-pandemic sales. The company also saw a resurgence to 86% in the Rest of the World, although it noted that passenger numbers remain very low in China and Hong Kong.
Looking ahead to the medium-term, it expects a return to broadly pre-Covid-19 levels of like-for-like revenue and EBITDA by 2024, and its pipeline of new outlets is expected to add approximately £500mln to revenues by 2025 compared to 2019.
“With a strong client and customer proposition, we are winning new business across the world and continue to have a high success rate in renewing contracts,” Patrick Coveney, CEO said.
“As we look forward in this challenging macroeconomic environment, we remain confident in the ongoing resilience of the group's business model and continue to see significant potential for both near and long-term growth."
SSP said it will release its results for the year ending 30 September 2022 on 6 December.