SSP Group sees tasty rise in FY turnover

Travel food outlet retailer SSP Group on Thursday said full year turnover would be 10% higher at actual exchange rates as it maintained guidance for 2019 but warned of airline capacity cuts in 2020.

The company said it was still experiencing headwinds from slower passenger growth in Europe and the the grounding of Boeing Max 737s in the US.

Rest of the world performance was mixed with the cessation of flights by Jet Airways in India, weaker Chinese passenger numbers and disruption in Hong Kong due to protests offsetting Egypt and the Middle East, SSP said in a trading statement on Thursday.

In the UK, the air sector had been "fairly resilient" over the fourth quarter, while rail remained softer, albeit benefiting from a lower level of disruption in the rail network, SSP said.

Continental European like-for-like sales continued to be held back by slower passenger growth and the impact of airport redevelopment in the Nordic countries and in Spain, it added.

For the full year we expect like-for-like sales growth for the Group to be just below 2.0%.

Net contract gains for the full year were expected to be just above previous expectations at around 5.5%, driven by “significant” growth in North America and Continental Europe and SSP said it had recently started operations in Brazil.

“Looking into 2020, many of these challenges will remain as well as ongoing economic uncertainty and the expectation of airline capacity cuts. That said, the diversity of the business and flexibility of the model leave us well placed to benefit from the significant structural growth opportunities in our markets and to create further value for shareholders,” the company said.