(Alliance News) - 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 GBP25.2 million, swinging from a loss of GBP411.2 million a year prior. Revenue also multiplied to GBP2.19 billion from GBP834.2 million.
Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation also swung to GBP142.0 million from a loss of GBP108.3 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 GBP2.9 billion and GBP3.0 billion, alongside between GBP3.2 billion and GBP3.4 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
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SSP Group (SSPG)