SSP Group Regulatory News (SSPG)

LEI:213800QGNIWTXFMENJ24

21 January 2020

SSP GROUP PLC

First Quarter Trading Update

SSP ("SSP" or "the Group"), a leading operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide, issues its Trading Update for the first quarter of its financial year ending 30 September 2020, covering the period from 1 October to 31 December 2019.

Group

SSP has had a good start to the new financial year with further encouraging progress on its strategic initiatives and unchanged profit expectations for the full year. Total group revenue in the first quarter increased by 7.5% on a constant currency basis, comprising like-for-like sales growth of 1.2% and net contract gains of 6.3%. Total group revenue growth at actual exchange rates was 6.1%.

Overall like-for-like sales growth was in line with our expectations, with the external headwinds noted in the second half of last year continuing, as anticipated, into the first quarter of this year. Like-for-like sales growth in the UK and North America remained robust, driven by increasing passenger numbers. Like-for-like sales in Continental Europe have been affected by the transport strikes across France during December. Like-for-like sales growth in the Rest of the World included, as expected, a full quarter's impact of the disruption in Hong Kong, but benefitted from an improving trend in India. Looking forward to the full year, our expectation for like-for-like sales growth for the Group remains unchanged, at just below 2%.

Net contract gains remained strong in the first quarter, at 6.3%, driven by the significant new contract openings last year, including: in Continental Europe, at Montparnasse Railway station, the new motorway service stations in Germany and the Starbucks units in railway stations across the Netherlands; in North America, at Seattle, Oakland and LaGuardia Airports; and in the Rest of the World, at Cebu Airport in the Philippines and Bangalore Airport in India. The pipeline of new contracts remains encouraging.

Following the recent announcement of the acquisition of Red Rock's operations in Perth and Melbourne Airports in Australia, we are today announcing the proposed acquisition of Station Food GmbH in Germany. Once fully operational in 2021, Station Food will add 28 new food and beverage units at railway stations in Germany and is expected to contribute approximately £10m to SSP's revenue in 2020. Including this acquisition, our expectations for net gains for the full year have increased to around 5%.

Outlook

Looking forward to the full year, we remain confident of delivering another year of strong growth, in line with our expectations. Whilst a degree of uncertainty always exists around passenger numbers in the short term, we continue to benefit from the structural growth opportunities in our markets and to create further shareholder value.

Currency

Trading results from outside the UK are converted into Sterling at the average exchange rates for the period. The overall impact on revenue of the movement of foreign currencies (principally the Euro, US Dollar, Swedish Krona, and Norwegian Krone) during the first quarter of 2020 compared to the 2019 average was -1.4%. If the current spot rates were to continue for the rest of 2020, our expectation of the full year translation impact on revenue remains unchanged at approximately -2%.

Annual General Meeting

The Group's Annual General Meeting will be held at 11:00am on 26 February 2020, at the offices of Travers Smith LLP, at 10 Snow Hill, London EC1A 2AL.

CONTACTS

Investor and analyst enquiries

Sarah John, Director of Investor Relations, SSP Group plc

+44 (0) 203 714 5251; E-mail: sarah.john@ssp-intl.com

Media enquiries

Peter Ogden / Lisa Kavanagh, Powerscourt

+44 (0) 207 250 1446; E-mail: ssp@powerscourt-group.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

About SSP

SSP is a leading operator of food and beverage concessions in travel locations, operating restaurants, bars, cafés, food courts, lounges and convenience stores in airports, train stations, motorway service stations and other leisure locations. With over 50 years of experience, today we have more than 39,000 employees, serving approximately one and a half million customers every day. We have business at approximately 180 airports and 300 rail stations, and operate more than 2,800 units in 35 countries around the world.

SSP operates an extensive portfolio of more than 550 international, national, and local brands. Among these are local heroes such as Brioche Doree in Paris, LEON in London, and Hung's Delicacies in Hong Kong. Our range also includes proprietary brands created for the travel sector including Upper Crust, Cabin Bar and Ritazza, as well as international names such as M&S, Burger King, Starbucks, Jamie's Deli and YO! Sushi. We also create stunning bespoke concepts such as Five Borough Food Hall in JFK, New York and Norgesglasset Bar in Oslo Airport.

www.foodtravelexperts.com