SSP Group (LON:SSPG) Announces Earnings Results

SSP Group (LON:SSPG) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported GBX (2) EPS for the quarter, reports. SSP Group had a negative return on equity of 65.76% and a negative net margin of 0.78%.The firm had revenue of GBX 176.34 billion for the quarter.

Here are the key takeaways from SSP Group’s conference call:

• SSP reported a resilient first half, with revenue up 6% to £1.8 billion, underlying operating profit up 18% to £50 million, and EPS turning positive at £0.011 versus a loss last year.
• Management said it is on track to exceed 3% operating margin in Continental Europe this year, helped by contract resets, cost actions, and a significant reduction in operating losses.
• The company reiterated its focus on cash generation and working capital, targeting more than £100 million of free cash flow before dividends and buybacks for FY2026 despite first-half seasonal outflows.
• North America showed strong progress, with improved like-for-like sales, tighter overheads, and a 40% reduction in minority interest charge, which management said should boost the share of profits accruing to SSP shareholders.
• The company warned that the Middle East conflict is weighing on Asia-Pacific/EMEA trading and creates uncertainty for the second half, though SSP said its diversified portfolio leaves most of the business largely unaffected so far.

SSP Group Price Performance

SSP Group stock opened at GBX 163.80 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 175.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 179.22. The company has a market capitalization of £1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.77 and a beta of 0.90. SSP Group has a 1 year low of GBX 137.30 and a 1 year high of GBX 212.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 36,503.13, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on SSPG. Shore Capital Group reaffirmed a “house stock” rating on shares of SSP Group in a research note on Tuesday. Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 230 target price on shares of SSP Group in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 262 price target on shares of SSP Group in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of SSP Group from GBX 360 to GBX 350 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a GBX 180 price target on shares of SSP Group in a research note on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SSP Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 244.50.

SSP Group Company Profile

SSP is a leading operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide, with c.37,000 colleagues in over 600 locations across 36 countries. We operate sit-down and quick service restaurants, cafes, lounges and food-led convenience stores, principally in airports and train stations, with a portfolio of more than 550 international, national and local brands. These include our own brands (such as UrbanCrave, which brought the first “street eats” concept to airports in the US, Nippon Ramen, a noodle and dumpling concept in the Asia Pac region, and Juniper, a premium bar in the UK) as well as franchise brands (such as M&S, Starbucks and Burger King).