SSP Group (LON:SSPG) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

SSP Group (LON:SSPG) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported GBX (2) earnings per share for the quarter, Digital Look Earnings reports. The business had revenue of GBX 176.34 billion during the quarter. SSP Group had a negative net margin of 2.04% and a negative return on equity of 59.21%.

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 Stock Performance

Shares of SSPG stock opened at GBX 159.10 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is GBX 176.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 179.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2,629.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.44. SSP Group has a 1 year low of GBX 137.30 and a 1 year high of GBX 212.20. The firm has a market cap of £1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.11, a PEG ratio of -0.77 and a beta of 0.90.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SSPG shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on SSP Group from GBX 360 to GBX 350 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a GBX 180 price target on shares of SSP Group in a report on Monday. Berenberg Bank reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 230 price target on shares of SSP Group in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Finally, Shore Capital Group reissued a “house stock” rating on shares of SSP Group in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SSP Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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).