SSP Group (LON:SSPG) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

SSP Group (LON:SSPG) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported GBX (2) EPS for the quarter, Digital Look Earnings reports. The firm 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 SSP Group stock opened at GBX 159.10 on Tuesday. SSP Group has a one year low of GBX 137.30 and a one year high of GBX 212.20. The company has a market cap of £1.23 billion, a PE ratio of -17.11, a P/E/G ratio of -0.77 and a beta of 0.90. 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 176.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 179.11.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on SSPG shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of SSP Group from GBX 360 to GBX 350 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a GBX 180 target price on shares of SSP Group in a report on Monday. Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 230 price target on shares of SSP Group in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Finally, Shore Capital Group restated a “house stock” rating on shares of SSP Group in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 244.50.

About SSP Group

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).