SSP Group (LON:SSPG) Announces Earnings Results

SSP Group (LON:SSPG) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported GBX (2) earnings per share for the quarter, Digital Look Earnings reports. SSP Group had a negative return on equity of 59.21% and a negative net margin of 2.04%.The firm had revenue of GBX 176.34 billion during 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 Trading Up 0.2%

SSP Group stock opened at GBX 162.57 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market cap of £1.26 billion, a PE ratio of -17.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.77 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 175.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 179.14. SSP Group has a one year low of GBX 137.30 and a one year high of GBX 212.20.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Shore Capital Group reaffirmed a “house stock” rating on shares of SSP Group in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of SSP Group from GBX 360 to GBX 350 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a GBX 180 price target on shares of SSP Group in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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).