Eateries operator SSP resumes dividend, targets higher 2024 sales
SSP Group on Tuesday resumed annual dividend payouts and forecast higher 2024 sales and profit as air travel boomed from pandemic lows.
The company, whose stores are mostly located in airports and train stations, had to stop dividends in 2020 after entering funding agreements that restricted it from paying returns to shareholders.
Sales for 2024 are expected to come in between £3.4bn and £3.5bn, up from £3.bn logged for 2023, the company said.
Underlying core profit is forecast to be in the range of £345m to £375m, compared with £280m for the full year ended September 31.
Analysts have pencilled in £3.4bn in sales and £353m in profit for 2024, according to a company-compiled consensus.
The Starbucks franchisee said it continued to benefit from recovery in travel, especially in the air sector coupled with price hikes and contract gains.
The Upper Crust and Rizatta owner declared an annual dividend of 2.5 pence a piece.
Shares opened 4.7 per cent higher in London following the results.
Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Nivedita Bhattacharjee for Reuters.