Upper Crust owner SSP sales rise on strong UK passenger growth
Upper Crust owner SSP Group reported a slight rise in sales at the end of last year as the travel hub food operator benefitted from growing passenger numbers in the UK and North America.
Like-for-like sales in the three months ended 31 December grew 1.2 per cent, in line with expectations, the company said this morning.
Strong passenger numbers at travel hubs in the UK and North America offset the impact of transport strikes in France and disruption in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, total group revenue increased 7.5 per cent on a constant currency basis following net contract gains of 6.3 per cent.
SSP secured several new contract openings last year, including Montparnasse Railway station, motorway service stations in Germany and railway Starbucks units in the Netherlands.
It also announced new contracts at Seattle, Oakland and LaGuardia airports in the US and Cebu Airport in the Philippines and India’s Bangalore Airport.
The company also announced today that it will acquire the travel catering business from DB Station & Service, a subsidiary of Germany’s national railway company Deutsche Bahn.
The deal will add 28 food and drink units to SSP’s portfolio when they are all fully operational next year, including food courts at Berlin and Cologne stations, and is expected to add £10m to SSP’s full-year revenue.
SSP said that the pipeline of new contracts “remains encouraging” going forward.