SSP (#SSPG) – Q4 revenue c.91% of 2019 levels, argues can flex model to mitigate trading environment volatility

SSP (#SSPG) – recent weeks revenue up to 89% of 2019 levels, states confident in ability to manage inflationary pressures

Trains and Airports May Not Be the Best Place to do Business Right Now, but this Posh Caterer may Have a Taste for Serving Up a Better Share Price

Hello Share Munchers. My latest suggestion for your further investigation will likely come as a surprise to you. It’s a company called SSP Group (SSPG). This outfit has eating houses in 36 countries. Nothing to worry about there much. However, its cafes are at airports and railway stations. And we all know how much they must be affected by strikes and unreliability at the moment.

SSP (#SSPG) – H1 still a loss, argues recovering as travel sector rebounds

SSP (#SSPG) – four months revenue c.62% of 2019 levels, recent weeks encouragement

SSP (#SSPG) – FY loss £362.3m on revenue -42% to £834.2m, emphasises “liquidity position strong”

SSP (#SSPG) – expects Q4 revenue to further improve to c. 47% of 2019 levels, re-opened c. 60% of outlets

Life remains far from easy for SSP Group

Back in the day we all used to go to one of the 2,800 branded catering, 180 airport and/or 300 railways stations where SSP Group (SSPG) acts as a food supplier. Naturally matters have been a bit different over the last fifteen months, hence why the company’s interim results were pretty shocking with a 78.8% fall in revenue and a loss of nearly £300 million. No wonder it announced a money raising the other month, to help bring down its net debt level to just over £350 million. You can all guess the realities that the operator of Upper Crust since the 1980s and names such as Le Grand Comptoir and Camden food co. has faced as fewer people have travelled to cities, railway stations and airports.

SSP (#SSPG) – 98.05% rights issue take-up, rest with underwriters

SSP Group (#SSPG) – £475m underwritten rights issue at 184p per share

SSP Group (#SSPG) – “current weekly sales are running at approximately 76% below last year”

SSP (#SSPG) – raises £11m at 315.2p per share in ‘re-investment of 2019 final dividend’ offering including via PrimaryBid

SSP (#SSPG) – retail offer via PrimaryBid of new shares

SSP (#SSPG) – proposed placing for re-investment of 2019 final dividend as other options to retain the cash “proved to be unachievable”

SSP Group management panic relatively early

I am not sure anyone on this website has written about SSP Group (SSPG) before. This may be something about the rather anonymous name of the company. You would know it better as the operator of Upper Crust, Cabin Bar and Ritazza (among other names) food and beverage concessions 'in travel locations, operating restaurants, bars, cafés, food courts, lounges and convenience stores in airports, train stations, motorway service stations and other leisure locations'. Well you can spot the problem in today's backdrop, especially if you have a business that operates 'at approximately 180 airports and 300 rail stations' around the world. Today's update from the company comes in two parts…

SSP (#SSPG) – virus business impact rapidly escalated, proposed equity raising

SSP (#SSPG) – ‘Rest of World’ segment (14% of revenue) “impact from the COVID-19 virus”

SSP (#SSPG) – FY guidance unchanged, notes “many external challenges” but also “well placed to benefit from the significant structural growth opportunities”

SSP Group (#SSPG) – notes “good third quarter”, FY expectations remain unchanged

Fancy a Quick Bite with this Fast-Moving Caterer?