London / UK. (ssp) SSP Group PLC, a leading operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide, announces its financial results for the year ended 30 September 2014. Highlights:
- Operating profit up 20.8 percent in constant currency; up 12.3 percent to 88.5 million GBP at actual exchange rates
- Revenue of 1’827.1 million GBP, up 4.0 percent on a constant currency basis; stable at actual exchange rates
- Like-for-like sales growth of 3.3 percent; strong performances in UK, North America and Asia Pacific
- Operating margin up 50 basis points to 4.8 percent
- Operating cash flow generation of 83.3 million GBP, an increase of 24.3 percent
- Continued investment in the business with capital expenditure of 76.0 million GBP
- Balance sheet significantly strengthened with year-end net debt of 371.1 million GBP (2.3 times 2014 Ebitda)
- New contracts secured included Beijing, Dubai, Sacramento and Stansted airports
- Good early progress in embedding stronger retail disciplines and leveraging best practice and international scale
Commenting on the results, CEO Kate Swann said: «We delivered a good performance across the Group with profit up 21 percent, and strong sales growth and cash generation. We also strengthened our balance sheet, providing capacity for continued growth. We made good progress on the implementation of our strategy and are particularly encouraged by the strong growth we achieved during the year in North America and Asia Pacific. We also began to deliver early results from our broad programme of initiatives to drive benefits from our international scale and are encouraged by the opportunities going forward. We have started the financial year in line with our expectations and looking ahead, whilst a degree of uncertainty always exists around passenger numbers in the short-term, we are well positioned to benefit from the underlying positive trends in our markets». Details are available on the company´s web server.
