21st Nov 2018 08:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - Food & drinks concession firm SSP Group PLC on Wednesday reported strong revenue and profit growth for its recently ended financial year, proposing a special dividend.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer Kate Swann decided to step down from the company's board
at the end of May, after more than five years with SSP.
SSP shares were trading down 7.7% at 632.40 pence each, down among an number of FTSE 250 fallers on Wednesday.
Swann will be replaced by Simon Smith, currently chief executive officer for UK & Ireland, who will take up the role on June 1, 2019.
For the year ended September 30, SSP's pretax profit jumped 26% to GBP182.9 million from GBP144.8 million a year prior.
This was on the back of revenue rising 7.8% to GBP2.56 billion from GBP2.38 billion, with like-for-like sales up 2.8%, driven by airplane passengers and "retailing initiatives".
Swann said: "SSP has delivered another strong performance in 2018. Operating profit was up 23% at constant currency, driven by good like-for-like sales growth, substantial new contract openings and further operational improvements.
"We have continued to expand our global footprint, materially extending our presence in North America, delivering excellent growth in India and entering the important Latin American region with two contracts in Brazil."
The company proposed a final dividend of 5.4 pence per share, bringing its full-year dividend to 10.2p, up 26% on last year. In addition, SSP said it plans a special dividend worth GBP150 million, "underpinning confidence in the business".
Looking to the future, the business described its pipeline of opportunities as "encouraging" with "significant new contracts underpinning future growth".
"The new financial year has started in line with our expectations and, whilst a degree of uncertainty always exists around passenger numbers in the short term, we continue to be well placed to benefit from the structural growth opportunities in our markets," Swann added.
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