SSP to raise £475m from shareholders
The measures are designed to strengthen the firm’s balance sheet and provide increased capacity for investment upon the reopening of the travel sector
SSP Group, the airport and railway caterer, has announced its intentions to raise £475m from its shareholders through a fully underwritten 12 for 25 rights issue.
The owner of Upper Crust and Camden Food Co has also secured an extension of its bank facilities to January 2024.
The measures are designed to strengthen the firm’s balance sheet and provide increased capacity for investment upon the reopening of the travel sector.
Moreover, due to SSP’s continued cash outflows, the funding injection will supposedly support the firm should the recovery period from the pandemic last over an extended period of time.
Simon Smith, CEO at SSP, said: “Strengthening the balance sheet now will underpin the business if the recovery in the travel sector is slower than we anticipate and it gives us the capacity to invest in growth opportunities as we emerge from the pandemic.
“Our current expectation is that the early recovery will be led by domestic and leisure travel from which we are well-placed to benefit.”
He added that looking forward, SSP is aiming to “capitalise on the recovery as well as future new business opportunities,” in turn delivering “long-term sustainable growth”.
While SSP’s revenues had increased 53% in the five-year period following its IPO in July 2014, its growth has since been curtailed by restrictions to the air and rail travel sectors, which account for 95% of the group’s revenues.
