Catering Companies

SSP revenue halves as sales dented by Covid-19

SSP, one of the UK’s leading travel food and beverage groups, has reported that revenue plunged by 47.9% to £1.4bn in the full-year ended 30 September 2020.

The group’s like-for-like sales also fell 50.8%, after they were “heavily impacted” by the various lockdown measures resulting from the pandemic and the closure of travel markets globally.

The group also swung to a pre-tax loss of £425.8m, while underlying loss before tax was £239.6m compared to a £203.2m profit last year.

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SSP’s portfolio in the UK includes Upper Curst, Camden Food Co, Haven, Cabin and Ritazza.

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The group is aiming for a financial recovery in spring 2021, with vaccinations programmes already starting to roll out and tourism set to return to a degree of normality by that point.

Simon Smith, CEO of SSP Group, said: “Covid-19 continues to have an unprecedented impact on the travel industry and on SSP’s businesses in all geographies. We have taken rapid and decisive action to reduce costs, preserve cash and to substantially strengthen the Group’s financial position.

“I want to thank our teams for their dedication and professionalism during this time, especially when faced with extremely difficult decisions. Our priority continues to be the health, safety and welfare of our people and our customers, and this has been front of mind as we’ve re-opened our units.”

He added: “Whilst we expect passenger numbers to remain subdued over the winter, we are optimistic that, alongside good progress with the vaccination programme, we will see a significant upturn in both domestic and international travel from the spring.

“We are ready to respond quickly. The actions we are taking to rebuild the business will put us in a strong position to capitalise on the recovery as well as future new business opportunities, enabling us to deliver long term sustainable growth for the benefit of all our stakeholders.”

 

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