Managing expectations sometimes involves dampening them. When presented with a 27 per cent increase in constant-currency operating profit and cash inflow of £104m despite record investment, a normally taciturn investment outlook could easily give way to irrational exuberance. Throw in a 50 per cent dividend hike and a £100m one-off payment and you could be in real trouble. But that’s what shareholders in SSP (SSPG) had to digest in its full-year figures; just as well that management tempered the release with expectations of “slightly lower like-for-like revenue growth next year”.
SSP operates restaurants on behalf of global chains such as Starbucks and Burger King, and under its own brands Upper Crust and Caffe Ritazza. Sales in North America were up 42 per cent on the back of new openings, including airport gigs in Chicago and New York. And we can expect further growth thanks to new contracts signed for airports in Seattle, Los Angeles and Boston. However, rail passenger volumes have been constrained in the UK and continental Europe by the threat of terror attacks, industrial action and disruptions due to station redevelopments in London, although you wonder how many rail journeys are the result of discretionary spending.
Barclays gives adjusted profits of £163m for the September 2018 year-end, leading to EPS of 22p, against £149m and 20p in FY2017.
| SSP (SSPG) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 640p | MARKET VALUE: | £3.04bn | |
| TOUCH: | 639.5p-640p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 645p | LOW: 333p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.3% | PE RATIO: | 33 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 84p* | NET DEBT: | 56% | |
| Year to | Turnover | Pre-tax | Earnings | Dividend |
| 30 Sep | (£bn) | profit (£m) | per share (p) | per share (p) |
| 2013 | 1.83 | 16.2 | -0.5 | nil |
| 2014 | 1.83 | -13.5 | -10.7 | nil |
| 2015 | 1.83 | 76.8 | 11.2 | 4.3 |
| 2016 | 1.99 | 106 | 15.2 | 5.4 |
| 2017 † | 2.38 | 145 | 19.5 | 8.1 |
| % change | +20 | +37 | +28 | +50 |
| Ex-div: | 15 Mar | |||
| Payment: | 29 Mar | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £714m, or 150p a share. †A special dividend of c£100m is to be paid to shareholders in April 2018. | ||||
