Another company has been added to the list of those suffering following the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft. Food and beverage concessions operator SSP (SSPG) reported that like-for-like sales in North America have been affected by the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft during the fourth quarter of its financial year, as passengers who would have flown from terminals in which SSP operates have been relocated. In the final quarter, total group revenue is expected to be up by around 7.8 per cent at constant currency, made up of like-for-like sales growth of 1.8 per cent and net contract gains of around 6 per cent.
These challenges were not isolated to North America. Sales in Europe have been held back by slower passenger growth and the impact of airport redevelopment in the Nordics and Spain. Management expects this, among other “external challenges”, to continue into the 2020 financial year, but reiterated that guidance for the 2019 financial year remains unchanged. Full year like-for-like sales growth is expected to be 2 per cent, with net contract gains just ahead of previous expectations at 5.5 per cent.
