When a company, and its shares, have done as well as SSP’s since its stock market debut in summer 2014, investors are inclined to ask just what could go wrong. That float was at 210p; the shares hit another high of 472½p yesterday, up 14¾p, on a set of halfway numbers that beat expectations, particularly on the volume of new business wins at airports around the world.
The three drivers for increased performance are still operating. SSP is enjoying like-for-like sales growth at airports as passenger volumes increase and more products go through its restaurants, bars and stores, although growth is limited at its UK rail business. Like-for-like sales across the group were up by 2.9 per cent, then.
There is a continuing improvement