SSP : First Quarter Trading Update

SSP News Release  9-January-2015

SSP Group plc ("the Group"), a leading operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide, announces its trading update for the first quarter of its financial year ending 30 September 2015, covering the period from 1 October 2014 to 31 December 2014.

Trading in the first quarter of the 2015 financial year

The Group's overall trading in the first quarter has been in line with expectations.

On a constant currency basis, total Group revenues for the period from 1 October 2014 to 31 December 2014 increased by 2.9%, with like-for-like sales growth of 2.7%, compared with the same period last year. At actual currency rates, given the strengthening of Sterling compared with the prior year, total Group revenues decreased by 0.1% year-on-year.

Like-for-like sales growth benefited from strong performances in the U.K., North America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, although, as expected, trading has remained challenging in some parts of Continental Europe, notably France and Germany. In terms of new business, we are making good progress in developing our pipeline, and continue to expect a stronger net contract gains performance in the second half of this financial year.

Outlook

The outlook for the Group remains unchanged from that given in our full year 2014 results on 27 November 2014. Whilst a degree of uncertainty continues to exist around passenger numbers in the short-term, the Group remains well positioned to capitalise on the underlying positive trends in its markets.

Currency

Trading results from our overseas operations are converted at average foreign exchange rates over the year. In comparison with last year, Sterling has strengthened against many of our key currencies (including the Euro, Norwegian Krone and the Swedish Krona). Currency movements have a translation impact only.

Annual General Meeting

The Group's Annual General Meeting will be held at 11am on 3 March 2015, at the offices of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, 65 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1HT.