Uppercrust Owner SSP soars on improved profit forecast amid turnaround push

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Britain's SSP Group is targeting profit this year at the top end of its forecasts, the Uppercrust owner said on Thursday, as its North America business picks up momentum and it presses on with a turnaround plan to bolster margins.

Shares jumped as much as 16.3% to 172.3 pence by 0952 GMT after the company said it expects fiscal 2026 earnings per share at the upper end of its 12.9 to 13.9 pence forecast range, and launched a review of its rail business in continental Europe.

SSP, which operates airport and train station food outlets worldwide, is cutting costs and restructuring to focus on profitable ventures and offset weakness in Europe, its biggest market, and slowness in an expanding North America business.

Passenger growth in North America is slowly recovering, after lower footfall in the second half of the reported year due to the government shutdown, and SSP has updated its ordering systems and menus to draw travellers and improve sales. 

"While there remains a degree of macro-economic uncertainty across the world, our focus is on what we can control. We have made an encouraging start to FY26," Group CEO Patrick Coveney said in a statement.

Total revenue in the eight weeks to November 25 rose 6% year-on-year at constant currency, SSP said, with like-for-like sales also rebounding.

"We think the stronger recent trading, particularly in North America, should be a positive read for the wider Travel Retail sector," RBC Capital Markets analysts said in a note.

Shares in travel retailer WH Smith, whose North America business has been at the centre of an accounting scandal, were up nearly 2%.

For the year ended September 30, SSP posted adjusted operating profit of 223 million pounds ($297.3 million), just ahead of consensus of 221 million pounds in a company-compiled poll.     

($1 = 0.7501 pounds)

(Reporting by Ankita Bora in Bengaluru; Writing by Pushkala Aripaka; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Philippa Fletcher)