SSP Shares Rise as UK Growth Offsets Middle East Slump

SSP Group, the travel food and drink operator behind Upper Crust and Millie’s Cookies, said UK & Ireland like-for-like sales – sales from stores open in both periods – grew 11% in its third quarter, offsetting a Middle East-driven slowdown elsewhere. The shares rose in morning trade on Tuesday following the update.

SSP Group (LON:SSPG), shares traded at 199.3p, up 2.47% from Monday’s close of 194.5p, having touched an intraday high of 200.8p. That places the stock closer to the top of its 52-week range of 133.96p to 208.44p.

In its Q3 trading update, released via RNS earlier today, SSP said group like-for-like sales grew 4% year-on-year, and management explicitly reiterated that the group remains on track to deliver full-year expectations. The UK & Ireland business, SSP’s core market, was the standout performer, with like-for-like sales up 11% and total sales up 8%, supported by positive seasonal trading and a strengthened customer proposition.

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That UK strength offset a marked slowdown in the APAC & EEME region – SSP’s grouping for Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe/Middle East markets – where like-for-like sales fell 2%, a 10 percentage point deceleration from the previous quarter. The drag came from Gulf markets, which account for around 2% of group annual sales but traded at approximately 65% of prior-year levels through the quarter, as the Middle East conflict hit passenger numbers at the airports where SSP operates.

Despite that regional divergence, SSP’s guidance language pointed to confidence in the full-year outlook, which includes earnings per share of 13.6p to 14.8p after the ongoing share buyback. The company has completed £76m of its £100m buyback programme, launched in October 2025, a sign it continues returning cash to shareholders even as one region underperforms.

SSP is due to report full-year results for the year ending 30 September 2026 on 8 December, when investors will get a clearer picture of whether the Gulf disruption has persisted into the final quarter or begun to ease.