FTSE 250 Stocks Round-Up: Tritax Eurobox, SSP Group

FTSE 250 shares Tritax EuroBox and SSP Group have both gained value following fresh trading statements on Tuesday. Here are the key takeaways from their latest updates.

Tritax Eurobox

Real estate stock Tritax EuroBox has risen 1% to 67.4p per share following news of strong rental growth in the last financial year.

Rental income rose 31.9% in the 12 months to September, it said, to €57.9 million. This reflected a 4% increase in like-for-like rental growth, allied with asset management activity and acquisitions, the business added.

Adjusted earnings per share dropped 8% to 4.24p, meanwhile, a result Tritax said was chiefly due to the timing of deployment of the prior year’s equity raise.

The property stock — which owns and operates warehouses and distribution centres across Mainland Europe – saw the value of its portfolio soar 37.8% in financial 2022 to €1.77 billion. This was primarily driven by the nine acquisitions it made over the period.

The company kept the full-year dividend locked at five euro cents per share.

Looking ahead, Tritax EuroBox said that “structural tailwinds and favourable occupational market fundamentals [are] expected to continue to support occupier demand and rental growth.”

The FTSE 250 company said that macroeconomic factors are likely to keep squeezing asset values in the short term. However, it added that “[a] robust balance sheet and resilient portfolio means the business is well placed to navigate a more uncertain market outlook.”

It added that rising rental income and cost reductions “will support earnings growth and dividend cover over the next financial year.”

SSP Group

Retailer SSP Group has risen 4% in value to 224.8p per share after announcing a swing back into profit in the last fiscal year.

Mass reopenings following Covid-19 lockdowns pushed revenues 162% higher in the 12 months to September. At £2.2 billion, sales were at 78% of 2019 levels.

Sales came in at 64% of pre-pandemic levels in the first half. This improved to 90% in the final six months of the year, the firm explained.

SSP — which operates food outlets in airports and railway stations across the globe — said that “the recovery in passenger numbers has been led by strong leisure travel demand over the summer holiday season, which has continued well into the autumn.”

Last year’s sales rebound helped SSP swing back into profits. Profit before tax clocked in at £25.2 million versus a loss of £411.2 million in financial 2021.

SSP said that it has started the new financial year well, too, noting that “sales [are] strengthening further to an average of 104% of 2019 levels in the first eight weeks, including revenues tracking above 2019 levels in North America, Continental Europe and the Rest of the World.”

The company expects revenues to range between £2.9 billion and £3 billion this year before rising to between £3.2 billion and £3.4 billion in financial 2024.

SSP forecasts that underlying EBITDA will range between £250 million and £280 million this year, and £325 million and £375 million in the following fiscal year. Last year EBITDA on this basis clocked in at £142 million.

The travel business added that it expects to resume dividend payments in the current financial year.