BUSINESS LIVE: Thames Water reveals turnaround plan; SSP reinstates dividend; THG buys Biossance

SSP Group has resumed annual dividend payouts and forecast higher 2024 sales and profit as air travel boomed from pandemic lows.

The Upper Crust owner, whose stores are mostly located in airports and train stations, had to stop dividends in 2020 after entering funding agreements that restricted it from paying returns to shareholders.

Sales for 2024 are expected to come in between £3.4billion and £3.5billion, up from £3billion logged for 2023, the company said.

Underlying core profit is forecast to be in the range of £345million to £375million, compared with £280million for the 12 months to 30 September.

Analysts on average expect £3.4billion in sales and £353million in profit for 2024.

The group declared an annual dividend of 2.5p a piece.

Debt-laden Thames Water has revealed a three-year turnaround plan as Britain’s biggest water utility seeks to ease concerns over its financial stability.

It is feared the group, which said it had a high level of liquidity, could buckle under the weight of its £14billion debt prompted the government to ready a rescue plan earlier this year, before the company’s financial investors agreed to invest additional equity in July.

A supplier of water to 15 million customers, more than a fifth of Britain’s population, Thames Water said on Tuesday that it had total liquidity of £3.5billion, as well as further funding resources, and added that its shareholders supported its investment plans.

‘Our shareholders support this much needed investment, underscoring their commitment to delivering Thames’ turnaround,’ Co-CEOs Cathryn Ross and Alastair Cochran said.