Snack chain group SSP said average sales rose above pre-pandemic levels in the first eight weeks of its new financial year, but sales in Britain were still below 2019.
Upper Crust owner SSP operates in airports and train stations in more than 30 countries.
It said today it expects overall sales in its British business to be back to pre-crisis levels by the end of its 2023 financial year.
SSP Finance Director Jonathan Davies said strikes which have hit Britain's railways, which represent the biggest part of its domestic business, took 2-3 percentage points off overall sales.
The group returned to profit in the year ended September 30, reporting an underlying core profit of £142m from a loss of £108.3m a year earlier, helped by a recovery in air travel across most of its markets.
"Business travel (recovery) by air is faster than rail, since people are still not back to office at same levels," Davies told Reuters after SSP reported its 2022 results and said it still expects core profit to broadly return to 2019 levels by 2024.
SSP said revenues on average were at 104% of 2019 levels in the first eight weeks of its October to December quarter, with North America and Continental Europe tracking above, but its British business, which makes up about 28% of its total revenue, lagged behind at 84% of pre-crisis levels.
SSP reported total revenue of £2.19 billion for the year ending on September 30, sharply higher than last year's £834.2m.
Davies said SSP was trying to mitigate the impact of inflation by changing some menu items and by raising prices.
SSP is headed up by the former CEO of Greencore, Patrick Coveney.
