Activist investor’s play for SSP Group sets stage for takeover: Activist investor Irenic Capital Management is building a stake in SSP Group, the UK operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide, and plans to push the Upper Crust owner to boost its profitability, setting the stage for a private equity takeover. Irenic has amassed around a 2% stake in SSP, reports the FT. The New York-based hedge fund is pushing SSP to boost its profit margins, arguing that its share price could be worth double its current valuation. The activist, which plans to continue buying shares, has met on several occasions with management but has yet to outline specific demands to the company, two people familiar with the matter told the FT. The investor has previously targeted Wagamama owner The Restaurant Group (TRG) in the UK, which was sold to Apollo in 2023. Irenic declined to comment. SSP said: “We are in constant dialogue with all of our investors, and welcome their feedback and views. We are entirely focused on delivering progress against our clear strategic priorities in order to deliver sustainable growth and returns for all of SSP’s stakeholders.” Shares in SSP, led by chief executive Patrick Coveney, closed at 150p yesterday afternoon (Thursday, 1 May), giving the company a market value of £1.2bn. Coveney said on an earnings call in December: “While the pace of transition from covid recovery to a business with demonstrably strong returns has been fast, it hasn’t been fast enough.” Irenic, which manages a fund worth around $1.4bn, is one of several activist hedge funds recently launched by alumni of Elliott Management, the world’s largest activist investor. Irenic was co-founded in 2021 by Adam Katz, who spent nearly a decade at Elliott, and Andy Dodge, who previously worked at Indaba Capital Management, a US-based value investor. In 2023, Irenic built a stake in TRG. Irenic, alongside fellow activist Oasis Capital Management, agitated for changes, including asset sales. Within months TRG had agreed a £506mn sale to Apollo. While SSP has a big presence in Europe, its business in India could prove particularly lucrative. The company has plans to publicly list the unit, a joint venture called TFS, later this year. Investors expect the venture to be valued at around a £1bn valuation upon its initial public offering. Irenic’s shareholding in SSP currently sits below the UK disclosure threshold of 5%, at which point it would be required to notify regulators.
Premium Club subscribers to receive new searchable and segmented New Openings Database today: The next Propel New Openings Database will be sent to Premium Club subscribers today (Friday, 2 May). The database will show the details of 154 site openings, including which company has opened a site or its plans to open one in the future. The database will have details on what type of site it is and its location, and there will also be a website link to the businesses. The database is published monthly and Premium Club subscribers will also receive a 9,493-word report on the 154 new additions to the database. The database is segmented into seven categories – cafe bakery, casual dining, experiential leisure, fine dining, hotels, pubs and bars, and quick service restaurants (QSR) – making it even easier for users to search. The database includes new openings in the QSR sector such as burger concept
Bleecker opening in London’s Soho, BVC Hospitality launching a second site for its
Supernova smashburger brand in the capital, and burger franchise concept,
Burger & Sauce opening a second Nottingham site. Premium Club subscribers also receive access to five other databases:
the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, the Multi-Site Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database and
the Who’s Who of UK Hospitality. All Premium Club subscribers will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to Propel paid-for events including Excellence in Pub Retail (May 2025) and discounts on specialist sector reports such as the International Brands report. Operators that are Premium Club subscribers are also able to send up to four members of staff to each of our four Multi-Club Conferences for free. Premium Club subscribers receive their daily Propel Info newsletter 11 hours earlier than standard subscribers, at 7pm the evening before. They also receive videos of presentations at eight Propel conference events two weeks after they are held. This represents around 100 videos of industry insight over the course of the year. Premium Club subscribers will be sent a dedicated monthly newsletter that will highlight key updates in the sector and direct subscribers to all the vital content their membership offers. Premium Club subscribers also receive exclusive opinion columns every Friday at 5pm, which include the thoughts of Propel group editor Mark Wingett and a host of industry leaders from across the sector. A Premium Club subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier.
Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.
Premier Inn owner plans £1bn sale and leaseback to fund expansion: The owner of Premier Inn has revealed plans to sell and leaseback at least £1bn of its mature properties to fund future growth despite a softer UK hotel market. Whitbread said the more favourable property investment market gave the group confidence that the proceeds from sale and leasebacks would be able to “fund future growth and drive higher financial returns”. Chief executive Dominic Paul told The Times that Whitbread had been buying more freehold property and so “effectively, after recycling that £1bn, we will have a relatively similar freehold/leasehold mix that we currently have”. He added there was flexibility with its sale-and-leaseback plans, saying: “If we want to recycle a little bit more to invest in higher return growth opportunities we can.” The move is part of Paul’s five-year plan to return more than £2bn to shareholders and increase profits by at least £300m by 2030. He said the “excellent progress” already made against its five-year plan had prompted management to announce a £250m share buyback alongside its full-year results. It comes after the company reported a 1% decline in revenue to £2.92bn in the year to 27 February 2025, in line with consensus. The disruption from the restructuring, announced this time last year, hit adjusted profits last year, as expected, taking them down 14% cent to £483m. The one-off hit to profits is expected to fully reverse this year. Whitbread’s restaurants, mainly under the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre brands, are undergoing a £500m, four-year revamp that Paul initiated to resolve poor performance. This involves the conversion of 112 restaurants to 3,500 new hotel bedrooms and the sale of 126 restaurants. Whitbread has now sold 38 of its branded restaurants for £38m and “remains confident” of exiting the remaining sites over the next 12 months as planned.
