Catering giant Compass has reported a robust 6.6% rise in organic revenue for its first half to 31 March.
Performance was driven by its North America unit, where revenues grew 7.9%, and its European business which grew 5.5%, boosted by UK Defence contract wins. Rest of World growth came in at 3.2%, helped by good performance in developing markets.
Overall underlying operating profit rose 5.8% to £951m with margin maintained at 7.5%.
Dominic Blakemore, the group’s Chief Executive, hailed the good performance, adding: “We maintained our strong margin whilst absorbing the increased mobilisation costs in Europe from the higher growth as well as strategic investments being made by the business. Our focus on efficiencies and pricing have continued to offset inflation and helped mitigate ongoing volume weakness in the UK and Continental Europe.”
He added: “Following the very strong first half performance we now increase our organic revenue growth guidance for the full year and expect to deliver organic revenue growth and margin progression similar to 2018. We remain mindful of the macro uncertainty in parts of Europe and its impact on the business.”
Compass had previously said it expects full-year organic revenue growth to be slightly above the mid-point of its 4% to 6% forecast range.
