(Updates shares, adds comments)
** Shares in Elior fall nearly 3%, reversing
course after Europe's third biggest contract caterer posted a
better-than-feared slump in H1 sales and earnings
** Analysts on a call probed the firm's 91% retention rate
for H1 - slightly lower than last year and below that of the
firm's top competitors
** CEO Philippe Guillemot confirmed Elior's objective to
increase this to 95% - though this could be pushed back from the
original 2024 deadline
** Given the importance of the metric in assessing the
businesses' long-term strength, Credit Suisse expects investors
to be concerned by these falling back towards their 2019 levels
** Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke noted a lack of hard
guidance on the second half of the year, unlike Compass Group
, Sodexo and Aramark which gave margin
guidance
** Shares rose as much as 7% in early trading as revenues
and results beat expectations and the company returned to a
positive FCF
** Elior's revenues slumped 22% LFL in H1, bringing an
adjusted EBITA loss of 25 million euros ($30.50 million) - a
first since its 2014 return to Euronext https://bit.ly/3fMqthF
($1 = 0.8197 euros)