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(Alliance News) - Contract caterer Compass Group PLC on Wednesday reported a slump in interim revenue and profit due to coronavirus restrictions across its markets.
Revenue for the six months to the end of March fell 32% to GBP8.4 billion, with pretax profit collapsing to GBP133 million from GBP787 million.
"As expected, Covid continued to negatively affect our performance during the first six months of the year. Revenue remained at around 71% of our 2019 revenue as containment measures were extended over the winter months," the company said.
Compass noted that between the first and the second quarter it saw small fluctuations in Business & Industry as lockdown measures were imposed and relaxed as well as in Education where schools in the UK reopened during March and higher education establishments in North America saw some increase in student numbers on campus.
More positively, the firm noted that its second quarter operating margin was at 4.2%, 20 basis points ahead of its pre-close trading update and an increase of 150 basis points from the first quarter.
Compass said it expects a gradual improvement in revenue in the third quarter and the margin should be between 4.5% and 5.0%.
"With vaccination rollout underway in our major markets, we are encouraged by the easing of restrictions so we can now focus on working alongside clients to safely reopen their organisations," the company said.
New business wins increased by about 20% during the half-year driven by the UK and Turkey, Compass said, with first time outsourcing now accounting for around 50%, up from a third historically.
Going forward, the company said it has created a strong platform from which to recover in the short term. It also remains "very confident" in the medium to long term growth potential as well as the exciting significant structural market opportunity globally.
Compass shares were trading flat in London on Wednesday morning at 1,528.50 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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