Compass lifts annual profit outlook as half-year earnings grow

(Alliance News) - Compass Group PLC on Monday raised its profit view after a "strong first-half performance".

Shares in the company rose 4.1% to USD30.72 each in London on Monday morning.

The contract caterer said pretax profit in the half-year to March 31 rose 15% to USD1.47 billion from USD1.28 billion. Revenue improved 11% to USD24.98 billion from USD22.57 billion a year prior.

Underlying operating profit shot up 12% to USD1.84 billion from USD1.65 billion.

"We've delivered a strong first-half performance, with underlying operating profit up 12%, enabling us to increase our full-year profit guidance. We have great momentum across the business, driven by excellent new business wins, high levels of client retention and margin progression in both regions," Chief Executive Dominic Blakemore said.

"Our pipeline is broad-based, with recent wins up 14% to USD4.1 billion, led by Business & Industry, which is our best-performing sector delivering double-digit growth across a diverse client base. Our sub-sectorised approach underpins this, driving growth across emerging areas, including the AI ecosystem. Today's results demonstrate consistent execution and the strength of our business model as our services become increasingly integral to our clients' operations, supporting strong recurring revenues."

Compass raised its interim dividend by 13% to 25.5 cents per share from 22.6 cents.

The Chertsey, England-based now expects underlying operating profit growth of "above 11%" for the full-year, its guidance raised from "around 10%".

Compass said it will be "driven by organic revenue growth of around 7%, around 2% profit growth from M&A and ongoing margin progression".

"Longer term, we remain confident in sustaining mid-to-high single-digit organic revenue growth, ongoing margin progression and profit growth ahead of revenue growth," the company said.

Underlying operating profit in the prior year was USD3.34 billion.

By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor

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