Compass Group: announces strong H1-2023 results

Surrey / UK. (cg) British Compass Group PLC announced strong results for the six months ended 31 March (H1-2023). The Group reported strong organic revenue growth of 25 percent with excellent net new business of 5.2 percent. Operating profit reached over GBP 1 billion and operating profit margin 6.6 percent, up 80bps. The Group recognized a balanced growth across all regions with very strong performance in Europe.

Dominic Blakemore, Group Chief Executive: «The Group performed strongly in the first half of the year, benefiting from balanced growth across all regions. Net new business continued to be excellent, and significantly higher than our historical rate. We are particularly pleased with the step change in our Europe performance which has benefited from growth initiatives as well as favourable outsourcing conditions.

«Despite pockets of macroeconomic weakness, the outsourcing market remains very attractive. We believe that many of the complexities that drive outsourcing, such as increased regulations, changing client and consumer expectations, and inflation, are here to stay. With our strong cash generation, we continue to invest in our business and evolve our operating model, further enhancing our scale and competitive advantage.

«Following our strong first-half performance, we now expect operating profit growth towards 30 percent on a constant-currency basis, to be delivered through organic revenue growth of around 18 percent and an underlying operating margin in the range of 6.7 percent to 6.8 percent. The strength of our balance sheet, along with our confidence in the prospects for the business, give us the platform for further returns to shareholders. In addition to our ordinary dividend, we are announcing a further share buyback of up to GBP 750m in 2023, taking the total programme announced since May 2022 to GBP 1.5 billion.

«Longer term, we expect the growth opportunities in the market to sustain mid-to-high single-digit organic growth and a path back to our historical margin, leading to profit growth above revenue growth. With our established value creation model intact, we will continue rewarding shareholders with compounding returns over the long term.» For additional information please read the Company’s PDF file below (381 KB):

20230526-COMPASS-GROUP-H1-2023.