Compass Group PLC: announces Q3-2024 financial results

Surrey / UK. (cg) British Compass Group PLC, a global leader in food services, announces trading results for the third quarter ended 30 June 2024. The Group delivered another strong quarter with organic revenue growth of 10.3 percent. All regions continue to perform well, and industry trends remain strong, providing Compass with an exciting pipeline of new business opportunities.

Organic revenue growth	Q3-2024	Q3 YTD 2024
North America	9.9%	10.6%
Europe	12.0%	12.2%
Rest of World	8.5%	9.6%
Group	10.3%	10.9%

As expected, net new business growth accelerated in Q3, whilst pricing moderated in line with inflation. Volumes continued to benefit from the quality of our offer and the value gap compared to the high street.

Acquisitions and disposals: We are continuing to invest in our portfolio, as we replicate our North America blueprint elsewhere, to support our existing capabilities, increase operational flexibility and further strengthen our unique sectorised approach to the market. The Group’s net expenditure on M+A, including CH+CO and the disposal of our Brazilian business, which completed in May 2024, was USD 836 million for the year to date.

Share buyback programme: As at 19 July 2024, the Group had completed c.USD 300 million of the USD 500 million share buyback programme announced in November 2023, with the remainder to be completed before the end of the calendar year.

Currency: If current spot rates were to continue for the remainder of the year, foreign exchange translation would negatively impact 2023 revenue by USD 106 million and operating profit by USD 17 million.

Summary and guidance: We are pleased with our third quarter performance. The Group delivered good growth across all regions and benefited from improved net new business in line with our expectations. For the full year we now expect underlying operating profit growth to be above 15 percent on a constant-currency basis, with organic revenue growth above 10 percent.

Procurement deep dive: The Group will present a virtual deep dive on its competitive advantage in procurement on 12 September 2024.