Compass profits jump after office workers and sports fans return

Catering firm Compass cheered the return of office workers and sports fans after it revealed a surge in profits over the past six months.

Shares in the world’s largest caterer made gains on Wednesday morning after it revealed that operating profits leapt 41% to £1.05 billion for the half-year to March 31.

The company also announced plans to hand £750 million to shareholders through a share buyback.

On Wednesday, the firm revealed that revenues grew by 24.7% to £15.8 billion for the six-month period.

Compass said it saw “particularly strong” growth in its business and industry operation, as employees returned to the office following pandemic disruption.

It also said its sports and leisure arm, which caters for sports stadiums and other venues, was buoyed by improving attendances.

Dominic Blakemore, group chief executive, said the performance shows that outsourcing remains an attractive market despite “pockets of macroeconomic weakness”.

He added: “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.”

It came as the company, which operates the majority of its business in North America, confirmed it will report future profits in dollars to minimise the impact of currency fluctuations.

Shares were up 2% at 2,106p on Wednesday morning.