25th Nov 2025 09:18
(Alliance News) - Compass Group PLC on Tuesday highlighted strong new business wins in North America as it delivered full year revenue and operating profit slightly ahead of expectations.
The Chertsey, England-based contract caterer said pretax profit rose 26% to USD2.58 billion in the financial year that ended September 30 from USD2.06 billion the year prior.
Operating profit increased 15% to USD2.96 billion from USD2.58 billion.
On an underlying basis, operating profit climbed 11% to USD3.34 billion in financial 2025 from USD2.99 billion in financial 2024, ahead of company-compiled market consensus of GBP3.31 billion.
Underlying operating margin improved to 7.2% from 7.1%, missing consensus for an improvement to 7.3%. Compass said margin did reach 7.3% in the second half of the financial year.
Shares in Compass were down 3.3% at 2,369.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning. The wider FTSE 100 index was up 0.1%.
Underlying earnings per share rose 11% to 131.9 US cents from 118.7 cents.
Revenue grew 9.7% to USD46.07 billion from USD42.00 billion, ahead of company-compiled consensus of GBP45.4 billion. It grew by 8.7% on an organic basis.
Chief Executive Dominic Blakemore said 2025 was "another strong year for Compass", with both regions "performing well".
"Net new business, the cornerstone of our growth, remained firmly within our 4% to 5% target range for the fourth consecutive year, underpinned by strong new business wins and client retention," he added.
North America organic revenue grew by 9.1% and International by 7.7%. Net new business growth was 4.5%, and this was "particularly strong" in North America. Client retention rate was over 96%.
Compass upped its final dividend by 11% to 43.3 cents per share from 39.1 cents. This brought its annual payout to 65.9 cents, up 10% from 59.8 cents in financial 2024.
Looking ahead, Compass said it expects underlying operating profit growth of around 10% driven by organic revenue growth around 7.0%, 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," Compass said.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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