London-based Compass Group reported that organic revenue in its North American unit grew by 23.2%, with net new business growth of 5.1%, during the first half of the company’s 2023 fiscal year, which ended March 31. Overall, the company saw revenues grow 25% organically over the period, led by European operations, which grew 28.2% organically.
In North America, which represented 67.4% of the company’s total business over the period—up from 65.9% in the first half of fiscal 2022—the company said that “all sectors performed strongly, with the highest growth in our Business & Industry and Sports & Leisure sectors, which benefited from elevated per capita spend and continued volume recovery from employees returning to the office and higher attendance levels at live events.” Meanwhile, the Education and Healthcare & Senior Living sectors “also delivered strong organic revenue growth driven by net new business and like-for-like volume growth.”
The region also saw several bolt-on acquisitions over the period, including the acquisition of workplace refreshments provider Parks Coffee in the U.S.
Going forward, Compass says its strategic focus is on food, with targeted support services. “The addressable food services market is estimated to be worth at least £250bn,” it said in the earnings release. “There remains a significant structural growth opportunity from first-time outsourcing, as around half of the market is still self-operated. As the operating environment becomes increasingly challenging due to a combination of inflationary pressures, increased client demands and other additional complexities, we have a clear strategy to capture the acceleration in first-time outsourcing based on our focus, scale and expertise.”
