With the reputation that Compass has for reliability and gradual, grinding compound growth, even the slightest slip can be taken amiss. Organic growth, the main measure the market looks at, grew by only 4 per cent in the fourth quarter, a slowdown from quarter three and the first half. Margins stabilised at 7.2 per cent, and there must be a question mark over how much further they can increase in the future, even if Compass is one of those businesses that can gain increasing benefits of scale as it wins new contracts.
Still the market reaction, sending the shares back 65p to £13.26, seems a little churlish. The company has made it clear that, after a 5 per cent rise in organic growth in the