If investors in Compass Group had been hoping for an early bounce-back from the Covid-19 crisis, they would have been left disappointed by yesterday’s update. As well as reporting a 44 per slump in third-quarter underlying revenues, it predicted a continuing “slow recovery scenario” outlined in May (Dominic Walsh writes).
All of which is uncharted territory for the world’s biggest catering group. Although not immune to the impact of economic and geopolitical upheaval, Compass has over the years deployed its huge scale and geographical spread to good effect, churning out quarter after quarter of strong numbers and rewarding investors with billions of pounds in dividends and share buybacks.
Compass operates in 45 countries and before the lockdown was serving 5.5 billion meals in work canteens,