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Chair Statement

The Group continues to recover strongly from the pandemic and has reached an important milestone with revenue surpassing its pre-COVID level. This achievement is a testament to the hard work and resilience of our people. People are at the heart of our business and they differentiate us from our competitors and provide a unique competitive advantage.

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CEO Statement

We are continuing to invest in exciting growth opportunities both through capital expenditure and M&A. There also remains a significant structural growth opportunity from first time outsourcing, as around half of the market is still self-operated.

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OUR STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

OUR PROMISE

GREAT PEOPLE
GREAT SERVICE
GREAT RESULTS

OUR STRATEGY

OUR GOALS

Colleagues laughing in the kitchen whilst wearing aprons

Representative of the communities we serve

Plate of fresh seafood, carrots, mushrooms and garnish

Industry-leading  services

Male chef picking fresh crops

A sustainable future for all

OUR VALUES

Can-do safely

Openness, trust and integrity

Responsibility

Passion for quality

Win through teamwork

Learn more about our values

MARKET REVIEW

We estimate that the addressable global food services market is worth at least £220bn, with Compass accounting for around 10% of the market. This provides us with a significant runway for growth, particularly as three-quarters of the market is still self-operated or in the hands of regional players. In addition to this huge structural opportunity, there are further growth opportunities for Compass in vending, some areas of food delivery, and targeted support services.

Addressable global food services market at least £220bn

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c.£220bn

GLOBAL FOOD SER-
VICES MARKET

LARGE PLAYERS
COMPASS GROUP
REGIONAL PLAYERS
SELF OPERATED

Numbers on this page relating to market size and penetration rates are based on management estimates and a range of external data.

First-time outsourcing

First-time outsourcing opportunities are increasing as additional complexity and ongoing inflationary pressures provide a further impetus for organisations to outsource their food service provision. We are successfully capturing this growth opportunity through our capabilities and resources.

This is evidenced by a step up in new business wins, which increased to £2.5bn with first-time outsourcing now accounting for around 45% of our new contract wins.

Whilst these new contracts are being sourced across all our sectors, we are particularly excited about the opportunity in Healthcare & Senior Living, where more than 60% of the market is self-operated.

NEW CONTRACT WINS FROM FIRST-TIME OUTSOURCING

c.45%

NEW BUSINESS WINS IN LAST 12 MONTHS

£2.5bn

MEASURING PROGRESS

We track our progress against a mix of financial and non-financial measures, which we believe best reflect the delivery of our strategy. We measure growth, efficiency and shareholder returns, which are all underpinned by our focus on safety and our impact on the environment.

ORGANIC REVENUE CHANGE
37.5%

Organic revenue growth was strong at 37.5% in 2022, reflecting excellent net new business, base volume recovery following the pandemic, and higher levels of pricing.

UNDERLYING OPERATING MARGIN1,2
6.2%

Underlying operating margin improved by 170bps to 6.2% in 2022 compared to prior year despite mobilisation costs associated with higher new business growth and inflationary pressures.

UNDERLYING FREE CASH FLOW1
£890m

Underlying free cash flow increased to £890m, representing a conversion rate of 56% of underlying operating profit.

UNDERLYING BASIC EARNINGS PER SHARE1
63.0p

EPS growth of 114% in 2022 reflected the Group's strong revenue growth and the improvement in underlying operating margin.

RETURN ON CAPITAL EMPLOYED (ROCE)1,2
15.8%

Having been impacted significantly by the pandemic, the Group is rebuilding ROCE which increased to 15.8% in 2022.

GLOBAL LOST TIME INCIDENT FREQUENCY RATE3
2.27

Health and safety cases where one of our colleagues is away from work for one or more shifts as a result of a work-related injury or illness.

REGIONAL REVIEWS

NORTH AMERICA

UNDERLYING REVENUE

£17,139m
  • Business & Industry
    28%
  • Education
    22%
  • Healthcare & Senior Living
    32%
  • Sports & Leisure
    17%
  • Defence, Offshore & Remote
    1%

EUROPE

UNDERLYING REVENUE

£5,935m
  • Business & Industry
    45%
  • Education
    15%
  • Healthcare & Senior Living
    17%
  • Sports & Leisure
    12%
  • Defence, Offshore & Remote
    11%

REST OF WORLD

UNDERLYING REVENUE

£2,697m
  • Business & Industry
    35%
  • Education
    6%
  • Healthcare & Senior Living
    15%
  • Sports & Leisure
    3%
  • Defence, Offshore & Remote
    41%

SAFETY CULTURE

At Compass, a culture of care, respect and safety is paramount in everything we do. We have a moral obligation to safeguard each other, our consumers and the environment by operating a safe, injury-free and healthy workplace, serving food that is always safe to eat and providing service with consumer and community safety top of mind. Our approach is based on education, intervention and collaboration. Sharing lessons learned across our businesses has been fundamental to maintaining our solid track record in safety.

During 2022, our global Coronavirus response team continued to closely monitor developments, follow local and global regulatory health authority guidance and share learnings throughout the Group. Weekly advisory updates from our Chief Medical Adviser have been critical in providing highly detailed and evidence based data on the pandemic situation for all regions.

Continued investment in safety management systems across our operations demonstrates our commitment to market-leading health and safety expertise. It also supports our drive for transparency and accountability. Each country leverages a bespoke safety management system, supporting leadership safety interactions, operational risk assessments and incident management. Insights gained from these systems further support process improvement across the business. Our safety performance is continuously monitored, transparently reported and considered at every meeting of the Board and the Corporate Responsibility Committee.

Our safety culture emphasises the fundamental importance of incident prevention and intervention. Through awareness, information and training, we empower our people to take individual and collective responsibility for their own safety and the safety of those around them.

In 2022, our global Lost Time Incident Frequency Rate (LTIFR) fell to 2.27, below the limit of 2.79. We had a total of 2,005 global lost time incidents in 2022, which represents a 33% reduction in incident numbers since 2018.

Compass’ core values and global safety protocols guide the decisions, actions and behaviours of our people and serve as a foundation for the way we conduct business.

Our suppliers undergo a rigorous approval process, with any areas for improvement rapidly remedied to mitigate wider risks. An increasing number of our businesses’ sites operate to ISO 22000 food safety management system standards or similar Safe Quality Food (SQF) standards. Food safety training is delivered at the local level to account for unique market risks associated with food hygiene and allergen regulations.

We take a robust approach to any food safety incidents, with protocols in place to report and respond rapidly. Learnings are shared internally to continually evaluate and improve practices. In 2022, our Food Safety Incident (FSIR) rate fell to 0.14, below the limit of 0.24. We had a total of 849 food safety incidents in 2022, which represents a 42% reduction in incident numbers since 2018.

We have worked hard to create a culture that takes safety seriously and to train our people to adopt behaviours that keep them free from harm. Board and Executive Committee meetings regularly feature health and safety updates. The Corporate Responsibility Committee reviews the Group’s Health and Safety Policies annually to ensure that they continue to reflect our aims and aspirations and adhere to current legislation.

Our safety culture empowers our people to take responsibility for their safety and the safety of their colleagues. This is further cultivated by our network of safety leaders operating at every level within our businesses.

Countries are required to report monthly to the Company on their LTIFR and FSIR. The management bonus scheme is linked to these key performance indicators.

Our safety performance against targets continued to improve in 2022. Since 2018, we have delivered a 33% reduction in the LTIFR and a 42% reduction in the FSIR respectively. A reduction in LTIFR correlates with an improving safety culture; reducing cases where our colleagues are away from work for more than a shift as a result of a work-related injury.

A reduction in FSIR is a helpful measure of our ability to provide quality food that is safe to our consumers, as measured by cases of substantiated food safety incidents.

Speak Up! Logo

Speak Up, We’re Listening is our confidential reporting programme that is accessible to anyone, available 24/7 365 days a year and is managed by Group E&I, a team independent of any other lines of business. Following our global relaunch, a number of process improvements were made. These included optimising our initial case assessment, enhancing reporter management, simplifying the online intake process, use of a QR code and utilising automated dashboards. This has led to more specific information being provided, enabling a swifter and better analysis of potential issues, focusing resources on investigating ethics matters and providing better monitoring insights and reporting of emerging risks.

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