Compass Group profit rise is 'comfortable'

With clients such as Chelsea Football Club, the Bank of England and the O2 arena in London, Compass Group accredited the rise in profits to controlling costs by saying: "Gross margins are in line with the levels achieved last year, reflecting the good work on containing the impact of food cost inflation during the year. The improvement in operating margins is primarily due to the delivery of further efficiencies in unit costs combined with good leverage of existing above unit overheads." The group added: "In the UK, we anticipate that revenues and operating profit will be broadly in line with last year. The management team remain focused on simplifying the business, generating and retaining high quality revenues as they continue to re-position the business for future growth." Share prices for Compass this morning are up by just over 1% to 335.75p.