The company also reported that in its contract catering and services division, reported growth hit 5.1% to €3.277bn (£2.75bn), whilst its concession catering division’s reported growth fell 1.6%, despite organic growth increasing 2.1%.
Philippe Salle, chairman and chief executive officer, said: “Our performance in the third quarter of 2015-2016 confirmed the strong trends seen since the beginning of the fiscal year. Excluding the effect of voluntary contract exits – which mainly affected the contract catering business – organic growth for the nine months ended June 30, 2016 came in at 3.5%.
“The acceleration in growth reported by the Group's international contract catering operations, notably in the United Kingdom and the United States, proves that we have got our business development strategy right. And our acquisitions of Preferred Meals in the United States and Waterfall Catering Group in the United Kingdom will enable us to continue to strengthen our positions in these two countries.
“In the concession catering business, international operations continued to drive growth. We are standing by our objectives for the full fiscal year and we confirm the Group's longer-term outlook."