However, once currency exchange changes are factored in this was, in effect, a drop of 2.9%.
Group chief executive Denis Machuel said: “Revenues in the third quarter were in line with our revised expectations. On-site services’ organic growth remained soft, as anticipated, and benefits and rewards services improved slightly.
“Across our services, we have seen particularly strong growth across Asia and Latin America.
“The key actions we identified to improve short-term performance and to drive growth in the longer term are being rolled out across the group.
“While it is still early in this process, we remain confident in the benefits that they will deliver and the growth opportunities that are available to us. We are maintaining our revised guidance for the current fiscal year.”
By market segment, the biggest gainer for the company was in ‘business & administrations’, which saw revenue grow organically by 4.2% from €7.9bn (£6.9bn) to €8.1bn.
Education performed poorest, dropping 3.5% from €3.6bn to €3.26bn.
Among significant contract gains during the first nine months was the addition of Tyne Coast College Group in the UK.
Machuel said the group had revised objectives for FY 2018, and now forecast organic revenue growth of between 1% and 1.5%, excluding the 53rd week impact, with underlying operating profit margin around 5.7%, excluding currency impact.