18th Sep 2008 - 00:00
Abstract
The administrators called in to sort out the affairs of investment bank Lehman Brothers have told the catering company to continue operating at its London offices.
Restaurant Associates, the City-focused B&I arm of Compass, has been providing staff feeding for up to 5,000 employees a day at the bank's UK head office in Canary Wharf. Although thousands of staff were told on Monday that their jobs were finished after the worldwide failure of the bank, the administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers has asked RA to stay on. Compass spokesman Chris King said that although only about 500 people were left on site, there had been no changes to RA's staffing levels at the moment. "It's still very early and the situation is by no means clear." He added that the contractor was not owed any large sum of money by Lehman and was looking at the positive side of things. "No one likes to see this happen to a client, but we see opportunities in the current situation in this sector. "Bank of America has bought Merrill Lynch and we operate the catering at the London offices of both these banks, but not those in the States. So we're looking forward to developing our relationships." Compass Group generates about £10 billion a year worldwide in sales, but just under half comes from business and industry (B&I) contracts. Of that figure only about 15% derives from financial services and only 5% specifically from investment banks. "In terms of group revenue as a whole it's not a great deal so our exposure in this sector is not a major concern," said King.