Compass committed to supporting frontline staff to provide ‘critical and essential services’

Compass has thanked the "tens of thousands" of staff who are providing critical and essential services to clients and governments around the world, saying their dedication and contribution make it “extremely proud”.

Chief executive Dominic Blakemore made the comments in a statement detailing the group’s status in terms of their people, purpose and performance in light of the recent weeks’ disruption across the various sectors it serves and supports.

He said: “We are managing the business to protect the interests of all our stakeholders. Compass is a strong, resilient organisation that is well-positioned to continue to support our colleagues, clients, consumers and the communities we serve during this challenging period."

Blakemore said the group had strengthened their health and safety protocols and despite some staff having been furloughed in line with government recommendations, the group was awarding bonuses to all employees supporting the NHS.

He said the company’s purpose of caring for communities had seen them preparing and delivering food to critical and essential workers, the elderly and the vulnerable and that they had been deploying thousands of employees to support the new hospitals set up to treat coronavirus patients.

In terms of performance, despite around 55% of business operations being closed, the group confirmed that business of the last two weeks of March had been in line with the expectations detailed in their Coronavirus Trading Update of 17 March, with organic revenue growth for Half Year (HY) 2020 at c.1.6% within the 0%-2% expected range. The drop through impact of lost revenues on HY operating profit was between 28%-29% within the anticipated range of 25%-30%.

The statement went on to say that they were proactively mitigating their cost base by around £450m per month by taking a wide range of actions including limiting overtime, contractors and temporary workers. It was also confirmed that Blakemore had temporarily reduced his salary by 30% and the Group Board and Executive Committee had temporarily reduced their fees and salaries by 25%.

In the year to 30 September 2019 Compass generated annual revenues of £25.2b, operating in around 45 counties to serve over 5.5 billion meals a year across the healthcare, sports and leisure and education sectors. It will release its 2020 half year results on 13 May.