Compass grows profit despite flat sales

25th Nov 2009 07:03

Contract caterer Compass Group saw little growth in revenue when it declared full year results this morning, but pre-tax profit still showed a healthy rise on the back of a strong improvement in margins and currency gains. Pre-tax profit came to £773m, up from £566m last year, on sales of £13,444m, up 17.5% on a reported basis or up 1.3% on a constant currency basis. The figures beat the market consensus for pre-tax profit of £767.6m and sales of £13,378m.'Whilst in the short term the prevailing economic conditions are likely to continue to impact organic revenue growth, the pipeline of new business looks strong,' said chief executive Richard Cousins.'Furthermore, the considerable potential to deliver ongoing efficiencies underpins our expectation of further progress in the margin.'Chairman Roy Gardner added that strong cash flow and increasing financial headroom give the group the 'flexibility to make value-creating acquisitions and to reward shareholders through progressive dividends.'The group increased its final dividend for the year by 10% to 8.8p. Numis Securities was tipping a 15% growth in the dividend. Market expectations were for a full-year dividend of around 13.13p.