(Adds CEO comment, details on outlook, background, and peer performance)
April 1 (Reuters) - Sodexo said on Thursday it expects its second-half revenue to expand after the French catering and food services group reported a large beat on its first-half profit margin.
The Paris-based firm, whose clients range from England's Royal Ascot Racecourse to the U.S. Marine Corps, forecast an organic growth ranging between 10% and 15% for the six-month period through August 2021, hoping to see rapid recovery once vaccination rollouts are fully deployed.
"We are confident that pent-up demand will ensure a strong pick-up in all segments and activities once the pandemic is over," Chief Executive Denis Machuel said in a statement.
Sodexo, however, said it will remain cautious in view of a resurgence in coronavirus infections, flagging the continuous volatility in the short-term, particularly in Europe, and expected a sequentially stable second-half operating profitability at constant rates.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday ordered the country into its third national lockdown, closing schools for three weeks as he sought to push back a third outbreak.
"We are redoubling our efforts and focus on execution to offset the traditional seasonality gap between first- and second-half underlying operating profit margin," Machuel added, citing cost containment and restructuring.
Last October, the group had announced plans to cut more than 2,000 jobs as lockdowns ate into food services contractors' revenue.
For the six months ended February, Sodexo posted an underlying operating profit margin of 3.1%, beating the target of at least 2.5% it raised in January.
British rival Compass Group , which also announced job cuts, furloughs, and reduced working hours last year, predicted better margins in its second quarter than in the first as it trimmed costs to soften the coronavirus blow.
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