Business
Update on Covid-19 and Half Year Results
Update on Covid-19 and Half Year Results.
About this update from Compass Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n RNS Number : 2731N\n Compass Group PLC\n 19 May 2020\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Interim Results Announcement\n \n \n \n \n \n Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) No. 2138008M6MH9OZ6U2T68\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This announcement contains inside information\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Update on the impact of COVID-19 and h\n \n alf year results for the six months to 31 March 2020\n \n \n \n \n Dominic Blakemore, Group Chief Executive, said:\n \n \n \n \n \n 'The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on Compass. We can only exist with the commitment of our colleagues around the world, many of whom have been on the front line of the battle against the pandemic. I am extremely proud of how the organisation has responded, and I'm humbled by the commitment and dedication our people are showing, day in day out.\n \n \n I want to extend my deepest sympathies to the families of those colleagues that have lost their lives to COVID-19. Since the beginning of the crisis, keeping our colleagues safe has been our overriding focus. Colleague and consumer safety will continue to guide everything we do as we move towards reopening more units over the months ahead.\n \n \n The first five months covered by the results we are announcing today showed a continuation of the strong performance we reported last year, but it goes without saying that COVID-19 has changed everything. Compass is a resilient and adaptable organisation and we have moved quickly to manage cash and costs and increase liquidity. We are doing all we can to protect jobs by redeploying colleagues into units that remain open and using government job retention schemes where available.\n \n \n The duration of the pandemic, and the pace at which containment measures are relaxed in different countries is unknown, which makes it a challenge to reliably assess the impact across our markets and our business. We are therefore withdrawing our previous growth and margin outlook for 2020. We remain, however, excited about the significant structural market opportunity globally and the potential for further organic revenue growth, margin improvement and returns to shareholders over time.\n \n \n Given the uncertainty in the short term outlook, today we have launched a £2 billion equity raise to reduce leverage and increase ...