The Compass Group is on course to hit its financial targets this year, according to company chairman Francis Mackay.
Addressing the shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in London this week, Mackay said that the world's largest catering company was on track to expand its like-for-like turnover by 6% in the year to September 2004 and to improve like-for-like margin by 0.2-0.3%.
The British catering giant, which feeds schoolchildren, motorists, office workers and army personnel, has had a good start to the year.
"Strong new business growth has been accompanied by a continuation of our high contract retention rate of 95%," Mackay said. "Although we continue to see some signs of economic recovery in certain geographies, it is too early to confirm this as a trend."
Mackay added that the "new business pipeline" remained encouraging. He unveiled a raft of new contract wins as governments and businesses around the world continued to outsource catering.
In the UK, the contract caterer announced a new three-year contract worth £3m in annual turnover for Eurest with National Grid Transco, across its 12 UK sites, and a three-year extension of Medirest's contract for catering and housekeeping services with Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, worth £9m in total.
Other contract wins included:
USA - Restaurant Associates has landed a 10-year deal to cater for the Strathmore Museum in New York, worth £3m a year.
France - Eurest has sealed a five-year, £3m-a-year contract with shipyard business Les Chantiers de l'Antique; Medirest has won a three-year, £6m-a-year contract with Public Hospital System, Marseilles.
Italy - Onama, Compass's new Italian division, has landed a three-year deal with the country's Ministry of Defence, with an annual turnover of £7m; it has also increased its roadside business by operating seven additional service areas, bringing the total in Italy to 19.
Chile - the Administration of Corrections in San Juan has awarded Compass a 20-year contract, worth £120m in total.
Additionally, the United Nations has awarded ESS Support Services Worldwide two contracts, which have a combined annual turnover of £14m.