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Food services group Compass reported a slump in first-half profit owing to the pandemic impact, but said it expected a gradual improvement in the third quarter.
For the six months ended 31 March 2021, pre-tax profit fell to £133 million from £787 million year-on-year as revenue slipped 32.4% to £8.4 billion.
Operating margin fell 330 basis points to 3.4%, but the company said it remained 'confident' of boosting margin growth.
Looking ahead, Compass said it anticipated a gradual improvement in revenue in Q3, with margin growth to be between 4.5% and 5.0%.
'[We] remain confident in rebuilding the group underlying margin to above 7% before we return to pre COVID volumes,' it added.