The French foodservice and facilities management firm cites new business and client retention, particularly in North America, as contributing to a near return to 2019 revenue levels
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Sodexo is initially forecasting organic growth of up to 10% for its 2023 fiscal year | Photo credit: Sodexo
French catering and food services group Sodexo has credited its target North American market after achieving 21% sales growth in 2022.
The company achieved revenues of €21.1bn ($21.2bn) in the 12 months ended 31 August 2022, with Sodexo’s retention of North American clients the highest for 10 years at 96%.
Sodexo deployed more new foodservice brands over the period, following the acquisitions of US companies Frontline Food services and VendEdge.
The foodservice group cited the recovery of the events industry in the second half of the year and a solid return to office working across the last 12 months as driving 23% organic growth for its Business & Administrations division. In Education, organic growth reached 22% following the strong post-Covid recovery in activity in universities and schools in North America, China and India.
In September 2022, Sodexo reorganised its main on-site services business by transferring full profit and loss accountability for its North America, Europe and Rest of the World global divisions.
“Good progress has been made on the priorities I set out at the beginning of the year: North America generated strong growth, improved profitability and its retention and development improved significantly. We accelerated the transformation of our food models through several organic and external investments while also actively managing our portfolio of activities. The transfer of P&L responsibility to regions and countries, fully effective from October 1, 2022, will simplify the organisation. We expect that our financial performance will return to Fiscal 2019 levels this year,” said Sophie Bellon, CEO, Sodexo.
Sodexo is initially forecasting organic growth of up to 10% for its 2023 fiscal year, driven by the expected further recovery of its corporate services and sports and leisure divisions.
Founded in Marseille, France, in 1966, Sodexo maintains a presence across more than 50 countries, providing integrated food, facilities management and organisational services to clients in the corporate, education, healthcare, senior living, leisure and government sectors.
The company achieved revenues of €21.9bn ($22bn), €19.3bn ($19.4bn) and €17.4bn ($17.5bn) in 2019, 2020 and 2021.