For those of you following our investment strategy after the sale of our freehold hotel properties, an update on one of our key holdings this week from Compass Group the UK's largest contract catering organisation operating in 50 countries.

Compass has delivered another good performance in the fourth quarter of the financial year with further strong growth in its North America & emerging regions and a continued improvement in Europe and Japan. Organic revenue growth in the year has been driven by strong levels of new business gains, good retention rates and inflationary price increases. For the full year,organic revenue growth at constant currency is 4 per cent and the operating profit margin increased by 10 basis points. The result this year in financial terms is an increase in dividends from 24p per share to 26.5p per share, a 10 percent rise after profits reached £1,159,000 million and the share price has risen in the past two years from 874p to 1074p.
The potential for Compass which is based in Chertsey in Surrey, continues to grow at a healthy rate and justifies our increased investment in the past six months. With its world wide operations it gives a solid base for future profits and increasing dividends.