Compass says had strong quarter

LONDON (Reuters) - Compass Group (CPG.L), the world's biggest caterer, said on Monday it had a strong third quarter, with profit margins and revenues, excluding acquisitions, in line with the levels seen in the first half.

The firm, which employs over 350,000 people to feed office workers, soldiers and schoolchildren, said it was continuing to mitigate the impact of rising food and labour costs by, for example. changing menus and shift patterns.

"Our diversified and robust business model continues to give us confidence about the full year and the future potential of the business," it said in a trading update.

Compass, which counts Chelsea football club, the O2 arena and the Bank of England among its clients, said in May that revenues, excluding acquisitions, rose 5 percent in the six months to March 31, while its operating margin was up 60 basis points to 5.7 percent.

The group also said on Monday it had bought U.S. healthcare support services provider Medi-Dyn for $50 million (25 million pounds) and that it had completed 21 million pounds of its new 400-million-pound share buyback programme, which started on July 1.

Compass is expected to post a profit before tax and one-off items of 557.5 million pounds for the year ending September 30, up from 442 million the year before, according to the median forecast of 16 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Compass shares have outperformed the DJStoxx travel and leisure sector .SXTP by 34 percent since the start of the year. They closed at 345 pence on Friday, valuing the business at about 6.5 billion pounds.

(Reporting by Mark Potter; Editing by David Cowell)