© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The logo of French food services and facilities management group Sodexo is seen at the company headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, November 30, 2018. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
(Reuters) -French catering and food services group Sodexo (EPA:) plans to spin-off and list its Benefits & Rewards Services (BRS) business during 2024, it said on Wednesday.
The move will leave its two main businesses better placed to benefit from fast growing markets, the company added.
Sodexo, which last May scrapped a plan to sell a minority stake in BRS, said it now intends to spin off and list BRS by distributing shares in the business to Sodexo shareholders.
“Each entity would be in an even stronger position to pursue its own strategy, achieve its goals and realize its full potential”, chief executive Sophie Bellon said in a statement.
The business, which delivers vouchers and benefit cards to businesses for employees, reported a core profit of 162 million euros ($177 million) in the first half of 2023, 46.4% up from a year ago excluding currency impacts.
Core profit for the group was 704 million euros, beating analysts’ average forecast of 679 million euros, according to a company-compiled consensus.
Sodexo, which says price increases will remain above 5% in the second part of 2023, has also hiked its full-year sales forecast. It expects organic revenue growth close to 11% in fiscal 2023, compared with the 8% to 10% previously announced.
The group also raised its full-year forecast for its BRS business. It is now targeting organic revenue growth of close to 20%, up from a previous forecast of 12 to 15%, and an underlying operating profit margin of close to 32%, compared with a previous forecast of around 30% announced in October.
($1 = 0.9128 euros)
(Reporting Diana Mandiá; Editing by Matt Scuffham)