15 April 2016 | Jamie Harris

Sodexo has reported operating profit of €621 million (£493 million) for the first half of its financial year, marginally up from 2015 (€620 million).

Its revenues were reported at €10.59 billion (£8.42 billion), a 6.7 per cent rise from the same six-month period in 2015.

Broken down into regions, Sodexo’s UK performance for the first half of its fiscal 2016 was €1.1 billion (£0.87 billion), a significant 27 per cent rise. Operating profit in the region was €66 million (£52.4 million), a 74 per cent increase.

Most of its UK revenue includes work at the Rugby World Cup, held last autumn. Without Rugby World Cup revenues, Sodexo reports that organic revenue growth was still 12.2 per cent up on 2015.

Michel Landel, Sodexo chief executive, said: “Based on the momentum achieved in the first half, we confirm our fiscal 2016 targets of around 3 per cent organic revenue growth and around 8 per cent growth in operating profit excluding the currency effect and exceptional expenses for the adaptation and simplification programme.”