Educational information, not financial advice or a personal recommendation. Not regulated by the FCA. Do your own research. Capital at risk.
Sterling AlmanacExploreStart hereFind your fitGlossaryCompareMy ListMy PieEarnings calendarSupport

Compass Group (CPG.L)

Consumer Cyclical High-growth

Compass Group is the world's largest catering company, serving millions of meals daily in schools, hospitals, offices, and sports stadiums.

$31.71

Is Compass Group a good stock for a UK beginner?

The honest version: Compass Group is the world's largest catering company, serving millions of meals daily in schools, hospitals, offices, and sports stadiums.

No rating · no target price · nothing for sale here
Price+33.3%
Priced in USD - as a UK investor your £ return also moves with the pound-to-dollar exchange rate, on top of the share price itself.
52-week range+14% past year
$31.71
Low $20.00High $34.69
Where today's price sits versus its past year - context, not a signal.
If you had put $1,000 into Compass Group
$1,333+33%

Over about 2 years to 2026-07-30. This is the share price only - reinvesting the dividends would add to it. And it's the USD return - as a UK investor your actual £ return also moves with the exchange rate. Past performance is not a guide to the future, and it could just as easily have fallen.

Market cap: The company's total value on the stock market - share price times the number of shares. Big = 'large-cap', small = 'small-cap'.
$53.92B
Avg volume: How many shares change hands on a typical day. Higher means it's easy to buy or exit without moving the price.
2.98M
Day range: The lowest and highest price the shares traded at during the latest day.
$31.85 – $33.21
52-week range: The lowest and highest the shares have traded over the past year - a sense of how wide the swings have been.
$20.00 – $34.69
P/E ratio: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth.
26.6
Dividend yield: The yearly dividend as a percentage of the share price - roughly the income you'd earn from dividends alone.
2.1%
Beta: How bumpy the share price is versus the whole market. Above 1 swings more than the market; below 1 is calmer. It's about the ride, not whether it goes up or down.
0.65
How bumpy is it?Beta: How bumpy the share price is versus the whole market. Above 1 swings more than the market; below 1 is calmer. It's about the ride, not whether it goes up or down. 0.65
Calm
Wild
Steadier than most

Based on beta - how much the price swings versus the whole market. Bumpier isn't bad; it just means a rougher ride, which matters more the sooner you might need the money.

Why has it been moving?▼ -4% past week · ▲ +14% past year

Prices move on results, news and the mood of the whole market - no single headline explains a day, and a quiet week is usually just noise, not a signal.

The bull case

Dominance in the global outsourcing market leads to significant economies of scale.

The bear case

Structural shift away from large-scale office catering towards hybrid working models.

What does Compass Group do?

Think of Compass as the invisible engine behind the food you eat at work or university; they manage the kitchens and supply chains for massive organisations. Long-term contracts to provide catering and support services bring in the money, essentially acting as a giant outsourced canteen operator. What counts here is how reliably they win new contracts and rein in costs, since they run on thin margins despite their huge scale.

VQGMI
Factor profile

On our factor screen it looks strongest on momentum and growth, and weakest on value.

Value: How cheap the stock looks versus profits, sales and assets (higher = cheaper). 27Quality: How profitable and financially healthy the company is (higher = stronger). 56Growth: How fast revenue and earnings are growing (higher = faster). 65Momentum: How the share price has been trending recently (higher = stronger recent run). 68Income: The dividend income on offer and how sustainable it looks (higher = more/steadier). 46
Quick checks
What's strong
  • Market leader with a massive global footprint
  • High return on equity shows efficient use of capital
  • Stable business model based on long-term contracts
What to watch
  • Value screens low (27/100)
  • Significant exposure to food price inflation
  • Potential for labour shortages or wage disputes
  • Changes in workplace habits reducing demand for office catering

What do Compass Group's numbers mean?

P/E
26.6
This shows how much you are paying for every pound of the company's profit; a higher number suggests investors are willing to pay more for future growth.
Net margin
4.2%
This reveals that for every pound of sales, the company keeps about 4p as actual profit after all expenses are paid.
Return on equity
26.9%
This measures how efficiently the company uses the money invested by shareholders to generate profit, with a higher percentage generally being a good sign.
Beta
0.7
This indicates the share price tends to be less jumpy than the wider stock market, suggesting a more stable ride.

Does Compass Group pay a dividend?

Yes - Compass Group currently pays a dividend of about 2.1% a year (the yearly payout as a share of the price). A dividend is a slice of profit handed to shareholders; the yield moves as the price moves, and a company can cut or stop it.

More in Consumer Cyclical

Booking HoldingsExpedia GroupeBay Inc.Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.Yum! Brands, Inc.Las Vegas Sands Corp.Marriott International, Inc.Casey's General Stores, Inc.
Appears in
Big UK shares, explained

What are the scenarios for Compass Group?

An illustrative range for the year ahead, with the assumption behind each case — not a prediction or a price target.

$36$32$19today · $32▲ Bull · $34• Base · $32▼ Bear · $29in 1 yearILLUSTRATIVE · NOT A PREDICTION OR PRICE TARGET
Bull
+5% to +10%Stronger-than-expected demand for corporate catering as more people return to offices.
Base
-2% to +2%Steady contract renewals and consistent operational performance.
Bear
-5% to -10%Rising food and labour costs squeezing their already thin profit margins.

What are the pros and cons of Compass Group?

4bull points
6bear points

How many points the write-up makes each way — a balance check, not a score or verdict.

The bull case4
  • Market leader with a massive global footprint
  • High return on equity shows efficient use of capital
  • Stable business model based on long-term contracts
  • Lower volatility compared to the broader market
The catch3
  • Very thin profit margins leave little room for error
  • High reliance on labour and food costs which are hard to control
  • High price-to-book ratio suggests the shares are not 'cheap' by traditional measures
Key risks3
  • Significant exposure to food price inflation
  • Potential for labour shortages or wage disputes
  • Changes in workplace habits reducing demand for office catering
What would flip the thesis

The write-up's own warning lights — if these start happening, the case above changes.

Confidence: medium · data: USD · flags: none · Charts by TradingView Lightweight Charts™
Found this useful? The Almanac is free and ad-free - a coffee keeps it that way.Support →

Built from public filings & market prices, checked for an education-only tone, and never a price target. How we make these →

This plain-English summary was auto-generated on 2026-08-01 from public data and checked for an education-only, no-advice tone (the figures above carry their own, usually fresher, 'as of' date). It's information, never a recommendation.

Figures as of 2026-08-01. Prices may be delayed and numbers can go stale - always double-check before acting.