Charles de Gaulle Contract

Compass Group PLC
20 July 2000

                                                                              
                               COMPASS GROUP PLC
         10 YEAR £250 MILLION CONTRACT EXTENSION AT CHARLES DE GAULLE

Compass Group PLC is pleased to announce that its retail and concessions
subsidiary SSP has been awarded a £250 million, 10 year extension to its
contract for all food and beverage outlets at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal
2.  The initial contract was awarded in 1994.

Terminal 2 has 22 million passengers a year and 30 restaurant/bars.  Customers
are offered a variety of brands including the French 'Hippopotamus' and
'Brioche Doree', McDonald's, Upper Crust and Caffe Ritazza.  New brands such
as Virgin Cafe, TGIF's, Tarte Julie and Petit Bofinger will be part of the
commercial offer.

In 1998 SSP was awarded the 10 year contract to provide all the foodservice
activities at Charles de Gaulle, Terminal 1.

Michael J Bailey, Group Chief Executive, Compass Group PLC said: 'We have
worked very closely with Aeroports de Paris for a number of years to ensure
that passengers at Charles de Gaulle receive a high quality range of food and
drink services.  We are delighted that the success of our operations has been
recognised by this significant contract extension.'


Enquiries:          Nick Lyon / Wendy Baker, Hudson Sandler
                    Tel:  [phone]



Notes to Editors

SSP provides airport catering for 67 airports in 23 countries worldwide.  In
recent months SSP has announced important contract gains at Detroit Airport,
Sydney Airport, and with Swedish Rail's Trafik Restauranger subsidiary.

Compass Group is the largest foodservice group in the world, with over 190,000
employees providing catering for clients including major employers,
educational establishments, hospitals, leisure venues, retail locations and at
major airports and stations throughout USA, Europe, Scandinavia and developing
markets in Asia and South America.  It operates through sector-specific
subsidiaries such as Eurest, the world's largest specialist in providing
foodservice to business and industry clients.  The Group has increased
turnover to over £4.8bn and now operates in over 70 countries world-wide.