Trading Statement

Compass Group PLC
19 March 2001


                                                                 19 March 2001


Compass Group Trading Update

Compass Group Announces Strong First Half Trading

Compass Group will issue its interim results on 22 May 2001.  Prior to the
interim results close period, the Company today issues the following trading
update.

Compass Group is now the world's largest foodservice company with proforma
annual revenues in excess of £8bn, employing in excess of 265,000 people
worldwide in over 80 countries.  The Group's strategy continues to be one of
achieving strong growth in the £200bn foodservice market through the
development of its sector-focused businesses and the use of its unique
portfolio of foodservice brands, growing both organically and through
strategic infill acquisitions.

Following the announcement by the Group in October 2000 of the proposed sale
of the Forte Hotels division, the auction process continues to go well with
the sale of the Cavendish Hotel announced on 6 December 2000 and the sale of
the Cumberland Hotel announced on 14 March 2001.  The total proceeds from the
process to date are cash of £210 million.  The process continues to be on
track for making further information available to shareholders on the progress
of the disposal of the remaining businesses within the Forte Hotels division
by mid April 2001.

The Group's three geographic regions of the UK, Continental Europe and the
Rest of the World, and North America have continued to grow their like for
like sales in the first half of the year. Like for like sales growth for the
UK division is expected to be over 5% in the first half.  Adjusting for the
impact of the disruption to rail services and by the current foot and mouth
outbreak, underlying growth in the division is expected to be over 6%.  Like
for like sales in Continental Europe and Rest of the World and in North
America have been particularly strong, maintaining the 8% growth rate achieved
last year.  In the first half, business retention rates in the group continue
in line with the 95% rate achieved for the last financial year.

Further progress has been made in margin improvement and the company
anticipates that the trading results for the year for the foodservice
businesses will be in line with expectations.

New Business growth

New business gains in each of the divisions continue to be strong - major new
contracts recently signed include:

* France:  Compass Group today announces that Select Service Partner
has gained the Bale-Mulhouse Airport Operations in the new Schengen and
International terminal.  The contract, for foodservice and vending outlets to
include Ritazza, is for an initial 7 years with a total value of over £7m.

* UK: Major contract gains have recently included:

* a 5 year contract for Eurest Sutcliffe with Thomson Travel Group at
their new UK distribution call centre in Glasgow, with annual revenues in
excess of £2m;

* a 5 year contract with Royal Mint, Cardiff, with total revenues of £
1.3m; and

* Roux Fine Dining has been appointed for a three year contract
representing over £4.5m revenues for client dining and hospitality at the
Merrill Lynch's new European headquarters in London.

* Greece: Compass Group today announces the award of a contract by
Athens International Airport to Eurest Hellas, a 7 year, £11 million contract
to provide employee foodservice and vending at the new Athens airport to be
opened later this month. Foodservice will be provided for 8,000 airport
employees through two restaurants and 5 snack bars.  This is an important
addition to the Group's business in Greece, which also includes foodservice
for hospitals, schools, a motorway restaurant and in-flight catering.

* USA:  Select Service Partner (SSP) recently announced the award of a
10 year, $95m (£65m) contract to run all of the food and beverage concessions
at the Reno/Tahoe International Airport. More than 15,000 passengers pass
through the airport on a daily basis, in addition to 2,000 employees and
tenants based at the airport.

* Denmark: The Group is delighted to announce it has been awarded 5
year contracts for three sites for South Denmark University.  The total
contract value is in excess of £6m and will include Upper Crust.

* Germany:  Earlier this month the Group announced the gain of a 10
year contract with VFB Stuttgart, a DEM 80m (£27m) contract at the newest
football stadium in Germany.  This was in addition to the announcement of the
acquisition of HSG Hoechst Service Gastronomie ('HSG') which will give Eurest,
Compass Group's business and industry foodservice specialist, exclusive
responsibility for foodservice at the Industriepark Hochst. HSG is the Hoechst
owned foodservice company which caters for over 20,000 staff and serves in
excess of 1.1m meals a year at the site with an annual turnover of
approximately DEM 40m (£13.5m). Industriepark Hochst has over 40 companies on
site including not only Hoechst but also Aventis, Messer, Solvay, Nutrinova
and DyStar.

UK catering businesses

The integration of the business in the UK has been implemented with a focus on
minimising the client impact and we are delighted to confirm that retention
rates in the combined UK business have been particularly strong in the first
half of the year.  As announced in December, the integration of the merged
businesses in the UK is in its final stages with the transfer of all finance
support functions to one centre, bringing synergistic benefits and
opportunities for greater efficiency improvements in the business.

Although not material in the context of the Group, foot and mouth disease
restrictions do appear to be affecting some leisure travel in the UK.  The
postponement of some sporting events, such as the Cheltenham Festival, will
also move some revenues in to the second half of the year.  Supply has been
maintained to customers throughout the initial period of the restrictions
although some pricing increases have had to be passed on.

Roadside continues to perform well and is growing in line with the overall
growth for the division. Work on the rebranding of the motorway service areas
continues and will be launched during the summer.  The introduction of the
Compass Group brands Upper Crust and Ritazza has been well-received in the
initial 60 outlets across the Motorway Service Areas and extending the use of
these brands is planned as part of the site refurbishment and improvement
programme.  Travelodge is again substantially ahead with strong growth in
sales as a result of the combination of 325 new rooms being opened in the
first half and underlying REVPAR increases.  The repositioning of Little Chef
continues with the opening of 6 new restaurants in high quality locations
across the country and the introduction of a new menu, which has increased
spend per head.  The growth of Harry Ramsden's continues with the relaunch of
the original restaurant at Guiseley and the opening of nine new outlets in UK
& Ireland (at 5 MSA's and 4 roadside sites).

Synergies

The Group continues on track to achieve planned synergies from the merger,
which are anticipated to be £20m in this year.  These are being achieved
through purchasing initiatives and the consolidation of certain 'back of
house' support teams. Purchasing synergies from the merger will be achieved
through price harmonisation, discounts for bulk purchasing and reduction in
distribution costs.

Infill Acquisitions

During February the company announced a number of strategic moves with the
proposed acquisition of Morrison and Selecta and the creation of a joint
venture in the Middle East.  The total consideration for the three
transactions of £815 million will be paid in cash from existing banking
facilities:

*  Morrison:  Morrison is the number two company in the US healthcare
market with a quality reputation and strong management team complementing the
Group's existing business in the US healthcare market. The Group has already
confirmed that one of the conditions of the offer has been satisfied with the
receipt of competition authority approval. The offer is also subject to the
valid tender of at least a majority of the shares of Morrison common stock on
a fully diluted basis, without withdrawal.  The offer period is anticipated to
close by early April 2001.

*  Selecta:  Selecta is the largest European-wide vending organisation,
with an annual turnover of CHF 827m (£343m) for the year ended 31 December
2000 and contracts in 15 countries across Europe. This is a strategically
important move for the company as its experience in North America as well as
in Europe is that clients are increasingly seeking the choice of a combined
foodservice and vending offer. The formal offer document is expected to be
published by 26 March 2001 and the process is expected to complete no later
than the end of May 2001.

*  Middle East:  Compass Group also announced in February 2001 the
formation of a joint venture in the Middle East with ADNH, creating a market
leadership position in this $1.3bn (£911m) market.

Forte Hotels Division

Trading in each of the hotel brands continues to go extremely well.   Le
Meridien is seeing its strong trading performance continuing with sales year
to date up by 8% at constant exchange rates..  Management fee income has also
increased (up over 20%), benefiting from strong underlying trading performance
and the addition of new contracts.   Total sales for Posthouse have increased
by 6%, with good performances at a number of the Posthouse Premier hotels,
including the newly re-launched flagship hotel at Heathrow.  Heritage sales
are also up by 7%.

Outlook

The Company remains committed to branding, international expansion and market
segmentation in foodservice, with a focus on organic growth, margin
improvement and return on capital employed.

Francis Mackay, Chairman, said: 'Compass Group is in a strong position to
maintain its progress in all its divisions.  The demerger and three key
acquisitions announced in the last month are important moves in the strategic
development of the group. We look forward with confidence to future growth as
a strong and focused foodservice organisation.'

Michael J Bailey, Chief Executive, commented: 'I am pleased to report that
trading in the first half of the current year is in line with our
expectations. Our UK team are making successful steps forward in the
integration of our UK business and delivery of the synergies we anticipated.
The combination of the recession resilience of our markets, excellent business
retention, strong new business growth and some superb infill acquisition
opportunities gives us confidence as to the continued successful performance
of the Group world-wide.'

                                     Ends

For information contact:

Enquiries: Andrew Lynch, Group Finance Director, Compass Group PLC

           Cathi Lawrence, Corporate Communications Director, Compass Group PLC

           Tel: [phone]

           Nick Lyon / Wendy Baker, Hudson Sandler

           Tel: [phone]

Editors notes:

1.  As a business held for resale the trading results of the hotels
division will not be consolidated in the Group's results for 2000/2001.

2.  Website:  www.compass-group.com