Sodexo revenue slips as UK arm reports real momentum
Group revenue fell 0.5% to €24bn and margins narrowed in 2026, even as Sodexo UK & Ireland signed new hospital and school contracts.
Sodexo closed its 2026 financial year with consolidated revenue down 0.5% to €24bn (£20bn), even as its UK & Ireland arm points to new contracts and what its chief executive calls real momentum on the ground.
Group organic revenue rose 2%, driven mainly by like-for-like volume growth at Sodexo Live!, the division that runs catering and hospitality for stadiums, arenas and major events. Total reported revenue slipped on currency effects and contract reclassifications rather than a drop in underlying trading.
Sodexo chief executive Thierry Delaporte described the year as "a year of reset and action," and said group performance fell short of its full potential. The admission points to a company still working through the gap between its headline growth figure and its margin.
A reset year, Sodexo calls it. The margin is still waiting to agree.
A margin that moved the wrong way
Underlying operating profit margin fell to 3.4% in 2026, down from 4.7% the year before. Client retention held at 94.4% and new business development reached 7.7%, so the company is not losing contracts at scale — it is making less money on the ones it keeps.
By region, North America revenue fell 1%, which Sodexo attributes to contract losses in education and in business and administration services, along with reclassifications that moved some activity off the books. Europe delivered 2% organic growth, carried by healthcare and senior living contracts rather than corporate catering.
One contract stands out for 2027: Sodexo's catering deal with Meta is expected to ramp up progressively through the fiscal year, a scale addition that should show up more fully in next year's North America numbers.
UK arm points to a stronger run
In the UK & Ireland, chief executive Jean Renton said there is "real momentum" across the region, with a clear strategy and "brilliant people who are determined to deliver." The division's recent moves back up the message: it acquired Olive Catering, signed new contracts with Homerton University Hospital and George Watson's College, and extended existing relationships with Transport for London, the Scottish Parliament and HM Naval Base Portsmouth. The confidence stands out against a British hospitality sector where closures ran at 20 a day this spring.
Group guidance for fiscal 2027 points to organic revenue growth of 2% to 3%, with the operating margin expected to hold broadly at 2026's 3.4% rather than recover quickly. Sodexo, founded in Marseille in 1966 by Pierre Bellon, remains one of the world's largest contract caterers — on these numbers, it is rebuilding profitability more slowly than it is rebuilding scale.
