Sodexo, the French catering and food services group, has announced plans to spin off and list its Benefits & Rewards Services (BRS) business in 2024, as it looks to focus on divisions serving faster-growing markets. Last year, the company abandoned a plan to sell a minority stake in BRS, which provides vouchers and benefit cards to businesses for employees. Sodexo will now distribute shares to its shareholders as it spins off BRS.
The company declined to provide the value of the business after it is spun off. The founding Bellon family, which controls the group with 57.5% of the voting rights, will remain a core shareholder.
In H1 2023, BRS reported a core profit of €162m ($177m), up 46.4% from a year ago, excluding currency impacts. Sodexo’s core profit for the same period was €704m, beating analysts’ average forecast of €679m, according to a company-compiled consensus. Sodexo expects organic revenue growth of close to 11% in fiscal 2023, up from a previous forecast of 8-10%, and has also raised its full-year forecast for BRS, targeting organic revenue growth of almost 20% and an underlying operating profit margin of almost 32%.
