London, July 6, 2026, 20:01 BST
- Compass Group PLC (LON:CPG) dropped 3.49% to $31.57 on Monday, while the FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) lost 0.26%.
- The $1.14 drop on the day wiped out about $1.9 billion in equity value, based on Compass’s 1.70 billion shares outstanding, according to exchange and quote data.
- Monday’s quote is trading about 1.8% over MarketScreener’s lowest analyst target at $31.00. The average target from 19 analysts is $38.40.
- Consensus from the company has FY2026 organic revenue growth at 7.2% and underlying operating profit up 11.2%.
Compass Group PLC (LON:CPG) dropped 3.49% to $31.57 on Monday, trailing the FTSE 100 by 3.23 percentage points. The world’s biggest caterer closed near the bottom of the one public analyst price target. Volume came in around 1.7 million shares on Hargreaves Lansdown’s delayed quote.
Compass shares now trade in U.S. dollars on the London Stock Exchange. The company switched its ordinary share trading currency from sterling pence to dollars on April 1. It restated historic LSE prices using a March 31 rate of 1 GBp to $0.0132080.
There’s a split in the data. Sell-side targets are still calling for upside, but one model-based forecast is under Monday’s price.
| Price gauge | Latest read | Gap to Monday quote |
|---|---|---|
| Monday quote | $31.57 | — |
| MarketScreener average target | $38.40 | up 21.6% |
| MarketScreener low target | $31.00 | down 1.8% |
| Trading Economics end-quarter forecast | $32.10 | up 1.7% |
| Trading Economics one-year forecast | $30.34 | down 3.9% |
The gap is key here, since shares are priced closer to the bear case even as Compass keeps its full-year operating targets. According to MarketScreener, 19 analysts have a mean “Outperform” rating, with the average price target well above the latest trading level. Trading Economics’ models see Compass at $30.34 in a year, tracking analyst forecasts. MarketScreener
Compass’s operating performance has held up better. In May, it reported first-half revenue up 10.7% at $24.98 billion. Organic revenue grew 7.2%. Underlying operating profit rose 11.7% to $1.84 billion and underlying margin gained 20 basis points to 7.4%. Chief Executive Dominic Blakemore said the business had “great momentum across the business” and a “broad-based” pipeline.
| Operating gauge | H1 2026 actual | FY2026 consensus | FY2027 consensus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $24.98 bln | $50.7 bln | $54.4 bln |
| Organic revenue growth | 7.2% | 7.2% | 6.9% |
| Underlying operating profit | $1.84 bln | $3.74 bln | $4.07 bln |
| Underlying operating profit growth, constant currency | 11.7% | 11.2% | 8.7% |
| Implied underlying operating margin | 7.4% | 7.4% | 7.5% |
Compass’s consensus from June 19 shows FY2027 operating profit up $324 million from FY2026, but on Monday the share price fall wiped out about $1.9 billion in equity value. That’s the issue for investors: the share price shifted ahead of the official profit estimates.
Some of the discount is tied to worries over office demand. Reuters said in February that technology, professional, and financial services make up about 20% of Compass revenue, and those sectors are linked to investor fears about AI-driven job cuts. Back then, Blakemore told analysts Compass saw “more opportunity than risk” from AI exposure. Analysts were also worried about possible hits from GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, but Blakemore said the company hadn’t seen any impact yet, according to Reuters. Reuters
M&A puts the stock back in focus. Compass reported net M&A spend of $2.3 billion for the first half, with $1.7 billion on Vermaat and $0.3 billion on Pro Care Management. Leverage was 1.7x net debt to underlying EBITDA as of March 31, above Compass’s 1.0-1.5 target. The company cited acquisitions for the increase.
Key dates are coming up. July 6 was the deadline for dividend currency choices. July 9 is the cut-off for DRIP elections. The company will announce the sterling equivalent of the 25.5-cent interim dividend on July 14. Third-quarter trading numbers arrive July 21, and the dividend is set to be paid July 30.
