Sodexo projects annual growth of 20%
Valor Econômico
After a year without real growth, reflecting the financial crisis, the supplier of collective meals Sodexo foresees an increase of 20% in the earnings of the fiscal year that ends on August 31, pulled by the resumption in the activity of the companies and by the growth of the mining and oil sectors. With that, the gross revenues of the company should get to R$ 900 million (US$ 500 million), compared to the R$ 750 million (US$ 380.7 million) obtained in the 12 preceding months. The company closed the first fiscal quarter, which includes the months of September, October and November, with earnings 18% higher in the segment called "remote sites", areas of difficult access such as mines, drill-ships and oil rigs. Among the new contracts in this segment is a unit of the Vale in Minas Gerais, which adds to the 12 other units of the mining company already served by Sodexo.
The segment was not the only one to grow. The company closed a total of 25 new contracts in the quarter, with companies like Avon, Pirelli and the Petrópolis brewery . Besides, it is resuming part of the earnings lost with its current clients that, in view of the adverse financial setting, fired personnel (reducing the number of meals served) or reviewed the scope of contracted services in order to cut down costs. The situation now is the opposite.
The entire sector of collective meals registered an increase in earnings in the last trimester of 2009, which makes the association of the companies, the Aberc, project an increase of 10% in earnings this year. Last year, the growth was 3%, reaching R$ 9.8 billion (US$ 5.4 billion). "We are recovering the prior levels [of services] with the clients that had cuts in the costs and with those that didn't, we see room for the sale of a higher quality service", says Rogério da Costa Vieira, Vice President of the Aberc (Brazilian Caterer and Institutional Association) and President of the National Federation of Collective Meals (Fenerc).
At Sodexo, in the fiscal year ended August 31, 2009, the new contracts - 87, altogether - were not enough to overcome the fall in earnings, differently from what was expected at the beginning of last year, when the company decided to increase the sales team. The earnings with new businesses increased 21%, but with the 16% fall in the earnings of the old ones and a reduction of 4% in the portfolio, by default, the total gross revenue of the company remained practically stable, with a slight increase of 0.8%.
Sodexo is one of the four largest companies of the sector in the country. In the leadership of the market are also GRSA, owned by the British group Compass, and Brazilian Gran Sapore and Puras. In Brazil, the French group is also owner of Sodexo Cheques e Cartões de Serviço (Checks and Service Cards) that acquired VR in 2007, and it is one of the leaders in the national market of meal vouchers and cards.