Staff at Compass face an uncertain future after the catering services giant revealed plans to cut costs by £50m over the next 18 months.
The group, which supplies food for schools and companies, said the target would be achieved through “restructuring and streamlining the organisation”, although it declined to quantify how many of its 110,000 UK employees would lose their jobs.
Mike Bailey, chief executive, said: “Inevitably there will be some management job cuts. But our growth target of 6% will add another 20,000 jobs worldwide. We are able to redeploy people.”
Bailey admitted Compass was not doing as well as it should, but he said he was not about to follow his chairman who last week announced he would stand down next February.
The cost-cutting plan is part of a wider strategy that Compass is introducing as it seeks to regain investors’ confidence after two profit warnings in the past nine months.
