Compass Group PLC (LON:CPG) said organic revenue grew by 5.9% in its latest quarter driven by strong levels of new business wins and retentions.
The catering giant has had to cope with the recent death of chief executive Richard Cousins, who was killed with his family in a plane crash near Sydney .
Dominic Blakemore has taken over as CEO.
READ: Compass expects US effective tax rate to fall on Trump's new law
North America was the star in the three months to December with revenue 8.2% higher, while Turkey and Latin America also did well.
Currency movements had a negative translation impact on revenue and profit and if current spot rates were to continue for the remainder of the year, revenue would by £1.2bln lower and operating profit drop by £97mln.
Compass spent £265mln on acquisitions during the last quarter of 2017, the largest which was Unidine, a specialist food service provider in the US.
The group expect its effective tax rate to be reduced from 26.5% to around 24% and the cash tax rate to between 19% - 22% due to proposed US tax changes.
Positive outlook
Compass added that it was a strong quarter and the outlook for 2018 is positive.
“Growth in North America is excellent, and both Europe and Rest of World are performing better than planned.
“Therefore, we now expect to be above the middle of our target 4-6% organic growth range for the full year.”