By Hugo Lhomedet and Dimitri Rhodes
(Reuters) -French food caterer Sodexo on Thursday forecast slower revenue growth in 2026 than in 2025, citing challenges in its U.S. business, pushing its shares lower in early trade.
Shares in the Paris-listed group, whose yearly results were broadly in line with market expectations, dropped as much as 12% in morning trade, with analysts at Midcap Partners pointing to its “gloomy” 2026 outlook in a note to investors.
“One of the main drivers of organic growth for next year will remain price increases,” Sodexo’s finance chief Sébastien de Tramasure said in a call with reporters.
The firm now sees 2026 organic revenue growth of between 1.5% and 2.5%, from 3% and 4% previously, and expects underlying operating profit margin to be slightly lower than 2025.
“This is reflective of Sodexo’s challenging contract win momentum,” analysts at J.P. Morgan said in a note, citing a 10.5% drop in revenue from new signings in 2025.
Revenue for 2025 came in at 24.07 billion euros ($28.07 billion), while organic growth stood at 3.3%, slightly higher than the 3.1% expected by analysts.
“Sodexo delivers a disappointing full year performance with organic growth of 3.3% driven entirely by prices,” analysts at Midcap Partners said.
The group, which spun off its voucher business Pluxee in 2024, said in October that Thierry Delaporte will succeed Sophie Bellon as chief executive, effective November 10.
WEAKNESS IN MAIN MARKET
“North America, which remains our largest market, is where we need to improve,” outgoing CEO Sophie Bellon said on an analyst call.
The company, which generates roughly half of its revenue in North America, issued a profit warning in March citing weak performance in education and healthcare in the region.
Softer enrollment is weighing on its mainly Midwest and Northeast campus footprint, but Sodexo is targeting larger universities and athletics accounts, aiming to restore growth from 2027, it told analysts.
Organic growth in the region slowed to 2.8% for the full year from 8.7% a year earlier, hurt by contract losses in its education unit, the company said.
The company does “not anticipate any significant impact on the evolution of our revenue in this first quarter linked to the (government) shutdown in the United States,” the CFO said.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Hugo Lhomedet and Dimitri Rhodes in Gdansk; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
