Compass Group PLC has announced that it purchased a total of 97,000 of its ordinary shares on 20 December 2023. The shares were bought through the company's broker, BNP Paribas Financial Markets, and will be held in treasury. The shares are expected to be used to meet obligations arising from employee share schemes or other allocations of shares to employees or directors. The purchases were made on various venues, including CBOE BXE, CBOE CXE, London Stock Exchange, and Turquoise. The highest price paid per share was £21.2500, and the lowest price paid per share was £20.8500. The volume-weighted average price paid per share was £21.0639.

These purchases are part of the company's share buyback program, which was announced on 4 December 2023. The program has a market equivalent of $250 million (£197.34 million) and is the initial stage of a $500 million share buyback program announced on 20 November 2023. The buyback program is expected to be completed in 2024, subject to M&A activity.

Following the recent purchases, Compass Group PLC now holds 75,280,159 ordinary shares in treasury and has 1,710,123,818 ordinary shares in issue. The total number of voting rights in the company is 1,710,123,818 ordinary shares.

The detailed breakdown of the individual trades made by BNP Paribas Financial Markets on behalf of the company as part of the share buyback program can be found in the provided link.

This announcement does not constitute an offer or solicitation of an offer for securities in any jurisdiction.

For further information, investors can contact Agatha Donnelly and Helen Javanshiri at +44 (0) 1932 573 000, and press inquiries can be directed to Giles Robinson at +44 (0) 1932 963 486. More information can also be found on the company's website at www.compass-group.com.