Compass Group PLC has disclosed the acquisition of 229,000 of its ordinary shares on 16 April 2024. The shares were bought through the Company's broker, BNP Paribas Financial Markets, and will be held in treasury. The purpose of this purchase is to fulfill obligations arising from employee share schemes or other allocations of ordinary shares to employees or directors. The highest price paid per ordinary share ranged from £21.5400 to £21.6000, with the lowest price paid per ordinary share ranging from £21.3600 to £21.3800.
These purchases are part of the Company's market equivalent of $250 million share buyback announced on 4 December 2023, which is the initial stage of the Company's $500 million share buyback announced on 20 November 2023. Following these acquisitions, the Company now holds 82,163,788 ordinary shares in treasury and has 1,703,240,189 ordinary shares in issue. This total number of voting rights in the Company may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations to determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
The detailed breakdown of individual trades made by BNP Paribas Financial Markets on behalf of the Company as part of the share buyback program is available for review. The announcement emphasizes that it does not constitute, or form part of, an offer or any 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 for press inquiries, Giles Robinson at +44 (0) 1932 963 486. More details can be found on the company's website.