Compass Group PLC has announced that it purchased 100,000 of its ordinary shares on December 14, 2023, in accordance with the authority granted by shareholders at its 2023 Annual General Meeting. The shares were purchased 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 £21.50, and the lowest price paid per share was £21.00. The volume-weighted average price paid per share was £21.1574.

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

Following the purchases, Compass Group PLC now holds 74,880,159 ordinary shares in treasury and has 1,710,523,818 ordinary shares in issue. The total number of voting rights in the company is 1,710,523,818 ordinary shares.

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 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, and the press can contact Giles Robinson. More information can be found on the company's website.