Food and Facilities Management Services, + 2.9%: Health Care and Seniors, Education and Defense contribute to continued growth

Service Vouchers and Cards, + 15.2%: strong development

SODEXO (PARIS:SW) (OTCBB:SDXAY), a leader in Food and Facilities Management Services, today announced revenue for the first nine months of Fiscal 2009 ended May 31, 2009.

Revenue by activity and geographical area

  (in millions of euro)      9 months Fiscal 2008   9 months Fiscal 2009   Organic growth (1)   Currency impact (3)   Acquisitions   Total change   Food and Facilities Management Services                                                                                                           -- North America           4,051                  4,620                  +3,0%                +10,9%                +0,2%          +14,1%         -- Continental Europe      3,617                  3,917                  +1,2%                -1,4%                 +8,5%          +8,3%          -- UK and Ireland          1,141                  939                    -4,9%((2))           -12,7%                -              -17,6%         -- Rest of the World       1,251                  1,408                  +14,9%               -3,5%                 +1,1%          +12,5%         Total                      10,060                 10,884                 +2,9%                +2,0%                 +3,3%          +8,2%          Service Vouchers and Cards                                                                                                                                                   425                    529                    +15,2%               -4,7%                 +14,0%         +24,5%         Intra-group eliminations   -9                     -14                                                                                             Total                      10,476                 11,399                 +3,4%                +1,7%                 +3,7%          +8,8%           -------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

  1) Organic growth: increase in sales at constant scope and excluding exchange rate effects.                                                                                                                                                                                  2) Revenue from the Rugby World Cup contract, at average exchange rate for the first nine months of FY 2008, was 138 million euro.                                                                                                                                           3) Exchange rate effects are positive (+1.7%), but it should be noted that, contrary to exporting companies, the revenue and expenses of Sodexo subsidiaries are denominated in the same currency. Consequently, foreign exchange variations do not have operational risk.    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

Commenting on these figures, Sodexo CEO Michel Landel, said:

"After the first nine months, Sodexo continues to grow and is on track to achieve its objectives for the current fiscal year. The motivation and commitment of our teams, our strategic position in high potential markets, the scope of our global services offer, our international presence and our solid financial structure are strengths on which Sodexo can continue to rely for the medium and long term."

  Analysis of organic revenue growth            for Food and Facilities Management Services    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

North America, + 3%: continued growth driven by Health Care, Seniors and Education

Continental Europe, + 1.2%: slight progression, affected by declines in Corporate Services, Sports and Leisure

United Kingdom and Ireland, + 8.2%: excluding 2007 Rugby World Cup hospitality contract

Rest of the World, + 14.9%.

In North America, growth of + 3% resulted mainly from Health Care, Seniors and Education.

In an environment strongly affected by reductions in staffing levels and work hours and with a virtual halt to any discretionary spending, Corporate Services' performance continued to decline (- 6.3%). Recent successes include the Federal Reserve Bank (East Rutherford, New Jersey and New York).

In Health Care and Seniors (+ 5.9%), growth on existing sites was moderate and development was affected by longer lead times for client decisions. Among recent new contract successes was Willamette View Hospital (Oregon).

The Education segment (+ 5.7%) grew at a much higher rate than the first nine months of the previous year (+ 3.4%), continuing to benefit from:

increased enrollment on university campuses and in schools,

contract wins during the previous year.

New clients include Brigham Young University (Rexburg, Idaho) and Eastmont School District (Washington).

Sodexo teams in North America won several awards, including:

DiversityInc, the leading publication on diversity in business, ranked Sodexo in the Top 10 companies for people with disabilities as well as for African Americans and Latinos.

In Continental Europe, Sodexo was affected by deteriorating levels of activity in Corporate Services and Sports and Leisure.

Revenue in these segments (- 1.4% overall) declined progressively over the period in most countries, a result of reduced employment levels by some clients and extended periods of factory shutdowns, as well as tightened discretionary spending.

The sharp decline in tourism activity and spending in the Paris region heavily impacted operations managed by Sodexo (the Lido, Bateaux Parisiens, the restaurants of the Eiffel Tower).

Sodexo also won new contracts recently, such as Kamaz in Russia, Ordina in the Netherlands and Roche Laboratories and Facilities Management services for NYSE Euronext in France.

While growth in Health Care and Seniors (+ 3.9%) slowed in the first months of the year due to weaker new sales development, the Group consolidated its position through new contracts such as the Saint Gatien hospital group in France.

With an increase of + 5.5%, Education benefited from the solid successes achieved by its sales teams in Fiscal 2008.

Recent new contract awards include the schools of Helsingborg in Sweden.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it should be noted that the first nine months of Fiscal 2008 benefited from the significant contribution of the Rugby World Cup hospitality contract. Excluding the Rugby World Cup, organic revenue growth was + 8.2% for the first nine months of Fiscal 2009.

On the same basis of comparison, Corporate Services increased + 6.4% reflecting the opening of contracts offering comprehensive solutions for Facilities Management services, particularly in Defense and Correctional Services.

Among recently-won contracts are Unilever (Warrington) and Royal Air Force Strike Command in North Yorkshire.

The very strong organic growth in Health Care (+ 18.4%) reflects the ramp up of Facilities Management services on several Public-Private Partnership (PPP) contracts such as Manchester Royal Infirmary and North Staffordshire Hospital. In addition, in recent months, Sodexo won a new contract with Airedale Hospitals NHS Trust.

Education, benefiting from the success of innovative Foodservices offers, had organic growth of + 4.8% compared to the first nine months of the previous year.

The Rest of the World again recorded strong growth (+ 14.9%). This performance results from continued solid development of mining activities, particularly in Australia, Chile and Peru.

The level of activity in Corporate Services in Brazil, however, has slowed since the beginning of 2009.

Several new contracts were won including Denso in Brazil, Aceria Paz del Rio and Hospital Carlos Lleras in Colombia, Seadrill in Brazil, West Capella in Nigeria, Colgate-Palmolive in Australia, Microsoft (China) Co, Ltd and Wrigley Confectionery in China and the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand.

Service Vouchers and Cards

The 9.2 billion euro in issue volume1 for the first nine months of Fiscal 2009 resulted from strong organic growth and the integration of Grupo VR in Brazil.

Organic revenue growth of + 15.2% reflects the following trends:

continued significant commercial development in Latin America;

staff reductions by large companies, particularly in Central Europe.

Recent successes have included CESU Pass for GSK in France, Intesa San Paolo in Italy (Restaurant Pass), ABB GISLER in India (Restaurant Pass) and Frexport (Food Pass) in Mexico.

1 face value multiplied by the number of vouchers and cards issued

Recent events

Acquisitions

In April 2009, Sodexo completed the acquisition of Radhakrishna Hospitality Services Group (RKHS), a leader in India's Food and Facilities Management services market.

Founded in 1966, RKHS provides services to a wide customer base in 22 of India's states. Today, Sodexo employs 30,000 people in India. With this acquisition, Sodexo has reinforced its global services offer in a high potential market and has become the market leader in Food and Facilities Management services and Remote Sites.

Financial situation

The Group net debt to equity ratio amounted to 50% as of 28 February 2009. This ratio had not materially altered as of 31 May 2009.