Sodexo keeps goals despite weak Q1

PARIS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - French food services and facilities management group Sodexo said organic revenue fell 1.5 percent in the first quarter of the 2016/17 fiscal year, reflecting weakness in its energy and resources unit and higher year-ago comparables.

Sodexo, which is the world's No.2 catering services company after Britain's Compass Group (Other OTC: CMPGF - news) , said it was nevertheless confident of achieving its full year targets as revenue growth would progressively accelerate in the coming quarters.

In November, Sodexo had warned the first quarter would be tough against the year-ago quarter, which included the Rugby World Cup contract which gave a boost to its business, saying it would be "very small to slightly negative".

Sodexo kept its forecast for underlying revenue growth of around 3 percent and a rise in operating profit, before exceptional items and excluding currency effects, of between 8 percent and 9 percent, for the full year.

Sodexo published its first quarter update on its website. (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)