Farewell to the CEO who serves 5billion meals a year

THE cricket-loving boss of Compass is standing down after presiding over a surge in its share price during his 11 years at the helm.

When Richard Cousins, 58, took the top job, the catering firm was flirting with disaster after an overzealous expansion. He cut the number of countries it operated in from 100 to 50 and laid the basis for solid growth, which was uninterrupted even by the financial crisis. It is now the world’s biggest caterer and serves 5bn meals a year.

He hands over to European chief operating officer Dominic Blakemore in March and leaves next September. Father-of-two Cousins ( pictured) is a regular in his village cricket team, and was watching The Ashes when he received a call about a takeover bid for his previous business BPB. He shocked investors at Tesco earlier this year by resigning as a non-executive director in protest at its decision to buy wholesaler Booker. Compass made an £877m profit in the first half of this year, up 24.6pc on the same period in 2016. Shares fell 2.5pc, or 41p, to 1571p.