Change at the top for catering firm Compass

Compass Group’s boss is to step down next year, with the catering heavyweight’s chief operating officer taking the reins.

Chief executive Richard Cousins will leave at the end of March, it was confirmed yesterday, before retiring from the board by the end of the following September.

He will be replaced by Dominic Blakemore, who will become deputy chief executive at the beginning of October and step up to the top job on 1 April.

The group, which operates in 50 countries and has a headcount that tops 500,000, saw third-quarter revenue growth of 3.9 per cent when it released a trading update in July. North America enjoyed strong new business.