Campbell Catering records profit drop

CAMPBELL Catering Services has recorded a profit of €3.8 million for the year up to the end of September 2005, according to recently-filed accounts.

This figure represented a drop from a profit of €4.2 million, recorded in 2004. The contract catering business, which was formerly part of the Campbell Bewley Group, also recorded a record turnover of €141.7 million, up from sales of €138.8 million for the previous year. Gross profit came in at €17.6 million and there was a deficit of €26.7 million in the value of shareholders’ funds.

Campbell Catering provides contract catering services to a number of companies, universities and hospitals in Ireland.

The overall contract catering division, which is located in north county Dublin, was set up in the early part of this decade as a joint-venture partnership between the Campbell Bewley Group and the US-based Aramark Corporation.

After an earlier attempt to add to its original 45% stake in Campbell Catering and up it to over 60%, Aramark took complete control of the Dublin business early last year when Bewley’s decided to sell off its 55% interest in the company.