Elior bullish in Italy

Elior, the French catering company and owner of Avenance in the UK, has launched an aggressive growth plan for its Italian subsidiary.

Avenance Italie, which recently incorporated the Elior-owned Italian subsidiary RistoChef, aims to boost profits by expanding its operations in the business and industry market, and in schools, healthcare and motorway and airport concessions.

Lino Volpe, chief executive of Elior's Italian arm, said he expected the company to grow by 13% a year over the next few years. The company added that, in the past four years, it had grown at twice the rate of rivals Sodexho, Compass and Gemaz Accor.

Volpe predicted that Avenance would boost turnover to g185m (£124m) this year, compared with g151m (£101m) in 2003, and estimated that it would reach g230m (£154m) in the financial year ending in 2006.