Sales boost for Elior

French contract catering company Elior, which owns Avenance in the UK, boosted third-quarter turnover by 6.2% to g642.9m (£426.6m). Sales over the first nine months grew by 4.6% to g1.9b (£1.26b).

Concession catering in airports, motorways and city sites boosted revenues by 6.4% over the nine months to g631.6m (£419m). The biggest growth came from airports (up 15.8%) and city contracts (up 4.8%).

New UK wins included a six-year contract at Edinburgh Castle worth a total of g15m (£9.95m) and a nine-year deal worth g67m (£44.5m) to manage 16 House of Fraser department store restaurants in London and Scotland, which starts this month.

The company said turnover was still down in northern Europe, but the new contract wins in the UK augured well for a "quick return to growth".

The group said it was still on target to hit its sales growth of 4-6% for the year, and improve pre-tax profits by 15-25%.