LONDON (Standard&Poor's) May 14, 2007--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on U.K.-based catering services provider Compass Group PLC (BBB+/Stable/--) are unaffected by the group's announced £400 million share buyback program, which will be implemented over the next 18 months. Although the share buybacks will temporarily increase the group's adjusted debt levels, we expect the group's free cash flows to cover a substantial portion of the funds consumed. As a result, we expect credit measures to remain in line with the ratings after the buybacks, with adjusted funds from operations to debt above 30% and adjusted debt to EBITDA of 2.5x or below. We also expect any potential acquisitions or further shareholder-friendly measures to be
