Half Year 2021 Sodexo SA Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Jaafar Mestari - Exane BNP Paribas, Research Division - Analyst : I've got three questions, if that's okay. So firstly, coming back on this point about seasonality in margins. Historically, the delta in group margins, if I'm correct, has been almost entirely driven by just the Education segment, which has pronounced seasonality. So if we look at segments that are less seasonal, like business and industry, do you think you'd be able to show sequential margin improvement in B&I into H2? Secondly, still on margins. I guess, how does it work from here? What's the sequence to better margins in the medium term? And in particular, can you see margins improve as soon as revenue starts to improve? Or will there be a lag? Is there a cap on margins on some of your now renegotiated cost plus contracts? Do you need to formally move these contracts individually to P&L to see the margins improve? Or will there be an automatic improvement? And just lastly, on your performance by subsector. You've talked a little bit about how Sports & Leisure, the fabric of your portfolio there is a bit more conventions, so a little bit less crew sports. But there's another subsegment where I was a little bit surprised to actually see universities within Education deteriorating between Q2 and Q1. Is it just a matter of weeks and months because you don't have much in that base? Did you see significantly better trends with a later opening in universities? Or is there anything else in that sequential deterioration, please?

Question: Jaafar Mestari - Exane BNP Paribas, Research Division - Analyst : And maybe apologies if it wasn't 100% clear. I just had a first question on the segment margins. I appreciate there is significant seasonality at the group level. But if I look at the last 4 years, it's almost entirely because of the Education segment. So B&I has higher margins in H2 in '16, '17, '18, '19. So with that in mind, would you assume you're actually able to show a sequential improvement in B&I margins into H2, please?