Shares in Compass Group were up on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading after the catering company said it had had a "good start to the year".

The group said that "positive trends in organic revenue growth" in the second half of 2010 had continued into the first quarter of 2011, making for organic revenue growth of around 5.5 per cent.

Compass said it was continuing to focus on efficiencies and added that it had seen good revenue growth in its North America and Rest of the World operations.

Since September last year Compass made £25 million worth of acquisitions, including Australian company Life's A Party, German firm Menke Menue and businesses in Spain, Portugal and Japan.

The group said that following the acquisitions it still had a "strong financial position".

By 14:50 shares in Compass Group were up 1.26 per cent on the FTSE 100 to 562.50 pence per share.

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