Compass Group, the world’s biggest catering firm, has raised £2bn from investors to shore up its finances as the schools, offices and sporting venues it previously supplied remain largely closed. It is the biggest equity fundraising in the UK since the Covid-19 pandemic began, and was open to both institutional investors and retail investors through the PrimaryBid website and mobile app. Compass said it would use proceeds from the fundraising to pay down debt and strengthen its balance sheet. The fundraising came as the firm revealed its revenues declined by a fifth in March and nearly halved in April, with about 50% of its operations shut because of the pandemic. It posted an operating profit of £854m for the six months to 31 March, down 10% from a year earlier. Compass has become the fourth FTSE 100 firm to raise fresh equity this year, after Auto Trader (£200m), Carnival (£400m) and Informa (£1bn). Russ Mould, the investment director at stockbroker AJ Bell, said: “It seems logical to expect that Carnival, Informa and Compass will be followed by others, especially if the world emerges from lockdown only slowly and the economic upturn proves gradual.” As Compass withdrew its growth and margin outlook for 2020, its chief executive, Dominic Blakemore, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on Compass.” Compass, which employs 600,000 people worldwide, has furloughed 70% of its staff in Europe using government job retention schemes. The company has slashed monthly costs by £500m by scrapping its dividend, reducing capital spending and pausing acquisitions. Blakemore has taken a 30% pay cut, while the fees and salaries paid to the board and executive committee have been cut by 25%. The firm also tapped the Bank of England’s Covid corporate financing facility, designed to help large businesses get through the crisis, for £600m. As schools and offices have begun to reopen in some countries, Compass has overhauled its health and safety protocols including recommendations on PPE, hygiene and site layout. It is simplifying its catering services by offering pre-packaged meals and contactless payment. It said working from home could create new product lines such as “take home tomorrow’s lunch” or home delivery. Sports and leisure venues are likely to be the last sector to reopen. Compass, which supplies catering to stadiums in the UK and US, including Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea football clubs, as well as the Wimbledon tennis championships, is planning for increased use of digital options in whichcustomers will pre-order, pre-pay, click and collect, and said it may deploy more staff to deliver food to the spectator’s seat. Blakemore said: “It goes without saying that Covid-19 has changed everything.”