Elior reported an 11.7% rise in first-quarter sales on Thursday, as the French foodservice group continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

After suffering from the health restrictions, catering groups are now benefiting from a catch-up effect and price increases agreed with customers to cope with rising food and labor costs.

"Inflationary pressures, particularly on foodstuffs, remain strong and require continued efforts to renegotiate contracts, particularly with public sector customers," said Elior Chairman and CEO Bernard Gault in a statement.

Elior said 73% of its contracts had been successfully renegotiated by the end of 2022, representing 234 million euros in price increases over the past 12 months.

Elior reported sales of 1.23 billion euros for the quarter ended December 31, compared with 1.12 billion euros a year earlier.

The company, which operates in sectors such as corporate, education and healthcare, confirmed its outlook for the 2022-2023 financial year and its medium-term ambitions for 2024. (Reported by Diana Mandiá; Lina Golovnya, edited by Matthieu Protard and Blandine Hénault)