July 2 Reuters French food caterer Sodexo reported slower quarterly sales growth on Tuesday, missing market forecasts, citing a slowdown in China and a change in how it recognises revenues from a large project in Australia.

Shares in the Parisbased group, which spun off its voucher business Pluxee at the start of February, fell 5.5 by 0910 GMT.

The slowdown in China is impacting mainly the tech sector, particularly the corporate service segment, Chief Financial Officer Sébastien de Tramasure told analysts in a call.

But he added Sodexo39;s position in China remains very solid and it strongly believes in the market39;s potential in the long term. Sodexo did not report countryspecific revenue numbers.

The group39;s revenue rose 6.8 organically to 6.07 billion euros 6.51 billion in the third quarter through May 31, compared to a year earlier. That was below a consensus forecast of 6.11 billion euros provided by the company.

Excluding an effect from the change in revenue recognition for a large Energy Resources project in Australia, organic growth was 7.2 in the quarter, it said.

Sodexo said organic growth slowed down from the previous threemonth period due to lower pricing effects, higher comparison numbers, and the positive impact of the leap year in the second quarter.

It has not provided a growth number for the second quarter. Organic growth was 8.5 in the first half of the fiscal year.

About half of the organic growth was fuelled by price increases, which fell…