Riders on the storm

Food and drink suppliers, even the globe-spanning giants, could be forgiven for a modest performance in 2008. Nigh-on unprecedented food price inflation was challenging enough, even without the tightest credit conditions in living memory.

Add the deepest global recession since the Great Depression and you have a perfect storm. Yet the top 50 grocery suppliers are weathering the conditions remarkably well. The Global 50 delivered a whopping 13.3% average sales growth, according to OC&C’s report – four percentage points ahead of the record of 9.3%, set in 2007. Return on capital employed – a measure tracking how effectively a company is using its investment.