Sweet success for Tate & Lyle chief

The boss of British sugar producer Tate & Lyle was today named European Businessman of the Year by a leading business magazine.

Iain Ferguson won the title for bringing the company to growth and leading it back to the ranks of the UK’s top 100 companies after a seven-year absence.

New York finance magazine Forbes said Mr Ferguson had helped one of the country’s “venerable” manufacturers return to the FTSE 100 Index.

The businessman spent much of his career at Unilever after studying chemistry and psychology. He took over at the helm of Tate in May 2003.

Forbes said: “After years of a sagging stock price and a seven-year hiatus from the FTSE 100, one of Britain’s venerable manufacturers has returned to the vaunted index.”

Investors piled into Tate’s stock last year on the back of rising profits and demand for its Splenda Sucralose product, which is used in a number of low-carbohydrate food and drinks.

This helped secure its promotion to the Footsie last month.

The group operates more than 41 plants and 20 additional production facilities across 28 countries and employs 6,700 people in its subsidiaries and a further 4,800 in joint ventures.

Previous winners of the Forbes award include former Vodafone boss Chris Gent and Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Fred Goodwin.