Job title: CEO 

Company: Sainsbury's

Anyone still surprised at Mike Coupe's flair for bold strategic moves really wasn't paying attention. Soon after taking over at Sainsbury's from Justin King in 2014, he set out his stall in a roadmap whose radical scope was effectively disguised by its bland headlines. 

Coupe, 57, quickly emerged as the analytical ice to the showy King's fire, promising Sainsbury's would be "there for our customers," a platitude that soon found a concrete expression through the £1.4bn acquisition of Argos owner Home Retail Group (once it had divested the moribund Homebase). Market luminaries (other than The Grocer) cast doubt on the wisdom of the deal, but Coupe was vindicated in both strategy and execution.

Placing the excellent John Rogers in charge of Argos and the speed of the integration both point to the cerebral CEO's sense of purpose, but his real insight was in understanding that while the discounters undoubtedly pose an immediate challenge, the industry's long-term existential threat comes from online, and particularly Amazon.

This may be why Sainsbury's excursion into a discount model through the Netto joint venture proved so short-lived - it was worth a try, but was probably too late off the blocks. With Argos, Coupe is already showing that real estate, once thought to be the Achilles heel of the incumbents, can be turned into an advantage if you offer the right services to customers in the right place at the right time.

Yes, having Argos (and Habitat) will drive customers to the store, but perhaps more importantly it will drive loyalty, a lesson Sainsbury's learned somewhat belatedly from the glory days of Terry Leahy's Tesco. Coupe's buyout of Aimia's Nectar earlier this year was evidence of this, and was further proof that the 2014 strategy - in which Coupe promised Sainsbury's would "know our customers better than anyone else" - was the real deal.

And while it may be some time before Amazon can offer a really compelling alternative to the big four in the food arena, Coupe is getting his retaliation in first - big time.

In stunning the City earlier this year with the biggest UK retail merger ever, the Sainsbury's boss showed just how unwise it is to underestimate the determination of this quiet man.

Notwithstanding the many obstacles the Sainsbury's-Asda merger will face, it could turn out to be Mike's real coup, something the stock market is acknowledging in the 25% rise in Sainsbury's share price since the deal was announced. Linking Asda parent Walmart's globally unrivalled buying power in non-food with Argos's first-class fulfilment capability should give even Jeff Bezos sleepless nights.

It won't all be plain sailing. Disposals will be required and some space (and people) will need to be retired, but there is good scope for repurposing Asda space in particular, which may lend itself better to the concession model than Sainsbury's, where food sales densities tend to be higher. The Argos and Asda customer demographics are highly complementary.

In creating a new market leader there will be regulatory hurdles to jump, of course, and CMA approval is by no means a given. But Coupe gave an assured performance alongside his old ally, Asda CEO Roger Burnley, in a recent grilling by MPs, and with the rise of the discounters there's a powerful argument that even after the 'Jasda' merger, customers now have more choice and variety in their weekly shop than they ever did at the peak of the Tescopoly.

With 14 years at Sainsbury's following spells at Unilever, Tesco, Asda and Iceland, Coupe knows the industry inside out and is well-placed to lead the changes it needs in the future, from the tectonic shifts to subtler tweaks in pricing strategy, merchandising and ranging.

For now, trading at the core Sainsbury's estate remains soggy at best. But if the past four years have proven anything, it's that Coupe isn't afraid to stick his neck out. Fortune may yet favour the brave.

Job title: CEO 

Company: Tesco 

After completing the spectacular £3.7bn Tesco-Booker merger, lots of people expected Dave Lewis to walk off into the sunset (or Unilever, anyway) but despite his hugely impressive turnaround since he joined the flailing supermarket chain in 2014, Lewis clearly has unfinished business. 

The Tesco boss wasted no time appointing Booker CEO Charles Wilson as Tesco's UK CEO in February, while simultaneously jettisoning Matt Davies after a solid if unspectacular performance as Lewis's number two. Wilson looked the perfect man to help Lewis seek the synergies investors are demanding from the deal. And while sadly illness has forced Wilson to take a back seat, temporarily at least, the early signs from the merger are encouraging. June marked the 10th consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth at Tesco with Booker sales soaring 14%, as rival wholesalers imploded in the wake of the merger. 

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Booker deal is the shared use of resources it promises. The launch of the first Chef Central in Tesco's Bar Hill store in Cambridge is the most obvious manifestation to date and Lewis has since revealed it is trialling 50 different models of the scheme, targeted at caterers, shifting bulk packs of tea, ketchup, rice and so forth. But Booker is also using Tesco's DC in Magor, Monmouthshire, to improve service to customers in South Wales, while further benefits are expected to accrue from introducing Tesco own-label lines - rebranded, of course - for Booker's symbol customers. 

Underscoring its focus on being "the UK's number one food business" there have been some further trademark 'drastic' moves, notably axing the loss-making Tesco Direct GM business, with the loss of 500 jobs. 

But it's the focus on lowering prices - and holding back inflation in the wake of Brexit - that's most significant. In June The Grocer revealed a dramatic new phase of its Project Reset strategy. The 'Sourcing Reset' will see Tesco conduct a sweeping review of its entire supplier base over the next two years, with Lewis insisting it will be a "transparent and structured" process. (Lewis has also promised to relaunch 10,000 own label products by the end of 2018 under the Project Atlas strategy.) 

The same month, Lewis announced plans to axe its Brand Guarantee - a reflection of the work that had been undertaken since the cashback scheme launched in 2015 to make Tesco more competitive, he insisted. 

And while the two moves appeared to contradict one another, there's no doubt Tesco's prices are sharper. The same month, research from Bernstein revealed that Tesco's Farms brands were only 5% more expensive than the equivalent hard discounter prices. But newer Tesco discount brands to have emerged since 2017 were up to 22% cheaper, 'without promotions'. 

This work "allows Tesco to entertain the idea of a discount chain", says Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne. And press reports suggest up to 60 new stores could open as early as September via a new discounter fascia called Jack's. Speculation is also growing as to where Booker might fit into its supply arrangements. 

The long-term 'strategic alliance' announced earlier this month with French hypermarket chain Carrefour is no less intriguing, a move that press commentators have attributed to the threat from the Sainsbury's-Asda deal that emerged in late spring. In reality, it's more likely to reflect Tesco's sourcing and sales performance weakness on branded goods in its European business (in contrast with its fresh food sales, which were singled out for special mention), as well as the imminent arrival of Brexit, with the alliance enabling Tesco to buy more goods in euros. A bit like the Bank of England then.

Tesco's boss was even called in to No 10 recently, alongside other business supremos, to give the government advice on negotiations for Brexit, leading more than one industry observer to express the wish that the UK had someone like Lewis handling the talks with Brussels. 

Job title: Chief executive

Company: Morrisons

When Potts joined Morrisons in early 2015, it was widely recognised that he was a good fit: a steady hand on the tiller and a retailer through and through, who would get Morrisons' underperforming core estate back on track. Promising to "fix, build and grow" the supermarket, there was the odd doubt expressed over his strategic know-how - but reservations were quickly banished.

Of course, the mild-mannered former Tesco exec did get the store estate firing, but he has overseen so much more than that. Key signs of his tactical nous included quickly abandoning the expensive and distracting M Local convenience chain, renegotiating its Ocado contract and developing a capital-light wholesale arm that is set to deliver over £1bn in sales over the next few years, through customers such as Amazon, McColl's and Sandpiper CI.

Potts' plans are certainly paying off, with Morrisons recording a 2.8% rise in like-for-likes for the year to 4 February and pre-tax profits jumping 11% to £374m. The performance was not just impressive in itself but especially as it coincided with a revival across the big four, particularly at Tesco and latterly at Asda, while the discounters continued to outgrow the rest of the market. 

On the back of this success, Potts was delighted to declare in March that Morrisons had now entered the growth phase of his fightback plan. That month, the retailer opened two new stores, a 27,000 sq ft store in St Ives, Cambridgeshire and 25,000 sq ft store in Abergavenny. Another superstore in Birmingham will open this autumn and Potts says the retailer is committed to "opening a handful" of stores each year, with the expansion programme "modest and sustainable". 

Modest it may be, but for Morrisons it is a sign of the renewed confidence it is operating with under the leadership of Potts, who spent 38 years at Tesco. Before the latest openings, the retailer had opened just one store and closed almost 30 during the Potts era.

Put simply, Potts has transformed Morrisons. And he has done so by embracing core principles that founder Sir Ken Morrison would have appreciated, namely getting the right products on to the shelves at the right price. In doing so, he has been able to win back traditional Morrisons shoppers, but he has also embraced modern trends such as free-from and vegan.

Where Morrisons was previously playing catch-up on many issues, it is now looking to take the lead, with initiatives such as removing all plastic bags for fruit & veg, encouraging shoppers to pick up meat and fish from the counter in their own reuseable containers, and selling UK cucumbers without plastic wrappers. 

There is also renewed confidence in the Morrisons Makes It marketing strategy, an outward expression of the USP of the business. Under Potts, Morrisons knows what it is: a shopkeeper and a foodmaker. There is a good story to tell and shoppers are responding with their feet and their wallets.

For years, when experts speculated that the big four supermarkets could become the big three, it was Morrisons that was considered the most likely to be consolidated. As it turns out, it looks like Sainsbury's and Asda will merge, with Morrisons smaller in terms of scale than the other two. However, Potts is adamant that Morrisons won't be the biggest loser as a result of the merger. Speaking in May as he reported another impressive quarter of growth, with Q1 like-for-likes up 3.6%, he bullishly claimed "competition will only make us stronger".

From others this could sound just like another soundbite, but from Potts it is hard not to be convinced. He clearly relishes the "vigorous competition" that he calls a "very important part of British retail". 

He certainly won't be distracted from his mission to focus on his customers. You can be sure he will stick to his guns on what he sees as the best way forward for Morrisons. And won't be forced into wavering from that because of his rivals' actions.

Job title: Chief executive 

Company: Bidfood UK

Approachable. Bold. Decisive. Three words Bidfood boss Andrew Selley believes his staff would use to sum him up. And his record over the past four years in charge would undoubtedly bear that out. Chuck in dynamic and driven too. He's needed to be, of course. The past two years has seen seismic change and consolidation among rivals - with the £3.7bn Tesco-Booker merger in 2017 following on from Sysco's $3.1bn acquisition of Brakes - while customers have also been agitating for change, most notoriously KFC, which dropped Bidvest for DHL earlier this year, only to come back with its tail between its legs. 

Appointed CEO in 2014, the unflappable Selley has remained focused on his own to-do list throughout, refusing to be distracted by a raft of unpredictable events. 

Immediately after his appointment the new CEO used his decade-plus experience at the business to identify weak spots and to push forward with an action plan that saw its cumbersome administrative structure dismantled, the acquisition of small, nimble competitors and the in-sourcing of IT contracts, resulting in the launch, inter alia, of a new and improved e-commerce site that includes live pricing and real-time stock information. 

Selley has also not been afraid to walk away from unprofitable contracts in a bid to boost the bottom line. Profits are up a further 20% this year, in line with its five-year plan to double them. 

Selley has more recently focused efforts on repositioning the business as an innovator. That's included the recruitment of more in-house development chefs to cook up award-winning own label ranges, with 1,700 new products added (including more vegan and world foods options) and four new specialist ranges rolled out across wine, fresh meat, ice cream and coffee. 

Then there's the launch of three new hospitality hubs in an attempt to create centres of NPD excellence, including the first of its kind in Scotland in July 2017. The Larbert-based hub will work alongside stakeholders in the £14bn Scottish food and drink sector and includes a bar, deli and industrial kitchen, all to showcase the latest trends and innovative ideas from executive chefs. Spearheaded by Selley, it's the perfect way for Bidfood to position itself on the frontline of emerging foodie trends and build better relationships with local partners. 

Training has also been a core component of Selley's strategy with the establishment of its 'Care, Share and Dare' culture initiative, including workshops and a Dragons' Den style contest to actively encourage recommendations for business change. The initiative saw more than 500 responses and a significant uptick in employee engagement. 

Selley hasn't neglected the nuts and bolts of the business either. Telesales opening times have been extended, Sunday deliveries introduced, and its price list simplified. IT contracts have been successfully in-sourced, with 60 projects delivered on time and on budget, reducing costs by 50% and resulting in a whopping 952% increase in sales on Bidfood Direct. It has also provided full supply-chain traceability on 3,000 British products for the first time, hosted a second Plate2planet conference, and launched depot-wide smart vehicle tracking technology to help customer service teams keep track of deliveries. 

And all that without even taking into account the multiple name changes at the business that finally saw it settle on Bidfood in April 2017. 

Throughout this process, Selley has hardly appeared to break into a sweat, the CEO remaining unassuming and refreshingly straight-talking throughout. These qualities have been recognised by his peers. Selley was appointed chairman of the FWD in November 2016, the first to come from a foodservice distributor and a role that sees Selley tasked with steering the industry through its biggest change to date: Brexit. Calm, considered and dynamic to boot, it's hard to imagine who could be better to take on the challenge.

Job title: Founder and CEO 

Company: Ocado

Transformational. That's how Tim Steiner has described recent developments at Ocado. And for once, no one is arguing. Forget the results. (In February Ocado reported a fall in pre-tax profits from £12.1m to £1m followed by a pre-tax loss of £9m in the first half of 2018.) Look at Ocado's share price! Last June it was 238p. Today it's over 1000p, valuing the online grocery specialist at more than £7bn - a market cap greater than M&S, or Morrisons (one of its customers), as the former Goldman Sachs bond trader has finally but spectacularly delivered on his promise of international deals. 

Since November and in the space of six months, Ocado has secured four international deals, successfully licensing the capabilities of its Ocado Smart Platform to Casino in France, Sobeys in Canada, ICA in Sweden and last but definitely not least US giant Kroger. 

The deal with Kroger, one of the world's biggest supermarket chains, is for 20 customer fulfilment centres across the US, and has propelled not only Ocado but grocery retail into a transformational period on a global scale, raising the stakes against the mighty Amazon, as well as Walmart and IGD predicting the US market alone will grow $20bn as a result. As Steiner himself put it: "Ocado's unique, proprietary and industry-leading technology is set to transform the shopping experience of consumers around the world" allowing it to begin to "fulfil our ambition to change the way the world shops".

'Ocado, changing the way the world shops' is one of a number of recently registered Ocado trademarks, and such is the excitement among (newly converted) analysts that one has dubbed Ocado "the Microsoft of retail" as it explores other retail applications such as fashion, where its "skills at moving things", as Steiner put it, "is just as useful as food". 

As well as his continuing ambition, what's been impressive is the incredible resolve Steiner has shown in the face of so many detractors, over so many years. Since founding the business with two fellow Goldmans colleagues in 2000, it's been continually ridiculed and written off. Even after it floated in 2011. Even after signing its first licensing deal with Morrisons back in 2013, outmanoeuvring Waitrose and propelling its share price from a low of 55p to a then high of over £6. 

As Ocado failed to capitalise on that deal, Ocado's share price plummeted again, as short sellers bet in their droves on the value of Ocado falling further. But recent events have not only catapulted Steiner into the Rich List, with a personal fortune estimated at £130m. They've left no-one in any doubt that Ocado is now a truly world-leading British technology company. 

Like Steiner, Ocado is not resting on its technological laurels, either. In June it opened a new distribution facility in Erith, Kent. It's Ocado's fourth customer fulfilment centre and the second to be fully automated with robots. Only this, at 563,000 sq ft, is more than double the size of Andover, making it the largest automated grocery warehouse anywhere in the world. 

The new facility immediately enabled Ocado to expand delivery in the south east, while supporting the online expansion of Morrisons, and it's only running at a fraction of its potential - which is to fulfil 220,000 orders a week - leaving huge room for growth. 

With its army of swarming robots moving silently across a hive of baskets, packing goods into the crates to be whisked away at incredible speeds, the technology at Erith also surpasses even the Andover CFC in terms of efficiency. 

And the innovation doesn't stop there. Ocado is now planning a rapid on-demand delivery service to challenge Amazon Prime Now, with a possible hint at its name in the recent trademark 'Ocado Zoom'. 

It's also pioneered the use of voice search. Of course, one would expect that of a company like Ocado. But rather archly it developed it using Amazon's Alexa rather than Google Home. Perhaps Steiner was trying to make a point. 

Job title: Chief executive officer 

Company: SSP

Whether it's on a train or a plane, traditionally the food on offer has been a joke. But like British Rail, that's history. The results returned by travel food specialist SSP, which has hundreds of outlets in airports and train stations in the UK and around the world, are seriously good. And that's largely down to CEO Kate Swann, who took control in July 2013. 

As a brand name SSP would probably elicit blank stares from the public, but almost all will be familiar with the brands SSP owns, such as Upper Crust and Caffè Ritazza, or those it operates, including hundreds of Starbucks, Burger King, Yo Sushi, Pret and M&S outlets. 

The SSP-operated M&S Simply Food unit at London Waterloo Station is the biggest M&S store in a rail location, at 9,500 sq ft. SSP has worked with M&S since 2001, opening its latest M&S in London Bridge, which is "performing ahead of expectations".

Running so many different outlets - and doing so well - is a tall order, with minimal storage, cramped conditions for food preparation, and huge peaks and troughs in demand. In total, SSP has 450 brands that make up over 2,500 outlets operating in 30 countries, each tailored to their own location. More than 35,000 employees serve a million customers every day and it's rapidly expanding in the US. It's huge and complex but, under the control of Swann, never unwieldy. 

Swann arrived in 2013 following a successful nine-year spell at WH Smith, where she defied expectations by flipping annual losses of £135m into profits totalling £100m through a focus on growing its travel division. 

So SSP was a natural move. Her first task was to float the business and, through ruthless attention to data and detail, the shares price has risen ever since, from 210p at the time of the IPO, to 691p today. In that period, sales have grown from £1.8bn to £2.4bn, underlying operating profits are up from £78.8m to £162.9m and earnings per share has grown 22% annually, while net margins have improved from 4.3% to 6.8%. 

Swann has expanded the business around the globe too, growing the SSP business in North America and Asia Pacific. She also instigated greater focus on air travel, which accounted for 62% of revenue in 2017, up from 52% in 2014. Revenue from America and the rest of the world (excluding Europe) has almost doubled since 2014 and now accounts for 30% of group sales.

She has achieved this by expanding SSP's physical presence, going from 1,981 units and 300 brands when she arrived to 2,500 units and more than 450 brands. 

The self-confessed Love Island fan has also teamed up with top celebrity chefs including Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, James Martin, Gino D'Acampo and Paul Hollywood. And she's signed new deals with hot food to go brands including Bottega, Leon, Crussh and Grind.

Swann has spent much of her career in food and drink, joining Tesco's graduate scheme in 1999 before spells at Homepride and Coca-Cola (she also spent time at Dixons, Homebase and running Argos and WH Smith before joining SSP). 

This rich spread of experience, and her innate understanding of what customers actually want, is evident in her latest creation, Urban Express, which opened in the newly revamped London Bridge station in May. 

It sells a more recherché range of products than a typical train station c-store: the bestselling product is a cold can of slimline gin & tonic, the wine is from Berry Bros & Rudd, the ready meals are from Cook and the books are from Foyles. It caters for the well-heeled commuters emerging from the Shard who are looking for a step up from an overpriced Cornish pasty.

It's just one example of how Swann is driving SSP to deliver better quality. Other innovations include smoothies blended at the counter, special edition coffee frappés and premium items through its brand partners, which are not available on the high street, like Starbucks Deli sourdough sandwiches. It's a typical example of quality innovation from Swann and SSP. No doubt there is more to come.

Job title: Managing director 

Company: Thatchers

Family-owned businesses aren't generally considered to be the best at innovation. With family ownership, the conventional wisdom goes, in comes conservatism, protectionism and corporate sluggishness. But in the case of Somerset's Thatchers, the opposite is true. After years of investment in marketing and production capacity, as well as a ruthless focus on driving home the premium credentials of its brands, Thatchers looks certain to pass the £100m sales milestone in the near future. It's gone from being a relatively niche purchase to the third biggest cider brand in the UK, with turnover hitting £84.9m for the most recent financial year - a 17% increase. 

Indeed, as The Grocer's Britain's Biggest Alcohol Brands 2018 report revealed last month, supermarket value sales of Thatchers' ciders grew by more than a third (34.2%) to £64.3m over the past 12 months. That's an added £16.4m in value, the largest gain of any cider brand in our top 100 ranking [Nielsen 52 w/e 21 April 2018]. 

None of this would have been possible without Martin Thatcher at the helm. Thatcher, who took over the family business as MD in 1992, has managed to grow Thatchers into an fmcg heavyweight in its own right without selling out the business' family values and focus on quality and heritage. Under his watch, some £35m has been invested into the brand's home, Myrtle Farm, with new fermentation systems, canning and kegging lines and bottling kit. 

All of this has been done with sustainability in mind, too. The farm uses a biomass boiler, for instance, which is fed on prunings from its orchards to provide energy. Apple waste from its cidermaking gets used in anaerobic digestion, a new bonded warehouse is being kitted out with rooftop photovoltaic panels and a new multimillion pound canning line has significantly slashed the road miles of its vehicles. 

Thatcher also takes risks with NPD: over the past year alone the brand has moved its Gold cider into five-litre kegs, unveiled a new sparkling apple wine range called Family Reserve and boosted its Cider Barn range with a new 'Redwood' variant. 

What it hasn't done is mindlessly capitulate to industry trends. Crucially, Thatchers has made inroads only where it sees room for stable, long-term growth, such as moving its Gold and Haze ciders into four and 10 can-packs to capitalise on growing demand for the format, but eliminating the need for plastic ring carriers by opting for cardboard duo-wing packaging instead. 

And the trends it has tapped, it has done so with sensitivity and caution - the focus is on heritage and quality rather than experimental flavours. Thatchers' foray into craft canned ciders with a duo of 'Stan's' 330ml ciders, Leaf Twister and Barrel Roller, for instance, has gone down a storm, with listings in all of the big four. It's early days yet, but the two SKUs combined have almost raked in their first £1m in value sales [Nielsen]. 

Martin Thatcher hasn't been shy about getting the brand's message out there, either. The brand has embarked on big name sponsorships of both sports and live music events, netting the coveted title of Glastonbury's official cider and launching its own 'The Haze Sessions' event to play up the connection between Thatchers and live music. It's also launched an initiative with music website NME called the Emerging Artists Project. In sports, Thatchers Gold has tie-ups with major rugby, football and cricket teams in its West Country homelands. 

Last but not least, Thatcher has proved his dedication to the company's heartlands time and time again, opening up the farm to members of the public for regular open days and, together with the rest of the family, setting up a charitable trust called the Thatchers Foundation, which invests and raises funds for the local community. Thatcher may not command a retail empire or global fmcg juggernaut like some of the other contenders for The Grocer Cup, but the consistent success of his stellar business is no less notable.

Job title: CEO 

Company: GSK

Emma Walmsley loves selling drugs. And she does it brilliantly. She took over as CEO of GlaxoSmithKline on 31 March 2017 and endured a less than auspicious start, with shares plunging from 1659.50p on the day she was appointed, to 1287.50p in early December 2017. It was a five-year low caused by an anxious market watching as GSK's debt continued to grow. 

But the unruffled Walmsley has made five swift and clearheaded decisions to reshape the business, each of which has bolstered confidence among investors. The share price was back up to 1576.60p at the time of going to press. 

First, she wisely opted not to buy the consumer health business of Pfizer that was up for grabs for $20bn, a move proposed by the previous management that puzzled and unnerved investors. They worried the acquisition would have swollen GSK's already fat debt to perilous levels. 

Second, she bought the remaining 36.5% stake of GSK's consumer healthcare joint venture with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis for £9.2bn. With brands including OTC stalwarts such as Beechams, Nicotinell, Panadol and Piriton, as well as Aquafresh, Sensodyne and Corsodyl on the oral health side, Walmsley said the transaction "addresses one of our key capital allocation priorities and will allow GSK shareholders to capture the full value of one of the world's leading Consumer Healthcare businesses, benefiting adjusted earnings and cash flows, and helping us accelerate efforts to improve performance. Most importantly, it also removes uncertainty and allows us to plan use of our capital for other priorities, especially pharmaceuticals R&D."

With full ownership, Walmsley has come under pressure from investors to spin off the consumer division and create a pure pharma and vaccine business. Her comments, and her form as CEO to date, suggest Walmsley won't let shareholders determine the strategy. 

Third, amid falling UK sales, Walmsley is selling the 145-year-old Horlicks business. The UK may be falling out of love with the traditional malty brew but it's hugely popular in other parts of the world, including India. Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Kraft Heinz are all reportedly interested in a deal that could fetch GSK up to £3bn. It would also jettison a non-core brand and, like the Novartis deal, allow a clearer focus on lucrative medicines. 

The rising share price, a reassurance that the shareholder dividend will remain and the new sense of stability Walmsley has bought to the business have been further bolstered by the results she has delivered. Last year, sales climbed 8% to £30.2bn and operating profits jumped 12% to £8.5bn. All three divisions of the company - consumer, vaccine and pharma - reported good growth. 

Fourth, new drugs are on the way, in particular the three Walmsley made a priority when she took over. Each recorded positive results in late-stage trials and are predicted to generate billions in revenue inside five years. Meanwhile Advair, an asthma medication that delivered a far from wheezy 8% of GSK's total revenues in 2017, remains unchallenged by rivals. 

Finally, Walmsley has shaken up the business in terms of personnel. A profile in the Financial Times from 2016, shortly before she took over as CEO, quoted a colleague describing Walmsley as a "strong and dynamic leader" who combines a "personable style with a steely focus". She can be "ruthless with underperformers," it added. "If you are not on your game, you are gone." 

In January Walmsley lived up to her reputation, replacing 50 of 125 senior managers. She hired from outside the business, including Walmart and Google, and promoted existing talent from within in an attempt to bring "new ideas and skills" and "increased diversity" to the business. It's another decisive move that brings GSK firmly into the future. And with Walmsley in control, that future looks bright.

Job title: President for Northern Europe 

Company: AB InBev

At a time when many of the UK's biggest brewers are struggling amid a backdrop of delistings, insurgent craft brands and CO2 shortages, AB InBev is thriving. It now owns the two biggest beer brands in the UK, Budweiser having overtaken Heineken's rival Foster's earlier this year. It has Jason Warner, who joined as its president for Northern Europe in 2016, to thank for much of this success, with its UK business delivering double-digit growth in the first half for the third consecutive year.

That's not to say InBev was in dire straits before Warner took the reins. After all, Stella has been the UK's number one for many years. But it played second fiddle to Heineken for much of that time, outpaced by the Dutch brewer in product innovation and marketing. Warner has been turning the tables. 

He's done so through innovation but above all marketing and in-store activation. AB InBev's CEO Carlos Brito is said to have once called AB InBev "a marketing company that just happens to make beer". A similar attitude is key to Warner's success: he's taken mid-tier lager brands - Stella, Corona and Budweiser being the best examples - and seeded each with targeted campaigns and cleverly negotiated sponsorships, while supporting retailers, big and small, as well as pubs and bars, racking up massive sales gains in doing so.

Budweiser is now undeniably linked with football, having unleashed its biggest-ever campaign for the World Cup in Russia and taken over from Carlsberg as the official beer of the Premier League. Corona has ridden the growing trend for posh world lagers, boosted by a series of youth-focused music festivals to become the UK's sixth-biggest beer brand. And Stella's 'wifebeater' alias is all but forgotten thanks to its repositioning as a pricey European lager and tie-ups with posh sports events such as Wimbledon and Ascot. 

The result? The three brands (including Bud Light under Budweiser's umbrella) added a combined £70.5m to AB InBev's coffers over the last year, as The Grocer's Britain's Biggest Alcohol Brands report revealed in July [Nielsen 52 w/e 21 April 2018]. 

Warner's marketing chops were honed during long stints in fellow fmcg giants Nestlé and Coca-Cola's marketing departments, before moving to the US in 2009 to take up the role of global VP of Budweiser. Following that, he performed the same role for Corona, before being made global VP for renovation & innovation in 2014. Thus Warner not only understands the power of brands above all else, but has accumulated an intimate knowledge of AB InBev's frontrunners over his 15-odd years with the company. 

Bud Light is a testament to the strength of AB InBev's execution, and deserves special mention. When this lower-alcohol sister to Budweiser tanked in the UK 17 years ago, no one could have predicted that the drink would go on to be one of the most successful launches into the beer market in recent history, with value sales already passing the £30m mark [Nielsen].

Warner has upped AB InBev's standing with retailers, too. It netted the Branded Supplier of the Year award at this year's Grocer Gold Awards, with buyers praising the company as "fully supportive and available when needed", "consistently thinking of new and innovative means to drive sales", and willing to develop and test innovation cleverly. 

It's not all been plain sailing. Earlier this year, the sudden collapse of Conviviality threatened AB InBev's sole route to market in the on-trade. Warner quickly shored up supply by lending money to C&C to help it take over the Matthew Clark operation.

AB InBev also dodged a bullet when supplies of CO2 ran short earlier this year. Then again, it only did so because AB InBev has embraced sustainability through its CO2 recovery systems. 

Warner's achievements have not gone unrecognised: he's been promoted to zone president for the whole of Europe, replacing Stuart MacFarlane. His successor Paula Lindenberg has big shoes to fill.

Job title: Managing director 

Company: Poundland

It's murder on the high street, but Barry Williams hasn't just escaped the chop, he's kept Poundland alive and kicking while others, including chief rival Poundworld, have gone to the wall. And there is no air of false modesty about Williams, who calls it as he sees it. "Tough questions need to be asked of the people running the businesses that have been failing," he told The Grocer in June.

"The demise of the high street is actually the demise of poor retailers. Don't get me wrong, it would be great if business rates were resolved and parking charges were reviewed, but even with all of those headwinds good retailers are surviving and thriving on the high street."

Poundland is doing exactly that. Since Williams took control in September 2017, after originally joining as trading director in October 2016, he has turned negative like-for-likes into positive ones, most recently announcing like-for-like sales growth of 2.4% in the six months to 31 March this year. Last year Poundland staff picked up a bonus for the first time in five years.

It's an achievement made more impressive by the fact that Poundland's owner, Steinhoff, went into meltdown in December 2017, causing chaos for Poundland's supply chain after its credit cover was downgraded. 

Rumours that suppliers were refusing to deliver stock raised the prospect of empty shelves at Christmas but Williams handled the situation superbly, delivering record final week sales of £59m, up 20% on 2016. He later told The Grocer he was "delighted by the support we got from the vast majority of our supplier base. It's at times like that you know who your real friends are."

On the lighter side, Williams obviously enjoys his work, including making mischief on social media, courtesy of Poundland's rude elf mascot (which will return this Christmas). When critics lambasted the original campaign as crude and sexist, Williams doubled down and laughed it off. "I thought it was fabulous," he told The Grocer in January. "It was never our intention to offend, but some old-fashioned British humour never goes amiss."

He's also happy to play power games with big suppliers such as Mondelez, which fired off a legal letter objecting to the "shape and appearance" of Poundland's Toblerone copycat Twin Peaks bar. After a few weeks the spat came to an amicable end, with Poundland agreeing to tweak the design and Mondelez describing Poundland as an "important and valued customer".

In June he went head to head with Boots, putting huge posters in 800 store windows highlighting the "massive price differentials" between the two on popular health and beauty products. 'Protesters' were also spotted waving placards outside Boots stores. All three moves generated enormous publicity for Poundland, but Williams has always been a canny trader first and foremost. He's introduced multi-tiered pricing by offering products for £2 and £5, while keeping 90% of the shop rooted to the original £1 price point. And he's successfully integrating Pep&Co's clothing into hundreds of stores, with those offering the range returning like-for-likes up 9.4%. 

Rising sales demonstrate both moves are working well. As for the future, Williams shrugs off the perennial questions over the long-term viability of a fixed-price retailer, which have only increased since the uncertainty surrounding Brexit hammered the pound. "There is nothing in our numbers, in the performance of our business, in what we hear from our customers or the discussions I've had with suppliers, to tell us that this is not a viable market that can grow into the future," he says.

And while his general demeanour is cheerful and positive, he shows a steely lack of sympathy to fallen rivals, saying "if the market is left just to us, and we are the only fixed-price variety discount retailer on the high street and in shopping centres, then great". 

The good news for Poundland is that the way things are going out there, that's what will happen. And Williams will take full advantage if it does.