Compiling and interpreting a financial index on this scale is a complex task. In recognising this, OC&C has attempted to derive what it considers to be a fair and comprehensive listing. To this end, the following definitions and criteria have been used in compiling this index. Companies included in this listing fall into the broad category of global grocery giants' which has been taken to include companies operating in more than one country and have significant interests in grocery products, including food, food service, beverage, tobacco, home care, personal care, consumer healthcare and petfood. The overall ranking is on the basis of total turnover which may include non-grocery interests in some cases (e.g. pharmaceutical companies) In all cases, figures are representative of the most recently available published data taken at individual fiscal year ends. In the majority of cases the source is annual reports although Reuters and Hoovers have also been occasionally used where reports were unavailable. Where mergers and acquisitions have occurred subsequent to publishing of annual reports, we have recorded the merged entities as separate companies. For non-US companies, data has been converted from reporting currency to dollars using the exchange rate on the day of the fiscal year end. Growth figures have been adjusted to eliminate the effects of currency variations between year ends. When drawing comparisons between companies it should be noted that data does not necessarily apply to the same fiscal year Definitions Sales and turnover figures include excise taxes. Operating profit equals profit before interest and tax, including income from associated companies where relevant, but excluding exceptional items. Capital employed is defined as the sum of the book value of the shareholder equity and long /short term debt. Whilst reasonable care has been taken to ensure that facts stated are accurate, and opinions fair, OC&C cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. {{FEATURES }}