Sweet taste of success for Britain's sugar boss

The head of one of Britain's major foods producers was today named European Businessman of the Year.

Iain Ferguson, chief executive of Tate & Lyle, won the Forbes award 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.

Best known for being a sugar producer, Tate & Lyle processes a range of other food ingredients.

New York finance magazine Forbes said: "After years of a sagging stock price and a seven-year hiatus from the FTSE100, one of Britain's venerable manufacturers has returned to the vaunted index."

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

Investors piled into Tate's stock last year on the back of rising profits and demand for its Splenda Sucralose product, used in low-carbohydrate food and drinks. This helped secure its promotion to the Footsie last month.

The group works at 61 sites across 28 countries. It employs 6,700 people in its subsidiaries and a further 4,800 in joint ventures.