Berkeley, Diageo "most admired" in UK

WARC, 2 December 2011

LONDON: Berkeley Group, Diageo, Shell and Unilever are among the "most admired" companies in the UK, according to a new study.

Management Today, the industry title, and the Birmingham City Business School, polled executives from 200 of the UK's biggest public companies about which firms they held in the highest esteem.

The criteria employed included the quality of their management, financial situation, goods and services, marketing, innovation, corporate social responsibility programmes and use of assets.

Berkeley, the construction group, led the charts on 73 points, having withstood the troubles of the financial crisis to post a profit of £136.2m in the first half of this year, while many rivals struggled.

Diageo, the spirits manufacturer, claimed second on 72.4 points, praised for rigorously focusing on 14 priority brands such as Johnnie Walker and Guinness, and aggressively moving into fast-growth economies.

"I would prefer to put my incremental capital into new markets," Paul Walsh, Diageo's CEO, said. "They represent about 30% of this year's numbers. In three years they will become 50%."

Rotork, an offshore engineering enterprise, received 71.6 points, while Aggreko, the power company, hit 71.2 points, and Derwent London, the office real estate specialist, logged 70.9 points.

Paddy Power, the bookmakers, came next in the list with 70.3 points, ahead of Shell, the energy giant, on 70.2 points, and Unilever, from the FMCG category, on 69 points.

"We do not have to win at the expense of others to be successful," Paul Polman, Unilever's chief executive, said last month. "Winning alone is not enough, it's about winning with purpose."

Rolls-Royce, the aerospace to defence conglomerate, and Shaftesbury, the retail property provider, completed the top ten on 68.4 points and 68.2 points respectively.

Less positively, Thomas Cook, the ailing travel operator, was named as the "least admired" firm, securing a total of just 33.8 points.

It was followed by Millennium & Copthorne, the hotel network, on 34.3 points, Enterprise Inns, the pub holding group, on 34.4 points and Cable & Wireless, the communications expert, on 35.7 points.

Data sourced from Management Today, This is Money, the Guardian; additional content by Warc staff

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