Targeting Growth: Challenges and Opportunities for the UK Food & Beverage Sector

Grant Thornton commissioned Remark, the research and publications division of The Mergermarket Group, to gain further insight into the current state of the sector. The opinions of 50 CEOs, and CFOs from UK-based Food and Beverage companies were sought on a number of issues affecting the sector, as well as future growth expectations

This report has taken into account the views of a wide cross-section of the Food and Beverage industry and as such some of the views will be more applicable to certain sub-sectors over others. However, the underlying sentiment is that, on the whole, the sector has emerged from the recession in advance of others, and while it is still faced with numerous challenges, it is well positioned and there are exciting times ahead.

Key issues explored in the survey included the following:

• What strategies did Food and Beverage companies put in place to combat the effects of the financial crisis?
• Is the relationship dynamic between food suppliers and the 'Big Four' supermarkets changing?
• Which consumer trends offer the biggest opportunities going forward?
• Is M&A set to continue to be on the corporate agenda over the next 12 months?
• Do Food and Beverage companies feel they can fund their corporate strategy through traditional methods?

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Joshlowensohn