Bringing a company back from the dead is no easy feat. And doing so under the full glare of the public markets and watchful eye of activist investors only adds to the pressure. Just ask Alex Whitehouse. He was tasked with reviving the Premier Foods zombie.

The Mr Kipling and Bisto owner had been brought to the brink of collapse following a reckless, acquisition-fuelled expansion programme started in 2004. By 2008, the group’s debt binge, which included buying Ambrosia, Quorn and Hovis, took its obligation to lenders to £1.8bn. A £600m shortfall in its pension schemes also hoovered up any spare cash. Its stable of household brands went unloved as a result, with all resources funnelled towards keeping the business afloat.

Whitehouse took over as CEO in 2019, promoted after activist shareholders forced out his predecessor Gavin Darby. He had already spent five years inside the business in various management roles, so knew exactly what he was inheriting.