2 Ted Tuppen

chief executive, Enterprise Inns (3)

Why he is on the list:

Enterprise, the country's second biggest pub company, operates more than 7,000 leased and tenanted sites. Boss Ted Tuppen has been in there from the start, moulding the operation from a flotation launch base of just 500 units a decade or so ago up to the tenanted powerhouse it is today.

Tuppen is an accountant by trade, but has surrounded himself with seasoned trade executives at the top end of the company to run day-to-day operations.

What the past year has held:

It has not been brilliant by any means, as the recently-announced 11% drop in half-yearly profits to £132m illustrated.

Tuppen himself concedes that it has been "the most difficult six months for the pub trade ever."

But Enterprise has upped its tenant support in areas such as rent concessions and beer discounts to help struggling licensees.

Despite this, the company says 73% of its licensees have traded in line, or ahead of last year.

A fellow pubco executive refers to Tuppen as a "wily fox", a reputation confirmed when Enterprise, thanks to dogged negotiations with the tax authorities, won the green light for conversion of the company to tax-efficient real estate investment trust (Reit) status.

Challenges ahead:

Much will depend on how the economy shapes up. Consumer confidence acts as a barometer of the pub trade's fortunes in many ways — and if the predicted recession does arrive, Enterprise and other pub companies could be in for a difficult time.

Nevertheless, Enterprise's pubs should prove more resilient than most — even in the difficult first half of 2008 they produced earnings of £33,000, amounting to 12% more than three years ago.