Associated British Foods is one of the most successful family businesses in Britain if not the world. Like many success stories, it starts with something simple – a loaf of bread.

ABF has its origins in the 1930s when seven bakery companies got together under a common umbrella. By the mid 1960s the company was the biggest bakery company in the world

However, the company had quickly diversified into other areas, including biscuits and tea shops. In the 1960s, the group had also added the Fine Fare chain of value supermarkets to its portfolio.

These days, the company is a global colossus with four key business segments: grocery, retail, sugar & agriculture and ingredients. The company is home to a glittering array of well-known names including Primark, Twinings tea, Patak’s Indian foods, Mazola cooking oil, Kingsmill bakery products and Jordans cereals.

This week the company announced a very healthy set of results for the year ended September 12: revenues for the group were up by 12 per cent to £9.3 billion while adjusted operating profits rose by 8 per cent to £720 million.

The sugar business has been particularly sweet for ABF in the past year, with both revenues and profits rising by 24 per cent on the 2007-08 financial year. A four-year reform package of the sugar market in the EU has reduced production but has stabilised prices. As a result of cutting its sugar quota, the group received £101 million in compensation.

ABF owns both British Sugar, the sole processor of the UK’s sugar beet crop, and the Silver Spoon brand. It has also extended its operations with the €385 million purchase of Azucarera Ebro, the leading sugar producer in the Iberian peninsula.

Clothing retailer Primark is another of the star performers in the company portfolio, largely thanks to the increasingly bargain-focused habits of Britain’s shoppers. The chain is now the second largest clothing retailer in the UK by volume and the largest in the budget sector.

Primark is continuing to expand too. It opened 12 new shops last year, the majority of them in mainland Europe, particularly Spain. It now has 191 stores and has plans for a further 11 this coming year, including its first in Belgium.

Primark says its success is down to “a flat management structure, a strong buying team and an excellent distribution capability” and has delivered better results than many of its peers despite sharing more than 95% of its third party suppliers with other leading European high street brands.

At the head of this diverse company that now has almost 100,000 employees in 44 countries is Oxford and Harvard-educated chief executive George Weston, who appeared at number 71 in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.

Weston took the top role in 2005 after six years on the ABF board and previous experience as managing director of Westmill Foods, Allied Bakeries and George Weston Foods (Australia).

Although the last of these companies bears his name, it is actually named after his great grandfather, the Canadian businessman who made the family fortune in the baking business.

ABF has been incredibly busy on the acquisition trail in the noughties. In the past five years, it has bought agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland, Jordans, Patak’s, Littlewoods and a majority share in Illovo, Africa's largest sugar producer

Announcing the results, Weston said: “We have consistently developed the group through investment and this year it enabled the delivery of good results in difficult economic times. The pace of development activity has increased and all our businesses are well equipped to deliver future growth.”

The company has not cut back on investments, despite the state of the economy.

Weston says: "Over the years we have developed the group through a combination of capital investment, process improvement, building new revenue streams and the acquisition of complementary businesses.

"Despite the economic environment, this year proved to be no exception and, if anything, the pace of activity increased with capital investment at a high level. All of our businesses have been strengthened as a result and are better equipped to deliver growth in the future.”

The group had net capital expenditure in the year of £586 million, much of it earmarked for the acquisition and fit out of new Primark stores. ABF is also expanding its sugar operations in southern Africa.

One potential star for the future is the company’s new wheat bioethanol plant in Hull, which is due to open in autumn 2010. The company hopes to ride on a wave of demand for alternatives to fossil fuels. Weston says: “The European market for bioethanol is still in its infancy but is expected to grow considerably over the next few years. The UK mandate for the inclusion of renewables in transport fuel requires the current 3.25 per cent to increase to 5 per cent by 2013/14.”

Loaves now make up a much smaller proportion of the group’s business than they did 75 years ago but these plans show that the group knows which side its bread is buttered.

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