Watson Wyatt has clawed back ground after being beaten by William M Mercer in the Financial News survey of fund manager opinion. It has secured a place within the BT Vision 100 index, which seeks to highlight the 100 UK companies that apply the most vision to their organisation.

Mercer was nowhere in sight. But tough competition came from elsewhere. PPL Therapeutics was ranked higher than Watson, for example, as was England first-division Crewe Alexandra Football Club.