A year is a long time in business: enough time for things to turn sour financially, or to engineer a comeback. Here are our picks of the figures across all sectors who face a testing year with something big to prove in 2025

Daniel Křetínský, Royal Mail bidder

Daniel Křetínský, AKA the “Czech sphinx”, has almost secured his prize. In the week before Christmas, the government approved the debt-funded takeover of Royal Mail’s parent, International Distribution Services. Shareholders still have to vote, but that hurdle should be a formality.

His EP Group’s strategy for the postal service is something of a mystery because the six-month lead-up to the deal mostly concentrated on wooing government and unions, with a mass of undertakings covering everything from financial leverage to the location of the headquarters and tax residency.

This year should tell us whether Křetínský is serious about stepping up investment. He is committed to honouring the universal service obligation – the requirement to deliver letters nationwide six days a week at one price – but the only hint of innovation has come via a promise to open 20,000 parcel lockers.

The Communication Workers Union cautiously welcomed the takeover but industrial relations are rarely straightforward at Royal Mail. Křetínský will need to convince the shop floor he has a plan for growth. Nils Pratley

Carolyn McCall, ITV chief executive

This time last year, ITV was basking in the success of Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which focused public anger on the plight of wrongfully prosecuted branch owner-operators. For ITV, it meant critical acclaim and demonstrated the power of free-to-air commercial TV in the streaming age.

Unfortunately, a surprise hit does not guarantee a dramatically improved share price. ITV’s shares rose by about 17% to nearly 74p in 2024 but the broadcaster and production house is well off the 100p-plus level of a few years ago.

This year’s challenge for Carolyn McCall, now entering her eighth year in charge, is to restore some stock market affection.

McCall’s £800m investment in the ITVX platform is producing the digital goods, with 1.2bn streaming hours in first nine months of 2024. And the rise of the US streamers has created work for its production unit, ITV Studios, which made Rivals for Disney+. But the most watched metric in ITV’s financial reports still tends to be the outlook for advertising on old-fashioned linear TV, which remains poor.

Bid rumours briefly perked up interest in ITV late last year, but older viewers know that does not guarantee action. McCall’s job is under no direct threat, but she still needs to move the share price somehow. NP

Nikhil Rathi, FCA chief executive

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) boss is steeling himself for a few big battles next year, not least the ballooning car finance commission scandal that could result in huge compensation payouts for consumers costing motor lenders such as Lloyds Banking Group and Santander UK up to £30bn.

It comes as the regulator is being pushed to do more to allow more risk-taking in the financial sector and promote growth and competitiveness across the City.

Rathi will also be pressed on whether the FCA is doing enough to help attract new listings to the London Stock Exchange, which has lost out to the US on a string of blockbuster flotations.

At the same time, however, Rathi will have to tread carefully about which companies the FCA tries to lure, having faced fire for opening the door to the listing of Shein, despite continuing concerns over the fast fashion company’s alleged use of forced labour in China. Kalyeena Makortoff

Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone chief executive

“Our performance has not been good enough,” Margherita Della Valle told shareholders on taking Vodafone’s top role in spring 2023. They hardly needed reminding, given the stock price had halved in the previous five years. The shares have still not improved, despite her blizzard of dealmaking that was supposed to be the cure.

Della Valle sold Vodafone’s Spanish business and has agreed a deal to offload the Italian unit to Swisscom, resolving two long-standing headaches.

Even better news was the provisional thumbs-up in November from the UK competition regulator to the merger of Vodafone UK and Three, which will probably complete in March.

The deal will see the Vodafone/Three combo leapfrog BT’s EE and Virgin Media’s O2 into market leadership in the UK. The pitch to consumers is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the UK’s digital infrastructure” via £11bn of investment. It is a long-term play and 2025 is too soon to expect much progress on the target of £700m of savings by year five.

But shareholders will expect Della Valle to turn around slumping revenues in Germany, Vodafone’s most important market, by the end of the year. NP

Murray Auchincloss, BP chief executive

What does Murray Auchincloss want BP to be? Find out in February when the chief executive, in post permanently for only a year, unveils his strategic review. The key question will be whether Auchincloss’s “IOC to IEC” strategy can survive the cold blast of a dismal stock market rating.

The initials respectively stand for “international oil company” and “integrated energy company” and describe BP’s attempt to move faster than other members of the big oil club towards investing in renewable forms of energy. The problem is, the market has come to hate the strategy. Investors doubt that renewables – mainly solar and wind at BP – can earn the same returns on capital as oil and gas.

An original target to cut oil and gas production by 40% by 2030 was watered down to 25% in February 2023. Now Auchincloss is widely expected to ditch even that target, despite outrage from green groups. Additional pressure comes from borrowings that are proportionally higher than those of most rivals, which threaten the share buyback programme.

A full strategy U-turn is unlikely because Auchincloss and the company’s chair, Helge Lund, also designed the IEC approach. But too much timidity will not go down well. Talk of BP as a bid target can be heard already. NP

David Black, Ofwat chief executive

The boss of the water regulator in England and Wales set out his stall in the pre-Christmas week. Bills will rise by 36% over the next five years on average to help fund the biggest spending on new infrastructure since privatisation in 1989, including nine new reservoirs and almost 3,000 projects to reduce storm overflow spills.

Now David Black has to make this £104bn programme stick and restore some of Ofwat’s battered credibility. The first challenge will come if any of the water companies challenge the watchdog’s price determination at the Competition and Markets Authority, which Ofwat needs to win on all counts.

A second danger is Thames Water, the biggest supplier, with 16 million customers, and its most indebted. Special administration – AKA temporary nationalisation – beckons unless Thames can restructure its finances via a debt-for-equity swap among its creditors, plus an injection of at least £3.3bn of fresh equity capital. In theory, Ofwat’s price proposals should allow such a revamp; the reality should become clear by mid-year.

A final challenge comes from Jon Cunliffe’s Water Commission, the government-ordered review of the sector that will report in 2025. Two objectives – “better regulation” and “empowered regulators” – are likely to mean some form of shake-up for Black and Ofwat. NP

Oliver Blume, Volkswagen chief executive

Volkswagen sent shockwaves through Germany in October when the carmaker told unions it was considering closing three factories in its home country. That would have made Oliver Blume the first chief executive in VW’s history to wield the axe. After huge protests and strikes, the company reached a deal with unions to avert closures.

However, that deal still includes an enormous 35,000 job cuts by 2030, meaning Blume will have to lead a huge retrenchment of Germany’s famed manufacturer. It is under pressure amid a slump in demand just as it tries to come up with investments to retool factories to produce electric cars. VW is already seen as a laggard in the switch, leaving it vulnerable to fines for breaking carbon emission targets.

All the while, the threat from Chinese competitors is growing. Blume’s critics argue that cutting capacity now could further undermine VW’s shift to electric production, allowing those same Chinese rivals to win market share that will be extremely difficult to win back. Jasper Jolly

Kelly Ortberg, Boeing chief executive

Boeing is a giant of US manufacturing: when it was forced to stop production after two fatal crashes of the 737 Max aircraft, the effects were visible in US GDP data. That crisis began the worst period of turmoil in the company’s history. Robert “Kelly” Ortberg is the latest person brought in to try to clean up the mess.

The former head of aerospace supplier Rockwell Collins has already had a taste of how tricky that will be. In October, he told investors his first priority was to end a painful strike that was costing the company billions of dollars, only for workers to vote against a pay offer. A week later, they accepted a sweetened deal, but further acrimony is surely ahead after Ortberg announced 17,000 job cuts in the same month.

Getting Boeing on a firmer financial footing will be hard, but arguably more difficult will be the cultural turnaround required. Ortberg is taking over from Dave Calhoun, who resigned in March over a midair door-panel blowout a year ago that reignited concerns that Boeing has prioritised profits over safety for decades. The new boss will be judged on whether he can fundamentally change the culture of one of the world’s biggest companies. JJ

Christine Lagarde, ECB president

Christine Lagarde will have to guide the fractured eurozone economy through a tumultuous year, with elections due in both Germany and France, and Donald Trump preparing to slap tariffs on EU exports. The European Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates four times in 2024, and economists expect further policy easing this year – perhaps at a faster rate – as the eurozone economy continues to slow.

But the picture across the 20-member bloc is far from uniform. While Germany and France are both locked in political crises – triggered at least in part by economic challenges – others, including Spain and Ireland, are expanding at a healthy clip, exacerbating the challenges for Lagarde and her fellow rate-setters.

Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs could slow growth and push up inflation. Lagarde said in a recent Financial Times interview that “no one is really a winner” from a trade war and that EU leaders should instead adopt a “chequebook strategy”, offering to buy more US products in exchange for tariff carve-outs. Heather Stewart

Allan Leighton, Asda executive chair

He has already helped turn it around once, so it is deja vu for Allan Leighton at Asda, where he returned in November after more than 20 years to help the struggling supermarket chain. The retailer has been rapidly losing market share as investment has been stifled by managing its heavy debts, which stand at £3.8bn since a £6.8bn takeover in early 2021 by private equity firm TDR Capital and the billionaire Issa brothers.

Leighton expects to outline a revival plan this month but a top priority will be hiring a chief executive to lead the business and finding a way to cut debt. He may need to persuade Asda’s owners to put in some cash, as swift action is needed to stem sales decline by improving prices, availability and service. Further investment in IT will be crucial amid a troublesome systems switchover from former majority owner Walmart. Sarah Butler

Jason Tarry, John Lewis chair

Tesco lifer Jason Tarry took charge of the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) in September, driving hopes of change and a revival of the annual staff bonus at the group, which owns 34 department stores and the Waitrose supermarket chain. JLP has already slashed costs and thousands of jobs, helping to stem losses, but has its eye on more staff reductions with help from investments in technology.

Tarry is likely to scrutinise JLP’s moves into financial services and build-to-rent, which have distracted from the core retail proposition. Further retail job cuts will be tricky without damaging the high service standard customers expect. With department stores around the world under pressure from brands going direct and online rivals, John Lewis must also find a cost-effective way of drawing back shoppers.

Waitrose appears to be back in growth after resolving IT problems that hit availability in 2024. However, there is still work for Tarry to do as the supermarket faces stronger than ever competition for well-heeled shoppers from Marks & Spencer, which has upped its game both on price and quality. SB