Jeremy Warner: A recessionary sweet tooth is just the ticket

Outlook: General Motors seems to be going bust, Corus is slashing steel production, Royal Worcester has been forced into administration – that was only some of the negative news about the economy yesterday. All over the shop, the signs multiply of a deep recession in the making.

I have been unable to find a single business leader with anything positive to say about the world this week – except perhaps one. Todd Stitzer, the chief executive of Cadbury, has rarely been happier. There is no sign at all of a downturn in his business – if anything rather the reverse because people want comfort food when they are feeling miserable. Now he has managed to demerge the drinks company, he is able to concentrate full-time on the task of improving sales and margins in his core confectionery group.

Related articles

• First the rate cut. Now for tax cuts
• More than 300 people a day file for bankruptcy
• Leading article: Gordon Brown suddenly has the wind in his sails
• Andrew Grice: Brown can't rely on recession to win the election
• Market Report: Retailers snap up gains on back of rate cut
• Jeremy Warner: Shamed banks bow to political pressure – but for how long?
• Jeremy Warner: British Airways reports big rise in yields

Yet even he won't call Cadbury "recession proof"; he much prefers the expression "recession resilient", which leaves him at least a little room for disappointments.