Like a perennial bridesmaid, specialty foods maker H.J. Heinz has spent years occupying various spots in the top 10 local companies as rated by return on equity, without ever becoming the one at the forefront.

		Top 50 rankings • See the rankings for this year's Top 50 in Business report.

Last year, Heinz became the bride. Its 45.3 percent return on equity put it in first place among local public companies in 2008.

Return on equity, or ROE, is a measure used to calculate a company's viability and vitality. It is determined by dividing net income by stockholder equity (retained earnings plus proceeds from stock offerings). Analysts use the figure to see how effectively management is using shareholders' money to make money: the higher the percentage, the better.

Heinz's performance by that gauge means that for each dollar invested, the company earned a little more than 45 cents in profits. The company ranked fourth on the list last year, with a return of 40.39 percent.

Federated Investors, the mutual fund company that topped the lists for 1999, 2002 and 2003, followed closely behind with a 45 percent ROE, a significant gain from the 39.42 percent that put it in sixth place last year.

The manufacturing and mining sectors filled out the top five, with U.S. Steel (40.8 percent) rising from 22nd place to third, Consol Energy (33.1 percent) moving from 11th to fourth, and Wesco International (31.7 percent) progressing from seventh to fifth place.

Heinz is the only one of the top five back from last year's top group. Last year's front-runner, L.B. Foster, fell to 22nd position, with an ROE of 12.9 percent. Runner-up Horsehead Holdings dropped to 16th, with 14.9 percent, and last year's third-place company, Nova Chemicals' negative 4.8 percent return pushed it down to 45th place.

The fact that Heinz topped the list with a return of just over 45 percent is an indicator of what a brutal year 2008 was for businesses of all stripes.

In 2007, chart topper L.B. Foster returned 70.99 percent; in 2006, Allegheny Technologies led with 48.89 percent; and Consol Energy needed returns of 52.28 percent and 78 percent to rank first in 2005 and 2004, respectively.

All rankings are based on the companies' most recently reported fiscal year, and Heinz's ranking may have been helped by the fact that its last fiscal year ended on April 30, before the economic downturn took hold with full force.

But even during the downturn, the company's quarterly net income has continued to grow, reaching $242.3 million in the quarter ended Jan. 28, up from the year-ago net of $218.5 million.