Gabriel Rozenberg: April 23, 2007
BANKING AND FINANCE
British companies have come top of a European league table of wealth creation and are more profitable than their rivals in France and Germany, according to a government study. The Department of Trade and Industry’s annual Value Added scoreboard shows that British firms generated £441 billion of value added, or profits before wage costs.
The German and French companies in the list both generated around £323 billion of “extra” wealth. Top of the list was Royal Dutch Shell, which the report classified as a British company despite its headquarters in the Netherlands, and BP. Other high-scoring firms included HSBC, GlaxoSmithKline and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Britain’s showing in the study was caused partly by its companies being strongly represented in high-performing sectors. British companies also tended to be more profitable.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.