From The Telegraph -
Labour says UK is driving growth
By Malcolm Moore, Economics Correspondent (Filed: 01/04/2005)
British companies are creating wealth at three times the rate of their European counterparts, the Government will claim today.
The Department for Trade and Industry has ranked Europe's top 600 companies in terms of how much wealth they generate.
The DTI calculates this by taking the revenues of a company and subtracting what it pays for the materials and services it needs. What is left is called value-added - a measure of how good a company is at translating raw materials into sales.
The UK has 167 companies in Europe's top 600 - more than any other country. Germany has 91 and France 84. The combined value-added for UK companies is £347billion, 15pc up in the past year. The rest of the European companies increased value-added by an average of 5pc.
Mike Tubbs, a senior industrialist at the DTI's business, finance and investment unit, said: "Some of the trends seen in earlier years are very clearly there this year and have accelerated when you compare the UK to the rest of Europe."
However, Mr Tubbs said the out-performance of UK companies compared with their European counterparts had a lot to do with a difference in the sectors that UK companies operate in. "The UK is strong in pharmaceuticals and banks, and we do not have the same exposure to automotive companies, which have struggled," he said.
Patricia Hewitt, Trade Secretary, said: "Wages in China are less than 5pc of those in the UK. Hourly labour costs in Korea are just over half UK levels and Korea has a virtually identical proportion of graduates. British firms' ability to compete largely and increasingly depends on creating higher levels of value-added through innovation."
The UK has five of the top 14 companies in Europe, judged by their value-added. Shell is Britain's top performer, adding £21.2billion of value, followed by BP and Vodafone.
The report also judges companies on two other measures of money-making ability: how much a company creates per worker - its productivity; and how much it creates after staff and equipment costs are taken out - its efficiency.
The 167 British companies are more efficient than their peers, returning 163pc of their costs. The rest of the European 600 makes 144pc. In terms of labour productivity, UK and European firms are broadly equal..
www.money.telegraph.co.uk . . .
Labour says UK is driving growth
By Malcolm Moore, Economics Correspondent (Filed: 01/04/2005)
British companies are creating wealth at three times the rate of their European counterparts, the Government will claim today.
The Department for Trade and Industry has ranked Europe's top 600 companies in terms of how much wealth they generate.
The DTI calculates this by taking the revenues of a company and subtracting what it pays for the materials and services it needs. What is left is called value-added - a measure of how good a company is at translating raw materials into sales.
The UK has 167 companies in Europe's top 600 - more than any other country. Germany has 91 and France 84. The combined value-added for UK companies is £347billion, 15pc up in the past year. The rest of the European companies increased value-added by an average of 5pc.
Mike Tubbs, a senior industrialist at the DTI's business, finance and investment unit, said: "Some of the trends seen in earlier years are very clearly there this year and have accelerated when you compare the UK to the rest of Europe."
However, Mr Tubbs said the out-performance of UK companies compared with their European counterparts had a lot to do with a difference in the sectors that UK companies operate in. "The UK is strong in pharmaceuticals and banks, and we do not have the same exposure to automotive companies, which have struggled," he said.
Patricia Hewitt, Trade Secretary, said: "Wages in China are less than 5pc of those in the UK. Hourly labour costs in Korea are just over half UK levels and Korea has a virtually identical proportion of graduates. British firms' ability to compete largely and increasingly depends on creating higher levels of value-added through innovation."
The UK has five of the top 14 companies in Europe, judged by their value-added. Shell is Britain's top performer, adding £21.2billion of value, followed by BP and Vodafone.
The report also judges companies on two other measures of money-making ability: how much a company creates per worker - its productivity; and how much it creates after staff and equipment costs are taken out - its efficiency.
The 167 British companies are more efficient than their peers, returning 163pc of their costs. The rest of the European 600 makes 144pc. In terms of labour productivity, UK and European firms are broadly equal..
www.money.telegraph.co.uk . . .