UK companies outperform their European counterparts when it comes to creating wealth.
According to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the top 185 UK companies continue to be more efficient at creating value, or wealth, than their European peers.
The annual scoreboard lists the value added, or wealth created, by the top 750 European companies and the top 800 UK companies.
The government says it provides a broader perspective on a company's economic contribution than operating profit.
Minister for Science and Innovation, Ian Pearson, said: "The UK continues to be one of the best places in the world to do business.
"I would like to congratulate those UK companies that have performed so successfully in this year's scoreboard and look forward to working with the business community to build on this success and to achieve even greater value added for the future."
'Value added' (VA) is defined as the difference between sales and the cost of bought-in materials, components and services.
The value added by the top 800 UK companies has increased by 9.6 per cent in the last year amounting to some £646 billion, the report found, while the top 750 European companies generated value added of £2,027 billion.
This was concentrated in three countries, the report found: the UK, France and Germany.
US and Japanese firms are not included in the tables as their annual accounts are not detailed enough.
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