THE UK's first company wealth creation league table has included oil companies, manufacturers and leasing company parent firms among its European 'success stories'.

A total of five UK companies are included in the top 15 - Shell, BP, HSBC, GlaxoSmithKline and BT, said the Department of Trade and Industry's innovation unit that published the tables.

In the whole of Europe, the biggest 'wealth creating company' is German-based car manufacturer DaimlerChrysler.

The scoreboard measures wealth as value added (see table below), or sales less the cost of bought-in materials, components and services. The value added figure represents the wealth created to pay employees and shareholders, invest in future success and pay taxes for investment in public services, the DTI said.

Company wealth fact file

The top 15 European companies by value added:
Company £m value added

DaimlerChrysler, Germany - 27,117
Shell, UK - 25,663
BP Amoco (now BP), UK - 22,958
Siemens, Germany - 19,814
Volkswagen, Germany - 16,973
Deutsche Telekom, Germany - 16,773
TotalFinaElf, France - 16,052
Deutsche Bank, Germany - 13,448
HSBC, UK - 13,409
ING Groep, The Netherlands - 13,142
UBS, Switzerland - 12,234
Philips Electronics, The Netherlands - 12,046
GlaxoSmithKline, UK - 11,857
Credit Suisse, Switzerland - 11,363
BT, UK - 11,332