Germany’s Deutsche Boerse Tops The Sixth Annual European Businessweek 50 Ranking Of Best Performing Companies In Europe

BusinessWeek has released the sixth annual ranking of the best performing companies in Europe. German financial company Deutsche Boerse comes in at No.1 on the European BW50; Nobel Biocare Holding (Switzerland), Nokia (Finland), Drax Group (Britain), and Vallourec (France) round out the top five.

The European BW50 list is computed using the Standard & Poor’s Europe 350, one of the leading indexes measuring the performance of major corporations in 17 Western European markets, including the 12 members of the euro zone. The primary gauge of performance is growth in sales and earnings. BusinessWeek tallies these figures for the latest available 12-month period, but also factors in three-year growth in order to reward those companies that keep on producing superior growth and profits over a longer term. Three-year growth rates can also provide a big boost for companies that completed large mergers or made major acquisitions during the measurement period, since the method compares companies' growth in sales and profits over the three-year period.

To get a read on how well management is employing assets, BusinessWeek factors in net margins and return on equity. And shareholder returns for one- and three-year periods tell how investors are scoring each company's results. Then BusinessWeek weighs the results for sales volume to make up for the fact that it is easier for small companies to score big percentage gains here than it is for large ones.

The European BusinessWeek 50 is featured on BusinessWeek.com at http://www.businessweek.com/extras , including the full methodology, an interactive table, and company profiles. A feature will run in the print magazine in the coming weeks.

The European BusinessWeek 50 Class of 2008

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/europe/

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