UK firms fail to impress EU bosses

UK construction companies have singularly failed to gain the respect of Europe's business leaders according to a survey published this week.

The Price Waterhouse/ Financial Times study contacted the chiefs of 637 of the largest companies in the UK and on the Continent, asking them to rate firms in their own sector on a range of attributes to assess respect for firms.

They were also asked to nominate the European company they most respected regardless of industry sector - and this is where UK contractors struggled.

None appeared in the top 25 most respected companies, although Swedish/Swiss engineering firm Asea Brown Boveri came second. The most respected firm was the ever reliable Marks and Spencer.

The respondents looked at attributes such as leadership, customer focus and business performance.

In the construction sector UK companies were again beaten, this time by German firm Philip Holzmann. But an honourable second in sector was recorded by the RMC Group with Pilkington just behind.

The most important factor in judging the construction sector was given as pollution reduction - a sign of the changing times - with customer loyalty second.