Information technology budgets at Europe’s top companies rose by 12% last year, according to research by Spikes Cavell. Ranking Europe’s top 100 companies by information technology spend, the survey estimated that their outlay in 1996 would total $47bn. German companies dominate the top 100, taking 26 of the places and accounting for a total information technology expenditure of $13.2bn. 25 companies from the UK made the top 100 list with a total expenditure of $12.7bn. France took third place with 21 top 100 companies and $7.3bn of spend. At the top of the European- wide list, Siemens AG boasts European’s largest information technology budget of $2.03bn. Behind it are Philips Electronics NV and Royal Dutch Petroleum NV, which spent $2bn and $1.8bn respectively.
