BP joins world's top earners

BP is now one of the world's highest earning companies, according to new figures.

The oil company has been the target of consumer anger in recent months over soaring oil prices.

According to the Forbes Global International 500, which ranks non-US companies, BP is the third biggest group outside the US.

Research by Forbes gives the group a net income of $148.1bn (£104.9bn) and a market value of $199.3bn (£141.2bn).

Other UK groups to make it into the list include newly-created drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline, which has also been at the centre of controversy, over the cost of HIV and Aids drugs in developing countries.

And despite the technology downturn, a number of UK new economy companies still made it into the Forbes rankings.

These included debt-laden British Telecom, mobile phone giant Vodafone and beleaguered telecom equipment group Marconi.

Marconi is ranked the 277th largest company outside of the US. The listing comes a matter of days after it issued a profit warning and saw its value dive.

Both BP and GlaxoSmithKline make into the Forbes Global's World Super 50 list, a separate ranking that includes US companies.

The three other UK groups to make the US-inclusive list are HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays.

The Forbes' tables are published by Forbes Global magazine. In order to qualify for inclusion, Forbes companies must have at least $5.2bn dollars in revenues.