Dutch blue-chip companies improved their position compared with foreign competitors last year, according to new research by Accenture.

Dutch firms now have an average score more in line with British and French companies and have overtaken those listed on Germany’s DAX index, website nu.nl reports. The report looked at 2,000 listed companies worldwide.

‘Performances have crumbled since the start of the crisis in 2008,’ strategy managing director Sander van Ginkel told the website. ‘But now their current performances and future positioning have improved sharply, as they did in 2012.’

The six-monthly research compares companies on the basis of different indicators including turnover growth, consistency, growth expectations and their position in developing markets.

The best performing Dutch firms in 2013 were ASML and Unilever. They  are the only two Dutch companies rated by Accenture to come close to being a ‘high performance business’, nu.nl says.