The flow of annular liquid jets at high Reynolds numbers is analysed by means of the finite element method and the full-Newton iteration scheme. Results have been obtained for various values of the inner to the outer diameter ratio and for non-zero surface tension, using extremely long meshes. The annular film moves far from the symmetry axis at low values of the Reynolds number. At higher Reynolds numbers, the film moves towards the axis of symmetry and appears close to very far downstream, forming a round jet. Asymptotic results for the radius of the resulting round jet are provided. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.