Continental Europe once again experienced rapid growth and the major event of the year was the acquisition of Verlagsgruppe Forum, a publisher and exhibition organiser in Germany and Switzerland. A careers publisher in Belgium was also acquired. In the UK, markets remained highly competitive, especially from a plethora of internet services aimed at students. Hobsons' own internet sites achieved high usage growth rates and are benefiting competitively from being part of the broad range of products and services Hobsons now offers. The number of students registered for the Springboard Student Services business rose substantially, as did consumer advertising revenues targeting a youth audience.
Similar initiatives are now underway in the USA and Australia.
For Study Group International, it was a year of consolidation after a number of years of expansion through acquisition, with no acquisitions during the year. Most Asian markets continued to strengthen during the year, from which the Australian operations were particular beneficiaries. A new organisation structure was introduced to integrate acquired businesses, enabling overheads to be reduced. The product range was rationalised and a clearer branding strategy introduced. The investment in building up a single worldwide sales and marketing operation over the past two years is now paying off and the year ended with strong forward bookings.