Travel transactions by Hogg Robinson Group clients during the year ending March 31 grew 8 percent year over year and client spending rose 3 percent

(or 5 percent at constant currency), indicating that average trip costs continued to fall. The most impressive growth was in North America, where managed travel transactions jumped 17 percent and travel spend was up 14 percent. The United Kingdom also showed good growth, with transactions up 15 percent and spend up 11 percent, but HRG client activity in the rest of Europe and Asia/Pacific was significantly weaker. HRG also reported that online bookings accounted for 42 percent of the fiscal year's transactions, up from 36 percent in the previous year. The travel management company's revenue declined marginally to £341 million (US$567 million) due to "adverse currency movements" while underlying pre-tax profit improved 3 percent to £35.8 million (US$59.6 million). HRG announced it will invest significantly this year in a sales and marketing push in Europe and Australasia for its online booking and expense management "software as a service" business.