During 2006, Vedior continued its active programme of organic expansion and made twelve acquisitions.

The number of countries the Group operates in increased from 44 in 2005 to 48 by the end of 2006.

Organic expansion

Within established markets, Vedior continues to launch new sectors to broaden our service offering in local markets and also provide a platform for long-term organic growth.

In the UK, Select Appointments launched two new divisions this year: Select Direct, which focuses on renewing contact with ‘lapsed’ jobseekers and developing longer term client and candidate relationships; and Select Hospitality, which specialises in finding permanent opportunities for supervisors, managers and senior personnel in hotels, bars and restaurants.

We expanded our permanent placement activities in France as well as Japan. In Italy, we merged our existing brands to improve efficiency and benefit from a dynamic sales trend in the market. We extended our German staffing network to cover a broader range of marketing and communications business.

In the US, we expanded our accounting market and also launched Sapphire Governmental Technologies, providing IT consultants to government system integrators as well as local, state and federal agencies. We also opened a new engineering/technical division in Australia, launched biotechnology staffing services in Singapore and teleservices recruitment in Mexico.

Taking advantage of strong economic growth, we strengthened our presence in the Middle East through a number of brands, most notably in the ICT and technical/engineering sectors in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Dubai. In December, we also opened offices in Mozambique, a new country of operation for the Group.

We also expanded our Vedior1 premium managed service programme internationally in 2006. The programme allows clients to easily access and coordinate their supply needs globally through a single specialist contact within our organisation.

Acquisitions

In line with our stated strategy, we normally acquire majority stakes in companies with local management retaining a minrity interest (see table below).

The combined consideration for acquisitions was €157 million.

Vedior continues to actively seek suitable acquisition opportunities in line with its objective to further diversify its business mix and increase the proportion of sales and profitability derived from professional and executive recruitment. Our ideal targets are smaller companies with excellent growth prospects.

Disposals

In July, we disposed of ISU Personaldienstleistungen, a regional provider of temporary light industrial personnel in Germany. The net profit resulting from this disposal was €4.6 million.