New EPS research forecasts the Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM) information market to reach nearly $11 billion dollars by 2008, as electronic revenues reach critical mass.

The latest edition of the EPS Market Monitor Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM) providesanalysis of the market, including size, segmentation, market shares, financial performance of publicly-traded companies, leading players' strategic activities, and forecasts by subject matter, geography, and content type.

Findings of the 59-page report include:

• Publicly-traded STM publishers grew 8.6% in their reported currencies in 2005; aggregate profit margins held steady at 25%
• Thomson posted the strongest increase in profits with a year-over-year gain of 20.5%, outperforming its peers and the market average of 17.7%
• Elsevier achieved the strongest organic growth: 5% and 6% in its Science & Technology and Health Sciences divisions, respectively
• The five largest players (Reed Elsevier, Thomson, Wolters Kluwer, Springer, and Wiley) continued to acquire scale, and now account for over half (52.3%) of total market revenues
• Revenues from digital content distribution may be nearing a tipping point: 60% of STM revenues, and close to 70% in S&T alone, are now derived from electronic products
• Among the leading eight players, the pace of acquisitions increased modestly in 2005; Elsevier's purchase of MediMedia's European and U.S.
• Netter professional medical publishing businesses for about USD336 million, and the completion of Thomson's acquisition of IHI for USD441 million were the two largest deals
• The STM publishing and information services market is expected to reach USD10.8 billion in 2008, a 4% compound annual growth rate

(www.epsltd.com)

News relevant to the digital content industry and enterprise digital content is posted several times a week on www.econtentmag.com, in addition to the news section that appears every month in the pages of EContent magazine. If you have comments please email ecletters@infotoday.com.