That was followed by Hare's comment "The U.S. team needs to drive harder on subscription including with the partner channel. They need a real focus on supporting the startup segment and this means acquiring meaningful numbers of Sage One customers." Hare described North American performance as mixed, noting that revenue was up 4 percent over 2015, 6 percent excluding payments. Revenue for North America was about $676 million, while recurring revenue rose 9 percent to about $388 million. Sage singled out the Construction and Real Estate business on this continent, which added 1,000 customers in 2016, a record, and representing 7 percent growth. Recurring revenue growth here was up 9 percent with an 84-percent increase in subscription sales with triple-digit subscription growth for Sage 50 in the U.S. and Canada. Worldwide revenue reached almost $2 billion, an increase of 6.1 percent from the prior year. Earnings were about $260 million,  6.7 percent higher than in the prior year.