German banking technology vendor Wincor Nixdorf has decided not to offer a quantitative forecast for its 2011/2012 results, claiming the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis is making predictions pointless.
The firm expects a "more difficult environment" over the next year, especially in Western Europe, as the crisis rumbles on.
Says CEO Eckard Heidloff: "At present, we can see that the prevailing uncertainty is affecting investment readiness, above all among European banks. Compensating for this development will not be easy, even with a good level of growth in the newly industrialised countries."
Wincor Nixdorf argues that it is impossible to foresee how any positive developments over the next 12 months might counterbalance the problems and so it has decided not to offer a forecast for its own results.
Net sales could be anywhere between a small decrease and an increase slightly above the level recorded the previous year and "given the nature of economies of scale and the make-up of the Group's activities (regions and business streams), any adverse developments may have a disproportionately large impact on Ebita."
In percentage terms the company expects a likely decline in net sales to trigger a double-figure downturn in earnings for the first quarter.
For the 2010/2011 year, ended on 30 September, consolidated net sales were up four per cent at EUR2,328 million while operating profit was on a par with the previous year at EUR162 million and net profit was up two per cent at EUR108 million. As in the previous year, the board is proposing a dividend of EUR1.70.
Shares in the vendor were down EUR1.07, or 2.69%, to EUR38.50, in morning trading.