The Company, which is one of the world's leading providers of IT solutions to branch and store operations in the retail and retail banking sectors, grew its operating profit to EUR 137 million (previous year equivalent: EUR116 million) and increased net sales revenue to EUR 1,744 million (previous year equivalent: EUR 1,576 million) After adjusting for exchange rate movements between the euro and the US dollar, net sales revenue actually increased by 12%. This means that Wincor Nixdorf has beaten its published forecasts which already had been upgraded during the year to 12% for EBITA and 10% for revenue.

"The strong growth in revenue and the even higher increase in operating profit underscore the fact that our Company strategy is the right one," emphasized CEO Karl-Heinz Stiller. "This extraordinarily good result means that – also in our first full year since flotation – we've continued along our route of sustained growth."

Key contributions to the growth in operating profit came not only from revenue expansion but also successful management of costs. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) moved ahead to EUR 168 million (previous year equivalent: EUR 143 million). Net profit for the year increased to EUR 54 million (previous year equivalent: EUR 44 million). The Company also grew its operating cash flow to EUR 133 million (previous year equivalent: EUR 122 million), thereby reducing net debt to EUR 176 million (previous year equivalent: EUR 234 million).

For reasons of completeness and ease of comparison, Wincor Nixdorf is also reporting its cash net income. This is arrived at by adjusting net profit for the period by adding back the effect of amortization of product know-how (as per International Accounting Standards). In valuation terms, the product know-how arose at the time of Company's demerger from the Siemens Group in 1999. The Company's cash net income grew to EUR 70 million (previous year equivalent: EUR 61 million).

"This success now achieved gives us the confidence to press ahead with consistent implementation of our strategy. The business prospects the Company has worked in the past year to achieve give us what we consider to be good conditions for further sustained growth. For the current fiscal year 2005/2006, we are expecting to see growth of 8% in net sales revenue and 10% in operating profit," Stiller continued.