Wincor Nixdorf is committed to improving its cost structures on an ongoing basis. The Group-wide “Prolmprove” profit enhancement program provides the foundation for efficient cost management. Selling, general and administration expenses, including other operating income and expenses, amounted to €287 million (previous year: €272 million). Calculated in relation to net sales, selling, general and administration expenses were reined back by 0.9 percentage points to 14.7% in the fiscal year under review (previous year: 15.6%).

With a highly effective cost management system in place, we succeeded in more than offsetting the 0.4 percentage point reduction in gross margin, before amortization of product know-how, to 27.5% (previous year: 27.9%). This deterioration in the gross margin was mainly due to start-up costs for outsourcing projects and international expansion.

Research and development costs rose by €9 million to €87 million (previous year: €78 million) and were thus up 12% year on year. The ratio of R&D expenses to net sales remained unchanged at 4.5%.