The Retail segment also grew during the past fiscal year, with net sales climbing 8% to €770 million (previous year: €716 million). This growth is primarily due to our activities in Germany.

In fiscal 2005/2006, EBITA increased by 28% to €41 million (previous year: €32 million). Our high-end product business with reverse vending machines and a further improvement in our software business had a positive impact on earnings. At the same time, the EBITA margin improved from 4.5% to 5.3%.

The uniform product platform of the BEETLE systems proved to be a formidable competitive advantage. These systems form the basic foundation for self-checkout systems as well as kiosk and lottery systems and are also used in our reverse vending machines. The systems are characterized by consistently using the same basic technology. This allows them to be integrated more easily into the various systems within a branch, thus facilitating maintenance and cutting operating costs over the entire product life cycle (TCO).

Retail companies are increasingly investing in standardized software designed to control various systems at branch level. Developed by Wincor Nixdorf, TP.net is a software solution tailored to these requirements. In the year under review, we added functions for the central control of branch systems and the analysis of business processes.

We supported the increased use of automation and self-service solutions by developing and piloting innovative products. For example, our cash management solution, which covers the cash handling process from the teller through to crediting the cash to the retail company's bank account, proved itself in test installations. We were able to roll out the first self-checkouts for international customers after successful pilot projects. We successfully followed through on our consulting services for the redesign of a checkout and payment process for a well-known international retail company with a customer-specific concept. Checkout systems previously tested were installed at this retailer's branches.

During the past fiscal year, Wincor Nixdorf also benefited from being able to offer its customers standardized, modular and scalable concepts. These allow us to react more quickly and flexibly to customer wishes. We are a system provider and can offer end-to-end systems comprising hardware, software, and services for the purpose of organizing retail companies' branches.

In addition to international availability, the openness of our software when implementing innovative business processes in branches and for branch management has proved to be of key importance. Our customers demand solutions to automate their branches. At the same time, the reduction of IT complexity within the branch and highly effective rollout are considered essential prerequisites. Wincor Nixdorf's branch software TP.net is ideally suited for this purpose, and we were able to implement this solution for a number of leading retailers.

As more and more retailers are working internationally, our ability to compete depends on the global use of our products and solutions, our international presence with competence centers and a global service organization.

We have established tangible advantages in this regard compared to many of our competitors as a result of our proven track record in the banking sector – in particular in areas where technology is converging, such as the cash management and self-service solutions which are now being developed.