Both our Banking (Glossary) and Retail (Glossary) segments will contribute towards net sales and profit growth. We expect the trend established in recent years to continue, with Banking again accounting for a much greater share of growth at Group level than the Retail segment.
Looking ahead from a geographical perspective, sales in the German market, where our banking and retail customers are exposed to intense pressure on margins, should see a moderate increase. Europe, as a whole, remains very dynamic against a background of strong competition in retail banking and the retail industry, and should continue to make a significant contribution to growth. Our globalization strategy is focused, above all, on the Asia/Pacific/Africa and Americas regions, where we hope to achieve above-average increases in net sales.
With regard to our different business streams, we believe the Product division will continue to grow rapidly, buoyed by ongoing demand for moderately complex systems that can be produced and supplied in large numbers. In addition, we shall be making further efforts in the field of research and development in order to consolidate and build on our position as a leading innovator.
Our Software and Services operations are set to grow even more rapidly than our Product business. We anticipate demand from the banking industry to remain high for our ProClassic/Enterprise software, and from the retail industry for our TP.net software. We also aim to increase sales of our process optimization software. The expansion of our global service network should generate further growth, while also creating the right conditions for growth in product-related services, which we are continually improving in order to enhance their performance and attractiveness to the market. We also intend to significantly expand our Professional Services portfolio, including integration and implementation services. We shall aim for further growth in the markets for
Outsourcing (Glossary) and Managed Services (Glossary) . We are preparing to meet the obvious demand in the market through the consistent expansion of our own resources.
