At the start of the reporting year, the prospects were still positive. Based on the information and knowledge available to us in November 2008, it was our view that Wincor Nixdorf could build on the excellent results achieved in 2007/2008, although there were already some signs of a deterioration in business performance. At the time, we qualified our assessment by noting that it was not yet clear how events would unfold.
At the end of the fiscal year, despite a dramatic deterioration in the overall economic situation, we were roughly able to meet our expectations of net sales thanks to a relatively stable performance in the first six-month period. However, operating profit was down significantly on the previous year, above all as a result of pressure on our gross margin.
