The total number of people employed within the Group increased by 823 to 6,937 as of the end of the reporting period (previous year: 6,114 employees). This rise was the result of our international business expansion. Our headcount abroad rose significantly. The number of new employees hired outside Germany was 676, bringing the number of people working outside the country to 3,542 (previous year: 2,866). This means, that Wincor Nixdorf employed more people internationally than at home. But in Germany, the headcount also increased, up 147 to 3,395 (previous year: 3,248).

Most new employees were recruited to work in our Services business. In this business field, we hired 518 new employees, 133 of them in Germany and, of the remainder, 62 in the U.K., 37 in France, 36 in the Czech Republic and 30 in Belgium. We recruited an additional 105 new service employees in Asia-Pacific and Africa.

We also expanded our international sales network, with 2,075 employees now working in sales (previous year: 1,988).
The newly acquired BEB Industrie Elektronik AG in Switzerland had 76 employees as of the end of the reporting period.

Areas of Focus in Personnel Management. The integration of new recruits has been one of the areas of focus of our personnel team. Our international management development program has also been expanded.

Another area of focus has been the implementation of market conditions of employment within our German subsidiaries. This measure will help reduce personnel costs and protect jobs at Wincor Nixdorf International GmbH by introducing further flexibility of working hours. To this end, appropriate arrangements were agreed with employee representatives and the parties to the collective bargaining agreements.

Our Thanks. Fiscal 2004/2005 was a successful year for Wincor Nixdorf, and our employees played a major part in this success. The Board of Directors wishes to express its gratitude to all employees for their good work and their performance during the year.