Wincor-Nixdorf AG, Europe's largest maker of automated teller machines, said it expects its sales in Asia to grow at least 10% a year for the foreseeable future, driven by rising demand from China.
"The whole of Asia is our chance to grow, and the main business is in China," Eckard Heidloff, the company's president, said Tuesday in an interview in Shanghai. "We have been very conservative" about growth targets, he said.
Wincor-Nixdorf, of Paderborn, Germany, has tripled the size of its Shanghai factory, expanded its software center in the city, and plans to increase its China work force by 20%, to about 480, this year, Mr. Heidloff said. China accounts for about one third of the company's Asia-Pacific sales.
The company competes with the two U.S. ATM vendors, NCR Corp. and Diebold Inc., and is seeking to expand outside Germany to tap demand from banks and retailers in Asia and America.
Wincor-Nixdorf posted sales of $304 million in Asia and Africa last year. Asia currently accounts for 12% of its sales. About 30% of all its products are manufactured in Shanghai and Singapore, Mr. Heidloff said.
Several banking companies, including Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings PLC, and Standard Chartered Bank, are raising investments in China in an effort to grab market share from local lenders.
