IMGCAP(1)]
The Seoul automated teller machine maker Nautilus Hyosung Inc., which is scheduled to close its purchase of Triton Systems of Delaware Inc. from Dover Corp. next month, is planning an aggressive U.S. sales campaign.
Both companies have focused their efforts in this country on ATMs for locations such as convenience stores and restaurants, but once the deal is complete, Nautilus Hyosung plans to pursue sales to U.S. banks and credit unions.
"Nautilus Hyosung reported a little under $400 million in revenue last year, and most of it comes from selling ATMs to banks globally," said Carlos Siewczynski, its vice president of North American retail self-service.
Nautilus Hyosung America, a Coppell, Tex., subsidiary of the ATM maker, is developing a strategy to increase its market share among U.S. financial companies, while the parent is setting the global strategy, Mr. Siewczynski said.
Leon Majors, the president of Phoenix ESP Payments Research Group, a Salisbury, Md., consulting firm, said Nautilus Hyosung has achieved a significant breakthrough by winning a contract to supply machines to Citigroup Inc., but will still face challenges.
It has excelled at selling ATMs to banking companies in Asia and Europe, and "I am sure that's what they want to do here," Mr. Majors said. "But they would have to build an extensive network to service ATMs sold to banks here to win their business."
Gil Luria, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc., agreed with that assessment. He said Nautilus Hyosung "would have to have field representatives in every state or nearly every state to compete with Diebold and NCR," which would be "very expensive to do."
Diebold Inc. and NCR Corp., control nearly 95% of ATM sales to U.S. banks and credit unions.
Wincor Nixdorf International GmbH of Paderborn, Germany, controls a small share of the U.S. market, with the remainder split among a number of companies.
Currently U.S. banking companies own 150,000 to 175,000 ATMs, and bank ATM sales, which have been flat since 2006, are expected this year to grow in the single digits, Mr. Luria wrote in a research report released last week.
"U.S. ATM market growth is accelerating (not a typo) as large banks retrench around retail banking," he wrote.
Nautilus Hyosung announced its deal to buy Triton Systems from Dover Corp., a New York conglomerate, last month but did not say how much it would pay.
The ATM maker plans to continue to pursue the off-premise ATM market in the United States as it seeks to enter the bank market, and is looking for a vice president of financial industry sales.
Last year Nautilus Hyosung America shipped 14,433 ATMs, making it the nation's top off-premise ATM maker. Triton Systems shipped 10,454.
