Bank Tech Stocks Rebound After Selloff

Most bank technology stocks rose last week as investors went bargain hunting after a two-week selloff.

By Friday, with mutual fund investors pouring money into the market, the Dow Jones industrial average had recovered most of the 171 points it had lost March 8.

Banctec Inc., which makes check processing equipment and banking software, on Tuesday announced a $61.8 million loss for its third fiscal quarter, which ended Dec. 31.

Banctec officials said the red ink was due to charges related to the company's merger last year with Recognition International Inc.

The Dallas-based firm reported revenues of $125 million in the latest quarter, down from $142.7 million in the comparable 1994 quarter.

"These results are right in line with the estimates we outlined to investors in January," said Grahame N. Clark Jr., Banctec's chairman and chief executive officer. "In the quarter, revenues were down some 12%, due primarily to lower sales by former Recognition International operations, which were anticipated."

In the quarter the company booked an $85 million pretax charge for severance payments and writeoffs related to the merger.

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Electronic Data Systems Corp. moved a step closer last week to spinning off from General Motors Corp., with executives agreeing on a key bargaining point.

A GM executive said there was agreement on a dividend payment to complete the spinoff. GM's board of directors will vote on the deal April 1, the executive said.

GM officials declined to discuss the size of the dividend, but analysts said EDS will pay about $500 million. Shareholders of GM's class E stock will be converted to common shares of EDS.

The common stock of Diebold Inc., the Canton, Ohio, manufacturer of automated teller machines, rose by more than $2 a share last week.

The rise followed a March 13 report in Investor's Business Daily that demand for the company's ATMs was rising, closing the gap with NCR Corp. for worldwide market share.

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BHC Financial Corp., a technology outsourcing firm specializing in securities processing, said Friday that Citicorp, its largest customer, intends to bring its investment-clearing operation in-house.

Officials at Philadelphia-based BHC said it received "unofficial oral notice" from Citicorp Investment Services that the unit intends to internalize its securities processing function through a bank affiliate.

The firm previously had announced that another large client intended to terminate its contract with BHC later this year. Taken together, the two clients represent about 26% of 1995 revenues, officials noted.

The news sent BHC's stock price tumbling 34%, to $12.063 a share, in late trading Friday afternoon.

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