Diebold Advances On New ProductOrders

NORTH CANTON, Ohio - (01/27/05) -- ATM maker Diebold Inc. said netincome for its fourth quarter rose 6% to $62.8 million, due to an11% rise in fourth-quarter revenues to $717.2 million, over thesame period last year. Fourth quarter highlights included $100 inorders for the company's new Opteva line of ATMs, and a 23%increase in revenue from the company's security solutionsoperations. Costs in the election systems business, made up oftouch-screen voting machines and optical scanners, negativelyaffected earnings by three cents per share in the fourth quarter,the company said. Charges of approximately two cents per share weredue to systems recertification, plus legal and other costs relatedto settling lawsuits in California. For the year, Diebold reporteda 12% rise in revenues, to $2.4 billion, and a 5% increase inearnings to $184 million, or $2.54 a share, over 2003. Electionsystems revenue was about $90 million, down 9% from2003.