Earnings Plunge At Diebold

NORTH CANTON, Ohio - (10/27/05) -- ATM maker Diebold Inc. saidWednesday that lower sales from its financial self-serviceoperations (ATMs) and delayed deliveries from Hurricane Katrinapushed down third quarter earnings by 45% to $26.4 million, or 37cents a share, compared to the same period last year. Revenues grewby less than 3% during the quarter to $301.3 million. The companyreported that revenue was $67 million lower than originallyexpected because of the shortfall in its global financialself-service business and an additional $12 million from delayeddeliveries after the hurricane, which includes $10 million ofelectronic voting machines that had been scheduled to be deliveredto the Gulf states. Through the first three quarters of the yearDiebold reported an 8% rise in revenues to $1.8 billion, but a 29%drop in net income to $86.3 million, or $1.21 a share, compared tothe first nine months last year.