Bell & Howell Plans to Split Into 2 Firms

Bell & Howell Co., a pioneer in the movie camera industry that now specializes in information management, said it plans to split into two companies as part of a restructuring aimed at sharpening its focus. Investors welcomed the news, sending the company’s shares up $4.75, or 16%, to close at $34.81 on the New York Stock Exchange. Bell & Howell said it would spin off its education and publishing businesses to shareholders and would float a minority stake in the yet-to-be-named company through an initial public offering. The remaining units--the mail and messaging technologies and imaging businesses--would operate under the Bell & Howell name and keep the same ticker symbol. Bell & Howell, started in 1907, was once synonymous with movie cameras and projectors and won three Academy Awards for technical contributions to the film industry. It sold the camera business in the 1970s to focus on mail sorting and other operations. The company said it expects to record a $30-million after-tax restructuring charge in 1999 as part of the planned spinoff, which it expects to be completed by the end of the year. Bell & Howell said it expects 1999 earnings before the restructuring charge and a planned investment in education Internet company K-12 to be in line with analysts’ expectations of about $2 a share.