Percent sign displayed in the Formula bar due to design.

Cause:

Excel 7.0 is designed differently from the previous versions of Excel in this feature. In Excel 7.0, if a value is entered with a percent sign (%) or is formatted with a Percentage format, the value displays with the percent sign in the Formula bar. For example, if the value 56% is entered in a cell, the value appears exactly as it is entered, rather than as .56 as in the previous versions.

Solution:

The behavior is by design of Excel 7.0.