Black Box pushes back its year-end financials release

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Black Box Corp. has pushed back the release of its year-end financials until July 16, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday. No reason was given for the delay.

In an interview July 6, Black Box president and CEO Joel Trammell said the fourth-quarter financials would be released Wednesday. The interview with Mr. Trammell coincided with the announcement of a $10 million contract for data center infrastructure work in Ohio, which the company said could turn into a $300 million job for the struggling Washington County firm.

Black Box did not identify the company awarding the contract, beyond describing it as the “most well-known social media company in the world,” but it may have been Facebook. The social media giant is building a 970,000-squarefoot data center in New Albany, Ohio, and Black Box has been advertising for positionsin New Albany.

The contract announcement came four days after Black Box filed a “going concern” letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission, raising the prospect of a bankruptcy filing and noting the company only had enough money to last through the end of the year.

Earlier this year, Black Box hired Raymond James & Associates for financial advice to sell its federal government information technology business, a requirement of an amended credit agreement, according to a FebruarySEC filing.

In an interview Monday with Westborough Mass.based CRN Network, Mr. Trammell dismissed the ominous tone of the “going concern” notice filed with the SEC.

“Lawyers like gloom and doom,” he said. “Obviously, youdon’t have a buyer until the deal closes, but we do have multiple bidders and I would be shocked, of course, if the deal did not closeon schedule.”

Black Box’s shares fell to 75 cents July 3 — the day after the company’s “going concern” letter to the SEC — from $2.03 the day before. Announcement of the $10 million contract July 6 pushed Black Box shares back up over $2 where they were trading on Wednesday.