Mumbai, Nov 12 (IANS) Black Box Limited, Essar’s technology arm and a leading provider of digital infrastructure solutions, announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 30. The Company delivered a resilient performance, with strong quarter-on-quarter improvements across revenue, operating profit, and net profitability.

With its transformation program now largely stabilised and a more focused go-to-market architecture in place, the Company is shifting decisively toward sustained revenue acceleration and a higher-quality business mix through FY26.

Backed by robust order wins, a growing backlog, strong execution, deepening client relationships, and a healthy pipeline, the Company is firmly on a growth trajectory and remains confident of delivering a strong second half.

Revenue for Q2 FY26 stood at Rs 1,585 crore from Rs 1,387 crore in Q1 FY26, witnessing a growth of 14 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 6 per cent year-on-year.

The strong revenue performance reflects a sharp rebound as tariff conditions normalized and earlier project execution delays from Q1 were cleared, bringing the business back to its expected run-rate heading into the second half of the year.

H2 FY26 is expected to outperform H1, supported by a growing order book, improving pipeline visibility, and stronger execution momentum across regions.

EBITDA and EBITDA Margin (per cent)

EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs 143 crore, up from Rs 116 crore in Q1 FY26, representing a growth of 23 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 6 per cent year-on-year. EBITDA margins improved by 60 basis points on a sequential basis to 9 per cent in Q2 FY26, compared to 8.4 per cent in Q1 FY26.

The improvement was primarily driven by higher revenue throughput, better fixed-cost absorption, and a balanced business mix. With ongoing operational efficiency and cost optimization initiatives, there remains further potential for incremental margin expansion as strategic priorities continue to be executed through H2.

Profit after Tax (PAT)

Profit after Tax (PAT) stood at Rs 56 crore, up from Rs 47 crore, a growth of 17 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 9 per cent year-on-year, reflecting strong operating leverage and improved profitability in the core portfolio.

As revenue growth accelerates in H2 FY26, PAT expansion is expected to outpace topline growth, driven by margin normalization, improved revenue quality, and greater contribution from high-value opportunities.

Business and Operations Highlights

Order momentum remained strong, with the backlog at the end of Q2 FY26 at Rs 4,846 crore (US$555 million), up from Rs 4,523 crore (US$518 million) at the close of Q1 FY26. Order bookings during the quarter were robust at Rs 1,906 crore (US$218 million), showing an increase of US$42 million from Rs 1,536 crore (US$176 million) in Q1 FY26.

Notable orders during the quarter included significant extensions from the company’s existing large-value clients, for networking and connectivity from the company’s largest global financial services customer, and further engagement from our hyperscaler customer, reinforcing Black Box’s position as a trusted partner in complex, high-value digital infrastructure programs.

The company received orders in the digital workplace from a US-based local county and a sizeable order from a health care institution. Financial Services, Healthcare, and Data Center continued to contribute higher revenue across the verticals served.

In addition to these expansions, the company secured new client wins across the education and municipal sectors in India, reflecting the growing breadth of its market reach and the success of its go-to-market strategy.

Partnership with Wind River

During the quarter, Black Box entered into a strategic global partnership with Wind River, an Aptiv company and a global leader in intelligent edge software, to accelerate edge and cloud innovation.

As part of this alliance, Black Box secured Wind River’s solutions to sell globally, with preferred partner status in India and the Middle East. In addition, the company entered into a separate agreement with Wind River to manage end-user customer engagements globally across multiple geographies.

The partnership is expected to drive approximately Rs 1,350 crore in revenue over the next five years (approximately US$30 million annually), further strengthening Black Box’s position in advanced edge, cloud, and AI-driven solutions.

Sanjeev Verma, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer, Black Box, said: “Q2 FY26 has been a strong quarter, with revenue up 14 per cent sequentially and broad-based growth across key markets. Our transformation journey is driving sustained, profitable momentum, backed by a strong and diversified order book. We are witnessing strong traction in high-growth areas such as data centers and overall digital infrastructure across our operating markets, and are scaling strategically to capture these opportunities. With solid execution, deep client partnerships, and a healthy pipeline, we remain confident of meeting our FY26 goals.”

Deepak Bansal, Chief Financial Officer, Black Box, added: “We delivered a revenue growth in Q2 on the back of good order backlog with EBITDA margins at 9 per cent. Our financial performance reflects the benefits of operational discipline and the impact of our continued transformation efforts. We are focusing on growing business with prudent capital deployment.”

–IANS

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