Markets & the AI economyNote

Black Box’s order backlog passed US$1bn, up 88%, on hyperscaler data centres

Black Box’s results for July to September: what the integrator builds, its backlog by type of work, Brazil’s 2S, the hiring behind the orders, and the year’s guidance.

Illustration: The TechBag Journal

Black Box, the Mumbai-listed company that builds and runs networks and data-centre infrastructure, mostly in the United States, ended September with an order backlog of US$1,044m, up 88% on a year earlier and about 10% on June. It booked US$298m of new orders in the quarter, 37% more than a year before, and says the backlog grew “primarily due to AI-led infrastructure investments in data centers”.12 Revenue for July–September was ₹1,936.3 crore, up 22%, and profit ₹72.7 crore, up 31%.3

US$1,044m

order backlog at 30 September, up 88% in a year

Black Box

₹1,936 cr

revenue for July–September, up 22%

NSE filing

9.0%

EBITDA margin, the same as a year earlier

Black Box

20%

of the quarter’s revenue from data centres, from 17% in the year to March

Black Box

01What Black Box does, and where the orders come from

Black Box sells integration work: it lays fibre and structured cabling, builds data-centre infrastructure and connectivity for hyperscale and colocation customers, sets up enterprise networks and workplaces, runs managed services, and sells its own products for control rooms (KVM switches, AV and IoT kit). About 2,200 of its roughly 4,000 staff are in North America, which gave 66% of half-year revenue; India gave 6%.2 Essar Telecom Limited, its promoter, owns 69.95% of the shares.4

Data centres brought in 20% of the quarter’s revenue, against 17% in the year to March, and the company expects about 30% for this year. It added more than US$250m of data-centre orders in April–September, including a US$55m multi-site order from a US-based global hyperscaler it does not name, and says data-centre projects run 24 to 36 months.2 Those orders sit in “projects”, which grew to half the backlog.

Project work rose from US$121m to US$524m in 18 months, half of Black Box’s backlog

Black Box order backlog by type of work, US$ million, March 2024 to September 2026

  • Managed services and T&M
  • Maintenance contracts
  • Projects
  • Products
Mar 2024175US$470
Mar 2025180185US$504
Mar 2026222253296US$792
Jun 2026227258440US$949
Sep 2026230262524US$1,044
Show tableHide table
Managed services and T&MMaintenance contractsProjectsProducts
Mar 202414413417517
Mar 202518018512118
Mar 202622225329621
Jun 202622725844024
Sep 202623026252428

Source: Black Box, investor presentation for Q2 FY27, NSE filing of 13 November 2026 · as of 13 November 2026 · Values as printed on the company’s chart; data-centre builds are counted in projects.

02What the quarter cost, and what to watch

The quarter includes, for the first full three months, 2S Inovações Tecnológicas of Brazil, bought from 1 May for ₹427.34 crore including deferred and performance-linked payments; ₹568.23 crore of goodwill was booked.3 2S added ₹177 crore of revenue in the half-year.2 Staff costs rose 37%, to ₹752.2 crore, while goods bought for resale fell to ₹616.6 crore from ₹747.6 crore; long-term borrowings rose to ₹1,184.9 crore from ₹797.0 crore in March.3 The company says it has hired about 300 people in two months, mostly in the US, will add about 700 more in six to nine months, and aims for a 10% EBITDA margin in January–March.2

Its auditor, without modifying its conclusion, drew attention to import payments, export proceeds and other receipts of ₹20.44 crore, ₹7.44 crore and ₹11.14 crore held past the time limits of India’s foreign-exchange law; the companies have applied for extensions.3 What to watch: the guidance for the year to March 2027, which is revenue up 23–27%, profit up 38–50% and a backlog of US$1.3–1.4bn at year end.1 The chips going into those data centres are in TSMC’s and the server assemblers’ monthly revenue.

Sources

  1. Black Box Limited, press release on unaudited results for the quarter and half-year to 30 September 2026 (NSE) — 13 November 2026
  2. Black Box Limited, investor presentation, Q2 and H1 FY27 (NSE) — 13 November 2026
  3. Black Box Limited, outcome of board meeting: unaudited standalone and consolidated results with limited review reports (NSE) — 13 November 2026
  4. Black Box Limited, shareholding pattern at 30 September 2026 (NSE, XBRL) — 13 October 2026

Disclosure. TechBag is a software reseller: it earns when companies buy through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.