Touch American misses reporting deadline

Touch America Holdings missed Tuesday’s deadline to file its annual report and announced the eventual filing would discount the value of its fiber-optic assets by $827 million.

By the Associated Press The Montana Standard

Touch America was
supposed to file its annual report on March 31, but received a 15-day extension. On Tuesday, the company asked for a second extension.

Touch America said the delay was needed so it could ‘‘properly assess and report the impact’’ of a recent arbitrator’s decision that Touch America owes Qwest Communications $59.6 million, plus interest, in a dispute over Touch America’s purchase of long distance and other
operations from Qwest.

Touch America said because of the ruling, the company expected to write off about $135 million from its audited financial books.

Together, the two
numbers total $962 million, close to the $1.1 billion NorthWestern Corp. paid for the transmission and distribution system of the former Montana Power Co., now known as Touch America.

Company spokeswoman Linda McGillen did not return a phone call seeking comment on either figure or what the write-offs might mean for the
company.

The markets on Tuesday added to the mystery.
Shares of Touch America closed at 16.5 cents on
over-the-counter trading, up 6 cents from Monday’s close. More than 1.4 million shares traded hands, more than three times the normal volume.

Last week, Florida investor Brad Kelley
purchased 250,000 more shares of Touch America stock. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday shows he now owns 13.3 percent of the company.

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