Pinnacle Micro Posts ’96 Operating Loss of $18.5 Million

Pinnacle Micro Inc., which provides optical storage systems, reported an operating loss of $18.5 million for 1996, compared with an operating loss of $3.3 million for 1995. The company said it is not releasing net loss figures because of questions raised by the Securities and Exchange Commission over the company’s convertible debentures. Pinnacle said it could be required to record a non-cash interest expense for 1996 of from $1.5 million to $2 million. Revenue fell 27% to $59.9 million from $81.8 million.

For the fourth quarter, the company posted an operating loss of $3.1 million, compared with an operating loss of $3.5 million for last year’s fourth quarter. Revenue declined 19% to $15.9 million from $19.7 million.