Benzinga | Jul 6, 2021 04:17PM EDT

Blonder Tongue Announces Forgiveness Of CARES Act PPP Loan

Blonder Tongue Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE American:BDR) announced today that it has received forgiveness of $1,768,762 of loan proceeds ("PPP Loan") previously received under the Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP").

As previously disclosed, on April 10, 2020, the Company received a PPP Loan of $1,768,762 under the federal PPP Program. The PPP was established as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act") and is administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration ("SBA"). The PPP Loan was evidenced by a promissory note, dated as of April 5, 2020 ("Note"), between the Company, as Borrower, and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as Lender ("Lender"). The interest rate on the Note was 0.98% per annum, with interest accruing on the unpaid principal balance computed on the basis of the actual number of days elapsed in a year of 360 days.

Under the terms of the CARES Act, PPP loan recipients can apply for, and the SBA can grant forgiveness of, all or a portion of the loan amounts made under the PPP, plus any accrued interest, if the recipients have used the PPP loan proceeds for eligible purposes. The Company applied for forgiveness of its PPP Loan during the second quarter of 2021.

On June 30, 2021, the Company received notification from the Lender that the SBA had approved the Company's PPP Loan forgiveness application for the entire PPP Loan amount. The forgiveness of the PPP Loan will be recognized during the Company's second quarter ending June 30, 2021.

Commenting on the PPP forgiveness notice, Blonder Tongue Chief Financial Officer Eric Skolnik noted "We were pleased to receive the notice of forgiveness. The PPP program became available to American based manufacturers like Blonder Tongue and other small and medium sized U.S. companies at a critical moment in April last year, when the pandemic was having a tremendous impact on our ability to maintain sales levels and manage our liquidity. The PPP funding enabled us to keep our staff off of unemployment and allowed us a needed bridge to allow for the market to begin its recovery and for us to manage restructuring to get through a period of time when as many as 50% of our customers had temporarily closed their doors last year."