Esmark yesterday asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for more time to file its fourth-quarter results, saying it could not meet the deadline because of complex accounting issues related to its merger with Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp. in November.

The request comes a day after the steelmaker said it would close its Allenport plant in Washington County, which employs about 240, and idle part of another mill in Martins Ferry, Ohio. Workers at the plants have been waiting for the announcement since November, when Esmark merged its steel distribution operations with Wheeling-Pitt's steelmaking and processing plants.

At the time, Esmark Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James P. Bouchard outlined plans for restructuring Wheeling-Pitt, which lost $158 million in the first nine months of last year.

Since then, the delay in releasing its results, protracted negotiations with creditors, 60-day extensions of its top executives' employment contracts and rumors that Russian steelmaker Severstal might acquire the company have increased anxiety among Wheeling-Pitt workers and in the Ohio River communities that depend on the steelmaker.

Also this week, Esmark announced it had settled a lawsuit brought last year by Metal Management, a scrap supplier that was seeking a $31 million judgment against Esmark for its failure to pay for scrap. Terms of the settlement were confidential.

Since the merger occurred Nov. 27, Esmark shares have lost 40 percent of their value. They closed yesterday at $11.44, up 14 cents.