Following months of compliance issues, Hines Horticulture of Irvine, Calif., has been delisted from NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc., where the mega grower was publicly traded as HORT. Trading was suspended Aug. 8.
Hines received a NASDAQ Staff Deficiency Letter in July because the bid price per share of the company’s common stock closed below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Hines has until January 22, 2008 to regain compliance with this minimum bid price rule. Stock must remain at or above $1.00 per share for at least 10 consecutive business days for trading to be reinstated. Hines also failed to maintain the minimum $10 million stockholders’ equity requirement for continued listing on The NASDAQ Global Market.
Another issue has been the value of its nursery in Trenton, S.C. According to the filed documents, Hines entered into a letter of intent to sell the assets to Layman Wholesale Nurseries with a selling price less than the value of the assets. The letter of intent is not binding and the sale may or may not take place. Earlier this year, Hines sold its Florida and New York facilities to Costa Farms and Kurt Weiss Greenhouses.
Other reporting problems include failing to file a report for the quarter ending March 31 and delayed year-end reporting for 2006.
James R. Tennant, a director and member of Hines’ audit committee was appointed president and CEO on July 17.