Nasdaq hands Mera its pink slip
Mera Pharmaceuticals Inc., which produces human nutritional products out of microalgae, has been delisted after repeatedly failing to file regulatory financial documents.
Kona-based Mera was dropped yesterday from trading on Nasdaq's Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board to the lesser-regarded Pink Sheets for 12 months.
Mera Chief Executive Gregory Kowal said yesterday he will reapply at that time for trading on the Bulletin Board, which requires timely regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company had an appeals hearing last week over a delisting notice received by Nasdaq for three delinquent filings over a two-year period. Two of the three were annual filings that were late by one day because the company's 30-day monthly filing system put it behind schedule, Kowal said.
"We went through the hearing, and while they were sympathetic, they said the SEC won't allow us to trade anywhere else for the next 12 months," he said.
Kowal said he was unsure how delisting would affect trading in Mera stock. In the past calendar year, daily trading volume has averaged 82,970 shares, with 75,000 traded yesterday. Shares closed yesterday at 0.9 cents; over the past year, they have traded as high as 1.2 cents and as low as 0.6 cents.
The company will continue to be traded under the ticker MRPI.
As of October 31, Mera had approximately 688 holders of 510 million outstanding shares, according to the company's latest annual filing.
The company has traded on the Bulletin Board since emerging from bankruptcy in 2002 renamed as Mera, said Kowal, who became CEO in January 2006.