The economic crisis, which sent share prices tumbling, caused Nasdaq to temporarily suspend its $1 per share threshold requirement for listing. The nine-month suspension ended in August, and the Nasdaq management again began sending out Staff Deficiency Letters to companies that were not in compliance with the minimum bid price.
Last week, five Israeli companies received such letters: integrated CAD/CAM solutions developer Cimatron Technologies (Nasdaq: CIMT), business support systems (BSS) developer Mer Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. (Nasdaq: MTSL), multimedia bandwidth optimization solutions developer Veraz Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:VRAZ) (registered as a US company), RFID tracking solutions developer BOS Better Online Solutions Ltd. (Nasdaq: BOSC), and revenue management (IRM) solutions company ECtel (Nasdaq: ECTX).
Cimatron and Mer are both traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Cimatron closed at $0.92 on Friday, giving a market cap of $8.5 million, and Mer closed at $0.85, giving a market cap of $7.6 million. Veraz closed at $0.92, giving a market cap of $42 million, ECtel closed at $1, giving a market cap of $16 million, and BOS closed at $0.40, giving a market cap of $5 million. The three companies are traded on the General Market.
All five companies were notified that their shares were traded below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days, and were given 180 days (until mid-March) to achieve the $1 threshold and again be in compliance for listing. One possible, technical, solution to the problem is a reverse split of the companies' shares.
Several other Israeli companies are also currently traded at less than $1 per share, and are therefore also likely to receive Nasdaq Staff Deficiency Letters. One such is information management solutions developer Top Image Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: TISA; TASE:TISA).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 21, 2009
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