Nasdaq stock exchange threatens to delist SCO

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 17 Feb 2005 at 15:42

Controversial Unix company SCO is in the dog house with the Nasdaq stock exchange, which is threatening to delist the company if it doesn't straighten out its finances.

The troubles centre on accounting procedures for its employee stock purchase plan that delayed the filing of its 10K annual report - due at the end of January. SCO's PR Director Blake Stowell said that this involved 'an accounting treatment we have to consider before filing our 10K ... we're working with our auditors KPMG ... We're confident we'll get this resolved in short order'.

Stowell said that 'SCO has the option to request a hearing with the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications panel,' that the company 'would not be delisted until the hearing,' and that this would give SCO '30 more days prior to hearing,' to finalise the filing.

The company had filed a notification form on 31 January, detailing its accounting problems. This gave the company a further 15 days to complete its 10K.

But as of tomorrow the stock will be listed with the letter E appended to denote its status and the company's ticker symbol will read SCOXE.

SCO currently trades on the Nasdaq SmallCap market.

The stock market has greeted the news stoically - SCO stock is off about 2 per cent in early trading.