Wegener Expects Nasdaq Delisting Letter, Plans to Appeal

Facing delisting from the Nasdaq stock market, manufacturer Wegener Corp. said it will appeal if that happens.

The company was notified Monday by Nasdaq that its shareholders’ equity as of this August did not meet the minimum requirement of $2.5 million for continued listing and that as of late November, it had not met certain other benchmarks for listing.

In 2008 Wegener had been told that its stock price was below the minimum but through extensions granted by Nasdaq, Wegener had until Dec. 7 of this year to get back into compliance. It says it will not be able to do so and expects to be notified of delisting; it said it will appeal and lay out a plan to regain compliance.

The company recently reported a net loss of about $2.6 million for the fiscal year that ended in August. It told the Securities and Exchange Commission that its bookings in the past several quarters “were well below our expectations and internal forecasts, primarily as a result of customer delays in purchasing decisions, deferral of project expenditures and general adverse economic and credit conditions.”

It reduced its labor force from 91 to 63 people over the prior fiscal year, cut that further to 51 since and has reduced other expenses. It also trimmed paid working hours by 10%. A recent deal for Wegener to be acquired by Sencore fell through.

Its auditors attached a “going concern” note to the company’s annual report saying the company “has suffered recurring losses from operations and has a net capital deficiency that raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

In announcing the financial figures last week, President/CEO Troy Woodbury called recent performance “very disappointing” and said the next quarter would show an operating loss and severance costs. “We cannot continue to perform in this manner in the future,” he stated. “We are committed to a top-down assessment of our product lines, sales methodology, engineering, operations and customer service and are taking significant steps to better serve both our customers and our shareholders.” Woodbury said financing arrangements with backers had helped to place the company on a better financial footing but “we still need to book significant orders for the balance of fiscal 2010.”

Wegener was founded 22 years ago and provides digital video and audio products for broadcast television, radio, telco, private and cable networks. Its line includes iPump media servers; Compel Network Control and Compel Conditional Access; and Unity satellite media receivers for radio and video broadcasts.