Irvine-based Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. said on Tuesday it has received notice from the regulators of the New York Stock Exchange that the company’s slumping stock could be delisted from the prestigious exchange unless its share price improves.
Companies trading on NYSE are expected to maintain a consecutive 30-day average closing stock price of more than $1 per common share.
Impac’s shares had an average price of about 91 cents for the month ended Nov. 27.
The company currently trades at about 60 cents with a market value of about $45 million. Impac’s shares are down about 90% in the past year.
Impac’s ticker will start be being listed as “IMH.BC” on Wednesday, to reflect that the company is below NYSE’s listing standards, the company said.
Under NYSE rules, Impac has six months to bring its share price and average price back above $1. The company says it plans to submit plans in the next 10 days to address the price issue.
NYSE regulators also have the right to delist the stock if shares trade at “abnormally low” levels on a sustained basis.
Unless Impac’s shares improve, it would be the second big local mortgage company to get booted from NYSE during the recent mortgage meltdown.
In March, shares of Irvine’s New Century Financial Corp. moved from NYSE to the Pink Sheets, a haven for penny stocks. That delisting was followed by an April bankruptcy filing for the subprime lender.
