Offshore drilling contractor Pacific Drilling has received notice from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stating that the company does not currently satisfy the minimum share price standard for continued listing of the company’s common shares.
Specifically, on 6 April 2020, the 30-trading-day average closing price per share of the company’s common shares was below $1, the minimum average share price required for continued listing on the NYSE.
Under NYSE rules, the company has six months following receipt of the notification to regain compliance with this continued listing standard and avoid delisting.
As required by NYSE rules, the company will notify the NYSE that it intends to cure the share price deficiency and is considering all available options to return to compliance. The company can regain compliance at any time during the six-month cure period if on the last trading day of any calendar month during the cure period the company has a closing share price of at least $1 and an average closing share price of at least $1 over the 30 trading-day period ending on the last trading day of that month.
Possible suspension & delisting
If at the expiration of the cure period (7 October 2020), both a $1 closing share price on the last trading day of the cure period and a $1 average closing share price over the 30 trading-day period ending on the last trading day of the cure period are not attained, the NYSE will start suspension and delisting procedures.
The company’s common shares continue to be listed and to trade on the NYSE, subject to the company’s compliance with other NYSE continued listing requirements.
Pacific Drilling is the second offshore driller to receive the NYSE notice in less than a week. Namely, Seadrill also last week received a continued listing standard notice from the NYSE.
Also, earlier this year, it was Noble Corporation that received the NYSE’s continued listing notice.
Header photo by Rab Lawrence – Source: Flickr – under the CC BY 2.0 license