Julie, I know there was some speculation on the thread earlier, but has anyone determined exactly why the E is there? TIA, Dave
First, from the company web site:
SAN ANTONIO, Sept.13, 1999- billserv.com, Inc. (NASD OTC BB: BLLSE), a leading electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) service bureau, today announced that the NASD's OTCBB has changed its symbol to "BLLSE" until such time as the SEC closes the comment period with regard to the Company's Form 10 registration statement. Although billserv.com is currently a reporting company with the SEC and is current in its filings, the SEC has yet to confirm that it has no further comments with regard to the Company's registration statement, which was originally filed on June 11, 1999. The Company's registration statement went effective on August 11, 1999. billserv.com believes there are no significant issues remaining which would cause further comment from the SEC. Therefore, the Company believes it will meet the OTCBB's compliance deadline of mid-October 1999. The registration statement review, however, is subject to the schedules and resources of the SEC and the Company cannot speculate on the final date upon which the review process will conclude. The Company continues to seek approval for listing on Nasdaq.
From the OTC BB web site:
The OTC Bulletin Board© Eligibility Rule implementation continues with the October 8 Phase-In Group. The status of this group of companies, whose trading symbols (as of January 4, 1999) begin with "BJ" through "CH", will be evaluated as of the close of business on October 7, 1999. Securities of OTC Bulletin Board(OTCBB) companies that do not meet the Eligibility Rule requirements at that time will no longer be eligible for quotation on the OTCBB
So my read on the situation is as follows:
A. OTC BB institutes new policy that listed companies must be filing with the SEC. To spread their work out, they set up an alphabetical based schedule for compliance review that results in BLLS's evaluation taking place early in the process.
B. BLLS submits its paperwork to the SEC ahead of the deadline but SEC doesn't complete its review before BLLS's group comes up for evaluation by the OTC BB.
C. OTC BB evaluates the stocks in BLLS's group and marks BLLS's as failing because SEC hasn't approved yet. 'E' is appended to the symbol as an indication that there is a problem with the listing.
D. Company's opinion is that their paperwork is fine but that they have no control over when the SEC will finish its work.
My guess is that in the past the 'E' designation has been used selectively to identify stocks of companies who have been accused of irregularities or perhaps have filed for bankruptcy, and so it carries a more serious stigma than is warranted by the current situation, where the BB is systematically reviewing all listed companies for their ability to meet a new eligibility guideline.
The original registration form and the first quarterly report are all available at Free Edgar. I really don't see this as being an issue to worry about. Quite the contrary, I see a nice pop coming once this all straightens out. |
