As its stock price begins to recover, Vapotherm receives another delisting notice
New York Stock Exchange issues second warning in two months as Exeter firm tries to regain ground
Vapotherm CEO Joe Army
Vapotherm Inc. has received a second delisting notice from the New York Stock Exchange, this time because its stock price hadn’t risen above a dollar for 30 consecutive days. Ironically, the notice came as share price was rising.
The Exeter-based manufacturer of respiratory therapy products announced last week that it had received the warning on Nov. 29 because the 30-day trading average of its stock was at 98 cents.
It had dipped below 50 cents for eight days, Nov. 21 through Dec. 5, but the day before the company revealed the warning the prices had gone up to $1.62. And by Dec. 9, it closed at about $1.80. The company has to demonstrate that its stock will remain above $1 at the end of each month for the next six months to regain compliance.
Vapotherm is also responding to a Sept. 27 delisting warning from the NYSE because its market capitalization and shareholder equity for the prior 30-day period were each below $50 million. The company was required to file a plan to correct this deficiency by Nov. 11, and it did so, according to its Dec. 5 filing with the Security and Exchange Commission. The plan, it said, was under review by the NYSE.
Vapotherm had been in the red since going public in 2018, posting losses totaling $250 million over the next four years, even while its revenues rapidly grew during Covid. But it was caught off guard by the drop in Covid hospitalizations, and it announced in April, that it will move its manufacturing operations in New Hampshire to Mexico to cut costs in an effort to become profitable – a move is scheduled to be completed at the end of year. It is also establishing a new R&D facility in Singapore.
In its last quarterly filing, the company said it might not be able to continue as a going concern for another year. However, the recent rise in hospitalizations due to a resurgence of COVID, as well as flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), could help boast the company’s revenue, profits and stock price.
One person who has faith in Vapotherm’s future is CEO Joe Army, who on Nov. 28 bought 750,000 shares at 76 cents each, according to a Dec. 8 SEC filing. That brings his holdings to 1.76 million shares, or 6.5 percent of the company.
