Veritec Board OKs 3 New Series of Preferred Stock

Chatsworth-based Veritec Inc. said its board has authorized three new series of preferred stock in a move designed to help the company restructure its finances by exchanging preferred stock for debt.

The company had hoped to restructure debt by offering new shares of common stock, but Jack E. Dahl, the company’s chief financial officer, said Veritec is unsure that it can legally offer new common stock. A recent reverse split of common stock has created a legal question of whether the number of common shares outstanding is already the maximum authorized by shareholders, Dahl said.

Dahl said the company may seek to have the number of authorized shares increased at its Oct. 22 board meeting.

Veritec is developing technology that may replace bar code scanning systems commonly used in supermarkets. Bar codes contain data that can be scanned in one direction, and Veritec is working to develop a data matrix that can hold more data and be scanned in two directions.