2 Top Genisco Executives Resign After Stock Delisted

After a little more than a month on the job, the chairman and the president of Genisco Technology Corp. both resigned Thursday after the company was delisted by the American Stock Exchange and an equity financing deal fell apart.

Harmon Hardy and Jerome Gross resigned as chairman and president, respectively, of the Anaheim-based maker of customized computer equipment. The two were appointed Dec. 8 as part of the deal to obtain financing, according to a company statement.

Both men were reported to be in New York and unavailable for comment.

Genisco said that it was delisted because it no longer satisfies the American Stock Exchange’s financial guidelines. The company said, however, that it expects its stock to continue to trade over the counter.

“The board of directors of Genisco is reviewing the alternatives available to Genisco in light of its limited resources and the relatively high level of its current liabilities,” the company said in a prepared statement. No company officials could be reached for further comment.

The company was betting on an offshore equity financing deal to raise funds that would retire its indebtedness to Sanwa Bank of California, recapitalize and purchase the outstanding stock of Global Intellicom, a Philadelphia-based seller of portable computers. The deal was canceled, however, with the delisting of the stock.

Genisco moved its headquarters and 175 employees to Anaheim from La Mirada in 1991. Then-Chairman Phillip C. Friedman said he was moving the company into a smaller building to save expenses.

The company ended its latest fiscal year with a loss of $3.2 million, or 41 cents a share, compared to a loss of $4.7 million, or 67 cents a share, for the previous year. Revenue declined 28% to $9.1 million, from $12.7 million.

The company’s stock, which had traded as high as $8.37 last month after the announcement of the Global Intellicom plan, closed Thursday at $6.675 a share, down 12.5 cents.

The announcement of the resignations and delisting came after the close of trading.