American Telephone & Data Seeks to Halt Stock Trading

American Telephone & Data Inc., a small telecommunications firm that has had two changes in top management in the last year, said Thursday that it has asked that all trading in its stock be halted because it does not want investors to rely on possibly inaccurate financial information.

The Costa Mesa company, whose stock closed Wednesday at less than half a cent a share in Nasdaq trading, said in a prepared statement that it will halt trading “pending the availability of accurate current information concerning the company’s business, operations and financial condition.”

The company’s statement said that current managers are trying to determine how inaccurate and misleading prior financial statements--filed by former managers--have been.

Jeffrey B. Tevis, the company’s general counsel, refused to elaborate or even say who the company’s president is now. The current chairman, the third in the last year, is James W. Truher.