Wet Seal to Delay Results

Wet Seal Inc., a clothing retailer under investigation over the timing of a stock sale by a company headed by its former chairman, is delaying the release of its fourth-quarter and full-year results until April 12.

No reason for the delay was provided in a statement. Helen Rotherham, a spokeswoman for Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal, didn’t return a call to her office.

The company said last month that the Securities and Exchange Commission had started an informal investigation into the sale of its shares by La Senza Corp., a Montreal retailer headed by Irving Teitelbaum, Wet Seal’s chairman from 1984 to August of last year.

The shares were sold shortly before the stock started an 85% slide.

The retailer, which has been reporting losses for nine quarters, said in December that it would close 150 stores and cut 2,000 jobs.

Shares of Wet Seal fell 5 cents to $3.20 on Nasdaq. The news was released after markets closed. In after-hours trading, the shares slipped an additional 25 cents.