Kettle Chips maker Diamond Foods in a crunch with Nasdaq
[For the record, June 25, 2012: The photo used with this post was originally identified as being from Bue Diamond. It should be attributed to Diamond Foods.]
Diamond Foods Inc. is in a crunch -- and not the kind that the Bay Area maker of Kettle Chips and Emerald snack nuts wants.
The company said Monday that it will miss deadlines set by the Nasdaq stock exchange to file quarterly earnings reports for the periods ended Oct. 31, Jan. 31 and April 30.
The snacks maker, still struggling to correct earlier accounting snafus, also said it will ask for an extension for its annual stockholder meeting, which it doesn’t expect to hold before July 31 as required by Nasdaq.
As a result, Diamond said it expects Nasdaq to consider delisting its stock. In morning trading Monday, the stock was down as much as 7.9% to $18.57 a share.
But the company, which is also in the process of restating its 2011 and 2012 fiscal year earnings, said it will appeal any delisting steps.
“Diamond and its auditors have devoted significant resources and are working diligently to complete the restatement for fiscal years 2011 and 2010 and file our delayed fiscal year 2012 quarterly reports as soon as possible,” interim Chief Financial Officer Mike Murphy said in a statement. “We look forward to discussing the progress we have made with Nasdaq and to getting Diamond current in its filings soon.”
In February, Diamond said it had misreported its earnings after incorrectly accounting for payments to walnut growers, and had to rework all of its financial statements from 2010 and 2011. The company also kicked out its chief executive and chief financial officer. Diamond stock has fallen 45% since the announcement.
That month, Procter & Gamble called off a deal to sell its Pringles chip unit to Diamond and instead sold it for $2.7 billion to Kellogg Co.
Last month, Diamond hired a new chief executive, Brian Driscoll, from Hostess Brands Inc. -- a company that is dealing with its own suite of troubles, including bankruptcy and union battles.
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