Champion and Fleetwood on Precipice

On Friday, Fleetwood received formal notification from the NYSE that it is non-compliance and that its stock will be delisted.  The NYSE requires that issues traded on its exchange maintain a price of at least $1.  Fleetwood’s stock has fallen below that level and it currently is trading for just nine cents a share.

On Friday, Fleetwood also announced that it had refinanced $100 million in subordinated debt.  It will issue preferred shares that pay a fourteen percent dividend in order to exit the older debt.

Champion (CHB) may be next.  Today, there stock is at 89 cents.  One difference is that the board at Champion has been buying up the firm’s own stock.  In November, insiders purchased a little over 300,000 shares in their company.  No one at Fleetwood has bought any shares since September.