DALIAN, China, Dec. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- RINO
International Corporation (the "Company")(Nasdaq: RINO) announced
today that it has received a letter from The NASDAQ Stock Market
("NASDAQ") stating that based upon its review of the Company and
pursuant to NASDAQ Listing Rules 5101, 5250(a)(1) and 5250(c)(1),
the staff of NASDAQ believes that the continued listing of the
Company's securities on NASDAQ is no longer warranted (the "NASDAQ
Letter"). NASDAQ stated that its staff's determination was
based upon the following:
- The Company's announcement that its previously filed financial
reports for fiscal 2008, 2009 and year-to-date 2010 could no longer
be relied upon;
- The Company's admission that it had not entered into certain
previously disclosed contracts; and
- The Company's failure to respond to the NASDAQ staff's request
for additional information regarding allegations raised by the
Muddy Waters, LLC report.
The NASDAQ Letter stated that the statement by the Company's
independent auditors that their audit reports for 2008 and 2009 can
no longer be relied upon constitutes a violation by the Company of
NASDAQ Listing Rule 5250(c)(1). The letter also states that the
Company's failure to respond to a letter from the NASDAQ staff
dated November 17, 2010 constitutes a violation of NASDAQ Listing
Rule 5250(a).
The NASDAQ Letter further notified the Company that unless the
Company requests an appeal of the NASDAQ staff's determination,
trading of the Company's common stock will be suspended at the
opening of business on December 8,
2010 and a Form 25-NSE will be filed by NASDAQ with the SEC,
which will remove the Company's securities from listing and
registration on NASDAQ.
The Company does not intend to appeal the NASDAQ staff's
determination to delist the Company's common stock. Pending the
delisting of the Company's common stock, which is expected to occur
on December 8, 2010, the suspension
of trading in the Company's common stock, which commenced on
November 17, 2010, remains in
effect.
The Company currently intends to re-apply for a listing of its
common stock on NASDAQ at an appropriate time after the completion
of an independent investigation to be conducted by the Audit
Committee of the Company's Board of Directors of the allegations
contained in a research report issued by Muddy Waters, LLC, the
filing of restated financial statements of the Company for its
fiscal years ended December 31, 2008
and 2009 and for the quarterly periods included in the Company's
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the periods ended March 31, 2008 to September 30, 2010 and the Company's satisfaction
of all other listing criteria.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Information
Certain statement in this press release may contain
forward-looking information about the Company. Forward-looking
statements are statements that are not historical facts. These
statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking
terminology such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should,"
"project," "plan," "seek," "intend," or "anticipate" or the
negative thereof or comparable terminology, and statements which
may include discussions of strategy, and statements about industry
trends future performance, operations and products of each of the
entities referred to above. Actual performance results may vary
significantly from expectations and projections as a result of
various factors, including without limitation and the risks set
forth "Risk Factors" contained in the Company's Annual Reports on
Form 10-K, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
For more information, please contact:
For the Company:
Ben Wang
Tel: +86-411-8766-2700
Email: benwang@rinogroup.com
SOURCE RINO International Corporation