Hydrogen truck maker Nikola receives delisting notice from Nasdaq as share price nosedives below $1

US company indicated in a February regulatory filing that it could shut down within a year

. An electric refuse vehicle, which is due to begin road-testing in 2022.
. An electric refuse vehicle, which is due to begin road-testing in 2022.Photo: Nikola Motor Company

US-based hydrogen fuel-cell and battery electric truck manufacturer Nikola Motors has been issued with a delisting notice from the Nasdaq stock exchange because its share price has slumped below $1 for 30 consecutive days, breaching the trading platform’s listing rules.

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Nasdaq requires all companies to trade at above $1/share at least once a month — but Nikola’s share price fell below that threshold on 12 April and never recovered.

The company has until November 20th to ensure its closing bid price is at least $1 per share for a minimum of ten consecutive days, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) notice, or it will be delisted.

The company’s stock has now fallen below $0.70.

Nikola told the SEC in February that it may have to “terminate” its operations within 12 months, having already accumulated a deficit of $2bn.

At the time, the company said it was expecting to see “continuing losses for the foreseeable future”.

Nikola has spent the past month encouraging its investors to vote in favour of an increase in shares so as to raise capital.

The company has already lined up a $100m public offering of stock at the end of March to investor Antara Capital, which would add 94 million shares to the 513 million currently available — a move which was likely to dilute the shares and clearly spooked investors.

They also appear to have been unconvinced by CEO Michael Lohscheller’s claims that the company “had a very solid quarter” at the start of the year in spite of reporting a $0.31 loss per share, citing “sales momentum with Class 8 battery electric truck deliveries to customers and orders for 140 hydrogen fuel cell trucks from customers”.

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Published 25 May 2023, 15:59Updated 25 May 2023, 16:01