Lifeward received its deficiency letter on Aug. 5.
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Lifeward, a medical device manufacturer out of Marlborough, is at risk of being delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange after originally receiving a deficiency letter from the exchange’s Listing Qualifications department in this summer.
Lifeward received its deficiency letter on Aug. 5 due to the firm’s inability to meet the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement for the prior 30 consecutive business days. Lifeward was given until Feb. 2 to regain compliance, but failed to do so.
As a result, the company received a notification letter from Nasdaq on Feb. 3, granting the manufacturer an additional 180 calendar days, or until Aug. 3, to achieve the minimum bid price for 10 consecutive business days, according to a Monday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. If Lifeward does not meet the deadline, its shares are subject to delisting from the NASDAQ.
“The company is working very hard to be in compliance again and to achieve the dollar threshold,” Almog Adar, Lifeward CFO, said to WBJ. “We believe that in the next…180 days, the company will achieve the dollar target and will be in compliance again with the NASDAQ.”
As a possible avenue to regain compliance, Lifeward’s Board of Directors approved a 1-for-12 reverse stock split, meaning every 12 shares could be consolidated into one, subsequently increasing the monetary value of each individual share.
This reverse stock split has not been implemented, but would be an alternative if Lifeward isn’t able to regain compliance organically, said Adar.
Lifeward’s extension comes after the manufacturer announced it would sell nearly 50% of the company to New York City-based Oramed Pharmaceuticals for up to $47 million, in exchange for Oramed’s protein oral delivery technology to treat diabetes.
“It's a transformative transaction [to] provide Lifeward the ability to execute profitability and also expand the portfolio in full,” Adar said.
Founded in 2001 as ReWalk Robotics, Lifeward manufactures mobility equipment for those with physical limitations and disabilities, including exoskeleton, bikes, and anti-gravity systems.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education industries.
