Mercury Interactive Shares to Be Delisted

Mercury Interactive (MERQE) was battered anew Tuesday after the company said its shares will be delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Mercury, which last week said it will miss a deadline to file its July and September quarterly results, announced Tuesday that its shares will move to the Pink Sheets following its Nasdaq delisting, which takes effect with the open of trading Wednesday.

The software company said it is "committed" to regaining compliance with the Nasdaq filing requirements and relisting its shares. That goal could take time, however.

"The company was advised that the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Hearing Panel did not believe it has the authority to grant the company's request to relist Mercury's common stock on an expedited basis under The Nasdaq National Market maintenance standards once the company fulfills its filing requirement and demonstrates compliance with all other initial listing standards for The Nasdaq National Market," Mercury said. "The company may request that the NASDAQ Listing and Hearing Review Council review the Panel's decision."

Mercury is in the process of restating financial results after a special committee of its board found some of its executives benefited from a program to favorably price stock options grants. CEO Amnon Landan, CFO Douglas Smith and general counsel Susan Skaer resigned in the wake of the findings.

"The company announced that it believes that it has made substantial progress in the completion of its restatement efforts. The company also stated that it has strong visibility into the required steps to ensure that the company's restated financials meet Nasdaq requirements and are thorough, complete and accurate," it said Tuesday.

Mercury slid $2.34, or 8.4%, to $25.45 on Instinet.