First Place faces delisting by Nasdaq over failure to file statements

By Karl Henkel | November 9, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

WARREN

First Place Financial Corp. will be delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Exchange for failure to timely file multiple financial statements.

The company will no longer be listed at the opening of business Thursday, the drop-dead date for which the company had to comply with Nasdaq filing requirements. First Place’s stock had appeared on Nasdaq since Jan. 4, 1999.

“While we have been working tirelessly on the restatement process, the enormous number of components affected and the complexity of the process have made the Nov. 10 deadline impossible for us to meet,” said Steven R. Lewis, president and CEO, in a statement.

Lewis said delays are a result of the “extent and complexity” of the restatement process.

The company needs to file delinquent reports from Sept. 30 and Dec. 31, 2010, and March 31, 2011, and restate financial conditions for years ending June 30, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Those filings and amendments are required because the SEC determined First Place needs to improve the condition of its loan portfolio and boost its allowance for loan losses.

Debra Bish, corporate executive vice president of marketing for First Place Bank, said the company’s goal “is to get it done ASAP with the hope it will be completed by the end of the year.”

Bish also stressed that the delisting will “not affect any of our customers from a day-to-day operations standpoint.”

The company’s common stock still will be available under its FPFC symbol but will be traded over-the-counter, also known as “pink sheets.”

First Place shares dropped 5 cents and closed Tuesday at 78 cents a share.