Bad news keeps flowing for HR software vendor Workstream.
In late September, Workstream said it received—and since has appealed—a
delisting notice from the Nasdaq Stock Market related to the firm’s failure to
file its annual report for the year ended May 31.
Ottawa-based Workstream already faces the possibility that its shares will be
taken off the Nasdaq exchange in the near future for trading at too low of a
price. The company has until November 17 to regain compliance with the $1
minimum bid price set forth in Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(4). To regain
compliance, the Nasdaq exchange generally requires that the closing price of the
company’s stock must be at least $1 per share for a minimum of 10 consecutive
business days.
Workstream stock has been trading at less than 40 cents a share since early
June and closed Monday, September 29, at just shy of 10 cents a share.
The company did not say in its September 23 press release why it had not
filed its annual report on Form 10-K. A Workstream official did not return a
call seeking comment.
Workstream’s Nasdaq troubles come on top of a failed merger earlier this year
with payroll software provider Empagio. That deal fell apart in June and
resulted in litigation between the companies.
Workstream clients include Chevron, Kaiser Permanente and Wells Fargo.
Besides owning 6figurejobs.com, a career site for executives, Workstream is part
of the fast-growing talent management software market. That market refers to
tools for key HR tasks such as recruiting, employee performance management and
compensation management.
Talent management vendors tend to pitch their wares as integrated suites of
software, which can allow organizations to gain greater insight into their
workforce and reduce the complexity of their software systems. Research firm
Bersin & Associates estimates that spending on integrated talent management
suites is growing 20 percent annually and should reach $2.3 billion this
year.
In July, Workstream said it was seeing growth in its business. In a statement
of preliminary results for the fourth quarter and year ended in May, the company
reported fourth-quarter revenue of $7 million, up 13 percent from the third
quarter. It also said annual bookings grew 50 percent year-over-year, to $11.5
million.
—Ed Frauenheim