NEC delisting decision postponed

Japanese electronics conglomerate NEC today said the US Nasdaq exchange had agreed to put off a decision on whether to delist…

Japanese electronics conglomerate NEC today said the US Nasdaq exchange had agreed to put off a decision on whether to delist NEC's American depositary receipts.

NEC failed to meet an April 2nd deadline to file an earnings restatement for the business year to March 2006 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company is still analysing data needed to file the report, it said in a release.

NEC shares were up 1.0 per cent at 637 yen earlier this morning, compared with a 0.78 per cent increase for the benchmark Nikkei average

Nasdaq's Listing Qualifications Panel had previously said that it would not be able to extend the April 2nd deadline, but NEC then asked the bourse's overseeing Hearings Review Council to review the decision.

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NEC has been mired in accounting problems and had to restate its first-half earnings in December after a sudden switch to Japanese accounting rules from US rules led to mistakes in calculating subsidiaries' tax.

The electronics group is recalculating its earnings for the 2005/06 business year, collecting documents for some 100,000 contracts, at the request of independent auditor Ernst & Young ShinNihon, to demonstrate NEC's pricing of maintenance services was fair.

US auditors are targeting software contracts, demanding companies prove with statistical evidence that they are not posting profits early from bulk contracts comprising hardware, software and maintenance.