Dive Brief:
- Tuesday Morning said the parent of the Nasdaq stock market has accepted the off-price retailer's application to once again list shares of its stock, according to a press release.
- The stock market delisted Tuesday Morning's shares last May when it filed for Chapter 11, after COVID-19 exacerbated the retailer's weakened financial state.
- The company said its shares are set to start trading again on or around Tuesday's market opening. Tuesday Morning CEO Fred Hand said in a statement that the relisting "signifies the Company's recent financial and operational achievements as we continue to build a stronger company."
Dive Insight:
Last year, the retail apocalypse reached publicly traded retailers in numbers far higher than any other since industry bankruptcies began accelerating in 2016. Among the bankrupt were Ascena Retail Group, Centric Brands, GNC, J.C. Penney, Pier 1, RTW Retailwinds, Stage Stores, Stein Mart, Tailored Brands and Tuesday Morning, all publicly traded prior to their respective bankruptcies.
In the early months of the crisis, COVID-19 disrupted individual company finances as well as financial markets more broadly as investors tried to process the impact of an economic shutdown. Many of those listed above that went bankrupt were already weak performers, with correspondingly low-priced stock.
As pandemic disruption rattled them, many were delisted from major markets as share value sustained prices below $1. That is symbolic as much as anything, a step along the path to bankruptcy. It can be a distraction and a thumb in the eye for executives running those companies.
Often cheap stock and the delisting that follows it means investors are pricing in a strong likelihood of Chapter 11, which regularly leaves stockholders with nothing after secured and unsecured lenders are paid. Tuesday Morning was an exception, exiting bankruptcy with a plan that protected shareholders and kept the company public, while planning a new stock offering. Most other public retailers last year were either taken private by lenders, sold off or liquidated.
Out of bankruptcy since January, Tuesday Morning has been shuffling its C-suite over the year. Hand, a former chief operating officer at Burlington, joined the company as chief executive this month. Tuesday Morning also recently tapped another former Burlingon executive, Marc Katz, as its interim CFO.
The retailer still has work to do, with sales down 7.5% and the company operating at a $12 million loss in the period ending March 31. Nonetheless, management is projecting optimism. In Tuesday Morning's announcement of its relisting on Nasdaq, Hand said that, "Tuesday Morning is poised for a bright future and is well-positioned to continue serving our stakeholders, valued customers and business partners."
