From the Houston Chronicle
Executives with Weatherford International are asking stockholders to vote for a reverse stock split plan that they believe will prevent the struggling oilfield service company from being delisted on New York Stock Exchange.
As the company prepares to report its first quarter earnings on May 8, Weatherford’s board of directors released ballots on late Tuesday afternoon for an annual stockholders meeting schedule to take place on June 25 in Cham, Switzerland.
One of the items on the ballot is a reverse stock split where the struggling company would reduce the total number of its outstanding shares to increase its per share price.
Under the proposed 1-for-20 ratio, the roughly 1 billion outstanding shares of Weatherford stock would be reduced to just over 50 million shares.
“The board expects that a reverse stock split of our ordinary shares will increase the market price of our ordinary shares so that we are able to maintain compliance with the New York Stock Exchange minimum bid price listing standard,” executives wrote.
Traded under the stock ticker symbol WFT, Weatherford’s stock has been trading below $1 per share since Nov. 13. New York Stock Exchange officials issued a delisting warning in December and gave Weatherford six months to improve its dismal stock performance.
The company’s board of directors is asking stockholders to vote in favor of the reverse stock split but is tempering long-term expectations.
“We cannot assure you that the reverse stock split, if implemented, will have the desired effect of raising the price of our ordinary shares over the long term,” board members wrote. “The history of similar reverse stock split consolidations for companies in like circumstances is varied.”
Originally founded in Texas, Weatherford is one of the largest oilfield service companies in the world. The global company had 67,000 employees at the beginning of 2014 but today, it employs around 26,500 people in 80 nations. The company has seven locations in Texas, including four in the Houston area.
Weatherford has not made a profit since the third quarter of 2014. The company posted a $2.8 billion loss on $5.7 billion of revenue in 2018.
Under a transformation plan released in late 2017, the company has sold off its non-core assets and now focuses on drilling equipment and digital services.
