Comarco to Keep NASDAQ Listing Despite Problems

Financially troubled Comarco has won a temporary reprieve that will allow its stock to continue to be traded on the National Assn. of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system.

The Anaheim-based defense electronics firm no longer meets an association requirement that companies maintain a minimum shareholders’ equity of $375,000 to be listed on the NASDAQ system. Shareholders’ equity, or net worth, is the value of a company’s assets minus its liabilities.

After suffering a $10 million net loss in its fiscal second quarter, Comarco had a negative net worth of $2.5 million.

The association agreed to allow Comarco’s stock to continue to be traded on NASDAQ on the condition that the company’s financial health improves. “While (Comarco) believes it can meet these conditions,” the company said in a statement, “there can be no assurance that it will do so.”

Don M. Bailey, vice president of corporate development, said Comarco expects to return to profitability during its current fiscal year, which ends in January of 1988.

In early August, Comarco underwent a management shake-up that resulted in the departure of its chairman, president and chief executive, Glenn D. Buell, and chief financial officer, James C. Quibodeaux.