Diamond Foods Misses Nasdaq Deadline, Anticipates Delisting Letter

Diamond Foods (NASDAQ:DMND) said it will miss Nasdaq’s June 11 deadline to file restated financial statements and plans to appeal an expected delisting letter.

The beleaguered maker of Pop Secret popcorn and Kettle potato chips was required in February by the audit committee investigating its supplier payment practices to file updated quarterly reports for the fiscal years ended July 2010 and 2011 and periods ended Oct. 31, Jan. 31 and April 30.

Diamond failed to meet the Nasdaq deadline rule on Monday, which could make it eligible for a delisting on the electronic exchange.

Diamond says it will request a hearing to appeal that and will ask for an extension on when to hold its annual shareholder meeting, which likely won’t convene before Nasdaq’s July 31 deadline.

"Diamond and its auditors have devoted significant resources and are working diligently to complete the restatement," the company’s chief financial officer, Mike Murphy, said in a statement.

Diamond has made “substantial progress” on the restatements for the fiscal years ended in July 2010 and 2011 and the quarterly reports for the first three quarters of fiscal 2012, Murphy said.

It looks forward to discussing its progress related to the Nasdaq request “soon” and anticipates holding a shareholder meeting shortly following the filing of the restated financial statements.

Diamond has been in the midst of an investigation over its payments to walnut-crop suppliers since October, when an analyst raised accounting questions.

The allegations led Diamond to lose a planned $1.5 billion acquisition of Pringles from Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) and caused a reshuffling of its top management.

Shares of Diamond were down more than 7% to a new low on Monday’s announcement and are down about 75% since questions first emerged in October.