Wise Investments

[walkingmoney]

I hope no one here has any investments in these companies at this time. Walk WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites) suspended trading in shares of 26 small companies, including a health Web site named for former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, on Wednesday because they failed to file required periodic financial reports.



The SEC began last June halting trading in companies for delinquent reporting, to protect investors by preventing stock manipulation. The agency said the companies' failure to submit the quarterly and annual reports means there is a lack of current and accurate information about them.


The SEC also said Wednesday that it began administrative proceedings against 12 of the companies to suspend or terminate their registration to issue securities.


"Public companies must keep investors informed through accurate and timely periodic filings" with the SEC, said Alan Beller, director of the agency's corporation finance division.


The halts began at the start of trading Wednesday. The shares will be allowed to resume trading on Dec. 15 if the companies file the required reports, provided their registration has not been revoked. Most of the companies' shares are traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers' OTC Bulletin Board, an electronic trading system for small stocks that are thinly traded.


The SEC suspends trading in stocks from time to time, but a suspension of numerous companies at the same time is rare. The agency suspended trading in another batch of 26 small companies in June for delinquent reporting.


The company operating the site named for Koop, DrKoop.Com Inc., was once worth more than $1 billion but collapsed a few years after going public. Some of its assets, notably Internet domain names, were sold in bankruptcy court for $186,000 to vitamin retailer Vitacost in the summer of 2002.


Koop originally was paid $10,000 for the right to use his name on the site.


Other companies subject to the trading suspension are: 1st Miracle Entertainment Inc., Advanced Solutions and Technologies Inc., Amitelo Communications Inc., Comparator Systems Corp., Digi Link Technologies Inc., Emerging Enterprise Solutions Inc., First Pacific Networks Inc., Gemz Inc., Homeland Security Technology Inc., Infotopia Inc., Shaman Pharmaceuticals Inc., United States Crude International Inc. and Whitehall Enterprises Inc.


Those subject to the trading suspension and whose registration the SEC is seeking to suspend or terminate are: Abacan Resources Corp., American Multiplexer Corp., Asset Equity Group Inc., DMT Energy Inc., Heroes Inc., Household Direct Inc., International Brands Inc., Interspace Enterprises Inc., JTS Corp., Mega Micro Technologies Group Inc., Vertical Computer Systems Inc. and Webvan Group Inc.


The SEC also announced that in separate actions, these companies had agreed in settlements to have their registration revoked. They neither admitted nor denied the agency's allegations in the settlements: Bigmar Inc., Biogan International Inc., Bluestar Enterprises Inc., Centura Software Inc., DirectShoes.Com Inc., HealthWatch Inc., Learncom Inc., Marchfirst Inc., Winstar Communications Inc. and 21st Century Wireless Group Inc.


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Securities and Exchange Commission: http://www.sec.gov