You are right that they shouldn't give timelines because I doubt they have any control at all over it. If you want to sell to a big Fortune 500 type company it's on their timeline, not yours. They could care less what a little pink sheet company is telling their shareholders.
I don't believe they made any commitment. To say deal will be finalized within 30 days does not guarantee a PR. They did not release a PR when deal was finalized with IF. IF took it upon themselves to release info then HTIC simply pointed to it almost a week later