Velocity Express faces stock delisting but wins contract

Velocity Express faces stock delisting but wins contract Nasdaq notified Velocity Express Corp., whose stock traded at a high of $19.35 in the past year, risks being delisted because the company's common stock closed below $1 for 30 consecutive business days
   Nasdaq notified Velocity Express June 19 that it is not in compliance with a marketplace rule regarding the minimum bid requirement for the continued listing of its common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
   However, Velocity reported Wednesday that it has been awarded a multiyear contract valued at more than $30 million to service Stage Stores Inc.’s, Peebles brand stores throughout the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast. Velocity will provide services including daily store replenishment and vendor inbound transportation services to 310 Peebles stores.
   Velocity, said it is the nation’s largest provider of time-definite regional delivery services. In May it reported a third quarter loss of $8.8 million compared to a loss of $11 million in the same period the prior year. Third quarter revenue was $82.2 million compared to $98.2 million prior-year period.
   Vincent A. Wasik, Velocity’s chairman and chief executive officer, said then that “despite the challenges of the significant fuel cost increases and the impact of a slowing economy, the company was profitable in the months of March and April. During the quarter, we completed our project to realign driver settlements with prevailing market rates and we continued to renegotiate or exit from unfavorable, low margin legacy-CD&L contracts, including a number with uneconomic fuel indexing provisions. More work remains to be done, particularly with regard to establishing a fair basis for fuel indexing, but we are pleased with our progress to date.”
   Velocity acquired a competitor CD&L in 2006.