Adelphia says it needs more time to file 10-K report
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Adelphia Communications stock dropped again Monday when the cable television provider said it needed more time to review accounting of its debts and delayed filing its annual 10-K report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Adelphia said the company and its auditors hadn’t completed a review of the accounting and would miss Monday’s deadline.
The comprehensive financial report is required annually of all publicly traded companies.
The stock had plunged to $14.90 last week, after trading as high as $42.97 a share last June, on disclosures that the founding family had borrowed $2.3 billion through various entities that was kept off the cable service provider’s balance sheet. Adelphia Communications, of Coudersport, Pa., didn’t immediately return calls for comment on the delayed financial report, or on reports that the family-owned cable company would consider selling assets to help reduce debt of more than $14 billion.The company said its accounting review would be completed “as soon as practicable.”
Companies may obtain a 15-day extension of the 10-K deadline, according to an SEC spokesman, who said the agency wouldn’t comment on filings by specific companies.
Adelphia shares had dropped 18 percent Wednesday and 11 percent Thursday after the disclosure of the loans not on the company’s balance sheet.
Analysts said the decline was fed by the company’s unwillingness to provide detail on how the loans were secured. The family apparently used some of the money to buy Adelphia stocks and bonds.
Systems owned or managed by Adelphia Communications provide cable TV service to more than 5.7 million subscribers in 32 states and Puerto Rico. The company also offers digital TV service and high-speed Internet access over cable, and resells long-distance phone and paging services.
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