ENCINO, Calif., June 14, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Avenue Group, Inc., (OTCBB:AVNU) (Frankfurt:ITQ) announced today that it has recently requested and received notification that the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchange has ceased trading, and agreed to delist AVNU stock, following its recent listing on that exchange without the consent or authorization of the Company.
According to Levi Mochkin, Avenue Group President and Chief Executive Officer, "Whilst the Company has maintained an organized listing on Frankfurt since October 2002, it had never applied for a listing on the Berlin-Breman Stock Exchange and was never notified that the listing had occurred. We were surprised by the action of the Berlin-Breman Stock Exchange to list Avenue Group stock without authorization. Furthermore, there are widely reported and serious concerns about the motivation behind those people initiating such actions."
The Financial Times of London recently reported that the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchange is being used to circumvent new US regulations aimed at barring a form of share price manipulation, according to several small US companies which have suddenly found their shares listed on it.
In this article, it states that these Berlin listings came just weeks before a new Securities and Exchange Commission rule on so-called naked short selling. Under the new rules, those seeking to sell shares short must be able to demonstrate that they are able to gain access to the securities within two days. However, the rules contain a loophole for what are deemed to be genuine arbitrage trades, defined as short sales in shares that are listed on another stock exchange.
Mochkin added, "Whatever the motivation here, we are hopeful that this issue is now behind us."
For additional information about Avenue Group, Inc., please see our website at http://www.avenuegroupinc.com.