Juhl Energy, Inc. Files Form 15 to Terminate SEC Reporting Obligations
PIPESTONE, MN--(Marketwired - Sep 23, 2015) - Juhl Energy Inc. (OTCQB: JUHL) (the "Company"), a leading provider of Clean Energy Solutions and the Leader in Community Wind Power, today announced that on September 23, 2015 it voluntarily filed a Form 15 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission" or "SEC") to voluntarily deregister its common stock and suspend its reporting obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). The Company cited the significant cost, limited benefit and very limited trading of its stock as some of its reasons in taking this step. As a result of the filing of Form 15 with the Commission, the Company will no longer be required to file certain reports under the Exchange Act, including quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, annual reports on Form 10-K, and current reports on Form 8-K. Other filing requirements will terminate upon the effectiveness of the deregistration, which is expected to occur 90 days after the filing of the Form 15 with the Commission. The Company expects and will allow its common stock to cease trading on the OTCQB. It is possible that other trading avenues, such as the OTC Pink Marketplace may be available for parties interested in trading the Company's stock. There can be no assurance, however, that any broker-dealer will make or continue to make a market in the Company's common stock, which would be required for trading on the Pink Sheets.
Despite electing to suspend its reporting obligations, the Company plans to voluntarily file a Form 8-K with the Commission, following the close of its current fiscal quarter, to include certain financial information for the quarter ended September 30, 2015.
The independent members of Juhl Energy's Board of Directors voted unanimously to file Form 15 after deliberation and consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of being an SEC reporting company. The Company's Board of Directors considered many elements in reaching their decision, including: the substantial costs, both direct and indirect, associated with the preparation and filing of periodic reports with the SEC, the current level of analysts coverage, the minimal liquidity for the Company's common stock, the additional outside legal and accounting resources required, the amount of time management spends on reporting documents, the uncertainty across the broader public market for public stocks, as well as the nature and extent of the trading of the Company's common stock.
"In addition to the high cost of being public in what we feel is a low liquidity environment, we have determined that the market is extremely difficult for micro-caps, and at best, very inefficient," stated John Mitola, President of Juhl Energy, Inc. "The large swings that have occurred in the market over the past two months based on 'news of the day' versus investment fundamentals have affected the large cap market as well. In lieu of all this, management feels that by stepping out of this world, our team will be free to focus solely on our ongoing growth and building the long-term value of our Company.
"We must note that our interpretations are not isolated, almost 1,000 companies filed Form 15s last year, and over 600 companies have done so already this year. I believe much of this fracture in the marketplace is a fallout of the market crash of 2008 -- and as a result, liquidity has never returned to small cap and micro-cap stocks," added Mitola.
ABOUT JUHL ENERGY, INC.
Juhl Energy is an established leader in the renewable energy industry with a focus on competitive, clean energy solutions and community-based wind power development, ownership and management throughout the United States and Canada. Juhl Energy pioneered community-based wind farms, developing the currently accepted financial, operational and legal structure providing local ownership of medium-to-large scale wind farms in rural America. Juhl Energy services every aspect of wind farm development from full development and ownership, general consultation, construction management and system operations and maintenance. Juhl Energy also provides a broad range of clean energy solutions. Juhl Energy is based in Pipestone, Minnesota and has other main offices in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee. Additional information on the Company is available at www.juhlenergy.com or by calling (507) 562-8090.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements that reflect Juhl Energy's current expectations about its future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. Juhl Energy has tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words and phrases such as "may," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "plan," "should," "typical," "preliminary," "hope," or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Juhl Energy and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause Juhl Energy's actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements and specifically those statements referring to any specific projects, prospective acquisitions and wind farm assets mentioned herein. These risks, as may be described from time to time in Juhl Energy's SEC filings, are incorporated herein by reference.
