Centennial Technologies Inc, Billerica, Massachusetts encapsulator and marketer of Flash memory plug-in cards, turns out to be little more than a phantom company. Its shares plunged 82% to $3 even – having been as high as $58.25 last month, after it said it would restate fiscal 1996 results and results for the first and second quarters of 1997, to show losses of over $10m – more than it reported in profits – for the periods. Its former chief executive Emanuel Pinez remains in gaol after a detention hearing on charges of insider trading, manipulating inventory and securities fraud at the company, which embarrassingly was last year’s best performer on the New York Stock Exchange. The company faces at least 14 lawsuits and the New York Stock Exchange is to suspend trading in its shares on March 3 and will try to have it delisted. Pinez owes Lehman Brothers and PaineWebber Group Inc more than $20m borrowed on margin against the market value of the stock in his accounts, mainly Centennial shares.
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