LL Flooring to be delisted from NYSE

Updated Aug. 14

The New York Stock Exchange has informed Henrico County-based LL Flooring Holdings that its common stock will be delisted from the stock exchange and that trading was to be immediately suspended after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sunday, LL Flooring announced Tuesday.

In a news release, LL Flooring said that the NYSE will “apply to the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist the company’s common stock,” although the flooring company’s stock is expected to continue trading on the OTC market.

In an Aug. 14 filing with the SEC, LL Flooring shared the stock exchange’s announcement that it would remove the flooring company’s common stock from listing and registration at the opening of business on Aug. 26, after having suspended trading of its stock on Sunday. LL Flooring said it would not appeal the NYSE’s decision.

On Sunday, the company formerly known as Lumber Liquidators announced it had entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and was pursuing a sale of its business, which saw a financial downturn in 2023, with revenue falling from $1.11 billion in fiscal 2022, when it opened 17 stores, to $904.7 million in fiscal 2023. According to the company’s news release, it intends to close 94 stores out of more than 300 nationwide, and has multiple potential buyers interested in purchasing the business, as well as a prospective purchaser of its eastern Henrico distribution center for $100 million.

In documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware this week, LL Flooring requests that the court set an Aug. 26 deadline to enter into an acquisition agreement, with an auction to be held in September if more than one qualified bid is received. LL Flooring did not disclose names of the interested buyers.

LL Flooring, according to the court filing, began working with JLL Capital Markets in the first quarter of the year to pursue a buyer for the Sandston distribution center, “in an effort to inject liquidity into the company.” In a nonbinding letter of intent, the bidder proposed a $100 million payment, and LL Flooring paid a $350,000 work fee and agreed to seek authorization of a 3% breakup fee calculated from the purchase price to be paid if another buyer purchases the center, whether as a standalone sale or part of the overall acquisition of LL Flooring’s business.