Rank to delist from Nasdaq

Rank, the UK-based leisure group, has announced that it will delist from Nasdaq.

It will also amend its Articles of Association to enable it to make US investors transfer their shares in its ordinary stock so that it can bring its registration with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to an end.

By doing this Rank, which owns the Hard Rock Café chain, will no long have to comply with SEC reporting requirements or with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires companies trading on US exchanges to prove adequate supervision of their accounting practices.

Rank cited the costs of complying with SEC and other requirements as the reason for its decision.

A study by a Chicago law firm, published in June, showed that the cost of keeping up a public listing in the US has risen 45 percent for large companies in the past year. Most of that cost is accounted for by rising audit fees.

The study presented data showing that audit fees jumped 96 percent last year for small companies (those with less than $1 billion in annual revenues), and were up by 55 percent for large companies. Rank will continue to trade on the London Stock Exchange.

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