SHENZHEN, China, April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ --
Universal Travel Group (NYSE: UTA) ("Universal Travel Group" or the
"Company"), a leading travel services provider in China offering package tours, air ticketing,
and hotel reservation services online and via customer service
representatives, today announced that it intends to file a Form 25
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") to
effect the voluntary withdrawal of UTA's common stock from
listing on the New York Stock Exchange (the "Exchange"). The
Company plans to file the Form 25 with the Commission on or about
April 26, 2012.
The Company is voluntarily withdrawing its common stock from
listing on the Exchange based on certain correspondence from the
Exchange to which the Company cannot respond in full within
the time frame that the Exchange has demanded. The Exchange
has indicated that the Company faces the prospect of delisting due
to the Exchange's concerns relating to the issues raised by Windes
& McGlaughry Accountancy Corporation when it resigned as the
Company's independent public accounting firm in April 2011, including with respect to the
adequacy of the Company's cooperation in the audit being conducted
by Windes prior to its resignation and the authenticity of certain
documents provided to Windes in connection with the audit, as
reflected in the Company's Form 8-K filed April 14, 2011 and exhibits thereto; on-going
delays in the filing of certain periodic SEC filings; the
Exchange's concerns with respect to the adequacy of certain of the
Company's filings in light of the extensive comments that the
Company has received on such filings from the SEC Division of
Corporation Finance; certain discrepancies between and among
certain of the Company's PRC subsidiaries' filings with the PRC's
State Administration for Industry and Commerce and its SEC filings;
the Exchange's concerns with respect to the accuracy of certain
information provided by the Company to the Exchange; the tax
implications of the Company's cash payments for acquisitions in
2010; and the adequacy of the Company's internal controls.
The Company believes that these concerns are either unjustified,
have already been addressed or can be alleviated with additional
time. The Company, however, does not believe that it will be
able to regain compliance with the Exchange's continued listing
standards in the near future. Moreover, since a trading halt
was implemented by the Exchange on April 12,
2011, the Company believes that it is in the best interests
of its shareholders to have its stock trade elsewhere rather than
having trading remain halted indefinitely on the Exchange.
Following delisting, the Company will continue to be subject to
the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
as amended, and by the next 10Q reporting date, intends to regain
compliance in connection with the timely filing of all periodic and
other reports with the SEC under applicable federal securities laws
as required.
The Company expects that its common stock will cease to be
listed on the Exchange upon the effectiveness of its withdrawal
from listing, which will occur ten calendar days following the
filing of the Form 25. The Company anticipates that its common
stock will commence trading on the grey market under a symbol yet
to be determined.
The Company can provide no assurance that its common stock will
trade or continue trading on the grey market or in any other
market.
About Universal Travel Group
Universal Travel Group Inc. (NYSE: UTA) is a leading
China-based travel services
provider, focusing on the domestic tourism market for leisure and
corporate travel and offering packaged tours, air ticketing, and
hotel reservation services. The Company targets geographic
expansion in underpenetrated travel markets in central and western
China; and it has established a
second operation base in Chongqing. With the Chinese disposal income
continuing to rise driving demand for domestic leisure services,
the Company continues to benefit and dominate packaged tour
businesses. The Company operates multi-channels sales with 24 hour
call centers, online website, owned and franchised sales offices
and various wholesale channels. For more information, please visit
Universal Travel Group's website at us.cnutg.com.
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
Universal Travel Group Inc.
Mr. Jing XIE, Secretary of Board & Interim Chief Financial
Officer
Tel: 86-755-86319549
Fax: 86-755-86319348
06@cnutg.com
Website: us.cnutg.com
Christensen
Kimberly Minarovich
Tel: +1 212 618 1978
Kminarovich@ChristensenIR.com
Christian Arnell
Tel: +86 10-5826-4939
carnell@ChristensenIR.com
SOURCE Universal Travel Group