Omega Protein Corporation (NYSE:OME) Files An 8-K Other EventsItem 8.01. Other Events
Omega Protein Corporation (the “Company”) has previously disclosed that in October 2016 it received a Civil Investigative Demand from the U.S. Department of Justice requesting information in connection with a False Claims Act investigation concerning a Company May 2010 certification to the U.S. Department of Commerce that its Reedville, Virginia facility was in compliance with federal environmental laws in order to obtain a loan guarantee under the Department of Commerce’s Title XI loan program. The Company has also previously disclosed that the Title XI loan was repaid in full in November 2015 and that the Company and its subsidiaries currently have no Title XI indebtedness outstanding. On May 12, 2017, the Company received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) seeking documents relating to its Title XI loans, including documents relating to the Company’s public disclosures that it was in compliance with all of the covenants in the loan agreements for such Title XI loans.
The same SEC subpoena also calls for the production of documents concerning Omega Protein’s calculation of its cost of sales for fiscal years 2014 through 2016, including documents related to its statement that “[t]he decrease in cost per unit of sales is primarily due to lower cost per unit for beginning of year inventory as a result of higher fish catch and production in the 2015 fishing season compared to 2014.” The subpoena also seeks documents reflecting Omega Protein’s accounting policies and procedures for inventories and cost of sales for fiscal years 2014 through 2016, including its methodologies for calculating and allocating direct and indirect costs.
The Company intends to comply with the SEC’s subpoena. The Company cannot predict the outcome of the investigation or the effect of the findings of the investigation on the Company, but it is possible that the foregoing matter could result in a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, reputation, results of operation and financial condition.
About Omega Protein Corporation (NYSE:OME)
Omega Protein Corporation is a nutritional products company that develops, produces and delivers nutritious products across the world. The Company operates through two segments: animal nutrition and human nutrition. The Company’s animal nutrition segment consists primarily of two subsidiaries: Omega Protein, Inc. (Omega Protein) and Omega Shipyard, Inc. (Omega Shipyard). Omega Protein operates approximately three menhaden processing plants in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia. The human nutrition segment does business under the name Bioriginal, which includes all of the human nutrition businesses. Bioriginal has over three primary product lines: plant and marine based specialty oils, protein products and other nutraceutical ingredients. Bioriginal consists of approximately four subsidiaries: Bioriginal Food & Science Corp. (Bioriginal Food & Science), Wisconsin Specialty Protein, L.L.C. (WSP), Cyvex Nutrition, Inc. (Cyvex) and InCon Processing, L.L.C. (InCon). Omega Protein Corporation (NYSE:OME) Recent Trading Information
Omega Protein Corporation (NYSE:OME) closed its last trading session down -0.05 at 19.10 with 137,254 shares trading hands.