ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070052
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
Optical Cable Corp. will split its stock for the second time since it began trading publicly in March.
Robert Kopstein, president of the Roanoke County maker of fiber optic cable, said the split - which in addition to doubling the number of shares will halve their market price - should benefit potential investors by making shares available at a lower average price. It also should make it possible for investors to sell large numbers of shares without adversely affecting the stock's price, he said.
The announcement follows by only five days a two-for-one split of the company's common stock on May 31, which Kopstein said was made for essentially the same reasons as the upcoming split. The latest split will be paid as a 100 percent stock dividend on June 21 to shareholders who help shares at the close of business Thursday.
Optical Cable began selling its stock at $10 a share in March without the aid of an underwriter, and 670,000 shares were sold before the company's initial public stock offering was closed. The stock, which now is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market, rose to as high as $136 a share in May but had fallen to $88 a share at the time of the first split.
After the May 31 split, the shares were valued at $44 a share. The stock rose $3 a share on Thursday, closing at $45.
Before the public offering, all of the company's stock was owned by Kopstein. He held 9 million shares following the offering and will have 36 million shares after the second split.
The number of shares available for public trading after the second split will be 2.68 million.
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB