Sutor Technology Group Limited (SUTR)

Sutor Technology Group Limited was a Nevada holding company whose operations were in China, where it described itself as one of the leading privately owned producers of fine finished steel. Its main products were hot-dip galvanized steel and prepainted galvanized steel, used in appliances, construction and autos, along with acid pickled steel, cold-rolled steel and, from late 2009, welded steel pipe. Its main plants and head office were in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, near Shanghai.

The company's U.S. shell began in 1997 as Bronze Marketing, Inc., a small firm that had planned to finance bronze sculptures and later ceased operations. In February 2007 it completed a reverse acquisition of Sutor Steel Technology, a British Virgin Islands holding company, and took the Sutor name in March 2007. The operating units included Changshu Huaye Steel Strip and Jiangsu Cold-Rolled Technology, and in November 2009 it bought Ningbo Zhehua Heavy Steel Pipe for about $6.6 million.

Sutor's stock began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol SUTR in February 2008. Revenue peaked at roughly $479 million in fiscal 2010 and was about $432 million in fiscal 2011. Chairman and chief executive Lifang Chen controlled roughly three quarters of the shares and also owned a key affiliate that supplied raw materials and distributed products, which made related-party dealings a recurring concern for investors, as it was for many U.S.-listed Chinese small caps.

Slowing demand and falling steel prices in China pushed the share price down, and by 2015 the company was struggling to stay above Nasdaq's minimum bid requirement. On June 26, 2015, it carried out a one-for-five reverse stock split and, at the same time, changed its ticker from SUTR to TOR, a symbol it had reserved earlier that month. The split cut the number of shares outstanding to about 8.5 million.

The company then fell behind on its SEC reports, failing to file its annual report for the year ended June 30, 2015, and quarterly reports for the following two quarters. Nasdaq warned it in late 2015 and issued a delisting determination in February 2016. Sutor did not appeal, trading was suspended at the open on March 7, 2016, and the removal from listing became effective on March 28, 2016, leaving the shares to be quoted over the counter, if at all.