Riviera stock delisted from N.Y. Stock Exchange

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Riviera Holding Corp. announced that trading of its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange was suspended today.

The company's common stock will be available for on the Pink OTC Markets, Inc., also know as Pink Sheets, under the symbol "RVHL."

Trading as high as $39.12 in 2007, the stock closed today at 34 cents.

The company announced earlier this month that it planned to voluntarily delist its common stock from the NYSE Amex LLC exchange because of its financial troubles.

Riviera, owner of a hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip and a casino in Colorado, said it received a deficiency letter from the exchange indicating that the company is not in compliance with the exchange's listing standards.

Riviera said the exchange told it June 1 "that it has sustained losses which are so substantial in relation to its overall operations or its existing financial resources, or its financial condition has become so impaired that it appears questionable, in the opinion of the exchange, as to whether the company will be able to continue operations and/or meet its obligations as they mature.'

In March, because the recession had cut visitation to its properties, Riviera said it chose not to make an interest payment on its debt and warned it may need to file for bankruptcy protection.

The company, which at year-end employed the equivalent of 1,137 people at its property on the Las Vegas Strip, said net revenue fell 28 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to $34.7 million. In the first quarter of 2009, it lost $1 million, or 8 cents per share vs. a loss in the 2008 quarter of $5.8 million, or 47 cents.