New York, May 29, 2026, 10:07 (EDT)
Empro Group Inc. (EMPG) shares stayed halted on Nasdaq Friday morning. The Malaysian beauty and personal-care company hasn’t traded since it disclosed another Nasdaq filing delinquency last week. Cboe’s U.S. equities halt list listed EMPG halted since 7:50 p.m. ET on Oct. 8, 2025, for “news pending.” Cboe Global Markets
The timing is key since the wider Nasdaq market stayed open. Nasdaq’s standard U.S. hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern, and its schedule puts Memorial Day on May 25, not Friday. Empro holders saw the exchange open but that didn’t mean there was liquidity.
Nasdaq flagged Empro for not filing its 2025 Form 20-F, the company said. Empro got the notice on May 19 and now has 60 days to hand in a plan. If Nasdaq agrees, it could get until Nov. 11, 2026, to file the annual report required for foreign issuers with the SEC.
Nasdaq said it last saw Empro stock at $17.36 when it halted trading again in October after the SEC had previously suspended the shares. Nasdaq said the halt would stay in place while Empro provided added information it asked for. The $17.36 figure is outdated and not a current quote.
SEC halted trading in EMPG between Oct. 9 and Oct. 22, pointing to possible manipulation after unnamed people touted the stock on social media. The regulator said those posts seemed aimed at pushing up price and volume. It also warned broker-dealers, existing holders and buyers to consider the information public so far.
Empro had warned about the delay earlier. In a Form 12b-25 filed April 30, the company said it needed more time to compile, review and distribute its annual report, calling a timely filing impractical without undue hardship and cost. Empro said then it did not expect any big change in results from the previous fiscal year in the annual report’s earnings statements.
The halt is a sharp turn for Empro, which went public less than a year ago. The company set its IPO at $4 a share in July 2025, moving 1.375 million ordinary shares and raising about $5.5 million before fees. Empro listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker EMPG.
Empro is a small player in the tight beauty and healthcare space. Its IPO filing listed Shu Uemura, owned by L’Oréal, and Bobbi Brown under Estée Lauder as its main competition in eyebrow pencils. Still, the story isn’t about products or who controls beauty shelves right now. It’s about disclosure and how shares trade.
But the late annual report isn’t the only concern here. Even if Empro gets its 20-F in, there’s still the Nasdaq call to come on the compliance plan, plus more details needed for the exchange’s separate info request. A long halt, a failed plan, or delisting could leave shareholders without a regular trading option, and if the stock does come back after months off the market, the price might reset sharply.
EMPG faces a quiet week for trading, with action expected around filings. Investors are looking for its 20-F, a compliance update, or a new Nasdaq notice that could lift or change the halt. So far, EMPG’s frozen price reflects only where the stock stopped trading last, not current sentiment.
