SEC Company Response from U-Haul Holding (UHAL) — Feb 8, 2007
U-Haul Holding Co /NV/ (UHAL, UHAL-B) (CIK 0000004457)
Date: Feb. 8, 2007 · CIK: 0000004457 · Accession: 0000004457-07-000003
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File numbers found in text: 001-10275
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CORRESP
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filename1.htm
Response to SEC Letter dated 01-26-07
February
8, 2007
Via
EDGARLink Transmission and Facsimile
Mr.
David R. Humphrey
Branch
Chief
Unites
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division
of Corporation Finance
100
F Street N.E.
Mail
Stop 3561
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Re:
AMERCO
Form
10-K for the year ended March 31, 2006
Filed
June 13, 2006
File
No. 001-10275
Dear
Mr.
Humphrey
This
letter responds to the Staff’s comments concerning our Form 10-K for the year
ended March 31, 2006. We appreciate that the purpose of your review is to assist
us in our compliance with the applicable disclosure requirements and to enhance
the overall disclosure in our filings.
For
your
convenience, the Staff’s comments are repeated below in bold, with our response
to each comment set forth immediately thereafter.
Form
10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006
Item
7 - Management’s Discussion and Analysis
Liquidity
and Capital Resources, page 38
1. At
the beginning of your discussion of liquidity and capital resources, you may
want to consider explaining your overall capital structure with respect to
the
general availability of the assets of your insurance subsidiaries to satisfy
the
obligations of the parent company and certain of its subsidiaries. In this
regard, you may want to consider including a table that separately presents
the
assets and obligations of your insurance and non-insurance
operations.
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we advise the Staff as follows:
Mr.
David
R. Humphrey, Branch Chief
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division
of Corporation Finance
February
8, 2007
Page
2
In
our
future filings with the Commission, we will ensure that our disclosure will
address this comment, as appropriate. We note that our December 31, 2006 Form
10-Q filed on February 7, 2007 included the following disclosure:
At
December 31, 2006, cash and cash equivalents totaled $313.1 million, compared
with $155.5 million on March 31, 2006. The assets of our insurance subsidiaries
are generally unavailable to fulfill the obligations of non-insurance operations
(AMERCO, U-Haul and Real Estate). The assets of SAC Holding II are completely
unavailable to satisfy any of the Company’s obligations. As of December 31, 2006
the cash and cash equivalents, other financial assets (receivables, short-term
investments, other investments, fixed maturities, and related party assets)
and
obligations of each operating segment were:
Moving
&
SAC
Storage
RepWest
Oxford
Holding
II
Cash
& cash equivalents
297,515
7,395
8,221
-
Other
financial assets
359,280
416,583
654
-
Debt
obligations
1,223,405
-
-
75,253
2. In
the second paragraph, you disclose that your total debt represents 1.4 times
stockholders equity. Its unclear how this ratio supports the assertion that
your
financial condition is strong. Please explain supplementally and consider
revising your disclosure to explain how the aforementioned ratio is an
indication of your financial strength.
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we advise the Staff as follows:
In
our
future filings with the Commission, we will ensure that our disclosure will
address this comment, as appropriate. We note that in our December 31, 2006
Form
10-Q filed on February 7, 2007 we removed this ratio from our disclosure. We
have re-evaluated the debt to stockholders equity ratio and do not consider
this
to be the most effective method of conveying or evaluating our financial
condition, without additional facts. We believe that our additional disclosure
listed in Item #1 above combined with our disclosure as discussed in Item #3
below provide our justification for our statement regarding the strength of
our
financial condition.
3. In
the summary of this section on page 41, you cross reference footnote 9 for
a
more detailed discussion of your long-term debt and borrowing capacity. However,
we believe your MD&A should include a discussion of these matters from
management’s point of view. For example, by reference to exhibit 10.79 of your
filing, we note that your credit agreement with Merrill Lynch includes
Mr.
David
R. Humphrey, Branch Chief
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division
of Corporation Finance
February
8, 2007
Page
3
a
covenant regarding the “Fleet Owner Cash Flow Ratio” and this covenant appears
to limit the level of borrowings. As appropriate, please consider the need
to
provide an overall discussion of your borrowing levels and remaining borrowing
capacity in MD&A.
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we advise the Staff as
follows:
In
our
future filings with the Commission, we will ensure that our disclosure will
address this comment, as appropriate. We note that in our December 31, 2006
Form
10-Q filed on February 7, 2007 we expanded our Management Discussion and
Analysis (MD&A) disclosure to provide additional explanation regarding our
debt as follows:
The
Company’s borrowing strategy is primarily focused on asset-backed financing. As
part of this strategy, the Company seeks to ladder maturities and for loans
with
floating rates, fix these rates through the use of interest rate swaps. While
each of these loans typically contains provisions governing the amount that
can
be borrowed in relation to specific assets, the overall structure is flexible
with no limits on overall Company borrowings. Management feels it has adequate
liquidity between cash and cash equivalents and unused borrowing capacity in
existing facilities. At December 31, 2006 the Company had cash availability
under existing credit facilities of $320.0 million. We believe that there are
additional opportunities for leverage in our existing capital
structure.
Off
Balance Sheet Arrangements, page 42
4. Please
expand your disclosure to address, in further detail, the nature and business
purpose for your off-balance sheet arrangements as required by Item
303(a)(4)(i)(A) of Regulation S-K. For example, you state that you have used
off-balance sheet arrangements in connection with the expansion of your
self-storage business. However, it is unclear why this business could not have
been expanded within your consolidated operations.
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we advise the Staff as
follows:
In
our
future filings with the Commission, we will ensure that our disclosure will
address this comment, as appropriate. We note that our December 31, 2006 Form
10-Q filed on February 7, 2007 included the following expanded
disclosure:
Historically,
AMERCO used off-balance sheet arrangements in connection with the expansion
of
our self-storage business. These arrangements were primarily used when the
Company’s overall borrowing structure was more limited. The Company does not
Mr.
David
R. Humphrey, Branch Chief
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division
of Corporation Finance
February
8, 2007
Page
4
face
similar borrowing limitations currently and off-balance sheet arrangements
have
not been utilized in our self-storage expansion in recent years. In the future,
the Company will continue to identify and consider off-balance sheet
opportunities to the extent such arrangements would be economically advantageous
to the Company and its stockholders.
5. It
appears from your disclosures on page F-37 that you guarantee certain related
party debt instruments (e.g. support party agreement with Private Mini). As
such, please revise your disclosures to include the total dollar amount related
to these agreements and any other obligations that would require disclosure
under Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K.
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we advise the Staff as
follows:
In
our
future filings with the Commission, we will ensure that our disclosure will
address this comment, as appropriate. AMERCO was providing financial guarantees
via support party agreements to Private Mini in the amounts of $55 million
and
$70 million in 2003. At March 31, 2003 the $55 million obligation was triggered
and AMERCO satisfied this in a cash payment. AMERCO recorded a receivable from
Private Mini at that time for $55 million. This receivable was restructured
into
a note due from Private Mini to AMERCO and is shown in the Related Party
Receivable line of our financial statements. Effective July 15, 2005 the $70
million obligation was terminated by the lender and AMERCO no longer has any
financial obligation related to this item. Therefore, at March 31, 2006 AMERCO
did not have any financial support or guarantee agreements with unconsolidated
entities constituting off-balance sheet arrangements. The various legal
subsidiaries of AMERCO and U-Haul regularly provide guarantees to each other
as
part of our debt arrangements. In our December 31, 2006 Form 10-Q filing the
Company revised its disclosure in an attempt to alleviate any future
confusion.
Item
8 - Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Note
1 - Basis of Presentation, page F-8
6. The
operating results and financial position of your consolidated insurance
operations are determined as of December 31 of each year. As such, please revise
your disclosures to address the necessity for the use of different closing
dates
and the effect of intervening event that materially affect the financial
position or results of operations or lack thereof.
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we advise the Staff as
follows:
Mr.
David
R. Humphrey, Branch Chief
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division
of Corporation Finance
February
8, 2007
Page
5
In
our
future filings with the Commission, we will ensure that our disclosure will
address this comment, as appropriate. We note that our December 31, 2006 Form
10-Q filed on February 7, 2007 included the following disclosure:
Our
insurance companies’ financial reporting processes conform to calendar year
reporting as required by state insurance departments. Management believes that
consolidating their calendar year quarters into our fiscal year quarterly
financial statements does not materially affect the financial position or
results of operations. The Company discloses any material events occurring
during the intervening period.
Note
3 - Accounting Policies
Property,
Plant and Equipment, F-12
7. We
note that gains and losses on dispositions of property, plant and equipment
are
netted against depreciation expense when realized. In this regard, please tell
us what consideration has been given to the guidance in SAB Topic
5B.
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we advise the Staff as
follows:
The
Company has historically netted gains and losses on dispositions of property,
plant and equipment with depreciation expense; our intent is to fully utilize
the useful lives of rental trucks and trailers and it is expected that minimal
gains or losses will be recognized on disposition. If we were able to precisely
estimate useful lives and salvage values for our rental fleet, gains or losses
on the disposition would be inconsequential and would instead be presented
as
higher or lower depreciation. Therefore, we view gains or losses on the
disposition of equipment to theoretically represent additional or less
depreciation expense and should be netted with reported depreciation expense.
The effect on depreciation is displayed in our Statement of Cash Flows included
in the Form 10-K for all periods.
FASB
Statement No. 144 requires impairment losses and gains from disposal be included
in income from operations and requires disclosure of which caption it is in
if
not presented in a separate caption. By not specifying a caption, the FASB
leaves room for company judgment about where to include the gains and
losses.
Additionally,
paragraph 38 of the AICPA Exposure Draft on property, plant and equipment would
have required the net book value of retired components of property to be charged
to depreciation expense. The Draft did not discuss where to classify the
proceeds from sale, but logically if the net book value is charged to
depreciation expense, the proceeds received in a sale would represent salvage
value and be reported in the same
Mr.
David
R. Humphrey, Branch Chief
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division
of Corporation Finance
February
8, 2007
Page
6
line
in
the income statement. The logic for the proposed classification is that the
retirement of the asset requires a final true-up of depreciation.
In
the
Company’s judgment, we believe that presenting gains and losses on the disposal
of equipment together with depreciation expense is acceptable under
GAAP.
8. Please
tell us your basis for capitalizing and amortizing major overhauls. Further,
provide us with the length of the amortization period related to the major
overhauls and equipment as well as the authoritative accounting literature
that
supports your conclusions.
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we advise the Staff as
follows:
The
Company’s accounting policy for capitalizing and amortizing major overhauls is
based in the AICPA’s Airline Audit Guide (as amended by FASB Staff Position No.
AUG AIR-1, Accounting
for Planned Maintenance Activities),
which
is applicable to entities in all industries. The Company’s overhauls do not
represent betterments, i.e. the overhauls are not considered to improve the
rental trucks as compared to the original condition at acquisition; therefore,
any of the three remaining alternative accounting methods permitted by the
Airline Audit Guide are acceptable. The Company follows the deferral method
of
accounting for major overhauls in which engine ove