SEC Company Response from COLONIAL COMMERCIAL CORP (CIK 0000021828) — Jun 8, 2005
COLONIAL COMMERCIAL CORP (CIK 0000021828)
Date: June 8, 2005 · CIK: 0000021828 · Accession: 0001015402-05-002970
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<TYPE>CORRESP
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<FILENAME>filename1.txt
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June 8, 2005
By Edgar "CORRESP"
Ms. Meagan Caldwell
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington, D. C. 20549-0303
Re: COLONIAL COMMERCIAL CORP. ("COMPANY") 2004 FORM 10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED
DECEMBER 31, 2004
Dear Ms. Caldwell:
Thank you for your letter of May 26, 2005. At your request, we are responding to
each of your points with this supplemental letter. We are keying our responses
to your comments.
1. We acknowledge your first comment and will include the revisions
referred to later in this letter in our future filings.
2. In your Comment 2 you ask us to include estimated interest
payments on our debt in our contractual obligation table and further
ask us to disclose any assumptions made to derive these amounts.
a. Contractual Obligations will be presented as follows:
Contractual Obligations:
------------------------
The following table represents certain contractual commitments
associated with operating agreements, obligations to financial
institutions and other long-term debt obligations as of December
31, 2004:
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Payment Due by Period (in thousands)
-----------------------------------------------------
Less than Over
Total 1 Year 1-3 Years 4-5 Years 5 Years
-----------------------------------------------------
<S> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C>
Operating leases $12,055 $ 2,720 $ 6,808 $ 1,321 $ 1,206
Compensation agreements 1,835 680 1,155 - -
Notes payable 1,514 115 1,131 268 -
Notes payable interest 444 126 306 12 -
Line of credit 12,325 12,325 - - -
Line of credit interest 747 747 - - -
------- ---------- ---------- ---------- --------
Totals $28,920 $ 16,713 $ 9,400 $ 1,601 $ 1,206
======= ========== ========== ========== ========
</TABLE>
Notes payable carry a fixed interest percentage rate per annum,
with the exception of a $750,000 note that accrues interest at
the prime rate. "Notes payable interest" in the table assumes an
average annual prime rate of 6.25%. The prime rate as of December
31, 2004 was 5.25%. See Note 6, Notes Payable, of the Financial
Statements for the terms of these notes.
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"Line of credit" in the table is shown as a less than one year
obligation because the lending bank may demand payment at any
time. The line of credit consists of a revolving credit line that
bears interest at .25% below prime and a term loan that bears
interest at .50% above prime. "Line of credit interest" in the
table assumes that the principal amount outstanding on the line
is paid in full on December 31, 2005, that the principal amount
to be repaid on that date will be $12,325,000 (which is the
principal amount that was outstanding on December 31, 2004), and
assumes that the average prime rate will be 6.25% in 2005. The
prime rate was 5.25% as of December 31, 2004. See Note 5,
Financing Arrangements, of the Financial Statements for the terms
of the line of credit.
3. In your Comment 3 you request that we expand our disclosure
regarding inventory shipments to include whether we include in our
"cost of sales" line item the following: inbound freight charges,
purchasing and receiving costs, inspection costs, warehousing costs,
internal transfer costs and the other costs of our distribution
network. You also request that, if we currently exclude a portion of
these costs from cost of sales, we note that our gross margins are not
comparable to those of other entities that include these costs in cost
of sales.
a. We will disclose that our "cost of sales" line item
excludes incoming freight, purchasing, receiving,
inspection, warehousing and handling costs, and that we
include these costs in our selling, general and
administrative expenses. We will also indicate that our
gross margins may differ from others in this or similar
industries that do include these items in their costs of
sales line item.
4. In your Comment 4 you note that our counsel has advised us that
they are not aware of any material pending or threatened litigation,
claims or assessments, except for one matter of which any verdict or
settlement will be covered by insurance. You ask us to describe how
the nature of this claim, including the differences that would cause
us to be liable, differs from the other claims and potential claims.
You also ask us to describe the amount or range of amounts relating to
this claim.
a. The matter referred to in your letter is a lawsuit
(captioned Rhodes v. A.O. Smith Corporation, et al., filed
on or about April 26, 2004 in the Superior Court of New
Jersey, Law Division, Middlesex County, Docket Number
MID-L-2979-04AS) in which plaintiff claims to have
contracted mesothelioma as a result of his occupational
exposure to asbestos dust and fibers. Counsel expects that
trial of this lawsuit would result in an adverse verdict and
estimates that the total adverse verdict for all defendants
could range between $500,000 and $2,500,000. Any such
verdict would be covered by insurance. The lawsuit differs
from other lawsuits in that plaintiff has established the
nature of his disease and that a predecessor of the Company
was a major supplier of the asbestos containing products
that he alleges caused his disease. The Company is a
defendant in this lawsuit, as well as other asbestos related
lawsuits, solely because the Company purchased the assets
and the name of the predecessor of the Company. All of these
claims relate to alleged sales of asbestos products, or
products containing asbestos, by the Company's predecessor.
The Company never sold any asbestos related products.
Furthermore, because the Company never sold asbestos
products nor products containing asbestos, and because of
our indemnification agreements as well as insurance coverage
referred to in our initial letter, the matter is not
material to our Company and is set out as a matter of
disclosure only.
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5. In your Comment 5 you request certain information relating to
asbestos-related claims.
a. We do not have probable product liabilities related to
asbestos related claims because of indemnification
agreements, and insurance coverage, and because we never
sold asbestos products nor products containing asbestos.
Accordingly, we have made no accruals or reserves for
asbestos claims or settlements and have not recorded any
expense for these claims and settlements.
b. All claims and legal defenses have been handled by
insurers. Our insurers have not provided the roll-forward
and settlement information that you request.
Sincerely,
/s/Bernard Korn
---------------
Bernard Korn
Chief Executive Officer
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