SEC Company Response from COMTECH TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CMTL) — May 2, 2008
COMTECH TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP /DE/ (CMTL) (CIK 0000023197)
Date: May 2, 2008 · CIK: 0000023197 · Accession: 0001169232-08-001832
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: April 3, 2008
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CORRESP
1
filename1.htm
May 2,
2008
Michele Anderson
Legal Branch Chief
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division of Corporation Finance
100
F Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Re:
Comtech Telecommunications Corp.
Form 10-K for fiscal
year ended July 31, 2007
Filed September 19,
2007
File No.
0-07928
Dear
Ms. Anderson:
On behalf of our client, Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (the
“Company”), I am responding to your letter dated April 3, 2008 to Mr. Fred
Kornberg (the “Comment Letter”). To facilitate your review, I have repeated
your original comments in the Comment Letter as set forth below in bold type and have
listed the Company’s corresponding response below it in ordinary type.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
and Results of Operations
Liquidity and Capital Resources, page 34
1.
In the future, please provide a more detailed
discussion of your ability to meet both your short-term and long-term
liquidity needs rather than vaguely referring to “the foreseeable
future.” We consider “long term” to be the period in
excess of the next twelve months. See Section III.C. of Release no.
34-26831 and footnote 43 of Release no. 34-48960. You should also
revise to quantify and distinguish between your material short-term and
long-term liquidity requirements, to the extent
practicable.
PROSKAUER ROSE LLP
Michele
Anderson
Legal
Branch Chief
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
May 2,
2008
Page
2
Response:
The
Company will, in future filings, provide a more detailed discussion of its ability to
meet both short-term and long-term liquidity needs. In addition, in future filings, and
to the extent practicable, it will quantify and distinguish between its material
short-term and long-term liquidity requirements.
Definitive Proxy Statement Incorporated by Reference into Part III
of Form 10-K
Compensation Discussion and Analysis, page 10
2.
We note your disclosure on pages 15 and 22 that
annual incentives for Messrs. Burt and McCollum were payable upon the
attainment of “pre-set performance goals,” including
operating profit, free cash flows, new orders and personal goals.
Please disclose the specific performance goals in future filings. To
the extent you believe that disclosure of the objectives or targets is
not required because it would result in competitive harm such that you
may omit this information under Instruction 4 to Item 402(b) of
Regulation S-K, please provide in your response letter a detailed
explanation of such conclusion. Also clarify how the ECC determined
Messrs. Burt and McCollum’s actual performance achievement rates
under the pre-set terms of the performance goals.
Response:
We
are dividing our response into two sections: (A) the Company’s conclusion that
disclosure of the objectives or targets is not required because it would result in
competitive harm and the information is not material and (B) the Company’s
response to how the Executive Compensation Committee (“ECC”) determined
Messrs. Burt and McCollum’s actual performance achievement rates under the
pre-set terms of the performance goals.
A. Disclosure of the Objectives Is Not Required
Because It Would Result in Competitive Harm and the Information is Not
Material
For
the reasons set forth below, the Company believes that the public disclosure of any of
the specific pre-set performance objectives or targets (both for prior periods and
future periods) relating to operating profit, free cash flows, new orders and personal
goals for the operations under each executive’s supervision (the
“Confidential Performance Targets”) is not required because the information
is confidential and disclosure would result in substantial harm to the Company’s
competitive position. Accordingly, on behalf of the Company, we request that the
Commission grant confidential treatment to the Confidential Performance
Targets.
PROSKAUER ROSE LLP
Michele
Anderson
Legal
Branch Chief
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
May 2,
2008
Page
3
The
Company also believes that disclosure of each individual pre-set performance objective
or target is not material to an understanding of the annual bonus plan or actual annual
bonus payouts for Messrs. Burt and McCollum. In particular, as discussed in more detail
below, due to the weighting of each individual performance goal, each individual goal
in and of itself is not material to an understanding of the Company’s non-equity
incentive compensation and should not be required to be disclosed in any
case.
Background Information
Mr.
Burt is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the Company’s subsidiaries
that sell telecommunications transmission products known as over-the-horizon microwave
products and Mr. McCollum is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the
Company’s subsidiaries that sell telecommunications transmission products known
as satellite earth station products. The aggregated financial results for these product
lines are reported in the Company’s telecommunications transmission segment in
its SEC filings. The specific pre-set performance goals for Messrs. Burt and McCollum
were not based on company-wide reported results. The eligible bonus that Messrs. Burt
and McCollum could earn was based on a percentage of their relevant subsidiary’s
or subsidiaries’ pre-tax profits for each of their respective product lines and
their composite performance on pre-defined performance targets. Notwithstanding these
pre-set performance goals, as the Company disclosed in its proxy, the ECC can use its
discretion to reduce the level of annual incentive payouts to any amount lower than the
calculated amount, based on actual performance.
The
actual fiscal 2007 performance measures and related weightings for Messrs. Burt and
McCollum are as set forth in the table below:
Fiscal 2007 Performance
Measures1
Operating
Profit
New Orders
Free Cash
Flow
Personal Goals
Total
Richard L. Burt
25%
25%
25%
25%
100%
Robert L. McCollum
25%
25%
25%
25%
100%
Although the Company did not disclose the above table in the
Company’s Definitive Proxy Statement on Form 14A filed November 1, 2007 (the
“2007 Proxy Statement”), a similar table
_________________________
1 The percentages in this table
represent the percentage of the total cash bonus goal related to each specific pre-set
performance measure. Except for personal goals, the percentage for each performance
measure can be decreased or increased proportionally as a function of the achievement
of each goal, ranging from a minimum of 70% achievement up to a maximum of 150%
achievement. Since personal goals can only be achieved at a maximum payout of 25%, the
aggregate maximum bonus that can be paid to any individual is equal to 137.5% of their
respective annual bonus target rate. Achievement of less than 70% of any performance
measure goal results in no credit for that respective performance measure.
PROSKAUER ROSE LLP
Michele
Anderson
Legal
Branch Chief
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
May 2,
2008
Page
4
was
disclosed in Item 1.01 “Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement” in the
Company’s Form 8-K, dated October 9, 2006 and filed with the SEC on October 12,
2006. In that Form 8-K filing, the Company indicated that it was not disclosing the
specific pre-set performance goals (e.g., New Orders of $X) because the Company
believed these amounts are confidential business information, the disclosure of which
could have an adverse effect on the Company. Personal goals include confidential
specific operational goals including product development, marketing to targeted
customers, staffing improvements and other goals that are consistent with the
Company’s overall short-term and long-term confidential business.
Enhanced Disclosure To Be Provided by the Company
As
applicable, the Company intends to include the above table (and related information
contained in the footnote) in its future proxy statement, to help enhance the
reader’s understanding of Messrs. Burt’s and McCollum’s bonus
arrangement. The Company will also disclose, in general terms, the nature of the
principal personal goals (i.e., that they relate to product development, marketing to
targeted customers, and operational and staffing improvements).
The
Company recognizes that by omitting the specific performance targets in its filings, it
is required to discuss in more detail how difficult it will be for each executive or
how likely it will be for the executive or the business unit to achieve the undisclosed
target level, factor or criteria. I note that on page 22 of the 2007 Proxy Statement,
the Company disclosed that although the maximum achievement level could have been as
high as 137.5% of target bonus, only 91.45% and 74.01% was achieved respectively for
Mr. McCollum and Mr. Burt. As disclosed in the Company’s proxy on Page 22, the
percentage for Mr. Burt was not impacted by the use of the ECC’s discretion to
reduce the amount payable; however, the ECC made a downward discretionary adjustment to
Mr. McCollum’s award so that amounts not paid to him could be reallocated to
other employees’ fiscal 2007 bonuses.
In
future filings, the Company will enhance its disclosures relating to the ECC’s
view of the difficulty of achieving the pre-determined goals by making a specific
statement of the ECC’s view.
Legal Analysis and Detailed Explanation of Reasons For Confidential
Treatment
Section 552(b)(4) of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”)
protects persons from the competitive disadvantages which would result from publication
of confidential financial or commercial data. See National
Parks and Conservation Ass’n v. Morton, 498 F.2d 765,
768 (D.C. Cir. 1974) (“National Parks
I”). In National Parks
I the court stated that:
PROSKAUER ROSE LLP
Michele
Anderson
Legal
Branch Chief
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
May 2,
2008
Page
5
commercial or financial matter is “confidential” for
purposes of the 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4) exemption if disclosure of the
information is likely to have either of the following effects: (1) to impair the
Government’s ability to obtain necessary information in the future; or (2) to
cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the person from whom the
information was obtained. Id. at
770.
In Burke Energy Corporation v. Department of
Energy, 583 F. Supp. 507, 511 (Dist. Kan. 1984), the court
stated that the types of information that the courts have held to be within the Section
552(b)(4) exemption include: sales and profit data, breakdown of sales, market share
data, and business statistics including total net sales. Courts have upheld the
redaction and confidential treatment of financial information where disclosure of such
information “would provide competitors with valuable insights into the
company’s operations, give competitors pricing advantages over the company, or
unfairly advantage competitors in future business negotiations.”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals v. United States
Department of Agriculture, No. 03-C195SBC, 2005 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 10586, at *14 (Dist. D.C. 2005), citing National Parks
& Conservation Assoc. v. Kleppe, 547 F.2d 673, 684 (D.C.
Cir. 1976) (“National Parks
II”). In National Parks
II the court held that, with the disclosure of detailed and
comprehensive financial records, “the likelihood of substantial harm to . . .
competitive positions to be virtually axiomatic.” 547 F.2d at 684.
For
the reasons described below, the Company’s request for confidential treatment is
consistent with the forgoing authority. The Company seeks confidential treatment for
information which is financial and commercial and, as set forth in the second prong of
the National Parks I test,
disclosure of the information would cause substantial harm to the competitive position
of the Company.
The
Confidential Performance Target information is the type of information that is specific