SEC Company Response from TRC COMPANIES — Mar 1, 2005
TRC COMPANIES INC /DE/ (CIK 0000103096)
Date: March 1, 2005 · CIK: 0000103096 · Accession: 0001104659-05-008782
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CORRESP 1 filename1.htm March 1, 2005 Mr. John Cash Accounting Branch Chief United States Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Corporation Finance 450 Fifth Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20549-0510 Re: TRC Companies, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2004 File No. 1-9947 Dear Mr. Cash: This letter is in response to the comments contained in your letter of February 8, 2005. We were granted an additional 5 business days to respond to your letter during our discussions with Patricia Armelin, Staff Accountant, on February 10, 2005. We believe we have thoroughly responded to all of the staff’s comments and remain available to discuss the comments with the Commission’s staff to resolve any outstanding matters. Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2004 General 1. Please state on the cover of your Form 10-K the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold on the last business day of your most recently completed second quarter. In future Form 10-K filings, the Company will disclose the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates as of the last business day of the second quarter. The aggregate market value of the registrant’s voting and non-voting common stock held by non-affiliates on December 31, 2003 was $213,400,000, the most recently completed quarter as of June 30, 2004. Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis 2. Please consider expanding your discussion to address the following: • Add an executive level overview which would discuss information regarding relevant economic or industry wide factors, general information regarding how revenue is earned, cash is generated and known material trends. • Provide a tabular presentation of the items that impacted net sales and operating profit. • Describe in greater detail the underlying reasons for organic growth such as changes in demand, price, competition, etc. Note that this is not meant to represent an all-inclusive list of where your MD&A could be improved. We encourage you to provide quantification of amounts and further classification throughout your discussion. See Item 303(a)(3) of Regulation S-IC and the SEC Interpretive Release No. 33-8350 dated December 19, 2003. The Company will expand its MD&A in future filings to address the above issues. In the registrant’s Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2004 filed with the Commission on February 14, 2005, we were not able to make all recommended changes given the short period of time between the comment letter date and the extended filing date. However, provided we did include the following executive level overview at the beginning of the MD&A section entitled “Results from Operations”: Results for the first half of fiscal 2005 reflect a continuation of the economic and industry trends we have seen over the last several quarters. State and local government budgets remain somewhat soft, and these constraints appear to be limiting project expenditures. Ongoing delays in the passage of the successor bill to the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century are exacerbating state reluctance to initiate the planning, design and construction of new transportation projects. We anticipate the passage of a new transportation bill in fiscal 2005, and a ramping-up of state transportation expenditures in the wake of passage of this bill. Although we are seeing indications of the recovery in spending by our industrial clients, many remain cautious regarding spending on new capital projects. Continued low interest rates are driving demand for our commercial land development and redevelopment services, including brownfields development. We see ongoing strength in this market, in part driven by our geographic focus in areas where demand is growing but supply of land and housing is constrained and in areas where there is significant population growth. High energy prices and favorable energy legislation are supporting the continued interest in various energy production and distribution projects, including wind energy projects and evaluation of various options for importing LNG into the U.S. In addition, we added the following quantitative discussion further clarifying organic activities that impacted net service revenue and operating income: NSR from organic activities decreased during the three months ended December 31, 2004 compared to the same period last year, primarily due to the temporary postponement of several large government-related emissions tests and the 2 unexpected softness in the transportation market which resulted in an estimated NSR and operating income decrease of approximately $1.8 million. The impact of these delays was partially offset by adjustments to the estimates at completion on certain Exit Strategy contracts which contributed approximately $1.0 million to NSR and operating income during the six months ended December 31, 2004. The Company will consider providing a tabular presentation of items that impact NSR and operating income, where appropriate, in future filings. Contractual Obligations, -page 14 3. Please provide a textual discussion of the interest rate assumption associated with the debt disclosed in the table. The Company will make a disclosure, similar to the one below, in its future filings: The obligations for long-term debt, subordinated notes and capitalized lease obligations include projected interest payments. For contractual obligations that have variable interest rates, the weighted average interest rate at June 30, 2004 was used in calculating the future obligations. For contractual obligations that have fixed interest rates, the fixed rate was used in calculating the future obligations. Item 8. Financial Statements Note 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Earnings per Share, page 24 4. Please disclose the options and warrants that were excluded from the calculation of diluted EPS because to include them would cause anti-dilution, - See paragraph 40.c. of SFAS 128. The following disclosure has been included in Note 4 to the Company’s financial statements contained in the Company’s Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2004 (numbers in thousands): For the three months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003 and the six months ended December 31, 2004, assumed conversion of the preferred stock would have slightly increased rather than decreased EPS (would have been “anti-dilutive”). Therefore, conversion was not assumed for purposes of computing diluted EPS, and as a result, 932, 848 and 930 shares were excluded from the calculation of diluted EPS for the three months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003 and for the 3 six months ended December 31, 2004, respectively. For the six months ended December 31, 2003, assumed conversion of the preferred stock was dilutive, and therefore, conversion was assumed for purposes of computing diluted EPS. The number of outstanding stock options and warrants excluded from the diluted EPS calculations, as they were anti-dilutive, were 857 and 694 for the three months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively, and 871 and 899 for the six months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively. Stock-Based Compensation, page 26 5. Please provide us with the supporting documentation related to your calculation of proforma basic and diluted earnings per share for each of the years in the three year period ended June 30, 2004. The following table provides support for the calculations of proforma basic and diluted earnings per share for each of the years in the three year period ended June 30, 2004 (in thousands, except per share data): Year ended June 30, 2004 2003 2002 Net income $ 13,168 $ 9,818 $ 15,480 Net income available to common shareholders 12,433 9,052 15,103 Less: Compensation expense, net of income taxes 1,428 2,076 3,701 Proforma net income $ 11,740 $ 7,742 $ 11,779 Proforma net income available to common shareholders 11,005 6,976 11,402 Basic shares 13,684 13,090 12,025 Diluted shares 15,477 13,917 13,571 Basic EPS - as reported $ 0.91 $ 0.69 $ 1.26 Basis EPS - proforma 0.80 0.53 0.95 Diluted EPS - as reported $ 0.85 $ 0.65 $ 1.14 Diluted EPS - proforma 0.76 0.50 0.87 Generally, stock options have a vesting provision whereby one-third vest upon issuance, one-third vest after one year and the remaining one-third vest after two years. Accordingly, the estimated fair value of options at the grant date is recognized as compensation expense as follows: One-third – recognized at date of grant One-third – recognized over the twelve month vesting period One-third – recognized over the twenty-four month vesting period The following table provides additional information on the calculation of the annual compensation expense (in thousands): Grant # of Fair Value of Expense at Date 12-month Vesting Monthly 24-month Vesting Monthly Compensation Expense Year Ended June 30, Date Options Options of Grant Expense Expense 2004 2003 2002 FY2004 251 $ 2,308 $ 769 $ 64 $ 32 $ 1,560 $ — $ — FY2003 254 1,563 521 43 22 462 1,001 — FY2002 686 7,640 * 2,447 204 102 355 2,170 5,115 FY2001 547 2,587 * 858 71 36 3 148 720 FY2000 727 1,496 * 436 36 18 — 56 158 Pre-tax compensation expense 2,380 3,375 5,993 Income taxes 952 1,299 2,292 Compensation expense, net of taxes $ 1,428 $ 2,076 $ 3,701 * Certain options granted had vesting terms different than those described above. 4 Note 9. Convertible Redeemable Preferred Stock 6. Please tell us supplementally the basis of your decision that the redeemable preferred stock is not within the scope of SFAS No. 150. Include a comprehensive discussion on the terms of your preferred stock agreement and how they relate to the guidance set forth in SFAS 150. In particular, please reference paragraph 12a of SFAS No. 150. On December 14, 2001 the Company issued to Fletcher International, Ltd. (“Holder”) 15,000 shares of Series A-1 Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock at $1,000 per share (“Preferred Stock”). The Preferred Stock has a par value of ten cents ($.10) per share. Dividends accrue at a rate of 4% per annum, payable quarterly at TRC’s option in cash or by issuing a number of shares of TRC common stock (the “Common Stock”) equal to the dividend payment divided by the Average Market Price (defined below) on the dividend payment date. The Average Market Price as of a particular date is defined as the average of the daily volume-weighted average prices of TRC Common Stock over the 40 business day period ending 3 business days prior to that date but no greater than the volume-weighted average price over the first 5 or last 5 business days of the same period. The agreement provides the Holder with the right to convert, at any time prior to redemption, its shares of Preferred Stock into a fixed number (408,000) of shares of Common Stock (“Holder’s Conversion Right”). The conversion price of $36.72 was based on 120% of the volume weighted price of the Common Stock as of December 14, 2001 (date of issuance of the Preferred Stock). Commencing after and excluding December 15, 2005, the Holder has the right to cause redemption of all or a portion of its shares of Preferred Stock for shares of Common Stock (“Holder’s Redemption Right”). The number of shares of Common Stock to be issued by the Company will be determined by dividing the stated value of the shares of Preferred Stock being redeemed by the Average Market Price at the time of redemption, which shall not be less than $16.09 (“Floor Stock Price”). TRC has the right to redeem for cash the Preferred Stock at any time when the volume-weighted average price of the Common Stock for any fifteen (15) business days in a consecutive twenty (20) business day period exceeds 175% of the Conversion Price or $64.26 (“Call Right”). In the event the Holder chooses not to convert within sixty (60) days of notice of redemption, the redemption price in connection with a mandatory redemption by TRC is $1,000 per share of Preferred Stock, plus all accrued and unpaid dividends on the Preferred Stock. All shares of Preferred Stock outstanding on December 14, 2006 are to be redeemed by TRC, at its election, for cash or shares of Common Stock (“Redemption Obligation”). If TRC elects to redeem the shares of Preferred Stock for cash it will pay the Holder cash equal to the stated value of the Preferred Stock. If TRC elects to redeem by issuing shares of Common Stock, the number of shares of Common Stock to be issued by the Company will be determined by dividing the 5 stated value of the shares of Preferred Stock being redeemed by the Average Market Price at the time of redemption, which shall not be less than $16.09 (“Floor Stock Price”). The Company considered the requirements of SFAS 150 and specifically Paragraph 12a, thereof, and concluded that this financial instrument is excluded from the scope of SFAS 150. Paragraphs 9 – 15 of SFAS 150 discuss classification of instruments within the scope of the statement. Based on the aforementioned Preferred Stock features, primarily the Company’s redemption settlement options, Paragraph 12 of SFAS 150 is governing with respect to classification of the Preferred Stock. Support for this conclusion is provided below. The Redemption Obligation enables the Company to elect settlement in either cash or common equity. As a result of having the option of asset transfer or common equity settlement, and thus not being required to settle solely by transfer of assets, the Preferred Stock is not within the scope of paragraph 9 and therefore should be evaluated under paragraph 12. This conclusion is supported by paragraph A23 of SFAS 150: A23. Some instruments do not require the issuer to transfer assets to settle the obligation but, instead, unconditionally require the issuer to settle the obligation either by transferring assets or by issuing a variable number of its equity shares. Because those instruments do not require the issuer to settle by transfer of assets, those instruments are not within the scope of paragraph 9. However, those instruments may be classified as liabilities under paragraph 12 of this Statement. The Company considered the impact of the Preferred Stock’s conversion feature in evaluating the SFAS 150 paragraph 10. The conversion feature enables the Holder to covert its shares of Preferred Stock into a fixed number of shares of Common Stock. As conversion is within the Holder’s control, the Company’s redemption of the Preferred Stock is a conditional obligation not certain to occur. Accordingly, the Preferred Stock would be classified as a contingently redeemable security since it would be redeemed only if not converted. At the March 17-18, 2004 EITF meeting, the SEC Observer further clarified the SEC staff’s position relating to conditionally redeemable preferred shares by stating that if a company issues preferred shares that are conditionally redeemable, the shares are not within the scope of Statement 150. To further validate the conclusion that the Company should only consider para