SEC Company Response from RAYTECH CORP (CIK 0000797917) — Jun 30, 2005
RAYTECH CORP (CIK 0000797917)
Date: June 30, 2005 · CIK: 0000797917 · Accession: 0001144204-05-020352
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: June 8, 2005
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Unassociated Document
John
B. Devlin
Vice
President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer
June
30,
2005
Mr.
John
Hartz
Senior
Assistant Chief Accountant
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Division
of Corporation Finance
Washington,
DC 20549
Re:
Raytech
Corporation
Form
10-K
For the Fiscal Year Ended January 2, 2005
File
No.
1-9298
Dear
Mr.
Hartz:
The
following information is in response to your comment letter dated June 8,
2005
pertaining to Raytech Corporation’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January
2, 2005. Our responses are organized in the same order and format as your
inquiries.
General
1.
Where
we request additional disclosures or otherwise revisions, please
show us
in your response what the revisions will look like. Include the
revisions
in your future filings.
We
have included, where appropriate, the revision in our responses that follow.
Future filings will include these revisions or additional disclosures as
appropriate.
2.
We
note that you have not filed your form 10-Q for the period ended
April 3,
2005. We may raise additional comments after review of that form
10-Q.
The
Company filed its form 10-Q for the period ended April 3, 2005 on June 20,
2005.
Where appropriate, we have enhanced our disclosures in this report in response
to the comments raised in your letter. We would be pleased to discuss any
questions that you have regarding this report.
Liquidity,
Capital Resources and Future Liquidity, page 23
3.
Provide
a more detailed description of activities that provide or use cash
in
operating, investing and financing activities. In the discussion
of
operating cash flows, address the impact of and reasons for changes
in
working capital components.
We
do not believe that the disclosure in our 10-K was deficient. However we
do
believe that our disclosure could be enhanced and have provided an example
of
the enhanced disclosure below.
Net
cash provided by operating activities was $.1 million in 2004 compared to
$5.5
million in 2003. The primary reason for the decrease in net cash provided
by
operating activities was an increase in working capital. Accounts receivable
were $27.5 million at January 2, 2005 compared to $24.7 million at December
28,
2003, an increase of $2.8 million. The increase in accounts receivable was
due
to increased sales volume, days sales outstanding were 44 days at both January
2, 2005 and December 28, 2003. Inventories were $39.6 million at January
2, 2005
compared to $30.9 million at December 28, 2003, an increase of 8.7 million.
The
increase in inventory was principally in the Domestic Wet Friction segment
where
inventory values were impacted by the increased price of steel, increased
production in response to increased sales volume and a build up in anticipation
of the closure of the Sterling Heights, MI facility during 2005. Inventory
levels in the Domestic Wet Friction segment were also negatively impacted
by
production flow inefficiencies at the Crawfordsville, IN facility. The Company
will focus on evaluating and implementing strategies to improve the production
process and performance of the Crawfordsville, IN facility during
2005.
Net
cash used by investing activities was $7.2 million in 2004 compared to $11.7
million in 2003, a decrease of $4.5 million. Capital expenditures were $2.3
million lower in 2004 compared to 2003 principally as a result reduced spending
in the Domestic Wet Friction segment, where as a result of a facilities
utilization review, the Company decided to close its production facility
located
in Sterling Heights, MI. During 2004, the Company began a third expansion
of its
operations in China. When completed, the new facility in China will increase
our
capacity, positioning us to take advantage of the growing market within China
as
well as to increase our exports from China. The expected cost of the expansion
project is $1.9 million, with $.9 million expended during 2004 and the remainder
to be expended during 2005. Additionally, restricted cash increased by $.4
and
$2.8 million during 2004 and 2003, respectively as a result of tax refunds
received by the Company that will be paid to the PI Trust at a future
date
Net
cash provided by financing activities was $3.9 million in 2004 compared to
$2.2
million in 2003, an increase of $1.7 million as a result of increased borrowing
activity year over year. Full details of the Company’s debt are presented in
Note 8 - Debt to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
We
will provide enhanced discussion of the activities that provide or use cash
in
operating, investing and financing activities, similar to the above, in future
filings.
Consolidated
Statements of Operations, page 31
4.
It
is not clear to us why you have classified loss on disposal of
equipment
as a non-operating expense. See paragraph 45 of SFAS 144. Please
advise,
or revise.
We
will report gains and/or losses from the disposal of equipment as a component
of
operating income or loss in future reporting.
5.
It
is unclear to us why you have presented a measure in your income
statement
“(Loss) income before environmental claims, income taxes and minority
interest”. This presentation implies that environmental claims are
extraordinary. In future filings you should eliminate this separate
classification.
We
will not present the measure “(Loss) income before environmental claims, income
taxes and minority interest” in future reporting.
Consolidated
Statements of Cash Flows, page 33
6.
In
future filings, if material to an understanding of your liquidity,
please
report gross amounts of cash receipts and payments pertaining to
short-term notes providing that the original maturity date of the
asset or
liability is three months or less as stated in paragraph 13 of
SFAS
95.
We
have periodically reviewed the nature of our short term borrowings and have
determined that the nature of these borrowings meet the exception to the
SFAS 95
requirement for gross reporting. We base this conclusion on the guidance
provided by paragraph 12 of SFAS 95 which states:
“For
certain items, the turnover is quick, the amounts are large, and the maturities
are short. For certain other items, such as demand deposits of a bank and
customer accounts payable of a broker-dealer, the enterprise is substantially
holding or disbursing cash on behalf of its customers. Only the net changes
during the period in assets and liabilities with those characteristics need
be
reported because knowledge of the gross cash receipts and payments related
to
them may not be necessary to understand the enterprise’s operating, investing or
financing activities.“
The
only significant short term debt for which we have reported net cash receipts
and payments, based on the definition provided in paragraph 13 of SFAS 95,
is
our domestic revolving line of credit. The net activity related to our domestic
line of credit during 2004 was the additional borrowing of $7.2 million.
The
revolving line of credit agreement stipulates that repayment is made via
deposit
of all payments on qualified accounts receivable to a blocked account or
lockbox; the amounts deposited to this blocked account or lockbox are the
property of the lender. As a result all of the Company’s collections of trade
accounts receivable are remitted directly to the lender and the Company funds
its cash requirements by drawing down on its revolving line of credit.
We
do not believe that reporting the gross amounts of cash receipts and payments
on
our revolver is material to an understanding of our liquidity based on the
nature of these borrowings, specifically the quick turnover and large amounts
of
activity.
Accruals
for Environmental Matters, page 36
7.
Given
the nature of your industry, please confirm that you have implemented
SFAS
143, “Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations”. Provide us with a
brief description of the impact that SFAS 143 has had on your financial
statements. Notwithstanding materiality, quantify the impact on
your
assets and liabilities and accretion and depreciation. If you believe
that
the impact is immaterial, please support your
conclusion.
SFAS
143, “Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations” requires the recognition of a
liability for an asset retirement obligation in the period in which the
liability is incurred if a reasonable estimate of the obligation can be made.
This statement applies to legal obligations associated with the retirement
of a
tangible long-lived asset that result from the acquisition, construction
or
development and/or normal operation of a long-lived asset. An environmental
remediation obligation that results from the improper use of an asset is
specifically excluded from the scope of SFAS 143.
We
have considered the guidance provided in SFAS 143 and determined that although
the Company has environmental issues of long standing, those issues stem
from
past practices that have been discontinued or modified and do not qualify
for
the treatment prescribed by SFAS 143 relating to the normal operating of
existing assets. The Company’s current operations do not result in unavoidable
and predictable contamination that would result in a legal obligation to
perform
decontamination activities when the plant or equipment is retired.
The
environmental issues that the Company is currently dealing with are principally
the result of the contamination caused by the release of lead and/or
polychlorinated biphenyls (“PCBs”) to the ground. This contamination was the
result of the release of materials containing lead and/or PCBs, prior to
the
Company becoming aware of the environmental implications of these materials.
This contamination was not the unavoidable result of the normal operation
of a
long-lived asset. We have accounted for the remediation related to these
instances in accordance with SOP 96-1, “Environmental Remediation Liabilities”.
We
have not identified any material asset retirement obligations as defined
by SFAS
143. Where we have been held liable for the inadvertent contamination of
the
environment, we have accounted for the remediation liability under the guidance
of SOP 96-1.
Warranties,
page 36
8.
Please
clarify for us, and include in future filings, when you record
warranty
accruals on your books and how you determine those
amounts.
The
Company provides certain warranties relating to the quality and performance
of
its products. The Company maintains product liability insurance that covers
personal injuries and property damage alleged to have been caused by defective
products. In certain instances the Company also maintains product recall
insurance.
Warranty
claims have historically been insignificant due to the quality of the Company’s
products and the possibility that other parts in the transmission systems
or
their interactions may contribute to any system failure. Based on the historical
warranty claim experience, the Company has not deemed it necessary to accrue
a
warranty obligation at the time of sale. However, if a claim is made and
the
Company determines that it is probable that the claim is valid and that it
has
an obligation, a liability is recorded. If the Company determines that it
is not
probable but is reasonably possible that a significant warranty obligation
has
been incurred, the nature of the claim and, if available, a range of cost
is
disclosed.
We
have enhanced our disclosure in our 10-Q filed for the first quarter of 2005
relating to our policy for the recognition of warranty accruals and will
continue to include this enhanced disclosure in future
filings.
Revenue
Recognition, page 39
9.
We
note that the Company has fixed price contracts with certain customers
where the cost exceeds the selling price of the product. Please
provide
the following information as enhanced disclosures in future
filings:
-
Total
losses recorded in the years shown relating to these
situations;
-
Typical
contract terms are and how far in advance orders are
received;
-
Types
of costs included in your loss estimates. We assume based on costs
included in inventory under GAAP. Describe the indirect costs you
include
in inventory and any other costs you may include when you calculate
the
loss.
-
The
kinds of indirect costs that may be included that are fixed in
nature,
which are allocated to inventory.
We
agree and have enhanced our MD&A and footnote disclosure in our first
quarter 2005 10-Q and will provide enhanced disclosure in future filings
similar
to the following:
The
Domestic O