SEC Comment Letter for ALBANY INTERNATIONAL (AIN) — May 5, 2008
ALBANY INTERNATIONAL CORP /DE/ (AIN) (CIK 0000819793)
Date: May 5, 2008 · CIK: 0000819793 · Accession: 0000000000-08-022978
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Mail Stop 3561 May 5, 2008 Michael C. Nahl Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Albany International Corp. 1373 Broadway Albany, NY 12204 Re: Albany International Corp. Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2007 Filed February 29, 2008 Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A Filed March 26, 2008 File No. 1-10026 Dear Mr. Nahl: We have reviewed your filings and ha ve the following comments. You should comply with the comments in all future filings, as applicable. Please confirm in writing that you will do so, and also explain to us how you intend to comply. If you disagree, we will consider your explanation as to why our comments are inapplicable or a revision is unnecessary. Please be as detaile d as necessary in your explan ation. After reviewing this information, we may raise additional comments. Please understand that the purpose of our re view process is to assist you in your compliance with the applicable disclosure requirements and to enhance the overall disclosure in your filings. We look forward to working with you in these respects. We welcome any questions you may have about our comments or any other aspect of our review. Feel free to call us at the telephone numbers listed at the end of this letter. Annual Report on Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2007 Cover Page 1. Please replace the SEC file number you ha ve identified on th e Form 10-K with the file number indicated above. Michael C. Nahl Albany International Corp. May 5, 2008 Page 2 Employees, page 22 2. Please disclose whether any of your employees are union members that are subject to collective ba rgaining agreements. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, page 36 3. Throughout your document, you disclose that you have initiated a deliberate, intensive three-year proc ess of restructuring and performance improvement initiatives. Please expand your disclo sure to describe your performance improvement initiatives, including the specific actions you have taken and will take to implement your plans. We note your discussion of the outlook of this plan on page 49; however, due to the significan ce of this plan, we believe this should be highlighted in the overview section of MD&A since it provides context for the remainder of your MD&A discussion. Furthermore, please discuss the types of expenses included as part of your performance improvement in itiatives, including the line item(s) these expenses are classified on your statement of oper ations and the reasons why they are classified as such. Please quantify the impact of these expenses when describing the changes in segmental gross margin and segmental selling, general, technical and research expense, since a significant portion of the increase in these line items relates to expense fo r performance improvement initiatives. Review of Operations, page 38 2007 vs. 2006, page 38 4. We note that you have quantified the impact of changes in currency translation rates on consolidated and segmental net sales and on consolidated STG&R expenses. Please tell us how you consider ed quantifying the impact of changes in currency translation rates on consolidated gros s profit. Also tell us, and clarify to your readers, whether the impact of changes in currency translation rates on gross profit and STG&R expenses is allocated to your segments. If so, please address these items in your analysis of segmental gross profit and segmental operating income. 5. To the extent material to understand ing your results of operations, please separately discuss the changes in th e “selling and general expenses” and “technical, product engineering, and research expenses” line items as presented on your income statement. Also, please cons ider discussing the changes in research expense and unallocated expenses disclo sed on page 40 as a subset to your discussion of consolidated STG&R expe nses, as your curren t presentation of Michael C. Nahl Albany International Corp. May 5, 2008 Page 3 these segmental reconciling items di rectly beneath your discussion of consolidated operating income, which includes these segmental reconciling items, may be confusing to your readers. 6. We note your discussion of income tax e xpense in the middle of page 40. Please tell us and better explain to your read ers why your effective income tax rate appears unusually low for 2007. In this re gard, we note your reconciliation of the effective tax rate on page 76, but it is unclear from your current disclosures why many of these line items are significantly different from the previous two years. Paper Machine Clothing Segment, page 40 7. We note that net sales and operating in come for 2006 were reduced due to a change in contract terms with a major customer. Please elaborate on the circumstances of this contract change, including how and why this impacted your revenue and expense recognition. Albany Door Systems Segment, page 41 8. Please discuss in more detail the underlying reasons for the increased sales of new products and the aftermarket business in Eu rope, and quantify the impact of each contributing factor if possible. Additiona lly, please quantify the impact of the R-Bac acquisition on net sales, and tell us how you considered disclosing this acquisition’s impact on gross profit and operating income. If this acquisition did not have a significant impact on your results, please clarify this matter to your readers. Liquidity and Capital Resources, page 43 9. We note that your increase in cap ital expenditures in 2007 and 2006 were principally due to the PMC strategic investment program announced in January 2006. Please elaborate on the fundamentals of this plan and how this has and will affect your operations. Critical Accounting Policies and Assumptions, page 48 10. We note that some of your critical accounting policies simply repeat the information contained in Note 1 to your financial statements. We remind you that such disclosure should supplement, not duplicate, the description of accounting policies that are already disclosed in th e notes to the financial statements. The disclosure should provide gr eater insight into the quality and variability of information regarding financial conditi on and operating performance. While accounting policy notes in the financial statements generally describe the method used to apply an accounting principle, the discussion in MD&A should present a Michael C. Nahl Albany International Corp. May 5, 2008 Page 4 company's analysis of the un certainties involved in applying a principle at a given time or the variability that is reasonably likely to result from its application over time. You should also quantify the sensitivity of your estimates to change, based on other outcomes that are reasonably likel y to occur and would have a material effect on your financial statements. Re fer to Section V of our Release No. 33-8350, available on our website at www.sec.gov/rules/interp/33-8350.htm . Please revise as appropriate, and show us what any revisions will look like. Financial Statements, page 53 Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, page 59 1. Accounting Policies – Revenue Recognition, page 59 11. We note your revenue recognition polic y and have the following comments: • We read that certain contracts in the Applied Technologies segment are accounted for using the percentage of completion me thod. Please describe to us in more detail any contracts that you account fo r using the percentage of completion method, and tell us how you determined th ese contracts qualifi ed for percentage of completion accounting under SOP 81-1. • We read that the timing of revenue rec ognition is dependent upon the contractual arrangement, and these arrangements are specific to each customer. Please explain to us in more detail the various types of contractual arrangements that you offer to your customers and how you account for these arrangements, including any types of arrangements that result in the recognition of revenue and transfer of title at any point other than delivery of the completed product. Please expand your accounting policy to more clearly indi cate the various types of contractual arrangements to which you are referring, as this may be unclear to your readers. • We read on page 22 under Competition that you provide diverse services to your customers, including consulting and storing fabrics for delivery to the user. We also read that you offer aftermarket serv ice and support for your door systems. Please explain to us in more detail the various types of serv ices that you offer your customers and how you account for thes e services, including at what point you recognize revenue for any fabrics that you store for delivery to the user. Tell us how you determined you did not need to disclose your accounting policies for these services in Note 1. Also tell us how you considered the guidance in Rule 5-03 of Regulation S-X for separately disclosing net sales and cost of sales for products and for services. Michael C. Nahl Albany International Corp. May 5, 2008 Page 5 6. Financial Instruments, page 68 12. We note your discussion of the $180 m illion 2.25% convertible notes and the related convertible note he dge and warrant transactions. We have the following comments: • Please disclose to your readers a more de tailed explanation of the circumstances under which the convertible debt may be redeemed for cash, converted into Class A stock, or converted into a combination of cash and stock. Also clarify whether these redemptions or conversions occur at the option of the ho lder or at your option. Please show us what this en hanced disclosure will look like. • With regards to the converti ble note hedge, please expl ain to us, and clarify to your readers, whether you may acquire shar es that fully offset the delivery of newly issued shares upon conversion of the notes. In this regard, it appears from the definition of Exercisable Options in your convertible note hedge transaction confirmation agreement that you may only receive 40% of the shares you would issue upon conversion of the notes. • With regards to the warrant transacti on, please tell us where you disclosed the terms of the warrants as indicated by Rule 4-08(i) of Regulation S-X. • We read that you concluded that the convertible feature of the notes, the convertible note hedge, and the warrant tr ansactions each meet the requirements of EITF 00-19 to be accounted for as equity instruments. Please explain to us in more detail how you reached these conc lusions, including whether all of these agreements may be settled in unregistere d shares, and whether such a settlement alternative triggers any penalties. • We note your registration rights agreemen t related to the convertible notes and underlying shares. Please provide us with your analysis of whether this agreement contains a registration pa yment arrangement as defined by FSP-EITF-00-19-2, and if so, please tell us how you considered the accounting and disclosure guidance in FSP-EITF-00-19-2. 7. Commitments and Contingencies, page 70 13. We note your discussion of lawsuits alleging that certain in dividuals suffered personal injury as a result of exposur e to asbestos and have the following comments: • It appears that about two-th irds of the claims pending against you are in federal court at the multidistrict litigation pa nel in Mississippi, and we note your Michael C. Nahl Albany International Corp. May 5, 2008 Page 6 disclosures concerning these claims. Howeve r, it is unclear to us that you have provided all disclosures required by SF AS 5, SOP 94-6 and SAB Topic 5:Y for the remaining one-third of the claims pending against you that are not at the MDL. Please advise, and if appropriate, re vise your disclosure to address more clearly these claims. • We note your disclosure at the top of page 71 of the total number of claims outstanding at various dates. Please refer to Question 3 of SAB Topic 5:Y and provide us with a rollforward of the numb er of claims at each balance sheet date, including the number of claims filed for each period presented and the number of claims dismissed, settled or otherwise re solved for each period. Additionally, if the average settlement amount varies from y ear to year or reflects trends such as increasing over time, it appears that additional disclosure on this matter may be necessary. Please also provide us with this information for Brandon. • Please tell us whether you have any liabi lity for the facilities that produced the asbestos-containing products . If so, please tell us how you determined you did not need to provide additional disc losures under SFAS 5, SOP 96-1 or SFAS 143, if applicable. • Please disclose the above information to your readers, either he re or in another appropriate place in your filing, or tell us why such disclosures are not applicable. 12. Reportable Segments and Geographic Data, page 78 14. We read at the top of page 79 that y ou do not allocate corporate headquarters expenses to your segments, and we not e your presentation of these unallocated expenses within your reconciliation to c onsolidated income before income taxes on page 80. Please provide your readers with a brief descripti on of the types of expenses that comprise your corporat e headquarters expenses. Additionally, please provide your readers with a brief desc ription of the types of assets that are not allocated to your segments, particularly the other assets presented within your reconciliation to consolid ated total assets on page 81. We believe this information provides your readers with be tter insight into how management views the company. Refer to paragra phs 31(b) and (c) of SFAS 131. 15. Stock Option and In centive Plans, page 88 15. We note your 2005 incentive plan that pr ovides key members of management with incentive compensation based on achievement of certain performance targets and are paid out over three years, partly in cash and partly in Class A common stock. We further note that you are rec ognizing expenses associated with this plan over the vesting period, which incl udes the year for which performance targets are measured and the two subse quent years. Please tell us why you Michael C. Nahl Albany International Corp. May 5, 2008 Page 7 recognize expense for this plan over a vesting period that includes the two subsequent years, and explain to us in more detail how this complies with SFAS 123(R). Also tell us whether you classi fy these awards as liabilities or as equity, and the accounting guidance y ou are relying on in reaching your conclusion. Disclosure Controls and Procedures, page 95 16. You state that your certifyi ng officers concluded that you r disclosure controls and procedures were effective in “ensuring that information required to be disclosed in the periodic repo rts that [you] file[] or submit[] under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to [your] management, including [your] Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Offi cer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.” In future filings, please revise your conclusion to include the full definition of disclosure controls and procedures as outlined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(e) rather than the summarized definition you include now. In this regard, please st ate, if true, whether the same officers concluded the controls and procedures were effective to “ensure that information required to be disclosed by [you] in the re ports that [you] file or submit under the Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the Commission’s rules and fo rms” and to “ensure that information required to be disclosed by [you] in the re ports that [you] f