SecProbe.io

Filing text and metadata
Intelligence Terminal Search Probe Scores Topics IPO Watchlist Monthly Activity About API

SEC Company Response from FIRSTCITY FINANCIAL CORP (CIK 0000828678) — Nov 10, 2005

FIRSTCITY FINANCIAL CORP (CIK 0000828678)
Date: Nov. 10, 2005 · CIK: 0000828678 · Accession: 0001104659-05-054597

AI Filing Summary & Sentiment

Referenced dates: October 13, 2005

Date
November 10, 2005
Author
J. Bryan Baker
Form
CORRESP
Company
FIRSTCITY FINANCIAL CORP (CIK 0000828678)

Letter

Via EDGAR and Fax (202) 772-9205 Securities and Exchange Commission Filed March 21, 2005 Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 Filed on August 12, 2005 File No.: 033-19694

Re: FirstCity Financial Corporation

Dear Mr. Spirgel:

On behalf of FirstCity Financial Corporation (the “Company” or “FirstCity”), I submit the following responses to your comments received on November 4, 2005 concerning your review of our response letter dated October 13, 2005. The Company’s responses to your comment letter are outlined below in the sequential order in which the comments appear in the comment letter.

Financial Statements

Consolidated Statements of Operations, page 41

1. Refer to your response to comment 1. We continue to believe that you should revise your statement of operations to present “equity in earnings of investments” in accordance with Rule 5-03 of Regulation S-X.

In future filings, we will revise our statement of operations to present “equity in earnings of investments” outside of revenues in accordance with Rule 5-03 of Regulation S-X.

2. Refer to your response to comment 3 and your supporting calculation. Your calculation of average income does not appear correct. Tell us how you calculated the average income amount for each of the three years ended December 31, 2004.

For the 2004 average income amount, we used restated financial statements for the years 2000 through 2003 because the Company’s operations from Drive Financial Services, LP were discontinued in 2004. Losses reflected in years 2000 and 2001 were omitted for purposes of computing average income. Following is the average income calculation for 2004:

2003*

2002*

2001*

2000*

Earnings (loss) from continuing operations

$

5,011

$

4,358

$

2,399

$

(2,277

)

$

(11,795

)

Add:

Provision (benefit) for income taxes

(1

)

7,406

Extraordinary items

—

—

—

—

—

Cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle

—

—

—

—

—

Income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes, extraordinary items and cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle

$

5,086

$

4,543

$

2,552

$

(2,278

)

$

(4,389

)

Income used for average calculation

$

5,086

$

4,543

$

2,552

$

—

$

—

Average Calculation

$

5,086

4,543

2,552

—

—

Total

$

12,181

Average (5 years)

$

2,436

* The years 2000 through 2003 were restated to reflect operations related to the Company’s investment in Drive Financial Services, LP as discontinued operations.

Following is the average income calculations used for 2003 and 2002, which were based on income from continuing operations as originally reported on the annual reports for those years.

Earnings (loss) from continuing operations

$

9,707

$

5,943

$

2,171

$

(10,900

)

$

(5,819

)

$

Add:

Provision (benefit) for income taxes

7,414

5,051

(1,132

)

Extraordinary items

—

—

—

—

—

—

Cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle

—

—

—

—

Income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes, extraordinary items and cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle

$

9,947

$

6,096

$

2,490

$

(3,486

)

$

(3

)

$

(347

)

Income used for average calculation

$

9,947

$

6,096

$

2,490

$

—

$

—

$

—

Average Calculation

$

9,947

$

—

6,096

6,096

2,490

2,490

—

—

—

—

—

—

Total

$

18,533

$

8,586

Average (5 years)

$

3,707

$

1,717

3. It is not appropriate to use the higher of the actual or average income to determine significance. For your guidance if income of the registrant and its subsidiaries consolidated for the most recent fiscal year is at least 10 percent lower than the average of the income for the last five fiscal years, such average income should be substituted for purposes of the computation. Any loss years should be omitted for purposes of computing average income. Further when calculating the average income for years when the operations have been discontinued you need to use the restated financial information in the denominator. Revise or advise.

The Company notes that in its previous response to Comment 3 in our letter dated October 13, 2005, we used the phrase “for 2004, 2003 and 2002, the actual income was used as it was higher than the average income.” We note that this statement was misleading and would like to clarify to state that “for 2004, 2003 and 2002, the income of the registrant and its subsidiaries consolidated was not at least 10 percent lower than the average of the income for the last five fiscal years. Therefore, the average income was not substituted for purposes of the computation.”

Please refer to the average income calculations under Comment 2 above, noting that loss years were omitted for purposes of computing average income. Also, for 2004, we used restated financial information in the denominator as the operations from the Company’s investment in Drive Financial Services, LP were discontinued in 2004.

Because the Company had income from continuing operations for 2004, 2003 and 2002, each tested subsidiary where a loss was incurred in those years, the Company considered note 2 under the computational note at §210.1-02(w)(3) and excluded the equity in loss of the tested subsidiary from the income of the registrant and its subsidiaries consolidated for purposes of the computation.

4. Tell us the name of each partnership included within the Mexican Acquisition Partnerships, the equity in income (loss) associated with each one of them in each of the three years ended December 31, 2004 and the relationship among them. Provide similar information for the European partnerships.

Following is a list of each of the Mexican and European Acquisition Partnerships and the equity in income (loss) associated with each entity in 2004, 2003 and 2002. These partnerships are each separate legal entities with common investors within the respective regions. The Portfolios within the Mexican partnerships are all serviced by a wholly-owned subsidiary of FirstCity. The Portfolios within the European partnerships are all serviced by a French entity, who is also an investor in each of the partnerships. No Acquisition Partnerships have an ownership interest in another Acquisition Partnership.

Equity in Income (Loss)

Entity Name

Mexican Acquisition Partnerships

BIDMEX, LLC

$

19,242

$

(619,884

)

$

(753,801

)

BIDMEX II, LLC

41,238

(869,148

)

(847,727

)

BIDMEX 3, LLC

(63,060

)

(812,017

)

(632,958

)

BIDMEX 4, LLC

(333,497

)

(875,563

)

(723,077

)

BIDMEX 5, LLC

(175,458

)

(542,490

)

(509,624

)

BIDMEX 6, LLC

(371,144

)

(157,647

)

(183,218

)

BIDMEX 7, LLC

20,380

(317,664

)

(130,443

)

BIDMEX 8, LLC

203,870

(23,060

)

—

BIDMEX 9, LLC

(305,139

)

—

—

BIDMEX 10, LLC

(9,005

)

—

—

Namex, LLC

(44,521

)

(39,298

)

1,618

Resmex, LLC

25,158

228,403

286,574

$

(991,936

)

$

(4,028,368

)

$

(3,492,656

)

European Acquisition Partnerships

CATX Limited

$

—

$

—

$

23,528

Credit Finance Corporation Limited

—

—

53,227

CRY Limited

564,077

463,523

73,156

CTY Limited

233,875

289,766

—

FG Portfolio Limited

20,717

—

—

Flnln Limited

—

—

210,102

Mirom Limited

—

—

15,436

Miromesnil Limited

—

—

46,544

NEVVS Limited

220,945

413,990

571,557

PRL Development

957,320

873,962

—

SAISA

26,029

—

—

Societe Immobilere Lincoln S.A.

—

—

(3,545

)

Transalp Limited

—

—

9,865

UHR Limited

695,216

598,548

490,515

WHBE Limited

313,137

633,836

288,763

WODLT

773,856

—

—

WOL Limited

791,335

590,493

—

Wox Limited

460,389

225,396

148,349

$

5,056,896

$

4,089,514

$

1,927,497

* * * * *

The Company acknowledges that

• The Company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in the filings;

• Staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to staff comments do not foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the filings; and

• The Company may not assert staff comments as a defense in any proceedings initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal securities laws of the United States.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me.

Very truly yours,
J. Bryan Baker

Show Raw Text
CORRESP
1
filename1.htm

November 10, 2005

Via EDGAR and Fax (202) 772-9205

Mr. Larry Spirgel

Securities and Exchange Commission

450 Fifth Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20549-3561

Re:                               FirstCity Financial Corporation

Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004

Filed March 21, 2005

Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2005

Filed on August 12, 2005

File No.: 033-19694

Dear Mr. Spirgel:

On behalf of FirstCity Financial Corporation (the “Company” or “FirstCity”),
I submit the following responses to your comments received on November 4, 2005
concerning your review of our response letter dated October 13, 2005.  The Company’s responses to your comment
letter are outlined below in the sequential order in which the comments appear
in the comment letter.

Financial Statements

Consolidated Statements of Operations, page 41

1.              Refer to your response to comment
1.  We continue to believe that you
should revise your statement of operations to present “equity in earnings of
investments” in accordance with Rule 5-03 of Regulation S-X.

In future
filings, we will revise our statement of operations to present “equity in
earnings of investments” outside of revenues in accordance with Rule 5-03 of
Regulation S-X.

2.              Refer to your response to comment
3 and your supporting calculation.  Your
calculation of average income does not appear correct.  Tell us how you calculated the average income
amount for each of the three years ended December 31, 2004.

For the 2004 average income amount, we used restated financial
statements for the years 2000 through 2003 because the Company’s operations
from Drive Financial Services, LP were discontinued in 2004.  Losses reflected in years 2000 and 2001 were
omitted for purposes of computing average income.  Following is the average income calculation
for 2004:

  2004

  2003*

  2002*

  2001*

  2000*

  Earnings (loss) from
  continuing operations

  $

  5,011

  $

  4,358

  $

  2,399

  $

  (2,277

  )

  $

  (11,795

  )

  Add:

  Provision (benefit) for income taxes

  75

  185

  153

  (1

  )

  7,406

  Extraordinary items

  —

  —

  —

  —

  —

  Cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle

  —

  —

  —

  —

  —

  Income (loss) from
  continuing operations before income taxes, extraordinary items and cumulative
  effect of a change in accounting principle

  $

  5,086

  $

  4,543

  $

  2,552

  $

  (2,278

  )

  $

  (4,389

  )

  Income used for average
  calculation

  $

  5,086

  $

  4,543

  $

  2,552

  $

  —

  $

  —

  2004

  Average Calculation

  2004

  $

  5,086

  2003

  4,543

  2002

  2,552

  2001

  —

  2000

  —

  Total

  $

  12,181

  Average (5 years)

  $

  2,436

* The years 2000 through 2003 were restated to reflect operations
related to the Company’s investment in Drive Financial Services, LP as
discontinued operations.

Following is the average income calculations used for 2003 and 2002,
which were based on income from continuing operations as originally reported on
the annual reports for those years.

  2003

  2002

  2001

  2000

  1999

  1998

  Earnings (loss) from
  continuing operations

  $

  9,707

  $

  5,943

  $

  2,171

  $

  (10,900

  )

  $

  (5,819

  )

  $

  785

  Add:

  Provision (benefit) for income taxes

  240

  153

  15

  7,414

  5,051

  (1,132

  )

  Extraordinary items

  —

  —

  —

  —

  —

  —

  Cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle

  —

  —

  304

  —

  765

  —

  Income (loss) from
  continuing operations before income taxes, extraordinary items and cumulative
  effect of a change in accounting principle

  $

  9,947

  $

  6,096

  $

  2,490

  $

  (3,486

  )

  $

  (3

  )

  $

  (347

  )

  Income used for average
  calculation

  $

  9,947

  $

  6,096

  $

  2,490

  $

  —

  $

  —

  $

  —

  2003

  2002

  Average Calculation

  2003

  $

  9,947

  $

  —

  2002

  6,096

  6,096

  2001

  2,490

  2,490

  2000

  —

  —

  1999

  —

  —

  1998

  —

  —

  Total

  $

  18,533

  $

  8,586

  Average (5 years)

  $

  3,707

  $

  1,717

2

3.              It is not appropriate to use the
higher of the actual or average income to determine significance.  For your guidance if income of the registrant
and its subsidiaries consolidated for the most recent fiscal year is at least
10 percent lower than the average of the income for the last five fiscal years,
such average income should be substituted for purposes of the computation.  Any loss years should be omitted for purposes
of computing average income.  Further
when calculating the average income for years when the operations have been
discontinued you need to use the restated financial information in the
denominator.  Revise or advise.

The Company notes that in its previous response to Comment 3 in our
letter dated October 13, 2005, we used the phrase “for 2004, 2003 and 2002, the
actual income was used as it was higher than the average income.”  We note that this statement was misleading
and would like to clarify to state that “for 2004, 2003 and 2002, the income of
the registrant and its subsidiaries consolidated was not at least 10 percent
lower than the average of the income for the last five fiscal years.  Therefore, the average income was not substituted
for purposes of the computation.”

Please refer to the average income calculations under Comment 2 above,
noting that loss years were omitted for purposes of computing average
income.  Also, for 2004, we used restated
financial information in the denominator as the operations from the Company’s
investment in Drive Financial Services, LP were discontinued in 2004.

Because the Company had income from continuing operations for 2004,
2003 and 2002, each tested subsidiary where a loss was incurred in those years,
the Company considered note 2 under the computational note at §210.1-02(w)(3)
and excluded the equity in loss of the tested subsidiary from the income of the
registrant and its subsidiaries consolidated for purposes of the computation.

3

4.              Tell us the name of each
partnership included within the Mexican Acquisition Partnerships, the equity in
income (loss) associated with each one of them in each of the three years ended
December 31, 2004 and the relationship among them.  Provide similar information for the European
partnerships.

Following is a list of each of the Mexican and European Acquisition
Partnerships and the equity in income (loss) associated with each entity in
2004, 2003 and 2002.  These partnerships
are each separate legal entities with common investors within the respective
regions.   The Portfolios within the
Mexican partnerships are all serviced by a wholly-owned subsidiary of
FirstCity.  The Portfolios within the
European partnerships are all serviced by a French entity, who is also an
investor in each of the partnerships.  No
Acquisition Partnerships have an ownership interest in another Acquisition
Partnership.

  Equity in Income (Loss)

  Entity Name

  2004

  2003

  2002

  Mexican Acquisition
  Partnerships

  BIDMEX, LLC

  $

  19,242

  $

  (619,884

  )

  $

  (753,801

  )

  BIDMEX II, LLC

  41,238

  (869,148

  )

  (847,727

  )

  BIDMEX 3, LLC

  (63,060

  )

  (812,017

  )

  (632,958

  )

  BIDMEX 4, LLC

  (333,497

  )

  (875,563

  )

  (723,077

  )

  BIDMEX 5, LLC

  (175,458

  )

  (542,490

  )

  (509,624

  )

  BIDMEX 6, LLC

  (371,144

  )

  (157,647

  )

  (183,218

  )

  BIDMEX 7, LLC

  20,380

  (317,664

  )

  (130,443

  )

  BIDMEX 8, LLC

  203,870

  (23,060

  )

  —

  BIDMEX 9, LLC

  (305,139

  )

  —

  —

  BIDMEX 10, LLC

  (9,005

  )

  —

  —

  Namex, LLC

  (44,521

  )

  (39,298

  )

  1,618

  Resmex, LLC

  25,158

  228,403

  286,574

  $

  (991,936

  )

  $

  (4,028,368

  )

  $

  (3,492,656

  )

  European Acquisition
  Partnerships

  CATX Limited

  $

  —

  $

  —

  $

  23,528

  Credit Finance Corporation Limited

  —

  —

  53,227

  CRY Limited

  564,077

  463,523

  73,156

  CTY Limited

  233,875

  289,766

  —

  FG Portfolio Limited

  20,717

  —

  —

  Flnln Limited

  —

  —

  210,102

  Mirom Limited

  —

  —

  15,436

  Miromesnil Limited

  —

  —

  46,544

  NEVVS Limited

  220,945

  413,990

  571,557

  PRL Development

  957,320

  873,962

  —

  SAISA

  26,029

  —

  —

  Societe Immobilere Lincoln S.A.

  —

  —

  (3,545

  )

  Transalp Limited

  —

  —

  9,865

  UHR Limited

  695,216

  598,548

  490,515

  WHBE Limited

  313,137

  633,836

  288,763

  WODLT

  773,856

  —

  —

  WOL Limited

  791,335

  590,493

  —

  Wox Limited

  460,389

  225,396

  148,349

  $

  5,056,896

  $

  4,089,514

  $

  1,927,497

4

* * * * *

The Company acknowledges that

•                  The Company is responsible for the
adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in the filings;

•                  Staff comments or changes to disclosure
in response to staff comments do not foreclose the Commission from taking any
action with respect to the filings; and

•                  The Company may not assert staff comments
as a defense in any proceedings initiated by the Commission or any person under
the federal securities laws of the United States.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me.

Very truly yours,

J. Bryan Baker

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

FirstCity Financial Corporation

(254) 761-2810

5