SEC Company Response from LIFECORE BIOMEDICAL, INC. \DE\ (LFCR) (CIK 0001005286) (LFCR) — Mar 4, 2005
LIFECORE BIOMEDICAL, INC. \DE\ (LFCR) (CIK 0001005286)
Date: March 4, 2005 · CIK: 0001005286 · Accession: 0001104659-05-009592
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: February 10, 2005
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CORRESP 1 filename1.htm March 4, 2005 Geoffrey P. Leonard (650) 614-7470 gleonard@orrick.com VIA EDGAR Mr. Rufus Decker Accounting Branch Chief United States Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Corporate Finance 450 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20549 Re: Landec Corporation Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 30, 2004 Forms 10-Q for the period ended August 29, 2004 and November 28, 2004 File No. 0-27446 Dear Mr. Decker: On behalf of Landec Corporation (“Landec or the “Company”), we are responding to the staff’s letter dated February 10, 2005 and our conversation with Meagan Caldwell on February 25, 2005, relating to Landec’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 30, 2004 and Forms 10-Q for the period ended August 29, 2004 and November 28, 2004. For the staff’s convenience, we have repeated the staff’s comments below in bold face type before each of our responses. FORM 10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED MAY 20, 2004 Comments applicable to your overall filing 1. Comment: Where a comment below requests additional disclosures or other revisions to be made, please show us in your supplemental response what the revisions will look like. These revisions should be included in your future filings. Response: Where a comment requests additional disclosures or other revisions the Company will show in its supplemental response what the revisions will look like in the Company’s future filings. Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation Critical Accounting Policies and Use of Estimates Revenue Recognition, page 23 2. Comment: Please expand your disclosure to define what you refer to as “recycled” revenue. Response: The Company will add the following definition to its next filing. “Recycled” revenue refers to revenue that had previously been recognized as licensing revenue in the Company’s financial statements, but, as a result of the Company’s adoption of SAB 101, was reversed through a cumulative effect of a change in accounting in fiscal year 2000 and is now being recognized as revenue over the research and development period and/or supply period commitment of the agreement, whichever is longer. Results of Operations Revenues Apio Trading, page 25 3. Comment: Please expand your disclosure here and in footnote 12 to include further information regarding the concentration of your international sales in Asia and any other material geographies. Response: The disclosure on page 25 for Apio Trading specifies that Landec’s international sales are to Asia. The Company supplementally advises that virtually all of Landec’s international sales are to Asia and the Company does not have any other significant sales to any other geographical areas. The Company sells its products to distributors in Asia and does not have information regarding the countries in which the consumers actually purchase the products. In the Company’s future filings it will clarify in the “Business Segment Reporting” footnote to the financial statements that its international sales are to Asia. Corporate, page 26 4. Comment: You have disclosed the reason for the decrease in revenue is due to a decrease in licensing revenue with UCB and a decrease in research and development revenue associated with a medical device company. Please expand your disclosure to include further details regarding the closing of these agreements. Please include in your disclosure whether the product licensed to UCB can and will be licensed to other potential customers; whether any additional revenue from royalties or licensing is expected as a result of the research and development work performed for the 2 medical device company; and what your expectations are for the coming year relating to licensing and research and development revenue. Response: As noted on page 12 of the Form 10-K, the UCB Chemicals Corporation agreement terminated in December 2002. The UCB agreement provides for a perpetual, exclusive, paid-up royalty in a specific technology field and no further revenues will be recognized under this agreement. Given these facts, Landec does not anticipate disclosure of this agreement in its future filings. The research and development agreement with a medical device company terminated in June 2003. There are potential future licensing revenues based on the milestones of filing a 510-K with the FDA and the commercialization of the underlying product. The achievement of each of these milestones will result in licensing revenues of $333,000 each and, as disclosed on page 13 of the Form 10-K, the total potential payments will not exceed $1.35 million and, if the product is commercialized, the Company will receive 8% royalties on the sale of products. The following language will be included in the Company’s future filings: “At this time, the Company is unable to predict the ultimate outcome of the collaboration with the medical device company and the timing or amount of revenues, if any.” In addition, the Company will add the following language to its future filings: “Given the infrequency and unpredictability of the payments that the Company may receive under any of its licensing and research and development arrangements, the Company is unable to disclose its expectations in advance of entering into such arrangements.” Gross Profit Apio Trading, page 27 5. Comment: You have disclosed on page 26 a change in certain export contracts. Please expand your disclosure to include any impact these contract changes had or will have on gross profit, if any. Response: The Company supplementally advises that the change in export contracts was a one-time change that only impacted the comparability of export revenues between fiscal year 2003 and fiscal year 2004 and had no impact on gross profits. Therefore, for future filings there will be no differences in gross profits as a result of the change in export contract terms and no further disclosure will be necessary. 3 Liquidity and Capital Resources, page 32 6. Comment: You have disclosed on page 12 you are currently shipping products to L’Oreal of Paris. You have also disclosed you will receive royalty payments from Alcon on sales of the PORT™ device through 2012. You have further disclosed on page 39, that you may not receive royalties on future sales of QuickCast™ and PORT™ because you no longer have control over the sales of these products. Please expand your disclosure to include your expectations regarding revenue from these products and any other new products, product lines, or licensing and research and development agreements. Also, please include in your disclosure how not having control of these products may affect your ability to receive royalties on these products. Response: L’Oreal of Paris: As noted on page 12, the Company is currently shipping materials used in a single product for L’Oreal. The Company will add the following language in future filings: “To date, sales of Landec materials used in L’Oreal products have not been material to the Company’s financial results and given the Company’s limited history with L’Oreal the Company is unable to predict future revenues for this product or for any other products sold by L’Oreal that may contain Landec materials.” Alcon PORT™: PORT™ was licensed to Alcon in 1997. The Company will add the following language in future filings: “To date, Alcon has not commercialized and may never commercialize the PORT™ product and therefore the Company may not receive royalties on any future sales.” QuickCast™: QuickCast™ was sold to Bissel Healthcare in 1997. The Company has not received any royalty revenues associated with this product for over three years. In future filings, the Company will eliminate any reference to QuickCast™. The Company will add the following language in future filings: “In addition, we may not receive any royalties from the PORT™ product because in the related agreement we have no control over commercializing the product or generating revenues from its sale.” 7. Comment: You have disclosed on page 13 information regarding potential milestone payments relating to an exclusive licensing and one year research and development collaboration with a medical device company. Please expand your disclosure to discuss the terms and status of this agreement and whether or not you expect to meet any of these milestones. Please also disclose the timing on if and when you anticipate revenue will be earned through royalties. 4 Response: Please see the Company’s response to comment 4. Contractual Obligations, page 34 8. Comment: Please revise your table of contractual cash obligations to include estimated interest payments on your debt. Because the table is aimed at increasing transparency of cash flow, we believe these payments should be included in the table. Please also disclose any assumptions you made to derive these amounts. Response: In future filings, the Company will disclose estimated interest payments in its table of contractual obligations and disclose any assumptions made to derive those amounts. If the Company had provided that information in its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 30, 2004, the relevant amounts would have been as follows: Obligation Total 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Thereafter Interest Expense 894 335 83 75 69 62 270 The assumptions used to derive these amounts are as follows: Interest expense on the Company’s lines of credit is calculated on the assumed average daily balance of $2 million for fiscal year 2005 at an annual interest rate of 5% with the balance assumed to be paid in full at fiscal year end 2005. The interest expense on the Company’s long term notes and lease obligations is calculated based on the payment schedules and interest rates for the relevant agreements. Additional Factors That May Affect Future Results Our Indebtedness Could Limit Our Financial and Operating Flexibility, page 35 9. Comment: You have disclosed you may be obligated to make future payments to the former shareholders of Apio of up to $1.2 million for the future supply of produce. Please expand your disclosure to include the terms and conditions that would cause you to incur this additional liability. Please include in your disclosure any amounts that were accrued for the periods presented and where these amounts were recorded in the balance sheet and statement of operations. Please also indicate when payments on these amounts are expected to be paid, if applicable. Response: These obligations were originally recorded as part of the purchase price accounting for Apio in fiscal year 2000 and the liability is included in the current portion of 5 long term debt on the balance sheet at May 30, 2004. These obligations were fully paid during the third quarter of fiscal year 2005 and will be so noted in the Company’s upcoming third quarter Form 10-Q filing with the following language: “In connection with Landec’s acquisition of Apio in 1999, Landec was obligated to make certain payments to the former shareholders of Apio, which amounts were fully paid in the third quarter of fiscal year 2005.” Financial Statements Statements of Operations, page 49 10. Comment: Please revise your statements of operations to breakout separately the cost of service revenue, related party. Response: The cost of service revenues associated with the Apio Fresh (a related party) service revenues are not segregated within the Company’s accounting system because the costs are directly related to the overall operations of the Company’s cooling facility. Statements of Cash Flows, page 51 11. Comment: Please tell us which of the cash outflows and inflows related to your notes and advances receivable are included in operating activities and which are included in investing activities. Please explain to us how you determined which amounts belonged in each classification. In providing us a response, please also tell us where the cash flows related to each of the loans shown in Note 4 are included and explain why each loan was classified where it was. Naturally, we understand that interest earned on these notes and advances receivable would be included in operating activities, regardless of where the principal amounts are classified. In the event the repayments you receive exceed the original principal amounts, for reasons other than stated interest payments, please tell us how these amounts are treated in your cash flow statement as well. If a portion of the repayments on these receivables occurs with consideration other than cash, please disclose how this works and how you take into account these non-cash payments in preparing your statement of cash flows. If all of the cash flows related to your investments in farming activities are not included in the notes and advances receivable cash flows, please separately address your classification for these cash flows as well. Refer to paragraphs 16, 17, 22 and 23 of SFAS 95. 6 Response: If the Company had separated its notes and advances receivable not associated with the procurement of produce from suppliers between investing activities and operating activities in its Statements of Cash Flows for the fiscal year ended May 30, 2004, the amounts would have been shown as follows: Cash flows from operating activities: Collections of notes and advances receivable 2,302 Issuance of notes and advances receivable (575 ) Cash flows from investing activities: Collections of notes and advances receivable 282 The Company will make this disclosure in its future filings. The majority of the Company’s notes and advances receivable are directly associated with procuring produce from suppliers for the Company’s food technology subsidiary and are appropriately included as operating cash flow. The notes and advances receivable that are not directly associated with the procurement of produce from suppliers had a cash flow impact of $282,000 for fiscal year 2004. Because of the immaterial nature of this amount it was combined with the net activity of the produce supplier notes and advances receivable and included in cash flow from operations. The Company supplementally advises that for all periods presented, no repayment of notes and advances receivable exceeded the original principal amounts or were for consideration other than cash. The Company further supplementally advises that investments in farming activities are not included in notes and advances receivable and due to their immaterial nature are included in other current assets in the balance sheet. Because these amounts relate to the procurement of produce from suppliers, the related cash flows are included in cash flow from operations as part of the change in other current assets. See Footnote 1. 12. Comment: Please present the cash inflows and outflows related to your notes and advances receivable on a gross basis. Otherwise, please explain to us how they meet the criteria in SFAS 95 for netting. Only cash flows stemming from investments, loans and debt with original maturities of three months or less may be reported on a net basis. Response: See response to comment 11. In future filings, the Company will show any significant cash inflows and outflows relating to notes and advances receivable on a gross basis. 7 13. Comment: Please present cash flows related to the change in other assets separately from those related to the change in other liabilities. Please also present these cash flows on a gross basis, rather than a net one. Please supplementally tell us how you determined that these cash flows represented investing cash flows. Refer to paragraphs 16 and 17