SEC Company Response from DXP ENTERPRISES INC (DXPE) (CIK 0001020710) (DXPE) — Aug 10, 2009
DXP ENTERPRISES INC (DXPE) (CIK 0001020710)
Date: Aug. 10, 2009 · CIK: 0001020710 · Accession: 0001020710-09-000018
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CORRESP
1
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corres081009.htm
August
10, 2009
Mr.
Jeffrey Gordon
Staff
Accountant
Division
of Corporation Finance
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington,
DC 20549-7010
RE: DXP
Enterprises, Inc.
Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended
December 31, 2008
Form 10-Q for the period ended March
31, 2009
Schedule 14A filed on April 29,
2009
File No. 0-21513
Dear Mr.
Gordon:
I have
reviewed the comments contained in your letter to me dated June 25,
2009. My responses are keyed to your comments.
DXP
Enterprises, Inc. (“DXP”) acknowledges that:
·
DXP
is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in our
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
filing; and
·
DXP
may not assert staff comments as a defense in any proceeding initiated by
the Commission or any person under the federal security laws of the United
States.
FORM 10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED
DECEMBER 31, 2008
Item 7 – Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, page
11.
Liquidity and Capital
Resources, page 14
1.
In
future filings if it ever becomes reasonably likely that DXP will not
comply with any significant covenant, DXP will provide comprehensive
disclosures about the requirements, including disclosing the ratios/actual
amounts versus minimum/maximum ratio amounts permitted under any and all
material borrowings. DXP understands it may also be necessary
to show specific computations used to arrive at the actual ratios with
corresponding reconciliations to US GAAP amounts, if
applicable.
Discussion of Critical
Accounting Policies, page 17
2.
DXP
will disclose in future filings the deductibles associated with each risk
for which it has significant deductibles (self insurance). DXP
will also quantify the dollar amount of its self insurance accruals for
each period presented.
Following
are the example disclosures regarding self-insurance reserves which will be
included in future filings:
Self-insured
Insurance and Medical Claims
We
generally retain up to $100,000 of risk for each claim for workers compensation,
general liability, automobile and property loss. We accrue for the
estimated loss on self-insured portion of these claims. The accrual
is adjusted quarterly based upon reported claims information. The
actual cost could deviate from the recorded estimate.
We
generally retain up to $100,000 of risk on each medical claim for our employees
and dependents. We accrue for the estimated outstanding balance of unpaid
medical claims for our employees and their dependents. The accrual is
adjusted monthly based on recent claims experience. The actual claims
could deviate from recent claims experience and be materially different from the
reserve.
The
accrual for these claims at June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008 were
approximately $1.0 million and $1.3 million, respectively.
Goodwill and Long-lived
Asset Recovery, page 32
3.
DXP
will consider disclosing the following in future
filings:
·
The
reporting unit level at which DXP’s goodwill for impairment and its basis
for that determination;
·
Each
of the valuation methodologies DXP used to value goodwill (if multiple
approaches are used), including sufficient information to enable a reader
to understand how each of the methods used differ, the assumed benefits of
a valuation prepared under each method, and why management selected these
methods as being the most meaningful for the company in preparing the
goodwill impairment analyses;
·
How
DXP weights each of the methods used including the basis for that
weighting (if multiple approaches are
used);
·
A
qualitative and quantitative description of the material assumptions used
and a sensitivity analysis of those assumptions based upon reasonably
likely changes; and
·
How
the assumptions and methodologies used for valuing goodwill in the current
year have changed since the prior year highlighting the impact of any
changes.
In
particular DXP will:
·
Explain
how it identified reporting units
·
Explain
how it assigned assets, liabilities, deferred taxes and goodwill to
reporting units
·
Disclose
significant assumptions, if
applicable
o
Use
of an income based or market based
approach
o
Cash
flows
o
Growth
rates
o
Discount
rates
o
Use
of a weighted average cost of capital or a cost of equity
method
o
Risk
applications
o
Control
premiums
Item 8 – Financial
Statements and Supplementary Data, page 20
General
4.
In
future filings DXP will present its statement of comprehensive income
within (1) its statement of operations, (2) its statement of equity, or
(3) as a separate financial
statement.
Report of Independent
Registered Public Accounting Firm on Financial Statements, page
21
5.
DXP
confirms that its auditors conducted their audit in accordance with the
standards of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) as
required by PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 1. DXP’s auditors will
revise their audit opinions in future filings to indicate that the audits
were conducted in accordance with the standards of the Public Company
Accounting Oversight Board (United
States).
Note 1 – Organization and
Significant Accounting Policies, page 28
General
6.
DXP
will disclose in future filings the types of expenses that DXP includes in
the cost of sales line item and the types of expenses that DXP includes in
the selling, general and administrative expense line item. DXP
will also disclose that DXP includes inbound freight charges and internal
transfer costs in the cost of sales line item and includes purchasing and
receiving costs, inspection costs, warehousing costs, and the other costs
of its distribution network in the selling, general and administrative
expense line item. DXP will disclose in MD& A that
its gross margins may not be comparable to those of other entities, since
some entities include all of the costs related to their distribution
network in cost of sales and others like DXP exclude a portion of them
from gross margin, including them instead in selling, general and
administrative expense.
7.
DXP
will disclose in future filings that depreciation and amortization are
included in cost of sales and in selling, general and administrative
expense.
Note 13 – Fair Value of
Financial instruments, page 44
8.
If
material in the future, DXP will enhance its disclosure in future filings
to provide a reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances of its
fair value measurements using significant unobservable inputs in
accordance with paragraph 32(c) of SFAS 157. DXP will also
present the disclosures required by paragraphs 32(d) and (e) of SFAS 157,
as applicable.
Note 16 – Quarterly
Financial Information (Unaudited), page 46
9.
DXP
will present in future filings its basic earnings per share for each
quarter presented.
Item 9A – Controls and
Procedures, page 47
10.
On
September 10, 2007, DXP completed the acquisition of Precision Industries,
Inc. Precision’s sales during 2006 were over $297 million,
which exceeded DXP’s 2006 sales. During 2008 DXP was working to
convert Precision to DXP’s computer system. In October DXP
converted Precision’s general ledger, accounts payable and accounts
receivable functions on to DXP’s system. Later it became
obvious we were not going to complete full conversion in
2008. We therefore began documenting, remediating and testing
Precision’s internal controls. We did not complete the
documentation and testing of Precision’s internal controls until the end
of January 2009.
SEC
rules require management to base its evaluation of the effectiveness of
the Company’s internal control over financial reporting on a suitable,
recognized control framework (also known as control criteria) established
by a body or group that followed due-process procedures, including the
broad distribution of the framework for public comment. As the
company had not completed its implementation of a control framework for
Precision by December 31, 2008, our auditors concluded that a scope
limitation existed. According to AS5, appendix C, paragraph C3
“The auditor can express an opinion on the company’s internal control over
financial reporting only if the auditor has been able to apply the
procedures necessary in the circumstances. If there are
restrictions on the scope of the engagement, the auditor should withdraw
from the engagement or disclaim an opinion. A disclaimer of
opinion states that the auditor does not express an opinion on the
effectiveness of internal control over financial
reporting.”
Item 15 – Exhibits,
Financial Statement Schedules, page 49
11.
DXP
will file an amendment to correct
this.
12.
In
future filings, DXP will file asset purchase agreements and similar
agreements as number (2) exhibits pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation
S-K.
13.
DXP
will file all of the exhibits and the schedules to the Credit Agreement
dated August 28, 2008 (Exhibit
10.24).
FORM 10-Q FOR THE PERIOD
ENDED MARCH 31, 2009
Item 6 –
Exhibits
Exhibit 32.1 – Certification
of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
14.
DXP
will amend its filing and re-file exhibits 32.1 certifications with the
correct dates.
DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT
ON SCHEDULE 14A FILED ON APRIL 29, 2009
Compensation Discussion and
Analysis, page 9
Incentive Cash Bonuses, page
10
15.
In
future filings we would propose to include the additional disclosure along
the lines of the following paragraphs as the first and second paragraphs
under “Incentive Cash Bonuses”:
Each
of our Named Executives is eligible to receive an incentive cash
bonus. Under the terms of the employment agreement with our
chief executive officer, he is entitled to receive a bonus of 5% of our
profit before tax income, which is determined and paid on a monthly
basis. The Compensation Committee can decide to pay all or a
portion of this bonus in the form of restricted stock. The
determination of whether the bonus is to be paid in cash or shares of
restricted stock is be made prior to the date on which the amount of the
bonus is determined. If shares of restricted stock will be
issued, the number of shares is determined by dividing the portion of the
bonus to be paid in restricted stock by the closing price of a share of
our common stock on the last day of the month for which the bonus was
earned, rounded up to the nearest whole
share.
Under
the terms of the employment agreement with our chief financial officer, he
is entitled to receive a bonus in cash of 0.75% of our profit before
income tax, which is determined and paid on a monthly
basis.
At
the beginning of each year, our chief executive officer makes a
recommendation to the Compensation Committee, which the Committee reviews
and approves, regarding whether our other Named Executives will
receive an incentive cash bonus and, if so, the amount of the bonus, which
is a percentage of our profit before income tax, less a bogey, determined
and paid monthly. In 2009, the incentive cash bonus percentages
for Messrs. Oliver, Vinson and Jeffery were 1.0%, 1.0% and 1.0%,
respectively. The amounts of the bogey were $20 million, $14
million and $18 million,
respectively.
Equity-Based Compensation,
page 10
16.
The
value of the 9,680 shares of restricted stock awarded to Mr. Little was
$100,000 on the grant date. Sales increased 65.8% and net
income increased 49.2% in 2008 from 2007, therefore Mr. Little earned the
maximum award. DXP confirms that the determination of the award
amount for growth between 10% -20% is made on a straight line
basis.
17.
In
future filings, we will expand the disclosure regarding the equity awards
to discuss the factors the Compensation Committee considered in
determining the grant of equity-based compensation to our Named
Executives. An example of such expanded disclosure
follows:
First
sentence: The Compensation Committee awards equity-based
compensation to reward past performance and to retain our Named Executives
by granting awards that vest over
time.
Penultimate
sentence of first paragraph under “Equity-Based
Compensation”: The first award granted to Mr. Little under this
program was a grant of 9,680 shares of restricted stock on March 31, 2009,
which represented the full $100,000 award available due to the achievement
by the Company of an increase in excess of 20% of both sales and net
income.
Last
paragraph under “Equity-Based Compensation”: The Compensation
Committee determines whether grants of equity-based compensation will be
given to the other Named Executives each year based on the performance of
the Company as a whole, the performance of the business unit for which the
Named Executive is responsible and the contribution that the Named
Executive made to the Company, together with a recommendation of our chief
executive officer. No equity-based compensation awards were
made to the other Named Executives during 2008 or based upon 2008
results.
Grants of Plan-Based Awards,
page 16
18.
In
future filings we will include appropriate disclosure rather than refer to
the disclosure in the Summary Compensation
Table.
Please
contact me at 713-996-4897 if you have any questions regarding this letter or to
confirm that the staff will have no further comments of our filing.
Sincerely,
/s/ Mac
McConnell
Mac
McConnell
Senior
Vice President & CFO
MM:sb