SEC Company Response from PENHALL INTERNATIONAL CORP (CIK 0001070772) — Jun 16, 2005
PENHALL INTERNATIONAL CORP (CIK 0001070772)
Date: June 16, 2005 · CIK: 0001070772 · Accession: 0001104659-05-028577
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 333-64745
Show Raw Text
CORRESP 1 filename1.htm [PENHALL INTERNATIONAL LETTERHEAD] June 16, 2005 By EDGAR and Facsimile Securities and Exchange Commission Judiciary Plaza 450 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20549-0510 Attention: Rufus Decker, Accounting Branch Chief Re: Penhall International Corp. (the “Company”) Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2004 Form 10-Q for the period ended December 31, 2004 File No. 333-64745 Dear Mr. Decker: Set forth below are the Company’s responses to the comments contained in the letter of the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) dated March 22, 2005 (the “Comment Letter”) with respect to the Form 10-K/A filed by the Company on December 20, 2004 and the Form 10-Q filed by the Company on February 14, 2005. The headings and numbered responses in this response letter correspond to the headings and numbered comments contained in the Comment Letter. For your convenience, we have repeated the staff’s comments below in bold face type before each of our responses. FORM 10-K/A FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2004 General 1. Where a comment below requests additional disclosures or other revisions to be made, please provide to us your intended disclosure. These revisions should be included in your future filings. Response to Comment 1. The Company’s acknowledges the staff’s comment. Selected Financial Data, pages 11 - 12 2. We note your presentation of the non-GAAP measure Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin. Your current disclosures do not comply with Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K. In this regard, please expand your statement explaining you believe these non-GAAP measures provide useful information regarding your ability to incur and/or service debt. Also, since your presentation of Adjusted EBITDA appears related to your loan covenants, please expand your discussion with respect to those loan covenants. See Question 10 of the FAQ and expand your disclosures to encompass the disclosures required by the 1st and 3rd bullet points. Response to Comment 2. Below is the modified Footnote (1) to Selected Financial Data which expands the discussion related to our use of the non-GAAP measure Adjusted EBITDA. We will modify in future filings the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA which previously excluded certain charges. We have also modified our discussion related to covenants in our New Credit Agreement and limitations of the Indenture agreement. These will be included in Management’s Discussion and Analysis under Liquidity and Capital Resources. In our Annual Report of Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2005, and in future filings we will include disclosure in substantially the form below: Footnote (1) to Selected Financial Data (1) Adjusted EBITDA is a supplemental non generally accepted accounting principle (“GAAP”) financial measure. Adjusted EBITDA represents earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted to exclude goodwill impairment because we believe this to be a non-recurring charge in 2004. Management has presented Adjusted EBITDA because it is used as a measure in the terms of The Credit agreement and in the Indenture agreement (see Management’s Discussion and Analysis). Management has also presented Adjusted EBITDA because we believe it is a meaningful measure and represents an alternate view of our operating performance and allows our management and our investors to readily view operating trends and analyze the Company’s ability to incur and/or service debt. Since Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP, it should not be considered in isolation of, or as a substitute for, net loss or cash flows from operations as an indicator of operating performance or as a measure of profitability or liquidity. Adjusted EBITDA, as the Company calculates it, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures employed by other companies. In addition, this measure does not necessarily represent funds available for discretionary use, and is not necessarily a measure of the Company’s ability to fund its cash needs. In our Quarterly Report of Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2005 we included, and in future filings we will include disclosure in substantially the form below: The provisions of The New Credit include a lock-box agreement that allows the lender, in its reasonable credit judgment, to assess additional reserves against the borrowing base calculation. Accordingly, 2 borrowings under the agreement are classified as current. Borrowings under The New Credit are also subject to certain key financial covenants: • Maintain a minimum interest coverage ratio (EBITDA (as defined) divided by interest expense) of at least 1.25. At March 31, 2005, the actual ratio was 1.70. • Maintain a maximum leverage ratio (debt senior to the senior notes divided by EBITDA (as defined)) of less than 2.30. At March 31, 2005, the actual ratio was 1.01. • The Company is limited to $1.75 million of capital expenditures annually for parts and property. This includes any fixed assets (other than equipment), parts, tools, supplies or improvements that have a useful life greater than one year. At March 31, 2005, the Company had spent $244,000 for parts and property. • The Company is required to maintain a dollar utilization rate above 48% over the prior 4 quarters. Dollar utilization is total revenue for equipment divided by total standard available revenue during the period. At March 31, 2005, the Company’s dollar utilization was 64.2%. At March 31, 2005, the Company was in compliance with all covenants. There are no anticipated trends that we are aware of that would indicate non-compliance with such covenants, however, significant deterioration in our financial performance could impact our ability to comply with such covenants. In our Annual Report of Form 10-K for the period ended June 30, 2005, and in future filings we will include disclosure in substantially the form below: Senior Notes On August 4, 1998 the Company issued $100,000,000 of Senior Notes guaranteed by the wholly-owned subsidiaries of Penhall International Corp. Interest at 12% is payable semiannually in arrears beginning February 1, 1999; all unpaid principal and interest is due August 1, 2006. In addition, the Senior Notes are redeemable at the Company’s option, in whole at any time or in part from time to time, on or after August 1, 2003, at certain redemption rates ranging from 106% to 102%. The Company’s Indenture dated as of August 1, 1998 (the “Indenture”) with United States Trust Company, as Trustee (the “Trustee”), contains certain financial and non-financial limitations. Some of these limitations are based upon the Company’s EBITDA (as defined), including the calculation of the Consolidated Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio (as defined). 3 From August 1, 2002 through October 25, 2002, the Company repurchased capital stock of the Company from four former employees for aggregate consideration of $35,000. The Indenture permits repurchases of capital stock from former employees in annual amounts up to $1,000,000 and up to $5,000,000 in aggregate over the life of the Indenture; provided that, at the time of any such repurchase, the Company must be able to incur additional indebtedness under the Indenture’s Consolidated Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio. At the time of the repurchases described above, the Company was not able to incur additional indebtedness under the Indenture’s Consolidated Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio, and accordingly such repurchases were not permitted by the Indenture. The Company has informed the Trustee of such repurchases. In the event that the Company receives, in accordance with the Indenture, written notice of such default from either the Trustee or Holders of at least 25% of the outstanding principal amount of the Notes, the Company has thirty days to remedy the matter and will seek either to cure such default or to obtain a waiver of such default in accordance with the Indenture. Neither the Trustee nor any of the Note Holders have indicated their intent to notify the Company of default and the Company does not believe that written notice of such default will be forthcoming. The Company anticipates extending or refinancing this obligation. No assurance can be given that such financing will be available to the Company or, if available, that it may be obtained on terms and conditions that are satisfactory to the Company. Management’s Discussion and Analysis Goodwill, page 15 3. Expand your discussion of your reporting units and give more specific information with respect to the reporting unit relating to the remaining goodwill such as profitability trends and whether impairment is likely in the near term. Response to Comment 3. In our Annual Report of Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2005, and in future filings we will modify our critical accounting policy in substantially the form below: Goodwill We use estimates in order to determine if goodwill has been impaired. An impairment loss may be recognized if the carrying amount of a reporting unit’s net book value exceeds the estimated fair value of the reporting unit. As of June 30, 2005, goodwill is assigned to five reporting units derived from individual acquisitions. We arrive at the estimated fair value of a reporting unit using a discounted cash flow approach. We will perform our valuation analysis at least annually or sooner if an event occurs or 4 circumstances change that would indicate the carrying amount of goodwill may be impaired. If our estimates or assumptions change from those used in our current valuation, we may be required to recognize an impairment loss in future periods. The Company evaluates goodwill for impairment at June 30 of each year. Factors we consider important which could trigger an impairment review include: • Significant underperformance relative to expected historical or projected future operating results; • Significant changes in the manner of our use of the acquired assets or the strategy for our overall business; • Significant negative industry or economic trends; • Unanticipated competition; and • EBITDA relative to net book value We allocated goodwill to the reporting units that benefited from the related acquisitions. As of June 30, 2005, $6.0 million of the remaining goodwill of $6.4 million resides in one reporting unit in which profit levels have been sustained over time since the acquisition. We expect such profit levels to continue prospectively, however, if profit levels were to deteriorate the reporting units’ goodwill could become impaired. Contractual Obligations, page 17 4. Please consider revising your table of contractual cash obligations to include the following: • Estimated interest payments on your debt; and • Planned funding of pension and other postretirement benefit obligations. 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. If you choose not to include these payments, a footnote to the table should clearly identify the excluded items and provide any additional information that is material to an understanding of your cash requirements. See Regulation S-K, Item 303(a)(5) for guidance. Response to Comment 4. The Company does not have pension or post retirement obligations and accordingly, has no planned funding of pension or other postretirement benefit obligations. Below, we have modified the contractual obligations table as presented in our Annual Report, Form 10-K/A for the year ended June 30, 2004 to include interest expense. 5 In future filings we will include disclosure in substantially the form below: Contractual Obligations The following is a summary of the Company’s contractual obligations as of June 30, 2004: Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Thereafter Total Operating lease obligations $ 2,752,000 $ 2,559,000 $ 2,215,000 $ 1,985,000 $ 1,883,000 $ 21,321,000 $ 32,715,000 Long-term debt, including interest 887,000 113,000 1,000,000 Senior notes, including interest 12,000,000 12,000,000 101,000,000 — — — 125,000,000 Senior exchangeable preferred stock — — 24,420,000 — — — 24,420,000 Series A Preferred stock — — — 33,587,000 — — 33,587,000 Liquidity and Capital Resources, page 17 - 19 5. Liquidity generally should be discussed on both a long-term and short-term basis. Accordingly, the discussion of the sufficiency of your resources to satisfy ongoing cash requirements for the next twelve months should be expanded to discuss liquidity on a long-term basis. See Regulation S-K, Item 303(a)(1). Response to Comment 5. In our Quarterly Report of Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2005 we included, and in future filings we will include disclosure in substantially the form below: Regarding short term liquidity: We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents, cash generated from operations, and the amount available under our existing credit facility will be sufficient to meet our expected working capital needs, capital expenditures, financial commitments and other liquidity requirements associated with our existing operations through the next 12 months. Regarding long-term liquidity: As of March 31, 2005, the Company has the following obligations subject to redemption or maturity in fiscal 2007 and 2008: Due date Balance at March 31, 2005 Senior Notes 08/01/06 $ 100,000,000 Senior Exchangeable Preferred Stock 02/01/07 $ 20,126,000 Preferred Series A 08/01/07 $ 24,787,000 6 The accretion of preferred stock will increase the total obligation through the dates of redemption. The Company is exploring various strategies to extend the maturity of its existing senior notes. Such strategies could take the form of a bank financing or capital markets transaction. No assurance can be given that such financing will be available to the Company or, if available that it may be obtained on terms and conditions that are satisfactory to the Company. As long as the uncertainty associated with the resolution of these obligations remains, the Company could be subject to adverse consequences including: • Making it more difficult to obtain surety support; • Increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions; • Limiting our ability to extend or replace the Company’s existing credit facility; • Limiting our ability to extend or replace the Company’s existing Senior Notes: • Limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate. 6. We note you received $11.3 million from the sale and leaseback of 11 sites in 2003. If you own other properties that you could sell and lease back, please disclose these as possible sources of liquidity. If not, include disclosure regarding the lack of additional properties that could be used to generate additional liquidity through sale/leaseback transactions. See Regulation S-K, Item 30