SEC Company Response from MEDIS TECHNOLOGIES LTD (CIK 0001090507) — Jul 12, 2005
MEDIS TECHNOLOGIES LTD (CIK 0001090507)
Date: July 12, 2005 · CIK: 0001090507 · Accession: 0001072613-05-001708
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: May 24, 2005
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WWW.EXFILE.COM, INC. -- 13677 -- MEDIS TECHNOLOGIES LTD. -- CORRESPONDENCE
[LETTERHEAD
OF SONNENSCHEIN NATH & ROSENTHAL LLP]
Stephen
E. Fox
212.768.6985
sfox@sonnenschein.com
July 12,
2005
BY
EDGAR
Securities
and Exchange Commission
100
F
Street, N.E.
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Re:
Medis Technologies
Ltd.
Form 10-K for the fiscal
year ended
December 31, 2004
Filed March 16,
2005
File No. 0-30391
Ladies
and Gentlemen:
At
the
request of Medis Technologies Ltd. (the “Registrant”), we hereby respond to the
several comments contained in the Staff’s letter dated May 24, 2005, each of
which has been reproduced in its entirety herein and is in boldface type.
Our
response is immediately below each Staff comment. In particular, we advise
as
follows:
Report
of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, page
F-2
We
note that you changed auditors for your 2003 fiscal year from Ernst & Young,
U.S., to Kost Forer Gabay & Kasierer, a member of Ernst & Young Global.
It appears that you did not file a Form 8-K to report this change in auditors.
Please tell us why.
The
Staff’s comment is noted. The Registrant filed with the Commission on July 11,
2005 a Form 8-K reflecting the change in the office in which Ernst & Young
signed and issued its audit opinion from Ernst & Young, LLP to Kost Forer
Gabay & Kasierer.
Consolidated
Balance Sheets, page F-4
Please
tell us and revise future filings to disclose the nature of and accounting
for
your leasehold incentive obligations. Discuss why you reflect $935,000 of
this
obligation as an adjustment to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating
activities on page F-7.
We
advise
the Staff as follows:
Pursuant
to the lease agreement governing the Lod facility, the Registrant committed
to
bear the costs of leasehold improvements specified in the agreement, which
as of
December 31, 2004 totaled approximately $1.565 million.
The
Registrant was responsible for the specifications of the leasehold improvements,
choosing the vendors and approving the bids and purchase orders. The lessor
agreed to reimburse the Registrant for a portion of the improvement costs,
totaling $935,000 as of December 31, 2004.
Securities
and Exchange Commission
July 12, 2005
Page 2
The
Registrant recorded these improvements as property and equipment in its
consolidated balance sheet for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004, in
accordance with FAS 13, “Accounting for Leases”, and amortizes the assets over
the shorter of the estimated useful life of the assets or the lease period.
On
February 7, 2005, the Commission posted to its web site a letter from the
Chief
Accountant of the Commission (the “Chief Accountant’s Letter”) to the AICPA
Center for Public Company Audit Firms, discussing three lease accounting
issues.
One of the issues discussed was Landlord incentives.
Pursuant
to the Chief Accountant’s Letter, the Staff took the position that: (a)
leasehold improvements made by a lessee that are funded by landlord incentives
or allowances under an operating lease should be recorded by the lessee as
leasehold improvement assets and amortized by the lessee over the shorter
of
their economic lives or the lease term, as defined in paragraph 5(f) of FASB
Statement 13 ("SFAS 13"), "Accounting for Leases", as amended; (b) the
incentives should be recorded as deferred rent and amortized as reductions
to
lease expense over the lease term in accordance with paragraph 15 of SFAS
13 and
the response to Question 2 of FASB Technical Bulletin 88-1 ("FTB 88-1"),
Issues
Relating to Accounting for Leases, and therefore, it is inappropriate to
net the
deferred rent against the leasehold improvements; and (c) a registrant's
statement of cash flows should reflect cash received from the lessor that
is
accounted for as a lease incentive within operating activities and the
acquisition of leasehold improvements for cash within investing activities.
In
accordance with the guidelines set forth in the Chief Accountant’s Letter, SFAS
13 and FTB 81-1, the Registrant recorded the landlord incentive in the amount
of
$935,000 as a debit to “Leasehold Improvements in Property and Equipment” and
credited the liability to “Leasehold Incentive Obligations.” In accordance with
item (c) above, the $935,000 leasehold incentive obligations were reflected
as
an adjustment to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating
activities.
The
Leasehold Improvements in Property and Equipment are amortized over the shorter
of their economic lives or the lease term. The Leasehold Incentive Obligations
are amortized over the term of the lease as a reduction of rent
expenses.
The
Registrant has informed us that it will revise future filings to disclose
the
nature of and the accounting for the Leasehold Incentive Obligations.
Note
G. Stockholder’s Equity, page F-21
Please
supplementally show us your calculation of the retroactive adjustment to
EPS as
a result of the March 11, 2003 rights issue. See paragraph 56 of SFAS 128.
Additionally, please tell us and disclose in future filings why you gave
retroactive adjustment to the rights offering. That is, if true, disclose
that
the rights issue contained a bonus element, similar to a stock dividend,
as a
result of the exercise price at issuance being less than the fair value of
your
common stock. See paragraph 55 of SFAS 128.
We
provide to the Staff the following calculation of the retroactive adjustment
to
EPS as a result of the Registrant’s March 11, 2003 rights offering:
Securities
and Exchange Commission
July 12, 2005
Page 3
Theoretical
ex-rights fair value per share
Number
of shares outstanding immediately prior to rights offering
21,107,121
Share
price at closing of rights offering (March 11, 2003)
3.98
Aggregate
fair value of shares immediately prior to exercise of
rights
84,006,342
Number
of shares issuable pursuant to rights offering
2,325,600
Exercise
price of rights per share
2.15
5,000,040
Aggregate
value of shares after rights offering
89,006,382
Total
shares outstanding after rights offering
23,432,721
Theoretical
ex-rights fair value per share
3.80
Adjustment
Factor
Share
price at closing of rights offering (March 11, 2003)
3.98
Theoretical
ex-rights fair value per share
3.80
Adjustment
Factor
1.0474
Retroactive
Adjustment of EPS
Weighted
average shares December 31, 2002 - before retroactive
adjustment
20,894,915
Adjustment
Factor
1.0474
Adjusted
weighted average shares December 31, 2002
21,885,334
Minor
difference in calculation that does not result in any change in
the net
loss per share
12,537
Weighted
average shares at December 31, 2002. as reported in December 31,
2004
financial statements
21,897,871
Net
loss attributable to common shareholders - December 31,
2002
12,546,000
Adjusted
net loss per share
0.57
Additionally,
we advise the Staff, in accordance with SFAS No. 128 “Earnings Per Share,” that
basic and diluted net loss per share for the year ended December 31, 2002
has
been retroactively adjusted because the Registrant’s March 11, 2003 rights
offering contained a bonus element that is tantamount to a stock dividend
due to
the subscription price at issuance being less than the fair market value
of the
Registrant’s common stock on such date.
The
Registrant has informed us that it will revise future filings to include
a
description of why it gave retroactive adjustment to the rights
offering.
Securities
and Exchange Commission
July 12, 2005
Page 4
We
request, if practicable, that further Staff comments be addressed telephonically
to the undersigned at (212) 768-6985 or, in his absence, to Ira I. Roxland
of
this firm at (212) 768-6999.
Very
truly yours,
/s/ Stephen
E. Fox
Stephen
E. Fox
cc: Kate
Tillan (Via Overnight Courier)