SEC Company Response from ENODIS PLC (CIK 0001116547) — Apr 14, 2005
ENODIS PLC (CIK 0001116547)
Date: April 14, 2005 · CIK: 0001116547 · Accession: 0001144204-05-011335
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: March 16, 2005
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SHACK
SIEGEL
KATZ
& FLAHERTY P.C.
COUNSELORS-AT-LAW
530
FIFTH
AVENUE
NEW
YORK,
NEW
YORK 10036
TELEPHONE:
(212) 782-0700
FACSIMILE:
(212) 730-1964
PAMELA
E.
FLAHERTY
DIRECT
DIAL: (212) 782-0708
pflaherty@sskfny.com
DIRECT
FAX: (646) 366-3724
April 14,
2005
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division
of Corporation Finance
450 Fifth
Street, N.W.
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Attention:
Mr. Rufus Decker
Accounting Branch
Chief
Re:
Enodis plc - Form 20-F for the fiscal year
ended October 2, 2004
File No.
1-15032
Ladies
and Gentlemen:
This
letter is in response to your comment letter dated March 16, 2005 (the “Staff’s
Letter”) regarding the Staff’s review of the above referenced Form 20-F (the
“20-F”) of Enodis plc (the “Company”). For ease of reference, we have included
your headings and comments along with our responses.
Comment
applicable to your overall filing
Comment
1.
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. Some of our comments refer to U.S. GAAP literature. If your
accounting under U.K. GAAP differs from your accounting under U.S. GAAP,
please also show us the additional disclosure that will be included in
your U.S. GAAP reconciliation footnote. These revisions should be included
in your future filings beginning to the extent practical with your report
of Form 6-K accounting results for the 26 weeks ending about April 2,
2005.
Response:
The
Company’s responses and suggested additional disclosures for future
filings are set out below.
SHACK SIEGEL KATZ & FLAHERTY P.C.
United States Securities and
2
April 14, 2005
Exchange Commission
Item 3. Key
Information
Selected
Financial Data, Page 2
Comment
2.
Since
each American Depository Share (ADS) represents four ordinary shares, also
present per share information on an ADS equivalent. This information might
also be included in Note 28, Supplementary Information for U.S.
Investors.
Response:
At
the end of fiscal 2004 the Company had over 401 million ordinary shares
outstanding. The Company estimates that approximately 30% of its ordinary
shares are beneficially owned by persons resident in the U.S. compared to
approximately 0.25% (1 million ordinary shares) represented by ADS’s. The
vast majority of U.S. resident beneficial owners own ordinary shares and
not ADS’s. Therefore, the Company believes that the EPS figures provided
are the most relevant to the U.S. investors, and providing equivalent ADS
information in the Selected Financial Data and in Note 28 might be
confusing. If the Staff disagrees with the Company’s view, however, the
Company suggests that the changes only be made to the Selected Financial
Data and not to Note 28 due to the relative significance of the ADS’s to
our U.S. investors. Enclosed as Attachment 1 is a revised Selected
Financial Data table showing ADS equivalent information. Attachment 2
shows a revised Note 28 that also includes ADS equivalent information.
Item 4.
Information
on the Company
Comment
3.
You
have disclosed under your product group discussion many brand names
relating to the products you sell. Please expand your disclosure to
discuss the importance of brand names to your
business.
Response:
The
Company proposes to expand its future disclosure by adding the following
as a second paragraph under the heading “Food Service Equipment” on page
12 of the 20-F:
“We
believe our wide range of branded products is one of our competitive strengths.
We believe this makes us attractive to food service equipment dealers and
distributors, who can offer end-customers a broad range of food service
equipment simply by carrying our portfolio of branded products. Moreover, we
believe that brand recognition is a factor in the decision-making process of our
end-customers and that our portfolio of well known brands helps us to introduce
and increase sales of our other branded products to these customers.”
SHACK SIEGEL KATZ & FLAHERTY P.C.
United States Securities and
3
April 14, 2005
Exchange Commission
Food
Service Equipment
End
Customers, Page 13
Comment
4.
You
have disclosed that no single food service equipment customer accounted
for over 10% of your total turnover in Fiscal 2004. Please expand your
disclosure to include whether there is a concentration of turnover in a
small group of customers.
Response:
The
Company advises that it does not have a concentration of turnover to a
small group of food service equipment customers or end users. The
Company suggests that in future
filings, it clarify its disclosures by making the following
changes:
(a)
The
first sentence of the paragraph under the heading “End Customers” on page
13 will be revised to read:
“The end
customer base for our food service equipment business is broad and diverse and
comprises global quick service restaurant chains and full service restaurants,
as well as contract caterers, hotel chains, multinational supermarkets, leisure
companies, beverage manufacturers, institutional customers such as hospitals,
schools and large industrial companies”.
(b)
The
last sentence of the paragraph under the heading “End Customers” on page
13 will be revised to read:
“We have
no concentrations of turnover to a small group of end customers, and no single
food service equipment customer accounted for over 10% of our total turnover in
Fiscal 2004.”
Environmental
Matters, Page 22
Comment
5.
You
have disclosed that some of your subsidiaries have been named as potential
responsible parties with respect to certain sites. Please expand your
disclosure to identify the sites and to include a discussion of each site
so as to permit an assessment of your potential exposure. If material,
please expand your disclosure to include the total amount of expenses
related to environmental matters recorded in each of the periods
presented. In addition, if applicable, please include the balance of any
accrued amounts at each of the balance sheet dates. Please indicate in
your response the line items in your financial statements for which these
amounts were recorded.
SHACK
SIEGEL
KATZ
& FLAHERTY P.C.
United States Securities and
4
April 14, 2005
Exchange Commission
Response:
The
Company advises that it has been named as a potentially responsible party
with regard to only two sites namely:
(i)
the
Seaboard Chemical site in Highpoint/Jamestown, North Carolina (Scotsman
has been named as a potentially responsible party in connection with this
site as a result of having disposed of five drums of waste at the site).
At the end of fiscal 2004 the Company had not recognized a liability in
respect of this claim.
(ii)
the
Arivec Chemicals site in Douglasville, Georgia (Kysor//Warren has been
named as a potentially responsible party in connection with this site.) In
respect of this claim, the Company had recognized a liability of £0.2
million at the end fiscal 2004, which was previously charged to operating
profit/(loss).
In
neither case does the Company believe that it has a material exposure.
Additionally, the Company advises that total expenses related to environmental
matters in each of the periods presented (and accrued at each of the periods
ended) are not material. Considering this, the Company proposes to revise the
subject paragraph in future filings to read as follows:
“From
time to time, our subsidiaries may be named as a potentially responsible party
under the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act of 1980 (also known as CERCLA or the Superfund law) and similar U.S. state
statutes in connection with the clean up of hazardous waste sites. Under these
laws, liability for the entire cost of the cleanup of contaminated sites can be
imposed upon any current or former site owners or operators, or upon any party
who sent waste to the site, regardless of the lawfulness of the original
activities that led to the contamination. Scotsman has been named as a
“potentially responsible party” in connection with the Seaboard Chemical site in
Highpoint/Jamestown, North Carolina as a result of having disposed of five drums
of waste at the site. We do not believe that we have a material exposure in
connection with this site. In addition, Kysor//Warren has been named as a
“potentially responsible party” in connection with the Arivec Chemicals site in
Douglasville, Georgia. Based upon calculations by the potentially responsible
parties of relative shares of waste disposed at Arivec, we do not believe that
we have a material exposure at that site.”
SHACK SIEGEL KATZ & FLAHERTY P.C.
United States Securities and
5
April 14, 2005
Exchange Commission
Item 5.
Operating
and Financial Review and Prospects
Liquidity
and Capital Resources, Page 33
Comment
6.
You
have stated in your risk factors on page 8 that some jurisdictions may
restrict the repatriation of your non-U.K. earnings. Please expand your
disclosure to include any legal restrictions you currently have regarding
the ability or the ability your subsidiaries to pay dividends to
affiliated companies. The present disclosure is too generalized to be
useful. Any relevant disclosures contemplated by Rule [4-08(e)] of
Regulation S-X should be made.
Response:
The
Company advises that only the retained earnings at its Chinese operations
require approval from local regulatory agencies before dividends can be
paid. The Company does not have significant retained earnings (£1 million
at the end of fiscal 2004) in China, so the risk at the present time is
not material. In the preparation of future filings, if the position is
still not material, the Company proposes to remove restricted earnings
from its risk factor discussion.
With
reference to identifying the Company’s current restriction under “Liquidity and
Capital Resources”, the Company intends to add the following disclosure to the
second to last paragraph on page 34 in its future filings:
“We also
have restrictions in respect of repatriating retained earnings from our
operations in China, where approvals from local regulatory agencies are
required. The amount of retained earnings subject to such approvals at the end
of Fiscal 2004 was not material.”
The
Company advises that it will monitor the amount of restricted earnings in the
future and, if material, include the required disclosures under Rule 4-08(e) of
Regulation S-X.
Comment
7.
You
have disclosed on page 14, some of your most important new products.
Please expand your disclosure to include information relating to the
status of new products, your outlook on how these new products have
impacted or will likely impact your revenue, margins, liquidity, capital
commitments, and future growth.
SHACK
SIEGEL
KATZ
& FLAHERTY P.C.
United States Securities and
6
April 14, 2005
Exchange Commission
Response:
The
Company only identifies in its disclosures new products that are ready for
sale. In fact, with the exception of one product, the Company had sales of
all of these new products during fiscal 2004. We refer the Staff to the
entire discussion in the section under the heading “Product Development
and Customized Solutions” (pages 13 and 14) as well as the Risk Factors on
pages 6 and 7 of the 20-F entitled “Any loss of our large customers or any
reductions in purchasing patterns of our large customers could adversely
affect our operating results”; and “If we fail to successfully innovate
and develop new products then our turnover, profitability and cash flows
will be limited.” Additionally, the Company proposes to add the following
additional disclosure in its future filings on page
14:
“New
product development is part of the ordinary course of our business. Except when
a new product is chosen by a large quick service restaurant chain for a full
roll out, the effect of the release of new products does not individually have a
material effect on our turnover or results of operations. Rather, new products
help the Company to refresh its product lines and remain competitive.”
If and to
the extent that any particular new product were to be material then the Company
would make appropriate disclosures at that time.
Comment
8.
Please
expand your disclosure in future filings to discuss any recent price
increases or decreases and the related impact these price changes have had
or will likely have on your results of operations, revenue and
margins.
Response:
The
Company will make such disclosures in future
filings.
Contractual
Payment Obligations, Page 36
Comment
9.
Please
revise your table of contractual payment 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:
Due
to uncertainty regarding future draw downs and repayments under the
Company’s revolving credit facility and floating interest rates relating
to these borrowings, the Company does not believe it is able to predict
total future debt service costs for the purpose of the table on page 36.
However, the debt service costs on the Company’s £100 million 10⅜% senior
subordinated notes are known and therefore the Company proposes to add the
following additional line to the table in future filings:
SHACK
SIEGEL
KATZ
& FLAHERTY P.C.
United States Securities and
7
April 14, 2005
Exchange Commission
Payments
due by period
Contractual
Obligations
Total
Less
than
1
year
1-3
years
3-5
years
More
than 5 years
(in
millions)
Interest
on senior subordinated notes
£83.1
£10.4
£20.8
£20.8
£31.1
The
Company also proposes to replace the second paragraph below the table on page 37
with the following:
“The
above table includes the cost of servicing our senior subordinated notes, for
which we have an obligation to make debt service payments on April 15 and
October 15 each year of £5.2 million up to and including April 15, 2012. The
projections shown in the above table assume that our senior subordinated notes
will be redeemed on their maturity in 2012. In addition to this, we have
obligations under various other debt agreements to make interest payments which
are not included in the table. These interest amounts will be subject to our
level of borrowings and the interest rates in future periods, and therefore the
amounts of these payments are not determinable. On October 2, 2004, we also had