SEC Company Response from SR TELECOM INC (CIK 0001223165) — Aug 26, 2005
SR TELECOM INC (CIK 0001223165)
Date: Aug. 26, 2005 · CIK: 0001223165 · Accession: 0001279569-05-000730
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 000-50378
Referenced dates: July 14, 2005
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CORRESP
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filename1.htm
Correspondance
Confidential
Treatment Requested by SR Telecom Inc.
August
26, 2005
Mr.
Larry Spirgel, Assistant Director
Division
of Corporation Finance
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington,
D.C. 20549
USA
Subject: SR
Telecom Inc.
Form
20-F for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2004
Filed
May 2, 2005
Forms
6-K for Fiscal Quarter Ended March 31, 2005
File
No. 000-50378
Dear
Sirs/Mesdames,
This
letter sets forth the response of SR Telecom Inc. (“SRT” or the “Corporation”)
to the comments set forth in the Staff’s letter dated July 14, 2005 in
connection with the Corporation’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended
December 31, 2004, File No. 000-50378, filed with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission on May 2, 2005 (the “Annual Report”). For your convenience,
we have set forth the comments in the Staff’s letter followed by the
Corporation’s response.
Form
20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004
Item
4. Information on the Company
History
and Development of the Company, page 12
1.
We
note your disclosure that “SR Telecom USA Inc” was primarily an R&D
center, developing and maintaining both the angel
and
airstar
product lines”. Tell us if Netro conducted research and development
activities prior to your acquisition and how such-in process
research and
development costs were accounted for in your purchase accounting.
Further,
your discussion should demonstrate the differences in accounting
treatment
under US and Canadian GAAP, if any and site all relevant accounting
literature.
SR
Telecom USA, Inc., formerly Netro Corporation (“Netro”), was acquired by the
Corporation in September 2003. Netro was an operating company prior to
our
acquisition that had only two product lines, namely Airstar and Angel.
The
Airstar product line was developed by Netro whereas the Angel product line
was
acquired as part of Netro’s acquisition of assets from a unit of AT&T
Wireless in February 2002. Netro also conducted research and development
(“R&D”) prior to the date of acquisition by SRT. The nature of this R&D
activity was to develop the underlying technology for the Airstar and Angel
product lines, and there were no other identifiable R&D projects or
activities. In September 2003, the date of acquisition by SRT, the underlying
core technologies for each of the product lines was complete. After the
acquisition by the Corporation, the activities of SR Telecom USA, Inc were
limited to performing R&D functions to continue to develop the existing
Airstar and Angel products, such as reducing the cost of the Angel product
and
beginning the migration of the Angel product to a pre-WiMAX offering (Symmetry).
Netro’s former business was in essence “shut-down” after the acquisition and all
that remained of its operations was the R&D functions as mentioned above.
All R&D costs incurred by SRT are expensed as incurred. In
accounting for the acquisition, the Corporation applied SFAS
No. 141 (“SFAS 141”) and CICA Handbook Section 1581 (“s. 1581”), “Business
Combinations”
and EIC-55, “Identifiable
Assets Acquired in a Business Combination”.
The Corporation allocated the purchase consideration to the net assets
acquired.
The purchase price was below the fair value of the net assets acquired
based on
an appraisal report we commissioned for these purposes. The Corporation
determined that the only separable intangible assets identified were Netro’s
intellectual property, which resulted from the nature of the existing technology
comprised of trade secrets and know how.
SR
Telecom Inc. 8150 Trans Canada Hwy. Montreal QC H4S 1M5 CANADA
• T (514)
335.1210 •F
(514) 334.7783 • www.srtelecom.com
1
Confidential
Treatment Requested by SR Telecom Inc.
At
the date of acquisition, in the process of valuing the net assets acquired,
in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) was considered, in accordance
with FASB Interpretation No. 4 “Applicability
of FASB No. 2 to Business Consultation Accounted for by the Purchase Method”,
as
well as the AICPA Practice Aid “Assets
acquired in a Business Combination to be Used in Research and Development
Activities: A Focus on Software, Electronic Devices and Pharmaceutical
Industries”.
It was determined, with the assistance of our appraisers that no amounts
were to
be allocated to IPR&D. The conclusion was based on several factors,
including the following:
•
the
technology incorporated in the Airstar and Angel products were
complete,
that is, the technological feasibility of the core technology
had been
established;
•
the
products were being sold by Netro in the form they were currently
in;
•
tenders
for the products in their then current form were
made;
•
SRT
immediately was able to sell the products with the underlying
technology
after the acquisition; that is, no modifications to the core
technology
was made, and all of which was confirmed by Netro management
as of the
date of the acquisition.
The
negative goodwill in the amount of $7.4M, which resulted from the acquisition
was allocated on a pro-rata basis to property, plant and equipment and
to
intangible assets as described above. SFAS 141 and s.1581 are substantially
the
same and thus there were no differences between Canadian and US GAAP in
accounting for the acquisition.
Consolidated
balance sheets, page F-2
2.
Describe
in detail why you believe your reserve for obsolescence is appropriate
in
light of your declining sales, lower backlog, and delays in the
receipt of
orders, which continued through March 30,
2005.
The
process taken by SRT to assess inventory obsolescence included an extensive
review of sales forecasting, identifying which products are being sold,
to which
customers and the time-frame for delivery. The forecasting schedule was
then
assessed against inventory in stock as to which items in inventory would
be used
in production for fulfillment of orders. In addition, SRT assessed the
then
current active bids and potential bids in progress and compared those to
inventory on hand.
The
Corporation’s products are core telecommunications network equipment,
which are used by the Corporation’s customers as their primary
telecommunications access network, connecting the end user to
the public
switched telephone and data networks. In most instances, this
equipment is
used by the Corporation’s customers for ten to fifteen years and is
subject to many extensions, expansions and upgrades. Historically,
unlike
many consumer products, the Corporation’s product life cycle is quite
long. For example, SR500 product line has been sold in various
versions
since its introduction in 1987 and the SR500 product that is
currently
being delivered in Mexico has been sold since April
2000.
Many
factors contributed to declining sales, lower backlog and delays in the
receipts
of orders, which was considered only temporary by the Corporation. Sales
declined in Q4 2004 and continued to decline in Q1 and Q2 2005 due to SRT’s
inability to complete sales orders for delivery in the required time due
to
reduced supplier credit and refinancing issues that needed to be resolved.
The
Corporation in the first half of 2005 focused on the refinancing and
restructuring of its debentures and US loans as well as obtaining a credit
facility to fund working capital requirements. During
this period, management decided to temporarily lay-off employees and shut
down
production to a minimal level required to fulfill secured orders.
SR
Telecom Inc. 8150 Trans Canada Hwy. Montreal QC H4S 1M5 CANADA
• T (514)
335.1210 •F
(514) 334.7783 • www.srtelecom.com
2
Confidential
Treatment Requested by SR Telecom Inc.
Delays
longer than anticipated in finalizing the credit facility and restructuring
the
debentures and US loans also contributed to a lower backlog in Q1 2005.
The
refinancing was expected to close in April 2005 and provide funds for additional
inventory procurement to fulfill and complete such orders. The delay and
uncertainty surrounding the refinancing and restructuring resulted in delays
in
receiving orders, which contributed to a lower backlog. SRT’s backlog has
however increased to $31.2M at the end of Q2 2005 from $10.4M at the end
of Q1
2005. The increase is due to delayed sales orders that were expected in
Q4 2004
and Q1 2005 as well as new sales orders received during Q2 2005.
With
the credit facility in place in May 2005 and the debentures and US loans
restructured, management was able to negotiate payment terms with the majority
of its suppliers and as a result, supplier relations slowly improved, factory
employees were recalled and production returned to normalized levels to
deliver
on contracts awarded. As disclosed in SRT’s second quarter 2005 press release
and Management Discussion and Analysis, the Corporation expects that revenue
in
the third quarter will increase significantly in comparison to the first
and
second quarters of 2005.
Based
on the above reasons, SRT believes that the inventory obsolescence as a
percentage of inventory at approximately 16% over the last two years is
appropriate.
Tell
us the nature of the inventory purchased from Solectron, how it will be
utilized
in your business, and why you believe the inventory’s cost is less than or equal
to market.
The
Solectron inventory was acquired by SRT, as part of an arbitration settlement.
Please refer to our response to question 5 for further detail of the settlement
with Solectron. SRT agreed to acquire all right, title and interest to
all of
the inventory (raw materials and component inventory) claimed as excess
by
Solectron. The Corporation recorded the inventory at the lower of cost
and fair
market value which was assessed at US$4 million, based on the replacement
cost
of what these inventory parts were worth on the market. This compares to
the
book value of the inventory recorded by Solectron of US$7M. In our assessment
of
the inventory value, quotes from brokers were obtained on significant inventory
items (over 60% of the inventory value was tested). The current replacement
cost
for some of the units tested exceeded Solectron’s book value. For these units,
the Corporation applied a conservative approach and recorded those units
at
Solectron’s book value. This was properly accounted for in accordance with the
CICA Handbook section 3030, “Inventories”.
The
Solectron inventory, comprised of raw materials and component inventory,
is used
for our Airstar product line, for which at the time of settlement and at
December 31, 2004, there were sales orders in our backlog and in our sales
forecast to utilize the inventory. The orders in the backlog for this inventory
were applied in a simulated computer environment to generate a forecast
on the
movement and marketability of such inventory. Based on the testing performed
and
our sales forecast, it was identified that there is a future demand on
the
inventory received from Solectron.
7.
Long-Term accounts receivable, net, page F-16
3.
We
noted that you did not record a provision for your December 2001
claim
filed against MCI International. It is unclear to us why you
believe this
amount is recoverable at December 31, 2004 considering MCI’s bankruptcy
and subsequent objection to your claim. Tell us in detail why
you believe
the claim will be upheld by the court and further, why you believe
you
will receive full payment from MCI
International.
SR
Telecom Inc. 8150 Trans Canada Hwy. Montreal QC H4S 1M5 CANADA
• T (514)
335.1210 •F
(514) 334.7783 • www.srtelecom.com
3
Confidential
Treatment Requested by SR Telecom Inc.
In
1996, SR Telecom Inc. entered into a contract with Teleco de Haiti (“Teleco”)
for the provision of wireless telecommunications equipment, which was installed
in the country, accepted by the customers and is still operating and carrying
revenue producing traffic for the benefit of Teleco.
In
order to secure payment for the telecommunications system, SRT and Teleco
entered into an agreement with MCI dated September 30, 1996 (and amended
October
2, 1996), (the Tripartite Agreement), whereby access charge revenues that