PERMA FIX ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES INC - Quarter Report: 2009 March (Form 10-Q)
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON,
D.C. 20549
Form
10-Q
x
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QUARTERLY
REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF
1934
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For the quarterly period ended | March 31, 2009 |
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Or
¨
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TRANSITION
REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF
1934
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||||
For the transition period from |
to
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Commission
File No. 111596
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
(Exact
name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware
(State
or other jurisdiction
of
incorporation or organization)
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58-1954497
(IRS
Employer Identification Number)
|
|
8302
Dunwoody Place, Suite 250, Atlanta, GA
(Address
of principal executive offices)
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30350
(Zip
Code)
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(770)
587-9898
(Registrant's
telephone number)
N/A
(Former
name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last
report)
Indicate
by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be
filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the
preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required
to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for
the past 90 days.
Yes T No
£
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on
its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be
submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this
chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the
Registrant was required to submit and post such files).
Yes £ No
£
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an
accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting
company. See definition of "large accelerated filer,” “accelerated
filer" and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange
Act. (Check one):
Large
accelerated filer £ Accelerated
Filer T Non-accelerated
Filer £ Smaller
reporting company £
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule
12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes £ No
T
Indicate
the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer's classes of Common
Stock, as of the close of the latest practical date.
Class
Common
Stock, $.001 Par Value
|
Outstanding
at May 8, 2009
54,019,324
shares
of registrant’s
Common
Stock
|
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
INDEX
Page
No.
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FINANCIAL
INFORMATION
|
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||||
Item
1.
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Condensed
Financial Statements
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||||
Consolidated
Balance Sheets -
|
|||||
March
31, 2009 (unaudited) and December 31, 2008
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1
|
||||
Consolidated
Statements of Operations -
|
|||||
Three
Months Ended March 31, 2009 and 2008 (unaudited)
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3
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||||
Consolidated
Statements of Cash Flows -
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|||||
Three
Months Ended March 31, 2009 and 2008 (unaudited)
|
4
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||||
Consolidated
Statement of Stockholders' Equity -
|
|||||
Three
Months Ended March 31, 2009 (unaudited)
|
5
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||||
Notes
to Consolidated Financial Statements
|
6
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||||
Item
2.
|
Management's
Discussion and Analysis of
|
||||
Financial
Condition and Results of Operations
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26
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||||
Item
3.
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Quantitative
and Qualitative Disclosures
|
||||
About
Market Risk
|
48
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||||
Item
4.
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Controls
and Procedures
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49
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PART
II
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OTHER
INFORMATION
|
||||
Item
1.
|
Legal
Proceedings
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50
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|||
Item
1A.
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Risk
Factors
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50
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|||
Item
5.
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Other
Information
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50
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|||
Item
6.
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Exhibits
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52
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PART
I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION
ITEM
1. - FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
CONSOLIDATED
BALANCE SHEETS
March
31,
|
||||||||
2009
|
December
31,
|
|||||||
(Amount
in Thousands, Except for Share Amounts)
|
(Unaudited)
|
2008
|
||||||
ASSETS
|
||||||||
Current
assets:
|
||||||||
Cash
|
$ | 70 | $ | 129 | ||||
Restricted
cash
|
55 | 55 | ||||||
Accounts
receivable, net of allowance for doubtful
|
||||||||
accounts
of $387 and $333, respectively
|
13,158 | 13,416 | ||||||
Unbilled
receivables - current
|
11,840 | 13,104 | ||||||
Inventories
|
284 | 344 | ||||||
Prepaid
and other assets
|
2,708 | 2,565 | ||||||
Current
assets related to discontinued operations
|
60 | 110 | ||||||
Total
current assets
|
28,175 | 29,723 | ||||||
Property
and equipment:
|
||||||||
Buildings
and land
|
26,706 | 24,726 | ||||||
Equipment
|
31,498 | 31,315 | ||||||
Vehicles
|
628 | 637 | ||||||
Leasehold
improvements
|
11,455 | 11,455 | ||||||
Office
furniture and equipment
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1,913 | 1,904 | ||||||
Construction-in-progress
|
1,285 | 1,159 | ||||||
73,485 | 71,196 | |||||||
Less
accumulated depreciation and amortization
|
(24,940 | ) | (23,762 | ) | ||||
Net
property and equipment
|
48,545 | 47,434 | ||||||
Property
and equipment related to discontinued operations
|
651 | 651 | ||||||
Intangibles
and other long term assets:
|
||||||||
Permits
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17,250 | 17,125 | ||||||
Goodwill
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11,320 | 11,320 | ||||||
Unbilled
receivables – non-current
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3,043 | 3,858 | ||||||
Finite
Risk Sinking Fund
|
14,042 | 11,345 | ||||||
Other
assets
|
2,415 | 2,256 | ||||||
Total
assets
|
$ | 125,441 | $ | 123,712 |
The
accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
1
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
CONSOLIDATED
BALANCE SHEETS, CONTINUED
March
31,
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||||||||
2009
|
December
31,
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|||||||
(Amount
in Thousands, Except for Share Amounts)
|
(Unaudited)
|
2008
|
||||||
LIABILITIES
AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
|
||||||||
Current
liabilities:
|
||||||||
Accounts
payable
|
$ | 9,636 | $ | 11,076 | ||||
Current
environmental accrual
|
191 | 186 | ||||||
Accrued
expenses
|
8,617 | 8,896 | ||||||
Disposal/transportation
accrual
|
5,222 | 5,847 | ||||||
Unearned
revenue
|
3,579 | 4,371 | ||||||
Current
liabilities related to discontinued operations
|
1,211 | 1,211 | ||||||
Current
portion of long-term debt
|
2,020 | 2,022 | ||||||
Total
current liabilities
|
30,476 | 33,609 | ||||||
Environmental
accruals
|
543 | 620 | ||||||
Accrued
closure costs
|
12,126 | 10,141 | ||||||
Other
long-term liabilities
|
460 | 457 | ||||||
Long-term
liabilities related to discontinued operations
|
1,280 | 1,783 | ||||||
Long-term
debt, less current portion
|
16,887 | 14,181 | ||||||
Total
long-term liabilities
|
31,296 | 27,182 | ||||||
Total
liabilities
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61,772 | 60,791 | ||||||
Commitments
and Contingencies
|
||||||||
Preferred
Stock of subsidiary, $1.00 par value; 1,467,396 shares
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||||||||
authorized,
1,284,730 shares issued and outstanding, liquidation
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||||||||
value
$1.00 per share
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1,285 | 1,285 | ||||||
Stockholders'
equity:
|
||||||||
Preferred
Stock, $.001 par value; 2,000,000 shares authorized,
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||||||||
no
shares issued and outstanding
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—
|
—
|
||||||
Common
Stock, $.001 par value; 75,000,000 shares authorized,
|
||||||||
53,985,119
and 53,934,560 shares issued and outstanding, respectively
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54 | 54 | ||||||
Additional
paid-in capital
|
97,581 | 97,381 | ||||||
Accumulated
deficit
|
(35,251 | ) | (35,799 | ) | ||||
Total
stockholders' equity
|
62,384 | 61,636 | ||||||
Total
liabilities and stockholders' equity
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$ | 125,441 | $ | 123,712 |
The
accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
2
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
CONSOLIDATED
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(Unaudited)
Three
Months Ended
March
31,
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||||||||
(Amounts
in Thousands, Except for Per Share Amounts)
|
2009
|
2008
|
||||||
Net
revenues
|
$ | 22,002 | $ | 17,470 | ||||
Cost
of goods sold
|
16,914 | 13,024 | ||||||
Gross
profit
|
5,088 | 4,446 | ||||||
Selling,
general and administrative expenses
|
4,339 | 4,460 | ||||||
Gain
on disposal of property and equipment
|
12 | ― | ||||||
Income
(loss) from operations
|
761 | (14 | ) | |||||
Other
income (expense):
|
||||||||
Interest
income
|
51 | 68 | ||||||
Interest
expense
|
(547 | ) | (371 | ) | ||||
Interest
expense-financing fees
|
(13 | ) | (52 | ) | ||||
Other
|
1 | 6 | ||||||
Income
(loss) from continuing operations before taxes
|
253 | (363 | ) | |||||
Income
tax expense
|
9 | ― | ||||||
Income
(loss) from continuing operations, net of taxes
|
244 | (363 | ) | |||||
Income
(loss) from discontinued operations, net of taxes
|
304 | (675 | ) | |||||
Gain
on disposal of discontinued operations, net of taxes
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― | 2,107 | ||||||
Net
income
|
$ | 548 | $ | 1,069 | ||||
Net
income (loss) per common share – basic
|
||||||||
Continuing
operations
|
$ | ― | $ | (.01 | ) | |||
Discontinued
operations
|
.01 | (.01 | ) | |||||
Disposal
of discontinued operations
|
― | .04 | ||||||
Net
income per common share
|
$ | .01 | $ | .02 | ||||
Net
income (loss) per common share – diluted
|
||||||||
Continuing
operations
|
$ | ― | $ | (.01 | ) | |||
Discontinued
operations
|
.01 | (.01 | ) | |||||
Disposal
of discontinued operations
|
― | .04 | ||||||
Net
income per common share
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$ | .01 | $ | .02 | ||||
Number
of common shares used in computing net income (loss) per
share:
|
||||||||
Basic
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53,982 | 53,704 | ||||||
Diluted
|
54,005 | 53,704 |
The
accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements
3
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
CONSOLIDATED
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(Unaudited)
Three
Months Ended
|
||||||||
March
31,
|
||||||||
(Amounts
in Thousands)
|
2009
|
2008
|
||||||
Cash
flows from operating activities:
|
||||||||
Net
income
|
$ | 548 | $ | 1,069 | ||||
Less:
Income on discontinued operations
|
304 | 1,432 | ||||||
Income
(loss) from continuing operations
|
244 | (363 | ) | |||||
Adjustments
to reconcile net income (loss) to cash provided by
operations:
|
||||||||
Depreciation
and amortization
|
1,180 | 1,121 | ||||||
Provision
(benefit) for bad debt and other reserves
|
59 | (20 | ) | |||||
Gain
on disposal of plant, property and equipment
|
(12 | ) | ― | |||||
Issuance
of common stock for services
|
64 | 14 | ||||||
Share
based compensation
|
136 | 126 | ||||||
Changes
in operating assets and liabilities of continuing operations, net
of
|
||||||||
effect
from business acquisitions:
|
||||||||
Accounts
receivable
|
200 | (51 | ) | |||||
Unbilled
receivables
|
2,079 | 1,892 | ||||||
Prepaid
expenses, inventories and other assets
|
(176 | ) | 333 | |||||
Accounts
payable, accrued expenses and unearned revenue
|
(3,400 | ) | 957 | |||||
Cash
provided by continuing operations
|
374 | 4,009 | ||||||
Cash
used in discontinued operations
|
(158 | ) | (2,625 | ) | ||||
Cash
provided by operating activities
|
216 | 1,384 | ||||||
Cash
flows from investing activities:
|
||||||||
Purchases
of property and equipment
|
(304 | ) | (565 | ) | ||||
Proceeds
from sale of plant, property and equipment
|
12 | ― | ||||||
Payment
to finite risk sinking fund
|
(2,697 | ) | (2,158 | ) | ||||
Cash
used for acquisition considerations, net of cash acquired
|
― | (12 | ) | |||||
Cash
used in investing activities of continuing operations
|
(2,989 | ) | (2,735 | ) | ||||
Proceeds
from sale of discontinued operations
|
― | 5,950 | ||||||
Cash
provided by (used in) discontinued operations
|
11 | (28 | ) | |||||
Net
cash (used in) provided by investing activities
|
(2,978 | ) | 3,187 | |||||
Cash
flows from financing activities:
|
||||||||
Net
borrowing (repayments) of revolving credit
|
3,001 | (124 | ) | |||||
Principal
repayments of long term debt
|
(298 | ) | (4,473 | ) | ||||
Repayment
of stock subscription receivable
|
― | 15 | ||||||
Cash
provided by (used in) financing activities of continuing
operations
|
2,703 | (4,582 | ) | |||||
Principal
repayment of long-term debt for discontinued operations
|
― | (30 | ) | |||||
Cash
provided by (used in) financing activities
|
2,703 | (4,612 | ) | |||||
Decrease
in cash
|
(59 | ) | (41 | ) | ||||
Cash
at beginning of period
|
129 | 118 | ||||||
Cash
at end of period
|
$ | 70 | $ | 77 | ||||
Supplemental
disclosure:
|
||||||||
Interest
paid, net of amounts capitalized
|
$ | 475 | $ | 297 | ||||
Income
taxes paid
|
3 | ― | ||||||
Non-cash
investing and financing activities:
|
||||||||
Long-term
debt incurred for purchase of property and equipment
|
― | ― | ||||||
Sinking
fund financed
|
― | ― |
The
accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
4
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
CONSOLIDATED
STATEMENT OF STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
(Unaudited,
for the three months ended March 31, 2009)
(Amounts
in thousands,
|
Common
Stock
|
Additional
Paid-In
|
|
Accumulated
|
Total
Stockholders'
|
|||||||||||||||
except
for share amounts)
|
Shares
|
Amount
|
Capital
|
Deficit
|
Equity
|
|||||||||||||||
Balance
at December 31, 2008
|
53,934,560 | $ | 54 | $ | 97,381 | $ | (35,799 | ) | $ | 61,636 | ||||||||||
Net
income
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
548 | 548 | |||||||||||||||
Issuance
of Common Stock for services
|
50,559 |
—
|
64 |
—
|
64 | |||||||||||||||
Share
Based Compensation
|
—
|
—
|
136 |
—
|
136 | |||||||||||||||
Balance
at March 31, 2009
|
53,985,119 | $ | 54 | $ | 97,581 | $ | (35,251 | ) | $ | 62,384 |
The
accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
5
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
NOTES
TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
March
31, 2009
(Unaudited)
Reference
is made herein to the notes to consolidated financial statements included in our
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008.
1.
|
Basis of
Presentation
|
The
consolidated financial statements included herein have been prepared by the
Company (which may be referred to as we, us or our), without an audit, pursuant
to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission
(“SEC”). Certain information and note disclosures normally included
in financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles in the United States of America have been condensed or
omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations, although the Company believes
the disclosures which are made are adequate to make the information presented
not misleading. Further, the consolidated financial statements
reflect, in the opinion of management, all adjustments (which include only
normal recurring adjustments) necessary to present fairly the financial position
and results of operations as of and for the periods indicated. The
results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2009, are not
necessarily indicative of results to be expected for the fiscal year ending
December 31, 2009.
It is
suggested that these consolidated financial statements be read in conjunction
with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the
Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,
2008.
As
previously disclosed, in May 2007, as result of the Company’s decision to divest
the facilities within our Industrial Segment, our Industrial Segment facilities
were reclassified in the second quarter of 2007 (with the exception of Perma-Fix
of Michigan, Inc. (“PFMI”) and Perma-Fix of Pittsburgh, Inc. (“PFP”), two
non-operational facilities which were already reclassified as discontinued
operations in 2004 and 2005, respectively) as discontinued operations, in
accordance with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 144, “Accounting
for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets” (“SFAS No.
144”). In 2008, we sold substantially all of the assets of Perma-Fix
of Maryland, Inc. (“PFMD”), Perma-Fix of Dayton, Inc. (“PFD”), and Perma-Fix
Treatment Services, Inc. (“PFTS”) within our Industrial Segment on January 8,
2008, March 14, 2008, and May 30, 2008, respectively. The respective
buyer of each facility’s assets also assumed certain liabilities/obligations of
the facility (see “ – Discontinued Operations and Divestitures” in this section
for accounting treatment of the divested facilities). In September
2008, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the retention of Perma-Fix of
Fort Lauderdale, Inc. (“PFFL”), Perma-Fix of Orlando, Inc. (“PFO”), and
Perma-Fix of South Georgia, Inc. (“PFSG”) within our Industrial
Segment. As the result of this decision and in accordance with SFAS
No. 144, the accompanying condensed financial statements have been restated for
all periods presented to reflect the reclassification of these three facilities
back into our continuing operations.
2.
|
Summary of Significant Accounting
Policies
|
Our accounting policies are as set forth in the notes to consolidated
financial statements referred to above.
6
Recently
Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
In
September 2006, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued SFAS
157, “Fair Value Measurements”, which codifies guidance on fair value
measurements under generally accepted accounting principles. This
standard defines fair value, establishes a framework for measuring fair value,
and prescribes expanded disclosures about fair value measurements. In
February 2008, the FASB issued FASB Staff Position No. 157-2, “Effective Date of
FASB Statement No. 157” (“FSP FAS 157-2”), which delays the effective date of
SFAS 157 for certain non-financial assets and non-financial
liabilities. SFAS 157 is effective for financial assets and
liabilities in fiscal years beginning after November 15, 2007 and for
non-financial assets and liabilities in fiscal years beginning after March 15,
2008. We have evaluated the impact of the provisions applicable to
our financial assets and liabilities and have determined that there is no
current impact on our financial condition, results of operations, and cash
flow. The aspects that have been deferred by FSP FAS 157-2 pertaining
to non-financial assets and non-financial liabilities was effective for us
beginning January 1, 2009. The adoption of the aspects of SFAS 157
that pertains to non-financial assets and liabilities did not have a significant
effect on our earnings or financial position.
In
December 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 141R, “Business Combinations”. SFAS No.
141R establishes principles and requirements for how the acquirer of a business
recognizes and measures in its financial statements the identifiable assets
acquired, the liabilities assumed, and any noncontrolling interest in the
acquiree. The statement also provides guidance for recognizing and measuring the
goodwill acquired in the business combination and determines what information to
disclose to enable users of the financial statements to evaluate the nature and
financial effects of the business combination. SFAS No. 141R is effective for
financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2008.
Accordingly, any business combinations the Company engages in will be recorded
and disclosed following existing GAAP until December 31, 2008. The Company
expects SFAS No. 141R will have an impact on its consolidated financial
statements when effective, but the nature and magnitude of the specific effects
will depend upon the nature, terms, and size of acquisitions it consummates
after the effective date.
In
December 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 160, “Noncontrolling Interests in
Consolidated Financial Statements, an amendment of ARB 51”. SFAS No.
160 changes the accounting and reporting for minority interest. Minority
interest will be recharacterized as noncontrolling interest and will be reported
as a component of equity separate from the parent’s equity, and purchases or
sales of equity interest that do not result in a change in control will be
accounted for as equity transactions. In addition, net income
attributable to the noncontrolling interest will be included in consolidated net
income on the face of the income statement and upon a loss of control, the
interest sold, as well as any interest retained, will be recorded at fair value
with any gain or loss recognized in earnings. SFAS No. 160 is effective for
financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2008,
and interim period within those fiscal years, except for the presentation and
disclosure requirements, which will apply retrospectively. This
standard did not have any impact the Company’s financial position and results of
operations.
In
December 2007, the SEC issued SAB No. 110, which expressed the views of the
staff regarding the use of a “simplified” method, as discussed in SAB No. 107,
in developing an estimate of expected term of “plain vanilla” share options in
accordance with SFAS No. 123R, “Share-Based Payment”. In particular,
the staff indicated in SAB No. 107 that it will accept a company’s election to
use the simplified method, regardless of whether the company has sufficient
information to make more refined estimates of expected term. At the
time SAB No. 107 was issued, the staff believed that more detailed external
information about employee exercise behavior would, over time, become readily
available to companies. Therefore, the SEC staff stated in SAB No.
107 that it would not expect a company to use the simplified method for share
option grants after December 31, 2007. The staff understands that
such detailed information about employee exercise behavior may not be widely
available by December 31, 2007. Accordingly, SAB No. 110 states that
the staff will continue to accept, under certain circumstances, the use of the
simplified method beyond December 31, 2007. The Company does not
expect SAB No. 110 to materially impact its operations or financial
position.
7
In April
2008, the FASB issued FSP No. 142-3, “Determination of the Useful Life of
Intangible Assets” (“FSP FAS 142-3”), which amends the factors to be considered
in developing renewal or extension assumptions used to determine the useful life
of a recognized intangible asset under FASB Statement No. 142, “Goodwill and
Other Intangible Assets” (“SFAS 142”). The intent of FSP FAS 142-3 is
to improve the consistency between the useful life of a recognized intangible
asset under SFAS 142 and the period of expected cash flows used to measure the
fair value of the asset under SFAS 141(R) and other U.S. generally accepted
accounting principles. FSP FAS 142-3 requires an entity to disclose
information for a recognized intangible asset that enables users of the
financial statements to assess the extent to which the expected future cash
flows associated with the asset are affected by the entity’s intent and/or
ability to renew or extend the arrangement. FSP FAS 142-3 is
effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after
December 15, 2008, and interim periods within those fiscal years. FSP
No. 142-3 did not materially impact the Company’s financial position or results
of operations.
In May
2008, the FASB issued SFAS No. 162, “The Hierarchy of Generally Accepted
Accounting Principles”. SFAS No. 162 identifies the sources of
accounting principles and the framework for selecting the principles used in the
preparation of financial statements. SFAS No. 162 is effective 60
days following the SEC’s approval of the Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board amendments to AU Section 411, “The Meaning of Present Fairly in Conformity
with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles”. The implementation of
this standard will not have a material impact on our consolidated financial
position and results of operations.
In June
2008, the FASB ratified EITF (Emerging Issues Task Force) Issue No. 08-3,
“Accounting for Lessees for Maintenance Deposits Under Lease Arrangement” (EITF
08-3), to provide guidance on the accounting of nonrefundable maintenance
deposits. It also provides revenue recognition accounting guidance
for the lessor. EITF 08-3 is effective for fiscal years beginning
after December 15, 2008. EITF 08-3 did not materially impact our
financial condition, result of operations, and cash flows.
In June
2008, the FASB ratified EITF Issue No. 07-5, “Determining Whether an Instrument
(or an Embedded Feature) Is Indexed to an Entity’s Own Stock” (EITF
07-5). EITF 07-5 provides that an entity should use a two step
approach to evaluate whether an equity-linked financial instrument (or embedded
feature) is indexed to its own stock, including the instrument’s contingent
exercise and settlement provisions. It also clarifies on the impact
of foreign currency denominated strike prices and market-based employee stock
option valuation instruments on the evaluation. EITF 07-5 is
effective for fiscal year beginning and after December 15, 2008. EITF
07-5 did not materially impact our financial condition, result of operations,
and cash flows.
In
September 2008, the FASB issued FSP FAS 133-1 and FIN 45-4, “Disclosures about
Credit Derivatives and Certain Guarantees: An Amendment of FASB Statements No.
133 and FASB Interpretation No. 45; and Clarification of the Effective Date of
FASB Statement No. 161” (“FSP FAS 133-1” and “FIN 45-4”). The FSP amends the
disclosure requirements of FAS 133, “Accounting for Derivative Instruments and
Hedging Activities”, requiring that the seller of a credit derivative, or writer
of the contract, to disclose various items for each balance sheet presented
including the nature of the credit derivative, the maximum amount of potential
future payments the seller could be required to make, the fair value of the
derivative at the balance sheet date, and the nature of any recorded provisions
available to the seller to recover from third parties any of the amounts paid
under the credit derivative. The FSP also amends FASB Interpretation No. 45
(“FIN 45”) “Guarantor’s Accounting and Disclosure Requirements for Guarantees,
Including Indirect Guarantees of Indebtedness of Others” to require disclosure
of the current status of the payment performance risk of the guarantee. The
additional disclosure requirements above will be effective for reporting periods
ending after November 15, 2008. The FSP also clarifies that the effective date
of FAS 161 will be for any period, annual or interim, beginning after November
15, 2008. This standard did not materially impact the Company’s
current disclosure process.
In November 2008, the Emerging Issues Task Force issued EITF Issue
No. 08-06, "Equity Method Investment Considerations", which clarifies the
accounting for certain transactions involving equity method investments. This
interpretation is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years
beginning on or after December 15, 2008 and interim periods within those
years. EITF Issue No. 08-06 did not materially impact the Company’s
financial position or results of operations.
8
In
December 2008, the FASB issued FASB Staff Position FSP 132(R)-1, "Employers
Disclosures about Postretirement Benefit Plan Assets", which provides additional
guidance on employers' disclosures about plan assets of a defined benefit
pension or other postretirement plan. This interpretation is effective for
financial statements issued for fiscal years ending after December 15,
2009. The Company does not expect FSP 132(R)-1 to materially impact
operations or financial positions.
Recently
Issued Accounting Standards
In
April 2009, the FASB issued three related FSPs intended to provide
additional application guidance and enhanced disclosures regarding fair value
measurement and other-than-temporary impairments of securities.
|
·
|
FSP
FAS 157-4, “Determining Fair Value When the Volume and Level of Activity
for the Asset or Liability have Significantly Decreased and Identifying
Transactions That Are Not Orderly” (“ FSP FAS 157-4”), provides guidance
for making fair value measurements more consistent with the principles
presented in FASB Statement No, 157, “Fair Value
Measurement”. FSP FAS 157-4 must be applied prospectively and
retrospective application is not permitted. FSP FAS 157-4 is
effective for interim and annual periods ending after June 15, 2009, with
early adoption permitted for periods ending after March 15,
2009. An entity adopting FSP FAS 157-4 early must also adopt
FSP FAS 115-2 and FAS 124-2 early.
|
|
·
|
FSP
FAS 115-2 and FAS 124-2, “Recognition and Presentation of
Other-Than-Temporary Impairments” (“FSP FAS 115-2 and FSP 124-2”),
provides additional guidance designed to create greater clarity and
consistency in accounting for and presenting impairment losses on debt
securities. FSP FAS 115-2 and FAS 124-2 is effective for
interim and annual period ending after June 15, 2009, with early adoption
permitted for periods ending after March 15, 2009. An entity
may adopt this FSP early only if it also elects to adopt FSP FAS 157-4
early.
|
|
·
|
FSP
FAS 107-1 and APB 28-1, “Interim Disclosures about Fair Value of Financial
Instruments” (“FSP FAS 107-1 and APB 28-1”), enhances consistency in
financial reporting by increasing the frequency of fair value
disclosures. FSP FAS 107-1 and APB 28-1 is effective for
interim periods ending after June 15, 2009 with early adoption permitted
for periods ending after March 15, 2009. However, an entity may
adopt these interim fair value disclosure requirements early only if it
also elects to adopt FSP FAS 157-4 and FSP FAS 115-2 and FAS 124-2
early.
|
We are
currently evaluating the impact of these standards on our consolidated financial
position and results of operations.
In
April 2009, the FASB issued FSP No. 141R-1 “Accounting for Assets
Acquired and Liabilities Assumed in a Business Combination That Arise from
Contingencies” (“FSP 141R-1”). FSP 141R-1 amends the provisions in
Statement 141R for the initial recognition and measurement, subsequent
measurement and accounting, and disclosures for assets and liabilities arising
from contingencies in business combinations. FSP 141R-1 eliminates
the distinction between contractual and non-contractual contingencies, including
the initial recognition and measurement criteria in Statement 141R and instead
carries forward most of the provisions in SFAS 141 for acquired
contingencies. FSP 141R-1 is effective for contingent assets and
contingent liabilities acquired in business combinations for which the
acquisition date is on or after the beginning of the first annual reporting
period beginning on or after December 15, 2008. The Company
expects FSP 141R-1 may have an impact on its consolidated financial statements
when effective, but the nature and magnitude of the specific effects will depend
upon the nature, term and size of the acquired contingencies.
Reclassifications
Certain
prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform with the current period
presentation.
9
3.
|
Stock Based
Compensation
|
We follow
the provisions of SFAS 123R, “Share-Based Payment “ (“SFAS 123R”), a
revision of SFAS No. 123, “Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation” (“SFAS
123”), superseding APB Opinion No. 25, “Accounting for Stock Issued to
Employees”, and its related implementation guidance. This Statement
establishes accounting standards for entity exchanges of equity instruments for
goods or services. It also addresses transactions in which an entity
incurs liabilities in exchange for goods or services that are based on the fair
value of the entity's equity instruments or that may be settled by the issuance
of those equity instruments. SFAS 123R requires all share-based
payments to employees, including grants of employee stock options, to be
recognized in the income statement based on their fair
values.
The
Company has certain stock option plans under which it awards incentive and
non-qualified stock options to employees, officer, and outside
directors. Stock options granted to employees have either a ten year
contractual term with one-fifth yearly vesting over a five year period or a six
year contractual term with one-third yearly vesting over a three year
period. Stock options granted to outside directors have a ten year
contractual term with vesting period of six months. On February 26,
2009, our Board of Directors authorized the grant of 75,000 Incentive Stock
Options (“ISO”) to our newly named Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) and 70,000
ISO to certain employees of the Company which allows for the purchase of Common
Stock from the Company’s 2004 Stock Option Plan. Both option grants
were for a contractual term of six years with vesting period over a three year
period at one-third increments per year. The exercise price of the
options granted was $1.42 per share which was based on our closing stock price
on the date of grant.
As of
March 31, 2009, we had 2,913,347 employee stock options outstanding, of which
1,777,847 are vested. The weighted average exercise price of the
1,777,847 outstanding and fully vested employee stock option is $1.85 with a
remaining weighted contractual life of 2.81 years. Additionally, we
had 645,000 outstanding and fully vested director stock options with a weighted
average exercise price and remaining contractual life of $2.19 and 5.94 years,
respectively.
The
Company estimates fair value of stock options using the Black-Scholes valuation
model. Assumptions used to estimate the fair value of stock options
granted include the exercise price of the award, the expected term, the expected
volatility of the Company’s stock over the option’s expected term, the risk-free
interest rate over the option’s expected term, and the expected annual dividend
yield. The fair value of the options granted to our CFO and certain
employees noted above and the related assumptions used in the Black-Scholes
option pricing model used to value the options granted as of March 31, 2009 were
as follows. The Company did not grant any options in the first
quarter of 2008:
Employee
Stock Options Granted
|
||||
March
31, 2009
|
||||
Weighted-average
fair value per share
|
$ | 1.42 | ||
Risk
-free interest rate (1)
|
2.07% - 2.40 | % | ||
Expected
volatility of stock (2)
|
59.16% - 60.38 | % | ||
Dividend
yield
|
None
|
|||
Expected
option life (3)
|
4.6
years - 5.8 years
|
(1) The
risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield in effect at the
grant date over the expected term of the option.
(2) The
expected volatility is based on historical volatility from our traded Common
Stock over the expected term of the option.
(3) The
expected option life is based on historical exercises and post-vesting
data.
10
The
following table summarizes stock-based compensation recognized for the three
months ended March 31, 2009 and 2008 for our employee and director stock
options.
Three
Months Ended
|
||||||||
Stock
Options
|
March
31,
|
|||||||
2009
|
2008
|
|||||||
Employee
Stock Options
|
$ | 106,000 | $ | 83,000 | ||||
Director
Stock Options
|
30,000 | 43,000 | ||||||
Total
|
$ | 136,000 | $ | 126,000 |
We
recognized share based compensation expense using a straight-line amortization
method over the requisite period, which is the vesting period of the stock
option grant. SFAS 123R requires that stock based compensation
expense be based on options that are ultimately expected to
vest. SFAS 123R requires forfeitures to be estimated at the time of
grant and revised, if necessary, in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures
differ from those estimates. When actual forfeitures vary from our
estimates, we recognize the difference in compensation expense in the period the
actual forfeitures occur or when options vest. For the February 26,
2009 option grant to our new CFO and certain employees, we estimated forfeiture
rate of 0.0% for both for the first year of vesting. Our estimated
forfeiture rate is based on historical trends of actual forfeitures for similar
positions. As of March 31, 2009, we have approximately $901,000 of
total unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested options, of which
$266,000 is expected to be recognized in remaining 2009, $355,000 in 2010,
$275,000 in 2011, and $5,000 in 2012.
4.
|
Capital Stock And Stock
Plans
|
During
the three months ended March 31, 2009, we had no option exercise. We
issued 50,559 shares of our Common Stock under our 2003 Outside Directors Stock
Plan to our outside directors as compensation for serving on our Board of
Directors. We pay each of our outside directors $2,167 monthly in
fees for serving as a member of our Board of Directors. The Audit
Committee Chairman receives an additional monthly fee of $1,833 due to the
position’s additional responsibility. In addition, each board member
is paid $1,000 for each board meeting attendance as well as $500 for each
telephonic conference call. As a member of the Board of Directors,
each director elects to receive either 65% or 100% of the director’s fee in
shares of our Common Stock based on 75% of the fair market value of our Common
Stock determined on the business day immediately preceding the date that the
quarterly fee is due. The balance of each director’s fee, if any, is
payable in cash.
On July
28, 2006, our Board of Directors authorized a common stock repurchase program to
purchase up to $2,000,000 of our Common Stock, through open market and privately
negotiated transactions, with the timing, the amount of repurchase transactions,
and the prices paid under the program as deemed appropriate by management and
dependent on market conditions and corporate and regulatory
considerations. As of the date of this report, we have not
repurchased any of our Common Stock under the program as we continue to evaluate
this repurchase program within our internal cash flow and/or borrowings under
our line of credit.
11
The
summary of the Company’s total Plans as of March 31, 2009 as compared to March
31, 2008, and changes during the period then ended are presented as
follows:
Shares
|
Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
|
Weighted
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Term
|
Aggregate
Intrinsic
Value
|
|||||||||||||
Options
outstanding Janury 1, 2009
|
3,417,347 | $ | 2.03 | |||||||||||||
Granted
|
145,000 | 1.42 | ||||||||||||||
Exercised
|
─
|
─
|
$
|
─
|
||||||||||||
Forfeited
|
(4,000 | ) | 1.97 | |||||||||||||
Options outstanding
End of Period (1)
|
3,558,347 | 2.01 | 4.2 | $ | 413,175 | |||||||||||
Options Exercisable
at March 31, 2009 (1)
|
2,422,847 | $ | 1.94 | 3.6 | $ | 336,325 | ||||||||||
Options
Vested and expected to be vested at March 31, 2009
|
3,516,989 | $ | 1.94 | 4.2 | $ | 413,175 |
Shares
|
Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
|
Weighted
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Term
|
Aggregate
Intrinsic
Value
|
|||||||||||||
Options
outstanding Janury 1, 2008
|
2,590,026 | $ | 1.91 | |||||||||||||
Granted
|
─
|
─
|
||||||||||||||
Exercised
|
─
|
─
|
$
|
─
|
||||||||||||
Forfeited
|
(47,334 | ) | 1.82 | |||||||||||||
Options outstanding
End of Period (1)
|
2,542,692 | 1.91 | 4.3 | $ | 96,673 | |||||||||||
Options Exercisable
at March 31, 2008 (1)
|
2,244,692 | $ | 1.92 | 4.4 | $ | 96,673 | ||||||||||
Options
Vested and expected to be vested at March 31, 2008
|
2,524,879 | $ | 1.91 | 4.3 | $ | 96,673 |
(1) Option
with exercise price ranging from $1.22 to $2.98
12
5.
|
Earnings (Loss) Per
Share
|
Basic
earning per share excludes any dilutive effects of stock options, warrants, and
convertible preferred stock. In periods where they are anti-dilutive,
such amounts are excluded from the calculations of dilutive earnings per
share.
The
following is a reconciliation of basic net income (loss) per share to diluted
net income (loss) per share for the three months ended March 31, 2009 and
2008:
Three
Months Ended
March
31,
|
||||||||
(Amounts
in Thousands, Except for Per Share Amounts)
|
2009
|
2008
|
||||||
Income (loss) per share from continuing
operations
|
||||||||
Income
(loss) from continuing operations
|
$ | 244 | $ | (363 | ) | |||
Basic
loss per share
|
$ |
—
|
$ | (.01 | ) | |||
Diluted
loss per share
|
$ |
—
|
$ | (.01 | ) | |||
Income (loss) per share from discontinued
operations
|
||||||||
Income
(loss) from discontinued operations
|
$ | 304 | $ | (675 | ) | |||
Basic
income (loss) per share
|
$ | .01 | $ | (.01 | ) | |||
Diluted
income (loss) per share
|
$ | .01 | $ | (.01 | ) | |||
Income per share from disposal of discontinued
operations
|
||||||||
Gain
on disposal of discontinued operations
|
$ |
—
|
$ | 2,107 | ||||
Basic
income per share
|
$ |
—
|
$ | .04 | ||||
Diluted
income per share
|
$ |
—
|
$ | .04 | ||||
Weighted
average common shares outstanding – basic
|
53,982 | 53,704 | ||||||
Potential
shares exercisable under stock option plans
|
23 |
—
|
||||||
Weighted
average shares outstanding – diluted
|
54,005 | 53,704 | ||||||
Potential
shares excluded from above weighted average share calculations due to
their anti-dilutive effect include:
|
||||||||
Upon
exercise of options
|
3,361 | 845 |
13
6.
|
Long Term
Debt
|
Long-term
debt consists of the following at March 31, 2009 and December 31,
2008:
(Amounts
in Thousands)
|
March
31,
2009
|
December
31,
2008
|
||||||
Revolving
Credit facility dated December 22, 2000, borrowings
based
|
||||||||
upon
eligible accounts receivable, subject to monthly borrowing
base
|
||||||||
calculation,
variable interest paid monthly at option of prime rate
|
||||||||
(3.25%
at March 31,2009) plus 2.0 or minimum floor base London
|
||||||||
InterBank
Offer Rate ("LIBOR") of 2.5% plus 3.0%, balance due in
|
||||||||
July
2012. (1)
|
$ | 9,517 | $ | 6,516 | ||||
Term
Loan dated December 22, 2000, payable in equal
monthly
|
||||||||
installments
of principal of $83, balance due in July 2012, variable
|
||||||||
interest
paid monthly at option of prime rate plus 2.5% or minimum
floor
|
||||||||
base
LIBOR of 2.5% plus 3.5%. (1)
|
6,417 | 6,667 | ||||||
Installment
Agreement in the Agreement and Plan of Merger
with
|
||||||||
Nuvotec
and PEcoS, dated April 27, 2007, payable in three equal
yearly
|
||||||||
installment
of principal of $833 beginning June 2009. Interest accrues
at
|
||||||||
annual
rate of 8.25% on outstanding principal balance starting
|
||||||||
June
2007 and payable yearly starting June 2008
|
2,500 | 2,500 | ||||||
Various
capital lease and promissory note obligations, payable 2009
to
|
||||||||
2013,
interest at rates ranging from 5.0% to 12.6%.
|
473 | 520 | ||||||
18,907 | 16,203 | |||||||
Less
current portion of long-term debt
|
2,020 | 2,022 | ||||||
$ | 16,887 | $ | 14,181 | |||||
(1) Prior to March 5, 2009, variable
interest was paid monthly at prime plus ½% for our Revolving Credit and prime
plus 1.0% for our Term Loan.
Revolving
Credit and Term Loan Agreement
On
December 22, 2000, we entered into a Revolving Credit, Term Loan and Security
Agreement ("Agreement") with PNC Bank, National Association, a national banking
association ("PNC") acting as agent ("Agent") for lenders, and as issuing bank,
as amended. The Agreement provided for a term loan ("Term Loan") in
the amount of $7,000,000, which requires monthly installments of
$83,000. The Agreement also provided for a revolving line of credit
("Revolving Credit") with a maximum principal amount outstanding at any one time
of $18,000,000, as amended. The Revolving Credit advances are subject
to limitations of an amount up to the sum of (a) up to 85% of Commercial
Receivables aged 90 days or less from invoice date, (b) up to 85% of Commercial
Broker Receivables aged up to 120 days from invoice date, (c) up to 85% of
acceptable Government Agency Receivables aged up to 150 days from invoice date,
and (d) up to 50% of acceptable unbilled amounts aged up to 60 days, less (e)
reserves the Agent reasonably deems proper and necessary. As of March
31, 2009, the excess availability under our Revolving Credit was $4,381,000
based on our eligible receivables.
Pursuant
to the Agreement, as amended, we may terminate the Agreement upon 90 days’ prior
written notice upon payment in full of the obligation. We agreed to
pay PNC 1% of the total financing in the event we pay off our obligations on or
prior to August 4, 2009 and 1/2 % of the total financing if we pay off our
obligations on or after August 5, 2009, but prior to August 4,
2010. No early termination fee shall apply if we pay off our
obligations after August 5, 2010.
14
On March
5, 2009, we entered into an Amendment to our PNC Agreement. This
Amendment increased our borrowing availability by approximately an additional
$2,200,000. In addition, pursuant to the Amendment, monthly interest
due on our revolving line of credit was amended from prime plus 1/2% to prime
plus 2.0% and monthly interest due on our Term Loan was amended from prime plus
1.0% to prime plus 2.5%. The Company also has the option to pay
monthly interest due on the revolving line of credit by using the LIBOR, with
the minimum floor base LIBOR rate of 2.5%, plus 3.0% and to pay monthly interest
due on the Term Loan using the minimum floor base LIBOR of 2.5%, plus
3.5%. In addition, pursuant to the Amendment, the fixed charge
coverage ratio was amended to reduce the availability monthly by
$48,000. The Amendment also allowed us to retain funds received from
the sale of our PFO property which was completed in the fourth quarter of
2008. All other terms and conditions to the credit facility remain
principally unchanged. As a condition of this Amendment, we agreed to
pay PNC a fee of $25,000. Funds made available under this Amendment
were used to secure the additional financial assurance coverage needed by our
DSSI subsidiary to operate under the PCB permit issued by the EPA on November
26, 2008 (see “Commitment and Contingency – Insurance” footnote for information
regarding this financial assurance coverage).
Promissory
Note and Installment Agreement
In
acquiring our Material &Energy Corporation (“M&EC”) subsidiary, M&EC
issued a promissory note in the principal amount of $3,700,000, together with
interest at an annual rate equal to the applicable law rate pursuant to Section
6621 of the Internal Revenue Code, to Performance Development Corporation
(“PDC”), dated June 25, 2001, for monies advanced to M&EC by PDC and certain
services performed by PDC on behalf of M&EC prior to our acquisition of
M&EC. The principal amount of the promissory note was payable
over eight years on a semiannual basis on June 30 and December 31, with a final
principal payment to be made by December 31, 2008. All accrued and
unpaid interest on the promissory note was payable in one lump sum on December
31, 2008. PDC directed M&EC to make all payments under the
promissory note directly to the IRS to be applied to PDC’s obligations to the
IRS. On December 29, 2008, M&EC and PDC entered into an amendment
to the promissory note, whereby the outstanding principal and accrued interest
due under the promissory note totaling approximately $3,066,000 is to be paid in
the following installments: $500,000 payment to be made by December
31, 2008 and five monthly payment of $100,000 to be made starting January 27,
2009, with the balance consisting of accrued and unpaid interest due on June 30,
2009. We made the $500,000 payment on December 31, 2008 and have made
three of the five monthly payments of $100,000 as of March 31,
2009. Interest is to continue to accrue at the applicable law rate
pursuant to the provisions of section 6621 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
as amended. We have been directed by PDC to make all payments under
the promissory note, as amended, directly to the IRS to be applied to PDC’s
obligations under its obligations with the IRS. As of March 31, 2009,
the outstanding balance due under the promissory note to PDC, as amended, was
approximately $2,309,000, which consists of interest only.
In
acquiring Perma-Fix Northwest, Inc. (“PFNW”) and Perma-Fix Northwest Richland,
Inc. (“PFNWR”), we agreed to pay shareholders of Nuvotec that qualified as
accredited investors pursuant to Rule 501 of Regulation D promulgated under the
Securities Act of 1933, $2,500,000, with principal payable in equal installment
of $833,333 on June 30, 2009, June 30, 2010, and June 30,
2011. Interest is accrued on outstanding principal balance at 8.25%
starting in June 2007 and is payable on June 30, 2008, June 30, 2009, June 30,
2010, and June 30, 2011. As of March 31, 2008, interest paid totaled
approximately $216,000. Interest accrued as of March 31, 2009 totaled
approximately $155,000. We also have an earn-out obligation to the
former shareholders of PFNW as more fully discussed under Note 7 “Commitments
and Contingencies – Earn Out Amount – Perma-Fix Northwest, Inc. (“PFNW”) and
Perma-Fix Northwest Richland, Inc. (“PFNWR”).
7.
|
Commitments and
Contingencies
|
Hazardous
Waste
In
connection with our waste management services, we handle both hazardous and
non-hazardous waste, which we transport to our own, or other facilities for
destruction or disposal. As a result of disposing of hazardous
substances, in the event any cleanup is required, we could be a potentially
responsible party for the costs of the cleanup notwithstanding any absence of
fault on our part.
15
Legal
In the
normal course of conducting our business, we are involved in various
litigations.
Perma-Fix
of Dayton (“PFD”), Perma-Fix of Florida (“PFF”), Perma-Fix of Orlando (“PFO”),
Perma-Fix of South Georgia (“PFSG”), and Perma-Fix of Memphis
(“PFM”)
In May
2007, the above facilities were named Partially Responsible Parties (“PRPs”) at
the Marine Shale Superfund site in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
(“Site”). Information provided by the EPA indicates that, from 1985
through 1996, the Perma-Fix facilities above were responsible for shipping 2.8%
of the total waste volume received by Marine Shale. Subject to
finalization of this estimate by the PRP group, PFF, PFO and PFD could be
considered de-minimus at .06%, .07% and .28% respectively. PFSG and
PFM would be major at 1.12% and 1.27% respectively. However, at this
time the contributions of all facilities are consolidated.
As of the
date of this report, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”)
has collected approximately $8,400,000 for the remediation of the site and has
completed removal of above ground waste from the site. The EPA’s
unofficial estimate to complete remediation of the site is between $9,000,000
and $12,000,000; however, based on preliminary outside consulting work hired by
the PRP group, which we are a party to, the remediation costs could be below
EPA’s estimation. The PRP Group has established a cooperative
relationship with LDEQ and EPA, and is working closely with these agencies to
assure that the funds held by LDEQ are used cost-effectively. As a
result of recent negotiations with LDEQ and EPA, further remediation work by
LDEQ has been put on hold pending completion of a site assessment by the PRP
Group. This site assessment could result in remediation activities to
be completed within the funds held by LDEQ. As part of the PRP Group,
we have paid an initial assessment of $10,000 in the fourth quarter of 2007,
which was allocated among the facilities. In addition, we accrued approximately
$27,000 in the third quarter of 2008 for our estimated portion of the cost of
the site assessment, which was allocated among the
facilities. Approximately $9,000 of the accrued amount was paid to
the PRP Group in the fourth quarter of 2008. As of the date of this
report, we cannot accurately access our ultimate liability. The
Company records its environmental liabilities when they are probable of payment
and can be estimated within a reasonable range. Since this
contingency currently does not meet this criteria, a liability has not been
established.
Notice
of Violation - Perma-Fix Treatment Services, Inc. (“PFTS”)
In July
2008, PFTS received a notice of violation (“NOV”) from the Oklahoma Department
of Environmental Quality (“ODEQ”) alleging that eight loads of waste materials
received by PFTS between January 2007 and July 2007 were improperly analyzed to
assure that the treatment process rendered the waste non-hazardous before
disposition in PFTS’ non-hazardous injection well. The ODEQ alleges the
handling of these waste materials violated regulations regarding hazardous
waste. Settlement discussions have resulted in a proposal to fund a
supplemental environmental project (“SEP”) in lieu of a civil
penalty. The estimated cost of the SEP is approximately $5,000, which
is subject to finalization and execution of a settlement
agreement. The settlement date is estimated to be during the second
quarter of 2009. PFTS sold most all of its assets to a non-affiliated
third party on May 30, 2008.
Industrial
Segment Divested Facilities/Operations
We sold
substantially all of the assets of PFTS pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement
on May 30, 2008. Under this Agreement the buyer assumed certain debts
and obligations of PFTS, including, but not limited to, certain debts and
obligations of PFTS to regulatory authorities under certain consent agreements
entered into by PFTS with the appropriate regulatory authority to remediate
portions of the facility sold to the buyer. If any of these
liabilities/obligations are not paid or preformed by the buyer, the buyer would
be in breach of the Asset Purchase Agreement and we may assert claims against
the buyer for such breach. We currently are discussing with the buyer
of the PFTS’ assets regarding certain liabilities which the buyer assumed and
agreed to pay but which the buyer has refused to satisfy as of the date of this
report.
16
Earn-Out
Amount – Perma-Fix Northwest, Inc. (“PFNWR”) and Perma-Fix Northwest Richland,
Inc. (“PFNWR”)
In
connection with the acquisition of PFNW (f/n/a “Nuvotec”) and PFNWR (f/k/a
Pacific EcoSolutions, Inc. (“PEcoS”) in 2007, we could be required to pay an
earn-out amount not to exceed $4,552,000 over a four year period, pursuant to
the Merger Agreement, as amended, with the first $1,000,000 of the earn-out
amount to be placed into an escrow account to satisfy any indemnification
obligations to us of Nuvotec, PEcoS, and the former shareholders of
Nuvotec. The earn-out amounts will be earned if certain annual
revenue targets are met by the Company’s consolidated Nuclear
Segment. We anticipate that all or a portion of the first $1,000,000
of the earn-out amount could be placed in an escrow account during the later
part of 2009 to satisfy any indemnification obligations under the
Agreement.
Insurance
We
believe we maintain insurance coverage adequate for our needs and which is
similar to, or greater than, the coverage maintained by other companies of our
size in the industry. There can be no assurances, however, those
liabilities, which may be incurred by us, will be covered by our insurance or
that the dollar amount of such liabilities, which are covered, will not exceed
our policy limits. Under our insurance contracts, we usually accept
self-insured retentions, which we believe is appropriate for our specific
business risks. We are required by EPA regulations to carry environmental
impairment liability insurance providing coverage for damages on a claims-made
basis in amounts of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 per year
in the aggregate. To meet the requirements of customers, we have exceeded these
coverage amounts.
In June
2003, we entered into a 25-year finite risk insurance policy with American
International Group, Inc. (“AIG”), which provides financial assurance to the
applicable states for our permitted facilities in the event of unforeseen
closure. Prior to obtaining or renewing operating permits, we are
required to provide financial assurance that guarantees to the states that in
the event of closure, our permitted facilities will be closed in accordance with
the regulations. The policy provided an initial maximum $35,000,000
of financial assurance coverage and has available capacity to allow for annual
inflation and other performance and surety bond requirements. Our
initial finite risk insurance policy required an upfront payment of $4,000,000,
of which $2,766,000 represented the full premium for the 25-year term of the
policy, and the remaining $1,234,000, was deposited in a sinking fund account
representing a restricted cash account. We are required to make seven
annual installments, as amended, of $1,004,000, of which $991,000 is to be
deposited in the sinking fund account, with the remaining $13,000 represents a
terrorism premium. In addition, we are required to make a final
payment of $2,008,000, of which $1,982,000 is to be deposited in the sinking
fund account, with the remaining $26,000 represents a terrorism
premium. In March 2009, we paid our sixth of the eight required
remaining payments. In March 2009, we secured additional financial
assurance coverage of approximately $5,421,000 with AIG which will enable our
Diversified Scientific Services, Inc. (“DSSI”) facility to receive and process
wastes under a permit issued by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (“EPA”)
Region 4 on November 26, 2008 to commercially store and dispose of
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (“PCBs”). DSSI began the permitting process
to add Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”) regulated wastes, namely PCBs,
containing radioactive constituents to its authorization in 2004 in order to
meet the demand for the treatment of government and commercially generated
radioactive PCB wastes. We secured this additional financial
assurance coverage requirement by increasing our initial 25-year finite risk
insurance policy with AIG from maximum policy coverage of $35,000,000 to
$39,000,000, of which our total financial coverage amounts to $35,871,000 as of
March 31, 2009. Payment for this additional financial assurance
coverage requires a total payment of approximately $5,219,000, consisting of an
upfront payment of $2,000,000, of which approximately $1,655,000 will be
deposited into a sinking fund account, with the remaining representing fee
payable to AIG. In addition, we are required to make three yearly
payments of approximately $1,073,000 starting December 31, 2009, of which
$888,000 will be deposited into a sinking fund account, with the remaining to
represent fee payable to AIG. We made our initial $2,000,000 payment
to AIG on March 6, 2009 from funds made available from an Amendment to our loan
Agreement entered between us, our subsidiary, and PNC Bank, National
Association, on March 5, 2009.
17
As of
March 31, 2009, we have recorded $9,591,000 in our sinking fund related to the
policy noted above on the balance sheet, which includes interest earned of
$757,000 on the sinking fund as of March 31, 2009. Interest income
for the three month ended March 31, 2009 was $26,000. On the fourth
and subsequent anniversaries of the contract inception, we may elect to
terminate this contract. If we so elect, the Insurer is obligated to
pay us an amount equal to 100% of the sinking fund account balance in return for
complete releases of liability from both us and any applicable regulatory agency
using this policy as an instrument to comply with financial assurance
requirements.
In August
2007, we entered into a second finite risk insurance policy for our PFNWR
facility, which we acquired in June 2007, with AIG. The policy
provides an initial $7,800,000 of financial assurance coverage with annual
growth rate of 1.5%, which at the end of the four year term policy, will provide
maximum coverage of $8,200,000. The policy will renew automatically
on an annual basis at the end of the four year term and will not be subject to
any renewal fees. The policy requires total payment of $7,158,000,
consisting of an annual payment of $1,363,000, two annual payments of
$1,520,000, starting July 31, 2007 and an additional $2,755,000 payment to be
made in five quarterly payments of $551,000 beginning September
2007. In July 2007, we paid the $1,363,000, of which $1,106,000
represented premium on the policy and the remaining was deposited into a sinking
fund account. In July 2008, we paid the first of the two $1,520,000
payments, with $1,344,000 deposited into a sinking fund account and the
remaining representing premium. We have made all of the five
quarterly payments which were deposited into a sinking fund. As of
March 31, 2009, we have recorded $4,451,000 in our sinking fund related to this
policy on the balance sheet, which includes interest earned of $96,000 on the
sinking fund as of March 31, 2009. Interest income for the three
months ended March 31, 2009 totaled $25,000.
8.
|
Discontinued Operations and
Divestitures
|
Our
discontinued operations encompass our PFMD, PFD, and PFTS facilities within our
Industrial Segment as well as two previously shut down locations, PFP and PFMI,
two facilities which were approved as discontinued operations by our Board of
Directors effective November 8, 2005, and October 4, 2004,
respectively. As discussed in “Note 1 – Basis of Presentation”, in
May 2007, PFMD, PFD, and PFTS met the held for sale criteria under SFAS No. 144,
“Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets”, and therefore,
certain assets and liabilities of these facilities were classified as
discontinued operations in the Consolidated Balance Sheet, and we ceased
depreciation of these facilities’ long-lived assets classified as held for sale
in May 2007.
On
January 8, 2008, we sold substantially all of the assets of PFMD, pursuant to
the terms of an Asset Purchase Agreement, dated January 8, 2008. In
consideration for such assets, the buyer paid us $3,811,000 (purchase price of
$3,825,000 less closing costs) in cash at the closing and assumed certain
liabilities of PFMD. The cash consideration was subject to certain
working capital adjustments after closing. Pursuant to the terms of
our credit facility, $1,400,000 of the proceeds received was used to pay down
our term loan, with the remaining funds used to pay down our
revolver. In the fourth quarter of 2008, we received a final working
capital adjustment of $170,000 from the buyer. We sold $3,100,000 of
PFMD’s assets, which excludes approximately $10,000 of restricted
cash. The buyer assumed liabilities in the amount of approximately
$1,108,000. Total expenses related to the sale of PFMD totaled
approximately $132,000. We recorded $1,786,000 (net of taxes of
$71,000) in final gain on the sale of PFMD which was recorded separately on the
Consolidated Statement of Operations as “Gain on disposal of discontinued
operations, net of taxes” for the year ended December 31, 2008.
On March
14, 2008, we completed the sale of substantially all of the assets of PFD,
pursuant to the terms of an Asset Purchase Agreement, dated March 14, 2008, for
approximately $2,143,000 in cash, subject to certain working capital adjustments
after the closing, plus the assumption by the buyer of certain of PFD’s
liabilities and obligations. We received cash of approximately
$2,139,000 at closing, which was net of certain closing costs. The
proceeds received were used to pay down our term loan. In the second
quarter of 2008, we paid to the buyer a final working capital adjustment of
$209,000. We sold approximately $3,103,000 of PFD’s
assets. The buyer assumed liabilities in the amount of approximately
$1,635,000. Expenses related to the sale of PFD totaled approximately
$206,000. Our final gain on the sale PFD totaled $256,000, net of
taxes of $0, which was recorded on the Consolidated Statement of Operations as
“Gain on disposal of discontinued operations, net of taxes”, for the year ended
December 31, 2008.
18
On May
30, 2008, we completed sale of substantially all of the assets of PFTS, pursuant
to the terms of an Asset Purchase Agreement, dated May 14, 2008 as amended by a
First Amendment dated May 30, 2008. In consideration for such assets,
the buyer paid us $1,468,000 (purchase price of $1,503,000 less certain
closing/settlement costs) in cash at closing and assumed certain liabilities of
PFTS. The cash consideration was subject to certain working capital
adjustments after closing. Pursuant to the terms of our credit
facility, the proceeds received were used to pay down our term loan with the
remaining funds used to pay down our revolver. In July 2008, we paid
the buyer a final working capital adjustment of $135,000. We sold
$1,861,000 of PFTS’s assets. The buyer assumed liabilities in the
amount of approximately $996,000. Expenses related to the sale of
PFTS totaled approximately $186,000. We recorded a final gain on the
sale of PFTS of $281,000, net of taxes of $0, which was recorded on the
Consolidated Statement of Operations as “Gain on disposal of discontinued
operations, net of taxes”, for the year ended December 31, 2008.
In
connection with the divestiture of PFTS above, the buyer of PFTS’s assets is
required to replace our financial assurance bond with its own financial
assurance mechanism for facility closures. Our financial assurance
bond of $685,000 for PFTS was required to remain in place until the buyer has
provided replacement coverage. On March 24, 2009, the appropriate
regulatory authority authorized the release of our financial assurance bond of
$685,000 for PFTS. As a result of this authorized financial assurance
release, we recorded a recovery of approximately $400,000 in closure costs which
was included in “income from discontinued operations, net of taxes” on the
Consolidated Statement of Operations for the three months ended March 31,
2009.
The
following table summarizes the results of discontinued operations for the three
months ended March 31, 2009 and 2008. The gains on disposals of
discontinued operations, net of taxes, were reported separately on our
Consolidated Statements of Operations as “Gain on disposal of discontinued
operations, net of taxes”. The operating results of discontinued
operations are included in our Consolidated Statements of Operations as part of
our “Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of taxes”.
Three
Months Ended March 31,
|
||||||||
(Amounts
in Thousands)
|
2009
|
2008
|
||||||
Net
revenues
|
$ | — | $ | 2,387 | ||||
Interest
expense
|
(20 | ) | (40 | ) | ||||
Operating
income (loss) from discontinued operations (1)
|
304 | (675 | ) | |||||
Gain
on disposal of discontinued operations (2)
|
— | 2,107 | ||||||
Income
(loss) from discontinued operations
|
304 | 1,432 |
(1) Net of taxes of $0 for each of the
three months ended March 31, 2009 and 2008, respectively.
(2) Net
of taxes of $0 and $43 for three months ended March 31, 2009 and 2008,
respectively.
Assets
and liabilities related to discontinued operations total $711,000 and $2,491,000
as of March 31, 2009, respectively and $761,000 and $2,994,000 as of December
31, 2008, respectively.
The
following table presents the Industrial Segment’s major classes of assets and
liabilities of discontinued operations that are classified as held for sale as
of March 31, 2009 and December 31, 2008. The held for sale asset and
liabilities balances as of December 31, 2008 may differ from the respective
balances at closing:
19
March
31,
|
December
31,
|
|||||||
(Amounts
in Thousands)
|
2009
|
2008
|
||||||
Account
receivable, net
|
$ | — | $ | — | ||||
Inventories
|
— | — | ||||||
Other
assets
|
— | 22 | ||||||
Property,
plant and equipment, net (1)
|
651 | 651 | ||||||
Total
assets held for sale
|
$ | 651 | $ | 673 | ||||
Account
payable
|
$ | — | $ | — | ||||
Deferred
revenue
|
— | — | ||||||
Accrued
expenses and other liabilities
|
22 | 5 | ||||||
Note
payable
|
— | — | ||||||
Environmental
liabilities
|
— | — | ||||||
Total
liabilities held for sale
|
$ | 22 | $ | 5 |
(1) net
of accumulated depreciation of $13 for as of March 31, 2009 and December 31,
2008.
The
following table presents the Industrial Segment’s major classes of assets and
liabilities of discontinued operations that are not held for sale as of March
31, 2009 and December 31, 2008:
March
31,
|
December
31,
|
|||||||
(Amounts
in Thousands)
|
2009
|
2008
|
||||||
Other
assets
|
$ | 60 | $ | 88 | ||||
Total
assets of discontinued operations
|
$ | 60 | $ | 88 | ||||
Account
payable
|
$ | — | $ | 15 | ||||
Accrued
expenses and other liabilities
|
1,467 | 1,947 | ||||||
Deferred
revenue
|
— | — | ||||||
Environmental
liabilities
|
1,002 | 1,027 | ||||||
Total
liabilities of discontinued operations
|
$ | 2,469 | $ | 2,989 |
The
Industrial Segment includes two previously shut-down facilities which were
presented as discontinued operations in prior years. These facilities
include Perma-Fix of Pittsburgh (“PFP”) and Perma-Fix of Michigan
(“PFMI”). Our decision to discontinue operations at PFP was due to
our reevaluation of the facility and our inability to achieve profitability at
the facility. During February 2006, we completed the remediation of
the leased property and the equipment at PFP, and released the property back to
the owner. Our decision to discontinue operations at PFMI was
principally a result of two fires that significantly disrupted operations at the
facility in 2003, and the facility’s continued drain on the financial resources
of our Industrial Segment. As a result of the discontinued operations
at the PFMI facility, we were required to complete certain closure and
remediation activities pursuant to our RCRA permit, which were completed in
January 2006. In September 2006, PFMI signed a Corrective Action
Consent Order with the State of Michigan, requiring performance of studies and
development and execution of plans related to the potential clean-up of soils in
portions of the property. The level and cost of the clean-up and
remediation are determined by state mandated requirements. During
2006, based on state-mandated criteria, we began implementing the modified
methodology to remediate the facility. We have spent approximately
$751,000 for closure costs since discontinuation of PFMI in October 2004, of
which approximately $6,000 was spent during the three months ended March 31,
2009 and $26,000 was spent during 2008. We have $532,000 accrued for
the closure, as of March 31, 2009, and we anticipate spending $267,000 in the
remaining nine months of 2009, with the remainder over the next five
years. Based on the
current status of the Corrective Action, we believe that the remaining reserve
is adequate to cover the liability.
20
As of March 31, 2009, PFMI has a pension
payable of
$1,067,000. The
pension plan withdrawal liability is a result of the termination of the union
employees of PFMI. The PFMI union employees participate in the
Central States Teamsters Pension Fund ("CST"), which provides that a partial or
full termination of union employees may result in a withdrawal liability, due
from PFMI to CST. The recorded liability is based upon a demand
letter received from CST in August 2005 that provided for the payment of $22,000
per month over an eight year period. This obligation is recorded as a
long-term liability, with a current portion of $184,000 that we expect to pay
over the next year.
9.
|
Operating
Segments
|
Pursuant
to FAS 131, we define an operating segment as a business activity:
·
|
from
which we may earn revenue and incur
expenses;
|
·
|
whose
operating results are regularly reviewed by the segment president to make
decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its
performance; and
|
·
|
for
which discrete financial information is
available.
|
We
currently have three operating segments, which are defined as each business line
that we operate. This however, excludes corporate headquarters, which
does not generate revenue, and our discontinued operations, which include
certain facilities within our Industrial Segment (See “Note 8 – Discontinued
Operations and Divestitures” to “Notes to Consolidated Financial
Statements”).
Our
operating segments are defined as follows:
The
Nuclear Waste Management Services Segment (“Nuclear Segment”) provides
treatment, storage, processing and disposal of nuclear, low-level radioactive,
mixed (waste containing both hazardous and non-hazardous constituents),
hazardous and non-hazardous waste through our four
facilities: Perma-Fix of Florida, Inc., Diversified Scientific
Services, Inc., East Tennessee Materials and Energy Corporation, and Perma-Fix
of Northwest Richland, Inc.
The
Consulting Engineering Services Segment (“Engineering Segment”) provides
environmental engineering and regulatory compliance services through Schreiber,
Yonley & Associates, Inc. which includes oversight management of
environmental restoration projects, air, soil, and water sampling, compliance
reporting, emission reduction strategies, compliance auditing, and various
compliance and training activities to industrial and government customers, as
well as, engineering and compliance support needed by our other
segments.
The
Industrial Waste Management Services Segment (“Industrial Segment”) provides
on-and-off site treatment, storage, processing and disposal of hazardous and
non-hazardous industrial waste, and wastewater through our three facilities:
Perma-Fix of Ft. Lauderdale, Inc., Perma-Fix of Orlando, Inc., and Perma-Fix of
South Georgia, Inc.
21
The table below presents certain
financial information of our operating segment as of and for the three months
ended March 31, 2009 and 2008 (in thousands).
Segment
Reporting for the Quarter Ended March 31, 2009
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nuclear
|
Engineering
|
Industrial
|
Segments
Total
|
Corporate (2)
|
Consolidated
Total
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Revenue
from external customers
|
$ | 19,114 |
(3)
|
$ | 779 | $ | 2,109 | $ | 22,002 | $ |
—
|
$ | 22,002 | |||||||||||
Intercompany
revenues
|
751 | 170 | 188 | 1,109 | — | 1,109 | ||||||||||||||||||
Gross
profit
|
4,292 | 226 | 570 | 5,088 | — | 5,088 | ||||||||||||||||||
Interest
income
|
— | — | — | — | 51 | 51 | ||||||||||||||||||
Interest
expense
|
360 | 1 | 5 | 366 | 181 | 547 | ||||||||||||||||||
Interest
expense-financing fees
|
— | — | — | — | 13 | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
Depreciation
and amortization
|
1,056 | 10 | 103 | 1,169 | 11 | 1,180 | ||||||||||||||||||
Segment
profit (loss)
|
1,749 | 86 | 54 | 1,889 | (1,645 | ) | 244 | |||||||||||||||||
Segment
assets (1)
|
98,377 | 2,152 | 5,431 | 105,960 | 19,481 |
(4)
|
125,441 | |||||||||||||||||
Expenditures
for segment assets
|
252 | — | 49 | 301 | 3 | 304 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total
long-term debt
|
2,802 | 27 | 144 | 2,973 | 15,934 | 18,907 |
Segment
Reporting for the Quarter Ended March 31, 2008
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nuclear
|
Engineering
|
Industrial
|
Segments
Total
|
Corporate (2)
|
Consolidated
Total
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Revenue
from external customers
|
$ | 13,981 |
(3)
|
$ | 902 | $ | 2,587 | $ | 17,470 | $ |
—
|
$ | 17,470 | |||||||||||
Intercompany
revenues
|
611 | 98 | 197 | 906 | — | 906 | ||||||||||||||||||
Gross
profit
|
3,554 | 255 | 637 | 4,446 | — | 4,446 | ||||||||||||||||||
Interest
income
|
2 | — | — | 2 | 66 | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||
Interest
expense
|
206 | 1 | 5 | 212 | 159 | 371 | ||||||||||||||||||
Interest
expense-financing fees
|
— | — | — | — | 52 | 52 | ||||||||||||||||||
Depreciation
and amortization
|
1,103 | 7 | — | 1,110 | 11 | 1,121 | ||||||||||||||||||
Segment
profit (loss)
|
976 | 128 | (35 | ) | 1,069 | (1,432 | ) | (363 | ) | |||||||||||||||
Segment
assets (1)
|
95,578 | 2,196 | 6,107 | 103,881 | 15,702 |
(4)
|
119,583 | |||||||||||||||||
Expenditures
for segment assets
|
512 | — | 46 | 558 | 7 | 565 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total
long-term debt
|
6,152 | 3 | 201 | 6,356 | 7,280 | 13,636 |
(1)
|
Segment
assets have been adjusted for intercompany accounts to reflect actual
assets for each segment.
|
(2)
|
Amounts
reflect the activity for corporate headquarters not included in the
segment information.
|
(3)
|
The
consolidated revenues within the Nuclear Segment include the CH Plateau
Remediation Company (“CHPRC”) revenue of $10,748,000 or 48.8% of our total
consolidated revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2009. Our
M&EC facility was awarded a subcontract by CHPRC, a general contractor
to the Department of Energy (“DOE”), in the second quarter of
2008. The consolidated revenue within the Nuclear Segment also
include the Fluor Hanford revenue of $0 or 0% and $1,766,000 or 10.1% for
the quarter ended March 31, 2009 and 2008,
respectively. Effective October 1, 2008, CHPRC began management
of waste activities previously under Fluor Hanford, DOE’s general
contractor prior to CHPRC. See “Known Trends and Uncertainties
– Significant Customers” in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for the revenue transition
discussion.
|
(4)
|
Amount
includes assets from discontinued operations of $711,000 and $2,541,000 as
of March 31, 2009 and 2008,
respectively.
|
10.
|
Income
Taxes
|
The
provision for income taxes is determined in accordance with SFAS No. 109,
“Accounting for Income Taxes”. Under this method, deferred tax assets
and liabilities are recognized for future tax consequences attributed to
differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets
and liabilities and their respective tax basis. Deferred tax assets
and liabilities are measured using enacted income tax rates expected to apply to
taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to
be recovered or settled. Any effect on deferred tax assets and
liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that
includes the enactment date.
22
SFAS No.
109 requires that deferred income tax assets be reduced by a valuation allowance
if it is more likely that not that some portion or all of the deferred income
tax assets will not be realized. We evaluate the realizability of our deferred
income tax assets, primarily resulting from impairment loss and net operating
loss carryforwards, and adjust our valuation allowance, if necessary. Once we
utilize our net operating loss carryforwards, we would expect our provision for
income tax expense in future periods to reflect an effective tax rate that will
be significantly higher than past periods.
In July
2006, the FASB issued FIN 48, “Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes”,
which attempts to set out a consistent framework for the recognition and
measurement of uncertain tax positions. This interpretation of FASB Statement
No. 109 uses a two-step approach wherein a tax benefit is recognized if a
position is more-likely-than-not to be sustained. The amount of the benefit is
then measured to be the highest tax benefit which is greater than 50% likely to
be realized. FIN 48 also sets out disclosure requirements to enhance
transparency of an entity’s tax reserves. The Company adopted this
Interpretation as of January 1, 2007. The adoption of FIN 48 did not have a
material impact on our financial statements.
We have
not yet filed our income tax returns for the period ended December 31, 2008 tax
year; however, we expect that the actual return will mirror tax positions taken
within our income tax provision for 2008. As we believe that all such
positions are fully supportable by existing Federal law and related
interpretations, there are no uncertain tax positions to consider in accordance
with FIN 48. The impact of our reassessment of our tax positions in
accordance with FIN 48 for the first quarter of 2009 did not have any impact on
our result of operations, financial condition or liquidity.
11.
|
Closure
Costs
|
We accrue
for the estimated closure costs as determined pursuant to Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) guidelines for all fixed-based regulated operating and
discontinued facilities, even though we do not intend to or have present plans
to close any of our existing facilities. The permits and/or licenses
define the waste, which may be received at the facility in question, and the
treatment or process used to handle and/or store the waste. In
addition, the permits and/or licenses specify, in detail, the process and steps
that a hazardous waste or mixed waste facility must follow should the facility
be closed or cease operating as a hazardous waste or mixed waste
facility. Closure procedures and cost calculations in connection with
closure of a facility are based on guidelines developed by the federal and/or
state regulatory authorities under RCRA and the other appropriate statutes or
regulations promulgated pursuant to the statutes. The closure
procedures are very specific to the waste accepted and processes used at each
facility. We recognize the closure cost as a liability on the balance
sheet. Since all our facilities are acquired facilities, the closure
cost for each facility was recognized pursuant to a business combination and
recorded as part of the purchase price allocation of fair value to identifiable
assets acquired and liabilities assumed.
The
closure calculation is increased annually for inflation based on RCRA
guidelines, and for any approved changes or expansions to the facility, which
may result in either an increase or decrease in the approved closure
amount. If there is a change to the closure estimate, we record this
change in the liability and asset, with the asset depreciated in accordance with
our depreciation policy. Annual inflation factor increases are
expensed during the current year. In the first quarter of 2009, due
to change in estimate of the costs to close our DSSI facility based on
federal/state regulatory guidelines, we increased our closure accrual for our
DSSI facility by approximately $1,980,000. This change in estimate
resulted from the permit that our DSSI facility received from the U.S. EPA
Region 4 in November 2008 which will enable the facility to commercially store
and dispose of PCBs.
23
12.
|
Subsequent
Event
|
Shelf
Registration
On April
8, 2009, the Company filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the
SEC. The shelf registration statement, if and when declared effective
by the SEC, would give the Company the ability to sell up to 5,000,000 shares of
its Common Stock. After the shelf registration is declared effective
by the SEC, the Common Stock may be sold from time to time and through one or
more methods of distribution, subject to market conditions and the Company’s
capital needs, and any sales of securities through the registration statement
will be used for general working capital requirements and/or to fund possible
acquisitions or investments. Under the terms of our existing credit
facility, we are required to maintain such investments with our lender or its
affiliates, which will serve as additional collateral under our credit
facility. The terms of any offering would be established at the time
of the offering. The shelf registration was put in place given the
current market environment, as it provides the Company greater financial
flexibility in the event we identify strategic opportunities that may require
additional capital. The registration statement referred to above has
not become effective. These securities covered by this registration
statement may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time
the registration statement become effective. The above reference to
the registration statement shall not constitute an offer to sell or a
solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities
in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior
to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such
state.
Loan
and Securities Purchase Agreement
The Audit
Committee of the Company recommended to the Board of Directors, and the
Company’s Board of Director approved, the Company entering into a Loan and
Securities Purchase Agreement (“Agreement”) with Mr. William N. Lampson and Mr.
Diehl Rettig. As a result of such approval, the parties have executed
the Agreement. Under the Agreement, Messrs. Lampson and Rettig
(collectively, the “Lenders”) have loaned us $3,000,000 pursuant to the terms of
the Agreement. Mr. Lampson was formerly a major shareholder of
Nuvotec USA, Inc. (n/k/a Perma-Fix Northwest, Inc. (“PFNWR”)) and its wholly
owned subsidiary, Pacific EcoSolution, Inc. (n/k/a Perma-Fix Northwest Richland,
Inc. (“PFNWR”)) prior to our acquisition of PFNW and PFNWR, and Mr. Rettig was
formerly a shareholder of, and counsel for, Nuvotec USA, Inc. at the time of our
acquisition. The Company has entered into a Promissory Note (“Note”)
in the amount of $3,000,000 with the Lenders. The proceeds of the
loan are to be used primarily to pay off a certain promissory note, dated June
25, 2001, as amended on December 28, 2008, entered into by our M&EC
subsidiary with Performance Development Corporation (“PDC”), with the remaining
funds, if any, used for working capital purposes. The balance of the
PDC promissory was approximately $2,309,000 as of March 31, 2009. The
Agreement and the Note provide for monthly principal repayment of approximately
$87,000 plus accrued interest, starting June 8, 2009, and on the 8th day of each
month thereafter, with interest payable at LIBOR plus 4.5%, with LIBOR of at
least 1.5%. Any unpaid principal balance along with accrued interest
is due May 8, 2011. The Note may be prepaid at anytime by the Company
without penalty.
The
Agreement provides that, in consideration of the Company receiving the loan, the
Company is to issue to Messrs. Lampson and Rettig, pursuant to an exemption from
registration under Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
“Act”), and/or Rule 506of Regulation D promulgated under the Act, within five
business days following the closing date of the loan an aggregate of 200,000
shares of the Company’s Common Stock (“Shares”) and two Warrants to purchase up
to an aggregate 150,000 shares of the Company’s Common Stock (“Warrant Shares”)
at an exercise price of $1.50 per share, with Mr. Lampson receiving 180,000
Shares and a Warrant to purchase up to an aggregate of 135,000 Warrant Shares
and Mr. Rettig receiving 20,000 Shares and a Warrant to purchase up to an
aggregate of 15,000 Warrant Shares. In addition, under the terms of
the Agreement and Note, if the Company defaults in payment of any principal or
interest under the Note and such default continues for 30 days, the Lenders
shall have the right to declare the Note immediately due and payable and to have
payment of the remaining unpaid principal amount and accrued interest (“Payoff
Amount”) in one of the two methods, at their option:
24
·
|
in
cash, or
|
|
·
|
subject
to certain limitations and pursuant to an exemption from registration
under Section 4(2) of the Act and/or Rule 506 of Regulation D, in shares
of Company Common Stock, with the number of shares to be issued determined
by dividing the unpaid principal balance as of the date of default, plus
accrued interest, by a dollar amount equal to the closing bid price of the
Company’s Common Stock on the date of default as reported on the National
Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System (“NASDAQ”)
(“Payoff Shares”). The Payoff Amount is to be paid as
follows: 90% to Mr. Lampson and 10% to Mr.
Rettig.
|
The
aggregate number of Shares, Warrant Shares, and Payoff Shares that are to be
issued to the Lenders under the Agreement and Note, together with the aggregate
shares of the Company’s Common Stock and other Company voting securities owned
by the Lenders as of the date of issuance of the Payoff Shares, if any, shall
not exceed:
|
·
|
the
number of shares equal to 19.9% of the number of shares of the Company’s
Common Stock issued and outstanding as of the date of the Agreement,
or
|
|
·
|
19.9%
of the voting power of all of the Company’s voting securities issued and
outstanding as of the date of the
Agreement.
|
25
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
MANAGEMENT'S
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
FINANCIAL
CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
PART
I, ITEM 2
Forward-looking
Statements
Certain
statements contained within this report may be deemed "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
(collectively, the "Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995"). All statements in this report other than a statement of
historical fact are forward-looking statements that are subject to known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results
and performance of the Company to differ materially from such
statements. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend,"
"will," and similar expressions identify forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements contained herein relate to,
among other things,
·
|
cash
flow from operations and our available liquidity from our line of credit
are sufficient to service our current obligations;
|
·
|
government
funding and economic stimulus package should positively impact our
existing government contracts;
|
·
|
demand
for our service will continue to be subject to
fluctuations;
|
·
|
effect
on us due to reductions in the level of government
funding;
|
·
|
we
plan to fund any repurchases under the common stock repurchase plan
through our internal cash flow and/or borrowing under our line of
credit;
|
·
|
ability
to generate sufficient cash flow from operations to fund all costs of
operations;
|
·
|
ability
to remediate certain contaminated sites for projected
amounts;
|
·
|
no
further impairment of intangible or tangible assets;
|
·
|
despite
our aggressive compliance and auditing procedures for disposal of wastes,
we could, in the future, be notified that we are a Partially Responsible
Party (“PRP”) at a remedial action site, which could have a material
adverse effect;
|
·
|
ability
to generate funds internally to remediate sites;
|
·
|
ability
to fund budgeted capital expenditures of $1,300,000 during 2009 through
our operations or lease financing or a combination of
both;
|
·
|
growth
of our Nuclear Segment;
|
·
|
we
believe full operations under the CHPRC subcontract will result in
revenues for on-site and off-site work of approximately $200,000,000 to
$250,000,000 over the five year base period;
|
·
|
settlement
of the Notice of Violation at PFTS is estimated to be during the second
quarter of 2009, subject to finalization and execution of a settlement
agreement;
|
·
|
Our
inability to continue under existing contracts that we have with the
federal government (directly or indirectly as a subcontractor) could have
a material adverse effect on our operations and financial
condition;
|
·
|
although
we have seen smaller fluctuation in government receipts between quarters
in recent years, as government spending is contingent upon its annual
budget and allocation of funding, we cannot provide assurance that we will
not have larger fluctuations in the quarters in the near
future;
|
·
|
we
anticipate spending $267,000 in the remaining nine months of 2009 to
remediate the PFMI site, with the remainder over the next five
years;
|
·
|
based
on the current status of Corrective Action for PFMI, we believe that the
remaining reserve is adequate to cover the liability;
|
·
|
we
believe we maintain insurance coverage adequate for our needs and which is
similar to, or greater than the coverage maintained by other companies of
our size in the industry;
|
·
|
we
anticipate remediation of these control weaknesses by the third quarter of
2009;
|
·
|
potential
for fines and remediation of our waste management
facilities;
|
·
|
In
the event of failure of AIG, this could significantly impact our
operations and our permits;
|
·
|
the
Company expects SFAS No. 141R and FSP No. 141R-1 will have an impact on
its consolidated financial statements when effective, but the nature and
magnitude of the specific effects will depend upon the nature, terms and
size of acquisitions it consummates after the effect
date;
|
26
·
|
the
Company does not expect the adoption of SAB No. 110 and FSP 132(R)-1 to
materially impact our operations or financial position;
and
|
·
|
placing
the first $1,000,000 of the escrow amount we may be required to pay in
connection with the acquisition of PFNWR and PFNW in an escrow account
during the later part of 2009.
|
While the
Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements
are reasonable, it can give no assurance such expectations will prove to have
been correct. There are a variety of factors, which could cause
future outcomes to differ materially from those described in this report,
including, but not limited to:
·
|
general
economic conditions;
|
·
|
material
reduction in revenues;
|
·
|
ability
to meet PNC covenant requirements;
|
·
|
inability
to collect in a timely manner a material amount of
receivables;
|
·
|
increased
competitive pressures;
|
·
|
the
ability to maintain and obtain required permits and approvals to conduct
operations;
|
·
|
the
ability to develop new and existing technologies in the conduct of
operations;
|
·
|
ability
to retain or renew certain required permits;
|
·
|
discovery
of additional contamination or expanded contamination at any of the sites
or facilities leased or owned by us or our subsidiaries which would result
in a material increase in remediation expenditures;
|
·
|
changes
in federal, state and local laws and regulations, especially environmental
laws and regulations, or in interpretation of such;
|
·
|
potential
increases in equipment, maintenance, operating or labor
costs;
|
·
|
management
retention and development;
|
·
|
financial
valuation of intangible assets is substantially more/less than
expected;
|
·
|
the
requirement to use internally generated funds for purposes not presently
anticipated;
|
·
|
inability
to continue to be profitable on an annualized basis;
|
·
|
the
inability of the Company to maintain the listing of its Common Stock on
the NASDAQ;
|
·
|
terminations
of contracts with federal agencies or subcontracts involving federal
agencies, or reduction in amount of waste delivered to the Company under
the contracts or subcontracts;
|
·
|
renegotiation
of contracts involving the federal government;
|
·
|
disposal
expense accrual could prove to be inadequate in the event the waste
requires re-treatment; and
|
·
|
Risk
Factors contained in Item 1A of our 2008 Form
10-K.
|
The
Company undertakes no obligations to update publicly any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
27
Overview
We
provide services through three reportable operating segments: Nuclear Waste
Management Services Segment (“Nuclear Segment”), Industrial Waste Management
Services Segment (“Industrial Segment”), and Consulting Engineering Services
Segment (“Engineering Segment”). The Nuclear Segment provides
treatment, storage, processing and disposal services of mixed waste (waste
containing both hazardous and low-level radioactive materials) and low-level
radioactive wastes, including research, development and on-site and off-site
waste remediation. Our Industrial Segment provides on-and-off site
treatment, storage, processing and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous
industrial waste and wastewater. Our Engineering Segment provides a
wide variety of environmental related consulting and engineering services to
both industry and government. These services include oversight
management of environmental restoration projects, air, soil, and water sampling,
compliance reporting, emission reduction strategies, compliance auditing, and
various compliance and training activities.
The first
quarter of 2009 reflected a revenue increase of $4,532,000 to $22,002,000 or
25.9% from revenue of $17,470,000 for the same period of 2008. Within our
Nuclear Segment, we generated revenue of $19,114,000 in the first quarter of
2009, an increase of $5,133,000 or 36.7% from the corresponding period of
2008. The increase in revenue within our Nuclear Segment was
primarily due to revenue generated from the subcontract awarded to our M&EC
subsidiary by CH Plateau Remediation Company (“CHPRC”), a general contractor to
the Department of Energy (“DOE”), in the second quarter of 2008. This
increase in revenue was offset by lower receipts from remaining
generators. Our Industrial Segment generated $2,109,000 in revenue in
the quarter ended March 31, 2009, as compared to $2,587,000 for the
corresponding period of 2008, or 18.5 % decrease. This decrease was
primarily the result of lower oil sales revenue resulting from both decreased
volume and lower average price per gallon and less field service work in the
first quarter of 2009 as compared to first quarter of 2008 resulting from the
slow down in the economy. Revenue in our Industrial Segment includes
revenue of Perma-Fix of Fort Lauderdale, Inc. (“PFFL”), Perma-Fix of South
Georgia, Inc. (“PFSG”), and Perma-Fix of Orlando, Inc. (“PFO”). In
May 2007, our Board of Directors authorized the divestiture of our Industrial
Segment. In September 2008, our Board of Directors approved retaining
the three facilities/operations at PFFL, PFSG, and PFO, which resulted in the
reclassification of these three facilities/operations back into our continuing
operations. Revenue for the first quarter of 2009 from the
Engineering Segment decreased $123,000 or 13.6% to $779,000 from $902,000 for
the same period of 2008.
The first
quarter 2009 gross profit increased $642,000 or 14.4% from the corresponding
period of 2008 due primarily to the CHPRC subcontract at M&EC.
SG&A
for the first quarter of 2009 decreased 2.7% to $4,339,000 from $4,460,000 in
the corresponding period of 2008.
Our
working capital position at March 31, 2008 was a negative $2,301,000, which
includes working capital of our discontinued operations, as compared to a
negative working capital of $3,886,000 as of December 31, 2008. The
improvement in our working capital was primarily the result of the reduction in
our current unbilled receivable of approximately $1,264,000 as we continue our
efforts to invoice our customers. In addition, we continue to reduce
our account payables and other current debts by utilizing funds generated by our
operations. Our working capital in the first quarter of 2009 was also
impacted by the annual cash payment to the finite risk sinking fund of
$1,004,000 and capital spending of approximately $304,000.
Outlook
We
believe that the higher government funding made available to remediate DOE sites
than past years under the 2009 government budget along with the economic
stimulus package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), enacted by the
Congress in February 2009, will provide substantial funds to remediate DOE sites
and thus should positively impact our existing government contracts within our
Nuclear Segment. However, we expect that demand for our services will
continue to be subjected to fluctuations due to a variety of factors beyond our
control, including the current economic recession and conditions, and the manner
in which the federal government will be required to spend funding to remediate
federal sites. Our operations depend, in large part, upon
governmental funding, particularly funding levels at the DOE. In
addition, our governmental contracts and subcontracts relating to activities at
governmental sites are subject to termination or renegotiation on 30 days notice
at the government’s option. Significant reductions in the level of
governmental funding or specifically mandated levels for different programs that
are important to our business could have a material adverse impact on our
business, financial position, results of operations and cash
flows.
28
Results
of Operations
The
reporting of financial results and pertinent discussions are tailored to three
reportable segments: Nuclear, Industrial, and Engineering.
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
||||||||||||||||
Consolidated (amounts in
thousands)
|
2009
|
%
|
2008
|
%
|
||||||||||||
Net
revenues
|
$ | 22,002 | 100.0 | $ | 17,470 | 100.0 | ||||||||||
Cost
of good sold
|
16,914 | 76.9 | 13,024 | 74.6 | ||||||||||||
Gross
profit
|
5,088 | 23.1 | 4,446 | 25.4 | ||||||||||||
Selling,
general and administrative
|
4,339 | 19.7 | 4,460 | 25.5 | ||||||||||||
Gain
on disposal of property and equipment
|
12 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
Income
(loss) from operations
|
$ | 761 | 3.4 | $ | (14 | ) | (.1 | ) | ||||||||
Interest
income
|
51 | .2 | 68 | .4 | ||||||||||||
Interest
expense
|
(547 | ) | (2.5 | ) | (371 | ) | (2.1 | ) | ||||||||
Interest
expense-financing fees
|
(13 | ) | — | (52 | ) | (.3 | ) | |||||||||
Other
|
1 | — | 6 | — | ||||||||||||
Income
(loss) from continuing operations before taxes
|
253 | 1.1 | (363 | ) | (2.1 | ) | ||||||||||
Income
tax expense
|
9 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
Income
(loss) from continuing operations
|
244 | 1.1 | (363 | ) | (2.1 | ) | ||||||||||
Preferred
Stock dividends
|
— | — | — | — |
29
Summary –
Three Months Ended March 31, 2009 and 2009
Consolidated
revenues increased $4,532,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2009,
compared to the three months ended March 31, 2008, as follows:
(In thousands)
|
2009
|
%
Revenue
|
2008
|
%
Revenue
|
Change
|
%
Change
|
||||||||||||||||||
Nuclear
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Government
waste
|
$ | 4,678 | 21.3 | $ | 6,335 | 36.3 | $ | (1,657 | ) | (26.2 | ) | |||||||||||||
Hazardous/Non-hazardous
|
958 | 4.4 | 855 | 4.9 | 103 | 12.0 | ||||||||||||||||||
Other
nuclear waste
|
2,730 | 12.4 | 5,025 | 28.7 | (2,295 | ) | (45.7 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Fluor
Hanford
|
— | — | 1,766 | 10.1 | (1,766 | ) | (100.0 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
CHPRC
|
10,748 | 48.8 | — | — | 10,748 | 100.0 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total
|
19,114 | 86.9 | 13,981 | 80.0 | 5,133 | 36.7 | ||||||||||||||||||
Industrial
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Commercial
|
$ | 1,228 | 5.6 | $ | 1,398 | 8.0 | $ | (170 | ) | (12.2 | ) | |||||||||||||
Government
services
|
127 | 0.6 | 240 | 1.4 | (113 | ) | (47.1 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Oil
Sales
|
754 | 3.4 | 949 | 5.4 | (195 | ) | (20.5 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Total
|
2,109 | 9.6 | 2,587 | 14.8 | (478 | ) | (18.5 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Engineering
|
779 | 3.5 | 902 | 5.2 | (123 | ) | (13.6 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Total
|
$ | 22,002 | 100.0 | $ | 17,470 | 100.0 | $ | 4,532 | 25.9 |
Net
Revenue
The
Nuclear Segment realized revenue growth of $5,133,000 or 36.7% for the three
months ended March 31, 2009 over the same period in 2008. In the
second quarter of 2008, our M&EC subsidiary was awarded a subcontract by
CHPRC to perform a portion of facility operations and waste management
activities for the DOE Hanford, Washington Site. Operations of this
subcontract commenced at the DOE Hanford Site on October 1, 2008. We
believe full operations under this subcontract will result in revenues for
on-site and off-site work of approximately $200,000,000 to $250,000,000 over the
five year based period. This subcontract is a cost plus award fee
subcontract. Revenue from CHPRC totaled $10,748,000 or 48.8% of our
total revenue from continuing operations, which include approximately $7,538,000
of revenue under this CHPRC subcontract at M&EC. Effective
October 1, 2008, CHPRC also began management of waste activities previously
under Fluor Hanford, DOE’s general contractor at the Hanford Site prior to
CHPRC. Our Nuclear Segment had three previous subcontracts with Fluor
Hanford. These three subcontracts have since been renegotiated by
CHPRC to September 30, 2013. Revenue from government generators,
excluding CHPRC and Fluor Hanford as discussed above, decreased $1,657,000 or
26.2% due primarily to lower volume received. Revenue from government
generator in the quarter ended March 31, 2009 included approximately $606,000 as
compared to approximately $1,552,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 of
revenue from LATA/Parallax, a contractor to the DOE. In 2006, our
M&EC facility was awarded a subcontract by LATA/Parallax to treat DOE
special process wastes from the DOE Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant located
in Pikerton, Ohio. The significant decrease in revenue from
LATA/Parallax is due to significant progress made by LATA/Parallax in completing
the legacy waste at the Portsmouth plant. This subcontract has been
extended through September 30, 2009. Revenue from hazardous and
non-hazardous waste was up approximately $103,000 or 12.0% due primarily to
higher remediation revenue generated in the first quarter of 2009 as compared to
the corresponding period of 2008. Other nuclear waste revenue
decreased approximately $2,295,000 or 45.7% primarily due to lower receipts in
the first quarter of 2009. In addition, other nuclear wastes in 2008
included a shipment of high activity and high margin waste of approximately
$2,700,000 which we did not receive in 2009. Revenue from our
Industrial Segment decreased $478,000 or 18.5% due to lower oil sales revenue
resulting from both decreased volume and average price per gallon of 13.7% and
8.5%, respectively. In addition, commercial revenue was down due to
less field service work in the first quarter of 2009 as compared to first
quarter of 2008 resulting from the slow down in the economy. Revenue
in our Engineering Segment decreased approximately $123,000 or 13.6% due
primarily to decreased billable hours of 16.0% with average billing rate
remaining flat.
30
Cost
of Goods Sold
Cost of
goods sold increased $3,890,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared
to the quarter ended March 31, 2008, as follows:
(In thousands)
|
2009
|
%
Revenue
|
2008
|
%
Revenue
|
Change
|
|||||||||||||||
Nuclear
|
$ | 14,822 | 77.5 | $ | 10,427 | 74.6 | $ | 4,395 | ||||||||||||
Industrial
|
1,539 | 73.0 | 1,950 | 75.4 | (411 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Engineering
|
553 | 71.0 | 647 | 71.7 | (94 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Total
|
$ | 16,914 | 76.9 | $ | 13,024 | 74.6 | 3,890 |
The
Nuclear Segment’s costs of goods sold for the three months ended March 31, 2009
were up $4,395,000 or 42.2%. The cost of goods sold within our
Nuclear Segment includes approximately $6,026,000 in cost of good sold related
to the subcontract awarded to our M&EC facility by CHPRC in the second
quarter of 2008. Costs as a percentage of revenue were up
approximately 2.9% which reflected the revenue mix, as a higher percentage of
total revenue within our Nuclear Segment was generated from the higher cost
CHPRC subcontract. In the Industrial Segment, cost of goods sold
decreased $411,000 or 21.1% due primarily to lower material and supply costs,
disposal costs, and payroll related costs resulting from lower revenue and our
efforts to reduce costs within the Segment due to the weaker economic
environment. Engineering Segment costs decreased approximately
$94,000 or 14.5% due to primarily to decreased revenue. Cost as a
percent of revenue remained constant. Included within cost of goods
sold is depreciation and amortization expense of $1,123,000 and $1,093,000 for
the three months ended March 31, 2009, and 2008, respectively.
Gross
Profit
Gross
profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 increased $642,000 over 2008, as
follows:
(In thousands)
|
2009
|
%
Revenue
|
2008
|
%
Revenue
|
Change
|
|||||||||||||||
Nuclear
|
$ | 4,292 | 22.5 | $ | 3,554 | 25.4 | $ | 738 | ||||||||||||
Industrial
|
570 | 27.0 | 637 | 24.6 | (67 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Engineering
|
226 | 29.0 | 255 | 28.3 | (29 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Total
|
$ | 5,088 | 23.1 | $ | 4,446 | 25.4 | 642 |
The
Nuclear Segment gross profit increased $738,000, which includes gross profit of
approximately $1,512,000 related to the subcontract awarded to our M&EC
facility by CHPRC in the second quarter of 2008. The decrease in
gross margin was due primarily to revenue mix as our total Nuclear Segment
revenue contained more revenue from the CHPRC subcontract, which carries a lower
gross margin than our treatment revenue. In the Industrial Segment,
gross profit decreased approximately $67,000 or 10.5%. Gross margin
increased to 27.0% in the first quarter of 2009 as compared to 24.6% in the
corresponding period of 2008 despite reduction of revenue of
18.5%. This increase in gross margin reflects the Segment’s continued
efforts to reduce costs despite depreciation expense of $70,000 incurred in the
first quarter of 2009 as compared to $0 for the corresponding period of 2008 as
PFFL, PFO, and PFSG were in discontinued operations during the first quarter of
2008. In addition, the Segment continues its efforts to replace lower
margin revenue stream with higher revenue streams. The
decrease in gross profit in the Engineering Segment was due primarily to lower
revenue resulting from decreased billable hours.
31
Selling,
General and Administrative
Selling,
general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses decreased $121,000 for the
three months ended March 31, 2009, as compared to the corresponding period for
2008, as follows:
(In thousands)
|
2009
|
%
Revenue
|
2008
|
%
Revenue
|
Change
|
|||||||||||||||
Administrative
|
$ | 1,503 | — | $ | 1,288 | — | $ | 215 | ||||||||||||
Nuclear
|
2,178 | 11.4 | 2,380 | 17.0 | (202 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Industrial
|
520 | 24.7 | 666 | 25.7 | (146 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Engineering
|
138 | 17.7 | 126 | 14.0 | 12 | |||||||||||||||
Total
|
$ | 4,339 | 19.7 | $ | 4,460 | 25.5 | $ | (121 | ) |
Our
SG&A in the first quarter of 2009 decreased $121,000 or 2.7% over the
corresponding period of 2008. The increase in administrative SG&A
was the result of higher bonus/incentive accrual for management incentive bonus
(“MIP”) and higher stock option expense due to 1,228,000 options granted to
certain company officers and employees since August 2008. Such
options were not granted in 2007. In addition, outside service
expense relating to daily corporate legal matters, information technology
issues, and facility review matters were higher in the first quarter of
2009. Nuclear Segment SG&A was down approximately $202,000 or
8.5%. This decrease was attributed mainly to lower payroll and bonus/commission
expenses resulting from lower revenue as we continue to streamline our
costs. This decrease was partially offset by increase in bad debt
expense. The decrease in SG&A in the Industrial Segment was
primarily due to lower outside service expense as PFSG and PFO incurred cost
related to certain permit compliance issue and legal matters in 2008,
respectively, which were did not exist in the first quarter of
2009. This decrease was partially offset by additional headcount in
sales and depreciation expense incurred in 2009 which did not exist in 2008 as
PFSG, PFFL, and PFO were in discontinued operations in the first quarter of
2008. The Engineering Segment’s SG&A expense increased
approximately $12,000 in the first quarter of 2009 as compared to the
corresponding period of 2008 due primarily to higher bad debt expense and
advertising/promotional expense. Included in SG&A expenses is
depreciation and amortization expense of $57,000 and $28,000 for the three
months ended March 31, 2009, and 2008, respectively.
Interest
Expense
Interest
expense increased approximately $176,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2009,
as compared to the corresponding period of 2008
(In thousands)
|
2009
|
2008
|
Change
|
|||||||||
PNC
interest
|
$ | 162 | $ | 122 | $ | 40 | ||||||
Other
|
385 | 249 | 136 | |||||||||
Total
|
$ | 547 | $ | 371 | $ | 176 | ||||||
The
increase in the first quarter of 2009 as compared to the corresponding quarter
in 2008 was due primarily to higher interest on our revolver and term note
(reload of term note in August 2008) due to higher average balances by
approximately $2,800,000 and $4,300,000, respectively. In addition,
we incurred higher interest expense relating to certain vendor
invoices. This increase was partially offset lower interest resulting
from payoff of the KeyBank note in December 2008 at our PFNWR facility as well
as lower interest in conjunction with decreasing loan balance for our PDC note
at our M&EC facility.
32
Interest
Expense - Financing Fees
Interest
expense-financing fees decreased approximately $39,000 for the three months
ended March 31, 2009 as compared to the corresponding period of 2008 due
primarily to monthly amortized financing fees associated with PNC revolving
credit and term note for our original debt and subsequent amendments which
became fully amortized in May 2008. This decrease was partially
offset by financing fees paid to PNC for subsequent amendments to our credit
facility entered on August 4, 2008 and March 5, 2009 which are amortized monthly
over the remaining terms of the credit facility which is due July 31,
2012
Interest
Income
Interest
income decreased approximately $17,000 for the three months ended March 31,
2009, as compared to the corresponding period of 2008. This decrease
is primarily the result of lower interest earned on the finite risk sinking fund
due to lower interest rate.
Income
Tax Expense
We have
recorded $9,000 in income tax expense from continuing operations for the three
months ended March 31, 2009 as compared to $0 income tax expense for the
corresponding period of 2008. The effective income tax rate from
continuing operations for the first quarter of 2009 was 3.44% as compared to 0%
for the first quarter of 2008. In determining our interim income tax
provision from continuing operations, we have used the projected full year
income as a basis for determining the Company's overall estimated income tax
expense.
Discontinued
Operations and Divestitures
Our
discontinued operations encompass our Perma-Fix of Maryland, Inc. (“PFMD”),
Perma-Fix of Dayton, Inc. (“PFD”), and Perma-Fix Treatment Services, Inc.
(“PFTS”) facilities within our Industrial Segment, as well as two previously
shut down locations, Perma-Fix of Pittsburgh, Inc. (“PFP”), and Perma-Fix of
Michigan, Inc. (“PFMI”), two facilities which were approved as discontinued
operations by our Board of Directors effective November 8, 2005, and October 4,
2004, respectively.
We
completed the sale of substantially all of the assets of PFMD, PFD, and PFTS on
January 8, 2008, March 14, 2008, and May 30, 2008, respectively.
Our
discontinued Industrial Segment facilities generated revenues of $0 and
$2,387,000 for the period ended March 31, 2009 and 2008, respectively, and had
net operating income of $304,000 and net operating loss of $675,000, net of
taxes, for the same period, respectively. We had a “gain on disposal
of discontinued operations, net of taxes”, of $2,107,000 for the three months
ended March 31, 2008.
Our net
operating income for our discontinued operations for the quarter ended March 31,
2009 included a recovery of approximately $400,000 in closure costs related to
PFTS’s financial assurance bond. In connection with the divestiture
of PFTS, the buyer of PFTS’s assets is required to replace our financial
assurance bond with its own financial assurance mechanism for facility
closures. Our financial assurance bond of $685,000 for PFTS was
required to remain in place until the buyer has provided replacement
coverage. On March 24, 2009, the appropriate regulatory authority
authorized the release of our financial assurance bond of $685,000 for
PFTS. As a result of this authorized financial assurance release, we
recorded a recovery of approximately $400,000 in closure costs for
PFTS.
Assets
and liabilities related to discontinued operations total $711,000 and $2,491,000
as of March 31, 2009, respectively, and $761,000 and $2,994,000 as of December
31, 2008, respectively.
33
Non Operational
Facilities
The
Industrial Segment includes two previously shut-down facilities which were
presented as discontinued operations in prior years. These facilities
include PFP and PFMI. Our decision to discontinue operations at PFP
was due to our reevaluation of the facility and our inability to achieve
profitability at the facility. During February 2006, we completed the
remediation of the leased property and the equipment at PFP, and released the
property back to the owner. Our decision to discontinue operations at
PFMI was principally a result of two fires that significantly disrupted
operations at the facility in 2003, and the facility’s continued drain on the
financial resources of our Industrial Segment. As a result of the
discontinued operations at the PFMI facility, we were required to complete
certain closure and remediation activities pursuant to our RCRA permit, which
were completed in January 2006. In September 2006, PFMI signed a
Corrective Action Consent Order with the State of Michigan, requiring
performance of studies and development and execution of plans related to the
potential clean-up of soils in portions of the property. The level
and cost of the clean-up and remediation are determined by state mandated
requirements. During 2006, based on state-mandated criteria, we began
implementing the modified methodology to remediate the
facility. We
have spent approximately $751,000 for closure costs since discontinuation of
PFMI in October 2004, of which approximately $6,000 was spent during the three
months ended March 31, 2009 and $26,000 was spent during 2008. We
have $532,000 accrued for the closure, as of March 31, 2009, and we anticipate
spending $267,000 in the remaining nine months of 2009, with the remainder over
the next five years. Based
on the current status of the Corrective Action, we believe that the remaining
reserve is adequate to cover the liability.
As of March 31, 2009, PFMI has a pension
payable of
$1,067,000. The
pension plan withdrawal liability is a result of the termination of the union
employees of PFMI. The PFMI union employees participate in the
Central States Teamsters Pension Fund ("CST"), which provides that a partial or
full termination of union employees may result in a withdrawal liability, due
from PFMI to CST. The recorded liability is based upon a demand
letter received from CST in August 2005 that provided for the payment of $22,000
per month over an eight year period. This obligation is recorded as a
long-term liability, with a current portion of $184,000 that we expect to pay
over the next year.
Liquidity
and Capital Resources of the Company
Our
capital requirements consist of general working capital needs, scheduled
principal payments on our debt obligations and capital leases, remediation
projects, and planned capital expenditures. Our capital resources
consist primarily of cash generated from operations, funds available under our
revolving credit facility and proceeds from issuance of our Common
Stock. Our capital resources are impacted by changes in accounts
receivable as a result of revenue fluctuation, economic trends, collection
activities, and the profitability of the segments.
At March
31, 2009, we had cash of $70,000. The following table reflects the
cash flow activities during the first quarter of 2009.
(In thousands)
|
2009
|
|||
Cash
provided by continuing operations
|
$ | 374 | ||
Cash
used in discontinued operations
|
(158 | ) | ||
Cash
used in investing activities of continuing operations
|
(2,989 | ) | ||
Cash
provided by investing activities of discontinued
operations
|
11 | |||
Cash
provided by financing activities of continuing operations
|
2,703 | |||
Decrease
in cash
|
$ | (59 | ) |
We are in
a net borrowing position and therefore attempt to move all excess cash balances
immediately to the revolving credit facility, so as to reduce debt and interest
expense. We utilize a centralized cash management system, which
includes remittance lock boxes and is structured to accelerate collection
activities and reduce cash balances, as idle cash is moved without delay to the
revolving credit facility or the Money Market account, if
applicable. The cash balance at March 31, 2009, primarily represents
minor petty cash and local account balances used for miscellaneous services and
supplies.
Operating
Activities
Accounts
Receivable, net of allowances for doubtful accounts, totaled $13,158,000, a
decrease of $258,000 over the December 31, 2008, balance of
$13,416,000. The Nuclear Segment experienced an increase of
approximately $286,000 due primarily to increase invoicing as the Segment
continues to work toward reducing its unbilled revenue targets. This
increase was offset by lower revenue. The Industrial Segment
experienced a decrease of approximately $613,000 due primarily to a decrease in
revenue along with increase in collection. The Engineering Segment
experienced an increase of approximately $69,000 due mainly to increase in
invoicing.
34
Unbilled
receivables are generated by differences between invoicing timing and the
percentage of completion methodology used for revenue recognition
purposes. As major processing phases are completed and the costs
incurred, we recognize the corresponding percentage of revenue. We
experience delays in processing invoices due to the complexity of the
documentation that is required for invoicing, as well as the difference between
completion of revenue recognition milestones and agreed upon invoicing terms,
which results in unbilled receivables. The timing differences occur
for several reasons: partially from delays in the final processing of
all wastes associated with certain work orders and partially from delays for
analytical testing that is required after we have processed waste but prior to
our release of waste for disposal. The difference also occurs
due to our end disposal sites requirement of pre-approval prior to our shipping
waste for disposal and our contract terms with the customer that we dispose of
the waste prior to invoicing. These delays usually take several
months to complete. As of March 31, 2009, unbilled receivables
totaled $14,883,000, a decrease of $2,079,000 from the December 31, 2008,
balance of $16,962,000, which reflects our continued efforts to reduce this
balance. The delays in processing invoices, as mentioned above,
usually take several months to complete but are normally considered collectible
within twelve months. However, as we now have historical data to
review the timing of these delays, we realize that certain issues, including but
not limited to delays at our third party disposal site, can exacerbate
collection of some of these receivables greater than twelve
months. Therefore, we have segregated the unbilled receivables
between current and long term. The current portion of the unbilled
receivables as of March 31, 2009 is $11,840,000, a decrease of $1,264,000 from
the balance of $13,104,000 as of December 31, 2008. The long term
portion as of March 31, 2009 is $3,043,000, a decrease of $815,000 from the
balance of $3,858,000 as of December 31, 2008.
As of
March 31, 2009, total consolidated accounts payable was $9,636,000, a decrease
of $1,440,000 from the December 31, 2008, balance of $11,076,000. The
decrease was due primarily to payment of our outstanding vendor invoices using
cash generated from our operations. We continue to increase our
invoicing as we work toward reducing our unbilled revenue targets to pay down
our accounts payable, in addition to manage payment terms with our vendors to
maximize our cash position throughout all segments.
Accrued
Expenses as of March 31, 2009, totaled $8,617,000, a decrease of $279,000 over
the December 31, 2008, balance of $8,896,000. Accrued expenses are
made up of accrued compensation, interest payable, insurance payable, certain
tax accruals, and other miscellaneous accruals. The decrease is
primarily due to monthly payment for the Company’s general insurance policies,
closure policy for PFNWR facility, and monthly interest payments under the
amendment to the promissory note entered between our M&EC subsidiary and PDC
on December 28, 2008. This decrease was offset by the renewal of our
director and officer insurance.
Disposal/transportation
accrual as of March 31, 2009, totaled $5,222,000, a decrease of $625,000 over
the December 31, 2008 balance of $5,847,000. The decrease is mainly
attributed to the reduction of the legacy waste accrual at PFNWR
facility.
Our
working capital position at March 31, 2008 was a negative $2,301,000, which
includes working capital of our discontinued operations, as compared to a
negative working capital of $3,886,000 as of December 31, 2008. The
improvement in our working capital was primarily the result of the reduction in
our current unbilled receivable of approximately $1,264,000 as we continue our
efforts to invoice our customers. In addition, we continue to reduce
our account payables and other current debts by utilizing funds generated by our
operations. Our working capital in the first quarter of 2009 was also
impacted by the annual cash payment to the finite risk sinking fund of
$1,004,000 and capital spending of approximately $304,000.
35
Investing
Activities
Our
purchases of capital equipment for the three months period ended March 31, 2009,
totaled approximately $304,000. These expenditures were for
improvements to operations primarily within the Nuclear and Industrial
Segments. These capital expenditures were funded by the cash provided
by operations. We have budgeted capital expenditures of approximately $1,300,000
for fiscal year 2009 for our operating segments to reduce the cost of waste
processing and handling, expand the range of wastes that can be accepted for
treatment and processing, and to maintain permit compliance
requirements. Certain of these budgeted projects are discretionary
and may either be delayed until later in the year or deferred
altogether. We have traditionally incurred actual capital spending
totals for a given year less than the initial budget amount. The
initiation and timing of projects are also determined by financing alternatives
or funds available for such capital projects. We anticipate
funding these capital expenditures by a combination of lease financing and
internally generated funds.
In June
2003, we entered into a 25-year finite risk insurance policy with American
International Group, Inc. (“AIG”), which provides financial assurance to the
applicable states for our permitted facilities in the event of unforeseen
closure. Prior to obtaining or renewing operating permits, we are
required to provide financial assurance that guarantees to the states that in
the event of closure, our permitted facilities will be closed in accordance with
the regulations. The policy provided an initial maximum $35,000,000
of financial assurance coverage and has available capacity to allow for annual
inflation and other performance and surety bond requirements. Our
initial finite risk insurance policy required an upfront payment of $4,000,000,
of which $2,766,000 represented the full premium for the 25-year term of the
policy, and the remaining $1,234,000, was deposited in a sinking fund account
representing a restricted cash account. We are required to make seven
annual installments, as amended, of $1,004,000, of which $991,000 is to be
deposited in the sinking fund account, with the remaining $13,000 represents a
terrorism premium. In addition, we are required to make a final
payment of $2,008,000, of which $1,982,000 is to be deposited in the sinking
fund account, with the remaining $26,000 represents a terrorism
premium. In March 2009, we paid our sixth of the eight required
remaining payments. In March 2009, we secured additional financial
assurance coverage of approximately $5,421,000 with AIG which will enable our
DSSI facility to receive and process wastes under a permit issued by the U.S.
EPA Region 4 on November 26, 2008 to commercially store and dispose of
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (“PCBs”). DSSI began the permitting process
to add TSCA regulated wastes, namely PCBs, containing radioactive constituents
to its authorization in 2004 in order to meet the demand for the treatment of
government and commercially generated radioactive PCB wastes. We
secured this additional financial assurance coverage requirement by increasing
our initial 25-year finite risk insurance policy with AIG from maximum policy
coverage of $35,000,000 to $39,000,000, of which our total financial coverage
amounts to $35,871,000 as of March 31, 2009. Payment for this
additional financial assurance coverage requires a total payment of
approximately $5,219,000, consisting of an upfront payment of $2,000,000, of
which approximately $1,655,000 will be deposited into a sinking fund account,
with the remaining representing fee payable to AIG. In addition, we
are required to make three yearly payments of approximately $1,073,000 starting
December 31, 2009, of which $888,000 will be deposited into a sinking fund
account, with the remaining to represent fee payable to AIG. We made
our initial $2,000,000 payment to AIG on March 6, 2009 from funds made available
from an Amendment to our loan Agreement entered between us, our subsidiary, and
PNC Bank, National Association, on March 5, 2009 (see “Financing Activities” in
this section for the Amendment made with PNC Bank).
As of
March 31, 2009, we have recorded $9,591,000 in our sinking fund related to this
policy above on the balance sheet, which includes interest earned of $757,000 on
the sinking fund as of March 31, 2009. Interest income for the three
month ended March 31, 2009 was $26,000. On the fourth and subsequent
anniversaries of the contract inception, we may elect to terminate this
contract. If we so elect, the Insurer is obligated to pay us an
amount equal to 100% of the sinking fund account balance in return for complete
releases of liability from both us and any applicable regulatory agency using
this policy as an instrument to comply with financial assurance
requirements.
36
In August
2007, we entered into a second finite risk insurance policy for our PFNWR
facility, which we acquired in June 2007, with American International Group
(“AIG”). The policy provides an initial $7,800,000 of financial
assurance coverage with annual growth rate of 1.5%, which at the end of the four
year term policy, will provide maximum coverage of $8,200,000. The
policy will renew automatically on an annual basis at the end of the four year
term and will not be subject to any renewal fees. The policy requires
total payment of $7,158,000, consisting of an annual payment of $1,363,000, two
annual payments of $1,520,000, starting July 31, 2007 and an additional
$2,755,000 payment to be made in five quarterly payments of $551,000 beginning
September 2007. In July 2007, we paid the $1,363,000, of which
$1,106,000 represented premium on the policy and the remaining was deposited
into a sinking fund account. In July 2008, we paid the first of the
two $1,520,000 payments, with $1,344,000 deposited into a sinking fund account
and the remaining representing premium. We have made all of the
five quarterly payments which were deposited into a sinking fund. As
of March 31, 2009, we have recorded $4,451,000 in our sinking fund related to
this policy on the balance sheet, which includes interest earned of $96,000 on
the sinking fund as of March 31, 2009. Interest income for the three
months ended March 31, 2009 totaled $25,000.
It has
been previously reported that AIG has experienced financial difficulties and is
continuing to experience financial difficulties. In the event of
failure of AIG, this could significantly impact our operations and our
permits.
On July
28, 2006, our Board of Directors has authorized a common stock repurchase
program to purchase up to $2,000,000 of our Common Stock, through open market
and privately negotiated transactions, with the timing, the amount of repurchase
transactions and the prices paid under the program as deemed appropriate by
management and dependent on market conditions and corporate and regulatory
considerations. We plan to fund any repurchases under this program
through our internal cash flow and/or borrowing under our line of
credit. As of the date of this report, we have not repurchased any of
our Common Stock under the program as we continue to evaluate this repurchase
program within our internal cash flow and/or borrowings under our line of
credit.
Financing
Activities
On
December 22, 2000, we entered into a Revolving Credit, Term Loan and Security
Agreement ("Agreement") with PNC Bank, National Association, a national banking
association ("PNC") acting as agent ("Agent") for lenders, and as issuing bank,
as amended. The Agreement provided for a term loan ("Term Loan") in
the amount of $7,000,000, which required monthly installments of $83,000. The
Agreement also provided for a revolving line of credit ("Revolving Credit") with
a maximum principal amount outstanding at any one time of $18,000,000, as
amended. The Revolving Credit advances are subject to limitations of
an amount up to the sum of (a) up to 85% of Commercial Receivables aged 90 days
or less from invoice date, (b) up to 85% of Commercial Broker Receivables aged
up to 120 days from invoice date, (c) up to 85% of acceptable Government Agency
Receivables aged up to 150 days from invoice date, and (d) up to 50% of
acceptable unbilled amounts aged up to 60 days, less (e) reserves the Agent
reasonably deems proper and necessary. As of March 31, 2009, the
excess availability under our Revolving Credit was $4,381,000 based on our
eligible receivables.
Pursuant
to the Agreement, as amended, we may terminate the Agreement upon 90 days’ prior
written notice upon payment in full of the obligation. We agreed to
pay PNC 1% of the total financing in the event we pay off our obligations on or
prior to August 4, 2009 and 1/2 % of the total financing if we pay off our
obligations on or after August 5, 2009, but prior to August 4,
2010. No early termination fee shall apply if we pay off our
obligations after August 5, 2010.
On March
5, 2009, we entered into an Amendment with PNC Bank to our
Agreement. This Amendment increased our borrowing availability by
approximately an additional $2,200,000. In addition, pursuant to the
Amendment, monthly interest due on our revolving line of credit was amended from
prime plus 1/2% to prime plus 2.0% and monthly interest due on our Term Loan was
amended from prime plus 1.0% to prime plus 2.5%. The Company also has
the option to pay monthly interest due on the revolving line of credit by using
the LIBOR, with the minimum floor base LIBOR rate of 2.5%, plus 3.0% and to pay
monthly interest due on the Term Loan using the minimum floor base LIBOR of
2.5%, plus 3.5%. In addition, pursuant to the Amendment, the fixed
charge coverage ratio was amended to reduce the availability monthly by
$48,000. The Amendment also allowed us to retain funds received from
the sale of our PFO property which was completed in the fourth quarter of
2008. All other terms and conditions to the credit facility remain
principally unchanged. As a condition of this Amendment, we agreed to
pay PNC a fee of $25,000. Funds made available under this Amendment
were used to secure the additional financial assurance coverage needed by our
DSSI subsidiary to operate under the PCB permit issued by the EPA on November
26, 2008.
37
In
acquiring our M&EC subsidiary, M&EC issued a promissory note in the
principal amount of $3,700,000, together with interest at an annual rate equal
to the applicable law rate pursuant to Section 6621 of the Internal Revenue
Code, to Performance Development Corporation (“PDC”), dated June 25, 2001, for
monies advanced to M&EC by PDC and certain services performed by PDC on
behalf of M&EC prior to our acquisition of M&EC. The
principal amount of the promissory note was payable over eight years on a
semiannual basis on June 30 and December 31, with a final principal payment to
be made by December 31, 2008. All accrued and unpaid interest on the
promissory note was payable in one lump sum on December 31, 2008. PDC
directed M&EC to make all payments under the promissory note directly to the
IRS to be applied to PDC’s obligations to the IRS. On December 29,
2008, M&EC and PDC entered into an amendment to the promissory note, whereby
the outstanding principal and accrued interest due under the promissory note
totaling approximately $3,066,000 is to be paid in the following
installments: $500,000 payment to be made by December 31, 2008 and
five monthly payment of $100,000 to be made starting January 27, 2009, with the
balance consisting of accrued and unpaid interest due on June 30,
2009. We made the $500,000 payment on December 31, 2008 and have made
three of the five monthly payments of $100,000 as of March 31,
2009. Interest is to continue to accrue at the applicable law rate
pursuant to the provisions of section 6621 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
as amended. We have been directed by PDC to make all payments under
the promissory note, as amended, directly to the IRS to be applied to PDC’s
obligations under its obligations with the IRS. As of March 31, 2009,
the outstanding balance due under the promissory note to PDC, as amended, was
approximately $2,309,000, which consists of interest only.
In
acquiring PFNW (f/n/a “Nuvotec”) and PFNWR (f/k/a Pacific EcoSolutions, Inc.
(“PEcoS”)), we agreed to pay shareholders of Nuvotec that qualified as
accredited investors pursuant to Rule 501 of Regulation D promulgated under the
Securities Act of 1933, $2,500,000, with principal payable in equal installment
of $833,333 on June 30, 2009, June 30, 2010, and June 30,
2011. Interest is accrued on outstanding principal balance at 8.25%
starting in June 2007 and is payable on June 30, 2008, June 30, 2009, June 30,
2010, and June 30, 2011. As of March 31, 2008, Interest paid totaled
approximately $216,000. Interest accrued as of March 31, 2009 totaled
approximately $155,000.
In
connection with the acquisition of PFNW and PFNWR in 2007, we could be required
to pay an earn-out amount not to exceed $4,552,000 over a four year period,
pursuant to the Merger Agreement, as amended, with the first $1,000,000 of the
earn-out amount to be placed into an escrow account to satisfy any
indemnification obligations to us of Nuvotec, PEcoS, and the former shareholders
of Nuvotec. The earn-out amounts will be earned if certain annual
revenue targets are met by the Company’s consolidated Nuclear
Segment. We anticipate that all or a portion of the first $1,000,000
of the earn-out amount could be placed in an escrow account during the later
part of 2009 to satisfy any indemnification obligations under the
Agreement.
38
On April
8, 2009, the Company filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the
SEC. The shelf registration statement, if and when declared effective
by the SEC, would give the Company the ability to sell up to 5,000,000 shares of
its Common Stock. After the shelf registration is declared effective
by the SEC, the Common Stock may be sold from time to time and through one or
more methods of distribution, subject to market conditions and the Company’s
capital needs, and any sales of securities through the registration statement
will be used for general working capital requirements and/or to fund possible
acquisitions or investments. Under the terms of our existing credit
facility, we are required to maintain such investments with our lender or its
affiliates, which will serve as additional collateral under our credit
facility. The terms of any offering would be established at the time
of the offering. The shelf registration was put in place given the
current market environment, as it provides the Company greater financial
flexibility in the event we identify strategic opportunities that may require
additional capital. The registration statement referred to above has
not become effective. These securities covered by this registration
statement may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time
the registration statement become effective. The above reference to
the registration statement shall not constitute an offer to sell or a
solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities
in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior
to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such
state.
Loan
and Securities Purchase Agreement
The Audit
Committee of the Company recommended to the Board of Directors, and the
Company’s Board of Director approved, the Company entering into a Loan and
Securities Purchase Agreement (“Agreement”) with Mr. William N. Lampson and Mr.
Diehl Rettig. As a result of such approval, the parties have executed
the Agreement. Under the Agreement, Messrs. Lampson and Rettig
(collectively, the “Lenders”) have loaned us $3,000,000 pursuant to the terms of
the Agreement. Mr. Lampson was formerly a major shareholder of
Nuvotec USA, Inc. (n/k/a Perma-Fix Northwest, Inc. (“PFNWR”)) and its wholly
owned subsidiary, Pacific EcoSolution, Inc. (n/k/a Perma-Fix Northwest Richland,
Inc. (“PFNWR”)) prior to our acquisition of PFNW and PFNWR, and Mr. Rettig was
formerly a shareholder of, and counsel for, Nuvotec USA, Inc. at the time of our
acquisition. The Company has entered into a Promissory Note (“Note”)
in the amount of $3,000,000 with the Lenders. The proceeds of the
loan are to be used primarily to pay off a certain promissory note, dated June
25, 2001, as amended on December 28, 2008, entered into by our M&EC
subsidiary with Performance Development Corporation (“PDC”), with the remaining
funds, if any, used for working capital purposes. The balance of the
PDC promissory was approximately $2,309,000 as of March 31, 2009. The
Agreement and the Note provide for monthly principal repayment of approximately
$87,000 plus accrued interest, starting June 8, 2009, and on the 8th day of each
month thereafter, with interest payable at LIBOR plus 4.5%, with LIBOR of at
least 1.5%. Any unpaid principal balance along with accrued interest
is due May 8, 2011. The Note may be prepaid at anytime by the Company
without penalty.
The
Agreement provides that, in consideration of the Company receiving the loan, the
Company is to issue to Messrs. Lampson and Rettig, pursuant to an exemption from
registration under Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
“Act”), and/or Rule 506of Regulation D promulgated under the Act, within five
business days following the closing date of the loan an aggregate of 200,000
shares of the Company’s Common Stock (“Shares”) and two Warrants to purchase up
to an aggregate 150,000 shares of the Company’s Common Stock (“Warrant Shares”)
at an exercise price of $1.50 per share, with Mr. Lampson receiving 180,000
Shares and a Warrant to purchase up to an aggregate of 135,000 Warrant Shares
and Mr. Rettig receiving 20,000 Shares and a Warrant to purchase up to an
aggregate of 15,000 Warrant Shares. In addition, under the terms of
the Agreement and Note, if the Company defaults in payment of any principal or
interest under the Note and such default continues for 30 days, the Lenders
shall have the right to declare the Note immediately due and payable and to have
payment of the remaining unpaid principal amount and accrued interest (“Payoff
Amount”) in one of the two methods, at their option:
·
|
in
cash, or
|
39
|
·
|
subject
to certain limitations and pursuant to an exemption from registration
under Section 4(2) of the Act and/or Rule 506 of Regulation D, in shares
of Company Common Stock, with the number of shares to be issued determined
by dividing the unpaid principal balance as of the date of default, plus
accrued interest, by a dollar amount equal to the closing bid price of the
Company’s Common Stock on the date of default as reported on the National
Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System (“NASDAQ”)
(“Payoff Shares”). The Payoff Amount is to be paid as
follows: 90% to Mr. Lampson and 10% to Mr.
Rettig.
|
The
aggregate number of Shares, Warrant Shares, and Payoff Shares that are to be
issued to the Lenders under the Agreement and Note, together with the aggregate
shares of the Company’s Common Stock and other Company voting securities owned
by the Lenders as of the date of issuance of the Payoff Shares, if any, shall
not exceed:
|
·
|
the
number of shares equal to 19.9% of the number of shares of the Company’s
Common Stock issued and outstanding as of the date of the Agreement,
or
|
|
·
|
19.9%
of the voting power of all of the Company’s voting securities issued and
outstanding as of the date of the
Agreement.
|
In
summary, our continued efforts to reduce our unbilled receivables and funds
generated from our operations have positively impacted our working capital in
the first quarter of 2009. We continue to take steps to improve our
operations and liquidity and to invest working capital into our facilities to
fund capital additions our Segments. Although there are no
assurances, we believe that our cash flows from operations and our available
liquidity from our line of credit are sufficient to service the Company’s
current obligations.
Contractual
Obligations
The
following table summarizes our contractual obligations at March 31, 2009, and
the effect such obligations are expected to have on our liquidity and cash flow
in future periods, (in thousands):
Payments due by period
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Contractual Obligations
|
Total
|
2009
|
2010-
2012
|
2013 -
2014
|
After
2014
|
|||||||||||||||
Long-term
debt
|
$ | 18,908 | $ | 1,723 | $ | 17,175 | $ | 10 | $ | — | ||||||||||
Interest
on long-term debt (1)
|
2,574 | 2,368 | 206 | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Interest
on variable rate debt (2)
|
2,360 | 652 | 1,708 | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Operating
leases
|
2,155 | 613 | 1,311 | 231 | — | |||||||||||||||
Finite
risk policy (3)
|
7,752 | 2,594 | 5,158 | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Pension
withdrawal liability (4)
|
1,067 | 109 | 635 | 323 | — | |||||||||||||||
Environmental
contingencies (5)
|
1,736 | 485 | 812 | 329 | 110 | |||||||||||||||
Earn
Out Amount - PFNWR (6)
|
— | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Purchase
obligations (7)
|
— | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Total
contractual obligations
|
$ | 36,552 | $ | 8,544 | $ | 27,005 | $ | 893 | $ | 110 |
(1)
|
Our
PDC Note agreements dated June 2001, as amended on December 29, 2008, call
for the remaining balance of approximately $2,309,000 which consists of
interest, to be paid by June 30, 2009. Two monthly remaining
payments of $100,000 are due April 27, 2009 and May 27, 2009, with the
final balance due June 30, 2009. Interest is to be accrued at
the applicable rate pursuant to the term of the original
note. In conjunction with our acquisition of PFNWR, which was
completed on June 13, 2007, we agreed to pay shareholders of Nuvotec that
qualified as accredited investors pursuant to Rule 501 of Regulation D
promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, $2,500,000, with principal
payable in equal installment of $833,333 on June 30, 2009, June 30, 2010,
and June 30, 2011. Interest is accrued on outstanding principal
balance at 8.25% starting in June 2007 and is payable on June 30, 2008,
June 30, 2009, June 30, 2010, and June 30,
2011.
|
40
(2)
|
We
have variable interest rates on our Term Loan and Revolving Credit of 2.5%
and 2.0% over the prime rate of interest, as amended, respectively, or
variable interest rates on our Term Loan and Revolving Credit of 3.5% and
3.0% over the minimum floor base LIBOR of 2.5%, and as such we have made
certain assumptions in estimating future interest payments on this
variable interest rate debt. Our calculation of interests on our Term Loan
and Revolving Credit was estimated using the more current favorable prime
rate method and we assumed an increase in prime rate of 1/2% in each of
the years 2009 through July
2012.
|
(3)
|
Our
finite risk insurance policy provides financial assurance guarantees to
the states in the event of unforeseen closure of our permitted
facilities. See Liquidity and Capital Resources – Investing
activities earlier in this Management’s Discussion and Analysis for
further discussion on our finite risk
policy.
|
(4)
|
The
pension withdrawal liability is the estimated liability to us upon
termination of our union employees at our discontinued operation,
PFMI. See Discontinued Operations earlier in this section for
discussion on our discontinued
operation.
|
(5)
|
The
environmental contingencies and related assumptions are discussed further
in the Environmental Contingencies section of this Management’s Discussion
and Analysis, and are based on estimated cash flow spending for these
liabilities. The environmental contingencies noted are for
PFMI, PFM, PFSG, and PFD, which are the financial obligations of the
Company. The environmental liability, as it relates to the
remediation of the EPS site assumed by the Company as a result of the
original acquisition of the PFD facility, was retained by the Company upon
the sale of PFD in March 2008.
|
(6)
|
In
connection with the acquisition of PFNW and PFNWR in 2007, we could be
required to pay an earn-out amount not to exceed $4,552,000 over a four
year period from the date of the acquisition, pursuant to the Merger
Agreement, as amended, with the first $1,000,000 of the earn-out amount to
be placed into an escrow account to satisfy any indemnification
obligations to us of Nuvotec, PEcoS, and the former shareholders of
Nuvotec. The earn-out amounts will be earned if certain annual
revenue targets are met by the Company’s consolidated Nuclear
Segment. We anticipate that all or a portion of the first
$1,000,000 of the earn-out amount could be placed in an escrow account
during the later part of 2009 to satisfy any indemnification obligations
under the Agreement.
|
(7)
|
We
are not a party to any significant long-term service or supply contracts
with respect to our processes. We refrain from entering into
any long-term purchase commitments in the ordinary course of
business.
|
Critical
Accounting Estimates
In
preparing the consolidated financial statements in conformity with generally
accepted accounting principles in the United States of America, management makes
estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and
liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of
the financial statements, as well as, the reported amounts of revenues and
expenses during the reporting period. We believe the following
critical accounting policies affect the more significant estimates used in
preparation of the consolidated financial statements:
41
Revenue Recognition
Estimates. We utilize a percentage of completion methodology
for purposes of revenue recognition in our Nuclear Segment. As we
accept more complex waste streams in this segment, the treatment of those waste
streams becomes more complicated and time consuming. We have
continued to enhance our waste tracking capabilities and systems, which has
enabled us to better match the revenue earned to the processing phases
achieved. The major processing phases are receipt,
treatment/processing and shipment/final disposition. Upon receiving
mixed waste we recognize a certain percentage (ranging from 20% to 33%) of
revenue as we incur costs for transportation, analytical and labor associated
with the receipt of mixed wastes. As the waste is processed, shipped
and disposed of we recognize the remaining revenue and the associated costs of
transportation and burial. The waste streams in our Industrial
Segment are much less complicated, and services are rendered shortly after
receipt, as such we do not use percentage of completion estimates in our
Industrial segment. We review and evaluate our revenue recognition
estimates and policies on a quarterly basis. Under our subcontract
awarded by CHPRC in 2008, we are reimbursed for costs incurred plus a certain
percentage markup for indirect costs, in accordance with contract
provision. Costs incurred on excess of contract funding may be
renegotiated for reimbursement. We also earn a fee based on the
approved costs to complete the contract. We recognize this fee using
the proportion of costs incurred to total estimated contract costs.
Allowance for Doubtful
Accounts. The carrying amount of accounts receivable is
reduced by an allowance for doubtful accounts, which is a valuation allowance
that reflects management's best estimate of the amounts that are
uncollectible. We regularly review all accounts receivable balances
that exceed 60 days from the invoice date and based on an assessment of current
credit worthiness, estimate the portion, if any, of the balances that are
uncollectible. Specific accounts that are deemed to be uncollectible
are reserved at 100% of their outstanding balance. The remaining
balances aged over 60 days have a percentage applied by aging category (5% for
balances 61-90 days, 20% for balances 91-120 days and 40% for balances over 120
days aged), based on a historical valuation, that allows us to calculate the
total reserve required. This allowance was approximately 0.4% of revenue for
2008 and 2.4%, of accounts receivable as of December 31,
2008. Additionally, this allowance was approximately 0.3% of revenue
for 2007 and 1.3% of accounts receivable as of December 31, 2007.
Intangible
Assets. Intangible assets relating to acquired businesses
consist primarily of the cost of purchased businesses in excess of the estimated
fair value of net identifiable assets acquired or goodwill and the recognized
value of the permits required to operate the business. We continually
reevaluate the propriety of the carrying amount of permits and goodwill to
determine whether current events and circumstances warrant adjustments to the
carrying value. We test each Segment’s (or Reporting Unit’s) goodwill
and permits, separately, for impairment, annually as of October
1. Our annual impairment test as of October 1, 2008 and 2007 resulted
in no impairment of goodwill and permits. The methodology utilized in
performing this test estimates the fair value of our operating segments using a
discounted cash flow valuation approach. Those cash flow estimates
incorporate assumptions that marketplace participants would use in their
estimates of fair value. The most significant assumptions used in the
discounted cash flow valuation regarding each of the Segment’s fair value in
connection with goodwill valuations are: (1) detailed five year cash
flow projections, (2) the risk adjusted discount rate, and (3) the expected
long-term growth rate. The primary drivers of the cash flow
projection in 2008 included sales revenue and projected margin which are based
on our current revenue, projected government funding as it relates to our
existing government contracts and future revenue expected as part of the
government stimulus plan. The risk adjusted discount rate represents
the weighted average cost of capital and is established based on (1) the 20 year
risk-free rate, which is impacted by events external to our business, such as
investor expectation regarding economic activity (2) our required rate of return
on equity, and (3) the current after tax rate of return on debt. In
valuing our goodwill for 2008, risk adjusted discount rate of 18% was used for
the Nuclear and Industrial Segment and 16% for our Engineering
Segment. As of December 31, 2008, the fair value of our reporting
units exceeds carrying value by approximately $6,616,000, $616,000, and
$3,329,000 above its carrying value for the Nuclear, Engineering, and Industrial
Segment, respectively.
42
Property
and Equipment
Property
and equipment expenditures are capitalized and depreciated using the
straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets for financial
statement purposes, while accelerated depreciation methods are principally used
for income tax purposes. Generally, annual depreciation rates range
from ten to forty years for buildings (including improvements and asset
retirement costs) and three to seven years for office furniture and equipment,
vehicles, and decontamination and processing equipment. Leasehold
improvements are capitalized and amortized over the lesser of the term of the
lease or the life of the asset. Maintenance and repairs are charged
directly to expense as incurred. The cost and accumulated
depreciation of assets sold or retired are removed from the respective accounts,
and any gain or loss from sale or retirement is recognized in the accompanying
consolidated statements of operations. Renewals and improvement, which extend
the useful lives of the assets, are capitalized. We include within
buildings, asset retirement obligations, which represents our best estimates of
the cost to close, at some undetermined future date, our permitted and/or
licensed facilities. In the first quarter of 2009, due to change in
estimate of the costs to close our DSSI facility based on federal/state
regulatory guidelines, we increased our asset retirement obligation (“ARO”) by
$1,980,000 for our DSSI facility, which will be depreciated prospectively over
the remaining life of the asset, in accordance with SFAS No. 143 “Accounting for
Asset Retirement Obligations”. This change in estimate resulted from
the permit that our DSSI facility received from the U.S. EPA Region 4 in
November 2008 which will enable the facility to commercially store and dispose
of PCBs.
Accrued Closure Costs.
Accrued closure costs represent a contingent environmental liability to clean up
a facility in the event we cease operations in an existing
facility. The accrued closure costs are estimates based on guidelines
developed by federal and/or state regulatory authorities under Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”). Such costs are evaluated
annually and adjusted for inflationary factors (for 2009, the average
inflationary factor was approximately 1.02%) and for approved changes or
expansions to the facilities. Increases or decreases in accrued closure costs
resulting from changes or expansions at the facilities are determined based on
specific RCRA guidelines applied to the requested change. This
calculation includes certain estimates, such as disposal pricing, external
labor, analytical costs and processing costs, which are based on current market
conditions. Except for the Michigan and Pittsburgh facilities, we
have no current intention to close any of our facilities.
Accrued Environmental
Liabilities. We have four remediation projects currently in
progress. The current and long-term accrual amounts for the projects
are our best estimates based on proposed or approved processes for
clean-up. The circumstances that could affect the outcome range from
new technologies that are being developed every day to reduce our overall costs,
to increased contamination levels that could arise as we complete remediation
which could increase our costs, neither of which we anticipate at this
time. In addition, significant changes in regulations could adversely
or favorably affect our costs to remediate existing sites or potential future
sites, which cannot be reasonably quantified. In connection with the
sale of our PFD facility in March 2008, the Company has retained the
environmental liability for the remediation of an independent site known as
EPS. This liability was assumed by the Company as a result of the
original acquisition of the PFD facility. The environmental
liabilities of PFM, PFMI, PFSG, and PFD remain the financial obligations of the
Company.
Disposal/Transportation
Costs. We accrue for waste disposal based upon a physical count of the
total waste at each facility at the end of each accounting
period. Current market prices for transportation and disposal costs
are applied to the end of period waste inventories to calculate the disposal
accrual. Costs are calculated using current costs for disposal, but
economic trends could materially affect our actual costs for
disposal. As there are limited disposal sites available to us, a
change in the number of available sites or an increase or decrease in demand for
the existing disposal areas could significantly affect the actual disposal costs
either positively or negatively.
Share-Based
Compensation. On January 1, 2006, we adopted Financial
Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Statement No. 123 (revised)
(“SFAS 123R”), “Share-Based Payment”, a revision of FASB Statement No. 123,
“Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation”, superseding APB Opinion No. 25,
“Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees”, and its related implementation
guidance. This Statement establishes accounting standards for entity
exchanges of equity instruments for goods or services. It also
addresses transactions in which an entity incurs liabilities in exchange for
goods or services that are based on the fair value of the entity’s equity
instruments or that may be settled by the issuance of those equity
instruments. SFAS 123R requires all share-based payments to
employees, including grants of employee stock options, to be recognized in the
income statement based on their fair values. Pro forma disclosure is no longer
an alternative upon adopting SFAS 123R. We adopted SFAS 123R
utilizing the modified prospective method in which compensation cost is
recognized beginning with the effective date based on SFAS 123R
requirements for all (a) share-based payments granted after the effective date
and (b) awards granted to employees prior to the effective date of
SFAS 123R that remain unvested on the effective date. In
accordance with the modified prospective method, the consolidated financial
statements for prior periods have not been restated to reflect, and do not
include, the impact of SFAS 123R.
43
We
estimate compensation expense based on the fair value at grant date for our
employee and director options using the Black-Scholes valuation model and have
recognized compensation expense using a straight-line amortization method over
the vesting period. As SFAS 123R requires that stock-based
compensation expense be based on options that are ultimately expected to vest,
our stock-based compensation is reduced for estimated forfeiture
rates. When estimating forfeitures, we considered historical trends
of actual option forfeitures. Forfeiture rates are evaluated, and
revised when necessary. For the February 26, 2009 option grants to
our new CFO and certain employees working under our CHPRC subcontract, we
estimated forfeiture rate of 0.0% for both grants for the first year of
vesting. Our estimated forfeiture rate is based on historical trends
of actual forfeitures for similar positions.
Our
computation of expected volatility used to calculate the fair value of options
granted using the Black-Scholes valuation model is based on historical
volatility from our traded Common Stock over the expected term of the option
grants. For our employee option grants made prior to 2008 (we had no
option grant to employees in 2007), we used the simplified method, defined in
the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 107, to calculate the expected
term. For our employee option grants made since 2008, we computed the
expected term based on historical exercises and post-vesting
data. For the December 2008 and February 2009 option grants made to
employees working under the CHPRC subcontract, we computed the expected term
using the subcontract term of five years as our basis. For our
director option grants, the expected term is calculated based on historical
exercise and post-vesting data. The interest rate for periods within
the contractual life of the award is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve
in effect at the time of grant.
Known
Trends and Uncertainties
Seasonality. Historically,
we have experienced reduced activities and related billable hours throughout the
November and December holiday periods within our Engineering
Segment. Our Industrial Segment operations experience reduced
activities during the holiday periods; however, one key product line is the
servicing of cruise line business where operations are typically higher during
the winter months, thus offsetting the impact of the holiday
season. The DOE and DOD represent major customers for the Nuclear
Segment. In conjunction with the federal government’s September 30
fiscal year-end, the Nuclear Segment historically experienced seasonably large
shipments during the third quarter, leading up to this government fiscal
year-end, as a result of incentives and other quota
requirements. Correspondingly for a period of approximately three
months following September 30, the Nuclear Segment is generally seasonably slow,
as the government budgets are still being finalized, planning for the new year
is occurring, and we enter the holiday season. Over the
past years, due to our efforts to work with the various government customers to
smooth these shipments more evenly throughout the year, we have seen smaller
fluctuations in the quarters. Although we have seen smaller
fluctuation in the quarters in recent years, as government spending is
contingent upon its annual budget and allocation of funding, we cannot provide
assurance that we will not have larger fluctuations in the quarters in the near
future.
Economic Conditions. With
much of our Nuclear Segment customer base being government or prime contractors
treating government waste, economic upturns or downturns do not usually have a
significant impact on the demand for our services. With our
Industrial Segment, economic downturns or recessionary conditions can adversely
affect the demand for our industrial services. Although we believe we
are currently experiencing an economic downturn due to the recessionary economic
environment, we continue to review contracts and revenue streams within our
Industrial Segment in efforts to replace those that are not profitable with more
profitable ones. Our Engineering Segment relies more on commercial
customers though this segment makes up a very small percentage of our
revenue.
44
We
believe that the higher government funding made available to remediate DOE sites
than past years under the 2009 government budget along with the economic
stimulus package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), enacted by the
Congress in February 2009, will provide substantial funds to remediate DOE sites
and thus should positively impact our existing government contracts within our
Nuclear Segment. However, we expect that demand for our services will
be subjected to fluctuations due to a variety of factors beyond our control,
including the current economic recession and conditions, and the manner in which
the federal government will be required to spend funding to remediate federal
sites. Our operations depend, in large part, upon governmental
funding, particularly funding levels at the DOE. In addition, our
governmental contracts and subcontracts relating to activities at governmental
sites are subject to termination or renegotiation on 30 days notice at the
government’s option. Significant reductions in the level of
governmental funding or specifically mandated levels for different programs that
are important to our business could have a material adverse impact on our
business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.
Certain
Legal Matters:
Perma-Fix
of Dayton (“PFD”), Perma-Fix of Florida (“PFF”), Perma-Fix of Orlando (“PFO”),
Perma-Fix of South Georgia (“PFSG”), and Perma-Fix of Memphis
(“PFM”)
In May
2007, the above facilities were named Partially Responsible Parties (“PRPs”) at
the Marine Shale Superfund site in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
(“Site”). Information provided by the EPA indicates that, from 1985
through 1996, the Perma-Fix facilities above were responsible for shipping 2.8%
of the total waste volume received by Marine Shale. Subject to
finalization of this estimate by the PRP group, PFF, PFO and PFD could be
considered de-minimus at .06%, .07% and .28% respectively. PFSG and
PFM would be major at 1.12% and 1.27% respectively. However, at this
time the contributions of all facilities are consolidated.
As of the
date of this report, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”)
has collected approximately $8,400,000 for the remediation of the site and has
completed removal of above ground waste from the site. The EPA’s
unofficial estimate to complete remediation of the site is between $9,000,000
and $12,000,000; however, based on preliminary outside consulting work hired by
the PRP group, which we are a party to, the remediation costs could be below
EPA’s estimation. The PRP Group has established a cooperative
relationship with LDEQ and EPA, and is working closely with these agencies to
assure that the funds held by LDEQ are used cost-effectively. As a
result of recent negotiations with LDEQ and EPA, further remediation work by
LDEQ has been put on hold pending completion of a site assessment by the PRP
Group. This site assessment could result in remediation activities to
be completed within the funds held by LDEQ. As part of the PRP Group,
we have paid an initial assessment of $10,000 in the fourth quarter of 2007,
which was allocated among the facilities. In addition, we accrued approximately
$27,000 in the third quarter of 2008 for our estimated portion of the cost of
the site assessment, which was allocated among the
facilities. Approximately $9,000 of the accrued amount was paid to
the PRP Group in the fourth quarter of 2008. As of the date of this
report, we cannot accurately access our ultimate liability. The
Company records its environmental liabilities when they are probable of payment
and can be estimated within a reasonable range. Since this
contingency currently does not meet this criteria, a liability has not been
established.
Industrial
Segment Divested Facilities/Operations
We sold
substantially all of the assets of PFTS pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement
on May 30, 2008. Under this Agreement the buyer assumed certain debts
and obligations of PFTS, including, but not limited to, certain debts and
obligations of PFTS to regulatory authorities under certain consent agreements
entered into by PFTS with the appropriate regulatory authority to remediate
portions of the facility sold to the buyer. If any of these
liabilities/obligations are not paid or preformed by the buyer, the buyer would
be in breach of the Asset Purchase Agreement and we may assert claims against
the buyer for such breach. We currently are discussing with the buyer
of the PFTS’ assets regarding certain liabilities which the buyer assumed and
agreed to pay but which the buyer has refused to satisfy as of the date of this
report.
45
Significant Customers. Our
revenues are principally derived from numerous and varied customers. However, we
have a significant relationship with the federal government within our Nuclear
Segment, and have continued to enter into contracts with (directly or indirectly
as a subcontractor) the federal government. The contracts that we are
a party to with the federal government or with others as a subcontractor to the
federal government generally provide that the government may terminate on 30
days notice or renegotiate the contracts, at the government's
election. Our inability to continue under existing contracts that we
have with the federal government (directly or indirectly as a subcontractor)
could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial
condition.
We
performed services relating to waste generated by the federal government, either
directly or indirectly as a subcontractor (including Fluor Hanford and CHPRC as
discussed below) to the federal government, representing approximately
$15,426,000 or 70.1% (within our Nuclear Segment) of our total revenue from
continuing operations during the three months ended March 31, 2009, as compared
to $8,101,000 or 46.4% of our total revenue from continuing operations during
the corresponding period of 2008.
In the
second quarter of 2008, our M&EC facility was awarded a subcontract by
CHPRC, a general contractor to the DOE, to participate in the cleanup of the
central portion of the Hanford Site, which once housed certain chemical
separation building and other facilities that separated and recovered plutonium
and other materials for use in nuclear weapons. This subcontract
became effective on June 19, 2008, the date DOE awarded CHPRC the general
contract. DOE’s general contract and M&EC’s subcontract provided
a transition period from August 11, 2008 through September 30, 2008, a base
period from October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2013, and an option period
from October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2018. M&EC’s
subcontract is a cost plus award fee contract. On October 1, 2008,
operations of this subcontract commenced at the DOE Hanford Site. We
believe full operations under this subcontract will result in revenues for
on-site and off-site work of approximately $200,000,000 to $250,000,000 over the
five year base period. As of the date of this report, we have
employed an additional 182 employees to service this subcontract. As
provided above, M&EC’s subcontract is terminable or subject to
renegotiation, at the option of the government, on 30 days
notice. Effective October 1, 2008, CHPRC also began management of
waste activities previously managed by Fluor Hanford, DOE’s general contractor
prior to CHPRC. Our Nuclear Segment had three previous subcontracts
with Fluor Hanford. These three subcontracts had been previously
extended by CHPRC to March 31, 2009 and have since been renegotiated by CHPRC to
September 30, 2013. Revenues from CHPRC totaled $10,748,000 or 48.8%
of our total revenue from continuing operations for the three months ended March
31, 2009. As revenue from Fluor Hanford has been transitioned to
CHPRC, revenue from Fluor Hanford totaled $0 of our total revenue from
continuing operations for the three months ended March 31, 2009, as compared to
$1,766,000 or 10.1% for the corresponding period of 2008.
Insurance. We maintain
insurance coverage similar to, or greater than, the coverage maintained by other
companies of the same size and industry, which complies with the requirements
under applicable environmental laws. We evaluate our insurance policies annually
to determine adequacy, cost effectiveness and desired deductible
levels. Due to the downturn in the economy, changes within the
environmental insurance market, and the financial difficulties of AIG, the
provider of our financial assurance policies, we have no guarantees as to
continued coverage by AIG, that we will be able to obtain similar insurance in
future years, or that the cost of such insurance will not increase
materially.
Profit
Sharing Plan
The
Company adopted its 401(k) Plan in 1992, which is intended to comply with
Section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code and the provisions of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. All full-time employees who
have attained the age of 18 are eligible to participate in the 401(k)
Plan. Eligibility is immediate upon employment but enrollment is only
allowed during two yearly open periods of January 1 and July
1. Participating employees may make annual pretax contributions to
their accounts up to 100% of their compensation, up to a maximum amount as
limited by law. We, at our discretion, may make matching
contributions based on the employee’s elective contributions. Company
contributions vest over a period of five years. We matched 25% of our
employees’ contributions. We contributed $401,000 in matching funds
during 2008. Effective March 1, 2009, the Company suspended its
matching contribution in an effort to reduce costs in light of the recent
economic environment. The Company will evaluate the reversal of this
suspension as the economic environment improves.
46
Environmental
Contingencies
We are
engaged in the waste management services segment of the pollution control
industry. As a participant in the on-site treatment, storage, and
disposal market and the off-site treatment and services market, we are subject
to rigorous federal, state and local regulations. These regulations
mandate strict compliance and therefore, are a cost and concern to
us. Because of their integral role in providing quality environmental
services, we make every reasonable attempt to maintain complete compliance with
these regulations; however, even with a diligent commitment, we, along with many
of our competitors, may be required to pay fines for violations or investigate
and potentially remediate our waste management facilities.
We
routinely use third party disposal companies, who ultimately destroy or secure
landfill residual materials generated at our facilities or at a client's
site. Compared with certain of our competitors, we dispose of
significantly less hazardous or industrial by-products from our operations due
to rendering material non-hazardous, discharging treated wastewaters to
publicly-owned treatment works and/or processing wastes into saleable
products. In the past, numerous third party disposal sites have
improperly managed wastes and consequently require remedial action;
consequently, any party utilizing these sites may be liable for some or all of
the remedial costs. Despite our aggressive compliance and auditing
procedures for disposal of wastes, we could, in the future, be notified that we
are a Partially Responsible Party (“PRP”) at a remedial action site, which could
have a material adverse effect.
We have
budgeted for 2009, $776,000 in environmental remediation expenditures to comply
with federal, state, and local regulations in connection with remediation of
certain contaminates at our facilities. Our facilities where the
remediation expenditures will be made are the Leased Property in Dayton, Ohio
(EPS), a former RCRA storage facility as operated by the former owners of PFD,
PFM's facility in Memphis, Tennessee, PFSG's facility in Valdosta, Georgia, and
PFMI's facility in Detroit, Michigan. The environmental liability of
PFD (as it relates to the remediation of the EPS site assumed by the Company as
a result of the original acquisition of the PFD facility) was retained by the
Company upon the sale of PFD in March 2008. While no assurances can
be made that we will be able to do so, we expect to fund the expenses to
remediate these sites from funds generated internally.
At March
31, 2009, we had total accrued environmental remediation liabilities of
$1,736,000 of which $795,000 is recorded as a current liability, which reflects
a decrease of $97,000 from the December 31, 2008, balance of
$1,833,000. The decrease represents payments on remediation
projects. The March 31, 2009, current and long-term accrued
environmental balance is recorded as follows (in thousands):
Current
|
Long-term
|
|||||||||||
Accrual
|
Accrual
|
Total
|
||||||||||
PFD
|
$ | 133 | $ | 337 | $ | 470 | ||||||
PFM
|
69 | 153 | 222 | |||||||||
PFSG
|
122 | 390 | 512 | |||||||||
PFMI
|
471 | 61 | 532 | |||||||||
Total
Liability
|
$ | 795 | $ | 941 | $ | 1,736 |
47
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
QUANTITATIVE
AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURE ABOUT MARKET RISK
PART
I, ITEM 3
For the
three months ended March 31, 2009, we were exposed to certain market risks
arising from adverse changes in interest rates, primarily due to the potential
effect of such changes on our variable rate loan arrangements with
PNC. The interest rates payable to PNC are based on a spread over
prime rate or a spread over a minimum floor base LIBOR of 2.5%. If our floating
rates of interest experienced an upward increase of 1%, our debt service would
have increased by approximately $36,000 for the three months ended March 31,
2009. As of March 31, 2009, we had no interest swap agreement
outstanding.
48
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.
CONTROLS
AND PROCEDURES
PART
1, ITEM 4
(a)
|
Evaluation of disclosure
controls, and procedures.
|
We
maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that
information required to be disclosed in our periodic reports filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") is recorded, processed,
summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms
of the SEC and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our
management. Based on their most recent evaluation, which was
completed as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q, we have evaluated, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer
and Chief Financial Officer the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and
procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934, as amended) and believe that such are not effective, as a result of the
identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting
as set forth below (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and
15d-15(f)):
|
·
|
The
monitoring of pricing, invoicing, and the corresponding inventory for
transportation and disposal process controls at facilities within the
Company’s Industrial Segment were ineffective and were not being applied
consistently. This weakness could result in sales being priced
and invoiced at amounts, which were not approved by the customer or the
appropriate level of management, and inaccurate corresponding
transportation and disposal
expense.
|
|
·
|
The
design and operation of payroll, pricing and invoicing controls for our
subcontract awarded to our East Tennessee Materials & Energy
Corporation (“M&EC”) subsidiary by the Department of Energy’s (“DOE”)
general contractor, CH Plateau Remediation Company (“CHPRC”) were
ineffective and were not being applied consistently. This
weakness could result in invoices, expenses, and revenue recognized at
amounts that were not validated and approved by the customer and the
appropriate level of management.
|
|
·
|
The
control for the recognition of processed/disposed revenue at our Perma-Fix
Northwest Richland, Inc. (“PFNWR”) subsidiary was ineffective and not
being applied consistently. This weakness could result in a
material amount of revenue being recognized in an incorrect financial
reporting period.
|
We are
currently in the process of developing formal plans for the Audit Committee’s
review and approval to remediate the control weaknesses noted above. We
anticipate remediation of these control weaknesses by the third quarter of
2009.
(b)
|
Changes in internal control
over financial reporting.
|
There
have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting in the
quarter ended March 31, 2009.
49
PERMA-FIX ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES,
INC.
PART
II – Other Information
Item
1.
|
Legal
Proceedings
|
There are
no additional material legal proceedings pending against us and/or our
subsidiaries not previously reported by us in Item 3 of our Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2008, which is incorporated herein by
reference. However, the following developments have occurred with
regard to the following legal proceedings:
Notice
of Violation - Perma-Fix Treatment Services, Inc. (“PFTS”)
In July
2008, PFTS received a notice of violation (“NOV”) from the Oklahoma Department
of Environmental Quality (“ODEQ”) alleging that eight loads of waste materials
received by PFTS between January 2007 and July 2007 were improperly analyzed to
assure that the treatment process rendered the waste non-hazardous before
disposition in PFTS’ non-hazardous injection well. The ODEQ alleges the
handling of these waste materials violated regulations regarding hazardous
waste. Settlement discussions have resulted in a proposal to fund a
supplemental environmental project (“SEP”) in lieu of a civil
penalty. The estimated cost of the SEP is approximately $5,000, which
is subject to finalization and execution of a settlement
agreement. The settlement date is estimated to be during the second
quarter of 2009. PFTS sold most all of its assets to a non-affiliated
third party on May 30, 2008.
Industrial
Segment Divested Facilities/Operations
We sold
substantially all of the assets of PFTS pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement
on May 30, 2008. Under this Agreement the buyer assumed certain debts
and obligations of PFTS, including, but not limited to, certain debts and
obligations of PFTS to regulatory authorities under certain consent agreements
entered into by PFTS with the appropriate regulatory authority to remediate
portions of the facility sold to the buyer. If any of these
liabilities/obligations are not paid or preformed by the buyer, the buyer would
be in breach of the Asset Purchase Agreement and we may assert claims against
the buyer for such breach. We currently are discussing with the buyer
of the PFTS’ assets regarding certain liabilities which the buyer assumed and
agreed to pay but which the buyer has refused to satisfy as of the date of this
report. In addition, the buyer of the PFTS assets has replaced
our financial assurance bond with its own financial assurance mechanism for
facility closures.
Item
1A.
|
Risk
Factors
|
There has
been no other material change from the risk factors previously disclosed in our
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008.
Item
5.
|
Other
Information
|
Loan
and Securities Purchase Agreement
The Audit
Committee of the Company recommended to the Board of Directors, and the
Company’s Board of Director approved, the Company entering into a Loan and
Securities Purchase Agreement (“Agreement”) with Mr. William N. Lampson and Mr.
Diehl Rettig. As a result of such approval, the parties have executed
the Agreement. Under the Agreement, Messrs. Lampson and Rettig
(collectively, the “Lenders”) have loaned us $3,000,000 pursuant to the terms of
the Agreement. Mr. Lampson was formerly a major shareholder of
Nuvotec USA, Inc. (n/k/a Perma-Fix Northwest, Inc. (“PFNWR”)) and its wholly
owned subsidiary, Pacific EcoSolution, Inc. (n/k/a Perma-Fix Northwest Richland,
Inc. (“PFNWR”)) prior to our acquisition of PFNW and PFNWR, and Mr. Rettig was
formerly a shareholder of, and counsel for, Nuvotec USA, Inc. at the time of our
acquisition. The Company has entered into a Promissory Note (“Note”)
in the amount of $3,000,000 with the Lenders. The proceeds of the
loan are to be used primarily to pay off a certain promissory note, dated June
25, 2001, as amended on December 28, 2008, entered into by our M&EC
subsidiary with Performance Development Corporation (“PDC”), with the remaining
funds, if any, used for working capital purposes. The balance of the
PDC promissory was approximately $2,309,000 as of March 31, 2009. The
Agreement and the Note provide for monthly principal repayment of approximately
$87,000 plus accrued interest, starting June 8, 2009, and on the 8th day of
each month thereafter, with interest payable at LIBOR plus 4.5%, with LIBOR of
at least 1.5%. Any unpaid principal balance along with accrued
interest is due May 8, 2011. The Note may be prepaid at anytime by
the Company without penalty.
50
The
Agreement provides that, in consideration of the Company receiving the loan, the
Company is to issue to Messrs. Lampson and Rettig, pursuant to an exemption from
registration under Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
“Act”), and/or Rule 506of Regulation D promulgated under the Act, within five
business days following the closing date of the loan an aggregate of 200,000
shares of the Company’s Common Stock (“Shares”) and two Warrants to purchase up
to an aggregate 150,000 shares of the Company’s Common Stock (“Warrant Shares”)
at an exercise price of $1.50 per share, with Mr. Lampson receiving 180,000
Shares and a Warrant to purchase up to an aggregate of 135,000 Warrant Shares
and Mr. Rettig receiving 20,000 Shares and a Warrant to purchase up to an
aggregate of 15,000 Warrant Shares. In addition, under the terms of
the Agreement and Note, if the Company defaults in payment of any principal or
interest under the Note and such default continues for 30 days, the Lenders
shall have the right to declare the Note immediately due and payable and to have
payment of the remaining unpaid principal amount and accrued interest (“Payoff
Amount”) in one of the two methods, at their option:
·
|
in
cash, or
|
|
·
|
subject
to certain limitations and pursuant to an exemption from registration
under Section 4(2) of the Act and/or Rule 506 of Regulation D, in shares
of Company Common Stock, with the number of shares to be issued determined
by dividing the unpaid principal balance as of the date of default, plus
accrued interest, by a dollar amount equal to the closing bid price of the
Company’s Common Stock on the date of default as reported on the National
Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System (“NASDAQ”)
(“Payoff Shares”). The Payoff Amount is to be paid as
follows: 90% to Mr. Lampson and 10% to Mr.
Rettig.
|
The
aggregate number of Shares, Warrant Shares, and Payoff Shares that are to be
issued to the Lenders under the Agreement and Note, together with the aggregate
shares of the Company’s Common Stock and other Company voting securities owned
by the Lenders as of the date of issuance of the Payoff Shares, if any, shall
not exceed:
|
·
|
the
number of shares equal to 19.9% of the number of shares of the Company’s
Common Stock issued and outstanding as of the date of the Agreement,
or
|
|
·
|
19.9%
of the voting power of all of the Company’s voting securities issued and
outstanding as of the date of the
Agreement.
|
51
Item
6.
|
Exhibits
|
(a)
|
Exhibits
|
4.1
|
Loan
and Securities Purchase Agreement, dated May 8th, 2009 between William N.
Lampson, Diehl Rettig, and Perma-Fix Environmental Services,
Inc.
|
4.2
|
Promissory
Note dated May 8, 2009 between William Lampson, Diehl Rettig, and
Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc.
|
4.3
|
Common
Stock Purchase Warrant, dated May 8, 2009, for William N.
Lampson.
|
4.4
|
Common
Stock Purchase Warrant, dated May 8, 2009, for Diehl
Rettig.
|
31.1
|
Certification
by Dr. Louis F. Centofanti, Chief Executive Officer of the Company
pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) or 15d-14(a).
|
31.2
|
Certification
by Ben Naccarato, Chief Financial Officer of the Company pursuant to Rule
13a-14(a) or 15d-14(a).
|
32.1
|
Certification
by Dr. Louis F. Centofanti, Chief Executive Officer of the Company
furnished pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350.
|
32.2
|
Certification
by Ben Naccarato, Chief Financial Officer of the Company furnished
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section
1350.
|
52
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, hereunto
duly authorized.
PERMA-FIX
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
|
||
Date: May
8, 2009
|
By:
|
/s/ Dr. Louis F.
Centofanti
|
Dr.
Louis F. Centofanti
|
||
Chairman
of the Board
|
||
Chief
Executive Officer
|
||
Date: May
8, 2009
|
By:
|
/s/ Ben Naccarato
|
Ben
Naccarato
|
||
Chief
Financial Officer
|
53