Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Note 8 - Long-term Debt

v3.23.4
Note 8 - Long-term Debt
12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2023
Notes to Financial Statements  
Long-Term Debt [Text Block]

Note 8—Long-Term Debt

 

Long-term debt consists of the following (in thousands):

 

   

September 2023

   

September 2022

 

Revolving U.S. credit facility, interest at base rate or adjusted SOFR rate plus an applicable margin (interest at 8.2% on September 2023) due June 2027

  $ 128,227     $ 129,024  

Revolving credit facility with Banco Ficohsa, a Honduran bank, interest at 8.6% as of September 2023 and 7.25% as of September 2022, due August 2025

    4,300       3,300  

Term loan with Banco Ficohsa, a Honduran bank, interest at 9.0%, quarterly installments beginning September 2021 through December 2025

    4,565       6,593  

Term loan with Banco Ficohsa, a Honduran bank, interest at 8.75%, quarterly installments beginning March 2023 through May 2027

    3,129       3,656  

Term loan with Banco Ficohsa, a Panamanian bank, interest at the prevailing market rate within the Panamanian Banking Market (interest at 9.8% on September 2023), monthly installments beginning October 2022 through August 2027

    2,503       3,000  

Salt Life Beverage, LLC promissory note, interest at 4.0%

    308       353  
      143,032       145,926  

Less current portion of long-term debt

    (16,567 )     (9,176 )

Long-term debt, excluding current maturities

  $ 126,465     $ 136,750  

 

 

Credit Facility

 

On May 10, 2016, we entered into a Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (as further amended, the “Amended Credit Agreement”) with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association (“Wells Fargo”), as Administrative Agent, the Sole Lead Arranger and the Sole Book Runner, and the financial institutions named therein as Lenders, which are Wells Fargo, PNC Bank, and Regions Bank. Our subsidiaries M.J. Soffe, LLC, Culver City Clothing Company (f/k/a Junkfood Clothing Company), Salt Life, LLC, and DTG2Go, LLC (f/k/a Art Gun, LLC) (collectively, the “Borrowers”), are co-borrowers under the Amended Credit Agreement. The Borrowers entered into amendments to the Amended Credit Agreement with Wells Fargo and the other lenders on November 27, 2017, March 9, 2018, October 8, 2018, November 19, 2019, April 27, 2020, August 28, 2020,  June 2, 2022, January 3, 2023, February 3, 2023, March 3, 2023, and October 6, 2023. 

 

On November 19, 2019, the Borrowers entered into a Consent and Fourth Amendment to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with Wells Fargo and the other lenders set forth therein (the “Fourth Amendment”). The Fourth Amendment, among other things, (i) increased the borrowing capacity under the Amended Credit Agreement from $145 million to $170 million (subject to borrowing base limitations), (ii) extended the maturity date from May 21, 2021 to November 19, 2024, (iii) reduced pricing on the revolver and first-in last-out “FILO” borrowing components by 25 basis points, and (iv) added 25% of the fair value of eligible intellectual property to the borrowing base calculation. In addition, the Fourth Amendment amended the definition of Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio to exclude up to $10 million of capital expenditures incurred by the Borrowers in connection with the expansion of their distribution facility located within the Town of Clinton, Anderson County, Tennessee.

 

On April 27, 2020, the Borrowers entered into a Fifth Amendment to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with Wells Fargo Bank (the “Agent”) and the other lenders set forth therein (the “Fifth Amendment”). The Fifth Amendment, among other things, amends the financial covenant provisions from the amendment date through September 2020, including effectively lowering the minimum availability thresholds and removing the requirement that our Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio (“FCCR”) for the preceding 12-month period must not be less than 1.1 to 1.0. The Fifth Amendment also, among other things, (i) allowed for an additional 30 days of aged receivables from customers in the borrowing base through August 1, 2020, (ii) ceased amortization of real estate and machinery and equipment assets in the borrowing base through August 1, 2020, (iii) postponed amortization of trademark assets in the borrowing base until October 4, 2020; (iv) amends the definition of Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio to reference the monthly amortization of the borrowing bases that were amended as part of the Fourth Amendment to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement on November 19, 2019, (v) amends the LIBOR rate definition to include a floor rate of 1.0%, and (vi) required weekly reporting of accounts receivable to the Agent through October 3, 2020.

 

On August 28, 2020, the Borrowers entered into a Sixth Amendment to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with the Agent and the other lenders set forth therein (the “Sixth Amendment”). The Sixth Amendment, among other things, (i) maintained lower minimum availability thresholds from the amendment date through July 3, 2021, (ii) allowed for an additional 30 days of aged receivables from customers in the borrowing base through April 3, 2021, (iii) increased the advance rate to 70% of real estate assets in the borrowing base and commences amortization on October 4, 2020, (iv) ceased amortization of machinery and equipment assets in the borrowing base through April 3, 2021, (v) postponed amortization of trademark assets in the borrowing base until April 4, 2021, (vi) required the Applicable Margin to be set at Level III through July 3, 2021 and increased the Applicable Margin by 50 basis points across all Levels within the Applicable Margin table for the remaining term of the Amended Credit Agreement, and (vii) required continued weekly reporting of accounts receivable to the Agent through July 3, 2021.

 

On June 2, 2022, the Borrowers entered into a Seventh Amendment to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with the Agent and the other lenders set forth therein (the “Seventh Amendment”). The Seventh Amendment, among other things, (i) removes LIBOR based borrowing and utilizes SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate) as the primary pricing structure, (ii) amends the pricing structure based on SOFR plus a CSA (Credit Spread Adjustment) defined as 10 bps for 1 month and 15 bps for 3-month tenors, (iii) sets the SOFR floor to 0 bps, (iv) reloads the fair market value of real estate and intellectual property within the borrowing base calculation and resets their respective amortization schedules, (v) sets the maturity date to 5 years from the closing date, and (vi) updates the requirement for our FCCR for the preceding 12-month period to not be less than 1.0 (previously 1.1).

 

On January 3, 2023, the Borrowers entered into an Eighth Amendment to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with the Agent and the other lenders set forth therein (the “Eighth Amendment”). The Eighth Amendment essentially clarifies the Amended Credit Agreement’s provisions regarding the inclusion of eligible in-transit inventory in the borrowing base and amends the definition of Increased Reporting Event to include 12.5% of the lesser of the borrowing base and the maximum revolver amount as opposed to 12.5% of the line cap.

 

On February 3, 2023, the Borrowers entered into a Ninth Amendment to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with the Agent and the other lenders set forth therein (the “Ninth Amendment”). The Ninth Amendment, among other things, adds an Accommodation Period beginning on the amendment date and continuing through the date following September 30, 2023, upon which Borrowers satisfy minimum availability thresholds and during which: (i) the minimum borrowing availability thresholds applicable to the Amended Credit Agreement are (a) through (and including) April 1, 2023, $7,500,000, (b) on and after April 2, 2023 through (and including) June 4, 2023, $9,000,000, (c) on and after June 5, 2023, through the date following September 30, 2023, upon which Borrowers satisfy minimum availability thresholds, $10,000,000; and (d) at all times thereafter, $0; (ii) the covenant requiring that our FCCR (as defined in our credit agreement) for the preceding 12-month period must not be less than 1.0 if the availability under our credit facility falls below the amounts specified in our credit agreement is suspended; (iii) Borrowers must maintain specified minimum EBITDA levels for trailing three-month periods starting March 4, 2023; (iv) the Applicable Margin with respect to loans under the Amended Credit Agreement is increased by 50 basis points; and (v) a Cash Dominion Trigger Event occurs if availability is less than $2,000,000.

 

On March 23, 2023, the Borrowers entered into a Tenth Amendment to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with the Agent and the other lenders set forth therein to account for specified costs and expenses in calculating EBITDA for purposes of the Amended Credit Agreement.

 

At September 2023, the Amended Credit Agreement allowed us to borrow up to $170 million (subject to borrowing base limitations), including a maximum of $25 million in letters of credit. Provided that no event of default exists, we have the option to increase the maximum credit to $200 million (subject to borrowing base limitations), conditioned upon the Administrative Agent’s ability to secure additional commitments and customary closing conditions. The Amended Credit Agreement contains a “springing” lockbox arrangement (as defined in ASC 470, Debt) whereby remittances from customers will be forwarded to our general bank account and will not reduce the outstanding debt until and unless a specified event or an event of default occurs. We classify borrowings under the Amended Credit Agreement as long-term debt with consideration of current maturities.

 

At September 2023, we had $128.2 million outstanding under our U.S. revolving credit facility at an average interest rate of 8.2%. Our cash on hand combined with the availability under the U.S. credit facility totaled $14.2 million (subject to minimum availability thresholds as referred to above).

 

Proceeds of the loans made pursuant to the Amended Credit Agreement may be used for permitted acquisitions (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement), general operating expenses, working capital, other corporate purposes, and to finance credit facility fees and expenses. Pursuant to the terms of our credit facility, we are allowed to make cash dividends and stock repurchases if (i) as of the date of the payment or repurchase and after giving effect to the payment or repurchase, we have availability on that date of not less than 15% of the lesser of the borrowing base or the commitment, and average availability for the 30-day period immediately preceding that date of not less than 15% of the lesser of the borrowing base or the commitment; and (ii) the aggregate amount of dividends and stock repurchases after May 10, 2016, does not exceed $10 million plus 50% of our cumulative net income (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) from the first day of the third quarter of fiscal year 2016 to the date of determination. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Amended Credit Agreement currently restricts us from making cash dividends or stock repurchases until the later of (x) November 4, 2023 and (y) the date upon which (a) our availability (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) and (b) our average availability (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) for the immediately preceding 30 consecutive days, is equal to or more than the greater of (i) 17.50% of the lesser of (A) our borrowing base (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) or (B)  the maximum revolver amount (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) and (ii) $25,000,000 and (II) certification that (x) our FCCR is equal to or greater than 1.00:1.00 for the trailing 12-month period and (y) as of such date, no default (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) or event of default exists. For purposes of this definition, availability and average availability will be calculated (x) after giving effect to the availability block (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) and (y) without giving effect to the application of the net cash proceeds from certain sale-leaseback transactions. Absent the restrictions referenced in the preceding two sentences, at September 2023, and September 2022, there was $8.3 million and $24.9 million, respectively, of retained earnings free of restrictions to make cash dividends or stock repurchases. 

 

See Note 16—Subsequent Events for a discussion of the Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Amendments to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement entered into on October 6, 2023, December 5, 2023, and December 28, 2023, respectively.

 

Honduran Debt

 

Since March 2011, we have entered into term loans and a revolving credit facility with Banco Ficohsa, a Honduran bank, to finance both the operations and capital expansion of our Honduran facilities. In December 2020, we entered into a new term loan and revolving credit facility with Banco Ficohsa, both with five-year terms, and simultaneously settled the prior term loans and revolving credit facility with outstanding balances at the time of settlement of $1.1 million and $9.5 million, respectively. In May 2022, we entered into a new term loan with a five-year term with a principal amount of $3.7 million. Each of these loans are secured by a first-priority lien on the assets of our Honduran operations and is not guaranteed by our U.S. entities. These loans are denominated in U.S. dollars, and the carrying value of the debt approximates its fair value. The revolving credit facility permits us to re-borrow funds up to the amount repaid, subject to certain objective covenants. While we intend to re-borrow funds, subject to those covenants, consistent with ASC 470 we have classified the explicit repayment amounts included within the loan agreement as long-term if due more than a year after September 30, 2023. Therefore, we have classified $6.1 million as short-term and $5.9 million as long-term.

 

El Salvador Debt

 

In September 2022 we entered into a new term loan with a five-year term with a principal amount of $3.0 million with Banco Ficohsa, a Panamanian bank, to finance our El Salvador operations. This loan is secured by a first-priority lien on the assets of our El Salvador operations and is not guaranteed by our U.S. entities. The loan is denominated in U.S. dollars, and the carrying value of the debt approximates its fair value. Information about this loan and the outstanding balance as of September 2023, and September 2022, respectively, are listed as part of the long-term debt schedule above.

 

Total Debt

 

The aggregate maturities of debt for the succeeding five fiscal years and thereafter at September 2023, are as follows (in thousands):

 

September

 

Amount

 

2024

  $ 16,567  

2025

    7,640  

2026

    5,574  

2027

    113,251  

2028

     

Thereafter

     
    $ 143,032