Pension benefits

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

6. Pension benefits

U.S. Defined Contribution Pension Plan-The Company has a defined contribution plan qualified under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code, pursuant to which substantially all of its U.S. employees are eligible to participate after completing six months of service. Participants may elect to contribute a portion of their compensation to the plan. Under the plan, the Company has the discretion to match a portion of participants’ contributions. The Company intends to match approximately $0.1 million to the plan for the year ended December 31, 2013. For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, the Company did not make any matching contributions.

Non-U.S. Pension benefits-The accounting standard for pensions requires an employer to recognize a net liability or asset and an offsetting adjustment to accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) to report the funded status of defined benefit pension and other post-retirement benefit plans.

Most of the non-U.S. subsidiaries provide for government-mandated defined pension benefits. For certain of these subsidiaries, vested eligible employees are provided a lump sum payment upon retiring from the Company at a defined age. The lump sum amount is based on the salary and tenure as of retirement date. Other non-U.S subsidiaries provide for a lump sum payment to vested employees on retirement, death, incapacitation or termination of employment, based upon the salary and tenure as of the date employment ceases. The liability for such defined benefit obligations is determined and provided on the basis of actuarial valuations. As of December 31, 2013, these plans are unfunded. Pension expense for foreign subsidiaries totaled approximately $0.5 million, $0.7 million and $0.5 million for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2013.

The following table summarizes the amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), net of taxes (in thousands):

	Years Ended December 31,
	2013		2012		2011

Amortization of transition obligation	$	112	$	90	$	89
Actuarial loss		(185)		(228)		(373)
Totals	$	(73)	$	(138)	$	(284)

Amounts in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) not yet reflected in net periodic pension cost, net of taxes:

Actuarial gain	$	178	$	173
Transition obligation		(294)		(216)
Totals	$	(116)	$	(43)

Amounts in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) expected to be amortized in 2014 net periodic pension cost, net of taxes:

Transition obligation		$	43
Totals		$	43

The following table sets out the status of the non-U.S pension benefits and the amounts (in thousands) recognized in the Company’s consolidated financial statements for each of the three years ended December 31, 2013:

Benefit Obligations:

Change in the Benefit Obligation:		2013		2012		2011

Projected benefit obligation at beginning of the year	$	3,552	$	2,695	$	2,074
Service cost		517		420		332
Interest cost		238		218		186
Actuarial loss		115		186		299
Curtailments		(328)		-		-
Foreign currency exchange rate changes		(359)		101		(100)
Benefits paid		(83)		(68)		(96)
Projected benefit obligation at end of year	$	3,652	$	3,552	$	2,695

Components of Net Periodic Pension Cost:

		2013		2012		2011

Service cost	$	517	$	420	$	332
Interest cost		238		218		186
Curtailments		(328)		-		-
Actuarial (gain) loss recognized		92		30		(17)
Net periodic pension cost	$	519	$	668	$	501

The accumulated benefit obligation, which represents benefits earned to date, was approximately $1.9 million and $1.8 million at December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

Actuarial assumptions for all non-U.S. plans are described below. The discount rates are used to measure the year end benefit obligations and the earnings effects for the subsequent year. The assumptions for each of the three years ended December 31, 2013 are as follows:

	2013	2012	2011
Discount rate	4.8%-12%	5.8%-14%	7.2%-9.5%
Rate of increase in compensation levels	7%-9%	7%-9%	7%-9%

Estimated Future Benefit Payments:

The following benefit payments, which reflect expected future service, as appropriate, are expected to be paid (in thousands):

Years Ending December 31,
2014	$	202
2015		231
2016		109
2017		86
2018		229
2019 to 2023		574
	$	1,431