Pension benefits

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

8.	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, 2015. For the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, 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 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, 2015, these plans are unfunded. Pension expense for foreign subsidiaries totaled approximately $0.6 million, $0.7 million and $0.5 million for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2015.

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

	Years Ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013

Amortization of transition obligation	$	40	$	39	$	112
Actuarial gain (loss)		986		574		(185)
Totals	$	1,026	$	613	$	(73)

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

Actuarial gain	$	1,737	$	751
Transition obligation		(213)		(253)
Totals	$	1,524	$	498

Amounts in accumulated other comprehensive loss expected to be amortized in 2016 net periodic pension cost, net of taxes:

Actuarial gain	$	(370)
Transition obligation		41
Totals	$	(329)

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 as of and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2015:

Benefit Obligations:

	2015		2014		2013

Projected benefit obligation at beginning of the year	$	3,531	$	3,652	$	3,552
Service cost		477		491		517
Interest cost		219		222		238
Actuarial loss (gain)		(1,119)		(855)		115
Curtailments		-		-		(328)
Foreign currency exchange rates changes		(199)		132		(359)
Benefits paid		(69)		(111)		(83)
Projected benefit obligation at end of the year	$	2,840	$	3,531	$	3,652

Components of Net Periodic Pension Cost:

	2015		2014		2013

Service cost	$	477	$	491	$	517
Interest cost		219		222		238
Curtailments		-		-		(328)
Actuarial loss (gain) recognized		(79)		4		92
Net periodic pension cost	$	617	$	717	$	519

The accumulated benefit obligation, which represents benefits earned to date, was approximately $1.7 million and $1.8 million as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, 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 in the period ended December 31, 2015 are as follows:

	2015	2014	2013
Discount rate	5%-9.8%	4.7%-9.5%	4.8%-12%
Rate of increase in compensation level	6%-9%	6%-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,

2016	$	436
2017		194
2018		227
2019		100
2020		226
2021 to 2025		885
	$	2,068