Pension benefits

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

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, 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2018, 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, 2018, these plans are unfunded. Pension expense for foreign subsidiaries totaled approximately $0.7 million and $0.2

million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Included in the $

0.7

million pension expense for the year ended 2018 is $

269

,000

representing the correction of an understatement of pension liabilities from prior years.

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

	Years Ended December 31,
	2018			2017

Amortization of transition obligation	$	41		$	38
Actuarial gain (loss)		416			(226	)
Totals	$	457		$	(188	)

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

Actuarial gain	$	1,747		$	1,331
Transition obligation		(91	)		(132	)
Totals	$	1,656		$	1,199

Amounts in accumulated other comprehensive loss expected to be amortized in 2019 net periodic pension cost, net of taxes:

Actuarial gain	$	(195	)
Transition obligation		36
Totals	$	(159	)

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 two years in the period ended December 31, 2018:

Benefit Obligations:

	2018			2017

Projected benefit obligation at beginning of the year	$	3,121		$	2,896
Service cost		344			333
Interest cost		198			187
Curtailment and other adjustments		14			(69	)
Actuarial gain		(622	)		(107	)
Foreign currency exchange rates changes		(251	)		51
Benefits paid		(213	)		(170	)
Projected benefit obligation at end of the year	$	2,591		$	3,121

Components of Net Periodic Pension Cost:

	2018		2017

Service cost	$	344	$	333
Interest cost		198		187
Past service cost		34		-
Curtailment		-		(69	)
Actuarial gain recognized		133		(249	)
Net periodic pension cost	$	709	$	202

The accumulated benefit obligation, which represents benefits earned to date, was approximately $1.7 million and $2.0 million as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets for the years ended December 31 consist of the following:

	2018		2017
Current accrued benefit cost		320		249
Non-current accrued benefit cost		2,271		2,586
Net amount recognized		2,591		2,835

Current accrued benefit cost for pension benefits is included in the current portion of long-term obligations in the consolidated balance sheets. Non-current accrued benefit cost for pension benefits is included in long-term obligations, net of current portion, in the consolidated balance sheets.

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 two years in the period ended December 31, 2018 are as follows:

	2018	2017
Discount rate	7.25%-12.17%	5.78%-10.6%
Rate of increase in compensation level	5%-7%	5%-7%

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,

2019	$	320
2020		310
2021		168
2022		134
2023		159
2024 to 2028		1,736
	$	2,827