Note 12. Equity

Reincorporation

During the second quarter of 2015, the Company’s shareholders approved the reincorporation of the Company from California to Delaware by means of a merger with and into a wholly owned Delaware subsidiary. The reincorporation did not result in any change in the Company’s business, physical location, management, assets, liabilities, net worth or number of authorized shares. In the reincorporation, the Company’s Restated Certificate of Incorporation established par value of the Company’s common stock and unissued preferred stock of $0.001 per share.

Common Stock

We paid regular quarterly cash dividends on our common stock in 2016 and have done so for the past 57 years. Our Board of Directors increased the quarterly dividend to $0.35 per share from $0.33 per share in February 2014, increased it to $0.40 per share in February 2015 and increased it again in July 2016 to $0.425 per share. In February 2017, the Board further increased the quarterly dividend rate to $0.45 per share. The holders of Reliance common stock are entitled to one vote per share on each matter submitted to a vote of stockholders.

Share Repurchase Plan

On October 21, 2014, our Board of Directors extended our share repurchase plan to December 31, 2017. On October 20, 2015, our Board of Directors again amended our share repurchase plan increasing by 7,500,000 shares the total number of shares authorized to be repurchased and extending the program through December 31, 2018. We did not repurchase any of our common stock in 2016. In 2015, we repurchased 6,194,641 shares of our common stock at an average cost of $57.39, per share, for a total of $355.5 million, through open market purchases under a plan complying with Rule10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). We repurchased 759,800 shares of our common stock at an average cost of $65.80 per share for $50.0 million through open market purchases in 2014. Since initiating the share repurchase plan in 1994 we have purchased approximately 22.1 million shares at an average cost of $30.93 per share. As of December 31, 2016, we had authorization to purchase an additional 8,428,592 shares under our existing share repurchase plan.

Preferred Stock

We are authorized to issue 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.001 per share. No shares of our preferred stock are issued and outstanding. Our restated articles of incorporation provide that shares of preferred stock may be issued from time to time in one or more series by the Board. The Board can fix the preferences, conversion and other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends, qualifications and terms and conditions of redemption of each series of preferred stock. The rights of preferred stockholders may supersede the rights of common stockholders.

Stock-Based Compensation

Effective January 1, 2016, we adopted accounting changes issued by the FASB for stock-based compensation that allow us to account for forfeitures of RSUs as they occur rather than estimating the number of forfeitures. As a result of the adoption, we recorded a cumulative-effect adjustment that reduced beginning retained earnings by $0.6 million, net of tax.

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss

Accumulated other comprehensive loss included the following:


			Pension and		Accumulated
	Foreign Currency		Postretirement		Other
	Translation		Benefit Adjustments,		Comprehensive
	Loss		Net of Tax		Loss
	(in millions)
Balance as of January 1, 2016	$	(74.2)	$	(25.5)	$	(99.7)
Current-year change		(5.7)		0.7		(5.0)
Balance as of December 31, 2016	$	(79.9)	$	(24.8)	$	(104.7)

Foreign currency translation adjustments are not generally adjusted for income taxes as they relate to indefinite investments in foreign subsidiaries. Pension and postretirement benefit adjustments are net of taxes of $14.9 million and $15.6 million as of December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively.

See Note 11 – “Employee Benefits” for information regarding reclassification of amounts from accumulated comprehensive loss to net income.