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 have paid regular quarterly cash dividends on our common stock for 58 consecutive years. Our Board of Directors increased the quarterly dividend to $0.425 per share from $0.40 per share in July 2016, increased it to $0.45 per share in February 2017 and increased it again in February 2018 to $0.50 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 20, 2015, our Board of Directors increased the number of shares authorized to be repurchased under our share repurchase plan by 7.5 million shares and extended the duration of the plan through December 31, 2018. We repurchase shares through open market purchases under plans complying with Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). During 2017, we repurchased approximately 0.3 million shares of our common stock at an average cost of $74.27 per share, for a total of $25.0 million. We did not repurchase any shares in 2016. During 2015, we repurchased approximately 6.2 million shares of our common stock at an average cost of $57.39 per share, for a total of $355.5 million. Since initiating the share repurchase plan in 1994, we have repurchased approximately 22.5 million shares at an average cost of $31.58 per share. As of December 31, 2017, we had authorization under the plan to purchase approximately 8.1 million shares, or about 11% of our current outstanding shares.

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) Gain		Net of Tax		(Loss) Income
	(in millions)
Balance as of January 1, 2017	$	(79.9)	$	(24.8)	$	(104.7)
Current-year change		28.8		4.3		33.1
Balance as of December 31, 2017	$	(51.1)	$	(20.5)	$	(71.6)

Foreign currency translation adjustments have not been adjusted for income taxes. Pension and postretirement benefit adjustments are net of taxes of $13.6 million and $14.9 million as of December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively.

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