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STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION PLANS
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION PLANS  
STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION PLANS

8. STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION PLANS

Stock Incentive Plans

        The Company's Stock Incentive Plans provide for the granting of stock awards, including stock options, stock appreciation rights and restricted stock, to employees and non-employees, including directors of the Company.

        As of December 31, 2013, the Company had 852,493 shares of Common Stock available for grant under stock incentive plans.

Restricted Stock

        During 2013 and 2012, 423,518 and 140,150 shares of unvested restricted stock were awarded with a weighted average value of $7.73 and $7.10 per share, respectively. Of the restricted shares granted in 2013 and 2012, 58,909 and 30,000 shares have performance based vesting requirements. The value at the date of award is amortized to compensation expense over the related service period, which is generally three years (for time vested grants), or over the performance period. Shares of non-vested restricted stock are forfeited if a recipient leaves the Company before the vesting date. Shares that are forfeited become available for future awards.

        The following is a summary of restricted stock activity during years 2013 and 2012:

 
   Number of Nonvested
Restricted Shares		  

Balance, December 31, 2011

     283,608  

Awarded

     140,150  

Forfeited

     (21,398 )

Vested

     (159,236 )
       
​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Balance, December 31, 2012

     243,124  

Awarded

     423,518  

Forfeited

     (3,181 )

Vested

     (143,266 )
       
​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Balance, December 31, 2013

     520,195  
       
​ ​ ​ ​ ​
​ ​ ​ ​ ​
       

        In 2013, of the 58,909 performance shares granted in 2013, 18,775 achieved the related performance criteria, and are still outstanding, 5,190 did not achieve the performance criteria and are still outstanding, and 34,944 were forfeited as the performance criteria was not achieved. In 2012, 20,000 of the 30,000 performance based shares granted in 2012 were forfeited as the performance criteria was not achieved. 5,190 and 10,000 of the performance based shares granted in 2013 and 2012 respectively are still outstanding as of December 31, 2013. The vesting and forfeitures discussed above did not occur until the Board of Directors approved them during the February 2014 meeting.

Share-Based Compensation Expense

Restricted Stock

        During 2013 and 2012, compensation expense net of forfeitures of $927 and $609 was recorded, respectively. As of December 31, 2013, there was $3,264 of total unrecognized compensation expense related to restricted stock awards, of which approximately $950 is expected to be recognized in 2014.

Employee Stock Ownership Plan

        The Company sponsors an Employee Stock Ownership Plan ("ESOP") that covers all non-union U.S. employees who work over 1,000 hours per year. The terms of the ESOP require the Company to make an annual contribution equal to the greater of i) the Board established percentage of pretax income before the contribution (5% in 2013 and 2012) or ii) the annual interest payable on any loan outstanding to the Company. Company contributions to the Plan accrued for 2013 and 2012, respectively, were $304 and $395. These amounts are included in General and Administrative costs in the consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income.

Defined Contribution Plan

        The Company sponsors the Allied Motion 401(k) Tax Advantaged Investment Plan ("401(k)") which covers substantially all of its U.S. based employees. The plan provides for the deferral of employee compensation under Section 401(k) and a discretionary Company match. In 2013 and 2012, this match was 100% per dollar of the first 3% of participant deferral and 50% per dollar of the next 2% contribution, up to 4% of a total 5% participant deferral. Net costs related to this defined contribution plan were $506 in 2013 and $400 in 2012.

Dividends

        For the year ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, a total of $0.10 and $0.10 per share, respectively, on all outstanding shares was paid. Based on the terms of the Company's Credit Agreement, dividends paid to shareholders are acceptable, subject to the Company's compliance with the covenants under the Credit Agreement.