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Commitments and Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2014
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies Leases Future minimum obligations under non-cancelable operating leases having an initial or remaining term in excess of one year as of December 31, 2014 are as follows ($ in millions):
2015 | $ | 2.9 |
2016 | 2.8 |
2017 | 2.1 |
2018 | 1.6 |
2019 | 1.5 |
Thereafter | 0.5 |
Total | $ | 11.4 |
Rental expense under operating leases was $6.1 million during 2014, $5.3 million during 2013 and $5.3 million during 2012. Other Commitments The Paper segment has minimum purchase agreements during 2015 for flax fiber of approximately $3 million. The Paper segment's PdM mill has a minimum annual commitment of approximately $2 million per year for calcium carbonate purchases, a raw material used in the manufacturing of some paper products, which totals approximately $18 million through 2024. Future purchases are expected to be at levels that exceed such minimum levels under these contracts. The Company enters into certain other immaterial contracts from time to time for the purchase of certain raw materials. The Company also enters into certain contracts for the purchase of equipment and related costs in connection with its ongoing capital projects. The Company has agreements with an energy cogeneration supplier in France whereby the supplier constructed and operates a cogeneration facility at certain mills and supplies steam that is used in the operation of these mills. The Company is committed to purchasing minimum annual amounts of steam generated by these facilities under the agreements through 2024. These minimum annual commitments total approximately $4 million. The Company's current and expected requirements for steam at these facilities are at levels that exceed the minimum levels under the contracts. The Paper segment's Brazilian mill, SWM-B, has an agreement for the transmission and distribution of energy that covers all of the mill's consumption of electrical energy valued at approximately $4 million annually through 2015. The French mills have contracts for natural gas to be distributed to and consumed at PdM, LTRI and St. Girons. The value of the natural gas and distribution to be provided under these contracts is estimated at approximately $16 million in 2015. The Company has certain other letters of credit, guarantees and surety bonds outstanding at December 31, 2014, which are not material either individually or in the aggregate. Litigation Imposto sobre Circulação de Mercadorias e Serviços, or ICMS, a form of value-added tax in Brazil, was assessed to our Brazilian subsidiary Schweitzer-Mauduit do Brasil Indústria e Comércio de Papel Ltda. in December of 2000. SWM-B received two assessments from the tax authorities of the State of Rio de Janeiro for unpaid ICMS taxes on certain raw materials from January 1995 through November 2000, collectively the Raw Materials Assessment. The Raw Materials Assessment concerned the accrual and use by SWM-B of ICMS tax credits generated from the production and sale of certain non-tobacco related grades of paper sold domestically that are immune from the tax to offset ICMS taxes otherwise owed on the sale of products that are not immune. One of the two assessments, or Assessment 1 (case number 2001.001.115144-5), related in part to tax periods that predated our acquisition of the Pirahy mill in Pirai, Brazil and is covered in part by an indemnification from the sellers of the Pirahy mill. The second assessment, or Assessment 2 (case number 2001.001.064544-6), pertains exclusively to periods that SWM-B owned the Pirahy mill. While SWM-B would be primarily responsible for the full payment of the Assessment in the event of an ultimate unfavorable outcome, SWM-B is not aware of any difficulties that would be encountered in obtaining reimbursement of that portion of any payment resulting from Assessment 1 from the previous owners of the Pirahy mill under the indemnification. SWM-B has contested the Raw Materials Assessment based on Article 150, VI of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988, which grants immunity from ICMS taxes to papers used in the production of books, newspapers and periodicals, or immune papers, and the raw material inputs used to produce immune papers. Both Raw Materials Assessments are presently on appeal in separate chambers of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil. SWM-B won a favorable ruling in both assessments at the first level, then lost Assessment 1 on appeal and won Assessment 2 on appeal. Assessment 1 is before the court on SWM-B's appeal of a procedural question which, if decided favorably, would invalidate Assessment 1. If decided against SWM-B, the lower court would be notified to send the case records to the Federal Supreme Court for a decision on the merits. Assessment 2 is before the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil on the State's appeal on the merits and will be finally decided by the action of the chamber of the court hearing the matter, unless there is a prior decision by a chamber of the Federal Supreme Court on Assessment 1 that is in contradiction, in which case the conflict between the rulings of the different chambers would be decided by the Federal Supreme Court sitting as a whole. No docket entry has been made yet regarding argument on either assessment. Based on the foreign currency exchange rate at December 31, 2014, the Raw Materials Assessment totaled approximately $38 million, of which approximately $17 million is covered by the above-discussed indemnification. More recently, SWM-B has received assessments from the tax authorities of the State of Rio de Janeiro for unpaid ICMS and Fundo Estadual de Combate à Pobreza (FECP) taxes on interstate purchases of electricity. The state issued three assessments against SWM-B, one for May 2006 - November 2007, a second for January 2008 - December 2010, and in October 2013, a third assessment for September 2011 - September 2013, collectively the Electricity Assessment. SWM-B has challenged all three Electricity Assessments in administrative proceedings before the state tax council (Junta de Revisão Fiscal) based on Resolution 1.610/89, which defers these taxes on electricity purchased by an "electricity-intensive consumer." SWM-B's challenges to the first two Electricity Assessments were unsuccessful at the first administrative level, but different appeals chambers of the Conselho de Contribuintes have reached different conclusions about the assessments. On the first electricity assessment, one chamber of the Conselho de Contribuintes recognized that SWM-B is an electricity-intensive consumer but denied applicability of the tax deferral resolution. On the second electricity assessment, a different chamber of the Conselho de Contribuintes recognized that SWM-B is an electricity-intensive consumer and agreed that the tax deferral resolution applies. In October and November 2014, the full administrative council of the Conselho de Contribuintes announced a decision against SWM-B in both the first and second electricity assessments. The first and second electricity assessment totaled approximately $14.0 million as of December 31, 2014. SWM-B intends to challenge the ruling in court proceedings if the full administrative council's decision becomes final. SWM-B's challenge to the third electricity assessment is pending at the first administrative level (Junta de Revisão Fiscal). Based on the foreign currency exchange rate at December 31, 2014, the electricity assessments totaled approximately $18.0 million. SWM-B believes that both the Raw Materials Assessments and the Electricity Assessments will ultimately be resolved in its favor. No liability has been recorded in our consolidated financial statements for these assessments based on our evaluation of these matters under the facts and law as presently understood. The Company can give no assurance as to the ultimate outcome of such proceedings. Environmental Matters The Company's operations are subject to various nations' federal, state and local laws, regulations and ordinances relating to environmental matters. The nature of the Company's operations exposes it to the risk of claims with respect to various environmental matters, and there can be no assurance that material costs or liabilities will not be incurred in connection with such claims. While the Company has incurred in the past several years, and will continue to incur, capital and operating expenditures in order to comply with environmental laws and regulations, it believes that its future cost of compliance with environmental laws, regulations and ordinances, and its exposure to liability for environmental claims and its obligation to participate in the remediation and monitoring of certain hazardous waste disposal sites, will not have a material effect on its financial condition or results of operations. However, future events, such as changes in existing laws and regulations, or unknown contamination of sites owned, operated or used for waste disposal by the Company (including contamination caused by prior owners and operators of such sites or other waste generators) may give rise to additional costs which could have a material effect on its financial condition or results of operations. The Company incurs spending necessary to meet legal requirements and otherwise relating to the protection of the environment at its facilities in the United States, France, Poland, Brazil, China and Canada. For these purposes, the Company incurred total capital expenditures of $1.4 million in 2014, and expects to incur less than $2.0 million in each of 2015 and 2016, of which no material amount is the result of environmental fines or settlements. The foregoing capital expenditures are not expected to reduce the Company's ability to invest in other appropriate and necessary capital projects and are not expected to have a material adverse effect on its financial condition or results of operations. Indemnification Matters In connection with its spin-off from Kimberly-Clark in 1995, the Company undertook to indemnify and hold Kimberly-Clark harmless from claims and liabilities related to the businesses transferred to it that were not identified as excluded liabilities in the related agreements. As of December 31, 2014, there are no claims pending under this indemnification that the Company deems to be material. General Matters In the ordinary course of conducting business activities, the Company and its subsidiaries become involved in certain other judicial, administrative and regulatory proceedings involving both private parties and governmental authorities. These proceedings include insured and uninsured regulatory, employment, intellectual property, general and commercial liability, environmental and other matters. At this time, the Company does not expect any of these proceedings to have a material effect on its reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. However, the Company can give no assurance that the results of any such proceedings will not materially affect its reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

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