Note 10 – Long-Term Debt

We have a credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) with Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent, and other lenders that provides for an unsecured total revolving commitment of $1 billion as of February 28, 2017. The commitment under the Credit Agreement terminates on December 7, 2021. Borrowings accrue interest under one of two alternative methods as described in the Credit Agreement. With each borrowing against our credit line, we can elect the interest rate method based on our funding needs at the time. We also incur loan commitment and letter of credit fees under the Credit Agreement. Outstanding letters of credit reduce the borrowing availability under the Credit Agreement on a dollar-for-dollar basis. In connection with an amendment to our Credit Agreement in fiscal 2017, we incurred a total of $2.3 million in new debt acquisition costs that are being amortized over the term of the Credit Agreement. As of February 28, 2017, the outstanding revolving loan principal balance was $440.7 million and the balance of outstanding letters of credit was $1.5 million. As of February 28, 2017, the amount available for borrowings under the Credit Agreement was $557.8 million. Covenants in our debt agreements limit the amount of total indebtedness we can incur. As of February 28, 2017 these covenants effectively limited our ability to incur more than $280.6 million of additional debt from all sources, including our Credit Agreement.

A summary of our long-term debt follows:

LONG-TERM DEBT


	Original
	Date	Interest			Last Day of February
(dollars in thousands)	Borrowed	Rates		Matures	2017		2016
$37.6 million unsecured loan with the Mississippi Business Finance Corporation (the "MBFC Loan"), interest is set and payable quarterly at a Base Rate, plus a margin of up to 1.0%, or applicable LIBOR plus a margin of up to 2.0%, as determined by the interest rate elected and the Leverage Ratio. Loan subject to holder's call on or after March 1, 2018. Loan can be prepaid without penalty. (1)	03/13	Floating		03/23	$	29,903	$	33,706
$100 million unsecured Senior Notes payable at a fixed interest rate of 3.9%. Interest payable semi-annually. Annual principal payments of $20 million began in January 2014. Prepayment of notes are subject to a "make whole" premium.	01/11	3.9	%	01/18		19,763		39,496
Credit Agreement	01/15	Floating		12/21		435,949		546,712
Total long-term debt						485,615		619,914
Less current maturities of long-term debt						(24,404)		(22,644)
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities					$	461,211	$	597,270

(1)

$3.8 and $1.9 million in principal payments were made on March 1, 2016 and 2015, respectively. The remaining loan balance is payable as follows: $5.7 million on March 1, 2017; $1.9 million annually on March 1, 2018 through 2022; and $14.8 million on March 1, 2023. Any remaining outstanding principal and interest is due upon maturity on March 1, 2023.

The fair market value of the fixed rate debt at February 28, 2017 computed using a discounted cash flow analysis and comparable market rates was $20.1 million compared to the $19.8 million book value. Our other long-term debt has floating interest rates, and its book value approximates its fair value at February 28, 2017.

All of our debt is unconditionally guaranteed, on a joint and several basis, by the Company and certain of its subsidiaries. Our debt agreements require the maintenance of certain financial covenants, including maximum leverage ratios, minimum interest coverage ratios and minimum consolidated net worth levels (as each of these terms is defined in the various agreements). Our debt agreements also contain other customary covenants. We were in compliance with the terms of these agreements as of February 28, 2017.

The following table contains information about interest rates on our Credit Agreement and the related weighted average borrowings outstanding for the periods covered by our consolidated statements of income:

INTEREST RATES ON CREDIT AGREEMENT


	Fiscal Years Ended the Last Day of February,
(in thousands)	2017			2016			2015
Average borrowings outstanding (1)	$	498,420		$	399,800		$	300,280
Average interest rate during each year (2)		2.2	%		1.6	%		2.5	%
Interest rate range during each year		1.9 - 4.3	%		1.4 - 4.0	%		1.9 - 4.4	%
Weighted average interest rates on borrowings outstanding at year end		2.3	%		2.8	%		1.9	%

(1)Average borrowings outstanding is computed as the average of the current and four prior quarters ending balances of our credit facility.

(2) The average interest rate during each year is computed by dividing the total interest expense associated with our credit facility for a fiscal year by the average borrowings outstanding for the same fiscal year.

The following table contains a summary of the components of our interest expense for the periods covered by our consolidated statements of income:

INTEREST EXPENSE


	Fiscal Years Ended the Last Day of February,
(in thousands)	2017		2016		2015
Interest and commitment fees	$	13,747	$	9,949	$	11,958
Deferred finance costs		1,200		1,158		1,846
Interest rate swap settlements, net		-		-		1,218
Cross-currency debt swap		(90)		(11)		-
Total interest expense	$	14,857	$	11,096	$	15,022