Stock appreciation rights (''SARs'')

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]

Stock appreciation rights (“SARs”)

As at March 31, 2017, ASC had granted 1,349,154 SARs (inclusive of 5,779 forfeited SARs) to certain of its officers and directors under its 2013 Equity Incentive Plan. Under a SAR award, the grantee is entitled to receive the appreciation of a share of ASC’s common stock following the grant of the award. Each SAR provides for a payment of an amount equal to the excess, if any, of the fair market value of a share of ASC’s common stock at the time of exercise of the SAR over the per share exercise price of the SAR, multiplied by the number of shares for which the SAR is then exercised. Payment under the SAR will be made in the form of shares of ASC’s common stock, based on the fair market value of a share of ASC’s common stock at the time of exercise of the SAR.

The SAR awards provide that in no event will the appreciation per share for any portion of the SAR award be deemed to exceed four times (i.e., 400%) the per share exercise price of the SAR. In other words, the fair market value of a share of the Company’s common stock for purposes of calculating the amount payable under the SAR is not deemed to exceed five times (i.e. 500%) the per share exercise price of the SAR. Any appreciation in excess of four times the per share exercise price of the SAR will be disregarded for purposes of calculating the amount payable under the SAR. Vesting on all awards up to July 31, 2016 was subject to certain market conditions being met. On that date the vesting reverted to being solely dependent on time of service. The grant date fair value was calculated by applying a model based on the Monte Carlo simulation. The model inputs were the grant price, dividend yield based on the initial intended dividend set out by the Company, a risk-free rate of return equal to the zero coupon U.S. Treasury bill commensurate with the contractual terms of the units and expected volatility based on the average of the most recent historical volatilities in the Company’s peer group. A summary of awards, simulation inputs and outputs is as follows:

					Monte Carlo Simulation Inputs
Date	SARs Awarded	Exercise Price		Vesting Period	Grant Price		Dividend Yield			Risk-free rate of Return			Expected Volatility			Weighted Average Fair Value @ grant date		Average Expected Exercise Life
01-Aug-13	1,078,125	$	14.00	5 yrs	$	14.00		2.87	%		2.15	%		54.89	%	$	4.28	4.9 - 6.0 yrs
12-Mar-14	22,118	$	13.66	3 yrs	$	13.66		2.93	%		2.06	%		56.31	%	$	4.17	4.6 - 5.0 yrs
01-Sept-14	5,595	$	13.91	3 yrs	$	13.91		2.88	%		2.20	%		53.60	%	$	4.20	4.5 - 5.0 yrs
06-Mar-15	37,797	$	10.25	3 yrs	$	10.25		3.90	%		1.90	%		61.38	%	$	2.98	4.2 - 5.0 yrs
15-Jan-16	205,519	$	9.20	3 yrs	$	9.20		6.63	%		1.79	%		58.09	%	$	2.20	4.0 – 5.0 yrs

The cost of each tranche is being recognized by the Company on a straight-line basis. The recognition of share-based compensation costs related to the tranches that vested before July 31, 2016 would have been accelerated if the market condition had been met and the requisite service period had been completed. The Company’s policy for issuing shares upon the exercise, if any, of the SARs is to register and issue new common shares to the beneficiary. Changes in the SARs for the period ended March 31, 2017 is set forth below:

			Weighted average
	No. of Units		exercise price
Balance as at January 1, 2017		1,343,375	$	13.16
SARs granted during the three months ending March 31, 2017		-		-
SARs exercised/converted/expired during the three months ending March 31, 2017		-		-
SARs forfeited during the three months ending March 31, 2017		-		-
Balance as at March 31, 2017 (none of which are exercisable or convertible)		1,343,375	$	13.16

The total cost related to non-vested awards expected to be recognized through 2018 is set forth below:

Period	TOTAL
2017		457,042
2018		155,219
		612,261

- Definition

The entire disclosure for compensation-related costs for equity-based compensation, which may include disclosure of policies, compensation plan details, allocation of equity compensation, incentive distributions, equity-based arrangements to obtain goods and services, deferred compensation arrangements, employee stock ownership plan details and employee stock purchase plan details.

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