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Note 4 - Loss of a Key Customer and Management's Recovery Plans
6 Months Ended
Jul. 05, 2015
Notes to Financial Statements  
Concentration Risk Disclosure [Text Block]
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4
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Management’s Plans
 
Our supply agreement with Dana Holding Corporation (“Dana”) was originally scheduled to expire on December 31, 2014. For the year ended December 31, 2014, Dana represented approximately 59% of our net revenue.
 
In July 2013, Sypris and Dana signed an amended and restated supply agreement to extend the supply agreement term beyond December 31, 2014, the binding effect of which is currently in dispute. Dana has repudiated this July 2013 agreement, and Dana has ordered a minimal amount of components from us since December 31, 2014. Sypris disputes Dana’s ability to do so and is seeking to recover its lost margins and additional remedies with respect to the revenues to which Sypris was entitled under the renewed agreement.
 
Dana initiated an ancillary action in Ohio state court challenging the arbitrability of the existence and enforceability of the amended and restated July 2013 supply agreement on January 17, 2014. The parties have conducted discovery, and the Ohio trial court has granted an initial motion for judgment on the pleadings or summary judgment, which Sypris has appealed. If the case goes to trial and if ruled in the Company’s favor, the dispute would revert to an arbitrator to determine damages.
 
Additionally, the parties also asserted various damages claims against each other arising out of their prior supply agreement and sought the assistance of an arbitrator in connection with these disputes. The parties had an arbitration hearing in January 2015, and the ruling was received on April 29, 2015, awarding Sypris $505,000.
 
As a result of these disputes with Dana and the loss of the Dana business, the Company has taken significant actions during the fourth quarter of 2014 and the first half of 2015, including but not limited to the following: (i) bid on significant new business opportunities with existing and potential customers resulting from the strength of the commercial vehicle market and a perceived shift in market share among tier one suppliers, (ii) reduced workforce at the locations most impacted by the loss of Dana, (iii) reduced employment costs by reduced work schedules, senior management pay reductions, deferral of merit increases and certain benefit payments, and (iv) utilized labor for preventative maintenance on equipment and facilities, and deployment of Toyota Production System management and production practices. The Company is in the advanced stages of negotiations with several customers about potential new programs, although the typical cycle time for adding such programs can require six months or more. Additionally, subsequent to quarter end, the Company sold certain assets used in the Company’s manufacturing facility in Morganton, North Carolina within the Sypris Technologies segment (see Note 5 “Assets Held for Sale,” and Note 19 “Subsequent Events,” to the consolidated financial statements).
 
The Company has engaged an investment banking firm to provide financial advisory services in connection with its effort to secure new subordinated debt and a financial advisor to assist in the management of the Company’s cash flows and expense levels. Separately, the Company has engaged Needham & Co., Inc. to assist in the potential sale of other appropriate business lines. The Company has also engaged a commercial real estate firm to provide advisory and brokerage services related to the potential disposition of certain real property owned by the Company. There can be no assurance that we will be able to secure debt financing or dispose of assets on a timely basis or at all. In addition, there can be no assurance that our plans to mitigate the loss of the Dana business and to effectively manage our costs during the transition will be successful.
 
The Company has amended its Credit Facility in March and again in July 2015 which provides for up to $10,000,000 of liquidity through September 30, 2015. The Company plans to secure debt financing and/or to dispose of certain assets prior to September 30, 2015, unless the lenders and the Company have otherwise agreed to an appropriate extension of that date. See Note 12 “Debt,” to the consolidated financial statements for more detail on the Credit Facility, these recent amendments to the Credit Facility, our other debt arrangements and our current liquidity position.
 
 
Non-compliance with the Company’s debt covenants, including its covenants to repay the Credit Facility and the Meritor Note, as amended, in full by September 30, 2015, would provide the debt holders with certain contractual rights, including the right to demand immediate repayment of all outstanding borrowings. 
Since the loss of the Dana business, the Company has also experienced negative cash flows from operating activities which could hamper or materially increase the costs of the Company’s ability to comply with such covenants by refinancing its debts before September 30, 2015.  T
he Company’s consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming the
ongoing realization of assets, satisfaction of liabilities and continuity of operations as a going concern in the ordinary course of business, but there can be no assurances that the Company’s current initiatives and plans will ultimately succeed and a substantial doubt exists with respect to such assumptions, which could materially and adversely impair the Company’s ability to operate, its cash flows, financial condition and ongoing results.  However, management currently believes that the Company’s ongoing initiatives, including its current initiatives to refinance its current debt obligations and its parallel efforts to sell certain non-core or underutilized assets or business lines, as more fully described elsewhere in this report, will be successful within the time frames and on terms acceptable to
PNC Bank, NA (“PNC”)
and
Meritor, Inc. (“Meritor”)
.