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Concentration of Credit Risks and Accounts Receivable Factoring Agreements
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2012
Concentration of Credit Risks and Accounts Receivable Factoring Agreements [Abstract]  
Concentration of Credit Risks and Accounts Receivable Factoring Agreements

Note 2. Concentration of Credit Risks and Accounts Receivable Factoring Agreements

Accounts receivable potentially expose the Company to a concentration of credit risk. The Company provides credit in the normal course of business and performs ongoing credit evaluations on its customers’ financial condition, as deemed necessary, but generally does not require collateral to support such receivables. Customer balances are considered past due based on contractual terms and the Company does not accrue interest on the past due balances. Also, in an effort to reduce its credit exposure to certain customers, as well as accelerate its cash flows, the Company has sold on a non-recourse basis, certain of its receivables pursuant to factoring agreements. The provision for losses on uncollectible accounts is determined principally on the basis of past collection experience applied to ongoing evaluations of the Company’s receivables and evaluations of the risk of repayment. The allowance for doubtful accounts was approximately $1.1 million at March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, which management believes is adequate to provide for credit losses in the normal course of business, as well as losses for customers who have filed for protection under bankruptcy laws. Once management determines that the receivables are not recoverable, the amounts are removed from the financial records along with the corresponding reserve balance. Sales to the Procter & Gamble Company (“P&G”) accounted for 17% and 16% of the Company’s sales in the first three months of fiscal 2012 and 2011, respectively.

The Company has entered into a factoring agreement to sell, without recourse or discount, certain U.S. company- based receivables to an unrelated third-party financial institution. Under the current terms of the factoring agreement, the maximum amount of outstanding advances at any one time is $20.0 million, which limitation is subject to change based on the level of eligible receivables, restrictions on concentrations of receivables and the historical performance of the receivables sold. Additionally, the Company’s subsidiaries in Mexico, Colombia, Spain and the Netherlands have entered into factoring agreements (the “Foreign Subsidiary Factor Agreements”) to sell, without recourse or discount, certain non-U.S. company-based receivables to unrelated third-party financial institutions. Under the terms of the Foreign Subsidiary Factoring Agreements, the maximum amount of outstanding advances at any one time is $48.0 million, which limitation is subject to change based on the level of eligible receivables, restrictions on concentrations of receivables and the historical performance of the receivables sold.

A total of approximately $82.4 million and $60.0 million of receivables have been sold under the terms of the factoring agreements during the three months ended March 31, 2012 and the three months ended April 2, 2011, respectively. The increase in the receivables sold between first quarter fiscal 2012 and first quarter fiscal 2011 was due primarily to additional receivables sold from the Company’s Colombia and Netherlands operations, which commenced their factoring programs in July 2011 and March 2012, respectively.

The Company’s use of factoring arrangements accelerates cash collection from product sales. Other benefits include the reduction of customer credit exposure. Such sales of accounts receivable are reflected as a reduction of Accounts receivable, net in the Consolidated Balance Sheets as they meet the applicable criteria of ASC 860, “Transfers and Servicing” (“ASC 860”). The gross amount of outstanding trade receivables sold to the factoring entities and, therefore, excluded from the Company’s accounts receivable, was $48.1 million and $42.5 million as of March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively. The amount due from the factoring companies, net of advances received from the factoring companies, was $8.1 million and $7.6 million at March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011 and is shown in Other current assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. As such, the net amount of factored receivables was $40.0 million and $34.9 million as of March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively.

The Company pays factoring fees associated with the sale of receivables based on the dollar value of the receivables sold. Such fees, which are considered to be primarily related to the Company’s financing activities, are included in Foreign currency and other loss (gain), net in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. The Company incurred approximately $0.3 million, $0.2 million, and $0.1 million of factoring fees during the three months ended March 31, 2012, the two months ended April 2, 2011 and the one month ended January 28, 2011, respectively.