Financial Instruments

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Derivative [Line Items]

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

The Company has limited involvement with derivative financial instruments and does not use them for trading purposes. The Company enters into certain interest rate swap agreements in order to manage its exposure to changes in interest rates. The amount of the Company's fixed obligation interest payments may change based upon the expiration dates of its interest rate swap agreements and the level and composition of its debt. The Company also enters into certain foreign currency forward contracts to limit the Company's exposure to currency fluctuations on the respective hedged items. For additional disclosures on derivative instruments regarding balance sheet location, fair value, and the amounts reclassified into other comprehensive income and the effective portions of the cash flow hedges, also see Notes 5 and 9 to the interim consolidated financial statements. As also mentioned in Note 7, the Company has designated its euro-denominated debt as a hedge of a portion of its net investment in euro-denominated foreign subsidiary.

Cash Flow Hedges

In June 2019, the Company entered into a cross currency swap arrangement designated as a cash flow hedge. The agreement converts $50 million of borrowings under the Company's credit facility into synthetic Swiss franc debt, which allows the Company to effectively change the floating rate LIBOR-based interest payments, excluding the credit spread, to a fixed Swiss franc income of 0.82%. The swap began in June 2019 and matures in June 2023.

In June 2019, the Company entered into a cross currency swap arrangement designated as a cash flow hedge. The agreement converts $50 million of borrowings under the Company's credit facility into synthetic Swiss franc debt, which allows the Company to effectively change the floating rate LIBOR-based interest payments, excluding the credit spread, to a fixed Swiss franc income of 0.95%. The swap began in June 2019 and matures in June 2021.

In February 2019, the Company entered into a cross currency swap arrangement designated as a cash flow hedge. The agreement converts $50 million of borrowings under the Company's credit facility into synthetic Swiss franc debt which allows the Company to effectively change the floating rate LIBOR-based interest payments, excluding the credit spread to a fixed Swiss franc income of 0.78%. The swap began in February 2019 and matures in June 2021.

In 2015, the Company entered into an interest rate swap agreement designated as a cash flow hedge. The agreement is a swap which has the effect of changing the floating rate LIBOR-based interest payments associated with $100 million in borrowings under the Company's credit agreement to a fixed obligation of 2.25%. The swap began in February 2017 and matures in February 2022.

In 2013, the Company entered into an interest rate swap agreement designated as a cash flow hedge. The agreement is a swap which has the effect of changing the floating rate LIBOR-based interest payments associated with $50 million in borrowings under the Company’s credit agreement to a fixed obligation of 2.52% beginning in October 2015 and matures in October 2020.

The Company's cash flow hedges are recorded gross at fair value in the consolidated balance sheet at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. A derivative loss of $0.1 million based upon interest rates at March 31, 2020, is expected to be reclassified from other comprehensive income (loss) to earnings in the next twelve months. The cash flow hedges remain effective, through March 31, 2020.

Other Derivatives

The Company enters into foreign currency forward contracts in order to economically hedge short-term trade and non-trade intercompany balances largely denominated in Swiss franc, other major European currencies, and the Chinese Renminbi with its foreign businesses. In accordance with U.S. GAAP, these contracts are considered “derivatives not designated as hedging instruments.” Gains or losses on these instruments are reported in current earnings. The foreign currency forward contracts are recorded at fair value in the consolidated balance sheet at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, as disclosed in Note 5. The Company recognized in other charges (income) a net loss of $7.3 million and net gain of $4.7 million during the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, which offset the related transaction gains (losses) associated with these contracts. At March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, these contracts had a notional value of $662.1 million and $494.6 million, respectively.