Share-based Compensation

The Company accounts for its share-based compensation arrangements by recognizing compensation expense for the fair value of the share awards granted ratably over their vesting period. All compensation expense related to share-based compensation arrangements is recorded in sales, general and administrative expense and warehouse, processing and delivery expense. The unrecognized compensation cost as of September 30, 2014 associated with all share-based payment arrangements is $4,300 and the weighted average period over which it is to be expensed is 1.4 years.

2014 Long-Term Compensation Plan

On March 26, 2014, the Board of Directors of the Company approved equity awards under the Company’s 2014 Long-Term Compensation Plan (“2014 LTC Plan”) for executive officers and other select personnel. The 2014 LTC Plan awards included restricted stock units (“RSUs”) and performance share units (“PSUs”). All 2014 LTC Plan awards are subject to the terms of the Company’s 2008 A.M. Castle & Co. Omnibus Incentive Plan, amended and restated as of April 25, 2013.

The 2014 LTC Plan consists of three components of share-based payment awards as follows:

Restricted Share Units - The Company granted 119 RSUs with a grant date fair value of $14.35 per share unit to executive officers and other select personnel. The grant date fair value was established using the market price of the Company’s stock on the date of grant. The RSUs cliff vest on December 31, 2016. Each RSU that becomes vested entitles the participant to receive one share of the Company’s common stock. The number of shares delivered may be reduced by the number of shares required to be withheld for federal and state withholding tax requirements (determined at the market price of Company shares at the time of payout).

Performance Share Units - The Company granted 239 PSUs, half of which contain a market-based performance condition dependent on relative total shareholder return ("RTSR") and half of which contain a non-market-based performance condition dependent on Company-specific target goals for Return on Invested Capital ("ROIC") (as defined in the 2014 LTC Plan). Partial performance awards can be earned for performance less than the target goal, but in excess of minimum goals, and award distributions up to twice the target can be achieved if the target goals are exceeded. The number of performance shares, if any, that vest based on the performance achieved during the three-year performance period, will vest at the end of the three-year performance period.

PSUs containing the RTSR performance condition - The potential award for PSUs containing the RTSR performance condition is measured over a three-year performance period, beginning January 1^st of the year of grant. RTSR is measured against a group of peer companies either in the metals industry or in the industrial products distribution industry (the “RTSR Peer Group”). Each performance share that becomes vested entitles the participant to receive one share of the Company’s common stock. The grant date fair value for the PSUs containing the RTSR performance condition that were granted to executive officers and other select personnel under the 2014 LTC Plan of $20.16 was estimated using a Monte Carlo simulation with the following assumptions:



	2014
Expected volatility	40.8	%
Risk-free interest rate	0.79	%
Expected life (in years)	2.77
Expected dividend yield	—

Compensation expense for performance awards containing the RTSR performance condition is recognized regardless of whether the market condition is achieved to the extent the requisite service period condition is met.

PSUs containing the ROIC performance condition - The potential award for PSUs containing the ROIC performance condition is determined based on the Company’s average actual performance versus target goals for ROIC for the three-year performance period beginning on January 1^st of the year of grant. Compensation expense recognized is based on management’s expectation of future performance compared to the pre-established performance goals. If the performance goals are not expected to be met, no compensation expense is recognized and any previously recognized compensation expense is reversed. The grant date fair-value of the PSUs containing the ROIC performance condition was established using the market price of the Company’s stock on the date of grant.

The award information associated with 2014 LTC Plan RTSR and ROIC awards is summarized below:



Share type	Grant Date Fair Value		Estimated Number of PSUs to be Issued	Maximum Number of PSUs that could Potentially be Issued
RTSR performance condition	$	20.16	—	178
ROIC performance condition	$	14.35	—	178