Special Charges

In connection with various organizational changes to improve our business alignment and cost structure, we recognized special charges of $36.9 million and $3.1 million for the quarters ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, and $50.4 million and $8.9 million for the year to date periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017. These charges are summarized as follows:

Dispositions

During the second quarter of fiscal 2018, we entered into an agreement to convey certain assets related to the Company's third-party rental business to UHS and recorded an after-tax loss of $23.4 million in special charges.

Business Optimization

During the first quarter of fiscal 2018, we initiated a global transformation program focused on reducing complexity, increasing efficiency, improving our cost structure and accelerating growth with targeted investments that align with our strategic priorities. For the quarter and year to date periods ended March 31, 2018, this program resulted in charges of $9.6 million and $18.8 million, of which $4.8 million and $10.8 million were severance and benefit costs. We continue to evaluate additional actions related to this program and expect additional special charges to be incurred. However, it is not practicable to estimate the amount of these future expected costs until such time as the evaluations are complete.

Site Consolidation

In the third quarter of fiscal 2015, we initiated a plan to streamline our operations and simplify our supply chain by consolidating certain manufacturing and distribution operations (“Site Consolidation”). As part of this action, we have announced the closure of five sites. During the quarter and year to date periods ended March 31, 2018, we recorded total charges of $3.8 million and $7.8 million, related to these efforts, of which $0.5 million and $0.7 million were severance and benefit costs. These amounts compare to charges of $6.2 million and $9.8 million, during the quarter and year to date periods ended March 31, 2017, of which $1.7 million were severance and benefit costs for the quarter and year to dates periods ended March 31, 2017.

During the second quarter of fiscal 2017, we sold our Charleston property for $6.1 million in cash proceeds and recorded a gain of $5.2 million.

Since the inception of the Site Consolidation program through March 31, 2018, we have recognized aggregate special charges of $42.8 million. We continue to evaluate our facilities footprint and expect to incur additional costs with respect to other actions in the future, however, it is not practicable to estimate the amount of these future expected costs until such time as the evaluations are complete.

Integration and Business Realignment

We acquired Mortara and Tridien and initiated integration activities to optimize the available synergies of our combined company. Additionally, with the acquisition of Welch Allyn in September 2015, we initiated plans to realign our business structure to facilitate the integration, take full advantage of available synergies, and position our existing businesses to capitalize on opportunities for growth. We also incurred costs, including severance and benefit costs, associated with other business realignment and integration activities. During the quarter and year to date periods ended March 31, 2018, we incurred total integration and business realignment charges of approximately $0.1 million and $0.4 million. These amounts compare to charges of $2.1 million and $2.3 million during the quarter and year to date periods ended March 31, 2017, of which $1.4 million were severance and benefit costs for the quarter and year to date periods ended March 31, 2017. We do not expect to incur significant additional special charges in relation to these activities.

For all accrued severance and other benefit charges described above, we record restructuring reserves within Other current liabilities. The reserve activity for severance and other benefits during the year to date period ended March 31, 2018 was as follows:



Balance at September 30, 2017	$	9.0
Expenses	11.5
Cash Payments	(12.6		)
Balance at March 31, 2018	$	7.9