COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 18—COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Leases

The Company is obligated under non-cancelable operating leases, primarily for manufacturing equipment, buildings and office equipment. Leases for buildings occupied by IEC's businesses expire as follows: Celmet in July 2014 and SCB primarily in September 2018. These operating leases generally contain renewal options and require the Company to pay executory costs such as taxes, insurance and maintenance.

A summary of minimum lease obligations through the remainder of the lease terms follows:

	Contractual
	Lease
Future Rental Obligations	Payments (1)
	(thousands)
Twelve months ending September 30,
2014	$	373
2015		320
2016		321
2017		281
2018		270

(1) The Celmet facility future lease payments that were due under its lease at September 30, 2013 have been excluded from the table above as the Company purchased the facility in November 2013. See Note 8, “Credit Facilities” for more information.

Rent expense was $1.1 million and $1.3 million for the years ended September 30, 2013 and 2012.

Purchase Commitments

During August 2011, one of IEC's operating units entered into a five-year agreement with one of its suppliers to purchase a minimum volume of materials in exchange for receiving favorable pricing on the unit's purchases. In the event the unit's cumulative purchases do not equal or exceed stated minimums, the supplier has a right to terminate the agreement and the IEC unit would be obligated to pay an early termination fee that declines from $365 thousand to zero over the term of the agreement. As of the date of this Form 10-K, the company expects to exceed minimum purchase requirements under the agreement, thereby avoiding any termination fee.