ACCOUNTS PAYABLE, NET AND ACCRUED EXPENSES

6 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2014

Payables and Accruals [Abstract]

Accounts Payable and Accrued Liabilities Disclosure [Text Block]

(5) ACCOUNTS PAYABLE, NET AND ACCRUED EXPENSES

Accounts payable, net and accrued expenses consist of the following (in thousands):

	October 31,		April 30,
	2014		2014
Media Services operations:
Subscription Fulfillment Services	$	9,890	$	10,692
Newsstand Distribution Services, net of estimated returns		21,004		60,696
Product Packaging and Fulfillment Services and Staffing		966		1,502
		31,860		72,890
Real estate operations and corporate		1,637		1,746
	$	33,497	$	74,636

The October 31, 2014 accounts payable, net and accrued expenses total includes net publisher payables of $17,884,000, customer postage deposits of $5,821,000, accrued expenses of $3,557,000, trade payables of $1,394,000 and other of $4,841,000. The April 30, 2014 accounts payable, net and accrued expenses total includes net publisher payables of $53,506,000, customer postage deposits of $5,708,000, accrued expenses of $6,840,000, trade payables of $3,242,000 and other of $5,340,000.

Accounts payable of Newsstand Distribution Services, which is operated through Kable Distribution, are net of estimated magazine returns of $42,202,000 and $67,088,000 at October 31, 2014 and April 30, 2014.

During the quarter ended July 31, 2014, the Company and its indirect subsidiaries, Kable Distribution and Palm Coast, entered into the Settlement Agreement with a significant customer resulting in a substantial reduction of accounts payable, net of Newsstand Distribution Services. See further detail regarding the Settlement Agreement in Note 11.

Kable Distribution had negative working capital of approximately $12,672,000 at October 31, 2014, which included outstanding borrowings by Kable Distribution of $2,238,000 under a revolving credit facility between the Company’s Media Services businesses and a bank (the “Media Services Credit Facility”). The negative working capital of Kable Distribution represents the net payment obligation due to publisher clients and other third parties, which amount will vary from period to period based on the level of magazine distribution. The negative working capital of Kable Distribution is calculated by deducting (a) the sum of the cash held by Kable Distribution plus the accounts receivable (net of estimated magazine returns to Kable Distribution) owed to Kable Distribution from wholesalers, retailers and other third parties from (b) the accounts payable (net of estimated magazine returns to publishers) and accrued expenses owed by Kable Distribution to publisher clients and other third parties plus outstanding bank borrowings of Kable Distribution under the Media Services Credit Facility.