Employee and Non-Employee Benefit Plans

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2014

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Employee and Non-Employee Benefit Plans

Employee and Non-Employee Benefit Plans.

Post Retirement Benefits.  The Company and its subsidiaries provide certain post-retirement health care and life insurance benefits to certain retired employees.  The liability for such benefits is unfunded.

The components of the Net Periodic Benefit Cost/Income for the quarters ended March 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, are as follows:

	Quarter Ended
	March 31, 2014			March 31, 2013
Service cost	$	28		$	33
Interest cost	47			43
Amortization of prior service cost	(155		)	(167		)
Amortization of net actuarial loss	—			8
Total post-retirement benefit cost / (income)	$	(80	)	$	(83	)

The Company disclosed in its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2013, amounts expected to be paid to plan participants.  There have been no revisions to these estimates and there have been no changes in the estimate of total employer contributions expected to be made for the year ended December 31, 2014.  The Company reclassified $155 of prior service cost from accumulated other comprehensive loss into post-retirement benefit income for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 and $159 of prior service cost and net actuarial loss from accumulated other comprehensive loss into post-retirement benefit income for the prior year quarter ended March 31, 2013.

Total employer contributions accrued for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 were $0.

Pension Benefits.  The Company and its subsidiaries also provide defined retirement benefits to certain employees covered under collective bargaining agreements.  Under the collective bargaining agreements, the Company’s pension funding contributions are determined as a percentage of wages paid.  The funding is divided between the defined benefit plans and a union 401(k) plan.  It has been management’s policy to fund the defined benefit plans in accordance with the collective bargaining agreements.  The collective bargaining agreements allow the plans’ trustees to develop changes to the pension plan to allow benefits to match funding, including reductions in benefits.  The benefits under these pension plans are based upon years of qualified credited service; however, benefit accruals under the defined benefit plans were frozen in 2009.

The components of the Net Periodic Benefit Cost/Income for the quarters ended March 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, are as follows:

	Quarter Ended
	March 31, 2014			March 31, 2013
Interest cost	$	22		$	21
Expected return on plan assets	(26		)	(29		)
Amortization of net actuarial loss	5			17
Total pension benefit cost/(income)	$	1		$	9

The Company reclassified $5 and $17 of net actuarial loss from accumulated other comprehensive loss into pension benefit income for the quarters ended March 31, 2014 and March 31, 2013, respectively.

The Company previously disclosed in its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2013, the assumptions used to determine accumulated benefit obligation.

The Company has made employer contributions to its pension plan and union 401(k) during the quarter ended March 31, 2014, of $411.

Equity-Based Compensation Plans.  The Company’s equity based compensation plans provide for the awarding of stock options, stock appreciation rights, and shares of restricted common stock (“restricted stock”) for senior executives and salaried employees as well as outside directors.  As of March 31, 2014, 949,424 shares of restricted common stock and restricted stock units (net of forfeitures) were outstanding under the Company’s long-term incentive plans.  Compensation expense related to these awards is based on the market price of the stock on the date the Board of Directors approved the grant and is amortized over the vesting period of the restricted stock award. 

As of March 31, 2014, the Company was authorized to issue 40,000,000 shares of Common Stock.  In connection with the Reorganization, the Company retired its treasury stock, which had historically been used for issuance of Common Stock under the Company’s equity-based compensation plans.  With the retirement of these treasury shares, the Company reserved certain authorized shares for issuance of Common Stock under its equity-based compensation plans.  Reserved shares of Common Stock at March 31, 2014 were as follows:

Stock options granted but not exercised	10,000
Restricted stock to non-employees  (authorized but not granted)	13,383
Restricted stock to employees and executives (authorized but not granted)	1,170,404
Total	1,193,787

Non-Employee Directors' Plan. On March 14, 2014 the Company’s Board of Directors, upon the recommendation of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee, approved Amendment No. 1 to the MGP Ingredients, Inc. Non-Employee Directors’ Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan, which is attached to this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as Exhibit 10.1 and incorporated herein by reference. The amendment modified the criteria applicable to vesting of awards and forfeiture of awards upon various vesting events, including upon retirement of a director.