CUSTOMER CONTRACTS AND OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Current Income Tax Benefit Due to Release of Valuation Allowance

CUSTOMER CONTRACTS AND OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS

9. CUSTOMER CONTRACTS AND OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Customer contracts are amortized on a straight-line basis over the period of the agreements, as straight-line best approximates the ratio that current revenues bear to the total of current and anticipated revenues, based on the estimated lives of the assets. In accordance with the FASB ASC Topic 350 “Intangibles - Goodwill and other”, the expected lives of customer contracts were reviewed, and it was determined that customer contracts should be amortized over a life of 7 to 20 years dependent upon customer type. The carrying amount and accumulated amortization for customer contracts were as follows:

December 31,	2015			2014
(in thousands)
Customer contracts	$	214,201		$	214,125
Less:  Accumulated amortization		(121,386	)		(109,468	)
Customer contracts, net	$	92,815		$	104,657

The carrying amount of customer contracts in foreign countries was $14.9 million as of December 31, 2015 and $16.8 million as of December 31, 2014.

Other intangible assets include non-compete agreements, patents and finite lived and indefinite lived trade names. Non-compete agreements are amortized on a straight-line basis over periods ranging from 3 to 20 years and patents are amortized on a straight-line basis over 15 years. The carrying amount and accumulated amortization for other intangible assets were as follows:

At December 31,	2015			2014
(in thousands)
Other intangible assets	$	56,491		$	41,327
Less:  Accumulated amortization		(10,375	)		(12,512	)
Other intangible assets, net	$	46,116		$	28,815

The carrying amount of other intangible assets in foreign countries was $4.2 million as of December 31, 2015 and $4.1 million as of December 31, 2014.

Included in the table above are trademarks and trade names of $32.8 million and $16.6 million at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Also included in the table above are non-amortizable, indefinite lived intangible assets of $29.7 million and $11.3 million at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

The carrying amount of customer contracts and other intangible assets, net were as follows:

December 31,	2015		2014
(in thousands)
Customer contracts, net	$	92,815	$	104,657
Other intangible assets, net		46,116		28,815
Customer contracts and other intangible assets, net	$	138,931	$	133,472

Total amortization expense was approximately $25.2 million in 2015, $26.9 million in 2014 and $25.2 million in 2013.

Estimated amortization expense for the existing carrying amount of customer contracts and other intangible assets for each of the five succeeding fiscal years are as follows:

(in thousands)

2016	$	22,419
2017		20,563
2018		17,113
2019		14,183
2020	$	9,748