Note 11 - Business Unit Segment Information

3 Months Ended

Mar. 29, 2014

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

11. Business Unit Segment Information

The company and its subsidiaries design, manufacture and sell circuit protection devices throughout the world. The company reports its operations by the following business unit segments: Electronics, Automotive, and Electrical. Each operating segment is directly responsible for sales, marketing and research and development. Manufacturing, purchasing, logistics, customer service, finance, information technology and human resources are shared functions that are allocated back to the three operating segments. The CEO allocates resources to and assesses the performance of each operating segment using information about its revenue and operating income (loss) before interest and taxes, but does not evaluate the operating segments using discrete balance sheet information.

Sales, marketing and research and development expenses are charged directly into each operating segment. All other functions are shared by the operating segments and expenses for these shared functions are allocated to the operating segments and included in the operating results reported below. The company does not report inter-segment revenue because the operating segments do not record it. The company does not allocate interest and other income, interest expense, or taxes to operating segments. Although the CEO uses operating income (loss) to evaluate the segments, operating costs included in one segment may benefit other segments. Except as discussed above, the accounting policies for segment reporting are the same as for the company as a whole.

An operating segment is defined as a component of an enterprise that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses, and about which separate financial information is regularly evaluated by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”) in deciding how to allocate resources. The CODM is the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”).

Business unit segment information for the three months ended March 29, 2014 and March 30, 2013 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	March 29, 2014			March 30, 2013
Net sales
Electronics	$	95,722		$	79,415
Automotive		82,419			59,385
Electrical		28,718			32,118
Total net sales	$	206,859		$	170,918
Depreciation and amortization
Electronics	$	5,370		$	4,861
Automotive		3,528			1,984
Electrical		1,268			959
Total depreciation and amortization	$	10,166		$	7,804
Operating income
Electronics	$	19,068		$	12,143
Automotive		11,899			9,483
Electrical		4,032			6,491
Other(1)		(1,409	)		—
Total operating income		33,590			28,117
Interest expense		1,216			376
Impairment, loan loss and equity in net loss of unconsolidated affiliate (2)		—			10,678
Foreign exchange (gain) loss		(252	)		319
Other (income) expense, net		(1,186	)		(1,228	)
Income before income taxes	$	33,812		$	17,972

(1) “Other” consists of acquisition costs related to the SymCom acquisition. (See note 2).

(2) During the first quarter of 2013, the company recorded approximately $10.7 million related to the impairment of its investment in Shocking Technologies. (See note 5).

The company’s significant net sales by country for the three months ended March 29, 2014 and March 30, 2013 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	Net sales(a)
	March 29, 2014		March 30, 2013
United States	$	71,874	$	57,914
China		37,213		33,614
Other countries		97,772		79,390
Total	$	206,859	$	170,918

(a) Sales by country represent sales to customer or distributor locations.

The company’s significant long-lived assets by country as of March 29, 2014 and December 28, 2013 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	Long-lived assets(b)
	March 29, 2014		December 28, 2013
United States	$	38,583	$	27,294
China		42,784		45,843
Canada		13,760		14,429
Other countries		63,390		62,607
Total	$	158,517	$	150,173

(b) Long-lived assets consists of net property, plant and equipment.