Derivative Financial Instruments and Hedging Activities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Derivative Financial Instruments and Hedging Activities [Abstract]

Derivative Financial Instruments and Hedging Activities

Note 11.   Derivative Financial Instruments and Hedging Activities

As a multinational corporation with operations throughout the world, the Company is exposed to certain market risks. The Company uses a variety of practices to manage these market risks, including, when considered appropriate, derivative financial instruments. The Company's objective is to offset gains and losses resulting from  interest rates and foreign currency exposures with gains and losses on the derivative contracts used to hedge them. The Company uses derivative financial instruments only for risk management and not for trading or speculative purposes.

By using derivative financial instruments to hedge exposures to changes in interest rates and foreign currencies, the Company exposes itself to credit risk and market risk. Credit risk is the risk that the counterparty will fail to perform under the terms of the derivative contract. When the fair value of a derivative contract is positive, the counterparty owes the Company, which creates credit risk for the Company. When the fair value of a derivative contract is negative, the Company owes the counterparty, and therefore, it does not face any credit risk. The Company minimizes the credit risk in derivative instruments by entering into transactions with major financial institutions.

Market risk is the adverse effect on the value of a financial instrument that results from a change in interest rates, currency exchange rates, or commodity prices. The market risk associated with interest rate and forward exchange contracts is managed by establishing and monitoring parameters that limit the types and degree of market risk that may be undertaken.

Cash flow hedges:

For derivative instruments that are designated and qualify as cash flow hedges, the Company records the effective portion of the gain or loss in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) as a separate component of shareholders' equity. The Company subsequently reclassifies the effective portion of gain or loss into earnings in the period during which the hedged transaction is recognized in earnings.

The Company uses foreign exchange forward contracts to protect against foreign currency exchange rate risks inherent in its forecasted inventory purchases. The Company had 2 open foreign exchange contracts as of December 31, 2014, designated as cash flow hedges. The gains and losses associated with these forward exchange contracts are recognized into cost of sales. Gains and losses and hedge ineffectiveness associated with these derivatives were not significant. The fair value of these contracts at December 31, 2014 and 2013 was not significant.

Other:

The Company is exposed to potential gains or losses from foreign currency fluctuations affecting net investments and earning denominated in foreign currencies.  The Company is particularly sensitive to currency exchange rate fluctuations for the following currencies: British pound sterling (GBP), Chinese renminbi (CYN), Danish kroner (DKK), Euro, Malaysian ringgit (MYR), Norwegian krone (NOK), Polish zloty (PLN), South African Rand (ZAR), Thai baht (THB) and Turkish lira (TRY). When considered appropriate, the Company enters into foreign exchange derivative contracts to mitigate the risk of fluctuations on these exposures. The Company does not designate these contracts for hedge accounting treatment and the changes in fair value of these contracts are recorded in earnings. During 2014, the Company recorded $1.4 million loss in the Other non-operating income (deductions), net line within the Consolidated Statements of Income relating to the changes in fair value of these contracts. These contracts were primarily entered to mitigate the exposures of the acquired AMCOL businesses.

The following table sets forth the fair values of our derivative instruments and the location on the Consolidated Balance Sheets:

		Fair Value as of December 31,
	Balance Sheet Location	2014		2013
		(millions of dollars)
Derivatives not designated as hedging instruments:
Asset derivatives:
Foreign exchange forward contracts	Other current assets	$	0.5	$	-
Liability derivatives:
Foreign exchange forward contracts	Other current liabilities	$	0.3	$	-

Refer to Note 12, “Fair Value of Financial Instruments” for further discussion of the determination of the fair value of derivatives.