Related Party Transaction

9 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2016

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transaction

10. Related Party Transaction

On June 8, 2016, the Company issued 320,000 shares of 9.00% Series A Cumulative Preferred Stock (the “Preferred Stock “), par value $1.00 per share, pursuant to an underwriting agreement, dated June 2, 2016, by and between the Company and Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. The Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-President of Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc is the Non-Executive Chairman of the Company’s board of directors. The underwriter received underwriting discounts and commissions totaling $440,000 in connection with this offering. In addition, the underwriter received a structuring fee equal to 0.50% of the gross proceeds from this offering, or $40,000. The Non-Executive Chairman of the Company received no portion of these commissions, discounts and fees.

On October 7, 2016 the Company entered into an equity distribution agreement (the “Equity Distribution Agreement”) with Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. (the “Agent”), pursuant to which the Company may sell up to 500,000 shares of the Preferred Stocked through the Agent through an at the market (“ATM”) offering program. Under the Equity Distribution Agreement, the Agent will be entitled to compensation of up to 2.0% of the gross proceeds from the sale of Preferred Stock under the ATM program. For the three months ended October 31, 2016, the Company issued 7,990 shares of Preferred Stock under the ATM offering program. Gross proceeds from these sales were approximately $190,000 and the Agent received compensation of approximately $3,800. The Non-Executive Chairman of the Company received no portion of this compensation.