Related Party Transaction

6 Months Ended

Jul. 31, 2021

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transaction

Related Party Transaction

On October 7, 2016, the Company entered into an equity distribution agreement with Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. (the “Agent”). On December 18, 2019, the Company and Agent entered into an Amended and Restated equity distribution agreement (the “1st Equity Distribution Agreement”). Pursuant to the 1st Equity Distribution Agreement, the Company may sell up to 500,000 shares of 9.00% Series A Cumulative Preferred Stock, par value $1.00 per share (the “Preferred Stock”), through an at-the-market offering program (the “1st ATM Offering Program”) administered by the Agent. The Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-President of the Agent is the Non-Executive Chairman of our Board. Under the 1st Equity Distribution Agreement, the Agent was entitled to compensation of up to 2.0% of the gross proceeds from the sale of Preferred Stock under the 1st ATM Offering Program. As of January 31, 2020, we had issued 994,046 shares of Series A Preferred for which the Agent was entitled to compensation, including 100% of the Preferred Stock available for sale through the 1st Equity Distribution Agreement.

In September 2020 we entered into a new equity distribution agreement (the “2nd Equity Distribution Agreement”) with the Agent with economic terms essentially identical to the initial agreement. Pursuant to the 2nd Equity Distribution Agreement, the Company may sell up to 500,000 shares of Preferred Stock and 5,000,000 shares of $0.01 par value common stock (“Common Stock”) through a new at-the-market offering program (the “2nd ATM Offering Program”).

During the three- and six-month periods ended July 31, 2021, the Company sold 163,780 and 184,740 shares of Preferred Stock under the 2nd ATM Offering Program, respectively. Net proceeds from these sales for the three and six months ended July 31, 2021, were approximately $4.0 million and $4.5 million, respectively, and the Agent received compensation of approximately $82,000 and 92,000,respectively. The Non-Executive Chairman of the Board received no portion of this compensation.

During the three- and six-month periods ended July 31, 2021, the Company sold 362 and 18,415 shares of Common Stock under the 2nd ATM Offering Program, respectively. Net proceeds from these sales for the three and six months ended July 31, 2021, were approximately $1,000 and $43,000. Compensation to the Agent during this period was approximately $1,000, none of which was received by the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board.