Notes payable, convertible senior notes and line of credit

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

Notes payable, convertible senior notes and line of credit

Notes payable, convertible senior notes and line of credit.

A summary of notes payable follows:

	2014	2013
	($000 omitted)
Banks – varying payments and rates(1)	60,000	4,202
Other than banks	5,562	1,625
	65,562	5,827

(1) Average interest rates were 2.21% and 2.82% at December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Principal payments on the notes, based upon the contractual maturities, are due in the amounts of $5.4 million in 2015, $0.1 million in 2016, $0.1 million in 2017, none in 2018, and $60.0 million in 2019.

In October 2009, the Company entered into an agreement providing for the sale of $65.0 million aggregate principal amount of 6.0% Convertible Senior Notes to an initial purchaser for resale to certain qualified institutional buyers in compliance with Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. In 2013, the Company exchanged an aggregate of $37.8 million principal amount of Notes for an aggregate of 3,094,440 shares of Common Stock plus cash for the accrued and unpaid interest. In October 2014, the Company exchanged an aggregate of $27.2 million of Notes, at maturity, for an aggregate of 2,111,017 shares of Common Stock.

The Company incurred $3.3 million of debt issuance costs related to the Notes and amortized them over the term of the Notes using the effective interest method. The amortization of the debt issuance costs was $0.3 million, $0.4 million and $0.6 million and interest expense on the Notes was $1.3 million, $2.0 million and $4.2 million in 2014, 2013, and 2012, respectively.

As of December 31, 2014, the Company also had available a $125.0 million unsecured line of credit commitment, which expires October 2019, under which borrowings of $60.0 million were outstanding. The unsecured line of credit can be used for general corporate purposes, including acquisitions. Borrowings, at the Company's election, bear interest at either (a) an Alternate Base Rate plus the Applicable Rate (ABR Borrowing) or (b) LIBOR plus the Applicable Rate (Eurodollar Borrowing). The Applicable Rate ranges from .50% to 1.00% per annum for ABR Borrowings and 1.50% to 2.00% per annum for Eurodollar Borrowings based on the Company's consolidated Leverage Ratio.

The agreement for the unsecured line of credit contains customary affirmative and negative covenants. The agreement also contains certain consolidated financial covenants providing that (a) the ratio of EBITDA to fixed charges (as defined in the agreement) not be below 1.25 to 1.00 on a trailing four-quarter basis (the Fixed Charge Ratio); (b) the ratio of total Indebtedness to EBITDA for the prior four consecutive quarters must not be greater than 2.25 to 1.00 (the Leverage Ratio); and (c) Capital Expenditures in the aggregate for the Company consolidated in any calendar year may not exceed $20 million, with certain allowances for carryover of unused amounts. The Company was in compliance with all covenants as of December 31, 2014.

Our qualified intermediary in tax-deferred property exchanges pursuant to Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code enters into short-term loan agreements in the ordinary course of its business. The outstanding balance pursuant to these loans are reflected in notes payable - other than banks in the table above and borrowings and repayments on these loans are reflected in our consolidated statements of cash flows.