DEBT

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

DEBT

DEBT

NOTE 14 — DEBT

The Company’s $80,000 Series C Note (the “Note”) is due in March 2012.  The Company has a line of credit totaling $150,000 through the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (the “Credit Agreement”), which was entered into on November 18, 2009.  As of September 30, 2011, the Company was in compliance with all of its covenants and had no outstanding borrowings under the Credit Agreement, but had letters of credit outstanding totaling $60, which reduced the availability under the Credit Agreement to $149,940.  The Credit Agreement has a three-year term and may be increased, subject to certain conditions, by an additional amount up to $75,000 at any time not later than 180 days prior to the last day of the term.

The Company historically utilized interest rate swaps to manage interest rate risks.  The Company terminated its remaining interest rate swaps in 2009 and had no interest rate swaps outstanding as of September 30, 2011.  The termination of interest rate swaps in 2009 resulted in a realized gain of $5,079.  This gain was deferred and is being amortized over the remaining life of the Note.  The amortization of this gain reduced “Interest expense” by $1,243 in the nine month periods ended September 30, 2011 and 2010 and is expected to reduce annual interest expense by $1,661 during 2011.  At September 30, 2011, $746 remains to be amortized and is recognized in “Current portion of long-term debt.”  The weighted average effective interest rate on the Note, net of the impact of swaps, was 4.0 % for the nine months ended September 30, 2011.