INTANGIBLE AND OTHER ASSETS:

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2012

Intangible and Other Assets [Abstract]

Intangible and Other Assets [Text Block]

(6)           INTANGIBLE AND OTHER ASSETS:

Intangible and other assets consist of:

		April 30, 2012				April 30, 2011
				(Thousands)
		Cost		Accumulated Amortization		Cost		Accumulated Amortization
Software development costs	$	1,964	$	1,905	$	1,964	$	1,675
Deferred order entry costs		1,320		-		1,785		-
Prepaid expenses		3,315		-		3,252		-
Customer contracts and relationships		15,000		6,612		15,000		5,362
Other		1,671		773		1,695		541
	$	23,270	$	9,290	$	23,696	$	7,578

Software development costs include internal and external costs of the development of new or enhanced software programs and are generally amortized over five years.  Deferred order entry costs represent costs incurred in connection with the data entry of customer subscription information to database files and are charged directly to operations generally over a twelve month period.  Customer contracts and relationships are amortized on a straight line basis over twelve years.

Amortization related to intangible and other assets was $1,813,000, $1,922,000 and $5,245,000 in 2012, 2011 and 2010.  Amortization charges for 2010 included charges related to the project to consolidate the Company’s fulfillment services business operations (see Note 15) which accelerated the amortization of certain software development costs and which resulted in many of these costs being fully amortized in 2010.  Amortization of intangible and other assets for each of the next five fiscal years is estimated to be as follows: 2013 - $1,700,000; 2014 - $1,400,000; 2015 - $1,400,000; 2016 - $1,400,000; and 2017 - $1,400,000.