Note 9 - Lease Commitments

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2018

Notes to Financial Statements

Commitments Disclosure [Text Block]

Note

9

- Lease Commitments:

On

November 30, 2016,

Value Line, Inc., received consent from the landlord at

551

Fifth Avenue, New York, NY to the terms of a new sublease agreement between Value Line, Inc. and ABM Industries, Incorporated (“ABM” or the “Sublandlord”) commencing on

December 1, 2016.

Pursuant to the agreement Value Line leased from ABM

24,726

square feet of office space located on the

second

and

third

floors at

551

Fifth Avenue, New York, NY (“Building” or “Premises”) beginning on

December 1, 2016

and ending on

November 29, 2027.

Base rent under the sublease agreement is

$1,126,000

per annum during the

first

year with an annual increase in base rent of

2.25%

scheduled for each subsequent year, payable in equal monthly installments on the

first

day of each month, subject to customary concessions in the Company’s favor and pass-through of certain increases in utility costs and real estate taxes over the base year. The Company provided a security deposit represented by a letter of credit in the amount of

$469,000

in

October 2016,

which is scheduled to be reduced to

$305,000

on

September 30, 2021

and fully refunded after the sublease ends. This Building became the Company’s new corporate office facility. The Company is required to pay for certain operating expenses associated with the Premises as well as utilities supplied to the Premises. The sublease terms provide for a significant decrease (

23%

initially) in the Company’s annual rental expenditure taking into account free rent for the

first

six

months of the sublease. Sublandlord provided Value Line a work allowance of

$417,000

which accompanied with the

six

months free rent worth

$563,000

was applied against the Company’s obligation to pay rent at our NYC headquarters, delaying the actual rent payments until

November 2017.

On

February

29,

2016,

the Company’s subsidiary VLDC and Seagis Property Group LP (the “Landlord”) entered into a lease agreement, pursuant to which VLDC has leased

24,110

square feet of warehouse and appurtenant office space located at

205

Chubb Ave., Lyndhurst, NJ (“Warehouse”) beginning on

May 1, 2016

and ending on

April 30, 2024 (

“Lease”). Base rent under the Lease is

$192,880

per annum payable in equal monthly installments on the

first

day of each month, in advance during fiscal

2017

and will gradually increase to

$237,218

in fiscal

2024,

subject to customary increases based on operating costs and real estate taxes. The Company provided a security deposit in cash in the amount of

$32,146,

which will be fully refunded after the lease term expires. The lease is a net lease requiring the Company to pay for certain operating expenses associated with the Warehouse as well as utilities supplied to the Warehouse.

The total amount of the base rent payments is being charged to expense on the straight-line method over the term of the lease.

Future minimum payments, exclusive of potential increases in real estate taxes and operating cost escalations, under operating leases for office space, with remaining terms of

one

year or more, are as follows:

Fiscal Years Ended April 30,	($ in thousands)
2019		1,366
2020		1,399
2021		1,432
2022		1,506
2023 and thereafter		8,496
	$	14,199

For the fiscal years ended

April 30, 2018,

2017

and

2016,

rental expenses were

$1,246,000,

$1,677,000

and

$1,268,000,

respectively.