Note 5 - Property And Equipment

6 Months Ended

Nov. 30, 2013

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment Disclosure [Text Block]

5.      PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

Property and equipment consists of the following (in thousands):

	As of
	November 30, 2013			May 31, 2013
Land	$	297			301
Buildings and improvements		2,578			2,575
Leasehold improvements		20,723			20,629
Capital work-in-progress		6,820			5,047
Furniture and fixtures		3,409			3,282
Machinery, equipment and instruments		82,102			75,480
		115,929			107,314
Less accumulated depreciation		(39,695	)		(30,933	)
Property and equipment, net	$	76,234			76,381

Depreciation expense was $4.3 million and $8.7 million in the three months and six months ended November 30, 2013, and was $5.1 million and $9.9 million in the three months and six months ended November 30, 2012. The estimated useful lives of the Company’s instrument equipment assets were reevaluated in the first three months of fiscal 2014. The evaluation indicated that the actual lives of our instrument equipment were longer than the estimated useful lives used for depreciation purposes in the Company’s financial statements. As a result, the Company changed its estimates of the useful lives of its instrument equipment to better reflect the estimated periods during which these assets will remain in service. The estimated useful lives of these assets increased from approximately 5 years to 10 years. This change was effective June 1, 2013. The effect of this change in estimate was a reduction in depreciation expense of $1.6 million and $3.1 million for the three months and six months ended November 30, 2013. On an annual basis, the effect of this change is expected to decrease depreciation expense by approximately $6.3 million. Depreciation expense is primarily included in cost of sales in the consolidated statements of operations.