Stock-Based Compensation

The Company has various stock-based compensation plans. During the quarter ended October 31, 2014, the Board of Directors of the Company approved grants of a total of 13,600 service-based restricted stock units (RSUs) to non-employee directors. These service-based RSUs vest daily through the end of the two-year vesting period as long as the recipient continuously remains a member of the Board, and entitle the recipient to receive one share of the Company's common stock per unit granted. During the six-months ended October 31, 2014, the Board of Directors of the Company also approved grants of non-statutory stock options and service-based and performance-based RSUs to key employees. The employee non-statutory stock option grants totaled 66,600 shares of the Company’s common stock with an exercise price of $29.92 per share. The options vest evenly over a three-year period and have a ten-year contractual term. The employee performance-based RSUs totaled 79,500 units and the employee service-based RSUs totaled 26,500 units. The performance-based RSUs entitle the recipients to receive one share of the Company’s common stock per unit granted if applicable performance conditions are met and the recipient remains continuously employed with the Company until the units vest. The service-based RSUs entitle the recipients to receive one share of the Company’s common stock per unit granted if they remain continuously employed with the Company until the units vest. All of the Company’s RSUs granted to employees cliff-vest three years from the grant date.

For the three- and six-month periods ended October 31, 2014 and 2013, stock-based compensation expense was allocated as follows:



	Three Months Ended October 31,				Six Months Ended October 31,
(in thousands)	2014		2013		2014		2013
Cost of sales and distribution	$	127	$	102	$	282	$	242
Selling and marketing expenses	216		162		473		381
General and administrative expenses	478		605		1,009		1,107
Stock-based compensation expense	$	821	$	869	$	1,764	$	1,730

During the six months ended October 31, 2014, the Board of Directors of the Company also approved grants of 10,416 cash-settled performance-based restricted stock tracking units (RSTUs) and 3,584 cash-settled service-based RSTUs for more junior level employees who previously received RSU grants under the Company’s shareholder approved plan. Each performance-based RSTU entitles the recipient to receive a payment in cash equal to the fair market value of a share of our common stock as of the payment date if applicable performance conditions are met and the recipient remains continuously employed with the Company until the units vest. The service-based RSTUs entitle the recipients to receive a payment in cash equal to the fair market value of a share of our common stock as of the payment date if they remain continuously employed with the Company until the units vest. The RSTUs cliff-vest three years from the grant date. Since the RSTUs will be settled in cash, the grant date fair value of these awards is recorded as a liability until the date of payment. The fair value of each cash-settled RSTU award is remeasured at the end of each reporting period and the liability is adjusted, and related expense recorded, based on the new fair value. The Company recognized expense of $115 thousand and $24 thousand for the three-month periods ended October 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and $164 thousand and $41 thousand for the six-month periods ended October 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, related to RSTUs. A liability for payment of the RSTUs is included in the Company's balance sheets in the amount of $242 thousand and $78 thousand as of October 31, 2014 and April 30, 2014 , respectively.