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Investment In FC Organizational Products
3 Months Ended
Nov. 30, 2019
Investment In FC Organizational Products [Abstract]  
Investment In FC Organizational Products

NOTE 11 – INVESTMENT IN FC ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTS



We owned a 19.5 percent interest in FC Organizational Products (FCOP), an entity that purchased substantially all of our consumer solutions business unit assets in fiscal 2008 for the purpose of selling planners and related organizational products under a comprehensive licensing agreement.  On November 4, 2019, FCOP sold substantially all of its assets to Franklin Planner Corporation (FPC), a new unrelated entity, and FCOP was dissolved.  FPC is expected to continue FCOP’s business of selling planners and other related consumer products based on the license agreement which granted FCOP the exclusive rights described below.  In connection with this transaction, we exchanged approximately $3.2 million of receivables from FCOP to amend the term and royalty provisions of the existing license agreement.  The $3.2 million included a $2.6 million note receivable, which represented FCOP’s third-party bank debt that we purchased directly from the bank on the transaction date.  The amended license agreement grants the exclusive right to use certain of our trademarks and other intellectual property in connection with certain consumer products and provides us with minimum royalties of approximately $1.3 million per year.  We are also entitled to receive additional variable royalties if certain FPC financial metrics exceed specified levels.  FPC assumed the amended license agreement from FCOP upon the purchase of FCOP assets.  We recorded the $3.2 million consideration for the amendment to the license agreement as a capitalized cost of the license and will reduce the royalty revenue by amortizing this amount over the remainder of the initial term of the license agreement, which ends in approximately 30 years.  During the quarter ended November 30, 2019, we recognized $0.4 million of royalty revenues from this amended license agreement with FPC.



We do not have an ownership interest in FPC, do not have any obligation to provide additional subordinated support to FPC, and do not have control over the day-to-day operations of FPC, which primarily consist of the sale of planning products and accessories.  We receive payment for royalties and rented space from FPC.  At November 30, 2019, we had $0.9 million receivable from FPC and at August 31, 2019, we had $1.0 million receivable from FCOP, each of which are recorded in current assets.  Since most of FPC’s sales and cash flows are seasonal and occur between October and January, we expect to receive the majority of the required cash payments for royalties and outstanding receivables during our second and third quarters of each fiscal year.