Note 13 - Business Unit Segment Information

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

13. Business Unit Segment Information

The company and its subsidiaries design, manufacture and sell circuit protection devices throughout the world. The company reports its operations by the following business unit segments: Electronics, Automotive, and Electrical. Each operating segment is directly responsible for sales, marketing and research and development. Manufacturing, purchasing, logistics, customer service, finance, information technology and human resources are shared functions that are allocated back to the three operating segments. The CEO allocates resources to and assesses the performance of each operating segment using information about its revenue and operating income (loss) before interest and taxes, but does not evaluate the operating segments using discrete balance sheet information.

Sales, marketing and research and development expenses are charged directly into each operating segment. All other functions are shared by the operating segments and expenses for these shared functions are allocated to the operating segments and included in the operating results reported below. The company does not report inter-segment revenue because the operating segments do not record it. The company does not allocate interest and other income, interest expense, or taxes to operating segments. Although the CEO uses operating income (loss) to evaluate the segments, operating costs included in one segment may benefit other segments. Except as discussed above, the accounting policies for segment reporting are the same as for the company as a whole.

An operating segment is defined as a component of an enterprise that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses, and about which separate financial information is regularly evaluated by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”) in deciding how to allocate resources. The CODM is the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”).

Business unit segment information for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and April 2, 2011 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	March 31, 2012		April 2, 2011
Net sales
Electronics	$	77,055	$	87,353
Automotive		52,626		53,857
Electrical		30,897		25,950
Total net sales	$	160,578	$	167,160
Depreciation and amortization
Electronics	$	5,486	$	5,283
Automotive		1,449		1,415
Electrical		1,014		892
Total depreciation and amortization	$	7,949	$	7,590
Operating income
Electronics	$	10,112	$	17,663
Automotive		9,505		10,394
Electrical		6,207		6,539
Other(a)		—		(3,678	)
Total operating income		25,824		30,918
Interest expense		423		336
Other (income) expense, net		101		(26	)
Income before income taxes	$	25,300	$	30,608

(a) Included in “Other” operating income for 2011 is a non-cash charge of $3.7 million for the sale of inventory that had been stepped-up to fair value at the acquisition date of Cole Hersee in 2010 as required by purchase accounting rules. As the inventory was sold, the non-cash charge impacted operating income.

The company’s significant net sales by country for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and April 2, 2011 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	Net sales(a)
	March 31, 2012		April 2, 2011
United States	$	55,253	$	58,878
China		30,444		35,167
Other countries		74,881		73,115
Total	$	160,578	$	167,160

(a) Sales by country represent sales to customer or distributor locations.

The company’s significant long-lived assets by country as of March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	Long-lived assets(b)
	March 31, 2012		December 31, 2011
United States	$	91,788	$	92,482
China		44,529		45,466
Canada		43,159		42,299
Other countries		97,879		98,917
Total	$	277,355	$	279,164

(b) Long-lived assets includes net property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, net of amortization.