Note 10 - Business Unit Segment Information

3 Months Ended

Mar. 28, 2015

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

10. 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 28, 2015 and March 29, 2014 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	March 28, 2015			March 29, 2014
Net sales
Electronics	$	99,380		$	95,722
Automotive		84,071			82,419
Electrical		26,862			28,718
Total net sales	$	210,313		$	206,859
Depreciation and amortization
Electronics	$	5,798		$	5,370
Automotive		3,336			3,528
Electrical		1,284			1,268
Total depreciation and amortization	$	10,418		$	10,166
Operating income
Electronics	$	18,665		$	19,068
Automotive		11,171			11,899
Electrical		2,730			4,032
Other (1)		(3,018	)		(1,409	)
Total operating income		29,548			33,590
Interest expense		1,151			1,216
Foreign exchange loss (gain)		3,117			(252	)
Other (income) expense, net		(1,126	)		(1,186	)
Income before income taxes	$	26,406		$	33,812

(1) “Other” consists of restructuring costs ($2.2 million), acquisition expenses ($0.2 million) and pension wind-up costs ($0.7 million).

The company’s significant net sales by country for the three months ended March 28, 2015 and March 29, 2014 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	Net sales(a)
	March 28, 2015		March 29, 2014
United States	$	83,373	$	71,874
China		44,429		37,213
Other countries		82,511		97,772
Total	$	210,313	$	206,859

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

The company’s significant long-lived assets and additions to long-lived assets by country as of March 28, 2015 and December 27, 2014 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	Long-lived assets(b)
	March 28, 2015		December 27, 2014
United States	$	35,641	$	34,179
China		39,321		40,981
Canada		12,160		12,899
Other countries		73,750		70,581
Total	$	160,872	$	158,640

(b) Long-lived assets consists of net property, plant and equipment.

	Additions to long-lived assets
	March 28, 2015		March 29, 2014
United States	$	3,187	$	1,625
China		667		685
Canada		538		145
Other countries		7,887		3,968
Total	$	12,279	$	6,423