EXIT OR DISPOSAL ACTIVITIES

Liabilities associated with exit or disposal activities are recognized as incurred in accordance with the Exit or Disposal Cost Obligations Topic of the ASC. Qualified exit costs primarily include post-closure rent expenses, incremental post-closure costs and costs of employee terminations. Adjustments may be made to liabilities accrued for qualified exit costs if information becomes available upon which more accurate amounts can be reasonably estimated. Concurrently, property, plant and equipment is tested for impairment in accordance with the Property, Plant and Equipment Topic of the ASC, and if impairment exists, the carrying value of the related assets is reduced to estimated fair value. Additional impairment may be recorded for subsequent revisions in estimated fair value.

In the nine months ended September 30, 2018, twelve stores in The Americas Group and nine branches in the Performance Coatings Group were closed due to lower demand or redundancy. The Company continues to evaluate all legacy operations in response to the Acquisition in order to optimize restructured operations. These Acquisition-related restructuring charges to date are recorded in the Administrative segment as presented in the table below. The following table summarizes the activity and remaining liabilities associated with qualified exit costs at September 30, 2018:



(Thousands of dollars)
			Provisions		Actual
	Balance at		in Cost of		Expenditures			Balance at
	December 31,		Goods Sold		Charged to			September 30,
Exit Plan	2017		or SG&A		Accrual			2018
Administrative segment Acquisition-related restructuring:
Severance and related costs	$	6,019	$	10,842	$	(15,311	)	$	1,550
Other qualified exit costs	5,541				(2,864		)	2,677
Performance Coatings Group facilities shutdown in 2018:
Severance and related costs			13		(1		)	12
Other qualified exit costs			1,587		(114		)	1,473
Performance Coatings Group branches shutdown in 2017:
Severance and related costs	14		291		(183		)	122
Other qualified exit costs	121		370		(229		)	262
Consumer Brands Group facilities shutdown in 2016:
Severance and related costs	21				(21		)
Performance Coatings Group branches shutdown in 2016:
Other qualified exit costs	111				(61		)	50
Severance and other qualified exit costs for facilities shutdown prior to 2016	1,558				(811		)	747
Totals	$	13,385	$	13,103	$	(19,595	)	$	6,893

For further details on the Company’s exit or disposal activities, see Note 5 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017.