Related Party Transaction

3 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2021

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transaction

Related Party Transaction

On October 7, 2016, the Company entered into an equity distribution agreement with Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. (the “Agent”). On December 18, 2019, the Company and Agent entered into an Amended and Restated equity distribution agreement (the “1st Equity Distribution Agreement”). Pursuant to the 1st Equity Distribution Agreement, the Company may sell up to 500,000 shares of 9.00% Series A Cumulative Preferred Stock (the “Preferred Stock”), par value $1.00 per share through an at-the-market offering program (the “1st ATM Offering Program”) administered by the Agent. The Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-President of the Agent is the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. Under the 1st Equity Distribution Agreement, the Agent was entitled to compensation of up to 2.0% of the gross proceeds from the sale of Preferred Stock under the 1st ATM Offering Program. As of January 31, 2020, we had issued 994,046 shares which represent 100% of the Series A Preferred Stock available for sale through the 1st Equity Distribution Agreement.

In September 2020 we entered into a new equity distribution agreement (the “2nd Equity Distribution Agreement”) with the Agent with economic terms essentially identical to the initial agreement. Pursuant to the 2nd Equity Distribution Agreement, the Company may sell up to 500,000 shares of Preferred Stock and 5,000,000 shares of $0.01 par value common stock (“Common Stock”) through a new at-the-market offering program (the “2nd ATM Offering Program”).

During the three months ended April 30, 2021, the Company sold 20,960 shares of Series A Preferred Stock under the 2nd ATM Offering Program, resulting in net proceeds to the Company of approximately $503,000. Compensation to the Agent during this period was approximately $10,000, none of which was received by the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board.

During the three months ended April 30, 2021, the Company sold 18,053 shares of Common Stock under the 2nd ATM Offering Program, resulting in net proceeds to the Company of approximately $42,000. Compensation to the Agent during this period was approximately $1,000, none of which was received by the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board.