Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Divestiture Activities

v3.21.2
Divestiture Activities
12 Months Ended
Aug. 31, 2020
Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]  
Discontinued Operations
Note 5. Discontinued Operations and Other Divestiture Activities
Discontinued Operations
On October 31, 2019, as part of our overall strategy to become a pure-play industrial tools and services company, the Company completed the sale of the businesses comprising its former EC&S segment to wholly owned subsidiaries of BRWS Parent LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and affiliate of One Rock Capital Partners II, LP, for a sales price of approximately $215.8 million, inclusive of $1.3 million of purchase price from the customary finalization of working capital negotiations. Approximately $3.0 million of the purchase price was to be paid in four equal quarterly installments after closing, of which $0.7 million was received in the year ended August 31, 2021 (this final payment was received greater than one year from the divestiture date and, as such, is reflected in "Cash provided by financing activities - discontinued operations" within
the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows). In connection with the completion of the sale and after consideration of working capital adjustments, the Company recorded, in fiscal 2020, a net loss of $4.7 million comprised of a loss of $23.0 million representing the excess of the net assets (exclusive of deferred tax assets and liabilities associated with subsidiaries of the Company whose stock was sold as part of the transaction) as compared to the purchase price less costs to sell and the recognition in earnings of the cumulative effect of foreign currency exchange gains and losses during the year largely offset by an income tax benefit of $18.3 million associated with the write off of the net deferred tax liability on subsidiaries of the EC&S segment for which the stock was divested. The Company also recognized in conjunction with the completion of the sale an additional $3.3 million of impairment & divestiture costs associated with the accelerated vesting of restricted stock awards associated with employees terminated as part of the transaction and $2.7 million of additional divestiture charges which were necessary to complete the transaction. The Company maintains financial exposure associated with this divestiture due to certain retained liabilities of which said activity is recorded in "loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes" within the Consolidated Statements of Operations for the periods subsequent to the divestiture.
At August 31, 2019, the EC&S segment met the criteria for assets held-for-sale treatment. As a result, the Company recognized impairment & divestiture charges in fiscal 2019 of $264.5 million which consisted of $210.0 million representing the excess net book value of the net assets over the anticipated sales proceeds less costs to sell and $54.5 million representing the recognition in earnings of the cumulative effect of foreign currency exchange losses previously recorded in equity since acquisition.
On December 31, 2018, the Company completed the sale of the Precision Hayes International business for $23.6 million cash, net of final transaction costs, working capital adjustments, accelerated vesting of equity compensation, retention bonuses and other adjustments. The Company recorded $9.5 million of impairment & divestiture charges during the fiscal year representing the excess of the net book value of the assets held for sale less the anticipated proceeds, less costs to sell.
The Company also completed the sale of the Cortland Fibron business on December 19, 2018 for $12.5 million in cash. The Company recognized $1.7 million of impairment & divestiture charges in fiscal 2019 representing the excess net book value of the net assets less the proceeds from sale, net of transaction costs.
As the aforementioned divestitures were a part of our strategic shift to become a pure-play industrial tools and services company, the results of their operations (including the stated impairment & divestiture charges) are recorded as a component of "Loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes" in the Consolidated Statements of Operations for all periods presented.
The following represents the detail of "Loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes" within the Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands):
Year Ended August 31,
2021 2020 * 2019
Net sales $ —  $ 67,010  $ 459,144 
Cost of products sold —  49,749  344,563 
Gross profit —  17,261  114,581 
Selling, general and administrative expenses 1,456  11,561  68,339 
Amortization of intangible assets —  —  5,666 
Restructuring (benefit) charges —  (11) 1,779 
Impairment & divestiture charges**
—  28,972  286,175 
Operating loss (1,456) (23,261) (247,378)
Financing costs, net —  14  124 
Other (income) expense, net —  (104) 1,922 
Loss before income tax expense (benefit) (1,456) (23,171) (249,424)
Income tax expense (benefit) 679  (18,337) 7,788 
Net loss from discontinued operations $ (2,135) $ (4,834) $ (257,212)
* "Loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes" for the year ended August 31, 2020 presented in the table above includes the results of the EC&S segment for the two months ended October 31, 2019 (the divestiture date) as well as the ancillary impacts from certain retained liabilities subsequent to the divestiture. As a result of the classification of the segment as assets and liabilities held for sale for the two months ended October 31, 2019, the Company did not record amortization or depreciation expense in the results of operations in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, the Company excluded EC&S segment employees from the fiscal 2020 bonus compensation plan, accordingly there are no expenses associated with the plan for that period.
** In addition to the impairment & divestiture charges discussed above, the Company also incurred approximately $10.5 million of divestiture charges in fiscal 2019 related to the, at the time, anticipated divestiture of EC&S.
Other Divestiture Activities
On September 20, 2019, the Company completed the sale of the UNI-LIFT product line, a component of our Milwaukee Cylinder business (IT&S segment), for net cash proceeds of $7.5 million (inclusive of the settlement of working capital adjustments and the buyer achieving certain criteria which met the requirement for payment of $1.5 million of contingent proceeds). The transaction resulted in an impairment & divestiture benefit of $6.3 million for the year ended August 31, 2020 recorded as an "Impairment & divestiture benefit" within the Consolidated Statements of Operations.
After the sale of the UNI-LIFT product line, the Company determined that the remaining Milwaukee Cylinder business was a non-core asset, did not align with the strategic objectives of the Company and, as a result, the Company committed to a plan to sell this business. The Company completed the divestiture of the Milwaukee Cylinder business on December 2,
2019 for a negligible amount. The Company recorded impairment & divestiture charges of $4.5 million for the year ended August 31, 2020 comprised of impairment charges of $2.5 million representing the excess of net assets held for sale compared to the anticipated proceeds less costs to sell, $1.7 million associated with our withdrawal from the multi-employer pension plan associated with that business and $0.3 million of other divestiture related charges and true-ups of retained liabilities.
The historical results of the Milwaukee Cylinder business, inclusive of the UNI-LIFT product line, (which had net sales of $2.9 million and $13.2 million in the year ended August 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively) are not material to the consolidated financial results.
On October 22, 2019, the Company completed the sale of the Connectors product line (IT&S segment) for net cash proceeds of $2.7 million, which resulted in an impairment & divestiture benefit of $1.0 million in the year ended August 31, 2020. The historical results of the Connectors product line (which had net sales of $0.2 million and $5.0 million for the year ended August 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively) are not material to the consolidated financial results.