Universal (UVV) 10-Q2022 Q3 Quarterly report

In December 2019, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2019-12, “Income Taxes (Topic 740) - Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes” (“ASU 2019-12”). ASU 2019-12 eliminates certain exceptions related to the approach for intraperiod tax allocation, the methodology for calculating income taxes in an interim period, and the recognition of deferred tax liabilities for outside basis differences related to changes in ownership of equity method investments and foreign subsidiaries. The updated guidance also simplifies aspects of accounting for franchise taxes and enacted changes in tax laws or rates, and clarifies the accounting for transactions that result in a step-up in the tax basis of goodwill. The guidance in ASU 2019-12 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, although early adoption is permitted. The Company adopted the new standard effective April 1, 2021, which was the beginning of its fiscal year ending March 31, 2022. There was no material impact to the consolidated financial statements from the adoption of ASU 2019-12.

In March 2020, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2020-04, "Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848) - Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting" ("ASU 2020-04"). ASU 2020-04 provides optional expedients and exceptions related to contract modifications and hedge accounting to address the transitions from the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") and other interbank offered rates to alternative reference rates. The guidance permits an entity to consider contract modification due to reference rate reform to be an event that does not require contract remeasurement at the modification date or reassessment of a previous accounting determination. ASU 2020-04 also temporarily allows hedge relationships to continue without de-designation upon changes due to reference rate reform. The standard is effective upon issuance and can be applied as of March 12, 2020 through December 31, 2022. The Company is currently evaluating the impact that the guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.

Universal continually reviews its business for opportunities to realize efficiencies, reduce costs, and realign its operations in response to business changes. Restructuring and impairment costs are periodically incurred in connection with those activities.

As a result of efforts to exit the idled tobacco operations in Tanzania, the Company reevaluated the carrying values of property, plant, and equipment associated with the Tanzania operations. During the three months ended December 31, 2021, the Company determined the carrying value exceeded the estimated fair value of those assets and recognized a $9.4 million impairment charge.

During the three and nine months ended December 31, 2021, the Company also incurred $0.6 million and $2.2 million of termination costs for the Tobacco Operations segment, respectively.

During the three and nine months ended December 31, 2020, the Company incurred $2.6 million of termination and impairment costs associated with restructuring of tobacco buying and administrative operations in Africa, as well as a $0.9 million charge for the liquidation of an idled service entity in Tanzania, and $0.4 million of termination costs in North America.

During the nine months ended December 31, 2020, the Company committed to a plan to wind-down its subsidiary, Carolina Innovative Food Ingredients, Inc. ("CIFI"), a sweet potato processing operation located in Nashville, North Carolina. The CIFI operation was a start-up project initially undertaken by the Company in fiscal year 2015. The decision to wind down CIFI was consistent with the Company’s capital allocation strategy to focus on delivering shareholder value through building and enhancing a plant-based ingredients platform, which includes integrating and exploring the synergies of recently acquired businesses. The Company determined that CIFI was not a strategic fit for the platform’s long-term objectives. CIFI’s single-product focused processing facility and ongoing international pricing pressures, among other factors, created challenges that proved insurmountable. As a result of the decision to wind down the CIFI operations, the Company paid termination benefits totaling approximately $0.6 million to employees whose permanent positions were eliminated. In addition to the termination costs, the Company recognized various other costs associated with the wind-down of the CIFI facility. These costs include impairments of property, plant, and equipment (including the factory building), as well as inventory and supply write-downs. The total restructuring and impairment charge for the nine months ended December 31, 2020 for the CIFI operations wind-down was $16.1 million.

During the nine months ended December 31, 2021, the Company recognized $1.2 million of net gains on the sale of the remaining property, plant, and equipment associated with the wind-down of the CIFI operations that was announced in fiscal year 2021.

A summary of the restructuring and impairment costs recorded for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 were as follows:

The majority of the Company’s consolidated revenue consists of sales of processed leaf tobacco to customers. The Company also earns revenue from processing leaf tobacco owned by customers and from various other services provided to customers. Additionally, the Company has fruit and vegetable processing operations, as well as flavor and extract services that provide customers with a range of food ingredient products. Payment terms with customers vary depending on customer creditworthiness, product types, services provided, and other factors. Contract durations and payment terms for all revenue categories generally do not exceed one year. Therefore, the Company has applied a practical expedient to not adjust the transaction price for the effects of financing components, as the Company expects that the period from the time the revenue for a transaction is recognized to the time the customer pays for the related good or service transferred will be one year or less. Below is a description of the major revenue-generating categories from contracts with customers.

The majority of the Company’s business involves purchasing leaf tobacco from farmers in the origins where it is grown, processing and packing the tobacco in its factories, and then transferring ownership and control of the tobacco to customers. On a much smaller basis, the Company also sources processed tobacco from third-party suppliers for resale to customers. The contracts for tobacco sales with customers create a performance obligation to transfer tobacco to the customer. Transaction prices for the sale of tobaccos are primarily based on negotiated fixed prices, but the Company does have a small number of cost-plus contracts with certain customers. Cost-plus arrangements provide the Company reimbursement of the cost to purchase and process the

In recent fiscal years, the Company has diversified operations through acquisition of established companies that offer customers a wide range of both liquid and dehydrated fruit and vegetable ingredient products, flavors, and extracts. These operations procure raw materials from domestic and international growers and suppliers and through a variety of processing steps including sorting, cleaning, pressing, mixing, extracting, and blending to manufacture finished goods utilized in both human and pet food. The contracts for food ingredients with customers create a performance obligation to transfer the manufactured finished goods to the customer. Transaction prices for the sale of food ingredients are primarily based on negotiated fixed prices. At the point in time that the customer obtains control over the finished product, which is typically aligned with physical shipment under the contractual terms with the customer, the Company completes its performance obligation and recognizes the revenue for the sale.

Processing and packing of customer-owned tobacco and ingredients is a short-duration process. Processing charges are primarily based on negotiated fixed prices per unit of weight processed. Under normal operating conditions, customer-owned raw materials that are placed into the production line exits as processed and packed product and is then later transported to customer-designated transfer locations. The revenue for these services is recognized when the performance obligation is satisfied, which is generally when processing is completed. The Company’s operating history and contract analyses indicate that customer requirements for processed tobacco and food ingredients products are consistently met upon completion of processing.

From time to time, the Company enters into various arrangements with customers to provide other value-added services that may include blending, chemical and physical testing of products, storage, and tobacco cutting services for select manufacturers. These other arrangements and operations are a much smaller portion of the Company’s business, and are separate and distinct contractual agreements from the Company’s tobacco and food ingredients sales or third-party processing arrangements with customers. The transaction prices and timing of revenue recognition of these items are determined by the specifics of each contract.

The following table disaggregates the Company’s revenue by significant revenue-generating category:

As further discussed below, the Company’s local operating subsidiaries pay significant amounts of value-added tax (“VAT”) in connection with their operations, which generate tax credits that they normally are entitled to recover through offset, refund, or sale to third parties. In Brazil, VAT is assessed at the state level when green tobacco is transferred between states. The Company’s operating subsidiary there pays VAT when tobaccos grown in the states of Santa Catarina and Parana are transferred to its factory in the state of Rio Grande do Sul for processing. The subsidiary has received assessments for additional VAT plus interest and penalties from tax authorities for the states of Santa Catarina and Parana based on audits of the subsidiary’s VAT filings for specified periods. In June 2011, tax authorities for the state of Santa Catarina issued assessments for tax, interest, and penalties for periods from 2006 through 2009 totaling approximately $9 million. In September 2014, tax authorities for the state of Parana issued an assessment for tax, interest, and penalties for periods from 2009 through 2014 totaling approximately $10 million. Those amounts are based on the exchange rate for the Brazilian currency at December 31, 2021. Management of the operating subsidiary and outside counsel believe that errors were made by the tax authorities for both states in determining all or significant portions of these assessments and that various defenses support the subsidiary’s positions.

With respect to the Santa Catarina assessments, the subsidiary took appropriate steps to contest the full amount of the claims. As of December 31, 2021, a portion of the subsidiary’s arguments had been accepted, and the outstanding assessment had been reduced. The reduced assessment, together with the related accumulated interest through the end of the current reporting period, totaled approximately $9 million (at the December 31, 2021 exchange rate). The subsidiary is continuing to contest the full remaining amount of the assessment. While the range of reasonably possible loss is zero up to the full $9 million remaining assessment with interest, based on the strength of the subsidiary’s defenses, no loss within that range is considered probable at this time and no liability has been recorded at December 31, 2021.

With respect to the Parana assessment, management of the subsidiary and outside counsel challenged the full amount of the claim. A significant portion of the Parana assessment was based on positions taken by the tax authorities that management and outside counsel believe deviate significantly from the underlying statutes and relevant case law. In addition, under the law, the subsidiary’s tax filings for certain periods covered in the assessment were no longer open to any challenge by the tax authorities. In December 2015, the Parana tax authorities withdrew the initial claim and subsequently issued a new assessment covering the same tax periods, reflecting a substantial reduction from the original assessment. In fiscal year 2020, the Parana tax authorities acknowledged the statute of limitations related to claims prior to December 2010 had expired and reduced the assessment to $3 million (at the December 31, 2021 exchange rate). Notwithstanding the reduced assessment, management and outside counsel continue to believe that the new assessment is not supported by the underlying statutes and relevant case law and have challenged the full amount of the claim. The range of reasonably possible loss is considered to be zero up to the full $3 million assessment. However, based on the strength of the subsidiary's defenses, no loss within that range is considered probable at this time and no liability has been recorded at December 31, 2021.

Other Legal and Tax Matters

Intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis over the asset's estimated useful economic life as noted above.

The Company's amortization expense for intangible assets for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was:

Amortization expense for the developed technology intangible asset is recorded in cost of goods sold in the consolidated income statements of income. The amortization expense for other intangible assets is recorded in selling, general, and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of income.

The Company, as a lessee, enters into operating leases for land, buildings, equipment, and vehicles. For all operating leases with terms greater than 12 months and with fixed payment arrangements, a lease liability and corresponding right-of-use asset are recognized in the balance sheet for the term of the lease by calculating the net present value of future lease payments. On the date of lease commencement, the present value of lease liabilities is determined by discounting the future lease payments by the Company’s collateralized incremental borrowing rate, adjusted for the lease term and currency of the lease payments. If a lease contains a renewal option that the Company is reasonably certain to exercise, the Company accounts for the original lease term and expected renewal term in the calculation of the lease liability and right-of-use asset.

As of December 31, 2021, the Company had no leases that have not yet commenced.

Universal is exposed to various risks in its worldwide operations and uses derivative financial instruments to manage two specific types of risks – interest rate risk and foreign currency exchange rate risk. Interest rate risk has been managed by entering into interest rate swap agreements, and foreign currency exchange rate risk has been managed by entering into forward and option foreign currency exchange contracts. However, the Company’s policy also permits other types of derivative instruments. In addition, foreign currency exchange rate risk is also managed through strategies that do not involve derivative instruments, such as using local borrowings and other approaches to minimize net monetary positions in non-functional currencies. The disclosures below provide additional information about the Company’s hedging strategies, the derivative instruments used, and the effects of

Cash Flow Hedging Strategy for Interest Rate Risk

Previously, the Company had receive-floating/pay-fixed interest rate swap agreements that were designated and qualified as cash flow hedges for two outstanding non-amortizing bank loans that were repaid concurrent with closing on the new bank credit facility. Those swap agreements were subsequently terminated in February 2019 concurrent with the inception of the new swap agreements. The fair value of the previous swap agreements, approximately $5.4 million, was received from the counterparties upon termination and was amortized from accumulated other comprehensive loss into earnings as a reduction of interest expense through the original maturity dates of those agreements. As of December 31, 2021, the entire deferred gain has been amortized.

The majority of the tobacco production in most countries outside the United States where Universal operates is sold in export markets at prices denominated in U.S. dollars. However, sales of crop inputs (such as seeds and fertilizers) to farmers, purchases of tobacco from farmers, and most processing costs (such as labor and energy) in those countries are usually denominated in the local currency. Changes in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the local currencies where tobacco is grown and processed affect the ultimate U.S. dollar sales of crop inputs and cost of processed tobacco. From time to time, the Company enters into forward and option contracts to buy U.S. dollars and sell the local currency at future dates that coincide with the sale of crop inputs to farmers. In the case of forecast purchases of tobacco and the related processing costs, the Company enters into forward and option contracts to sell U.S. dollars and buy the local currency at future dates that coincide with the expected timing of a portion of the tobacco purchases and processing costs. These strategies offset the variability of future U.S. dollar cash flows for sales of crop inputs, tobacco purchases, and processing costs for the foreign currency notional amount hedged. These hedging strategies have been used mainly for tobacco purchases, processing costs, and sales of crop inputs in Brazil, although the Company has also entered into hedges for a portion of the tobacco purchases in Africa.

Fluctuations in exchange rates and in the amount and timing of fixed-price orders from customers for their purchases from individual crop years routinely cause variations in the U.S. dollar notional amount of forward contracts entered into from one year to the next. All contracts related to tobacco purchases and crop input sales were designated and qualified as hedges of the future cash flows associated with the forecast purchases of tobacco. As a result, changes in fair values of the forward contracts have been recognized in comprehensive income as they occurred, but only recognized in earnings as a component of cost of goods sold upon sale of the related tobacco to third-party customers. In fiscal year 2022, only non-deliverable forward contracts were utilized for the sale of 2022 crop year inputs. Premium payments for option contracts entered into for the sale of crop inputs in fiscal year 2021 were expensed into earnings as incurred.

The table below presents the expected timing of when the remaining accumulated other comprehensive gains and losses as of December 31, 2021 for cash flows hedges of tobacco purchases and crop input sales will be recognized in earnings.

Forward contracts related to processing costs have not been designated as hedges, and gains and losses on those contracts have been recognized in earnings on a mark-to-market basis.

Most of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries transact the majority of their sales in U.S. dollars and finance the majority of their operating requirements with U.S. dollar borrowings, and therefore use the U.S. dollar as their functional currency. These subsidiaries normally have certain monetary assets and liabilities on their balance sheets that are denominated in the local currency. Those assets and liabilities can include cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable and accounts payable, advances to farmers and suppliers, deferred income tax assets and liabilities, recoverable value-added taxes, operating lease liabilities, and other items. Net monetary assets and liabilities denominated in the local currency are remeasured into U.S. dollars each reporting period, generating gains and losses that the Company records in earnings as a component of selling, general, and administrative expenses. The level of net monetary assets or liabilities denominated in the local currency normally fluctuates throughout the year based on the operating cycle, but it is most common for monetary assets to exceed monetary liabilities, sometimes by a significant amount. When this situation exists and the local currency weakens against the U.S. dollar, remeasurement losses are generated. Conversely, remeasurement gains are generated on a net monetary asset position when the local currency strengthens against the U.S. dollar. To manage a portion of its exposure to currency remeasurement gains and losses, the Company enters into forward contracts to buy or sell the local currency at future dates coinciding with expected changes in the overall net local currency monetary asset position of the subsidiary. Gains and losses on the forward contracts are recorded in earnings as a component of selling, general, and administrative expenses for each reporting period as they occur, and thus directly offset the related remeasurement losses or gains in the consolidated statements of income for the notional amount hedged. The Company does not designate these contracts as hedges for accounting purposes. The contracts are generally arranged to hedge the subsidiary's projected exposure to currency remeasurement risk for specified periods of time, and new contracts are entered as necessary throughout the year to replace previous contracts as they mature. The Company is currently using forward currency contracts to manage its exposure to currency remeasurement risk in Brazil.  The total notional amounts of contracts outstanding at December 31, 2021 and 2020, and March 31, 2021, were approximately $59.6 million, $13.3 million, and $16.6 million, respectively. To further mitigate currency remeasurement exposure, the Company’s foreign subsidiaries may utilize short-term local currency financing during certain periods. This strategy, while not involving the use of derivative instruments, is intended to minimize the subsidiary’s net monetary position by financing a portion of the local currency monetary assets with local currency monetary liabilities, thus hedging a portion of the overall position.

Several of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries transact the majority of their sales and finance the majority of their operating requirements in their local currency, and therefore use their respective local currencies as the functional currency for reporting purposes. From time to time, these subsidiaries sell tobacco to customers in transactions that are not denominated in the functional currency. In those situations, the subsidiaries routinely enter into forward exchange contracts to offset currency risk for the period of time that a fixed-price order and the related trade account receivable are outstanding with the customer. The contracts are not designated as hedges for accounting purposes.

For the interest rate swap agreements, the effective portion of the gain or loss on the derivative is recorded in accumulated other comprehensive loss and any ineffective portion is recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses.

For the forward foreign currency exchange contracts designated as cash flow hedges of tobacco purchases in Brazil and Africa and the crop input sales in Brazil, a net hedge loss of approximately $1.3 million remained in accumulated other comprehensive loss at December 31, 2021. That balance reflects gains and losses on contracts related to the 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020 Brazil crops, the 2022 and 2021 Africa crops, and the 2022 and 2021 Brazil crop input sales, less the amounts reclassified to earnings related to tobacco sold through December 31, 2021. Based on the hedging strategy, as the gain or loss is

Effect of Derivative Financial Instruments on the Consolidated Balance Sheets

Universal measures certain financial and nonfinancial assets and liabilities at fair value based on applicable accounting guidance. The financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value include money market funds, trading securities associated with deferred compensation plans, interest rate swap agreements, forward foreign currency exchange contracts and acquisition-related contingent consideration obligations. The application of the fair value guidance to nonfinancial assets and liabilities primarily includes the determination of fair values for goodwill and long-lived assets when indicators of potential impairment are present.