Forward Air Corporation Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Acquisitions and Goodwill

Acquisitions and Goodwill

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Acquisition of Towne

On March 9, 2015, the Company acquired CLP Towne Inc. (“Towne”) pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) resulting in Towne becoming an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. For the acquisition of Towne, the Company paid $62,375 in net cash and assumed $59,544 in debt and capital leases. With the exception of assumed capital leases, the assumed debt was immediately paid in full after funding of the acquisition. Of the total aggregate cash consideration paid, $16,500 was placed into an escrow account, with $2,000 of such amount being available to settle any shortfall in Towne’s net working capital and with $14,500 of such amount being available for a period of time to settle certain possible claims against Towne’s common stockholders for indemnification. To the extent the escrow fund is insufficient, certain equity holders have agreed to indemnify Forward Air, subject to certain limitations set forth in the Merger Agreement, as a result of inaccuracies in or breaches of certain of Towne’s representations, warranties, covenants and agreements and other matters. Forward Air financed the Merger Agreement with a $125,000 2 year term loan available under the senior credit facility discussed in note 5.

Towne is a full-service trucking provider offering time-sensitive less-than-truckload shipping, full truckload service, an extensive cartage network, container freight stations and dedicated trucking. Towne’s airport-to-airport network provides scheduled deliveries to 61 service points. A fleet of approximately 525 independent contractor tractors provides the line-haul between those service points. The acquisition of Towne provides the Forward Air segment with opportunities to expand its service points and service offerings, such as pick up and delivery services. Additional benefits of the acquisition include increased linehaul network shipping density and a significant increase to our owner operator fleet, both of which are key to the profitability of Forward Air.

Towne had 2014 revenue of approximately $230,000. The assets, liabilities, and operating results of Towne have been included in the Company's consolidated financial statements from the date of acquisition and have been assigned to the Forward Air reportable segment. As the operations of Towne were fully integrated into the existing Forward Air network and operations, the Company is not able to provide the revenue and operating results from Towne included in our consolidated revenue and results since the date of acquisition.

Effective with the acquisition of Towne, the Company immediately entered into a restructuring plan to remove duplicate costs, primarily in the form of, but not limited to salaries, wages and benefits and facility leases. As a result of these plans, during the nine months ended September 30, 2015 the Company recognized expense and recorded liabilities of $2,588 and $11,290 for severance obligations and remaining net payments on vacated, duplicate facilities, respectively. The expenses associated with the severance obligations and vacated, duplicate facilities were recognized in the salaries, wages and benefits and operating lease line items, respectively. The Company also incurred expense of $9,059 for various other integration and transaction related costs which are largely included in other operating expenses.

Acquisition of CST

On February 2, 2014, the Company acquired all of the outstanding capital stock of Central States Trucking Co. and Central States Logistics, Inc. (collectively referred to as “CST”). Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement and concurrently with the execution of the Agreement, the Company acquired all of the outstanding capital stock of CST in exchange for $82,997 in net cash and $11,215 in assumed debt. With the exception of capital leases, the assumed debt was immediately paid in full after funding of the acquisition. The acquisition and settlement of the assumed debt were funded using the Company's cash on hand. Under the purchase agreement, $10,000 of the purchase price was paid into an escrow account to protect the Company against potential unknown liabilities.

CST provides industry leading container and intermodal drayage services primarily within the Midwest region of the United States. CST also provides dedicated contract and Container Freight Station (“CFS”) warehouse and handling services. The acquisition of CST provides the Company with a scalable platform for which to enter the intermodal drayage space and thereby continuing to expand and diversify the Company's service offerings.

As part of the Company's strategy to scale CST's operations, in September 2014, CST acquired certain assets of Recob Great Lakes Express, Inc. ("RGL") for $1,350 and in November 2014, acquired Multi-Modal Trucking, Inc. and Multi-Modal Services, Inc. (together referred to as "MMT") for approximately $5,825 in cash and $1,000 in available earn out. The MMT earn out is based on acquired operations exceeding 2015 earnings goals, and the earn out was fully accrued as of September 30, 2015. The acquisition of RGL and MMT's assets provided an opportunity for CST to expand into additional Midwest markets.

The Company incurred total transaction costs related to the acquisitions of approximately $900, which were expensed during the three months ended March 31, 2014, in accordance with U.S. GAAP. These transaction costs were primarily included in "Other operating expenses" in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income.

The assets, liabilities, and operating results of CST, RGL and MMT ("CST acquisitions") have been included in the Company's consolidated financial statements from the dates of acquisition and have been assigned to the Forward Air reportable segment. The results of CST, RGL and MMT operations reflected in the Company's consolidated statements of comprehensive income for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 from the date of acquisition (February 2, 2014) are as follows (in thousands, except per share data):



	Three months ended September 30, 2014		Dates of acquisition to September 30, 2014
Operating revenue	$	21,100	$	49,975
Income from operations	2,517		4,804
Net income	1,553		2,934
Net income per share
Basic	$	0.05	$	0.10
Diluted	$	0.05	$	0.09

Allocations of Purchase Prices

The following table presents the allocations of the Towne, CST, RGL and MMT purchase prices to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values and resulting residual goodwill (in thousands):



	Towne		CST		RGL & MMT
	March 9, 2015		February 2, 2014		September & November 2014
Tangible assets:
Accounts receivable	$	24,068	$	9,339	$	—
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	2,916		101		—
Property and equipment	2,095		2,132		287
Other assets	614		35		—
Deferred income taxes	2,159		—		—
Total tangible assets	31,852		11,607		287
Intangible assets:
Non-compete agreements	—		930		92
Trade name	—		500		—
Customer relationships	66,000		36,000		3,590
Goodwill	62,487		51,710		4,206
Total intangible assets	128,487		89,140		7,888
Total assets acquired	160,339		100,747		8,175

Liabilities assumed:
Current liabilities	27,642		6,535		1,000
Other liabilities	3,885		—		—
Debt and capital lease obligations	59,544		11,215		—
Deferred income taxes	6,893		—		—
Total liabilities assumed	97,964		17,750		1,000
Net assets acquired	$	62,375	$	82,997	$	7,175

The above purchase price allocation for Towne is preliminary as the Company is still in the process of finalizing the valuation of the acquired assets and liabilities assumed. The above estimated fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed for Towne are based on the information that was available as of the acquisition dates through the date of this filing. The acquired definite-live intangible assets have the following useful lives:



	Useful Lives
	Towne	CST	RGL
Customer relationships	20 years	15 years	15 years
Non-compete agreements	-	5 years	5 years
Trade name	-	2 years	-

The fair value of the non-compete agreements and customer relationships assets were estimated using an income approach (level 3). Under this method, an intangible asset's fair value is equal to the present value of the incremental after-tax cash flows (excess earnings) attributable solely to the intangible asset over its remaining useful life. To calculate fair value, the Company used cash flows discounted at rates considered appropriate given the inherent risks associated with each type of asset. The Company believes that the level and timing of cash flows appropriately reflect market participant assumptions. The fair value of the acquired trade name was estimated using an income approach, specifically known as the relief from royalty method. The relief from royalty method is based on a hypothetical royalty stream that would be paid if the Company did not own the applicable name and had to license the trade name. The Company derived the hypothetical royalty income from the projected revenues of CST. Cash flows were assumed to extend through the remaining economic useful life of each class of intangible asset.

Pro forma

The following unaudited pro forma information presents a summary of the Company's consolidated results of operations as if the acquisitions occurred as of January 1, 2014 (in thousands, except per share data).



	Three months ended				Nine months ended
	September 30, 2015		September 30, 2014		September 30, 2015		September 30, 2014
Operating revenue	$	247,093	$	260,502	$	736,932	$	743,975
Income from operations	24,601		26,901		50,451		64,326
Net income	15,687		16,486		29,868		39,331
Net income per share
Basic	$	0.51	$	0.54	$	0.97	$	1.28
Diluted	$	0.50	$	0.53	$	0.96	$	1.25

The unaudited pro forma consolidated results for the three and nine month periods are based on the historical financial information of Towne and CST. The unaudited pro forma consolidated results incorporate historical financial information since January 1, 2014. The historical financial information has been adjusted to give effect to pro forma adjustments that are: (i) directly attributable to the acquisition, (ii) factually supportable and (iii) expected to have a continuing impact on the combined results. The unaudited pro forma consolidated results are not necessarily indicative of what the Company’s consolidated results of operations actually would have been had it completed these acquisitions on January 1, 2014.

Goodwill

The following is a summary of the changes in goodwill for the nine months ended September 30, 2015. Approximately $99,248 of goodwill, not including the goodwill acquired with the Towne acquisition, is deductible for tax purposes.



	Forward Air				FASI					TQI				Total
			Accumulated				Accumulated					Accumulated
	Goodwill		Impairment		Goodwill		Impairment			Goodwill		Impairment		Net
Beginning balance, December 31, 2014	$	93,842	$	—	$	12,359	$	(6,953	)	$	45,164	$	—	$	144,412
Towne acquisition	62,487		—		—		—			—		—		62,487
Ending balance, September 30, 2015	$	156,329	$	—	$	12,359	$	(6,953	)	$	45,164	$	—	$	206,899

The Company conducted its annual impairment assessments and tests of goodwill for each reporting unit as of June 30, 2015 and no impairment charges were required. The first step of the goodwill impairment test is the Company assessing qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than the reporting unit's carrying amount, including goodwill. When performing the qualitative assessment, the Company considers the impact of factors including, but not limited to, macroeconomic and industry conditions, overall financial performance of each reporting unit, litigation and new legislation. If based on the qualitative assessments, the Company believes it more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than the reporting unit's carrying amount, or periodically as deemed appropriate by management, the Company will prepare an estimation of the respective reporting unit's fair value utilizing a quantitative approach. If a quantitative fair value estimation is required, the Company calculates the fair value of the applicable reportable units, using a combination of discounted projected cash flows and market valuations for comparable companies as of the valuation date. The Company's inputs into the fair value calculations for goodwill are classified within level 3 of the fair value hierarchy as defined in the FASB Accounting Standards Codification and the Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“the FASB Codification”). If this estimation of fair value indicates that impairment potentially exists, the Company will then measure the amount of the impairment, if any. Goodwill impairment exists when the calculated implied fair value of goodwill is less than its carrying value. Changes in strategy or market conditions could significantly impact these fair value estimates and require adjustments to recorded asset balances.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the aggregate amount of goodwill and a description of intangible assets, which may include (a) for amortizable intangible assets (also referred to as finite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, the amount of any significant residual value, and the weighted-average amortization period, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization (also referred to as indefinite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, and (c) the amount of research and development assets acquired and written off in the period, including the line item in the income statement in which the amounts written off are aggregated, if not readily apparent from the income statement. Also discloses (a) for amortizable intangibles assets in total and by major class, the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization, the total amortization expense for the period, and the estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization the carrying amount in total and by major class, and (c) for goodwill, in total and for each reportable segment, the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the period (including the aggregate amount of goodwill acquired, the aggregate amount of impairment losses recognized, and the amount of goodwill included in the gain (loss) on disposal of a reporting unit). If any part of goodwill has not been allocated to a reportable segment, discloses the unallocated amount and the reasons for not allocating. For each impairment loss recognized related to an intangible asset (excluding goodwill), discloses: (a) a description of the impaired intangible asset and the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method for determining fair value, (c) the caption in the income statement or the statement of activities in which the impairment loss is aggregated, and (d) the segment in which the impaired intangible asset is reported. For each goodwill impairment loss recognized, discloses: (a) a description of the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method of determining the fair value of the associated reporting unit, and (c) if a recognized impairment loss is an estimate not finalized and the reasons why the estimate is not final. May also disclose the nature and amount of any significant adjustments made to a previous estimate of an impairment loss.

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