CRAWFORD & COCRD-A
CRAWFORD & CO Leases Disclosure
Lease Commitments
The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at inception. The Company's and its subsidiaries' leases include office space, computer equipment, and automobiles under operating and finance leases. These lease agreements have remaining lease terms of 1 to 12 years. Some of these lease agreements include options to extend the leases for up to 5 years, options to terminate the leases within 1 year, rental escalation clauses and periodic adjustments for inflation, all of which are considered in the determination of lease payments. These lease agreements do not contain any material residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants.
For leases with terms greater than 12 months, the Company records the related right-of-use asset and lease liability at the present value of the fixed lease payments over the term. Variable lease payments are not included in the calculation of the right-of-use asset and lease liability. The Company does not separate nonlease components from lease components and instead accounts for each as a single lease component for all classes of its assets. The Company applies a portfolio approach to effectively account for the right-of-use asset and lease liability for certain equipment leases.
When available, the Company uses the rate implicit in the lease to discount lease payments to present value; however, most of the Company's leases do not provide a readily determinable implicit rate. Therefore, the Company must estimate its incremental borrowing rate to discount the lease payments based on information available at lease commencement.
The Company, as sublessor, subleases certain office space which mostly consists of a two-building office complex in Plantation, Florida in which the terms of the primary lease and the related subleases end in December 2021. Under each of the executed sublease arrangements, the sublessees are obligated to pay the Company sublease payments of $4,250,000 in 2020, $4,100,000 in 2021 and $100,000 in 2022.
The Company's finance leases are not material for the year ended December 31, 2019 and are excluded from the disclosures below. The following table presents the lease-related assets and liabilities recorded on the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheets related to its operating leases:
(in thousands) | Classification on Balance Sheet | December 31, 2019 | ||
Assets: | ||||
Operating lease | Operating lease right-of-use assets, net | $ | 102,354 | |
Liabilities: | ||||
Current operating lease liabilities | Current operating lease liabilities | 30,765 | ||
Noncurrent operating lease liabilities | Noncurrent operating lease liabilities | 87,064 | ||
Total operating lease liabilities | $ | 117,829 | ||
Weighted-Average Remaining Lease Term | 5.72 years | |||
Weighted-Average Discount Rate (1) | 5.4 | % | ||
(1) Upon adoption of Topic 842, discount rates used for existing leases were established at the transition date.
The components of operating lease costs within the Company's Consolidated Statements of Operations consisted of the following for the year ended December 31, 2019:
Year Ended | ||||
(in thousands) | December 31, 2019 | |||
Operating lease cost | $ | 37,824 | ||
Variable lease cost | 7,948 | |||
Sublease income | 4,163 | |||
Supplemental cash flow information related to operating leases for the three months and year ended December 31, 2019 were as follows:
Year Ended | ||||
(in thousands) | December 31, 2019 | |||
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities: | ||||
Operating cash flows for operating leases | $ | 38,906 | ||
Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for lease obligations (1) | $ | 30,056 | ||
(1) The year ended December 31, 2019 amount excludes $122,300,000 of right-of-use assets recognized upon adoption of Topic 842.
Future undiscounted operating lease payments reconciled to total operating lease liabilities are as follows:
(in thousands) | December 31, 2019 | ||
2020 | $ | 35,595 | |
2021 | 29,877 | ||
2022 | 17,925 | ||
2023 | 12,512 | ||
2024 | 9,347 | ||
Thereafter | 33,043 | ||
Total undiscounted lease payments | 138,299 | ||
Less imputed interest | (20,470 | ) | |
Present value of future lease payments | $ | 117,829 | |
The Company has entered into operating lease agreements that have not yet commenced as of December 31, 2019 with legally binding minimum lease payments of $2,900,000. The leases are expected to commence during the three months ended March 31, 2020, and have lease terms between 2 years and 6 years.
About Leases Disclosures
Lease disclosures under ASC 842 provide a comprehensive view of a company's leased asset portfolio, including the split between operating and finance leases, discount rates used to present-value future payments, and the maturity schedule of lease obligations. This section reveals a significant source of off-balance-sheet commitments that were largely hidden before the current standard.
Key signals: the weighted-average discount rate affects the size of recorded lease liabilities — a higher rate reduces the reported obligation, so compare the chosen rate against the company's incremental borrowing rate. The operating versus finance lease mix affects both EBITDA and operating income presentation. Watch the maturity table for concentration risk: large payment cliffs in specific years may create cash flow pressure. Variable lease payments excluded from the liability measurement represent real obligations that do not appear on the balance sheet. Compare total lease costs against prior-year operating lease expense to assess the true economic burden.