and approximately $2.0 million of transaction costs associated with the stock repurchase transaction. Depreciation and amorti- zation amounted $3.6 million in 2004 as compared to $4.0  million in the prior year. Non-cash debt extinguishment expenses amounted to $1.2 million associated with the write-off of deferred financing costs with the company’s senior debt agreement that was refinanced in conjunction with the stock repurchase transac- tion. Deferred taxes of $7.6 million reflect the cash benefit from the reversal of book versus tax differences. Accounts receivable increased $3.0 million due to increased sales. Inventories increased $7.0 million reflecting increased sales, the impact  of newly added product lines and higher levels of purchasing  at year-end ahead of anticipated price increases from suppliers. Prepaid expenses and other assets increased $10.2 million  primarily due to the overpayment of estimated taxes for 2004, which did not reflect tax deductions associated with the stock repurchase transaction which occurred subsequent to the  2004 fourth quarter estimated tax payment. Accounts payable decreased $0.6 million due to normal operating variations resulting from the timing of vendor purchases and payments. Accrued expenses and other liabilities increased $5.4 million  due to increases in rebate obligations on higher sales, pension  obligations and incentive compensation accruals offset by lower warranty and product liability reserves. INVESTING ACTIVITIES. During 2004 net cash used for investing activities amounted to $3.2 million. This included $1.2 million  of property additions primarily associated with the replacement and upgrade of production equipment and $2.0 million in repay- ments of principal associated with seller notes due to Maytag related to the 2001 acquisition of Blodgett. FINANCING ACTIVITIES. Net cash used in financing activities amounted to $15.3 million in 2004. In December 2004, the company repurchased 1,808,774 shares of stock from its former Chairman of its Board of Directors, members of his family and trusts controlled by his family for $42.00 per share or $76.0 million and paid $1.2 million of transaction related costs for an aggregate of $77.2 million. In order to finance this transaction, the company entered into  a new $160.0 million senior credit facility which includes a  $70.0 million term loan and a $90.0 million revolving credit facility under which the company had borrowed $51.3 million at year  end. The company incurred $1.5 million of debt issuance costs associated with this facility. The company fully repaid and retired amounts due under its prior senior credit facility including  $1.5 million of amounts borrowed on its revolving credit facility  and $53.0 million of senior bank notes. During the third quarter of 2004, the company issued a  $0.40 per share dividend, which amounted to $3.7 million. Idle facility lease consists of an obligation for a manufacturing location that was exited in conjunction with the company’s manu- facturing consolidation efforts. This lease obligation continues through December 2014. This facility has been subleased. The obligation presented above does not reflect any anticipated sublease income from the facilities. As indicated in Note 13 to the consolidated financial state- ments, the projected benefit obligation of the defined benefit plans exceeded the plans’ assets by $5.0 million at the end of 2004 as compared to $4.1 million at the end of 2003. The unfunded benefit obligations were comprised of a $0.7 million under funding of the company’s union plan and $4.3 million of under funding of the company’s director plans. The increase in  the unfunded benefit obligations primarily resulted from the  early retirement and pension settlement with the company’s former Chairman of its Board of Directors. The pension settle- ment resulted in an increase to the unfunded benefit obligation of approximately $1.1 million in 2004. The company made contribu- tions of $1.6 million in 2004 and $1.0 million in 2003 to the company’s director plans. The company expects to contribute  Subsequent to year-end, the company utilized $12.0 million  to fund the purchase of the assets of Nu-Vu Foodservice Systems from the $90.0 million revolving credit facility. In addition, the company entered into an agreement with its former Chairman  of the Board of Directors to settle and fund pension obligations due to the former Chairman for $7.6 million. The obligation will  be funded from existing retirement plan assets of approximately $4.0 million and $3.6 million of additional borrowings under  the company’s revolving credit facility. In 2005, the company has scheduled debt repayments of $10.0 million in connection with its $70.0 million senior bank term loan. The company believes that cash flows from operations and borrowing availability under the revolving credit facility will be suffi- cient to satisfy debt obligations, capital expenditures and working capital requirements for the foreseeable future. At January 1, 2005 the company was in compliance with all covenants pursuant to its borrowing agreements. The company’s contractual cash payment obligations are set  forth below (dollars in thousands): Contractual Obligations Total Idle Contractual Long-term Operating Facility Cash Debt Leases Lease Obligations Less than 1 year $ 10,480 $ 811 $ 354 $ 11,645 1-3 years 28,460 999 737 30,196 4-5 years 84,783 543 756 86,081 After 5 years — 249 2,209 2,458 $123,723 $ 2,602 $ 4,056 $130,380 9