the thermal acoustical solutions segment negatively impacted consolidated gross margin by approximately 220 basis points due to higher manufacturing and logistics costs to meet customer demand , combined with unfavorable pricing and product mix . the technical nonwovens segment reported improved segment gross margin primarily driven by lower segment restructuring expenses and cost savings associated with those restructuring activities , but negatively impacted consolidated gross margin by approximately 60 basis points due to consolidated segment mix . while the performance materials segment reported lower gross margin , the segment favorably impacted consolidated gross margin by approximately 150 basis points from improved segment mix , driven by higher margin sealing and advanced solutions products sales , primarily from the acquired interface business since august 31 , 2018. operating loss was $ ( 38.8 ) million in 2019 , compared to operating income of $ 49.2 million . the operating loss was driven by fourth quarter 2019 goodwill and other long-lived asset impairment charges in the performance materials segment of $ 64.2 million and incremental 2019 intangible assets amortization of $ 12.2 million in the performance materials segment , combined with incremental manufacturing and logistics costs in the thermal acoustical solutions segment . the following items are included in operating income ( loss ) for 2019 and 2018 and impact the comparability of each year : replace_table_token_4_th in the second quarter of 2019 , the company settled the pension obligation of the u.s. lydall pension plan , which was partially offset by a gain recognized from the withdrawal from a multi-employer pension plan in the fourth quarter of 2019 and resulted in net non-cash settlement expenses of $ 25.2 million , or $ 0.86 per diluted share , in 2019. net loss was $ ( 70.5 ) million , or $ ( 4.08 ) per diluted share in 2019 , compared to net income of $ 34.9 million , or 2.02 per diluted share in 2018 . liquidity cash was $ 51.3 million at december 31 , 2019 , compared to $ 49.2 million at december 31 , 2018. net cash provided by operations was $ 86.9 million in 2019 compared to $ 44.7 million in 2018 , with the improvement primarily driven by lower accounts receivable . cash generation of $ 86.9 million in 2019 enabled the company to pay down $ 52 million of outstanding borrowings from its amended credit agreement . as of december 31 , 2019 , there was $ 121.6 million of availability under the company 's amended credit agreement . the company 's cash from operations and capacity under its amended credit agreement provide for sufficient cash availability to support organic growth programs and fund capital investments . 19 outlook while the company has seen some recent stabilization in the end markets for interface sealing products , weaker demand in european industrial markets is impacting all of the company 's segments . in china , the company is closely monitoring the impact of the coronavirus on its businesses and expects that its first quarter results will be negatively impacted , but is uncertain with regards to the severity and duration of the impact . the company has started a strategic review , which it expects to conclude by the end of the second quarter of 2020 , to evaluate lydall 's portfolio and end markets . the objective is to prioritize strategic actions that optimize capital allocation and drive long-term shareholder value . as part of the process , the company is identifying specific near-term opportunities for improvement in commercial performance , cost structure and working capital . 20 consolidated results of operations net sales replace_table_token_5_th net sales for 2019 increased by $ 51.5 million , or 6.6 % , compared to 2018. this increase was related to incremental sealing and advanced solutions sales of $ 76.0 million , primarily from the acquisition of interface , which led to increased performance materials net sales of $ 76.3 million , or 9.7 % of consolidated net sales . net sales decreased in the technical nonwovens segment by $ 20.5 million , net of intercompany sales , driven primarily by a decline in demand in the industrial filtration market , primarily in china and europe . additionally , the divestiture of the geosol business in the second quarter of 2019 reduced net sales by $ 7.0 million in 2019 compared to 2018. net sales decreased by $ 3.9 million in the thermal acoustical solutions segment due to decreased tooling sales of $ 2.2 million , related to the timing of new platform launches , and lower parts sales of $ 1.6 million as reduced demand in north america was partially offset by increased demand in europe and asia . foreign currency translation had a negative impact on net sales of $ 16.3 million , or 2.1 % of consolidated net sales , impacting the technical nonwovens segment by $ 7.3 million , or 0.9 % of consolidated net sales , the thermal acoustical solutions segment by $ 6.4 million , or 0.8 % of consolidated net sales and the performance materials segment by $ 2.6 million , or 0.3 % of consolidated net sales . cost of sales replace_table_token_6_th cost of sales for 2019 increased by $ 52.4 million , or 8.3 % , compared to 2018. the increase was primarily related to increased net sales of sealing and advanced solutions products from the interface acquisition of $ 76.0 million , within the performance materials segment . additionally , labor inefficiencies and increased overhead costs drove increased cost of sales in 2019 compared to 2018 within the performance materials segment . also , the thermal acoustical solutions segment contributed increased cost of sales of $ 10.5 million on reduced sales levels in 2019 compared to 2018 , primarily due to operating inefficiencies in its north america and europe facilities . story_separator_special_tag in november 2018 , the company entered into a five year interest rate swap agreement with a bank which converts the interest on a notional $ 139.0 million of the company 's one-month libor-based borrowings under its amended credit agreement from a variable rate , plus the borrowing spread , to a fixed rate of 3.09 % plus the borrowing spread . the notional amount reduces quarterly by fluctuating amounts through august 2023. in april 2017 , the company entered into a three -year interest rate swap agreement with a bank which converts the interest on a notional $ 60.0 million of the company 's one-month libor-based borrowings under its amended credit agreement from a variable rate , plus the borrowing spread , to a fixed rate of 1.58 % plus the borrowing spread . the notional amount reduces quarterly by $ 5.0 million through march 31 , 2020. these interest rate swap agreements were accounted for as cash flow hedges . effectiveness of these derivative agreements are assessed quarterly by ensuring that the critical terms of the swaps continue to match the critical terms of the hedged debt . in november 2019 , the company entered into three fixed-to-fixed cross-currency swaps with banking institutions with aggregate notional amounts totaling 67.8 million ( $ 75 million u.s. dollar equivalent ) . these swaps hedge a portion of lydall , inc 's net investment in an euro functional currency denominated subsidiary against the variability of exchange 27 rate translation impacts between the u.s. dollar and euro . these contracts require monthly cash interest exchanges over the life of the contracts with the company recognizing a reduction to interest expense in the company 's consolidated statements of operations due to the favorable interest rate differential between the u.s. dollar and euro , which is expected to be approximately $ 1.3 million in 2020. also , settlement of the notional 22.6 million ( $ 25 million u.s. dollar equivalent ) cross-currency swaps occur at maturity dates of august 2021 , august 2022 and august 2023. in addition to the amounts outstanding under the facility , the company has various foreign credit facilities totaling approximately $ 7.0 million . at december 31 , 2019 , the company 's foreign subsidiaries had $ 2.1 million in standby letters of credit outstanding . future cash requirements the company manages worldwide cash requirements considering available funds among domestic and foreign subsidiaries . the company expects to fund its operating cash requirements from existing cash balances , cash generated by operations , and through borrowings , as needed , under its existing domestic and foreign credit facilities . if completed , such activities would be financed with existing cash balances , cash generated from operations , borrowings under the credit facilities described under “ financing arrangements ” above or other forms of financing , as required . at december 31 , 2019 , total indebtedness was $ 272.6 million , of which $ 126.5 million was a revolver loan and $ 146.1 million , net of $ 0.4 million of capitalized debt costs , was a term loan . these loans are governed by the amended credit agreement and totaled 46.1 % of the company 's total capital structure at december 31 , 2019. cash requirements for 2020 are expected to include the funding of ongoing operations , capital expenditures , restructuring programs , payments due on finance and operating leases , pension plan contributions , income tax payments , term loan payments and optional prepayments on the revolver loan . capital spending for 2020 is expected to be approximately $ 25 million to $ 30 million . the funded status of the company 's defined benefit pension plans are dependent upon many factors , including returns on invested assets , levels of market interest rates , mortality rates and levels of contributions to the plan . the company expects to contribute approximately $ 2.4 million to its domestic defined employee benefit plans in 2020. see note 12 to the consolidated financial statements included in this annual report on form 10-k for additional information regarding the company 's pension plans . contractual obligations the following table summarizes the company 's significant contractual obligations as of december 31 , 2019 and the effect of such contractual obligations are expected to have on the company 's liquidity and cash flows in future periods . for recent financing activity please refer to “ financing arrangements ” above . replace_table_token_17_th * includes estimated interest payments the company has finance lease agreements for machinery and equipment at multiple operations requiring monthly principal and interest payments through 2020 . operating leases are primarily related to buildings , office equipment , vehicles and machinery with payments through 2033. the company 's long-term debt payments in the table above represent the estimated annual required term loan fixed principal payments , revolver loan payments due in 2023 and annual interest payments . actual payments may vary 28 significantly depending on future debt levels , timing of debt repayments and sources of funding utilized . refer to note 8 to the consolidated financial statements included in this annual report on form 10-k for additional discussion on long-term debt . the company 's future employee benefit plan contributions relate to the minimum contributions for the 2020 plan year based on the company 's employee benefit plan valuations at december 31 , 2019. see note 12 to the consolidated financial statements for additional information regarding the company 's employee benefit plans . in addition to the above contractual obligations , the company utilizes letters of credit in the ordinary course of business . outstanding letters of credit were $ 4.0 million and $ 6.1 million at december 31 , 2019 and 2018 , respectively . the above table does not reflect net tax contingencies of $ 3.2 million , the timing of which is uncertain . refer to note 16 to the consolidated financial statements included in this annual report

liquidity and capital resources replace_table_token_16_th the company assesses its liquidity in terms of its ability to generate cash to fund operating , investing and financing activities . the principal source of liquidity is operating cash flows . in addition to operating cash flows , other significant factors that affect the overall management of liquidity include capital expenditures , investments in businesses , strategic transactions , income tax payments , debt service payments , outcomes of contingencies , foreign currency exchange rates and employee benefit plan funding . the company manages worldwide cash requirements by considering available funds among domestic and foreign subsidiaries.the company expects to finance its 2020 operating cash and capital spending requirements from existing cash balances , cash provided by operating activities and through borrowings under the amended credit agreement , as needed . at december 31 , 2019 , the company held $ 51.3 million in cash and cash equivalents , including $ 15.6 million in the u.s. with the remaining held by foreign subsidiaries . operating cash flows net cash provided by operating activities in 2019 was $ 86.9 million compared with $ 44.7 million in 2018. in 2019 , net loss and non-cash adjustments were $ 54.6 million compared to net income and non-cash adjustments of $ 72.9 million in 2018. since december 31 , 2018 , net operating assets and liabilities decreased by $ 32.3 million , compared to 2018 when net operating assets and liabilities increased $ 28.2 million from december 31 , 2017. the decrease of $ 32.3 million since december 31 , 2018 was primarily due to a reduction of $ 37.5 million in accounts receivable principally due to lower net sales in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to the fourth quarter of 2018 , as well as the company selling approximately $ 15.0 million in trade accounts receivable balances to a banking institution that would have normally been collected in the first quarter of 2020. investing cash flows in 2019


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```liquidity and capital resources replace_table_token_16_th the company assesses its liquidity in terms of its ability to generate cash to fund operating , investing and financing activities . the principal source of liquidity is operating cash flows . in addition to operating cash flows , other significant factors that affect the overall management of liquidity include capital expenditures , investments in businesses , strategic transactions , income tax payments , debt service payments , outcomes of contingencies , foreign currency exchange rates and employee benefit plan funding . the company manages worldwide cash requirements by considering available funds among domestic and foreign subsidiaries.the company expects to finance its 2020 operating cash and capital spending requirements from existing cash balances , cash provided by operating activities and through borrowings under the amended credit agreement , as needed . at december 31 , 2019 , the company held $ 51.3 million in cash and cash equivalents , including $ 15.6 million in the u.s. with the remaining held by foreign subsidiaries . operating cash flows net cash provided by operating activities in 2019 was $ 86.9 million compared with $ 44.7 million in 2018. in 2019 , net loss and non-cash adjustments were $ 54.6 million compared to net income and non-cash adjustments of $ 72.9 million in 2018. since december 31 , 2018 , net operating assets and liabilities decreased by $ 32.3 million , compared to 2018 when net operating assets and liabilities increased $ 28.2 million from december 31 , 2017. the decrease of $ 32.3 million since december 31 , 2018 was primarily due to a reduction of $ 37.5 million in accounts receivable principally due to lower net sales in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to the fourth quarter of 2018 , as well as the company selling approximately $ 15.0 million in trade accounts receivable balances to a banking institution that would have normally been collected in the first quarter of 2020. investing cash flows in 2019
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 Suspicious Activity Report : the thermal acoustical solutions segment negatively impacted consolidated gross margin by approximately 220 basis points due to higher manufacturing and logistics costs to meet customer demand , combined with unfavorable pricing and product mix . the technical nonwovens segment reported improved segment gross margin primarily driven by lower segment restructuring expenses and cost savings associated with those restructuring activities , but negatively impacted consolidated gross margin by approximately 60 basis points due to consolidated segment mix . while the performance materials segment reported lower gross margin , the segment favorably impacted consolidated gross margin by approximately 150 basis points from improved segment mix , driven by higher margin sealing and advanced solutions products sales , primarily from the acquired interface business since august 31 , 2018. operating loss was $ ( 38.8 ) million in 2019 , compared to operating income of $ 49.2 million . the operating loss was driven by fourth quarter 2019 goodwill and other long-lived asset impairment charges in the performance materials segment of $ 64.2 million and incremental 2019 intangible assets amortization of $ 12.2 million in the performance materials segment , combined with incremental manufacturing and logistics costs in the thermal acoustical solutions segment . the following items are included in operating income ( loss ) for 2019 and 2018 and impact the comparability of each year : replace_table_token_4_th in the second quarter of 2019 , the company settled the pension obligation of the u.s. lydall pension plan , which was partially offset by a gain recognized from the withdrawal from a multi-employer pension plan in the fourth quarter of 2019 and resulted in net non-cash settlement expenses of $ 25.2 million , or $ 0.86 per diluted share , in 2019. net loss was $ ( 70.5 ) million , or $ ( 4.08 ) per diluted share in 2019 , compared to net income of $ 34.9 million , or 2.02 per diluted share in 2018 . liquidity cash was $ 51.3 million at december 31 , 2019 , compared to $ 49.2 million at december 31 , 2018. net cash provided by operations was $ 86.9 million in 2019 compared to $ 44.7 million in 2018 , with the improvement primarily driven by lower accounts receivable . cash generation of $ 86.9 million in 2019 enabled the company to pay down $ 52 million of outstanding borrowings from its amended credit agreement . as of december 31 , 2019 , there was $ 121.6 million of availability under the company 's amended credit agreement . the company 's cash from operations and capacity under its amended credit agreement provide for sufficient cash availability to support organic growth programs and fund capital investments . 19 outlook while the company has seen some recent stabilization in the end markets for interface sealing products , weaker demand in european industrial markets is impacting all of the company 's segments . in china , the company is closely monitoring the impact of the coronavirus on its businesses and expects that its first quarter results will be negatively impacted , but is uncertain with regards to the severity and duration of the impact . the company has started a strategic review , which it expects to conclude by the end of the second quarter of 2020 , to evaluate lydall 's portfolio and end markets . the objective is to prioritize strategic actions that optimize capital allocation and drive long-term shareholder value . as part of the process , the company is identifying specific near-term opportunities for improvement in commercial performance , cost structure and working capital . 20 consolidated results of operations net sales replace_table_token_5_th net sales for 2019 increased by $ 51.5 million , or 6.6 % , compared to 2018. this increase was related to incremental sealing and advanced solutions sales of $ 76.0 million , primarily from the acquisition of interface , which led to increased performance materials net sales of $ 76.3 million , or 9.7 % of consolidated net sales . net sales decreased in the technical nonwovens segment by $ 20.5 million , net of intercompany sales , driven primarily by a decline in demand in the industrial filtration market , primarily in china and europe . additionally , the divestiture of the geosol business in the second quarter of 2019 reduced net sales by $ 7.0 million in 2019 compared to 2018. net sales decreased by $ 3.9 million in the thermal acoustical solutions segment due to decreased tooling sales of $ 2.2 million , related to the timing of new platform launches , and lower parts sales of $ 1.6 million as reduced demand in north america was partially offset by increased demand in europe and asia . foreign currency translation had a negative impact on net sales of $ 16.3 million , or 2.1 % of consolidated net sales , impacting the technical nonwovens segment by $ 7.3 million , or 0.9 % of consolidated net sales , the thermal acoustical solutions segment by $ 6.4 million , or 0.8 % of consolidated net sales and the performance materials segment by $ 2.6 million , or 0.3 % of consolidated net sales . cost of sales replace_table_token_6_th cost of sales for 2019 increased by $ 52.4 million , or 8.3 % , compared to 2018. the increase was primarily related to increased net sales of sealing and advanced solutions products from the interface acquisition of $ 76.0 million , within the performance materials segment . additionally , labor inefficiencies and increased overhead costs drove increased cost of sales in 2019 compared to 2018 within the performance materials segment . also , the thermal acoustical solutions segment contributed increased cost of sales of $ 10.5 million on reduced sales levels in 2019 compared to 2018 , primarily due to operating inefficiencies in its north america and europe facilities . story_separator_special_tag in november 2018 , the company entered into a five year interest rate swap agreement with a bank which converts the interest on a notional $ 139.0 million of the company 's one-month libor-based borrowings under its amended credit agreement from a variable rate , plus the borrowing spread , to a fixed rate of 3.09 % plus the borrowing spread . the notional amount reduces quarterly by fluctuating amounts through august 2023. in april 2017 , the company entered into a three -year interest rate swap agreement with a bank which converts the interest on a notional $ 60.0 million of the company 's one-month libor-based borrowings under its amended credit agreement from a variable rate , plus the borrowing spread , to a fixed rate of 1.58 % plus the borrowing spread . the notional amount reduces quarterly by $ 5.0 million through march 31 , 2020. these interest rate swap agreements were accounted for as cash flow hedges . effectiveness of these derivative agreements are assessed quarterly by ensuring that the critical terms of the swaps continue to match the critical terms of the hedged debt . in november 2019 , the company entered into three fixed-to-fixed cross-currency swaps with banking institutions with aggregate notional amounts totaling 67.8 million ( $ 75 million u.s. dollar equivalent ) . these swaps hedge a portion of lydall , inc 's net investment in an euro functional currency denominated subsidiary against the variability of exchange 27 rate translation impacts between the u.s. dollar and euro . these contracts require monthly cash interest exchanges over the life of the contracts with the company recognizing a reduction to interest expense in the company 's consolidated statements of operations due to the favorable interest rate differential between the u.s. dollar and euro , which is expected to be approximately $ 1.3 million in 2020. also , settlement of the notional 22.6 million ( $ 25 million u.s. dollar equivalent ) cross-currency swaps occur at maturity dates of august 2021 , august 2022 and august 2023. in addition to the amounts outstanding under the facility , the company has various foreign credit facilities totaling approximately $ 7.0 million . at december 31 , 2019 , the company 's foreign subsidiaries had $ 2.1 million in standby letters of credit outstanding . future cash requirements the company manages worldwide cash requirements considering available funds among domestic and foreign subsidiaries . the company expects to fund its operating cash requirements from existing cash balances , cash generated by operations , and through borrowings , as needed , under its existing domestic and foreign credit facilities . if completed , such activities would be financed with existing cash balances , cash generated from operations , borrowings under the credit facilities described under “ financing arrangements ” above or other forms of financing , as required . at december 31 , 2019 , total indebtedness was $ 272.6 million , of which $ 126.5 million was a revolver loan and $ 146.1 million , net of $ 0.4 million of capitalized debt costs , was a term loan . these loans are governed by the amended credit agreement and totaled 46.1 % of the company 's total capital structure at december 31 , 2019. cash requirements for 2020 are expected to include the funding of ongoing operations , capital expenditures , restructuring programs , payments due on finance and operating leases , pension plan contributions , income tax payments , term loan payments and optional prepayments on the revolver loan . capital spending for 2020 is expected to be approximately $ 25 million to $ 30 million . the funded status of the company 's defined benefit pension plans are dependent upon many factors , including returns on invested assets , levels of market interest rates , mortality rates and levels of contributions to the plan . the company expects to contribute approximately $ 2.4 million to its domestic defined employee benefit plans in 2020. see note 12 to the consolidated financial statements included in this annual report on form 10-k for additional information regarding the company 's pension plans . contractual obligations the following table summarizes the company 's significant contractual obligations as of december 31 , 2019 and the effect of such contractual obligations are expected to have on the company 's liquidity and cash flows in future periods . for recent financing activity please refer to “ financing arrangements ” above . replace_table_token_17_th * includes estimated interest payments the company has finance lease agreements for machinery and equipment at multiple operations requiring monthly principal and interest payments through 2020 . operating leases are primarily related to buildings , office equipment , vehicles and machinery with payments through 2033. the company 's long-term debt payments in the table above represent the estimated annual required term loan fixed principal payments , revolver loan payments due in 2023 and annual interest payments . actual payments may vary 28 significantly depending on future debt levels , timing of debt repayments and sources of funding utilized . refer to note 8 to the consolidated financial statements included in this annual report on form 10-k for additional discussion on long-term debt . the company 's future employee benefit plan contributions relate to the minimum contributions for the 2020 plan year based on the company 's employee benefit plan valuations at december 31 , 2019. see note 12 to the consolidated financial statements for additional information regarding the company 's employee benefit plans . in addition to the above contractual obligations , the company utilizes letters of credit in the ordinary course of business . outstanding letters of credit were $ 4.0 million and $ 6.1 million at december 31 , 2019 and 2018 , respectively . the above table does not reflect net tax contingencies of $ 3.2 million , the timing of which is uncertain . refer to note 16 to the consolidated financial statements included in this annual report

