earnings were $ 1,042 lower in 2017 compared to the prior year , a reflection of the impact of the tax cuts and jobs act enacted in the fourth quarter of 2017. income before income taxes increased by $ 3,333 to $ 16,136 in 2017 , a 26 % change . the increase is a reflection of increased sales and gross margin growth , focus on cost control , and the reduction in interest expense related to our debt refinance in the fourth quarter of 2016. we continue to take a long-term view of our business and believe that our infrastructure changes and the collaborative organization we are building to advance our multi-product solutions offering is working . we are confident that our strategy to be a unique , customer-focused , leading supplier of complete precision motion solutions to our target markets will enable us to take market share and gain greater scale over the next five years . our strategy our growth strategy is focused on becoming the motion solution leader in our selected target markets by further developing our 19 products and services platform to utilize multiple allied motion technologies to create increased value solutions for our customers . our strategy further defines allied motion as being a  technology/know-how  driven company and to be successful , we continue to invest in our areas of excellence . we have set growth targets for our company and we will align and focus our resources to meet those targets . first and foremost , we invest in our people as we believe that attracting and retaining the right people is the most important element in our strategy . we also will continue to invest in applied and design engineering resources . strategic focus means that we will take action to address the critical issues that we believe are necessary to meet the stated long-term goals and objectives of the company . the majority of the critical issues are focused on growth initiatives for the company . one of these growth initiatives includes product line platform development to meet the emerging needs of our selected target markets . our platform development emphasizes a combination of our technologies to create increased value solutions for our customers . the emphasis with new opportunities has evolved from being an individual component provider to becoming a solutions provider whereby the new opportunities utilize multiple of allied motion technologies in a system solution approach . we believe this approach will allow us to provide increased value to our customers and improved margins for our company . our strong financial condition , along with allied systematic tools ( ast ) continuous improvement initiatives in quality , delivery , and cost allow us to have a positive outlook for the continued long-term growth of our company . outlook for 2018 in 2018 , we will continue to focus on leveraging our resources to expand our business in our served markets . with strong cash flows and an improved debt position , we will continue to evaluate and pursue strategic acquisitions to enhance our growth opportunities in the future . in addition , we will continue to execute the ongoing critical issues as defined by our updated strategy , developed in 2017. the critical issues from that strategy include : 1 ) creating an effective corporate structure to leverage the resources and capabilities of the combined entity . 2 ) continue implementing our new erp system to provide the infrastructure necessary to support the planned growth of the company . we estimate the erp system implementation to be largely completed during 2018 . 3 ) plan and implement a structured approach to identify the requirements of our target markets and to create and implement solutions to ensure we meet the requirements of those markets . 4 ) through the continued enhancement and development of our operational effectiveness team , implement ast to drive continuous improvement in all areas of our business . allied motion is an applied technology/know-how motion company , and to grow , we will continue to invest in the technical resources to ensure we can move forward with our mantra to  create motion solutions that change the game  and to meet the emerging needs of our customers in our served market segments . in support of our sales efforts , we have three solution centers ( united states , europe and asia ) that are providing the support required to sell multi-technology solutions . we have a number of new multi-product motion control solution wins that will be ramping up during 2018 and a very active pipeline of new opportunities where our integrated solution capability has provided us with a competitive advantage . we anticipate that our investment in these key resources will help drive our growth now and in the future and we plan to continue investing in these resources during 2018. we further expect this shift from a component supplier to a more complete solutions provider , along with the application of ast , to drive margin improvement . our global production footprint provides us with the opportunity to be a good value proposition and supplier for global companies who require support around the world . we will continue to evaluate and find areas to leverage our current manufacturing and sales footprint to drive sales and improve efficiencies . further development and promotion of our parent brand , allied motion , will continue in 2018. a global structure has been defined and we intend to use that to our advantage in the marketplace . critical accounting policies the company has prepared its financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the united states , and these statements necessarily include some amounts that are based on informed judgments and estimates of management . story_separator_special_tag gross margin : the 6 % increase in gross profit was largely due to increased volume attributable to market growth . gross profit was revised in the fourth quarter of 2016 related to the correction of accounting for certain intercompany sales . selling expenses : selling expenses increased in 2016 compared to 2015 primarily due to the acquisition of heidrive and continued investment in our one allied sales organization to support future growth . selling expenses as a percentage of revenues were 4 % for 2016 and 2015. general and administrative expenses : general and administrative expenses increased in 2016 from 2015 largely due to the acquisition of heidrive . g & a expenses were partially offset by insurance recoveries related to a fire at one of our international locations . as a percentage of revenues , general and administrative expenses was 10 % for 2016 and 2015. engineering and development expenses : engineering and development expenses increased by 14 % in 2016 compared to 2015. the increase was primarily due to the acquisition of heidrive and the continuation of a significant development project to meet the future needs of a target market for allied motion . as a percentage of revenues , engineering and development expenses were 6 % for both 2016 and 2015. business development costs : the company incurred $ 428 of business development costs during 2016 related to the acquisition of heidrive on january 12 , 2016 and consulting expenses to evaluate new business opportunities . amortization of intangible assets : amortization of intangible assets increased in 2016 compared to 2015 due to the amortization of heidrive intangible assets . income taxes : the effective income tax rate as a percentage of income before income taxes was 29.1 % and 28.2 % in 2016 and 2015 , respectively . the effective tax rate for 2016 was lower than the statutory rate primarily due to differences in foreign tax rates and the effect of recording excess tax benefits related to share based payment awards as a discrete item , in accordance with asu 2016-09 which was adopted during 2016. the effective tax rate for 2015 was lower than the statutory rate primarily due to differences in foreign tax rates and changes in our valuation allowance on foreign net operating losses . the effective rate for 2016 is higher than 2015 primarily related to an increase in the valuation allowance due to an increase in the estimate of net operating losses that will expire unused , offset by the discrete item related to excess tax benefits from share based payment awards . the company adopted asu 2016-09 prospectively and asu 2015-17 retrospectively as of january 1 , 2016. these pronouncements impacted the accounting and disclosure for income taxes ( see note 1 ,  business and summary of significant accounting policies ,   recently adopted accounting pronouncements from our consolidated financial statements ) . non-gaap measures ebitda and adjusted ebitda are provided for information purposes only and are not measures of financial performance under gaap . management believes the presentation of these financial measures reflecting non-gaap adjustments provides important supplemental information in evaluating the operating results of the company as distinct from results that include items that are not indicative of ongoing operating results ; in particular , those charges and credits that are not directly related to operating unit performance , and that are not a helpful measure of the performance of our underlying business particularly in light of their unpredictable nature . this non-gaap disclosure has limitations as an analytical tool , should not be viewed as a substitute for net income determined in accordance with gaap , and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the company 's results as reported under gaap , nor is it necessarily comparable to non-gaap performance measures that may be presented by other companies . in addition , supplemental presentation should not be construed as an inference that the company 's future results will be unaffected by similar adjustments to net income determined in accordance with gaap . the company believes ebitda is often a useful measure of the company 's operating performance and is a significant basis used by the company 's management to measure the operating performance of the company 's business because ebitda 27 excludes charges for depreciation , amortization and interest expense that have resulted from our debt financings , as well as our provision for income tax expense . ebitda is frequently used as one of the bases for comparing businesses in the company 's industry . the company also believes that adjusted ebitda provides helpful information about the operating performance of its business . adjusted ebitda excludes stock compensation expense , as well as certain income or expenses which are not indicative of the ongoing performance of the company . ebitda and adjusted ebitda do not represent and should not be considered as an alternative to net income , operating income , net cash provided by operating activities or any other measure for determining operating performance or liquidity that is calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles . the company 's calculation of ebitda and adjusted ebitda for 2017 , 2016 and 2015 is as follows ( in thousands ) : replace_table_token_7_th allied motion 's management uses adjusted net income to assess the company 's consolidated financial and operating performance . adjusted net income is provided for informational purposes only and is not a measure of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles . this measure helps management make decisions that are expected to facilitate meeting current financial goals as well as achieve optimal financial performance . adjusted net income provides management with a measure of financial performance of the company based on operational factors , including the profitability of assets on an economic basis , net of operating expenses , and the capital costs of the business on a consistent basis as it removes

liquidity and capital resources the company 's liquidity position as measured by cash and cash equivalents increased by $ 107 , to a balance of $ 15,590 at december 31 , 2017 from 2016. replace_table_token_9_th during 2017 , the increase in cash provided by operating activities is primarily due to a reduction in working capital needs , primarily for accrued liabilities and accounts payable . during 2016 , the decrease in cash provided by operating activities is primarily due to an increase in working capital needs , attributable to heidrive . the receivables increase in 2016 reflects a shift for heidrive from having a factoring arrangement before we acquired them to building up normal receivable balances during the year . during 2017 , purchases of property and equipment were higher at $ 6,201 compared to $ 5,188 for 2016. the cash used for investing activities in 2016 reflects the acquisition of heidrive during the first quarter . the cash paid for the acquisition was $ 16,205 net of cash acquired . the significant cash used in financing activities during 2017 reflects the paydown of long-term debt . the net cash provided by financing activities in 2016 reflects the refinance of our debt on october 28 , 2016. the net proceeds of $ 76,321 were partially offset by the use of the international revolver of $ 10,859 ( 10,000 ) to finance the heidrive acquisition in the first quarter of 2016. during the year ended december 31 , 2017 , the company paid dividends of $ 0.10 per share .


 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 the company 's liquidity position as measured by cash and cash equivalents increased by $ 107 , to a balance of $ 15,590 at december 31 , 2017 from 2016. replace_table_token_9_th during 2017 , the increase in cash provided by operating activities is primarily due to a reduction in working capital needs , primarily for accrued liabilities and accounts payable . during 2016 , the decrease in cash provided by operating activities is primarily due to an increase in working capital needs , attributable to heidrive . the receivables increase in 2016 reflects a shift for heidrive from having a factoring arrangement before we acquired them to building up normal receivable balances during the year . during 2017 , purchases of property and equipment were higher at $ 6,201 compared to $ 5,188 for 2016. the cash used for investing activities in 2016 reflects the acquisition of heidrive during the first quarter . the cash paid for the acquisition was $ 16,205 net of cash acquired . the significant cash used in financing activities during 2017 reflects the paydown of long-term debt . the net cash provided by financing activities in 2016 reflects the refinance of our debt on october 28 , 2016. the net proceeds of $ 76,321 were partially offset by the use of the international revolver of $ 10,859 ( 10,000 ) to finance the heidrive acquisition in the first quarter of 2016. during the year ended december 31 , 2017 , the company paid dividends of $ 0.10 per share .
```    
 Suspicious Activity Report : earnings were $ 1,042 lower in 2017 compared to the prior year , a reflection of the impact of the tax cuts and jobs act enacted in the fourth quarter of 2017. income before income taxes increased by $ 3,333 to $ 16,136 in 2017 , a 26 % change . the increase is a reflection of increased sales and gross margin growth , focus on cost control , and the reduction in interest expense related to our debt refinance in the fourth quarter of 2016. we continue to take a long-term view of our business and believe that our infrastructure changes and the collaborative organization we are building to advance our multi-product solutions offering is working . we are confident that our strategy to be a unique , customer-focused , leading supplier of complete precision motion solutions to our target markets will enable us to take market share and gain greater scale over the next five years . our strategy our growth strategy is focused on becoming the motion solution leader in our selected target markets by further developing our 19 products and services platform to utilize multiple allied motion technologies to create increased value solutions for our customers . our strategy further defines allied motion as being a  technology/know-how  driven company and to be successful , we continue to invest in our areas of excellence . we have set growth targets for our company and we will align and focus our resources to meet those targets . first and foremost , we invest in our people as we believe that attracting and retaining the right people is the most important element in our strategy . we also will continue to invest in applied and design engineering resources . strategic focus means that we will take action to address the critical issues that we believe are necessary to meet the stated long-term goals and objectives of the company . the majority of the critical issues are focused on growth initiatives for the company . one of these growth initiatives includes product line platform development to meet the emerging needs of our selected target markets . our platform development emphasizes a combination of our technologies to create increased value solutions for our customers . the emphasis with new opportunities has evolved from being an individual component provider to becoming a solutions provider whereby the new opportunities utilize multiple of allied motion technologies in a system solution approach . we believe this approach will allow us to provide increased value to our customers and improved margins for our company . our strong financial condition , along with allied systematic tools ( ast ) continuous improvement initiatives in quality , delivery , and cost allow us to have a positive outlook for the continued long-term growth of our company . outlook for 2018 in 2018 , we will continue to focus on leveraging our resources to expand our business in our served markets . with strong cash flows and an improved debt position , we will continue to evaluate and pursue strategic acquisitions to enhance our growth opportunities in the future . in addition , we will continue to execute the ongoing critical issues as defined by our updated strategy , developed in 2017. the critical issues from that strategy include : 1 ) creating an effective corporate structure to leverage the resources and capabilities of the combined entity . 2 ) continue implementing our new erp system to provide the infrastructure necessary to support the planned growth of the company . we estimate the erp system implementation to be largely completed during 2018 . 3 ) plan and implement a structured approach to identify the requirements of our target markets and to create and implement solutions to ensure we meet the requirements of those markets . 4 ) through the continued enhancement and development of our operational effectiveness team , implement ast to drive continuous improvement in all areas of our business . allied motion is an applied technology/know-how motion company , and to grow , we will continue to invest in the technical resources to ensure we can move forward with our mantra to  create motion solutions that change the game  and to meet the emerging needs of our customers in our served market segments . in support of our sales efforts , we have three solution centers ( united states , europe and asia ) that are providing the support required to sell multi-technology solutions . we have a number of new multi-product motion control solution wins that will be ramping up during 2018 and a very active pipeline of new opportunities where our integrated solution capability has provided us with a competitive advantage . we anticipate that our investment in these key resources will help drive our growth now and in the future and we plan to continue investing in these resources during 2018. we further expect this shift from a component supplier to a more complete solutions provider , along with the application of ast , to drive margin improvement . our global production footprint provides us with the opportunity to be a good value proposition and supplier for global companies who require support around the world . we will continue to evaluate and find areas to leverage our current manufacturing and sales footprint to drive sales and improve efficiencies . further development and promotion of our parent brand , allied motion , will continue in 2018. a global structure has been defined and we intend to use that to our advantage in the marketplace . critical accounting policies the company has prepared its financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the united states , and these statements necessarily include some amounts that are based on informed judgments and estimates of management . story_separator_special_tag gross margin : the 6 % increase in gross profit was largely due to increased volume attributable to market growth . gross profit was revised in the fourth quarter of 2016 related to the correction of accounting for certain intercompany sales . selling expenses : selling expenses increased in 2016 compared to 2015 primarily due to the acquisition of heidrive and continued investment in our one allied sales organization to support future growth . selling expenses as a percentage of revenues were 4 % for 2016 and 2015. general and administrative expenses : general and administrative expenses increased in 2016 from 2015 largely due to the acquisition of heidrive . g & a expenses were partially offset by insurance recoveries related to a fire at one of our international locations . as a percentage of revenues , general and administrative expenses was 10 % for 2016 and 2015. engineering and development expenses : engineering and development expenses increased by 14 % in 2016 compared to 2015. the increase was primarily due to the acquisition of heidrive and the continuation of a significant development project to meet the future needs of a target market for allied motion . as a percentage of revenues , engineering and development expenses were 6 % for both 2016 and 2015. business development costs : the company incurred $ 428 of business development costs during 2016 related to the acquisition of heidrive on january 12 , 2016 and consulting expenses to evaluate new business opportunities . amortization of intangible assets : amortization of intangible assets increased in 2016 compared to 2015 due to the amortization of heidrive intangible assets . income taxes : the effective income tax rate as a percentage of income before income taxes was 29.1 % and 28.2 % in 2016 and 2015 , respectively . the effective tax rate for 2016 was lower than the statutory rate primarily due to differences in foreign tax rates and the effect of recording excess tax benefits related to share based payment awards as a discrete item , in accordance with asu 2016-09 which was adopted during 2016. the effective tax rate for 2015 was lower than the statutory rate primarily due to differences in foreign tax rates and changes in our valuation allowance on foreign net operating losses . the effective rate for 2016 is higher than 2015 primarily related to an increase in the valuation allowance due to an increase in the estimate of net operating losses that will expire unused , offset by the discrete item related to excess tax benefits from share based payment awards . the company adopted asu 2016-09 prospectively and asu 2015-17 retrospectively as of january 1 , 2016. these pronouncements impacted the accounting and disclosure for income taxes ( see note 1 ,  business and summary of significant accounting policies ,   recently adopted accounting pronouncements from our consolidated financial statements ) . non-gaap measures ebitda and adjusted ebitda are provided for information purposes only and are not measures of financial performance under gaap . management believes the presentation of these financial measures reflecting non-gaap adjustments provides important supplemental information in evaluating the operating results of the company as distinct from results that include items that are not indicative of ongoing operating results ; in particular , those charges and credits that are not directly related to operating unit performance , and that are not a helpful measure of the performance of our underlying business particularly in light of their unpredictable nature . this non-gaap disclosure has limitations as an analytical tool , should not be viewed as a substitute for net income determined in accordance with gaap , and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the company 's results as reported under gaap , nor is it necessarily comparable to non-gaap performance measures that may be presented by other companies . in addition , supplemental presentation should not be construed as an inference that the company 's future results will be unaffected by similar adjustments to net income determined in accordance with gaap . the company believes ebitda is often a useful measure of the company 's operating performance and is a significant basis used by the company 's management to measure the operating performance of the company 's business because ebitda 27 excludes charges for depreciation , amortization and interest expense that have resulted from our debt financings , as well as our provision for income tax expense . ebitda is frequently used as one of the bases for comparing businesses in the company 's industry . the company also believes that adjusted ebitda provides helpful information about the operating performance of its business . adjusted ebitda excludes stock compensation expense , as well as certain income or expenses which are not indicative of the ongoing performance of the company . ebitda and adjusted ebitda do not represent and should not be considered as an alternative to net income , operating income , net cash provided by operating activities or any other measure for determining operating performance or liquidity that is calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles . the company 's calculation of ebitda and adjusted ebitda for 2017 , 2016 and 2015 is as follows ( in thousands ) : replace_table_token_7_th allied motion 's management uses adjusted net income to assess the company 's consolidated financial and operating performance . adjusted net income is provided for informational purposes only and is not a measure of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles . this measure helps management make decisions that are expected to facilitate meeting current financial goals as well as achieve optimal financial performance . adjusted net income provides management with a measure of financial performance of the company based on operational factors , including the profitability of assets on an economic basis , net of operating expenses , and the capital costs of the business on a consistent basis as it removes

