, combined sales to governmental and academic customers grew in china and india but declined in all other regions . in 2015 , combined sales to governmental and academic customers grew in the u.s. and china but declined in all other regions . instrument system sales increased 4 % and 3 % in 2016 and 2015 , respectively , due to higher demand for lc and lc-ms instrument systems . this strength in demand was driven by hplc , uplc ® , acquity arc tm , qda ® and vion ® ims q-tof tm instrument systems , as well as other lc-ms systems that incorporate the company 's benchtop tandem quadrupole technologies . recurring revenues ( combined sales of chemistry consumables and services ) increased 8 % and 2 % in 2016 and 2015 , respectively , as a result of a larger installed base of customers and higher billing demand for service sales . foreign currency translation lowered the 2015 recurring revenues by 6 % . geographically , sales in asia increased 13 % and 9 % in 2016 and 2015 , respectively . the sales growth in asia was a result of the broad-based increase in china 's sales across all product and customer classes and the favorable effect of foreign currency in japan , where foreign currency translation increased sales by 12 % in 2016 after decreasing sales by 12 % in 2015. sales in the u.s. in 2016 increased 1 % after the u.s. delivered sales growth of 10 % in 2015 , when the company experienced greater demand for its products and services in the u.s. sales in europe and in the rest of the world increased by 4 % and 6 % , respectively , in 2016 as compared to an 8 % decline in both europe and the rest of the world sales in 2015. the negative effects of foreign currency translation on the 2016 sales growth in europe and the rest of the world was approximately 3 % , which was significantly less than the 14 % decrease in europe and the 5 % decrease in the rest of the world sales in 2015 , when the u.s. dollar strengthened substantially against all currencies throughout the world . operating income was $ 624 million in 2016 , an increase of 10 % as compared to 2015. this increase was primarily a result of the effect of higher sales volume achieved in 2016 and the positive impact of foreign currency translation on our u.k. manufacturing and research and development costs as a result of the significantly weaker british pound . operating income increased 10 % in 2015 as compared to 2014 as a result of higher sales volumes achieved in 2015 being partly offset by a $ 56 million reduction in operating income from the adverse effects of foreign currency translation . the company generated $ 629 million , $ 560 million and $ 512 million of net cash flows from operations in 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively . the increases in operating cash flow in each year were primarily a result of the increase in sales and net income . cash flows used in investing activities included capital expenditures related to property , plant , equipment and software capitalization of $ 95 million , $ 100 million and $ 91 million in 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively . in september 2016 , the company acquired rubotherm gmbh for approximately $ 6 million in cash and the company made payments of $ 3 million and $ 15 million to acquire and license intellectual property during 2015 and 2014 , respectively . these acquisitions did not have a significant impact on the company 's sales and profits in 2016. during 2016 and 2014 , the company issued and sold senior unsecured notes for an aggregate principal amount of $ 250 million and $ 200 million , respectively . during 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , the company repurchased $ 318 million , $ 327 million and $ 329 million of the company 's outstanding common stock , respectively , under 27 authorized share repurchase programs . the company believes that it has the financial flexibility to fund these share repurchases given current cash and investment levels and debt borrowing capacity , as well as to invest in research , technology and business acquisitions to further grow the company 's sales and profits . results of operations sales by geography geographic sales information is presented below for the years ended december 31 , 2016 , 2015 and 2014 ( in thousands ) : replace_table_token_6_th in 2016 , sales growth in the u.s. sales was driven by increases in recurring revenues , which were offset by declines in instrument systems sales . u.s. sales increased to pharmaceutical customers but declined to non-pharmaceutical end-markets . europe 's sales in 2016 were also driven by recurring revenues and primarily due to increases to pharmaceutical and industrial customers . china achieved strong sales growth in all product and customer classes in 2016 , with double-digit growth in lc-ms instrument systems and chemistry consumables as well as double-digit growth to pharmaceutical customers . japan 's increase in sales in 2016 was largely driven by the benefit of foreign currency translation , which increased sales by 12 % . the increase in sales in the rest of asia in 2016 was driven by lc-ms instrument systems and chemistry consumables sales to pharmaceutical and industrial customers . sales to the rest of asia decreased 6 % due to the negative effect of foreign currency translation . sales in the rest of the world in 2016 were broad-based across all product classes as sales increased to industrial customers but declined across all other customer classes . in 2015 , the u.s. sales growth was broad-based across all products and was driven by pharmaceutical and industrial customers . story_separator_special_tag the company accounts for its uncertain tax return reporting positions in accordance with the accounting standards for income taxes , which require financial statement reporting of the expected future tax consequences of uncertain tax reporting positions on the presumption that all concerned tax authorities possess full knowledge of those tax reporting positions , as well as all of the pertinent facts and circumstances , but prohibit any discounting of unrecognized tax benefits associated with those reporting positions for the time value of money . the company classified interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as a component of the 35 provision for income taxes . if all of the company 's unrecognized tax benefits accrued as of december 31 , 2016 were to become recognizable in the future , the company would record a total reduction of approximately $ 10 million in its income tax provision . with limited exceptions , the company is no longer subject to tax audit examinations in significant jurisdictions for the years ended on or before december 31 , 2012. however , carryforward tax attributes that were generated in years beginning on or before january 1 , 2013 may still be adjusted upon examination by tax authorities if the attributes are utilized . the company continuously monitors the lapsing of statutes of limitations on potential tax assessments for related changes in the measurement of unrecognized tax benefits , related net interest and penalties , and deferred tax assets and liabilities . during the year ended december 31 , 2016 , the company concluded tax audit disputes outside the u.s. that , in part , related to matters for which the company had recorded net uncertain tax benefits . the resolution of these tax disputes resulted in a $ 1 million reduction in the measurement of its unrecognized tax benefits for the year ended december 31 , 2016. during the year ended december 31 , 2015 , the company concluded u.s. tax audit disputes that , in part , related to matters for which the company had recorded net uncertain tax benefits . the resolution of these tax disputes resulted in a $ 2 million reduction in the measurement of its unrecognized tax benefits and a $ 2 million decrease in its provision for income taxes for the year ended december 31 , 2015. as of december 31 , 2016 , the company expects to record additional reductions in the measurement of its unrecognized tax benefits and related net interest and penalties of approximately $ 5 million within the next twelve months due to potential tax audit settlements and the lapsing of statutes of limitations on potential tax assessments . the company does not expect to record any other material reductions in the measurement of its unrecognized tax benefits within the next twelve months . the company has not paid any dividends and has no plans , at this time , to pay any dividends in the future . off-balance sheet arrangements the company has not created , and is not party to , any special-purpose or off-balance sheet entities for the purpose of raising capital , incurring debt or operating parts of its business that are not consolidated ( to the extent of the company 's ownership interest therein ) into the consolidated financial statements . the company has not entered into any transactions with unconsolidated entities whereby it has subordinated retained interests , derivative instruments or other contingent arrangements that expose the company to material continuing risks , contingent liabilities or any other obligation under a variable interest in an unconsolidated entity that provides financing , liquidity , market risk or credit risk support to the company . the company enters into standard indemnification agreements in its ordinary course of business . pursuant to these agreements , the company indemnifies , holds harmless and agrees to reimburse the indemnified party for losses suffered or incurred by the indemnified party , generally the company 's business partners or customers , in connection with patent , copyright or other intellectual property infringement claims by any third party with respect to its current products , as well as claims relating to property damage or personal injury resulting from the performance of services by the company or its subcontractors . the maximum potential amount of future payments the company could be required to make under these indemnification agreements is unlimited . historically , the company 's costs to defend lawsuits or settle claims relating to such indemnity agreements have been minimal and management accordingly believes the estimated fair value of these agreements is immaterial . critical accounting policies and estimates summary the preparation of consolidated financial statements requires the company to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets , liabilities , revenues and expenses , and related disclosure of contingent 36 liabilities . critical accounting policies are those that are central to the presentation of the company 's financial condition and results of operations that require management to make estimates about matters that are highly uncertain and that would have a material impact on the company 's results of operations given changes in the estimate that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period or use of different estimates that reasonably could have been used in the current period . on an ongoing basis , the company evaluates its policies and estimates . the company bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances , the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources . actual amounts may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions . there are other items within the company 's consolidated financial statements that require estimation , but are not deemed critical as defined above . changes in estimates used in these and other items could potentially have

cash used in investing activities net cash used in investing activities totaled $ 488 million , $ 400 million and $ 402 million in 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively . additions to fixed assets and capitalized software were $ 95 million , $ 100 million and $ 91 million in 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively . during 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , the company purchased $ 2.4 billion , $ 2.0 billion and $ 2.2 billion of investments , respectively , while $ 2.0 billion , $ 1.7 billion and $ 1.9 billion of 32 investments matured , respectively . business acquisitions , net of cash acquired , were $ 6 million , $ 23 million and $ 27 million during 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively . in 2016 , the company sold an equity investment for $ 4 million and , in 2015 , the company received $ 5 million cash from the sale of a building in the u.k. during 2015 and 2014 , the company made payments of $ 3 million and $ 15 million , respectively , to acquire and license intellectual property . cash used in financing activities the company issued and sold senior unsecured notes with an aggregate principal amount of $ 250 million and $ 200 million in may 2016 and june 2014 , respectively . the proceeds from the issuance of the senior unsecured notes in 2016 were used to repay existing debt and for general corporate purposes . interest on the fixed rate senior unsecured notes is payable semi-annually each year . interest on the floating rate senior unsecured notes is payable quarterly . the company may prepay all or some of the senior unsecured notes at any time in an amount not less than 10 % of the aggregate principal amount outstanding , plus the applicable make-whole amount or prepayment premium for series h senior unsecured notes .


 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.
     ```cash used in investing activities net cash used in investing activities totaled $ 488 million , $ 400 million and $ 402 million in 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively . additions to fixed assets and capitalized software were $ 95 million , $ 100 million and $ 91 million in 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively . during 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , the company purchased $ 2.4 billion , $ 2.0 billion and $ 2.2 billion of investments , respectively , while $ 2.0 billion , $ 1.7 billion and $ 1.9 billion of 32 investments matured , respectively . business acquisitions , net of cash acquired , were $ 6 million , $ 23 million and $ 27 million during 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively . in 2016 , the company sold an equity investment for $ 4 million and , in 2015 , the company received $ 5 million cash from the sale of a building in the u.k. during 2015 and 2014 , the company made payments of $ 3 million and $ 15 million , respectively , to acquire and license intellectual property . cash used in financing activities the company issued and sold senior unsecured notes with an aggregate principal amount of $ 250 million and $ 200 million in may 2016 and june 2014 , respectively . the proceeds from the issuance of the senior unsecured notes in 2016 were used to repay existing debt and for general corporate purposes . interest on the fixed rate senior unsecured notes is payable semi-annually each year . interest on the floating rate senior unsecured notes is payable quarterly . the company may prepay all or some of the senior unsecured notes at any time in an amount not less than 10 % of the aggregate principal amount outstanding , plus the applicable make-whole amount or prepayment premium for series h senior unsecured notes .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : , combined sales to governmental and academic customers grew in china and india but declined in all other regions . in 2015 , combined sales to governmental and academic customers grew in the u.s. and china but declined in all other regions . instrument system sales increased 4 % and 3 % in 2016 and 2015 , respectively , due to higher demand for lc and lc-ms instrument systems . this strength in demand was driven by hplc , uplc ® , acquity arc tm , qda ® and vion ® ims q-tof tm instrument systems , as well as other lc-ms systems that incorporate the company 's benchtop tandem quadrupole technologies . recurring revenues ( combined sales of chemistry consumables and services ) increased 8 % and 2 % in 2016 and 2015 , respectively , as a result of a larger installed base of customers and higher billing demand for service sales . foreign currency translation lowered the 2015 recurring revenues by 6 % . geographically , sales in asia increased 13 % and 9 % in 2016 and 2015 , respectively . the sales growth in asia was a result of the broad-based increase in china 's sales across all product and customer classes and the favorable effect of foreign currency in japan , where foreign currency translation increased sales by 12 % in 2016 after decreasing sales by 12 % in 2015. sales in the u.s. in 2016 increased 1 % after the u.s. delivered sales growth of 10 % in 2015 , when the company experienced greater demand for its products and services in the u.s. sales in europe and in the rest of the world increased by 4 % and 6 % , respectively , in 2016 as compared to an 8 % decline in both europe and the rest of the world sales in 2015. the negative effects of foreign currency translation on the 2016 sales growth in europe and the rest of the world was approximately 3 % , which was significantly less than the 14 % decrease in europe and the 5 % decrease in the rest of the world sales in 2015 , when the u.s. dollar strengthened substantially against all currencies throughout the world . operating income was $ 624 million in 2016 , an increase of 10 % as compared to 2015. this increase was primarily a result of the effect of higher sales volume achieved in 2016 and the positive impact of foreign currency translation on our u.k. manufacturing and research and development costs as a result of the significantly weaker british pound . operating income increased 10 % in 2015 as compared to 2014 as a result of higher sales volumes achieved in 2015 being partly offset by a $ 56 million reduction in operating income from the adverse effects of foreign currency translation . the company generated $ 629 million , $ 560 million and $ 512 million of net cash flows from operations in 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively . the increases in operating cash flow in each year were primarily a result of the increase in sales and net income . cash flows used in investing activities included capital expenditures related to property , plant , equipment and software capitalization of $ 95 million , $ 100 million and $ 91 million in 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively . in september 2016 , the company acquired rubotherm gmbh for approximately $ 6 million in cash and the company made payments of $ 3 million and $ 15 million to acquire and license intellectual property during 2015 and 2014 , respectively . these acquisitions did not have a significant impact on the company 's sales and profits in 2016. during 2016 and 2014 , the company issued and sold senior unsecured notes for an aggregate principal amount of $ 250 million and $ 200 million , respectively . during 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , the company repurchased $ 318 million , $ 327 million and $ 329 million of the company 's outstanding common stock , respectively , under 27 authorized share repurchase programs . the company believes that it has the financial flexibility to fund these share repurchases given current cash and investment levels and debt borrowing capacity , as well as to invest in research , technology and business acquisitions to further grow the company 's sales and profits . results of operations sales by geography geographic sales information is presented below for the years ended december 31 , 2016 , 2015 and 2014 ( in thousands ) : replace_table_token_6_th in 2016 , sales growth in the u.s. sales was driven by increases in recurring revenues , which were offset by declines in instrument systems sales . u.s. sales increased to pharmaceutical customers but declined to non-pharmaceutical end-markets . europe 's sales in 2016 were also driven by recurring revenues and primarily due to increases to pharmaceutical and industrial customers . china achieved strong sales growth in all product and customer classes in 2016 , with double-digit growth in lc-ms instrument systems and chemistry consumables as well as double-digit growth to pharmaceutical customers . japan 's increase in sales in 2016 was largely driven by the benefit of foreign currency translation , which increased sales by 12 % . the increase in sales in the rest of asia in 2016 was driven by lc-ms instrument systems and chemistry consumables sales to pharmaceutical and industrial customers . sales to the rest of asia decreased 6 % due to the negative effect of foreign currency translation . sales in the rest of the world in 2016 were broad-based across all product classes as sales increased to industrial customers but declined across all other customer classes . in 2015 , the u.s. sales growth was broad-based across all products and was driven by pharmaceutical and industrial customers . story_separator_special_tag the company accounts for its uncertain tax return reporting positions in accordance with the accounting standards for income taxes , which require financial statement reporting of the expected future tax consequences of uncertain tax reporting positions on the presumption that all concerned tax authorities possess full knowledge of those tax reporting positions , as well as all of the pertinent facts and circumstances , but prohibit any discounting of unrecognized tax benefits associated with those reporting positions for the time value of money . the company classified interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as a component of the 35 provision for income taxes . if all of the company 's unrecognized tax benefits accrued as of december 31 , 2016 were to become recognizable in the future , the company would record a total reduction of approximately $ 10 million in its income tax provision . with limited exceptions , the company is no longer subject to tax audit examinations in significant jurisdictions for the years ended on or before december 31 , 2012. however , carryforward tax attributes that were generated in years beginning on or before january 1 , 2013 may still be adjusted upon examination by tax authorities if the attributes are utilized . the company continuously monitors the lapsing of statutes of limitations on potential tax assessments for related changes in the measurement of unrecognized tax benefits , related net interest and penalties , and deferred tax assets and liabilities . during the year ended december 31 , 2016 , the company concluded tax audit disputes outside the u.s. that , in part , related to matters for which the company had recorded net uncertain tax benefits . the resolution of these tax disputes resulted in a $ 1 million reduction in the measurement of its unrecognized tax benefits for the year ended december 31 , 2016. during the year ended december 31 , 2015 , the company concluded u.s. tax audit disputes that , in part , related to matters for which the company had recorded net uncertain tax benefits . the resolution of these tax disputes resulted in a $ 2 million reduction in the measurement of its unrecognized tax benefits and a $ 2 million decrease in its provision for income taxes for the year ended december 31 , 2015. as of december 31 , 2016 , the company expects to record additional reductions in the measurement of its unrecognized tax benefits and related net interest and penalties of approximately $ 5 million within the next twelve months due to potential tax audit settlements and the lapsing of statutes of limitations on potential tax assessments . the company does not expect to record any other material reductions in the measurement of its unrecognized tax benefits within the next twelve months . the company has not paid any dividends and has no plans , at this time , to pay any dividends in the future . off-balance sheet arrangements the company has not created , and is not party to , any special-purpose or off-balance sheet entities for the purpose of raising capital , incurring debt or operating parts of its business that are not consolidated ( to the extent of the company 's ownership interest therein ) into the consolidated financial statements . the company has not entered into any transactions with unconsolidated entities whereby it has subordinated retained interests , derivative instruments or other contingent arrangements that expose the company to material continuing risks , contingent liabilities or any other obligation under a variable interest in an unconsolidated entity that provides financing , liquidity , market risk or credit risk support to the company . the company enters into standard indemnification agreements in its ordinary course of business . pursuant to these agreements , the company indemnifies , holds harmless and agrees to reimburse the indemnified party for losses suffered or incurred by the indemnified party , generally the company 's business partners or customers , in connection with patent , copyright or other intellectual property infringement claims by any third party with respect to its current products , as well as claims relating to property damage or personal injury resulting from the performance of services by the company or its subcontractors . the maximum potential amount of future payments the company could be required to make under these indemnification agreements is unlimited . historically , the company 's costs to defend lawsuits or settle claims relating to such indemnity agreements have been minimal and management accordingly believes the estimated fair value of these agreements is immaterial . critical accounting policies and estimates summary the preparation of consolidated financial statements requires the company to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets , liabilities , revenues and expenses , and related disclosure of contingent 36 liabilities . critical accounting policies are those that are central to the presentation of the company 's financial condition and results of operations that require management to make estimates about matters that are highly uncertain and that would have a material impact on the company 's results of operations given changes in the estimate that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period or use of different estimates that reasonably could have been used in the current period . on an ongoing basis , the company evaluates its policies and estimates . the company bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances , the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources . actual amounts may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions . there are other items within the company 's consolidated financial statements that require estimation , but are not deemed critical as defined above . changes in estimates used in these and other items could potentially have

