in our newgen products segment , we ( i ) market and distribute liquid vapor products , tobacco vaporizer products , and certain other products without tobacco and or nicotine ; ( ii ) distribute a wide assortment of vaping related products to non-traditional retail via vaporbeast and vapor shark ; and ( iii ) distribute a wide assortment of vaping related products to individual consumers via vapor shark branded retail outlets . refer to the ‘ recent developments ' section below for details regarding the vaporbeast and vapor shark acquisitions . our portfolio of brands includes some of the most widely recognized names in the otp industry , such as stoker 's ® , zig-zag ® , and vaporbeast ® . the following table sets forth the market share and category rank of our core products and demonstrates their industry positions : replace_table_token_5_th ( 1 ) market share and category rank data for all products are derived from msai data as of 12/31/17 . 33 operations as of december 31 , 2017 , our products are available in approximately 170,000 u.s. retail locations which , with the addition of retail stores in canada , brings our total north american retail presence to an estimated 200,000 points of distribution . we subscribe to a sales tracking system from msai that records all otp product shipments ( ours as well as those of our competitors ) from approximately 900 wholesalers to over 250,000 retail stores in the u.s. this system enables us to understand individual product share and volume trends across multiple categories down to the individual retail store level , allowing us to allocate field salesforce coverage to the highest opportunity stores . our sales and marketing group of approximately 145 professionals utilizes the msai system to efficiently target markets and sales channels with the highest sales potential . our core tobacco business ( smokeless and smoking segments ) primarily generates revenues from the sale of our products to wholesale distributors who , in turn , resell the products to retail operations . our acquisition of vaporbeast in november 2016 expanded our revenue streams as we began selling directly to non-traditional retail outlets and to ultimate consumers via non-traditional retail outlets as well . our acquisition of vapor shark further expanded our selling network by allowing us to directly reach ultimate consumers through vapor shark branded retail outlets . our net sales , which include federal excise taxes , consist of gross sales net of cash discounts , returns , and selling and marketing allowances . we rely on long-standing relationships with high-quality , established manufacturers to provide the majority of our produced products . approximately 87 % of our production , as measured by gross sales , is outsourced to suppliers . the remaining 13 % represents our moist snuff tobacco operations located in dresden , tn , and the packaging of our pipe tobacco in louisville , ky. our principal operating expenses include the cost of raw materials used to manufacture the limited number of our products which we produce in-house ; the cost of finished products , which are generally purchased goods ; federal excise taxes ; legal expenses ; and compensation expenses , including benefits and costs of salaried personnel . our other principal expenses include interest expense and other expenses . key factors affecting our results of operations we consider the following to be the key factors affecting our results of operations : · our ability to further penetrate markets with our existing products ; · our ability to introduce new products and product lines that complement our core business ; · decreasing interest in tobacco products among consumers ; · price sensitivity in our end-markets ; · marketing and promotional initiatives , which cause variability in our results ; · general economic conditions , including consumer access to disposable income ; · cost and increasing regulation of promotional and advertising activities ; · cost of complying with regulation , including newly passed “ deeming regulations ” ; · counterfeit and other illegal products in our end-markets ; · currency fluctuations ; · our ability to identify attractive acquisition opportunities in otp ; and · our ability to integrate acquisitions . recent developments credit facility refinancing on march 7 , 2018 we entered into a $ 250 million credit facility consisting of $ 200 million in first and second lien term loans and $ 50 million in a revolving credit facility ( collectively , the “ 2018 credit facility ” ) . we used a portion of the proceeds from the 2018 credit facility to repay , in full , the 2017 credit facility . ( for a more complete description of our 2018 credit facility , see ” - subsequent events – refinancing . ” ) other developments on november 9 , 2017 , our board of directors approved the initiation of a cash dividend to shareholders . the initial quarterly dividend of $ 0.04 per common share was paid on december 15 , 2017 , to shareholders of record at the close of business on november 27 , 2017 . 34 on july 28 , 2017 , the u.s. food and drug administration ( “ fda ” ) announced a new direction in regulating tobacco products , including the newly “ deemed ” markets such as cigars and vapor products . fda stated it intends to begin several new rulemaking processes , some of which will outline foundational rules governing the premarket application process for the deemed products , including substantial equivalence applications and premarket tobacco applications . compliance and related costs could be significant and could increase the costs of operating in our newgen segment . the original filing deadlines for the applications of these newly “ deemed ” products on the market as of august 8 , 2016 , have been postponed until august 8 , 2021 , for “ combustible ” products ( e.g . story_separator_special_tag for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , interest expense decreased to $ 16.9 million from $ 26.6 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , primarily as a result of lower interest rates from our 2017 debt refinancing . income tax expense ( benefit ) . the company 's income tax expense of $ 7.3 million , or 27 % of income before income taxes , for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , is lower than the expected annual effective tax rate as a result of discrete tax benefits of $ 4.2 million from the exercise of stock options during the year . the company 's income tax expense for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , does not bear the normal relationship to income before income taxes primarily due to releasing the valuation allowance on our deferred taxes as we determined that it is more-likely than not that we will realize our deferred tax assets which consist primarily of a federal net operating loss ( “ nol ” ) carryforward . investment income . for the year ended december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , investment income relating to investments of the msa escrow deposits was $ 0.4 million and $ 0.8 million , respectively . 38 story_separator_special_tag loss on extinguishment of debt was $ 2.8 million as the result of retiring certain debt with proceeds from the ipo . income tax expense ( benefit ) . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , income tax benefit was $ 12.0 million primarily due to releasing the valuation allowance as we determined that it is more-likely than not that we will realize our deferred tax assets which consist primarily of an nol carryforward . for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , income tax expense was $ 0.4 million primarily for state income taxes as federal income taxes were offset by our nol carryforward . net income . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , net income increased to $ 26.9 million from $ 9.1 million in the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 17.8 million for the reasons set forth above . liquidity and capital reserves our principal uses for cash are working capital , debt service , and capital expenditures . we believe our cash flows from operations and borrowing availability under our 2018 revolving credit facility ( as defined herein ) are adequate to satisfy our operating cash requirements for the foreseeable future . our working capital , which we define as current assets less current liabilities , increased $ 4.0 million to $ 41.3 million at december 31 , 2017 , compared with $ 37.3 million at december 31 , 2016. the increase in working capital is due to increases in accounts receivable , inventory , and accrued liabilities as a result of increased sales offset by decreases in accounts payable and our revolving credit facility balance as the 2016 revolving credit facility balance was abnormally high due to the acquisition of vaporbeast in november 2016. replace_table_token_7_th during the year ended december 31 , 2017 , we invested $ 2.0 million in capital expenditures . we had unrestricted cash on hand of $ 2.6 million and $ 2.9 million as of december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , respectively . we had restricted assets of $ 30.8 million and $ 30.4 million as of december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , respectively . restricted assets consist of escrow deposits under the msa . on the 25 th anniversary of each annual deposit , we are entitled to receive reimbursement of the principal amount of escrow remaining for that year . see “ master settlement agreement ” below for details . cash flows from operating activities for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , net cash provided by operating activities increased to $ 29.7 million from $ 9.1 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , an increase of $ 20.6 million or 225.3 % , principally due to an increase in pre-tax income of $ 12.0 million as we currently do not pay federal income taxes and interest paid on the pik toggle notes in 2016 , which did not recur . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , net cash provided by operating activities decreased to $ 9.1 million from $ 24.4 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , a decrease of $ 15.3 million , or 62.6 % , principally due to increases in inventory and accounts payable . cash flows from investing activities for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , net cash used in investing activities decreased to $ 1.9 million from $ 26.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , a decrease of $ 24.9 million or 92.8 % , principally due to the 2016 acquisitions of vaporbeast , certain brands from wind river , and the land and building in dresden , tennessee . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , net cash used in investing activities increased to $ 26.8 million from $ 2.0 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 24.8 million or 1240.0 % , principally due to the 2016 acquisitions of vaporbeast , certain brands from wind river , and the land and building in dresden , tennessee . 40 cash flows from financing activities for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , net cash used by financing activities was $ 28.0 million compared with net cash provided by financing activities of $ 15.7 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , a decrease of $ 43.8 million or 278.1 % , principally due to proceeds from the issuance of stock from our ipo in may 2016 and refinancing costs associated with the 2017 credit facility in 2017. for the year ended december 31 ,

loss on extinguishment of debt . for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , loss on extinguishment of debt was $ 6.1 million as the result of refinancing our credit facility in the first quarter of 2017. for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , loss on extinguishment of debt was $ 2.8 million as the result of retiring certain debt with proceeds from our ipo . consolidated net income . due to the factors described above , net income for the year ended december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , was $ 19.7 million and $ 26.9 million , respectively . net loss attributable to non-controlling interest . net loss attributable to non-controlling interest of $ 0.6 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , is related to vapor shark , which was accounted for as a vie during the second quarter of 2017. net income attributable to turning point brands , inc. due to the factors described above , net income for the year ended december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , was $ 20.2 million and $ 26.9 million , respectively . comparison of year ended december 31 , 2016 to year ended december 31 , 2015 net sales . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , overall net sales increased to $ 206.2 million from $ 197.3 million in the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 9.0 million , or 4.5 % as a result of increases in all our segments . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , net sales in the smokeless products segment increased to $ 77.9 million from $ 74.3 million in the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 3.6 million , or 4.9 % . net sales growth was principally driven by mst . given the disparity between chew and mst case prices ( average chew case price is 2.5 times that of mst ) , f or the year ended december 31 , 2016 , volume increased 0.2 % and price/mix increased 4.6 % . volume was adversely impacted by the october 1 , 2016 , pennsylvania state excise tax increase .


 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.
     ```loss on extinguishment of debt . for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , loss on extinguishment of debt was $ 6.1 million as the result of refinancing our credit facility in the first quarter of 2017. for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , loss on extinguishment of debt was $ 2.8 million as the result of retiring certain debt with proceeds from our ipo . consolidated net income . due to the factors described above , net income for the year ended december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , was $ 19.7 million and $ 26.9 million , respectively . net loss attributable to non-controlling interest . net loss attributable to non-controlling interest of $ 0.6 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , is related to vapor shark , which was accounted for as a vie during the second quarter of 2017. net income attributable to turning point brands , inc. due to the factors described above , net income for the year ended december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , was $ 20.2 million and $ 26.9 million , respectively . comparison of year ended december 31 , 2016 to year ended december 31 , 2015 net sales . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , overall net sales increased to $ 206.2 million from $ 197.3 million in the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 9.0 million , or 4.5 % as a result of increases in all our segments . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , net sales in the smokeless products segment increased to $ 77.9 million from $ 74.3 million in the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 3.6 million , or 4.9 % . net sales growth was principally driven by mst . given the disparity between chew and mst case prices ( average chew case price is 2.5 times that of mst ) , f or the year ended december 31 , 2016 , volume increased 0.2 % and price/mix increased 4.6 % . volume was adversely impacted by the october 1 , 2016 , pennsylvania state excise tax increase .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : in our newgen products segment , we ( i ) market and distribute liquid vapor products , tobacco vaporizer products , and certain other products without tobacco and or nicotine ; ( ii ) distribute a wide assortment of vaping related products to non-traditional retail via vaporbeast and vapor shark ; and ( iii ) distribute a wide assortment of vaping related products to individual consumers via vapor shark branded retail outlets . refer to the ‘ recent developments ' section below for details regarding the vaporbeast and vapor shark acquisitions . our portfolio of brands includes some of the most widely recognized names in the otp industry , such as stoker 's ® , zig-zag ® , and vaporbeast ® . the following table sets forth the market share and category rank of our core products and demonstrates their industry positions : replace_table_token_5_th ( 1 ) market share and category rank data for all products are derived from msai data as of 12/31/17 . 33 operations as of december 31 , 2017 , our products are available in approximately 170,000 u.s. retail locations which , with the addition of retail stores in canada , brings our total north american retail presence to an estimated 200,000 points of distribution . we subscribe to a sales tracking system from msai that records all otp product shipments ( ours as well as those of our competitors ) from approximately 900 wholesalers to over 250,000 retail stores in the u.s. this system enables us to understand individual product share and volume trends across multiple categories down to the individual retail store level , allowing us to allocate field salesforce coverage to the highest opportunity stores . our sales and marketing group of approximately 145 professionals utilizes the msai system to efficiently target markets and sales channels with the highest sales potential . our core tobacco business ( smokeless and smoking segments ) primarily generates revenues from the sale of our products to wholesale distributors who , in turn , resell the products to retail operations . our acquisition of vaporbeast in november 2016 expanded our revenue streams as we began selling directly to non-traditional retail outlets and to ultimate consumers via non-traditional retail outlets as well . our acquisition of vapor shark further expanded our selling network by allowing us to directly reach ultimate consumers through vapor shark branded retail outlets . our net sales , which include federal excise taxes , consist of gross sales net of cash discounts , returns , and selling and marketing allowances . we rely on long-standing relationships with high-quality , established manufacturers to provide the majority of our produced products . approximately 87 % of our production , as measured by gross sales , is outsourced to suppliers . the remaining 13 % represents our moist snuff tobacco operations located in dresden , tn , and the packaging of our pipe tobacco in louisville , ky. our principal operating expenses include the cost of raw materials used to manufacture the limited number of our products which we produce in-house ; the cost of finished products , which are generally purchased goods ; federal excise taxes ; legal expenses ; and compensation expenses , including benefits and costs of salaried personnel . our other principal expenses include interest expense and other expenses . key factors affecting our results of operations we consider the following to be the key factors affecting our results of operations : · our ability to further penetrate markets with our existing products ; · our ability to introduce new products and product lines that complement our core business ; · decreasing interest in tobacco products among consumers ; · price sensitivity in our end-markets ; · marketing and promotional initiatives , which cause variability in our results ; · general economic conditions , including consumer access to disposable income ; · cost and increasing regulation of promotional and advertising activities ; · cost of complying with regulation , including newly passed “ deeming regulations ” ; · counterfeit and other illegal products in our end-markets ; · currency fluctuations ; · our ability to identify attractive acquisition opportunities in otp ; and · our ability to integrate acquisitions . recent developments credit facility refinancing on march 7 , 2018 we entered into a $ 250 million credit facility consisting of $ 200 million in first and second lien term loans and $ 50 million in a revolving credit facility ( collectively , the “ 2018 credit facility ” ) . we used a portion of the proceeds from the 2018 credit facility to repay , in full , the 2017 credit facility . ( for a more complete description of our 2018 credit facility , see ” - subsequent events – refinancing . ” ) other developments on november 9 , 2017 , our board of directors approved the initiation of a cash dividend to shareholders . the initial quarterly dividend of $ 0.04 per common share was paid on december 15 , 2017 , to shareholders of record at the close of business on november 27 , 2017 . 34 on july 28 , 2017 , the u.s. food and drug administration ( “ fda ” ) announced a new direction in regulating tobacco products , including the newly “ deemed ” markets such as cigars and vapor products . fda stated it intends to begin several new rulemaking processes , some of which will outline foundational rules governing the premarket application process for the deemed products , including substantial equivalence applications and premarket tobacco applications . compliance and related costs could be significant and could increase the costs of operating in our newgen segment . the original filing deadlines for the applications of these newly “ deemed ” products on the market as of august 8 , 2016 , have been postponed until august 8 , 2021 , for “ combustible ” products ( e.g . story_separator_special_tag for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , interest expense decreased to $ 16.9 million from $ 26.6 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , primarily as a result of lower interest rates from our 2017 debt refinancing . income tax expense ( benefit ) . the company 's income tax expense of $ 7.3 million , or 27 % of income before income taxes , for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , is lower than the expected annual effective tax rate as a result of discrete tax benefits of $ 4.2 million from the exercise of stock options during the year . the company 's income tax expense for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , does not bear the normal relationship to income before income taxes primarily due to releasing the valuation allowance on our deferred taxes as we determined that it is more-likely than not that we will realize our deferred tax assets which consist primarily of a federal net operating loss ( “ nol ” ) carryforward . investment income . for the year ended december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , investment income relating to investments of the msa escrow deposits was $ 0.4 million and $ 0.8 million , respectively . 38 story_separator_special_tag loss on extinguishment of debt was $ 2.8 million as the result of retiring certain debt with proceeds from the ipo . income tax expense ( benefit ) . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , income tax benefit was $ 12.0 million primarily due to releasing the valuation allowance as we determined that it is more-likely than not that we will realize our deferred tax assets which consist primarily of an nol carryforward . for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , income tax expense was $ 0.4 million primarily for state income taxes as federal income taxes were offset by our nol carryforward . net income . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , net income increased to $ 26.9 million from $ 9.1 million in the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 17.8 million for the reasons set forth above . liquidity and capital reserves our principal uses for cash are working capital , debt service , and capital expenditures . we believe our cash flows from operations and borrowing availability under our 2018 revolving credit facility ( as defined herein ) are adequate to satisfy our operating cash requirements for the foreseeable future . our working capital , which we define as current assets less current liabilities , increased $ 4.0 million to $ 41.3 million at december 31 , 2017 , compared with $ 37.3 million at december 31 , 2016. the increase in working capital is due to increases in accounts receivable , inventory , and accrued liabilities as a result of increased sales offset by decreases in accounts payable and our revolving credit facility balance as the 2016 revolving credit facility balance was abnormally high due to the acquisition of vaporbeast in november 2016. replace_table_token_7_th during the year ended december 31 , 2017 , we invested $ 2.0 million in capital expenditures . we had unrestricted cash on hand of $ 2.6 million and $ 2.9 million as of december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , respectively . we had restricted assets of $ 30.8 million and $ 30.4 million as of december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , respectively . restricted assets consist of escrow deposits under the msa . on the 25 th anniversary of each annual deposit , we are entitled to receive reimbursement of the principal amount of escrow remaining for that year . see “ master settlement agreement ” below for details . cash flows from operating activities for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , net cash provided by operating activities increased to $ 29.7 million from $ 9.1 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , an increase of $ 20.6 million or 225.3 % , principally due to an increase in pre-tax income of $ 12.0 million as we currently do not pay federal income taxes and interest paid on the pik toggle notes in 2016 , which did not recur . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , net cash provided by operating activities decreased to $ 9.1 million from $ 24.4 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , a decrease of $ 15.3 million , or 62.6 % , principally due to increases in inventory and accounts payable . cash flows from investing activities for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , net cash used in investing activities decreased to $ 1.9 million from $ 26.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , a decrease of $ 24.9 million or 92.8 % , principally due to the 2016 acquisitions of vaporbeast , certain brands from wind river , and the land and building in dresden , tennessee . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , net cash used in investing activities increased to $ 26.8 million from $ 2.0 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 24.8 million or 1240.0 % , principally due to the 2016 acquisitions of vaporbeast , certain brands from wind river , and the land and building in dresden , tennessee . 40 cash flows from financing activities for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , net cash used by financing activities was $ 28.0 million compared with net cash provided by financing activities of $ 15.7 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , a decrease of $ 43.8 million or 278.1 % , principally due to proceeds from the issuance of stock from our ipo in may 2016 and refinancing costs associated with the 2017 credit facility in 2017. for the year ended december 31 ,

