47 our segments our three reportable segments are information & transaction processing solutions ( “ itps ” ) , healthcare solutions ( “ hs ” ) , and legal & loss prevention services ( “ llps ” ) . these segments are comprised of significant strategic business units that align our tps and eim products and services with how we manage our business , approach our key markets and interact with our customers based on their respective industries . itps : our largest segment , itps , provides a wide range of solutions and services designed to aid businesses in information capture , processing , decisioning and distribution to customers primarily in the financial services , commercial , public sector and legal industries . our major customers include 9 of the top 10 u.s. banks , 7 of the top 10 u.s. insurance companies , 5 of the top u.s. telecom companies , over 40 utility companies , over 30 state and county departments , and over 80 government entities . our itps offerings enable companies to increase availability of working capital , reduce turnaround times for application processes , increase regulatory compliance and enhance consumer engagement . hs : hs operates and maintains a consulting and outsourcing business specializing in both the healthcare provider and payer markets . we serve the top 5 healthcare insurance payers and over 900 healthcare providers . llps : our llps segment provides a broad and active array of support services in connection with class action , bankruptcy labor , claims adjudication and employment and other legal matters . our customer base consists of corporate counsel , government attorneys , and law firms . acquisitions in april 2018 exela completed the acquisition of asterion international group ( “ asterion , ” the “ asterion business combination ” ) , a well-established provider of technology driven business process outsourcing , document management and business process automation across europe . the acquisition comes with minimal customer overlap and is strategic to expanding exela 's european business . through the acquisition of asterion , we expect to leverage brand awareness , strengthen margins , and expand the existing asterion sales channels . in july 2017 , we completed the novitex business combination . sourcehov was deemed to be the accounting acquirer , and is a leading provider of platform‑based enterprise information management and transaction processing solutions primarily for the healthcare , banking and financial services , commercial , public sector and legal industries . through the acquisition of sourcehov and novitex , we expect to realize revenue synergies , leverage brand awareness , strengthen margins , generate greater free cash flow , expand the existing novitex sales channels , and increase utilization of the existing workforce . we anticipate opportunities for growth through the ability to leverage additional future services and capabilities . prior to the novitex business combination , sourcehov transformed into an industry‑agnostic solution provider and acquired key technology through the acquisition of transcentra , inc. ( “ transcentra ” ) in september 2016 , a provider of integrated outsourced billing , remittance processing and imaging software and consulting services . the addition of transcentra increased sourcehov 's footprint in the remittance transaction processing and presentment area , expanded its mobile banking offering and enabled significant cross‑selling and up‑selling opportunities . revenues itps revenues are primarily generated from a transaction‑based pricing model for the various types of volumes processed , licensing and maintenance fees for technology sales , and a mix of fixed management fee and transactional revenue for document logistics and location services . hs revenues are primarily generated from a transaction‑based pricing model for the various types of volumes processed for healthcare payers and providers . llps revenues are primarily based on time and materials pricing as well as through transactional services priced on a per item basis . 48 people we draw on the business and technical expertise of our talented and diverse global workforce to provide our customers with high‑quality services . our business leaders bring a strong diversity of experience in our industry and a track record of successful performance and execution . as of december 31 , 2018 , we had approximately 22,000 employees globally , with 46 % located in the united states and the remainder located primarily in europe , india , the philippines , canada , mexico , and china . costs associated with our employees represent the most significant expense for our business . we incurred personnel costs of $ 687.3 million , $ 532.3 million , and $ 373.2 million for the years ended december 31 , 2018 , 2017 and 2016 , respectively . the majority of our personnel costs are variable and are incurred only while we are providing our services . facilities we lease and own numerous facilities worldwide with larger concentrations of space in texas , michigan , connecticut , california , india , mexico , the philippines , and china . our owned and leased facilities house general offices , sales offices , service locations , and production facilities . the size of our active property portfolio as of december 31 , 2018 was approximately 4.4 million square feet at an annual operating cost of approximately $ 38.9 million and comprised of 178 leased properties and 7 owned properties . we believe that our current facilities are suitable and adequate for our current businesses . because of the interrelation of our business segments , each of the segments uses substantially all of these properties at least in part . key performance indicators we use a variety of operational and financial measures to assess our performance . among the measures considered by our management are the following : · revenue by segment ; · ebitda ; and · adjusted ebitda . story_separator_special_tag ( 7 ) represents the impact of changes in the fair value of an interest rate swap entered into during the fourth quarter of 2017. year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 ebitda and adjusted ebitda ebitda was $ 144.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to $ ( 37.2 ) million for the year ended december 31 , 2017. adjusted ebitda was $ 283.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to $ 208.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017. the increase in ebitda was primarily due to a lower net loss amount for the year ended december 31 , 2018 resulting from an increase in revenue , decrease in selling , general and administrative expenses , decrease in related party expense , and decrease in loss on extinguishment of debt compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017. the increase in adjusted ebitda was primarily due to lower transaction and integration costs for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 , along with lower impairment charges incurred in 2018 compared to 2017. year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 ebitda and adjusted ebitda ebitda was $ ( 37.2 ) million for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to $ 129.2 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016. adjusted ebitda was $ 208.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to $ 173.2 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016. the decrease in ebitda was primarily due to a higher net loss amount for the year ended december 31 , 2017 resulting from an increase in selling , general and administrative expenses , related party expense , and loss on extinguishment of debt compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016. the increase in adjusted ebitda was primarily due higher overall gross profit for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 , along with lower recurring expenses as part of on‑going operations . liquidity and capital resources overview our primary source of liquidity is principally cash generated from operating activities supplemented as necessary on a short‑term basis by borrowings against our senior secured revolving credit facility . we believe our current level of cash and short term financing capabilities along with future cash flows from operations are sufficient to meet the needs of the business . we currently expect to spend approximately $ 35.0 to $ 40.0 million on total capital expenditures over the next twelve months . we believe that our operating cash flow and available borrowings under our credit facility will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months . on july 13 , 2018 , exela successfully repriced the $ 343.4 million of term loans outstanding under its senior secured credit facilities ( the “ repricing ” ) . the interest rates applicable to the repricing term loans are 100 basis points lower than the interest rates applicable to the existing senior secured term loans that were incurred on july 12 , 2017 pursuant to the first lien credit agreement . the repricing term loans will mature on july 12 , 2023 , the same maturity date as the existing senior secured term loans . at december 31 , 2018 , cash and cash equivalents totaled $ 43.9 million including restricted cash , and we had availability of $ 79.4 million under our senior secured revolving credit facility . in connection with the novitex business combination , we acquired debt facilities and issued notes totaling $ 1.4 billion . proceeds from the acquired debt were used to refinance the existing debt of sourcehov , settle the 57 outstanding debt facilities for novitex , and pay fees and expenses incurred in connection with the novitex business combination . we entered into a credit agreement with a $ 350.0 million senior secured term loan , a $ 100.0 million senior secured revolving facility , and $ 1.0 billion in first priority senior secured notes ( the “ senior secured notes ” ) . the $ 100.0 million revolver remained undrawn ( net of letters of credit ) at the time of compilation of this report . on november 8 , 2017 , the company 's board of directors authorized a share buyback program ( the “ share buyback program ” ) , pursuant to which the company may , from time to time , purchase up to 5,000,000 shares of its common stock . share repurchases may be executed through various means , including , without limitation , open market transactions , privately negotiated transactions or otherwise . the decision as to whether to purchase any shares and the timing of purchases , if any , will be based on the price of the company 's common stock , general business and market conditions and other investment considerations and factors . the share buyback program does not obligate the company to purchase any shares and expires 24 months after authorization . the share buyback program may be terminated or amended by the company 's board of directors in its discretion at any time . as of december 31 , 2018 , 2,549,185 shares had been repurchased under the share buyback program . cash flows the following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods indicated : replace_table_token_6_th analysis of cash flow changes between the years ended december 31 , 2018 , december 31 , 2017 , and december 31 , 2016 operating activities—net cash provided by operating activities was $ 30.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 23.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017. the increase of $ 7.0 million in cash flow from operating activities was primarily

loss on extinguishment of debt loss on extinguishment of debt for the year ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 was $ 1.1 million and $ 35.5 million . the decrease is directly related to the restructuring and novitex business combination in 2017. sundry expense ( income ) sundry expense increased by $ 5.6 million to $ ( 3.3 ) million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to $ 2.3 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017. the increase was mainly attributable to foreign currency transaction losses associated with exchange rate fluctuations . other income other income for the year ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 was $ 2.9 million and $ 1.3 million . the interest rate swap was not designated as a hedge . as such , changes in the fair value of the derivative of $ 2.5 million are recorded directly in earnings . income tax ( expense ) benefit income tax benefit decreased $ 68.7 million to $ ( 8.4 ) million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to $ 60.2 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017. the december 31 , 2018 federal tax expense is primarily due to the impact of the tcja .


 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 loss on extinguishment of debt for the year ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 was $ 1.1 million and $ 35.5 million . the decrease is directly related to the restructuring and novitex business combination in 2017. sundry expense ( income ) sundry expense increased by $ 5.6 million to $ ( 3.3 ) million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to $ 2.3 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017. the increase was mainly attributable to foreign currency transaction losses associated with exchange rate fluctuations . other income other income for the year ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 was $ 2.9 million and $ 1.3 million . the interest rate swap was not designated as a hedge . as such , changes in the fair value of the derivative of $ 2.5 million are recorded directly in earnings . income tax ( expense ) benefit income tax benefit decreased $ 68.7 million to $ ( 8.4 ) million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to $ 60.2 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017. the december 31 , 2018 federal tax expense is primarily due to the impact of the tcja .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : 47 our segments our three reportable segments are information & transaction processing solutions ( “ itps ” ) , healthcare solutions ( “ hs ” ) , and legal & loss prevention services ( “ llps ” ) . these segments are comprised of significant strategic business units that align our tps and eim products and services with how we manage our business , approach our key markets and interact with our customers based on their respective industries . itps : our largest segment , itps , provides a wide range of solutions and services designed to aid businesses in information capture , processing , decisioning and distribution to customers primarily in the financial services , commercial , public sector and legal industries . our major customers include 9 of the top 10 u.s. banks , 7 of the top 10 u.s. insurance companies , 5 of the top u.s. telecom companies , over 40 utility companies , over 30 state and county departments , and over 80 government entities . our itps offerings enable companies to increase availability of working capital , reduce turnaround times for application processes , increase regulatory compliance and enhance consumer engagement . hs : hs operates and maintains a consulting and outsourcing business specializing in both the healthcare provider and payer markets . we serve the top 5 healthcare insurance payers and over 900 healthcare providers . llps : our llps segment provides a broad and active array of support services in connection with class action , bankruptcy labor , claims adjudication and employment and other legal matters . our customer base consists of corporate counsel , government attorneys , and law firms . acquisitions in april 2018 exela completed the acquisition of asterion international group ( “ asterion , ” the “ asterion business combination ” ) , a well-established provider of technology driven business process outsourcing , document management and business process automation across europe . the acquisition comes with minimal customer overlap and is strategic to expanding exela 's european business . through the acquisition of asterion , we expect to leverage brand awareness , strengthen margins , and expand the existing asterion sales channels . in july 2017 , we completed the novitex business combination . sourcehov was deemed to be the accounting acquirer , and is a leading provider of platform‑based enterprise information management and transaction processing solutions primarily for the healthcare , banking and financial services , commercial , public sector and legal industries . through the acquisition of sourcehov and novitex , we expect to realize revenue synergies , leverage brand awareness , strengthen margins , generate greater free cash flow , expand the existing novitex sales channels , and increase utilization of the existing workforce . we anticipate opportunities for growth through the ability to leverage additional future services and capabilities . prior to the novitex business combination , sourcehov transformed into an industry‑agnostic solution provider and acquired key technology through the acquisition of transcentra , inc. ( “ transcentra ” ) in september 2016 , a provider of integrated outsourced billing , remittance processing and imaging software and consulting services . the addition of transcentra increased sourcehov 's footprint in the remittance transaction processing and presentment area , expanded its mobile banking offering and enabled significant cross‑selling and up‑selling opportunities . revenues itps revenues are primarily generated from a transaction‑based pricing model for the various types of volumes processed , licensing and maintenance fees for technology sales , and a mix of fixed management fee and transactional revenue for document logistics and location services . hs revenues are primarily generated from a transaction‑based pricing model for the various types of volumes processed for healthcare payers and providers . llps revenues are primarily based on time and materials pricing as well as through transactional services priced on a per item basis . 48 people we draw on the business and technical expertise of our talented and diverse global workforce to provide our customers with high‑quality services . our business leaders bring a strong diversity of experience in our industry and a track record of successful performance and execution . as of december 31 , 2018 , we had approximately 22,000 employees globally , with 46 % located in the united states and the remainder located primarily in europe , india , the philippines , canada , mexico , and china . costs associated with our employees represent the most significant expense for our business . we incurred personnel costs of $ 687.3 million , $ 532.3 million , and $ 373.2 million for the years ended december 31 , 2018 , 2017 and 2016 , respectively . the majority of our personnel costs are variable and are incurred only while we are providing our services . facilities we lease and own numerous facilities worldwide with larger concentrations of space in texas , michigan , connecticut , california , india , mexico , the philippines , and china . our owned and leased facilities house general offices , sales offices , service locations , and production facilities . the size of our active property portfolio as of december 31 , 2018 was approximately 4.4 million square feet at an annual operating cost of approximately $ 38.9 million and comprised of 178 leased properties and 7 owned properties . we believe that our current facilities are suitable and adequate for our current businesses . because of the interrelation of our business segments , each of the segments uses substantially all of these properties at least in part . key performance indicators we use a variety of operational and financial measures to assess our performance . among the measures considered by our management are the following : · revenue by segment ; · ebitda ; and · adjusted ebitda . story_separator_special_tag ( 7 ) represents the impact of changes in the fair value of an interest rate swap entered into during the fourth quarter of 2017. year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 ebitda and adjusted ebitda ebitda was $ 144.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to $ ( 37.2 ) million for the year ended december 31 , 2017. adjusted ebitda was $ 283.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to $ 208.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017. the increase in ebitda was primarily due to a lower net loss amount for the year ended december 31 , 2018 resulting from an increase in revenue , decrease in selling , general and administrative expenses , decrease in related party expense , and decrease in loss on extinguishment of debt compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017. the increase in adjusted ebitda was primarily due to lower transaction and integration costs for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 , along with lower impairment charges incurred in 2018 compared to 2017. year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 ebitda and adjusted ebitda ebitda was $ ( 37.2 ) million for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to $ 129.2 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016. adjusted ebitda was $ 208.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to $ 173.2 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016. the decrease in ebitda was primarily due to a higher net loss amount for the year ended december 31 , 2017 resulting from an increase in selling , general and administrative expenses , related party expense , and loss on extinguishment of debt compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016. the increase in adjusted ebitda was primarily due higher overall gross profit for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 , along with lower recurring expenses as part of on‑going operations . liquidity and capital resources overview our primary source of liquidity is principally cash generated from operating activities supplemented as necessary on a short‑term basis by borrowings against our senior secured revolving credit facility . we believe our current level of cash and short term financing capabilities along with future cash flows from operations are sufficient to meet the needs of the business . we currently expect to spend approximately $ 35.0 to $ 40.0 million on total capital expenditures over the next twelve months . we believe that our operating cash flow and available borrowings under our credit facility will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months . on july 13 , 2018 , exela successfully repriced the $ 343.4 million of term loans outstanding under its senior secured credit facilities ( the “ repricing ” ) . the interest rates applicable to the repricing term loans are 100 basis points lower than the interest rates applicable to the existing senior secured term loans that were incurred on july 12 , 2017 pursuant to the first lien credit agreement . the repricing term loans will mature on july 12 , 2023 , the same maturity date as the existing senior secured term loans . at december 31 , 2018 , cash and cash equivalents totaled $ 43.9 million including restricted cash , and we had availability of $ 79.4 million under our senior secured revolving credit facility . in connection with the novitex business combination , we acquired debt facilities and issued notes totaling $ 1.4 billion . proceeds from the acquired debt were used to refinance the existing debt of sourcehov , settle the 57 outstanding debt facilities for novitex , and pay fees and expenses incurred in connection with the novitex business combination . we entered into a credit agreement with a $ 350.0 million senior secured term loan , a $ 100.0 million senior secured revolving facility , and $ 1.0 billion in first priority senior secured notes ( the “ senior secured notes ” ) . the $ 100.0 million revolver remained undrawn ( net of letters of credit ) at the time of compilation of this report . on november 8 , 2017 , the company 's board of directors authorized a share buyback program ( the “ share buyback program ” ) , pursuant to which the company may , from time to time , purchase up to 5,000,000 shares of its common stock . share repurchases may be executed through various means , including , without limitation , open market transactions , privately negotiated transactions or otherwise . the decision as to whether to purchase any shares and the timing of purchases , if any , will be based on the price of the company 's common stock , general business and market conditions and other investment considerations and factors . the share buyback program does not obligate the company to purchase any shares and expires 24 months after authorization . the share buyback program may be terminated or amended by the company 's board of directors in its discretion at any time . as of december 31 , 2018 , 2,549,185 shares had been repurchased under the share buyback program . cash flows the following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods indicated : replace_table_token_6_th analysis of cash flow changes between the years ended december 31 , 2018 , december 31 , 2017 , and december 31 , 2016 operating activities—net cash provided by operating activities was $ 30.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , compared to $ 23.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2017. the increase of $ 7.0 million in cash flow from operating activities was primarily

