8.  DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS & HEDGING ACTIVITIES

The Company addresses certain financial exposures through a controlled program of risk management that includes the use of derivative financial instruments and hedging activities. 

The fair value of the Company’s derivative financial instruments included in the Consolidated Balance Sheets are presented as follows:

The amount of gains and losses related to the Company’s derivative financial instruments are presented as follows:

Interest expense presented in the Consolidated Statements of Operations, in which the effects of cash flow hedges are recorded, totaled $4,385 for the three months ended March 30, 2019.

Interest Rate Swap Contract

Helios primarily utilizes variable-rate debt to finance its operations. The debt obligations expose the Company to variability in interest payments. The Company enters into various types of derivative instruments to manage fluctuations in cash flows resulting from interest rate risk attributable to changes in the benchmark interest rates.

The Company has entered into an interest rate swap transaction to hedge the variable interest rate payments on the credit facilities. In connection with this transaction, the Company pays interest based upon a fixed rate as agreed upon with the respective counterparties and receives variable rate interest payments based on the one-month LIBOR. The interest rate swap has an aggregate notional amount of $200,000, which decreases by $25,000 annually starting in July 2019, and has been designated as a hedging instrument and accounted for as a cash flow hedge. The interest rate swap was effective on August 2, 2018 and is scheduled to expire on April 3, 2023. The contract is settled with the respective counterparties on a net basis at each settlement date.

Forward Foreign Exchange Contracts

The Company has entered into forward contracts to economically hedge transactional exposure associated with commitments arising from transactions denominated in a currency other than the functional currency of the respective operating entity. The Company’s forward contracts were not designated as hedging instruments for accounting purposes.

During the quarter ended March 31, 2018, the Company entered into a forward foreign exchange currency contract, for the purchase of €370,000, to economically hedge transactional exposure associated with the acquisition of Faster, which was denominated in euros. The contract settled upon closing of the acquisition of Faster.  

As of March 30, 2019, the Company did not have any forward foreign exchange contracts.

Net Investment Hedge

The Company utilizes foreign currency denominated debt to hedge currency exposure in foreign operations.  During the first quarter of fiscal year 2019, the Company designated €30,000 of borrowings on the revolving credit facility as a net investment hedge of a portion of the Company’s European operations. The carrying value of the euro denominated debt totaled $33,648 as of March 30, 2019 and is included in the Revolving line of credit line item on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The gain or loss on the net investment hedge recorded in AOCI as part of the currency translation adjustment was a gain of $273, net of tax, for the quarter ended March 30, 2019. No amounts associated with the net investment hedge were reclassified from AOCI into income for the quarter ended March 30, 2019.