9) PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT (PP&E)
Details of property, plant and equipment at December 31, 2016 and 2017 are as follow:
| Thousands of U.S. dollars | |||||||||||||
| Balance at December 31, 2015 | Additions | Acquisitions from business combination | Disposals | Transfers | Translation differences | Balance at December 31, 2016 | |||||||
| Cost | |||||||||||||
| Land and natural resources | 37 | - | - | (38) | - | 1 | - | ||||||
| Buildings | 9,733 | - | - | - | 285 | (226) | 9,792 | ||||||
| Plant and machinery | 9,330 | 144 | - | (86) | 536 | (3,081) | 6,843 | ||||||
| Furniture, tools and other tangible assets | 243,166 | 20,984 | 477 | (26,155) | 12,310 | 66,446 | 317,228 | ||||||
| PP&E under construction | 36,267 | 11,496 | 14 | (113) | (13,131) | (25,269) | 9,264 | ||||||
| Total cost | 298,533 | 32,624 | 491 | (26,392) | - | 37,871 | 343,127 | ||||||
| Accumulated depreciation | |||||||||||||
| Buildings | (3,626) | (108) | - | 402 | - | 100 | (3,232) | ||||||
| Plant and machinery | (4,171) | (1,130) | - | 370 | - | 863 | (4,068) | ||||||
| Furniture, tools and other tangible assets | (99,058) | (45,210) | - | 19,744 | - | (46,033) | (170,557) | ||||||
| Total accumulated depreciation | (106,855) | (46,448) | - | 20,516 | - | (45,070) | (177,857) | ||||||
| Property, plant and equipment | 191,678 | (13,824) | 491 | (5,876) | - | (7,199) | 165,270 | ||||||
| Thousands of U.S. dollars | |||||||||||||
| Balance at December 31, 2016 | Additions | Acquisitions from business combination | Disposals | Transfers | Translation differences | Balance at December 31, 2017 | |||||||
| Cost | |||||||||||||
| Land and natural resources | - | - | 1,381 | - | - | - | 1,381 | ||||||
| Buildings | 9,792 | 272 | - | - | - | 1,379 | 11,443 | ||||||
| Plant and machinery | 6,843 | 211 | 575 | - | 437 | 593 | 8,659 | ||||||
| Furniture, tools and other tangible assets | 317,228 | 27,800 | 672 | (32,300) | 3,117 | 11,160 | 327,677 | ||||||
| PP&E under construction | 9,264 | 21,893 | - | (10,637) | (3,554) | 2,042 | 19,008 | ||||||
| Total cost | 343,127 | 50,176 | 2,628 | (42,937) | - | 15,174 | 368,168 | ||||||
| Accumulated depreciation | |||||||||||||
| Buildings | (3,232) | (839) | - | 653 | - | (460) | (3,878) | ||||||
| Plant and machinery | (4,068) | (1,049) | - | 13 | - | (583) | (5,687) | ||||||
| Furniture, tools and other tangible assets | (170,557) | (47,338) | - | 17,827 | - | (6,340) | (206,408) | ||||||
| Total accumulated depreciation | (177,857) | (49,226) | - | 18,493 | - | (7,383) | (215,973) | ||||||
| Property, plant and equipment | 165,270 | 950 | 2,628 | (24,444) | - | 7,791 | 152,195 | ||||||
Additions for the year mainly represent investments made in Brazil in response to our business and the upgrading of existing infrastructure (20,127 thousand U.S. dollars), construction of a new call center and upgrading of the infrastructure in place in Mexico (7,065 thousand U.S. dollars); and to new equipment under finance leases and upgrading of the current infrastructure in Peru (5,008 thousand U.S. dollars).
“Furniture, tools and other tangible assets” primarily comprises net items of that description in Brazil and Mexico amounting to 76,020 thousand U.S. dollars and 13,137 thousand U.S. dollars, respectively, (94,040 thousand U.S. dollars and 14,472 thousand U.S. dollars, respectively in 2016) in connection with furnishings and fixtures in customer service centers in those countries.
The acquisition from business combinations recorded in “Furniture, tools and other tangible assets” and “PP&E under construction” are related to the RBrasil and Interfile acquisitions, as described in Note 5.
No impairment was recognized on items of property, plant and equipment in 2016 and 2017.
All Atento Group companies have contracted insurance policies to cover potential risks to their items of PP&E. Management considers that coverage of these risks was sufficient at December 31, 2016 and 2017.