ADTRAN Holdings, Inc. 10-Q

ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS From time to time, we are subject to or otherwise involved in various lawsuits, claims, investigations and legal proceedings that arise out of or are incidental to the conduct of our business (collectively, “Legal Matters”), including those relating to employment matters, patent rights, regulatory compliance matters, stockholder claims, and contractual and other commercial disputes. Such Legal Matters, even if not meritorious, could result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources. Additionally, an unfavorable outcome in a Legal Matter, including in a patent dispute, could require the Company to pay damages, entitle claimants to other relief, such as royalties, or could prevent the Company from selling some of its products in certain jurisdictions. See Note 18 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part 1 of this report for a description of our material legal proceedings, which is incorporated herein by reference. Although the ultimate disposition of asserted claims cannot be predicted with certainty, it is our belief that the outcome of any such claims, either individually or on a combined basis, will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position. ITEM 1A. RI SK FACTORS A list of factors that could materially affect our business, financial condition or operating results is described in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in the 2023 Form 10-K. There have been no material changes to our risk factors from those disclosed in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in the 2023 Form 10-K other than as described in the risk factors below. Risks related to our financial results and Company success We are obligated to comply with covenants related to our Wells Fargo Credit Agreement that restrict our operating activities, and the failure to comply with such covenants could result in defaults that accelerate our debt. The Wells Fargo Credit Agreement governing our indebtedness contains restrictive covenants that limit our ability to engage in activities that may be in our long-term best interest. Our failure to comply with those covenants could result in an event of default that, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of all its debt. Our Wells Fargo Credit Agreement along with the amendments thereto, contain various restrictive covenants which include, among others, provisions restricting our ability to: • pay dividends or make other distributions or repurchase capital stock; • incur or guarantee additional debt; • make certain distributions, investments and other restricted payments; • engage in transactions with affiliates; • engage in mergers or consolidations; • grant or incur liens on assets; • dispose of assets; • make loans and investments; • modify our organization documents; and • enter into certain restrictive agreements. 64 In addition, the Wells Fargo Credit Agreement contains customary events of default, such as misrepresentation and a default in the performance or observance of any covenant (subject to customary cure periods and materiality thresholds). In addition, certain covenants in the Wells Fargo Credit Agreement, including covenants set forth in the amendments thereto, require us, among other things, to: • maintain certain leverage ratios; • maintain certain fixed charge coverage ratios; and • maintain minimum amounts of cash and cash equivalents. As a result of these restrictions, we have been and may continue to be: • limited in how we conduct our business; • limited in how much additional funding we can draw on our line of credit; • unable to raise additional debt or equity financing to operate during general economic or business downturns; and • unable to compete effectively or to take advantage of new business opportunities. Our failure to comply with the restrictive covenants set forth in the Credit Agreement could result in defaults that accelerate the payment under such debt which would likely have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, an event of default under the Credit Agreement would permit the lenders to terminate all commitments to extend further credit under the applicable facility. Furthermore, if we were unable to repay the amounts due and payable under the Credit Agreement, the lenders could proceed against the collateral granted them to secure that indebtedness. In the event our lenders accelerate the repayment of our borrowings, we and our subsidiaries may not have sufficient assets to repay that indebtedness. In addition, these defaults could impair our ability to access debt and equity markets. For additional information on our debt covenants, see "Liquidity & Capital Resources" in Part I, Item 2 of this report on Form 10-Q. Managing our inventory is complex and has included and may continue to include write downs of excess or obsolete inventory. Managing our inventory of components and finished products is complicated by a number of factors, including the need to maintain a significant inventory of certain components that are in short supply, that have been discontinued by the component manufacturer, that must be purchased in bulk to obtain favorable pricing or that require long lead times. These issues have and may continue to result in our purchasing and maintaining significant amounts of inventory, which if not used or expected to be used based on anticipated production requirements, may become excess or obsolete. Any excess or obsolete inventory could also result in sales price reductions and/or inventory write- downs, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we recognized write-downs of inventory of $24.3 million due to a discontinuation of certain product lines within our Network Solutions segment in connection with our business efficiency program. Additionally, during the six months ended June 30, 2024, we recognized write-downs of inventory and other charges of $8.9 million as a result of a strategy shift which included discontinuance of certain items in connection with the Business Efficiency Program, of which, $4.1 million relates to inventory write-downs and $4.8 million relates to other charges. Significant and unanticipated changes in our business could require additional charges for inventory write downs in a future period. Any future charges relating to such inventory write-downs could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations in the periods recognized. For additional details regarding the business efficiency program, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Business Efficiency Program” in Part II, Item 7 of this report. We have recognized impairment charges related to goodwill and other intangible assets in the past and may be required to do so in the future. The Business Combination added a significant amount of goodwill and other intangible assets to our consolidated balance sheets. In accordance with U.S. GAAP, management periodically assesses these assets to determine if they are impaired. Significant negative industry or economic trends, disruptions to our business, the inability to effectively integrate acquired businesses, the under performance of our business as compared to management’s initial expectations, unexpected significant changes or planned changes in use of the assets, divestitures, and market capitalization declines may impair goodwill and other intangible assets. During the first quarter of 2024, qualitative factors such as a decrease in the Company’s market capitalization, lower service provider spending and delayed holding patterns of inventory with respect to customers caused us to reduce our forecasts, triggering a quantitative impairment assessment for our reporting units. The Company determined upon its quantitative impairment assessment to recognize a $292.6 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge for the Network Solutions reporting unit. The quantitative impairment analysis indicated there was no impairment of the Services & Support goodwill. The Company will continue to monitor its stock price, operating results and other macroeconomic factors to determine if there is further indication of a sustained decline in fair value requiring an event driven assessment of the recoverability of its remaining goodwill. Any future charges relating to such impairments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations in the periods recognized. 65 Risks related to our control environment We have had to restate our previously issued consolidated financial statements and, as part of that process, have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to develop and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reporting and prevent fraud. We have had to restate our previously issued consolidated financial statements and, as part of that process, have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. We have implemented new controls with respect to one material weakness, and we plan to initiate remediation plans with respect to the other material weaknesses. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects. Any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could adversely impact our ability to report our financial position and results from operations on a timely and accurate basis. If our financial statements are not accurate, investors may not have a complete understanding of our operations. Likewise, if our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis, we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the stock exchange on which our common stock is listed, the SEC, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, or other regulatory authorities. In either case, there could be an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Ineffective internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock. We can provide no assurance that the measures that we have taken, are taking, and plan to take in the future will remediate the material weaknesses identified or that any additional material weaknesses or restatements of financial results will not arise in the future due to a failure to implement and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting or circumvention of these controls. In addition, while we have strengthened our controls and procedures, in the future those controls and procedures may not be adequate to prevent or identify irregularities or errors or to facilitate the fair presentation of our consolidated financial statements. Furthermore, as a public company, we are required to comply with U.S. GAAP, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("SOX"), the Dodd-Frank Act and the rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. As such, Adtran Networks, as a subsidiary of a public company, has established and is required to maintain effective disclosure controls, as well as internal control over financial reporting under U.S. GAAP. Current and ongoing compliance efforts have and may continue to be costly and require the attention of management. There are a large number of processes, policies, procedures and functions that have been integrated, or enhanced at Adtran Networks, particularly those related to the implementation of internal controls for SOX compliance. The maintenance of these plans may lead to additional unanticipated costs and time delays. These incremental costs may exceed the savings we expect to achieve from the realization of efficiencies related to the combination of the businesses, particularly in the near term and in the event there are material unanticipated costs. Risks related to the telecommunications industry We depend on a third-party cloud platform provider to host our Mosaic One SaaS network and other operating platforms, and if we were to experience a material disruption or interference in service, our business and reputation could suffer. Our quality of customer service and our continued growth depends in part on the ability of our existing and potential customers to use and access our Mosaic One SaaS network operating platform. We use third-party service providers that we do not control for key components of our infrastructure, particularly with respect to delivery of our SaaS products. The use of these service providers gives us greater flexibility in efficiently delivering a more tailored, scalable customer experience, but also exposes us to additional risks and vulnerabilities. Third-party service providers operate their own platforms that we access, and we are, therefore, vulnerable to their service interruptions. In the future, we may experience interruptions, delays and outages in service and availability from time to time as a result of our third-party service providers’ infrastructure. Lack of availability of this infrastructure could be due to a number of potential causes including technical failures, natural disasters, fraud or security attacks that we cannot predict or prevent. Such outages could adversely impact our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations. ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS During the six months ended June 30, 2024, we did not repurchase any shares of our common stock. As of June 30, 2024, there is no current authorization to repurchase common stock.