Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
INVESTMENT SECURITIES
The Company maintains its cash equivalents in financial instruments, primarily money market funds and time deposits, with original maturities of three months or less. Due to the short-term nature of these instruments, changes in interest rates are not expected to materially affect the fair value of these financial instruments.
Refer to Note 10, “ RABBI TRUST ASSETS ,” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in “ ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA ” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of the Company’s Rabbi Trust assets.
INTEREST RATE RISK
Prior to July 2, 2020, our exposure to market risk due to changes in interest rates related primarily to the increase or decrease in the amount of interest expense from fluctuations in the LIBO rate, or an alternate base rate associated with the Term Loan Facility and the ABL Facility. On July 2, 2020, the Company issued the Senior Secured Notes due in 2025 with a 8.75% fixed interest rate per annum and repaid all outstanding borrowings under the Term Loan Facility and the ABL Facility, thereby eliminating any then existing cash flow market risk due to changes in interest rates. The Senior Secured Notes are exposed to interest rate risk that is limited to changes in fair value. This analysis for Fiscal 2021 may differ from the actual results due to potential changes in gross borrowings outstanding under the ABL Facility and potential changes in interest rate terms and limitations described within the associated credit agreement.
The expected transition from the widespread use of LIBO rate to alternative rates over the next several years is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s interest expense. In addition, the Company has seen, and may continue to see, lower interest income earned on the Company’s investments and cash holdings, reflecting the lower interest rate environment.
FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE RISK
A&F’s international subsidiaries generally operate with functional currencies other than the U.S. Dollar. Since the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements are presented in U.S. Dollars, the Company must translate all components of these financial statements from functional currencies into U.S. Dollars at exchange rates in effect during or at the end of the reporting period. The fluctuation in the value of the U.S. Dollar against other currencies affects the reported amounts of revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities. The potential impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations increases as international operations relative to domestic operations increase.
A&F and its subsidiaries have exposure to changes in foreign currency exchange rates associated with foreign currency transactions and forecasted foreign currency transactions, including the purchase of inventory between subsidiaries and foreign-currency-denominated assets and liabilities. The Company has established a program that primarily utilizes foreign currency exchange forward contracts to partially offset the risks associated with the effects of certain foreign currency transactions and forecasted transactions. Under this program, increases or decreases in foreign currency exchange rate exposures are partially offset by gains or losses on foreign currency exchange forward contracts, to mitigate the impact of foreign currency exchange gains or losses. The Company does not use forward contracts to engage in currency speculation. Outstanding foreign currency exchange forward contracts are recorded at fair value at the end of each fiscal period.
Foreign currency exchange forward contracts are sensitive to changes in foreign currency exchange rates. The Company assessed the risk of loss in fair values from the effect of a hypothetical 10% devaluation of the U.S. Dollar against the exchange rates for foreign currencies under contract. Such a hypothetical devaluation would decrease derivative contract fair values by approximately $13.7 million. As the Company’s foreign currency exchange forward contracts are primarily designated as cash flow hedges of forecasted transactions, the hypothetical change in fair values would be expected to be largely offset by the net change in fair values of the underlying hedged items. Refer to Note 15, “ DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS ,” included in “ ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA ” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fair value of outstanding foreign currency exchange forward contracts included in other current assets and accrued expenses as of January 30, 2021 and February 1, 2020.
For a detailed discussion of material risk factors that have the potential to cause our actual results to differ materially from our expectations, refer to “ ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS ,” included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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