Item 1A. Risk Factors
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Other than the risk factor related to a new strain of coronavirus (“COVID-19”) set forth below, there have been no material changes from the risk factors disclosed in our Annual Report in Part I, Item 1A of the Form 10-K filed on February 27, 2020.
COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in lost revenue to our Company, limitations on our ability to source high demand product, limitations on our sales force to perform certain functions due to state or federal stay-at-home orders, a slow-down of customer demand for our products and limitations of some customers to pay us on a timely basis. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operational and financial performance includes affecting our ability to execute our business strategies and initiatives in the expected time frame. The extent of the effect will depend on future developments, including the duration and spread of the pandemic and related restrictions on travel, transports and person to person contact, all of which are uncertain and cannot be predicted at the present time. On a broader scale, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy, disrupted global supply chains and created significant volatility and disruption of financial markets. An extended period of global supply chain and economic disruption could materially affect our sales, workforce, supply chains, results of operations, and our ability to access our Credit Agreement to fund operations.
In the first quarter of 2020, our business was defined by the state of Illinois as an essential businesses, allowing us to operate during the pandemic. A change in this status could result in the temporary closure of our business. Additionally the COVID-19 pandemic could result in a temporary closure of any or all of our distribution facilities or the Bolt branch locations, which would negatively impact our operations. Other disruptions to our supply chain such as reduced capacity or temporary shutdowns of freight carriers could also negatively impact Company performance.
Our sales results have been and are expected to be negatively impacted in the future by any social distancing guidelines and government mandated shelter in place orders that would prevent our sales representatives in our MRO business segment from visiting customers in person. Shelter in place orders also reduce customer visits to our Bolt branch locations. The reduction of operations and temporary shut down by many of our customers in response to COVID-19 has also negatively impacted sales
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and our ability to collect on existing credit balances, and we expect to be impacted by those reductions and shut downs in the future. Further, vendors who are negatively impacted by COVID-19 may temporarily shut down operations or have difficulty obtaining inventory, which could negatively impact our ability to fulfill customer orders.
Certain items on our balance sheet require judgments on their valuation, including intangible assets and goodwill. These valuations are based on assumptions that take future financial performance into account. COVID-19 may have a detrimental impact to our future financial performance that would require us to revise assumptions about future financial performance and impair the value of these assets. Although the Company believes that its projected future operating results and cash flows and related estimates regarding the values were based on reasonable assumptions, it is reasonably possible that estimates made may be materially and adversely impacted in the near term as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including impairment losses related to goodwill.
All Lawson employees have been encouraged to follow the recommended social distancing guidelines and work remotely whenever possible to reduce the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic. The increased number of employees working remotely can exacerbate the risks previously mentioned in regards to internal controls and cybersecurity.
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