Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1A. Risk Factors
In evaluating an investment in our common stock, investors should consider carefully, among other things, the risk factors previously disclosed in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2021, as well as the information contained in this Quarterly Report and our other reports and registration statements filed with the SEC.
The Smiths Medical acquisition completed in the period has resulted in organizational changes and significant growth to our business. If we fail to effectively manage this growth and change to our business in a manner that preserves our reputation with customers and the key aspects of our corporate culture, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
The Smiths Medical acquisition has resulted in significant growth in our personnel and operations, adding approximately 6,700 employees to our headcount, bringing our total headcount as of March 31, 2031 to approximately 15,300 employees. We will continue to incur significant expenditures and the allocation of management time to assimilate the Smiths Medical employees in a manner that preserves the key aspects of our corporate culture, including a focus on strong customer satisfaction, but there can be no assurance that we will be successful in our efforts. If we do not effectively integrate, train and manage our combined employee base and maintain strong customer relationships, our corporate culture could be undermined, the quality of our products and customer service could suffer, and our reputation could be harmed, each of which could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The Smiths Medical acquisition is a significant acquisition for us and the product offerings within Smiths Medical are not product offerings that we previously offered. The success of our business will depend, in part, on our ability to realize our anticipated benefits, opportunities and synergies from combining our legacy businesses and Smiths Medical. We can provide no assurance that the anticipated benefits of the Smiths Medical acquisition will be fully realized in the time frame anticipated or at all. Integrating the operations of Smiths Medical with that of our legacy business will be a complex, costly and time-consuming process. The integration process may disrupt the businesses and, if implemented ineffectively, would restrict the realization of the full expected benefits. The failure to meet the challenges involved in integrating the two businesses could cause an interruption of, or a loss of momentum in, the activities of the combined businesses and could adversely affect the results of operations of the combined businesses. Potential difficulties that may be encountered in the integration process include the following:
• challenges in preserving important strategic customer and other third-party relationships of both businesses;
• the diversion of management’s attention to integration matters;
• challenges in maintaining employee morale and retaining or attracting key employees;
• potential incompatibility of corporate cultures;
• changes in the combined business due to potential divestitures or requirements imposed by antitrust regulators;
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• costs, delays and other difficulties consolidating corporate and administrative infrastructures and information systems and in implementing common systems and procedures including, in particular, our internal controls over financial reporting; and
• coordinating and integrating a geographically dispersed organization, including operations in jurisdictions we currently do not operate in.
Any one or all of these factors may increase operating costs or lower anticipated financial performance. Achieving the anticipated benefits and the potential benefits underlying our reasons for the Smiths Medical business acquisition will depend on successful integration of the businesses. Because of the significance of the Smiths Medical business acquisition to us, our failure to successfully integrate the Smiths Medical business with that of our own could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
There have been no other material changes in the risk factors other than those mentioned above from those previously disclosed under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2021.
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