Item 1A. Risk Factors
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.
Our business is subject to a variety of risks. Any of the following risks could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, or future prospects. The risks discussed below should be carefully considered, together with the other information provided in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and our financial statements, including the related notes. These risk factors do not identify all risks that we face. There may be additional risks that are presently unknown to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial that could affect us. Investors should carefully consider all risks, including those disclosed, before making an investment decision.
Macroeconomic, Market and Strategic Risks
The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic had and may continue to have an adverse effect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the world economy, significantly impacted global supply chains, and disrupted financial markets, all of which have negatively affected, and continue to negatively affect, the home furnishings manufacturing and retail industry, and our business. Various federal, state and local government authorities have taken actions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including travel restrictions, border closings, restrictions on public gatherings, stay-at-home orders and other quarantine and isolation measures, and business limitations such as mandatory temporary closures of non-essential retailers and other businesses, required reduced operating hours and customer occupancy limits. The COVID-19 pandemic, and mitigation actions in response to the pandemic, have led to significant disruptions in our retail, manufacturing and distribution operations and supply chains. These actions have adversely impacted, and could continue to adversely impact, our results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity.
To protect our employees, customers and the communities in which we operate, on March 29, 2020, we announced the temporary closure of our company-owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries® stores and U.S. manufacturing plants, which adversely affected our operations, cash flows and liquidity. Subsequently, the COVID-19 pandemic also led to temporary reductions or suspensions of operations at some of our manufacturing facilities outside of the United States. On April 27, 2020, we resumed operations at partial production capacity at several U.S.-based plants. In addition, our decisions to re-open our company-owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries® stores are being made on a case-by-case basis based on a number of factors including applicable federal, state and local requirements and guidelines. There is substantial uncertainty regarding the manner and timing in which we can return most or all of our business to more normal business operations. We may face longer term closure requirements and other operational restrictions with respect to some or all of our physical locations for prolonged periods of time due to, among other factors, evolving and increasingly stringent federal, state and local restrictions including stay-at-home orders. The prolonged temporary closure of our retail stores or distribution centers would result in a further loss of revenues, profits, cash flows, and other effects on our business and operations. Further, after containment of the virus or as our company-owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries® stores or the stores of our retail partners re-open, we cannot anticipate consumer willingness to visit the stores, levels of consumer spending, or employee willingness to work in our retail stores, distribution centers or manufacturing facilities. We have instituted measures to ensure our supply chain remains open to us; however, there could be global shortages that could in turn materially adversely impact our manufacturing operations that we currently cannot anticipate.
In addition to the disruption to many aspects of our business operations, the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted overall economic conditions and customer demand. We believe the COVID-19 pandemic could continue to impact customer demand for our products and services and customer spending levels and have an adverse long-term impact on future traffic to our retail locations as a result of any changes to customer shopping patterns and behaviors, including consumer willingness to visit physical retail locations, such as our company-owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries® stores.
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The extent of the impact of COVID-19 on our operational and financial performance will depend on future developments, including the duration and spread of the virus within the markets in which we operate and the related impact on consumer confidence and spending, all of which are highly uncertain. At this time, given the uncertainty of the lasting effect of COVID-19, the total extent of the financial impact on our business cannot be determined.
Declines in certain economic conditions, which impact consumer confidence and consumer spending, could negatively impact our sales, results of operations and liquidity.
The furniture industry and our business is particularly sensitive to declines in general economic conditions and to uncertainty regarding future economic prospects, including the current and evolving negative economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our principal products are consumer goods that may be considered postponable purchases. Economic downturns and prolonged negative conditions in the economy could affect consumer spending habits by decreasing the overall demand for discretionary items, including home furnishings. Consumer purchases of discretionary items, including our products, generally decline during periods when disposable income is limited, unemployment rates increase or there is uncertainty about future economic prospects. In addition, changes in interest rates, consumer confidence, new housing starts, existing home sales, the availability of consumer credit and broader national or geopolitical factors also impact our business. We have seen negative effects on certain of these measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer spending could remain depressed for an extended time and improvement in our sales could lag behind a general economic recovery as consumers may postpone the purchase of relatively higher-cost discretionary items.
Loss of market share and other financial or operational difficulties due to competition would likely result in a decrease in our sales, earnings, and liquidity.
The residential furniture industry is highly competitive and fragmented. We currently compete with many other manufacturers and retailers, including online retailers, some of which offer widely advertised products, and others, several of which are large retail furniture dealers offering their own store-branded products. Competition in the residential furniture industry is based on quality, style of products, perceived value, price, service to the customer, promotional activities, and advertising. The highly competitive nature of the industry means we are constantly subject to the risk of losing market share, which would likely decrease our future sales, earnings, and liquidity. In addition, due to the large number of competitors and their wide range of product offerings, we may not be able to differentiate our products (through styling, finish, and other construction techniques) from those of our competitors.
Additionally, a majority of our sales are to distribution channels that rely on physical stores to merchandise and sell our products and a significant shift in consumer preference toward purchasing products online could have a materially adverse impact on our sales and operating margin. In the past several fiscal years we have experienced lower traffic to our company-owned stores, similar to other furniture retailers, as consumers have shifted to purchasing more furniture product online. The COVID-19 pandemic could accelerate or increase the shift to online furniture purchases by changing customer shopping patterns and behaviors, including decreased consumer willingness to visit physical retail locations. We are attempting to meet consumers where they prefer to shop by expanding our online capabilities and improving the user experience at www.la-z-boy.com to drive more traffic to both our online site and our physical stores. We also acquired Joybird, a leading e-commerce retailer and manufacturer of upholstered furniture. Joybird sells product almost exclusively online, where there is significant competition for customer attention among online and direct-to-consumer brands.
These and other competitive pressures could cause us to lose market share, revenues and customers, increase expenditures or reduce prices, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or liquidity.
Operational Risks
Our business and our reputation could be adversely affected by cybersecurity incidents and the failure to protect sensitive employee, customer, consumer, vendor or Company data, or to comply with evolving regulations relating to our obligation to protect such data.
Cyber-attacks, including phishing attempts, designed to gain access to sensitive information by breaching security systems of large organizations leading to unauthorized release of confidential information have occurred over the last several years at a number of major U.S. companies. Despite widespread recognition of the cyber-attack threat and improved data protection methods, cyber-attacks on organizations continue to be persistent and ever-changing, making it difficult to prevent and detect these attacks. Similar to many other retailers, we receive and store certain personal information about our employees, customers, consumers, and vendors. Additionally, we rely on third-party service providers to execute certain business processes
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and maintain certain information technology systems and infrastructure, and we supply such third-party providers with the personal information required for those services.
Foreign jurisdictions, as well as the United States federal and state governments, are increasingly enacting laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, and data security, including those related to the collection, storage, handling, use, disclosure, transfer, and security of personal data. These laws and regulations are emerging and continuously evolving and the interpretation and application of these laws and regulations in the United States, Europe and elsewhere are often uncertain, contradictory and changing. For example, the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) applies to us and creates a range of requirements and compliance obligations regarding the treatment of personal data, including the public disclosure of significant data breaches, and imposes significant penalties for non-compliance. The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which became effective on January 1, 2020, among other things, imposes additional requirements with respect to disclosure and deletion of personal information of California residents. The CCPA provides civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches. GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy and data protection laws may increase our costs of compliance and risks of non-compliance, which could result in substantial penalties. It is possible that these laws may be interpreted or applied in a manner that is adverse to us, unforeseen, or otherwise inconsistent with our practices or that we may not adequately adapt our internal policies and/or procedures to evolving regulations, any of which could result in litigation, regulatory investigations and potential legal liability, require us to change our practices in a manner adverse to our business or limit access to our products and services in certain countries. As a result, our reputation and brand, which is critical to our business operations, may be harmed, we could incur substantial costs, or we could lose both customers and revenue.
During fiscal 2020, we were subject, and will likely continue to be subject, to attempts to breach the security of our networks and IT infrastructure through cyber-attack, malware, computer viruses, phishing attempts and other means of unauthorized access. To the best of our knowledge, attempts to breach our systems have not been successful to date. A breach of our systems, either internally or at our third-party technology service providers, that results in the unauthorized release of sensitive data could adversely affect our reputation resulting in a loss of our existing customers and potential future customers, lead to financial losses due to remedial actions or potential liability, possibly including punitive damages, or we could incur regulatory fines or penalties. An electronic security breach resulting in the unauthorized release of sensitive data from our information systems or those of our third-party service providers could also materially increase the costs we already incur to protect against these risks. We continue to balance the additional risk with the cost to protect us against a breach and have taken steps to ensure that losses arising from a breach would be covered in part by insurance that we carry.
In addition, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have implemented work-from-home policies for certain employees. Although we continue to implement strong physical and cybersecurity measures to ensure that our business operations remain functional and to ensure uninterrupted service to our customers, our systems and our operations remain vulnerable to cyberattacks and other disruptions due to the fact that a significant portion of our employees work remotely as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and we cannot be certain that our mitigation efforts will be effective.
We rely extensively on information technology systems to process transactions, summarize results, and manage our business and that of certain independent dealers. Disruptions in both our primary and back-up systems could adversely affect our business and operating results.
Our primary and back-up information technology systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, viruses, phishing attempts, cyber-attacks, malware and ransomware attacks, security breaches, natural disasters, and errors by employees. We also rely on technology systems and infrastructure provided by third-party service providers, who are subject to these same cyber and other risks. Interruptions of our critical business information technology systems or failure of our back-up systems could result in longer production times or negatively impact customers resulting in damage to our reputation and a reduction in sales. If our critical information technology systems or back-up systems were damaged or ceased to function properly, we might have to make a significant investment to repair or replace them. If a ransomware attack or other cybersecurity breach occurs, either internally or at our third-party technology service providers, it is possible we could be prevented from accessing our data which may cause interruptions or delays in our business, cause us to incur remediation costs or require us to pay ransom to a hacker which takes over our systems, or damage our reputation. While we carry insurance that would mitigate losses from certain damage, interruption, or breach of our information technology systems, insurance may be insufficient to compensate us fully for potential significant losses.
Further, information systems of our suppliers or service providers may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers and other security breaches, including computer viruses and malware, through the internet, email attachments and persons with access to these information systems. If our suppliers or service providers were to experience a system disruption, attack or security breach that impacts a critical function, it could result in disruptions in our supply chain, the loss of sales and customers, potential liability
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for damages to our customers, reputational damage and incremental costs, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and profitability.
Inability to maintain and enhance our brand and respond to changes in our current and potential consumers' tastes and trends in a timely manner could adversely affect our business and operating results.
The success of our business depends on our ability to maintain and enhance our brands to increase our business by retaining consumers and attracting new ones. Furniture product is fashion-oriented so changes in consumers' tastes and trends and the resultant change in our product mix, as well as failure to offer our consumers multiple avenues for purchasing our products, could adversely affect our business and operating results. We attempt to minimize these risks by maintaining strong advertising and marketing campaigns promoting our brands. We also attempt to minimize our risk by updating our current product designs, styles, quality, prices, and options to purchase our products in-store or online. If these efforts are unsuccessful or require us to incur substantial costs, our business, operating results and financial or competitive condition could be adversely affected.
Fluctuations in the price, availability and quality of raw materials could cause delays that could result in our inability to provide goods to our customers or could increase our costs, either of which could decrease our earnings.
In manufacturing furniture, we use various types of wood, fabrics, leathers, upholstered filling material, including polyurethane foam, steel, and other raw materials. Because we are dependent on outside suppliers for our raw materials, fluctuations in their price, availability, and quality could have a negative effect on our cost of sales and our ability to meet our customers' demands. Competitive and marketing pressures may prevent us from passing along price increases to our customers, and the inability to meet our customers' demands could cause us to lose sales. We have a higher concentration in upholstery sales, including motion furniture, than many of our competitors, and the effects of steel, polyurethane foam, wood, electrical components for power units, leather and fabric price increases or quantity shortages could have a significant negative impact to our business.
About 50% of our polyurethane foam comes from one supplier. This supplier has several facilities across the United States, but severe weather, natural disasters, or public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic could result in delays in shipments of polyurethane foam to our plants.
A change in the financial condition of some of our domestic and foreign fabric suppliers could impede their ability to provide products to us in a timely manner. Upholstered furniture is fashion oriented, and if we were unable to acquire sufficient fabric variety, or to predict or respond to changes in fashion trends, we might lose sales and have to sell excess inventory at reduced prices. Doing so would have a negative effect on our sales and earnings.
Changes in the availability and cost of foreign sourcing and economic uncertainty in countries outside of the United States in which we operate or from which we purchase product, could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
We have operations in countries outside the United States, some of which are located in emerging markets. Long-term economic and political uncertainty in some of the countries in which we operate, such as the United Kingdom, Mexico and Thailand, could result in the disruption of markets and negatively affect our business. Our Casegoods segment imports products manufactured by foreign sources, mainly in Vietnam and China, and our Upholstery segment purchases cut-and-sewn fabric and leather sets, electronic component parts, and some finished goods from Chinese and other foreign vendors. Our cut-and-sewn leather sets are primarily purchased from four suppliers that operate in China, and the majority of our fabric products are purchased from three suppliers that also operate in China. One of these primary suppliers provides both cut-and-sewn leather sets and fabric products. Our sourcing partners may not be able to produce goods in a timely fashion or the quality of their product may lead us to reject it, causing disruptions in our domestic operations and delays in shipments to our customers.
Our operations are subject to risks of unsettled political conditions, natural or man-made disasters, acts of war, terrorism, organized crime, and public health concerns, any one of which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Our operations are subject to risks of unsettled political conditions, natural or man-made disasters, acts of war, terrorism, organized crime, and public health concerns. Any of these risks could make servicing our customers more difficult or cause disruptions in our manufacturing plants or distribution centers that could reduce our sales, earnings, or both in the future.
Changes in the domestic or international regulatory environment or trade policies could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Changes in United States or international laws and regulations (including labor, environmental, investment and taxation laws and regulations), political environment, socio-economic conditions, or monetary and fiscal policies may also have a material
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adverse effect on our business in the future or require us to modify our current business practices. In Item 1, geo-political pressures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic (including with respect to freight and tariffs) are referenced. Because we manufacture components in Mexico and purchase components and finished goods manufactured in foreign countries, including China, we are subject to risks relating to changes in the domestic or international regulatory environment or trade policies, including new or increased duties, tariffs, retaliatory tariffs, trade limitations and termination or renegotiation of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements impacting our business. The United States has enacted certain tariffs on many items sourced from China, including certain furniture, accessories, furniture parts, and raw materials which are imported into the United States and that we use in our domestic operations. We may not be able to fully or substantially mitigate the impact of these tariffs, pass price increases on to our customers, or secure adequate alternative sources of products or materials. The tariffs, along with any additional tariffs or retaliatory trade restrictions implemented by other countries, could negatively impact customer sales, including potential delays in product received from our vendors, our cost of goods sold and results of operations. In addition, geo-political pressures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to introduce uncertainty into many markets, including with respect to tariffs and freight. Finally, our business in the United Kingdom could be affected by the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, and our sales and margins there and in other foreign countries could be adversely affected by the imposition in foreign countries of import bans, quotas, and increases in tariffs.
Our current retail markets and other markets that we enter in the future may not achieve the growth and profitability we anticipate. We could incur charges for the impairment of long-lived assets, goodwill, or other intangible assets if we fail to meet our earnings expectations for these markets.
From time to time we may acquire retail locations or other retail businesses, such as our acquisition of Joybird in 2018. We also remodel and relocate existing stores, experiment with new store formats, and close underperforming stores. Our assets include goodwill and other intangible assets acquired in connection with these acquisitions. Profitability of acquired, remodeled, relocated, and new format stores will depend on lease rates (for stores we lease) and retail sales and profitability justifying the costs of acquisition, remodeling, and relocation. If we do not meet our sales or earnings expectations for these stores, we may incur charges for the impairment of long-lived assets, the impairment of right-of-use lease assets, the impairment of goodwill, or the impairment of other intangible assets.
Based on our annual impairment testing, the carrying value of the Joybird reporting unit exceeded its relative fair value as of April 25, 2020, and we recorded a non-cash pre-tax impairment charge of $26.9 million during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 to reduce the carrying value of the goodwill to its fair value. This impairment is due in large part to the impact of COVID-19 on our business. The carrying amount of our goodwill could be at risk for future impairment. A sustained economic downturn, significantly extended recovery, change in the assumed long-term revenue growth or profitability for our respective reporting units, especially Joybird, or change in market participant assumptions such as an increased discount rate, could increase the likelihood of future goodwill impairment charges. Refer to Note 7, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, for further information.
We operate a wholesale sales office that is responsible for distributing La-Z-Boy products in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Our assets include goodwill and other intangible assets, including acquired customer relationships, in connection with our acquisition of this business. If we do not meet our sales or earnings expectations for this operation, we may incur charges for the impairment of goodwill or the impairment of our intangible assets.
We make certain assumptions, judgments and estimates that impact the amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements, which, if not accurate, may impact our financial results.
Certain assumptions, judgments and estimates impact amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements, including but not limited to, inventories, goodwill, intangible assets, insurance and legal-related liabilities, contingent consideration and income taxes. To derive our assumptions, judgments and estimates, we use historical experience and various other factors that we believe are reasonable as of the date we prepare our consolidated financial statements. Our goodwill and contingent consideration liability, resulting from certain acquisitions, are based on the expected future performance of the operations acquired. Annually, we reassess the goodwill for impairment and quarterly, we reassess the fair value of any contingent consideration. Changes in business conditions or other events could materially change the projection of future cash flows or the discount rate we used in the fair value calculation of the goodwill and contingent consideration. Actual results could differ materially from our estimates, and such differences may impact our financial results.
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We may not be able to recruit and retain key employees and skilled workers in a competitive labor market.
If we cannot successfully recruit and retain key employees and skilled workers or we experience the unexpected loss of those employees, our operations may be negatively impacted. A shortage of qualified personnel may require us to enhance our compensation in order to compete effectively in the hiring and retention of qualified employees.
Additionally, we are and will continue to be dependent upon our senior management team and other key personnel. Losing the services of one or more key members of our management team or other key personnel could adversely affect our operations. In addition, COVID-19 increases the risk that certain senior executive officers or a member of the board of directors could become ill, causing them to be incapacitated or otherwise unable to perform their duties for an extended absence. Furthermore, because of the nature of the disease, multiple people working in close proximity could also become ill simultaneously which could result in the same department having extended absences. This could negatively impact the efficiency and effectiveness of processes and internal controls throughout the Company.
We have implemented work-from-home policies for certain employees. The effects of stay-at-home orders and our work-from-home policies may negatively impact productivity and disrupt our business, the magnitude of which will depend, in part, on the length and severity of the restrictions and other limitations on our ability to conduct our business in the ordinary course.
We may require funding from external sources, which may not be available at the levels we require or may cost more than we expect, and as a result, our expenses and operating results could be negatively affected.
We regularly review and evaluate our liquidity and capital needs. To strengthen our financial position and preserve our liquidity, in March 2020, we drew $75.0 million under our $150.0 million revolving credit facility. We believe that our available cash, cash equivalents and cash flow from operations will be sufficient to finance our operations and expected capital requirements for at least the next 12 months. If we experience a sustained decline in revenue relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, there may be periods in which we may require additional external funding to support our operations.
Although our revolving credit facility has remaining borrowing availability of $55.5 million as of April 25, 2020 , availability under the credit agreement fluctuates according to a borrowing base calculated on eligible accounts receivable and inventory. In the event we require additional liquidity from our lenders that exceeds the excess availability under our credit facility at the time, such funds may not be available to us. In addition, outstanding amounts under the credit facility may become immediately due and payable upon certain events of default, including a failure to comply with the financial covenant in the credit agreement, a fixed-charge coverage ratio requirement that applies when excess availability under the credit line is less than certain thresholds, or certain other affirmative and negative covenants in the credit agreement. If we are unable to access additional credit at the levels we require, or the cost of credit is greater than expected, it could adversely affect our operating results or financial condition.
We may not be able to collect amounts owed to us.
We grant payment terms to most customers ranging from 15 to 60 days. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the fiscal 2020 fourth quarter, some customers have requested extended payment terms or informed us they will not pay amounts within agreed upon terms.
Some of our customers have experienced, and may in the future experience, cash flow and credit-related issues. If the negative economic effects of COVID-19 were to persist or a similar pandemic or another major, unexpected event with negative economic effects were to occur, we may not be able to collect amounts owed to us or such payment may only occur after significant delay. While we perform credit evaluations of our customers, those evaluations may not prevent uncollectible trade accounts receivable. Credit evaluations involve significant management diligence and judgment, especially in the current environment. Should more customers than we anticipate experience liquidity issues, if payment is not received on a timely basis, or if a customer declares bankruptcy or closes stores, we may have difficulty collecting amounts owed to us by these customers, which could adversely affect our sales, earnings, financial condition and liquidity.
Legal and Regulatory Risks
Changes in regulation of our international operations could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Our operations outside of the United States and sale of product in various countries subject us to U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including but not limited to, the UK Bribery Act 2010, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.S. Export
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Administration Act, and other anti-bribery and anti-corruption statutes. These laws and regulations include prohibitions on improper payments to government officials, restrictions on where we can do business, what products we can supply to certain countries, and what information we can provide to certain governments. Violations of these laws, which are complex, frequently changing, and are often subject to varying interpretation and enforcement, may result in civil or criminal penalties or sanctions that could have a significant adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors, or agents will not violate our policies and procedures or otherwise comply with these laws and regulations.
We may be subject to product liability claims or undertake to recall one or more products, which could adversely affect our financial results and reputation.
Millions of our products, sold over many years, are currently used by consumers. We may be named as a defendant in lawsuits instituted by persons allegedly injured while using one of our products. We have insurance that we believe is adequate to cover such claims, but we are self-insured for the first $1.5 million in liability and for all defense costs. Furthermore, such claims could damage our brands and reputation and negatively affect our operating results. We have voluntarily recalled products in the past, and while none of those recalls has resulted in a material expense or other significant adverse effect, it is possible that recalls could result in future additional expense, penalties, and injury to our brands and reputation, and negatively impact our operating results.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.
None.
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