Item 1. Legal Proceedings
ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
There are no material pending legal proceedings in which we or our subsidiaries is a party or in which any of our or their property is the subject.
ITEM 1.A RISK FACTORS
There have been no material changes in our risk factors from those disclosed in Part I, Item 1A to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2020, except for the following update:
Our operations may be adversely impacted as a result of pandemic outbreaks, including COVID-19.
In December 2019, COVID-19, a strain of novel coronavirus, was first reported in Wuhan, China, resulting in thousands of confirmed cases of the disease in China. By January 2020, the Chinese government implemented a quarantine protocol for Wuhan and implemented other restrictions for other major Chinese cities, including mandatory business closures, social distancing measures, and various travel restrictions. In March 2020, as COVID-19 spread outside of China, significantly impacting the rest of the world, the World Health Organization designated the outbreak as a global pandemic. The effects of COVID-19 and related actions to attempt to control its spread significantly impacted not only our operating results but also the global economy. COVID-19 has impacted and continues to impact our customers, our operations, consumers and the global economy as discussed below. However, given the evolving health, economic, social, and governmental environments, the breadth and duration of such impact remains uncertain.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected, and continues to affect, our operations, major facilities, and the health of our employees and consumers. The production of certain of our products in our Americas, EMEA, and Asia/Pacific geographic regions are concentrated in a single manufacturing site within each region. To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, many governments have implemented quarantines and significant restrictions on travel as well as work restrictions that prohibited many employees from going to work. As a result, we temporarily closed certain manufacturing and other facilities for limited periods in 2020. Our results have been and we expect will continue to be adversely impacted by these closures and other actions taken to contain or treat the impact of COVID-19, and the extent of such impact will depend upon future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. COVID-19 continues to interfere with general commercial activity related to our supply chain and customer base, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. In mid-2020, we saw some loosening of government-mandated COVID-19 restrictions in certain locales in response to improved COVID-19 infection levels. However, upon worsening COVID-19 infection levels in certain localities in late fiscal 2020 and in fiscal 2021, local governmental authorities have either re-imposed some or all of earlier restrictions or imposed other restrictions, all in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In early fiscal 2021, vaccines for combatting COVID-19 were approved by health agencies in certain countries/regions in which we operate (including the U.S., U.K., European Union, Canada and Mexico) and began to be administered. The availability of COVID-19 vaccines and their take-up by individuals is difficult to predict and vaccination levels vary across jurisdictions. The pace and shape of the COVID-19 recovery as well as the impact and extent of COVID-19 variants or potential resurgences is not presently known. The impact of COVID-19, including the impact of restrictions imposed to combat its spread, could result in additional businesses being shut down, additional work restrictions, an increasingly competitive labor market, and supply chains being interrupted, slowed, or rendered inoperable. As a result, it may be even more challenging to obtain and process raw materials to support our business needs, and more individuals could become ill, quarantined or otherwise unable to work and/or travel due to health reasons or governmental restrictions. Also, governments may impose other laws, regulations or taxes related to COVID-19 which could adversely impact our business, financial condition or results of operations. Further, as some of our customers’ businesses are similarly affected, they might delay or reduce purchases from us, which could adversely affect our results of our business, financial condition or results of operations. The potential effects of COVID-19 also could impact many of the other risk factors described herein, but given the evolving health, economic, social and governmental environments, such potential impact remains uncertain. While we expect the impacts of COVID-19 to continue to have an effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, we are unable to predict the extent or nature of these impacts at this time.
The uncertainty regarding the potential phase-out of LIBOR may negatively impact our operating results.
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LIBOR, the interest rate benchmark used as a reference rate on our variable rate debt, including our revolving credit facility, synthetic lease, interest rate swaps, and cross currency interest rate swaps is expected to be phased out beginning after December 31, 2021 when private-sector banks are no longer required to report the information used to set the rate. Without this data, LIBOR may no longer be published, or the lack of quality and quantity of data may cause the rate to no longer be representative of the market. On March 5, 2021, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a statement confirming that all LIBOR settings will either cease to be provided or no longer be representative (i) immediately after December 31, 2021, in the case of all sterling, euro, Swiss franc and Japanese yen settings, and the 1-week and 2-month US dollar settings, and (ii) immediately after June 30, 2023, in the case of all remaining US dollar settings. The International Swaps and Derivative Association (ISDA) or Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) fallback spread adjustments were fixed as of the FCA announcement date and are expected to be implemented at the point each relevant reference rate ceases or becomes non-representative.
There continue to be many uncertainties regarding a transition from LIBOR, including but not limited to the need to amend all contracts with LIBOR as the referenced rate and how this will impact the Company’s cost of variable rate debt and certain derivative financial instruments. The Company will also need to consider new contracts and if they should reference an alternative benchmark rate or include suggested fallback language, as published by the ARRC. The consequences of these developments with respect to LIBOR cannot be entirely predicted and span multiple future periods but could result in an increase in the cost of our variable rate debt or derivative financial instruments which may be detrimental to our financial position or operating results.
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