What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2022-02-09 compared with 2021-02-12 · 44 added, 488 removed, 131 unchanged (80% of the section changed)

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We filed a Registration Statement on Form S-1, as amended, with the SEC which was declared effective on January 30, 2020.

On January 31, 2020, our common stock began “regular-way” trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the “REYN” symbol.

On January 31, 2020, our common stock began “regular-way” trading on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the “REYN” symbol.

On February 4, 2020, we completed our Corporate Reorganization and initial public offering (“IPO”).

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We produce and sell products across three broad categories:

cooking products, waste & storage products and tableware.

cooking products, waste and storage products and tableware.

We sell our products under iconic brands such as Reynolds and Hefty, and also under store brands that are strategically important to our customers.

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We have developed our market-leading position by investing in our product categories and consistently developing innovative products that meet the evolving needs and preferences of the modern consumer.

Our mix of branded and store brand products is a key competitive advantage that aligns our goal of growing the overall product category with our customers’ goals and positions us as a trusted strategic partner to our retailers.

Our mix of branded and store brand products is a key competitive advantage that aligns our goal of growing the overall product categories with our customers’ goals and positions us as a trusted strategic partner to our retailers.

Our Reynolds and Hefty brands have preeminent positions in their categories and carry strong brand recognition in household aisles.

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Our customer relationships have been built on a long history of trust.

Our portfolio of branded and store bra nd products allows our retail partners to manage multiple household aisles with a single vendor.

Our portfolio of branded and store brand products allows our retail partners to manage multiple household aisles with a single vendor.

Many of our products have had a prominent position on the shelves of major retailers for decades and have become an integral part of household aisles.

We belie ve our strong brand recognition and customer loyalty lead to robust product performance.

We believe our strong brand recognition and customer loyalty lead to robust product performance.

Our brands have #1 market share positions across nearly all our categories

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Reynolds Cooking & Baking :

Through our Reynolds Cooking & Baking segment, we produce branded and store brand foil, disposable aluminum pans, parchment paper, freezer paper, wax paper, plastic wrap, baking cups, oven bags and slow cooker liners.

Through our Reynolds Cooking & Baking segment, we produce branded and store brand foil, disposable aluminum pans, parchment paper, freezer paper, wax paper, butcher paper, plastic wrap, baking cups, oven bags and slow cooker liners.

Our branded products are sold under the Reynolds Wrap, Reynolds KITCHENS and E-Z Foil brands in the United States and selected international markets, under the ALCAN brand in Canada and under the Diamond brand outside of North America.

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Through our Hefty Waste & Storage segment, we produce both branded and store brand trash and food storage bags.

Our products are sold under the Hefty Ultra Strong, Hefty Strong Trash Bags, Hefty Renew and Hefty Slider Bags brands.

Hefty is a well-recognized leader in the food storage bag and trash bag categories.

We have the #1 market share in U.S.

outdoor trash bags.

Our robust product portfolio includes a full suite of indoor and outdoor trash bags and contractor bags.

It also includes sustainable solutions such as blue and clear recycling bags, compostable bags, bags made from recycled materials and the Hefty EnergyBag Program.

Hefty is a well-recognized leader in the trash bag and food storage bag categories and our private label products offer value to our retail partners.

Our branded products are sold under the Hefty Ultra Strong and Hefty Strong brands for trash bags, and as the Hefty and Baggies brands for our food storage bags.

We have the #1 branded market share in the U.S.

outdoor trash bag and slider bag segments, and the #2 branded market share in the tall kitchen trash bag segment.

Our robust product portfolio in this segment includes a full suite of products, including sustainable solutions such as blue and clear recycling bags, compostable bags, bags made from recycled materials and the Hefty EnergyBag Program.

Hefty Tableware :

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food storage bags, trash bags, reusable storage containers and plastic wrap.

Presto Products is a market leader in food storage bags and differentiates itself by providing access to category management, consumer insights, marketing, merchandising and R&D resources.

Our Presto Products segment also includes our growing specialty business, which serves other consumer products companies by providing Fresh-Lock and Slide-Rite resealable closure systems.

Presto Products is a market leader in food storage bags and differentiates itself by providing access to category management, consumer insights, marketing, merchandising and research and development (“R&D”) resources.

Our Presto Products segment also includes our specialty business, which serves other consumer products companies by providing Fresh-Lock and Slide-Rite resealable closure systems.

Our portfolio consists of three main product groups:

waste & storage products, cooking products and tableware.

waste and storage products, cooking products and tableware.

Our consolidated net revenues by product line for fiscal years 2021, 2020 and 2019 were as follows:

Year ended December 31,

For the Years Ended December 31,

(in millions)

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Walmart accounted for 29%, 30% and 30% and Sam’s Club accounted for 15%, 13% and 13% of our total net revenue in fiscal years 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Walmart and Sam’s Club are affiliated entities.

Sales to Walmart are concentrated more heavily in our Hefty Waste & Storage segment, and sales to Sam’s Club are concentrated more heavily in our Hefty Tableware segment.

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In many cases, we ship directly from our warehouses to the customer distribution center.

Given the breadth of our product offerings, we are also able to optimize truckloads and reduce inventory for our retail pa rtners by shipping trucks from mixing centers filled with SKUs across all of our product categories.

Given the breadth of our product offerings, we are also able to optimize truckloads and reduce inventory for our retail partners by shipping trucks from mixing centers filled with SKUs across all of our product categories.

household consumer products market is mature and highly competitive.

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These competitors include The Clorox Company, S.C.

Johnson & Sons, Inc., Poly-America, Handi-Foil Corporation, Republic Plastics, Ltd., Trinidad Benham Corporation, Inteplast Group, Ltd.

and Dart Container Corporation.

Johnson & Sons, Inc., Poly-America, Handi-Foil Corporation, Republic Plastics, Ltd., Trinidad Benham Corporation and Inteplast Group, Ltd.

Within each product category, most of our products compete with other widely advertised brands and store brand products.

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holidays in our fourth quarter, primarily due to the holiday use of Reynolds Wrap, Reynolds Oven Bags and Reynolds Parchment Paper.

Our tableware products generally have higher sales in the second quarter of the year, primarily due to outdoor summertime use of disposable plates, cups and bowls, however, our tableware products seasonality trends in 2020 were different from historical seasonality trends due to fewer social gatherings as a result of COVID-19.

Our tableware products generally have higher sales in the second quarter of the year, primarily due to outdoor summertime use of disposable plates, cups and bowls.

Raw Materials and Suppliers

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In certain instances, we purchase selected finished goods from third-party suppliers to supplement capacity and source specialty items.

We have not historically experienced any significant interruptions of key raw material supplies.

While we have not historically experienced significant interruptions from third party suppliers, we have seen increased delays in 2021 as a result of labor shortages and the timing of imports from third party suppliers.

Intellectual Property

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Our talent management and succession plan process includes the identification of key positions based on current and future business strategies, the identification of potential successors, and a plan for talent development.

As of December 31, 2020, we employed approximately 5,450 people located primarily in our U.S.

As of December 31, 2021, we employed approximately 5,600 people, most of whom are located in our U.S.

and Canada manufacturing facilities.

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We believe our relationships with our employees and labor unions are satisfactory.

Environmental, Health & Safety:

We are committed t o protecting the safety, health and security of our employees and that of the environments in which we operate.

We are firm in our policy that we will not compromise employee health and safety or the enviro nment for profit or production.

We are passionate about health and safety and pride ourselves on our strategy of prevention through proactive r isk elimination and reduction.

Our cross-functional leaders and team members work collaboratively to identify risks and to develop and implement control measures leveraging engineering solutions and new technology for mitigation.

As a result, in 2021, we have managed to reduce the number of injuries year-over- year and have relatively low injury rates compared to others in our industry .

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to introduce an array of unprecedented challenges, but we responded with urgency to develop and adjust policies and protocols as needed to help prevent spread of the disease in our facilities, while continuing to operate as an essential business to serve our customers and consumers.

The health and well-being of our workforce and of our families, as well as compliance with CDC guidelines and federal, state and local mandates, remain priorities for us.

We persist with illness prevention measures including allowing remote work where feasible, encouraging those who are sick to stay home, adjusting work practices to facilitate physical distancing, mandating face coverings, restricting visitation and travel and educating employees about the disease, prevention, vaccines and resources available to assist with coping during these difficult times.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:

We believe that a diverse, equitable and inclusive organization will enhance the sense of belonging for our colleagues, customers, consumers, shareholders and communities.

We are committed to building a respectful workplace, educating our colleagues and integrating DE&I within our overall business strategy.

2021 was a significant year in our DE&I journey.

As a result of feedback from our colleagues, we took several critical steps.

We educated senior leaders on unconscious bias, completed our Dignity & Respect in the Workplace Survey and hosted listening circles to increase cross-cultural understanding.

Respect is the foundation of our DE&I strategy, and we will continue to implement best practices, educate our colleagues on the importance of implementing DE&I strategies and promote a culture where all feel they belong.

Talent Acquisition:

We are committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace environment in which individual differences are recognized, respected and appreciated.

We provide job opportunities for growth in an exciting, dynamic and fast-paced workplace environment.

We have made investments in our Talent Acquisition team to better enable us to source and recruit talent in today’s challenging labor market, and assist in a great candidate experience and a welcoming new hire onboarding.

We have also created a comprehensive hourly recruiting strategy and social media plan for our plant locations, and have further invested in this area for a consistent approach as well as tools and resources to identify diverse talent.

As many of our products are used in food packaging, our business is subject to regulations governing products that may contact food in all the countries in which we have operations.

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Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) are available free of charge on this website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file these reports and amendments with, or furnish them to, the SEC.

Our board has adopted a code of business conduct and ethics that applies to all of our employees, officers and directors, including our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and other executive and senior financial officers, the full text of which is posted on the investor relations section of our website at www.reynoldsconsumerproducts.com.

We intend to disclose future amendments to our code of business conduct and ethics, or any waivers of such code, on our website or in public filings.

The information contained on or connected to our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K and should not be considered part of this or any other report filed with the SEC.

R ISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the risks described below in addition to the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations section and the consolidated financial statements and related notes.

If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

The risks discussed below are not the only risks we face.

Additional risks or uncertainties not currently known to us, or that we currently deem immaterial, may also have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, prospects, results of operations, cash flows or price of our securities.

Risks Related to Our Business, Growth and Profitability

Our success depends on our ability to anticipate and respond to changes in consumer preferences.

We are a consumer products company and believe that our success depends, in part, on our ability to leverage our existing brands and products to drive increased sales and profits.

This depends on our ability to identify and offer products at attractive prices that appeal to consumer tastes and preferences, which are difficult to predict and evolve over time.

Our ability to implement this strategy depends on, among other things, our ability to:

continue to offer to our customers products that consumers want at competitive prices;

introduce new and appealing products and innovate successfully on our existing products;

develop and maintain consumer interest in our brands;

increase our brand recognition and loyalty.

We may not be able to implement this strategy successfully, which could materially and adversely affect our sales and business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are dependent on maintaining satisfactory relationships with our major customers, and significant consolidation among our customers, or the loss of a significant customer, could decrease demand for our products or reduce our profitability.

Many of our customers are large and possess significant market leverage, which results in significant downward pricing pressure and can constrain our ability to pass through price increases.

We generally sell our branded products pursuant to informal trading policies and our store brand products under one year or multi-year agreements.

We do not have written agreements with many of our customers.

Our contracts generally do not obligate the customer to purchase any given amount of product.

If our major customers reduce purchasing volumes or stop purchasing our products for any reason, our business and results of operations would likely be materially and adversely affected.

It is possible that we will lose customers, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on a relatively small number of customers for a significant portion of our revenue.

In 2020, sales to our top ten customers accounted for 68% of our total revenue, and our two largest customers, Walmart and Sam’s Club, individually accounted for 30% and 13%, respectively, of our total revenue.

Sales to Walmart are concentrated more heavily in our Hefty Waste & Storage segment, and sales to Sam’s Club are concentrated more heavily in our Hefty Tableware segment.

The loss of any of our significant customers would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, over the last several years, there has been a trend toward consolidation among our customers in the retail industry and we expect that this trend will continue.

Consolidation among our customers could increase their ability to apply pricing pressure, and thereby force us to reduce our selling prices or lose sales.

In addition, following a consolidation, our customers may close stores, reduce inventory or switch suppliers.

Any of these factors could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We operate in competitive markets.

Our main competitors include The Clorox Company, S.C.

Johnson & Sons, Inc., Poly-America, Handi-Foil Corporation, Republic Plastics, Ltd., Trinidad Benham Corporation, Inteplast Group, Ltd.

and Dart Container Corporation.

Although capital costs and intellectual property and technology may create barriers to entry, we face the threat of competition from new entrants to our markets as well as from existing competitors, including competitors outside the United States who may have lower production costs.

Our customers continuously evaluate their suppliers, often resulting in downward pricing pressure and increased pressure to continuously introduce and commercialize innovative new products, improve customer service, maintain strong relationships with our customers and, where applicable, develop and maintain brands that are meaningful to consumers.

If our products fail to compete successfully with other branded or private label offerings, demand for our products and our sales and profitability could be negatively impacted.

Loss of any of our key manufacturing facilities or of those of our key suppliers could have an adverse effect on our business.

Some of our products are manufactured at a single location.

For example, our Malvern, Arkansas plant is our sole producer of foil reroll for our Louisville, Kentucky plant, which in turn is our sole producer of household foil.

The loss of the use of all or a portion of any of our key manufacturing facilities, especially one that is a sole producer, or the loss of any key suppliers, due to any reason, including an accident, labor issues, weather conditions, natural disaster, the emergence of a pandemic (such as coronavirus), cyber-attacks against our information systems (such as ransomware) or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Any interruption in our supply of raw materials could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are dependent on our suppliers for an uninterrupted supply of key raw materials in a timely manner.

The supply of these materials could be disrupted for a wide variety of reasons, including political and economic instability, the financial stability of our suppliers, their ability to meet our standards, labor problems, the availability and prices of raw materials, currency exchange rates, transport availability and cost, transport security and inflation, and other factors beyond our control.

We have written contracts with some but not all of our key suppliers, and where we have written contracts, they generally include force majeure clauses that excuse the supplier’s failure to supply in certain circumstances.

Any interruption in the supply of raw materials for an extended period of time could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is impacted by fluctuations in raw material, energy and freight costs, including the impact of tariffs and similar matters.

Fluctuations in raw material and energy costs could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Raw material costs represent a significant portion of our cost of sales.

The primary raw materials we use are plastic resins, particularly polyethylene and polystyrene, and aluminum.

The prices of our raw materials have fluctuated significantly in recent years.

Aluminum prices have been historically volatile as aluminum is a cyclical commodity with prices subject to global market factors.

Resin prices have also historically fluctuated with changes in crude oil and natural gas prices as well as changes in refining capacity and the demand for other petroleum-based products.

Raw material costs are also impacted by governmental actions, such as tariffs and trade sanctions.

For example, the imposition by the U.S.

government of tariffs on products imported from certain countries and trade sanctions against certain countries have introduced greater uncertainty with respect to policies affecting trade between the United States and other countries and have impacted the cost of certain raw materials, including aluminum and resin.

Major developments in trade relations, including the imposition of new or increased tariffs by the United States and/or other countries, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We typically do not enter into long-term fixed price purchase contracts for our principal raw materials.

Sales contracts for our products generally do not contain cost pass-through mechanisms for raw material costs.

Where our contracts use such pass-through mechanisms, differences in timing between purchases of raw materials and sales to customers can create a “lead lag” effect during which margins are negatively impacted when raw material costs rise and positively impacted when raw material costs fall.

We adjust prices, where possible, to mitigate the effect of production cost increases, including raw materials, but these increases are not always possible or may not cover the increased raw material costs.

In addition, we distribute our products and receive raw materials primarily by rail and truck.

Reduced availability of rail or trucking capacity has caused us, and may continue to cause us, to incur unanticipated expenses and impair our ability to distribute our products or receive our raw materials in a timely manner, which could disrupt our operations, strain our customer relations and adversely affect our operating profits.

In particular, reduced trucking capacity, due to a shortage of drivers, the federal regulation requiring drivers to electronically log their driving hours and adverse weather conditions, among other reasons, has caused an increase in the cost of transportation for us and many other companies.

Our brands are critical to our success.

Our ability to compete successfully depends on our ability to develop and maintain brands that are meaningful to consumers.

The development and maintenance of such brands requires significant investment in product innovation, brand-building, advertising and marketing.

We focus on developing innovative products to address consumers’ unmet needs and introducing store brand products that emulate other popular branded consumer products, and, as a result, may increase our expenditures for advertising and other brand-building or marketing initiatives.

However, these initiatives may not deliver the desired results, which could adversely affect our business and the recoverability of the trade names recorded on our balance sheet, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

O ur business could be impacted by changes in consumer lifestyle and environmental concerns.

We are a consumer products company and any reduction in consumer demand for the types of products we offer as a result of changes in consumer lifestyle, environmental concerns or other considerations could have a significant impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

For example, there have been recent concerns about the environmental impact of single-use disposable products and products made from plastic, particularly polystyrene foam.

These concerns, and the actions taken in response (including regulations banning the sale of certain polystyrene foam products in certain jurisdictions), impact several of our products, especially in our Hefty Tableware segment.

Sustainability concerns, including the recycling of products, have received increased focus in recent years and may play an increasing role in brand management and consumer purchasing decisions.

These changes in consumer lifestyle, environmental concerns or other considerations may result in a decrease in the demand for certain of our current products, and our inability to respond through innovation or acquisition of assets we do not currently own, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business may be affected by economic downturns in the markets that we serve and in the regions that supply our raw materials.

Our business is impacted by market conditions in the retail industry and consumer demand for our products, which in turn are affected by general economic conditions.

Downturns or periods of economic weakness or increased prices in these consumer markets have resulted in the past, and could result in the future, in decreased demand for our products.

For example, uncertainty about future economic conditions globally, and in the United States in particular, could lead to declines in consumer spending and consumption and cause our customers to purchase fewer of our products.

Our profitability and cash flows could suffer if we are unable to continue to generate cost savings in our manufacturing and distribution processes.

We anticipate that cost savings will result from reducing material costs and manufacturing inefficiencies and from realizing productivity gains, distribution efficiencies and overhead reductions.

However, if we cannot successfully develop and implement cost savings plans, or if the cost of making these changes increases, we will not realize all anticipated benefits, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Sales growth objectives may be difficult to achieve, and we may not be able to achieve our innovation goals, develop and introduce new products and line extensions or expand into adjacent categories and countries.

We operate in mature markets that are subject to high levels of competition.

Our future performance and growth, including our ability to meet our internal objectives of generating 20% of our revenue each year from products that are less than three years old, depends on innovation and our ability to successfully develop or license capabilities to introduce new products, brands, line extensions and product innovations or enter into or expand into adjacent product categories, sales channels or countries.

Our ability to quickly innovate in order to adapt our products to meet changing consumer demands is essential, especially in light of eCommerce and direct-to-consumer channels significantly reducing the barriers for even small competitors to quickly introduce new brands and products directly to consumers.

The development and introduction of new products require substantial and effective research and development and demand creation expenditures, which we may be unable to recoup if the new products do not gain widespread market acceptance.

In addition, effective and integrated systems are required for us to gather and use consumer data and information to successfully market our products.

New product development and marketing efforts, including efforts to enter markets or product categories in which we have limited or no prior experience, have inherent risks, including product development or launch delays.

These could result in us not being the first to market and the failure of new products, brands or line extensions to achieve anticipated levels of market acceptance.

If product introductions or new or expanded adjacencies are not successful, costs associated with these efforts may not be fully recouped and our results of operations could be adversely affected.

In addition, if sales generated by new products cause a decline in sales of our existing products, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Even if we are successful in increasing market share within particular product categories, a decline in the markets for such product categories could have a negative impact on our financial results.

In addition, in the future, our growth strategy may include expanding our international operations, which could be subject to foreign market risks, including, among others, foreign currency fluctuations, economic or political instability and the imposition of tariffs and trade restrictions, which could adversely affect our financial results.

We may incur liabilities, experience harm to our reputation and brands, or be forced to recall products as a result of real or perceived product quality or other product-related issues.

Although we have control measures and systems in place that are designed to ensure that the safety and quality of our products are maintained, the consequences of not being able to do so could be severe, including adverse effects on consumer health, our reputation, the loss of customers and market share, financial costs and loss of revenue.

If any of our products are found to be defective, we could be required to or may voluntarily recall such products, which could result in adverse publicity, significant expenses and a disruption in sales and could affect our reputation and that of our products.

In addition, if any of our competitors or customers supply faulty or contaminated products to the market, our industry could be negatively impacted, which in turn could have adverse effects on our business.

The widespread use of social media and networking sites by consumers has greatly increased the speed and accessibility of information dissemination.

Negative publicity, posts or comments on social media or networking sites about us or our brand s, whether accurate or inaccurate, or disclosure of non-public sensitive information about us, could be widely disseminated through the use of social media.

Such events, if they were to occur, could harm our image and adversely affect our business, as wel l as require resources to rebuild our reputation.

We are affected by seasonality.

Portions of our business have historically been moderately seasonal.

Overall, our strongest sales are in our fourth quarter and our weakest sales are in our first quarter.

This is driven by higher levels of sales of cooking products around major U.S.

holidays in our fourth quarter, primarily due to the holiday use of Reynolds Wrap, Reynolds Oven Bags and Reynolds Parchment Paper.

As a result of this seasonality, any factors negatively affecting us during these periods of any year, including unfavorable economic conditions, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations for the entire year.

Because of quarterly fluctuations caused by these and other factors, comparisons of our operating results across different fiscal quarters may not be accurate indicators of our future performance.

Loss of our key management and other personnel, or an inability to attract new management and other personnel, could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend on our senior executive officers and other key personnel to operate our businesses, develop new products and technologies and service our customers.

The loss of any of these key personnel could adversely affect our operations.

Competition is intense for qualified personnel and the loss of them or an inability to attract, retain and motivate additional highly skilled personnel required for the operation and expansion of our business could hinder our ability to successfully conduct research and development activities or develop and support marketable products.

Additionally, the high U.S.

employment levels in recent years have increased turnover as compared to prior periods at some of our facilities and made hiring and retaining hourly employees more difficult.

Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may have difficulty acquiring product lines or businesses, which could impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may pursue acquisitions of product lines or businesses from third parties.

Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including difficulties in the assimilation of the operations, technologies, services and products of the acquired product lines or businesses, estimation and assumption of liabilities and contingencies, personnel turnover and the diversion of management’s attention from other business operations.

We may be unable to successfully integrate and manage certain product lines or businesses that we may acquire in the future, or be unable to achieve anticipated benefits or cost savings from acquisitions in the time frame we anticipate, or at all.

We may not be successful in obtaining, maintaining and enforcing sufficient intellectual property rights to protect our business, or in avoiding claims that we infringe on the intellectual property rights of others.

We rely on intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks and copyrights, as well as unpatented proprietary knowledge and trade secrets, to protect our business.

However, these rights do not afford complete protection against third parties.

For example, patents, trademarks and copyrights are territorial;

thus, our business will only be protected by these rights in those jurisdictions in which we have been issued patents or have trademarks or copyrights, or have obtained licenses to use such patents, trademarks or copyrights.

Even so, the laws of certain countries may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States.

Additionally, there can be no assurance that others will not independently develop knowledge and trade secrets that are similar to ours, or develop products or brands that compete effectively with our products and brands without infringing, misusing or otherwise violating any of our intellectual property rights.

We cannot be certain that any of our current or pending patents, trademarks and copyrights will provide us with sufficient protection from competitors, or that any intellectual property rights we do hold will not be invalidated, circumvented or challenged in the future.

There is also a risk that we will not be able to obtain and perfect or, where appropriate, license, the intellectual property rights necessary to support new product introductions and product innovations.

Additionally, we have licensed, and may license in the future, patents, trademarks, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights to third parties.

While we attempt to ensure that our intellectual property rights are protected when entering into business relationships, third parties may take actions that could materially and adversely affect our rights or the value of our intellectual property rights.

Third parties may copy or otherwise obtain and use our proprietary knowledge or trade secrets without authorization o r infringe, misuse or otherwise violate our other intellectual property rights.

For example, our brand names, especially Reynolds, Hefty, Diamond and Presto, are well-established in the market and have attracted infringers in the past.

Additionally, we may not be able to prevent current and former employees, contractors and other parties from misappropriating our confidential and proprietary knowledge.

Infringement, misuse or other violation of any of our intellectual property rights may dilute or diminish the value of our brands and products in the marketplace, which could adversely affect our results of operations and make it more difficult for us to maintain a strong market position.

Although we believe that our intellectual property rights are sufficient to allow us to conduct our business without incurring liability to third parties, our products and brands may infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, and in the past we have been, and in the future we may be, subject to claims asserting infringement, misuse or other violation of intellectual property rights and seeking damages, the payment of royalties or licensing fees, and/or injunctions against the sales of our products.

If we are found to have infringed, misused or otherwise violated the intellectual property rights of others, we could be forced to pay damages, cease use of such intellectual property or, if we are given the opportunity to continue to use the intellectual property rights of others, we could be required to pay a substantial amount for continued use of those rights.

In any case, such claims could be protracted and costly and could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations regardless of their outcome.

Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets are a material component of our balance sheet and impairments of these assets could have a significant impact on our results.

We have recorded a significant amount of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets, representing our Reynolds and Hefty trade names, on our balance sheet.

We test the carrying values of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment at least annually and whenever events or circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable.

The estimates and assumptions about future results of operations and cash flows made in connection with impairment testing could differ from future actual results of operations and cash flows.

While we concluded that our goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets were not impaired during our annual impairment review performed during the fourth quarter of 2020, future events could cause us to conclude that the goodwill associated with a given segment, or one of our indefinite-lived intangible assets, may have become impaired.

Any resulting impairment charge, although non-cash, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Some of our workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements, and our business could be harmed in the event of a prolonged work stoppage.

Approximately 23% of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements.

While we believe we have good relationships with our unionized employees and we have not experienced a significant union-related work stoppage over the last ten years, if we encounter difficulties with renegotiations or renewals of collective bargaining arrangements or are unsuccessful in those efforts we could incur additional costs and experience work stoppages.

We cannot predict how stable our union relationships will be or whether we will be able to successfully negotiate successor collective bargaining agreements without impacting our financial condition.

In addition, the presence of unions may limit our flexibility in dealing with our workforce.

Work stoppages could negatively impact our ability to manufacture our products on a timely basis, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Tax legislation initiatives or challenges to our tax positions could adversely affect our operations and financial condition.

We are subject to the tax laws and regulations of the U.S.

federal, state and local governments.

From time to time, legislative measures may be enacted that could adversely affect our overall tax positions regarding income or other taxes.

There can be no assurance that our effective tax rate or tax payments will not be adversely affected by these legislative measures.

For example, in December 2017, the United States federal government enacted tax reform that, among other things, reduced U.S.

federal corporate income tax rates, imposed limits on tax deductions for interest expense, changed the rules related to capital expenditure cost recovery and changed many of the rules related to the taxation of business income generated outside of the United States.

There are a number of uncertainties and ambiguities as to the interpretation and application of many of the provisions of the enacted tax reform measure.

Given the unpredictability of these possible changes and their potential interdependency, it remains difficult to assess the overall effect such tax changes will have on our earnings and cash flow, and the extent to which such changes could adversely impact our results of operations.

As the impacts of the new law are determined, and as regulations and other guidance interpreting the new law are issued and finalized, our financial results could be impacted.

In addition, future changes in tax laws, including as a result of any legislation proposed by the new U.S.

presidential administration or Congress, which may include efforts to change or repeal the 2017 tax reform measures and the federal corporate income tax rate reduction, could have a material adverse impact on our tax rate and our cash tax expectations.

In addition, U.S.

federal, state and local tax laws and regulations are extremely complex and subject to varying interpretations.

There can be no assurance that our tax positions will be sustained if challenged by relevant tax authorities and if not sustained, there could be a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Risks Related to Liquidity and Indebtedness

We have significant debt, which could adversely affect our financial condition and ability to operate our business.

As of January 31, 2021, we had $2,257 million of outstanding indebtedness under our senior secured term loan facility (“Term Loan Facility”) and up to $250 million of borrowing capacity under our senior secured revolving credit facility (“Revolving Facility”).

Our debt level and related debt service obligations:

require us to dedicate significant cash flow to the payment of principal of, and interest on, our debt, which reduces the funds we have available for other purposes, including working capital, capital expenditures and general corporate purposes;

may limit our flexibility in planning for or reacting to changes in our business and market conditions or in funding our strategic growth plan;

impose on us financial and operational restrictions;

expose us to interest rate risk on our debt obligations bearing interest at variable rates.

These restrictions could adversely affect our financial condition and limit our ability to successfully implement our growth strategy.

In addition, we may need additional financing to support our business and pursue our growth strategy, including for strategic acquisitions.

Our ability to obtain additional financing, if and when required, will depend on investor demand, our operating performance, the condition of the capital markets and other factors.

We cannot assure you that additional financing will be available to us on favorable terms when required, or at all.

If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity, equity-linked or debt securities, those securities may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of our common stock, and, in the case of equity and equity-linked securities, our existing stockholders may experience dilution.

An increase in market interest rates, or a phase-out or replacement of the LIBO rate with a benchmark rate that is higher or more volatile than the LIBO rate, could increase our interest costs.

Our debt bears interest at variable rates, and we may incur additional variable interest rate indebtedness in the future.

This exposes us to interest rate risk, and any interest rate swaps we enter into in order to reduce interest rate volatility may not fully mitigate our interest rate risk.

If interest rates were to increase, our debt service obligations on the unhedged variable rate indebtedness would increase even if the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash flows, including cash available for servicing our indebtedness, will correspondingly decrease.

In addition, in July 2017, the U.K.

Financial Conduct Authority announced that, after the end of 2021, it would no longer persuade or compel contributing banks to make rate submissions to the ICE Benchmark Administration (together with any successor to the ICE Benchmark Administrator, the “IBA”) for purposes of the IBA setting the LIBO rate.

The cessation date for submission and publication of rates for certain tenors of the LIBO rate has since been extended by the IBA until mid-2023.

It is uncertain if applicable tenors of the LIBO rate will cease to exist after calendar year 2021, or whether additional reforms to the LIBO rate may be enacted, or whether alternative reference rates will gain market acceptance as a replacement for the LIBO rate.

While the credit agreement governing our debt provides a mechanism for determining an alternative rate of interest in the event that the LIBO rate is no longer available, any such alternative, successor, or replacement rate may not be similar to, or produce the same value or economic equivalence of, the LIBO rate or have the same volume or liquidity as did the LIBO rate prior to its discontinuance or unavailability, which may increase our overall interest expense on unhedged variable rate indebtedness which is currently based on the LIBO rate.

In addition, there can be no assurance that we will be able to reach an agreement with the administrative agent for our lenders on any such replacement benchmark before experiencing adverse effects due to changes in interest rates, if at all.

We will continue to monitor the situation and address the potential reference rate changes in future debt obligations that we may incur, but the potential effect of the phase-out or replacement of the LIBO rate on our cost of capital cannot yet be determined and any increase in the interest we pay and a corresponding increase in our costs of capital or otherwise could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Risks Related to Stockholder Influence, Related Party Transacti ons and Governance

Substantial future sales by Packaging Finance Limited or others of our common stock, or the perception that such sales may occur, could depress the price of our common stock.

Packaging Finance Limited (“PFL”) owns the majority of our outstanding common stock.

We do not know whether or when PFL will sell shares of our common stock.

The sale by PFL or others of a substantial number of shares of our common stock, or a perception that such sales could occur, could significantly reduce the market price of our common stock.

The perception of a potential sell-down by PFL could depress the market price of our common stock and make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management and limit the market price of our common stock.

Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws include provisions that:

provide for a staggered board;

require at least 66 2/3 % of the votes that all of our stockholders would be entitled to cast in an annual election of directors in order to amend our certificate of incorporation and bylaws after the date on which PFL and all other entities beneficially owned by Mr.

Graeme Richard Hart or his estate, heirs, executor, administrator or other personal representative, or any of his immediate family members or any trust, fund or other entity which is controlled by his estate, heirs, any of his immediate family members or any of their respective affiliates (PFL and all of the foregoing, collectively, the “Hart Entities”) and any other transferee of all of the outstanding shares of common stock held at any time by the Hart Entities which are transferred other than pursuant to a widely distributed public sale (“Permitted Assigns”) beneficially own less than 50% of the outstanding shares of our common stock;

eliminate the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders after the date on which the Hart Entities or Permitted Assigns beneficially own less than 50% of the outstanding shares of our common stock;

prohibit stockholder action by written consent, instead requiring stockholder actions to be taken solely at a duly convened meeting of our stockholders, after the date on which the Hart Entities or Permitted Assigns beneficially own less than 50% of the outstanding shares of our common stock;

permit our board of directors, without further action by our stockholders, to fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of preferred stock, the rights of which may be greater than the rights of our common stock;

restrict the forum for certain litigation against us to the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware;

establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at annual stockholder meetings.

These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management.

As a result, these provisions may adversely affect the market price and market for our common stock if they are viewed as limiting the liquidity of our stock.

These provisions may also make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us in the future, and, as a result, our stockholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares of common stock.

Furthermore, we have entered into a stockholders agreement with PFL which, among other matters, provides PFL with the right to nominate a certain number of directors to our board of directors so long as the Hart Entities beneficially own at least 10% of the outstanding shares of our common stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf;

any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty;

any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws;

or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act, the Securities Act of 1933, or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.

The choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees.

Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We intend to continue to pay regular dividends on our common stock, but our ability to do so may be limited.

We intend to continue to pay cash dividends on our common stock on a quarterly basis, subject to the discretion of our board of directors and our compliance with applicable law, and depending on our results of operations, capital requirements, financial condition, business prospects, contractual restrictions, restrictions imposed by applicable laws and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant.

Our ability to pay dividends is restricted by the terms of our Term Loan Facility and may be restricted by the terms of any future debt or preferred equity securities.

Our dividend policy entails certain risks and limitations, particularly with respect to our liquidity.

By paying cash dividends rather than investing that cash in our business or repaying any outstanding debt, we risk, among other things, slowing the expansion of our business, having insufficient cash to fund our operations or make capital expenditures or limiting our ability to incur borrowings.

Our board of directors will periodically review the cash generated from our business and the capital expenditures required to finance our growth plans and determine whether to modify the amount of regular dividends and/or declare any periodic special dividends.

There can be no assurance that our board of directors will not reduce the amount of regular cash dividends or cause us to cease paying dividends altogether.

We could incur significant liabilities if we take certain actions that result in assessment of U.S.

federal income tax on certain internal transactions undertaken by PEI Group (previously known as RGHL Group) in preparation for our IPO.

We historically operated as part of Pactiv Evergreen Inc.

and its subsidiaries (“PEI Group”, previously known as “RGHL Group”).

In preparation for our IPO, PEI Group effected certain distributions pursuant to the Corporate Reorganization to transfer its interests in us to PFL in a manner that was intended to qualify as tax-free to PFL and PEI Group under Sections 368(a)(1)(D) and 355 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Code”).

PEI received a tax opinion as to the tax treatment of these distributions, which relied on certain facts, assumptions, representations and undertakings from Mr.

Graeme Hart, PEI Group and us regarding the past and future conduct of the companies’ respective businesses and other matters.

If any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings are incorrect or not otherwise satisfied, PEI may not be able to rely on the opinion of tax counsel and could be subject to significant tax liabilities.

Notwithstanding the opinion of tax counsel, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) could determine on audit that these distributions are taxable if it determines that any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings are not correct or have been violated or if it disagrees with the conclusions in the opinion, or for other reasons, including as a result of certain significant changes in the stock ownership of PEI, Pactiv Evergreen Group Holdings Inc.

(an indirect subsidiary of PEI) or us after the distributions.

If the distributions are determined to be taxable for U.S.

federal income tax purposes, PFL, PEI and Pactiv Evergreen Group Holdings Inc.

could incur significant U.S.

federal income tax liabilities, and we could also incur significant liabilities.

Under the tax matters agreement between PEI and us (“Tax Matters Agreement”), we are required to indemnify PEI Group against taxes incurred by them that arise as a result of, among other things, a breach of any representation made by us, including those provided in connection with the opinion of tax counsel or us taking or failing to take, as the case may be, certain actions, in each case, that result in any of the distributions failing to meet the requirements of a tax-free distribution under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Code.

We may be affected by significant restrictions, including on our ability to engage in certain corporate transactions for a two-year period after the Corporate Reorganization, in order to avoid triggering significant tax-related liabilities.

To preserve the tax-free treatment for U.S.

federal income tax purposes to PEI Group of the distributions effected pursuant to the Corporate Reorganization, under the Tax Matters Agreement that we entered into with PEI, we are restricted from taking any action that prevents these distributions from being tax-free for U.S.

federal income tax purposes.

Under the Tax Matters Agreement, for the two-year period following these distributions, we are subject to specific restrictions on our ability to enter into acquisitions, mergers, liquidations, sales and stock redemption transactions with respect to our stock.

These restrictions may limit our ability to pursue certain strategic transactions or other transactions that we may believe to be in the best interests of our stockholders or that might increase the value of our business.

These restrictions do not limit the acquisition of other businesses by us for cash consideration.

Furthermore, we are subject to specific restrictions on discontinuing the active conduct of our trade or business and the issuance or sale of stock or other securities (including securities convertible into our stock but excluding certain compensatory arrangements), which may limit our ability to effect certain anti-takeover provisions related to the issuance of preferred stock.

Such restrictions may reduce our strategic and operating flexibility, including our options for raising equity capital.

PFL controls the direction of our business and PFL’s concentrated ownership of our common stock may prevent our stockholders from influencing significant decisions.

PFL owns and controls the voting power of approximately 74% of our outstanding shares of common stock.

Under our stockholders agreement with PFL, PFL is entitled to nominate all of our board of directors so long as it owns at least 50% of our shares, and a majority of our board of directors so long it owns at least 40% of our shares.

Additionally, as long as PFL continues to control a majority of the voting power of our outstanding common stock, it is generally able to determine the outcome of all corporate actions requiring stockholder approval.

PFL and its affiliates engage in a broad spectrum of activities.

In the ordinary course of their business activities, PFL and its affiliates may engage in activ ities where their interests may not be the same as, or may conflict with, the intere sts of our other stockholders.

Other stockholders will not be able to affect the outcome of any stockholder vote while PFL controls the majority of the voting power of our outstanding common stock.

As a result, PFL control s , directly or indirectly and subject to applicable law, the composition of our board of directors, which in turn will be able to control all matters affecting us, including, among others:

any determination with respect to our business direction and policies, including the appointment and removal of officers and directors;

the adoption of amendments to our certificate of incorporation;

any determinations with respect to mergers, business combinations or disposition of assets;

compensation and benefit programs and other human resources policy decisions;

the payment of dividends on our common stock;

determinations with respect to tax matters.

In addition, the concentration of PFL’s ownership could also discourage others from making tender offers, which could prevent holders from receiving a premium for their common stock.

Because PFL’s interests may differ from ours or from those of our other stockholders, actions that PFL takes with respect to us, as our controlling stockholder, may not be favorable to us or our other stockholders, including holders of our common stock.

If we are no longer affiliated with PEI Group, we may be unable to continue to benefit from that relationship, which may adversely affect our operations and have a material adverse effect on us.

Our affiliation with PEI Group provided us with increased scale and reach.

We leveraged our combined scale to coordinate purchases across our operations to reduce costs.

If we no longer benefit from this relationship, whether because we are no longer affiliated with PEI Group or otherwise, it may result in increased costs for us and higher prices to our customers because we may be unable to obtain goods, services and technology from unaffiliated third parties on terms as favorable as those previously obtained.

As a result of any the above factors, we may be precluded from pursuing certain opportunities that we would otherwise pursue, including growth opportunities, which in turn may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have entered, and may continue to enter, into certain related party transactions.

There can be no assurance that we could not have achieved more favorable terms if such transactions had not been entered into with related parties, or that we will be able to maintain existing terms in the future.

We have entered into various transactions with Rank Group Limited (“Rank”) and other related parties that are members of PEI Group, including, among others:

the lease for our corporate headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois;

the lease for a facility used for certain research and development activities in Canandaigua, New York;

the transition services agreement whereby PEI Group provides certain administrative services to us and we will provide certain services to PEI Group, including human resources, compliance, and procurement;

the transition services agreement whereby Rank, upon our request, provides certain administrative services to us;

a transition and support agreement with Pactiv LLC (“Pactiv”), a member of PEI Group, for support at our Red Bluff, California and Huntersville, North Carolina facilities (which we acquired from Pactiv in 2019);

supply agreements where we sell certain products (primarily aluminum foil containers and roll foil) to, and purchase certain products (primarily tableware), from Pactiv;

a warehousing and freight services agreement whereby Pactiv provides certain logistics services to us.

While we believe that all such transactions have been negotiated on an arm’s length basis and contain commercially reasonable terms, we may have been able to achieve more favorable terms had such transactions been entered into with unrelated parties.

In addition, while these services are being provided to us by related parties, our operational flexibility to modify or implement changes with respect to such services or the amounts we pay for them may be limited.

At the conclusion of these agreements, we will have to perform such services with internal resources or contract with third party providers.

There could be disruptions upon transition, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to perform or obtain the necessary services at the same or lower cost.

Such related party transactions may also potentially involve conflicts of interest;

for example, in the event of a dispute under any of these related party agreements, PEI Group could decide the matter in a way adverse to us, and our ability to enforce our contractual rights may be limited.

It is also likel y that we may enter into related party transactions in the future.

Although material related party transactions that we may enter into will be subject to approval or ratification of a designated committee of our board of directors (which will initially be the Audit Committee) or other committee designated by our board of directors made up solely of independent directors, there can be no assurance that such transactions, individually or in the aggregate, will not have an adverse effect on our financial cond ition and results of operations, or that we could not have achieved more favorable terms if such transactions had not been entered into with related parties.

If PFL sells a controlling interest in our company to a third party in a private transaction, investors may not realize any change-of-control premium on shares of our common stock and we may become subject to the control of a presently unknown third party.

PFL owns and controls the voting power of approximately 74% of our outstanding shares of common stock.

PFL has the ability, should it choose to do so, to sell some or all of its shares of our common stock in a privately negotiated transaction, which, if sufficient in size, could result in a change of control of our company.

The ability of PFL to privately sell its shares of our common stock, with no requirement for a concurrent offer to be made to acquire all of the shares of our common stock that are publicly traded, could prevent investors from realizing any change-of-control premium on shares of our common stock that may otherwise accrue to PFL on its private sale of our common stock.

Additionally, if PFL privately sells its significant equity interest in our company, we may become subject to the control of a presently unknown third party.

Such third party may have conflicts of interest with those of other stockholders.

In addition, if PFL sells a controlling interest in our company to a third party, our liquidity could be impaired, our outstanding indebtedness may be subject to acceleration and our commercial agreements and relationships could be impacted, all of which may adversely affect our ability to run our business as described herein and may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the rules of Nasdaq and, as a result, rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.

PFL controls a majority of the voting power of our outstanding common stock.

As a result, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of Nasdaq.

Under these rules, a listed company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including:

the requirement that a majority of the board of directors consist of independent directors;

the requirement that our compensation, nominating and corporate governance committee be composed entirely of independent directors;

the requirement for an annual performance evaluation of our compensation, nominating and corporate governance committee.

While PFL controls a majority of the voting power of our outstanding common stock, we intend to rely on these exemptions and, as a result, will not have a majority of independent directors on our board of directors or a compensation, nominating and corporate governance committee consisting entirely of independent directors.

Accordingly, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq.

PEI Group may compete with us, and its competitive position in certain markets may constrain our ability to build and maintain partnerships.

We may face competition from a variety of sources, including Pactiv and other members of PEI Group, both today and in the future.

For example, while we have supply agreements in place with Pactiv, Pactiv may still compete with us in certain products and/or in certain channels.

In addition, while none of the other members of PEI Group currently manufacture or sell products that compete with our products, they may do so in the future, including as a result of acquiring a company that operates as a manufacturer of consumer products.

Due to the significant resources of PEI Group, including financial resources and know-how resulting from the previous management of our business, PEI Group could have a significant competitive advantage should it decide to engage in the type of business we conduct, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Although Pactiv has historically sold the products (primarily tableware and cups) that we purchase from it in the foodservice business-to-business channel, after the termination of our supply agreement with Pactiv it could seek to sell such products in the retail channel or otherwise compete with us, especially where we sell private label or store brand products.

As our former supplier, Pactiv would have information about products, including pricing that could give it a competitive advantage.

In addition, we may partner with companies that compete with PEI Group in certain markets.

Our affiliation with PEI Group may affect our ability to effectively partner with these companies.

These companies may favor our competitors because of our relationship with PEI Group.

Conflicts of interest may arise because certain of our directors may hold a management or board position with PEI Group entities.

From time to time, certain of our directors may also be directors or officers of PEI or other PEI Group entities.

The interests of any such director in PEI, other PEI Group entities and us could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest with respect to decisions involving both us and PEI or PEI Group entities that could have different implications for PEI and us.

These decisions could, for example, relate to:

disagreement over corporate opportunities;

competition between us and PEI Group;

employee retention or recruiting;

our dividend policy;

the services and arrangements from which we benefit as a result of our relationship with PEI Group.

Conflicts of interest could also arise if we enter into any new commercial arrangements with PEI Group in the future.

The presence of directors or officers of entities affiliated with PEI on our board of directors could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest and conflicts in allocating their time with respect to matters involving both us and any one of them, or involving us and PEI, that could have different implications for any of these entities than they do for us.

Provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws address corporate opportunities that are presented to any of our directors who, from time to time, are also directors or officers of PEI and certain of its subsidiaries.

We cannot assure you that our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will adequately address potential conflicts of interest or that potential conflicts of interest will be resolved in our favor or that we will be able to take advantage of corporate opportunities presented to any such individual who is a director of both us and PEI.

As a result, we may be precluded from pursuing certain advantageous transactions or growth initiatives.

Our inability to resolve in a manner favorable to us any potential conflicts or disputes that arise between us and PEI Group, PFL or Rank with respect to our past and ongoing relationships may adversely affect our business and prospects.

Potential conflicts or disputes may arise between PEI Group, PFL or Rank and us in a number of areas relating to our past or ongoing relationships, including:

tax, employee benefit, indemnification and other matters arising from our relationship with PEI Group, PFL or Rank;

business combinations involving us;

the nature, quality and pricing of services PEI Group and Rank have agreed to provide us;

business opportunities that may be attractive to us and PEI Group;

intellectual property or other proprietary rights;

joint sales and marketing activities with PEI Group.

The resolution of any potential conflicts or disputes between us, PEI Group, PFL or Rank or their subsidiaries over these or other matters may be less favorable to us than the resolution we might achieve if we were dealing with an unaffiliated third party.

The agreements we have entered into with PEI Group and Rank are of varying durations and may be amended upon agreement of the parties.

So long as it has the ability to nominate a majority of our board of directors, PFL will be able to determine the outcome of all matters requiring stockholder approval and will be able to cause or prevent a change of control of our company or a change in the composition of our board of directors, and could preclude any acquisition of our company.

For so long as we are controlled by PFL, we may be unable to negotiate renewals or amendments to these agreements, if required, on terms as favorable to us as those we would be able to negotiate with an unaffiliated third party.

Risks Related to Being a Newly Stand-Alone Public Company

As a newly stand-alone public company, our historical financial data is not necessarily representative of the results we would have achieved as a stand-alone public company and may not be a reliable indicator of our future results.

Prior to our public offering, we operated as part of PEI Group and not as a stand-alone entity.

The historical information, prior to February 4, 2020, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K reflects our business as part of PEI Group.

This information does not necessarily reflect the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows we would have achieved as a public company during those periods presented, or that we will achieve in the future.

This is primarily because of the following factors:

PEI Group historically performed or supported various corporate services for us, including executive management, supply chain, information technology, legal, finance and accounting, human resources, risk management, tax, treasury, and other services.

Our historical consolidated financial data reflects allocations of corporate expenses from PEI Group for these and similar functions.

These allocations may not reflect the costs we will incur for similar services in the future as a public company.

We entered into certain agreements with PEI Group and Rank, including supply agreements to sell products (mostly aluminum foil containers and aluminum foil) and purchase products (mostly tableware).

Upon the expiration of these agreements, we will be required to negotiate new arrangements with PEI Group, Rank and/or unaffiliated third parties, and these new arrangements may not reflect terms as favorable as those previously obtained from PEI Group and Rank.

We have relied upon PEI Group for working capital requirements and other cash requirements.

Subsequent to our IPO, PEI Group does not provide us with funds to finance our working capital or other cash requirements.

Further, our access to and cost of debt financing following our IPO may be different from the historical access to and cost of debt financing under PEI Group.

Differences in access to and cost of debt financing may result in differences in the interest rate charged to us on financings, as well as the amounts of indebtedness, types of financing structures and debt markets that may be available to us, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and cash flows.

Historically, we sold substantially all of our U.S.

trade receivables through PEI Group’s securitization facility.

This non-recourse factoring arrangement satisfied all of the conditions that result in the derecognition of our trade receivables.

We repurchased all U.S.

trade receivables outstanding and now collect our trade receivables in the ordinary course of business.

Our historical financial data was not adjusted for and did not reflect changes we have experienced as a result of our transition to becoming a public company.

These changes include (1) changes in our cost structure, personnel needs, tax structure, and business operations, (2) changes in our management, (3) potential increased costs associated with reduced economies of scale, and (4) increased costs associated with corporate governance, investor and public relations, and public company reporting and compliance.

Therefore, our historical financial data may not necessarily be indicative of our future financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

Our ability to operate our business effectively may suffer if we do not, quickly and cost effectively, establish our own financial, administrative, and other support functions, and we cannot assure you that the transitional services PEI Group and Rank have agreed to provide us will be sufficient for our needs.

Historically, we have relied on financial, administrative, and other resources of PEI Group to operate our business.

In conjunction with our separation from PEI Group, we created our own financial, administrative and other support systems or contracted with third parties to replace PEI Group’s systems.

In connection with our IPO, we entered into agreements with PEI Group and Rank under which PEI Group and Rank provide certain transitional services to us, such as supply chain, information technology, legal, finance and accounting, human resources, tax, treasury and other services, as well as access to certain information technology systems shared with PEI Group and subject to data access controls.

These services and data access controls may not be sufficient to meet our needs.

After our agreements with PEI Group and Rank expire, we may not be able to obtain these services at prices or on terms that are as favorable.

Any failure or significant downtime in our own financial, administrative or other support systems or in PEI Group’s or Rank’s financial, administrative or other support systems during the transitional period could negatively impact our results of operations.

We do not have a history of complying with the requirements of being a public company and the requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and divert management’s attention.

As a public company, we are subject to various requirements, including the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley Act”) and the rules of Nasdaq, that did not apply to us prior to becoming a public company.

The requirements of these rules and regulations have increased, and will continue to increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increase demand on our systems and resources.

For example, we are obligated to file with the SEC annual and quarterly information and other reports and therefore need to have the ability to prepare financial statements that are compliant with all SEC reporting requirements on a timely basis.

In addition, we are subject to other reporting and corporate governance requirements, including certain requirements of Nasdaq and certain provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder, which impose significant compliance obligations upon us.

The increased costs of compliance with public company reporting requirements and our potential failure to satisfy these requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 and associated responses could adversely impact our business and results of operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted economic activity and markets throughout the world.

In response, governmental authorities have implemented numerous measures in an attempt to contain the virus, such as travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders and business shutdowns.

T he COVID-19 pandemic , including the measures instituted by governmental autho rities and associated responses, ha s, and could continue to , adversely impact our business and results of operations in a number of ways, including but not limited to:

a shutdown, disruption or less than full utilization of one or more of our manufacturing, warehousing or distribution facilities, or disruption in our supply chain or customer base, including but not limited to, as a result of illness, government restrictions or other workforce disruptions;

the failure of third parties on which we rely, including but not limited to, those that supply our raw materials and other necessary operating materials, co-manufacturers and independent contractors, to meet their obligations to us, or significant disruptions in their ability to do so;

new or escalated government or regulatory responses in markets where we manufacture, sell or distribute our products, or in the markets of third parties on which we rely, could prevent or disrupt our business operations;

the continuation of higher costs in certain areas such as front-line employee compensation, as well as incremental costs associated with newly added health screenings, temperature checks and enhanced cleaning and sanitation protocols to protect our employees, which we expect could continue or could increase in these or other areas;

significant reductions or volatility in demand for one or more of our products, which may be caused by, among other things:

the temporary inability of consumers to purchase our products due to illness, quarantine or other travel restrictions, or financial hardship;

or other COVID-19 related restrictions impacting consumer behavior;

an inability to respond to or capitalize on increased demand, including challenges and increased costs associated with adding capacity and related staffing issues;

a change in demand for or availability of our products as a result of retailers, distributors or carriers modifying their inventory, fulfillment or shipping practices;

the unknown duration and magnitude of the recent increased demand for our products, which may not continue or be consistent with our experience to date.

These and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic could have the effect of heightening many of the other risk factors disclosed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The ultimate impact depends on the severity and duration of the current COVID-19 pandemic and actions taken by governmental authorities and other third parties in response, each of which is uncertain, rapidly changing and difficult to predict.

Any of these disruptions could adversely impact our business and results of operations.

Legal, Regulatory and Compliance Risks

We are subject to governmental regulation and we may incur material liabilities under, or costs in order to comply with, existing or future laws and regulations.

Many of our products come into contact with food when used, and the manufacture, packaging, labeling, storage, distribution, advertising and sale of such products are subject to various laws designed to protect human health and the environment.

For example, in the United States, many of our products are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (including applicable current good manufacturing practice regulations) and/or the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and our product claims and advertising are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission.

Most states have agencies that regulate in parallel to these federal agencies.

Liabilities under, and/or costs of compliance, and the impact on us of any non-compliance with, any such laws and regulations could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, changes in the laws and regulations which we are subject to could impose significant limitations and require changes to our business, which in turn may increase our compliance expenses, make our business more costly and less efficient to conduct, and compromise our growth strategy.

We could incur significant liabilities related to, and significant costs in complying with, environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permits.

Our operations are subject to various national, state, local, foreign and international environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permits that govern, among other things, the emission or discharge of materials into the environment;

the use, storage, treatment, disposal, management and release of hazardous substances and wastes;

the health and safety of our employees and the end-users of our products;

and the materials used in, and the recycling of, our products.

These laws and regulations impose liability, which can be strict, joint and several, for the costs of investigating and remediating, and damages resulting from, present and past releases of hazardous substances related to our current and former sites, as well as at third party sites where we or our predecessors have sent waste for disposal.

Non-compliance with, or liability related to, these laws, regulations and permits, which tend to become more stringent over time, could result in substantial fines or penalties, injunctive relief, requirements to install pollution control devices or other controls or equipment, civil or criminal sanctions, permit revocations or modifications and/or facility shutdowns, and could expose us to costs of investigation or remediation, as well as tort claims for property damage or personal injury.

In addition, a number of governmental authorities, both in the United States and abroad, have considered, and are expected to consider, legislation aimed at reducin g the amount of plastic waste.

Programs have included banning certain types of product s, mandating certain rates of recycling and/or the use of recycled materials, imposing deposits or taxes on plastic bags and packaging material, and requiring retailers or manufacturers to take back pack aging used for their products.

Such legislation, as w ell as voluntary initiatives, aimed at reducing the level of plastic wastes could reduce the demand for certain plastic products, result in greater costs for manufacturers of plastic products or otherwise impact our business, financial condition and result s of operations.

Additional regulatory efforts addressing other environmental or safety concerns in the future could similarly impact our operations and financial results.

We depend on intellectual property rights licensed from third parties, and disputes regarding, or termination of, these licenses could result in loss of rights, which could harm our business.

We are dependent in part on intellectual property rights licensed from third parties.

Our licenses of such intellectual property rights may not provide exclusive or unrestricted rights in all fields of use and in all territories in which we may wish to develop or commercialize our products in the future and may restrict our rights to offer certain products in certain markets or impose other obligations on us in exchange for our rights to the licensed intellectual property.

In addition, we may not have full control over the maintenance, protection or use of in-licensed intellectual property rights, and therefore we may be reliant on our licensors to conduct such activities.

Disputes may arise between us and our licensors regarding the scope of rights or obligations under our intellectual property license agreements, including the scope of our rights to use the licensed intellectual property, our rights with respect to third parties, our and our licensors’ obligations with respect to the maintenance and protection of the licensed intellectual property, and other interpretation-related issues.

The agreements under which we license intellectual property rights from others are complex, and the provisions of such agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations.

The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the intellectual property being licensed, or increase what we believe to be our financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement.

Termination of or disputes over such licenses could result in the loss of significant rights.

We are generally also subject to all of the same risks with respect to protection of intellectual property that we license as we are for intellectual property that we own.

Any failure on our part or the part of our licensors to adequately protect this intellectual property could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Breaches of our information systems security measures could expose us to liability and disrupt our operations.

We depend on information technology for processing and distributing information in our business, including to and from our customers and suppliers.

This information technology could be subject to theft, damage or interruption from a variety of sources, including malicious computer viruses, security breaches, defects in design, employee malfeasance or human or technical errors.

Additionally, we could be at risk if a customer’s or supplier’s information technology system is attacked or compromised.

Cybersecurity incidents have increased in number and severity, and it is expected that these trends will continue.

Although we have taken measures to protect our data and to protect our computer systems from attacks, they may not be sufficient to prevent unauthorized access to our systems or theft of our data.

If we or third parties with whom we do business were to fall victim to cyber-attacks or experience other cybersecurity incidents, such incidents could result in unauthorized access to, disclosure or loss of or damage to company, customer or other third party data;

theft of confidential data, including personal information and intellectual property;

loss of access to critical data or systems;

service interruptions;

and other business delays or disruptions.

The loss or disclosure of personal information could also expose us to liability or penalties under laws, rules and regulations related to solicitation, collection, processing or use of consumer, customer, vendor or employee information or related data.

In addition, we may incur large expenditures to investigate or remediate, to recover data, to repair or replace networks or information technology systems, or to protect against similar future events.

If these events were to occur, we could incur substantial costs or suffer other consequences that negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Legal claims and proceedings could adversely impact our business.

As a large company with a long history of serving consumers, we may be subject to a wide variety of legal claims and proceedings.

Regardless of their merit, these claims can require significant time and expense to investigate and defend.

Since litigation is inherently uncertain, there is no guarantee that we will be successful in defending ourselves against such claims or proceedings, or that our assessment of the materiality of these matters, including any reserves taken in connection therewith, will be consistent with the ultimate outcome of such matters.

The resolution of, or increase in the reserves taken in connection with, one or more of these matters could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Our insuran ce coverage may not adequately protect us against business and operating risks.

We maintain insurance for some, but not all, of the potential risks and liabilities associated with our business.

For some risks, we may not obtain insurance if we believe the cost of available insurance is excessive in relation to the risks presented.

As a result of market conditions, premiums and deductibles for certain insurance policies can increase substantially, and in some instances, certain insurance policies are economically unavailable or available only for reduced amounts of coverage.

For example, we will not be fully insured against all risks associated with pollution and other environmental incidents or impacts.

Moreover, we may face losses and liabilities that are uninsurable by their nature, or that are not covered, fully or at all, under our existing insurance policies.

Any significant uninsured liability may require us to pay substantial amounts, which would adversely affect our cash position and results of operations.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or they publish inaccurate or unfavorable reports about our business, the price of our common stock and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business, our market and our competitors.

We do not have any control over these analysts.

If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our shares of common stock or change their opinion of our common stock, our common stock price would likely decline.

If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our common stock price or trading volume to decline.

Failure to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could have a material adverse effect on our business and reputation.

We are required to comply with the SEC’s rules under Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of controls over financial reporting.

When evaluating our internal controls over financial reporting, we may identify material weaknesses that we may not be able to remediate in time to meet the applicable deadline imposed upon us for compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Testing and maintaining our internal control over financial reporting may also divert management’s attention from other matters that are important to the operation of our business.

In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, as such standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to ensure that we can conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

We cannot be certain as to the timing of completion of our evaluation, testing and any remediation actions or the impact of the same on our operations.

If we fail to maintain the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in a timely manner or with adequate compliance, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue an adverse opinion due to ineffective internal controls over financial reporting, and we may be subject to sanctions or investigation by regulatory authorities, such as the SEC.

Moreover, any material weakness or other deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting may impede our ability to file timely and accurate reports with the SEC.

Any of the above could cause a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.

In addition, we may be required to incur costs to improve our internal control system and the hiring of additional personnel.

Any such action could negatively affect our results of operations and cash flows.

UNRESOLV ED STAFF COMMENTS

Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business