Allegion (ALLE) Risk Factors

We are currently, and may in the future become, involved in legal proceedings, claims and disputes incidental to the operation of our business in the ordinary course. Our business may be adversely affected by the outcome of these proceedings and other contingencies (including, without limitation, environmental, product and warranty liability, claims for property damage, physical harm or bodily injury, antitrust, intellectual property, data protection, privacy and labor and employment matters) that cannot be predicted with certainty. As required by GAAP, we establish reserves based on our assessment of the probability of contingencies and whether we are able to reasonably estimate the expected range of loss. Subsequent developments in legal proceedings and other contingencies may affect our assessment and estimates of the loss contingency recorded as a reserve, and we may incur additional costs or be required to make material payments beyond our previously recorded reserves.

The security and access control product markets we serve often have unique certification and specification requirements, reflecting local regulatory requirements and highly variable end-user needs. While we strive to meet all certification and specification requirements, if any of our products or solutions do not meet such requirements, or contain, or are perceived to contain, defects or otherwise fall short of end-users' needs and expectations, fail to perform as intended, or are otherwise alleged to result in property damage, bodily injury and/or death we may become subject to personal injury lawsuits and/or product liability claims, and if found liable, may incur significant costs, which could negatively impact our business, results of operations or financial condition. Additionally, electronic security products and solutions are increasingly more sophisticated and technologically complex than the mechanical security products we sell and have an increased risk of design, cybersecurity or manufacturing defects, which could lead to recalls, product replacements or modifications, write-offs of inventory or other assets and significant warranty and other expenses. Product quality issues could also adversely affect the end-user experience, resulting in reputational harm, loss of competitive advantage, poor market acceptance, reduced demand for products and solutions, delay in new product and service introductions and lost sales. Further, adverse publicity, whether or not justified, or allegations of product or service quality issues, even if false or unfounded, could damage our reputation and negatively affect our sales.

The effects of global climate change, such as extreme weather conditions and natural disasters occurring more frequently or with more intense effects, or the occurrence of unexpected events including wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis and other severe hazards in the countries where we operate or sell products and services, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. These events could disrupt our operations by impacting the availability and cost of materials needed for manufacturing, cause physical damage or closure of our manufacturing sites or distribution centers, lead to loss of human capital and/or cause temporary or long-term disruption in the manufacturing or delivery of products and services to customers. These events and disruptions could also adversely affect our customers' and suppliers' financial condition or ability to operate, resulting in reduced customer demand, delays in payments received or supply chain disruptions. Further, these events and disruptions could increase insurance and other operating costs, including impacting our decisions regarding construction of new facilities to select areas less prone to climate change risks and natural disasters, which could result in indirect financial risks passed through the supply chain or other price modifications to our products and services. Many governmental and other regulatory bodies worldwide are enacting regulations to mitigate the impacts of climate change. If we or others in our supply chain are required to comply with these laws and regulations, or if we choose to take voluntary steps to reduce or mitigate our impact on the climate, we may experience increased costs for energy, production, transportation, and raw materials, increased capital expenditures, or increased insurance premiums and deductibles, each of which could adversely impact our operations. In addition, inconsistent regulations among jurisdictions may also affect our cost to comply with such laws and regulations. Any assessment of the potential impact of future climate change legislation, regulations, or industry standards, as well as any international treaties and accords, is uncertain given the wide scope of potential regulatory change in the countries in which we operate. Global health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or any other actual or threatened epidemic, pandemic, or outbreak and spread of a communicable disease or virus in the countries where we operate or sell products and provide services, could adversely affect our operations and financial performance. Further, any national, state or local government mandates or other orders taken to minimize the spread of a global health crisis could restrict our ability to conduct business as usual, as well as the business activities of our key customers and suppliers, including the potential for labor shortages. In particular, the ultimate extent of the impact of any epidemic, pandemic or other global health crisis on our business, financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.

We must develop and commercialize new products and services that meet the varied and evolving needs of our customers and end-users in order to remain competitive in our current and future markets and in order to continue to grow our business. End users are continually adopting more advanced technologies in their facilities and homes, accelerated by the increasing adoption of IoT technologies and connected devices, which will require us to devote significant effort and resources to the development, maintenance and enhancement of our IT Systems (as defined below) and other infrastructure required to support and/or enhance the functionality of our electronic products and solutions. The speed of development by our competitors and new market entrants is increasing. We cannot provide any assurance that any new product or service will be successfully commercialized in a timely manner, if ever, or, if commercialized, will result in returns greater than our investment. Investment in a product or service could divert our attention and resources from other projects that become more commercially viable in the market. We also cannot provide any assurance that any new product or service will be accepted by the market.

We may be subject to claims of infringement of intellectual property rights by third parties. In particular, we often compete in areas having extensive intellectual property rights owned by others, and we have become subject to claims alleging infringement of intellectual property rights of others. In general, if it is determined that one or more of our technologies, products or services infringes the intellectual property rights owned by others, we may be required to cease marketing those products or services, to obtain licenses from the holders of the intellectual property at a material cost or to take other actions to avoid infringing such intellectual property rights. The litigation process is costly and subject to inherent uncertainties, and we may not prevail in litigation matters regardless of the merits of our position. Adverse intellectual property litigation or claims of infringement against us may become extremely disruptive if the plaintiffs succeed in blocking the trade of our products and services and may have a material adverse effect on our business.

Despite our implementation of cybersecurity measures, which have focused on prevention, mitigation, resilience and recovery, our network and products, including access solutions, may be vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks, computer viruses, malicious codes, malware, ransomware, phishing, social engineering, denial of service, hacking, break-ins and similar disruptions. Cybersecurity attacks and intrusion efforts are continuous and evolving, and in certain cases they have been successful at the most robust institutions. The scope and severity of risks that cyber threats present have increased dramatically and include, but are not limited to, malicious software, ransomware attacks, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data or premises, exploiting weaknesses related to vendors or other third parties that could be exploited to attack our systems, denials of service and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in systems, unauthorized release of confidential or otherwise protected information and corruption of data. Any such event could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows as we face regulatory, reputational and litigation risks resulting from potential cyber incidents, as well as the potential of incurring significant remediation costs. Further, while we maintain insurance coverage that may, subject to policy terms and exclusions, cover certain aspects of our cyber risks, such insurance coverage may be insufficient to cover our losses or all types of claims that may arise in the continually evolving area of cyber risk. Our daily business operations also require us to collect and/or retain sensitive data such as intellectual property, proprietary business information and data related to customers, employees, suppliers and business partners within our networking infrastructure including data from individuals subject to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, that is subject to privacy and security laws, regulations and/or customer-imposed controls. Despite our efforts to protect such data, the loss or breach of such data due to various causes including material security breaches, catastrophic events, extreme weather, natural disasters, power outages, system failures, computer viruses, improper data handling, programming errors, unauthorized access and employee error or malfeasance could result in wide reaching negative impacts to our business. As such, the ongoing maintenance and security of this information is pertinent to the success of our business operations and our strategic goals. In addition, we operate in an environment where there are different and potentially conflicting data privacy laws and regulations in effect or expected to go into effect in the future, including regulations related to devices connected through IoT, in the various jurisdictions in which we operate, and we must understand and comply with such laws and regulations while ensuring our data is secure. Our networking infrastructure and related assets may be subject to unauthorized access by hackers, employee error or malfeasance or other unforeseen activities. Such issues could result in the disruption of business processes, network degradation and system downtime, along with the potential that a third party will exploit our critical assets such as intellectual property, proprietary business information and data related to our customers, suppliers and business partners. To the extent that such disruptions occur, and our business continuity plans do not effectively address these disruptions in a timely manner, they may cause delays in the manufacture or shipment of our products and the cancellation of customer orders and, as a result, our business operating results and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected, resulting in a possible loss of business or brand reputation. Finally, the regulatory environment around cybersecurity is increasingly challenging, with additional reporting requirements around cybersecurity, risk management, strategy and governance, as well as increased disclosure obligations around the occurrence of material cybersecurity incidents. These requirements may present material obligations and risks to our business, including significantly expanded compliance burdens, costs and enforcement risks. We may also be obligated to report a cybersecurity incident before we have been able to fully assess its impact or remediate the underlying issue, and it could potentially reveal system vulnerabilities to threat actors. Failure to timely report incidents under these or other similar rules could also result in monetary fines, sanctions, or subject us to other forms of liability.

We rely extensively on information technology and operational technology systems, networks and services including hardware, software, firmware and technological applications and platforms (collectively, "IT Systems") to manage and operate our business from end-to-end, including ordering and managing materials from suppliers, design and development, manufacturing, marketing, selling and shipping to customers, invoicing and billing, managing our banking and cash liquidity systems, managing our enterprise resource planning and other accounting and financial systems and complying with regulatory, legal and tax requirements. There can be no assurance that our current IT Systems will function properly. We have invested and will continue to invest in improving our IT Systems. Some of these investments are significant and impact many important operational processes and procedures. There is no assurance that newly implemented IT Systems will improve our current systems, improve our operations or yield the expected returns on the investments. In addition, the implementation of new IT Systems may be more difficult, costly or time consuming than expected and cause disruptions in our operations and, if not properly implemented and maintained, negatively impact our business. If our IT Systems cease to function properly or if these systems do not provide the anticipated benefits, our ability to manage our operations could be impaired.

The markets in which we operate include a large number of participants, including multi-national, regional and small, local companies. We primarily compete on the basis of quality, innovation, expertise, effective channels to market, breadth of product offering and price. We may be unable to effectively compete on all these bases. Further, in a number of our product offerings, we compete with our retail customers and technology partners who use their own private labels. If we are unable to anticipate evolving trends in the market or the timing and scale of our competitors' activities and initiatives, including increased competition from private label brands, the demand for our products and services could be negatively impacted. In addition, we compete in an industry that is experiencing the convergence of mechanical, electronic and digital products. Technology and innovation play significant roles in the competitive landscape. Our success depends, in part, upon the research, development and implementation of new technologies and products including obtaining, maintaining and enforcing necessary intellectual property protections. Securing and maintaining key partnerships and alliances, recruiting and retaining highly skilled and qualified employee talent and having access to technologies, services, intellectual property and solutions developed by others will play a significant role in our ability to effectively compete. The continual development of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, by existing and new competitors, including non-traditional competitors with significant resources, could adversely affect our ability to sustain operating margins and desirable levels of sales volumes. To remain competitive, we must develop new products and service offerings and respond to new technologies in a timely manner.

We have significant customers, particularly major retailers, although no one customer represented 10% or more of our total Net revenues in any of the past three fiscal years. The loss or material reduction of business, either due to a reduction in demand from one or more of our significant customers, or our inability to timely meet any elevated level of customer demand for various reasons, the lack of success of sales initiatives or changes in customer preferences or loyalties for our products related to any such significant customer could have a material adverse impact on our business. In addition, major customers who are volume purchasers are much larger than us and have strong bargaining power with their suppliers. This limits our ability to recover cost increases through higher selling prices. Furthermore, unanticipated inventory adjustments by these customers can have a negative impact on sales. We also sell our products through various trade channels, including traditional retail and e-commerce channels. If we or our major customers are not successful in navigating the shifting consumer preferences to distribution channels such as e-commerce, our expected future revenues may be negatively impacted.