Amcor (AMCR) Risk Factors

We have operations throughout the world, including facilities in emerging markets. In fiscal year 2024, approximately 73% of our sales revenue came from developed markets and 27% came from emerging markets. We expect to continue to expand our operations in the future, including in the emerging markets. Managing global operations is complex, particularly due to substantial differences in the cultural, political, and regulatory environments of the countries where we operate. In addition, many countries where we have operations, including Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, and Peru, have legal, regulatory, or political systems, that are dynamic and subject to change. The profitability of our operations may be adversely impacted by, among other things: - changes in applicable fiscal or regulatory regimes;- changes in, or difficulties in interpreting and complying with, local laws, sanctions, and regulations, including tax, labor, foreign investment, and foreign exchange control laws;- nullification, modification, or renegotiation of, or difficulties or delays in enforcing contracts with clients or joint venture partners that are subject to local law;- reversal of current political, judicial, or administrative policies encouraging foreign investment or foreign trade, or related to the use of local agents, representatives, or partners in relevant jurisdictions;- trade restrictions, sanctions, and quotas;- wars, acts of terrorism, social and ethnic unrest, and geopolitical events;- pandemics and other health crises impacting different regions of the world unequally;- difficulties associated with nationalization or expropriation of assets, or expatriating or repatriating cash generated or held abroad; and - changes in exchange rates and inflation, including hyperinflation. Furthermore, prolonged periods of economic, legal, regulatory, or political instability in the emerging markets where we operate could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, financial condition, and results of operations. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has negatively impacted the global economy and led to various economic sanctions being imposed by the U.S., the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries against Russia. It is not possible to predict the broader or longer-term consequences of this conflict. Continued escalation of geopolitical tensions, including the conflict in the Middle East and tensions between China and Taiwan, could result in the loss of property, supply chain disruptions, significant inflationary pressure on raw material prices and other resources (such as energy and natural gas), fluctuations in our customers' buying patterns given regional shortages of food ingredients and other factors, credit and capital market disruption which could impact our ability to obtain financing, increase in interest rates, and adverse foreign exchange impacts. These broader consequences could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, financial condition, and results of operations. Our international operations involve limited sales to entities located in countries subject to economic sanctions administered by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of Commerce and other applicable national and supranational organizations (collectively, "Sanctions"). We also operate in certain countries that are occasionally subject to Sanctions, which require us to maintain internal processes and control procedures. Failure to do so could result in breach by our employees of various laws and regulations, including those relating to money laundering, corruption, export control, fraud, bribery, insider trading, antitrust, competition, and economic sanctions, whether due to a lack of integrity or awareness or otherwise. Any such breach could result in sanctions (including fines and penalties) and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and reputation.

We are subject to foreign exchange rate risk, both transactional and translational, which may negatively affect our reported cash flow, financial condition, and results of operations. Transactional foreign exchange exposures are associated with transactions in currencies other than the entity's functional currency. Translational foreign exchange exposures result from exchange rate fluctuations in the conversion of entity functional currencies to U.S. dollars, our reporting currency, and may affect the reported value of our assets and liabilities and our income and expenses. In particular, our translational exposure may be impacted by movements in the exchange rate between the Euro, the Brazilian Real, the Swiss Franc, the Chinese Yuan, and the United Kingdom Pound Sterling against the U.S. dollar. Refer to "Item 7A. - Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk," including foreign exchange risk, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Exchange rates between transactional currencies may change rapidly due to a variety of factors. In addition, we have recognized foreign exchange losses related to the currency devaluation in Argentina and its designation as a highly inflationary economy under U.S. GAAP. For example, in December 2023, Argentina's government devalued the Argentine peso relative to the U.S. dollar by approximately 55% following the election of a new President which adversely impacted the results and operations of our businesses in Argentina. Refer to Note 2, "Significant Accounting Policies," of the notes to consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information regarding highly inflationary accounting. To the extent currency devaluation occurs across our business, we are likely to experience a lag in the timing to pass through U.S. dollar-denominated input costs across our business, which would adversely impact our margins and profitability. As such, we may be exposed to future exchange rate fluctuations, and such fluctuations could have a material adverse effect on our reported cash flow, financial condition, and results of operations. Our Board of Directors has approved a hedging policy to limit and manage the risk of such foreign exchange fluctuations, however, if our hedges are not effective in mitigating our foreign currency risks, if we are under-hedged, or if a hedge provider defaults on their obligations under hedging arrangements, it could have a material adverse impact on our reported cash flow, financial condition, and results of operations.

There is increased scrutiny from investors, customers, suppliers, governments, and other stakeholders on corporate ESG practices. Our commitment to sustainability and ESG practices remains at the core of our business, and we have established related goals and targets. For example, we have made a public commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and have set interim emissions targets which have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative ("SBTi"). However, our ESG practices may not meet the standards of all of our stakeholders, and advocacy groups may campaign for further changes. Many of our large, global customers are also committing to long-term targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within their supply chains. If we are unable to support our customers in achieving these reductions, customers may seek out competitors who are better able to support such reductions. A failure, or perceived failure, to respond to expectations of all parties, including with meeting our own climate-related and other ESG target ambitions, could cause harm to our business and reputation and have a negative impact on the trading price of our common stock. Moreover, not all of our competitors establish, or will be legally required to establish, climate or other ESG sustainability targets and goals at levels comparable to ours, which could result in competitors having lower supply chain, operating or compliance costs as well as reduced reputational and legal risks associated with not meeting such goals.

We are, and in the future will likely become, involved in lawsuits, regulatory inquiries, and governmental and other legal proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of our business, including product liability claims, which may lead to financial or reputational damages. We may be exposed to litigation related to the environmental, health, and human rights impacts of our operations, products, and sourcing activities, as well as our external communications related to such topics. Given our global footprint, we are exposed to uncertainty regarding the regulatory environment. The timing of the final resolutions to lawsuits, regulatory actions and inquiries, and governmental and other legal proceedings is typically uncertain. Additionally, the possible outcomes of, or resolutions to, these proceedings could include adverse judgments or settlements, either of which could require substantial payments.

We are subject to income and other taxes in the many jurisdictions in which we operate. Tax laws and regulations are complex and the determination of our global provision for income taxes and current and deferred tax assets and liabilities requires judgment and estimation. We are subject to routine examinations of our income tax returns, and tax authorities may disagree with our tax positions and assess additional tax. Our future income taxes could also be negatively impacted by our mix of earnings in the jurisdictions in which we operate being different than anticipated given differences in statutory tax rates in the countries in which we operate. In addition, we may be adversely impacted by certain tax policy efforts, including any tax law changes resulting from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ("OECD") and the G20's inclusive framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting ("BEPS"), which has proposed a 15% global minimum tax applied on a country-by-country basis (the "Pillar Two rule"), and many countries (including countries in which we operate) have enacted or begun the process of enacting laws adopting the Pillar Two rule. The first component of the Pillar Two rule applies to us from July 1, 2024. While we do not currently expect the Pillar Two rule to have a material impact on our effective tax rate, our analysis is ongoing as the OECD continues to release guidance and as countries begin implementing legislation. Future developments could change our current assessment, and it is possible that the Pillar Two rule could adversely impact our tax rate and subsequent tax expense.

Numerous ESG-related legislative and regulatory initiatives, including those related to our products, operations, and sourcing activities, have been passed and are likely to continue to be introduced in the various jurisdictions in which we operate. These new ESG-related regulations are evolving rapidly, and the regulations being enacted are often not harmonized across the jurisdictions in which we operate, increasing the complexity and cost of compliance and exposing us to increased legal risks associated with compliance. Our failure to comply with ESG regulatory reporting requirements could result in fines, loss of reputation, and other negative impacts which could be material and the cost of compliance may negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Additionally, increased regulation of emissions linked to climate change, including greenhouse gas emissions and other climate-related regulations, could potentially increase the cost of our operations due to increased costs of compliance (which may not be recoverable through adjustment of prices), increased cost of fossil fuel-based inputs and increased cost of energy intensive raw material inputs. We could also incur additional compliance costs for monitoring and reporting emissions and for maintaining permits. However, any such changes are uncertain, and we cannot predict the amount of additional capital expenses or operating expenses that would be necessary for compliance. Increased environmental legislation or regulation, including regulations related to extended producer responsibility ("EPR"), could result in higher costs for us in the form of higher raw material costs, increased energy and freight costs, new taxes on packaging products which could reduce demand for our products, and result in increased litigation. It is possible that certain materials might cease to be permitted to be used in our processes. Government bans of, or restrictions on, certain materials or packaging formats may close off markets to Amcor's business. For example, governmental authorities in the U.S., Europe and in other countries have become increasingly focused on the contamination of soil, air, and water exacerbated by the use of non-degradable chemicals, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances ("PFAS"). Various U.S. states have implemented, or are in the process of implementing, laws to restrict the use of PFAS in various applications, including in packaging materials. While we believe we are in compliance with existing regulations, the cost of compliance in the future to modify our products may be significant and adversely impact our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows. Increased social legislation or regulation, including requirements related to human rights due diligence and modern slavery reporting, could result in increased costs of compliance resulting from enhanced efforts to assess and remediate potential human rights risk across our global operations and supply chain. Gaps in our ability to identify potential human rights violations could lead to negative publicity or loss of business. We are a manufacturing entity that utilizes petrochemical-based raw materials to produce many of our products. Plastic bans or mandates to reduce plastic use may require shifts to more costly alternative materials or additional investment in the redesign of existing products and these costs might not be able to be passed on to our customers. Mandates to use certain types of materials, such as post-consumer recycled ("PCR") content, may lead to supply shortages and higher prices for those materials as current recycling rates may be insufficient to meet increased demand for PCR within and beyond the packaging industry. Additionally, a sizable portion of our business comes from healthcare packaging and food and beverage packaging, both highly regulated markets. Therefore, we are also subject to certain local and international standards related to such products. Compliance with these laws and regulations can require a significant expenditure of financial and employee resources. A failure to comply with these regulatory requirements could adversely affect our reputation, our results of operations or result in, among other things, litigation, revocation of required licenses, internal investigations, governmental investigations or proceedings, administrative enforcement actions, fines, and civil and criminal liability.

Our ability to compete effectively depends, in part, on our ability to protect and maintain the proprietary nature of our owned and licensed intellectual property. We own a number of patents on our products, aspects of our products, methods of use and/or methods of manufacturing, and we own, or have licenses to use, the material trademark and trade name rights used in connection with the packaging, marketing and distribution of our major products. We also rely on trade secrets, know-how, and other unpatented proprietary technology. If we are unable to detect the infringement of our intellectual property or to enforce our intellectual property rights, our competitive position may suffer. The unauthorized use of our intellectual property by someone else could reduce certain of our competitive advantages, cause us to lose sales, or otherwise harm our business. We attempt to protect and restrict access to our intellectual property and proprietary information by relying on the patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret laws of the countries in which we operate, as well as non-disclosure agreements. However, it may be possible for a third-party to obtain our information without authorization, independently develop similar technologies, or breach a non-disclosure agreement entered into with us. Our pending patent applications and our pending trademark registration applications may not be allowed, or competitors may challenge the validity or scope of our patents or trademarks. Our competitors might avoid infringement by designing around our intellectual property rights or by developing non-infringing competing technologies. In addition, our patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights may not provide us with a significant competitive advantage. Furthermore, many of the countries in which we operate, particularly emerging markets, do not have intellectual property laws that protect proprietary rights as fully as the laws of more developed jurisdictions, such as the United States and the European Union. The costs associated with protecting our intellectual property rights could also adversely impact our business. Similarly, while we have not received any significant claims from third parties suggesting that we may be infringing, directly or indirectly, on their intellectual property rights, there can be no assurance that we will not receive such claims in the future. If we were held liable for a claim of infringement, we could be required to pay damages, obtain licenses, or cease making, using or selling certain products or technologies. Intellectual property litigation, which could result in substantial costs to us and divert the attention of management, may be necessary to protect our trade secrets or proprietary technology or for us to defend against claimed infringement of the rights of others and to determine the scope and validity of others' proprietary rights. We may not prevail in any such litigation, and if we are unsuccessful, we may not be able to obtain any necessary licenses on reasonable terms or at all. Failure to protect our patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

Increased cyber-attacks, including computer viruses, ransomware, unauthorized access attempts, phishing, hacking, and other types of attacks pose a risk to the security and availability of our information technology systems, including those provided by third parties. Emerging artificial intelligence technologies may intensify these cybersecurity risks. In addition to traditional attacks, we face threats from sophisticated nation-state and nation-state-supported actors who engage in attacks, including advanced persistent threat intrusions. We have experienced and expect to continue to experience actual and attempted cyber-attacks on our information technology systems by threat parties of all types (including nation-states, criminal enterprises, individuals, or advanced persistent threat groups). Geopolitical turmoil, including as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, evolution, scope, and sophistication of cyber-attacks, accessibility of our data by third parties through interconnected networks, and an increase in work-from-home arrangements heighten the risk of cyber-attacks. We have operational safeguards in place to detect and prevent cyber-attacks, such as employee training, monitoring of our networks and systems, ensuring strong data protection standards, and maintaining and upgrading security systems but it is virtually impossible to entirely eliminate this risk. To date, we have not experienced any significant impacts. However, our safeguards may not always be able to prevent a cyber-attack from impacting our systems and we may not be able to successfully and timely execute our business recovery protocol, which could have a material impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows. Further, as cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, we may be required to make significant investments to modify or enhance our systems to improve our ability to respond and recover. In addition, our customers, suppliers, and third-party service providers are susceptible to cyber-attacks and disruption to their information technology systems, which could result in reduced demand for our products or limit our ability to supply our products. We also maintain and have access to sensitive, confidential, or personal data or information that is subject to privacy and security laws, regulations, and customer controls. Data privacy laws and regulations continue to evolve and impose more complex and stringent requirements especially in the U.S., Europe, and China, which increases the complexity of our processes and associated costs. Despite our efforts to protect such information and to comply with privacy and data protection laws and regulations, our facilities and systems and those of our customers, suppliers, and third-party service providers may be vulnerable to security breaches, cyber-attacks, misplaced or lost data, and programming and/or user errors that could lead to the compromising of sensitive, confidential, or personal data or information, the improper use of our systems and networks, and the manipulation and destruction of data. Information system damages, disruptions, shutdowns, or compromises could result in production downtimes and operational disruptions, transaction errors, loss of customers and business opportunities, violation of privacy laws and legal liability, regulatory fines, penalties or intervention, negative publicity resulting in reputational damage, reimbursement or compensatory payments, and other costs, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows, which affect may be material and result in a competitive disadvantage. Although we attempt to mitigate these risks by employing a number of measures, our systems, networks, products, and services remain potentially vulnerable to advanced and persistent threats.

We rely on the successful and uninterrupted functioning of our information technology and control systems to securely manage operations and various business functions, and on various technologies to process, store, and report information about our business, and to interact with customers, suppliers, and employees around the world. In addition, our information systems rely on internal information technology systems and third-party systems, including cloud solutions, which require different security measures. These measures cover technical changes to our network security, organization, and governance changes as well as alignment of third-party suppliers on market standards. As with all information technology systems, our systems may be susceptible to damage, disruption, information loss, or shutdown due to a variety of factors including power outages, failures during the process of upgrading or replacing software, hardware failures, cyber-attacks (e.g., phishing, ransomware, computer viruses), natural disasters, telecommunications failures, user errors, unauthorized access, and malicious or accidental destruction, or catastrophic events. Infrastructure changes, including migration to new data centers or cloud solutions, updates or patches to our core software infrastructure, and changes in our data processing pipelines could lead to significant business disruptions due to human error in our deployment processes or third-party software errors. While we have established and regularly test our business disaster recovery plan, there is no guarantee that it will resolve issues resulting from those disruptions in a timely manner. We may suffer material adverse effects on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We operate in highly competitive geographies and end use areas, each with varying barriers to entry, industry structures, and competitive behavior. We regularly bid for new and continuing business in the industries and regions in which we operate, and we continually adapt to changes in consumer demand. While we cannot predict with certainty the changes that may impact our competitiveness, the main methods of competition in the general packaging industry include price, innovation, sustainability, service, and quality. The loss of business from our larger customers, or the renewal of business on less favorable terms, may have a significant impact on our operating results. Additionally, our competitors may develop or utilize disruptive technologies or other technological innovations that could increase their ability to compete for our current or potential customers. Our failure to adequately respond to the actions that established or potential competitors take could materially affect our ability to implement our plans and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.