Berry Global Group (BERY) Risk Factors

In addition to relying on patent and trademark rights, we rely on unpatented proprietary know-how and trade secrets, and employ various methods, including confidentiality agreements with employees and consultants, customers and suppliers to protect our know-how and trade secrets. However, these methods and our patents and trademarks may not afford complete protection and there can be no assurance that others will not independently develop the know-how and trade secrets or develop better production methods than us. Further, we may not be able to deter current and former employees, contractors and other parties from breaching agreements and misappropriating proprietary information and it is possible that third parties may copy or otherwise obtain and use our information and proprietary technology without authorization or otherwise infringe on our intellectual property rights. Furthermore, no assurance can be given that we will not be subject to claims asserting the infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties seeking damages, the payment of royalties or licensing fees and/or injunctions against the sale of our products. Any such litigation could be protracted and costly and could result in significant losses.

We rely on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of information technology systems and networks.  These systems and networks are potentially vulnerable to damage or interruption from a variety of sources, including cybersecurity, energy, or telecommunications failures, breakdowns, natural disasters, terrorism, war, computer malware or other malicious intrusions, and random attacks.  To date, system interruptions have been infrequent and have not had a material impact on the business.  However, there can be no assurance that these efforts will prevent future interruptions could result in significant losses.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Tax Act") was signed into law in December 2017. The new law made numerous changes to federal corporate tax law that we expect will significantly reduce our effective tax rate in future periods. The changes included in the Tax Act are broad and complex. The final transition impacts of the Tax Act may differ from our current estimates, possibly materially, due to, among other things, changes in interpretations of the Tax Act, any legislative action to address questions that arise because of the Tax Act, any changes in accounting standards for income taxes or related interpretations in response to the Tax Act, or any updates or changes to estimates the Company has utilized to calculate the transition impacts.

While we have not been required historically to make significant capital expenditures in order to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations, we cannot predict our future capital expenditure requirements because of continually changing compliance standards and environmental technology.  Furthermore, violations or contaminated sites that we do not know about (including contamination caused by prior owners and operators of such sites or newly discovered information) could result in additional compliance or remediation costs or other liabilities, which could be material.  In addition, federal, state, local, and foreign governments could enact laws or regulations concerning environmental matters that increase the cost of producing, or otherwise adversely affect the demand for, plastic products.  Legislation that would prohibit, tax or restrict the sale or use of certain types of plastic and other containers, and would require diversion of solid waste such as packaging materials from disposal in landfills, has been or may be introduced.  Although we believe that any such laws promulgated to date have not had a material adverse effect on us, there can be no assurance that future legislation or regulation would not have a material adverse effect on us.  Furthermore, a decline in consumer preference for plastic products due to environmental considerations could result in significant losses. Both the FDA and the CPSC can require the manufacturer of defective products to repurchase or recall such products and may also impose fines or penalties on the manufacturer.  Similar laws exist in some states, cities and other countries in which we sell products.  In addition, certain jurisdictions restrict the sale of packaging with certain levels of heavy metals, imposing fines and penalties for noncompliance.  Although we believe our products are in material compliance with all applicable requirements, any fines and penalties imposed in connection with noncompliance or recall of any of our products could have a materially adverse effect on us.  See "Business-Environmental Matters and Government Regulation."

While we manufacture our products in a large number of diversified facilities and maintain insurance covering our facilities, including business interruption insurance, a catastrophic loss of the use of all or a portion of one of our key manufacturing facilities due to accident, labor issues, weather conditions, natural disaster or otherwise, whether short or long-term, could result in significant losses. Employee slowdowns or strikes or the failure to renew collective bargaining agreements could disrupt our business.   We may not be able to maintain constructive relationships with labor unions or trade councils. We may not be able to successfully negotiate new collective bargaining agreements on satisfactory terms in the future.  The loss of a substantial number of these employees or a prolonged labor dispute could disrupt our business and result in significant losses.

To produce our products, we use large quantities of plastic resins.  Plastic resins are subject to price fluctuations, including those arising from supply shortages and changes in the prices of natural gas, crude oil and other petrochemical intermediates from which resins are produced.  Raw material inflation could materially affect our revenue and profitability in the short term as we attempt to pass through price increases to our customers and in the long term as our customers could seek alternative solutions. We may not be able to arrange for other sources of resin in the event of an industry-wide general shortage of resins used by us, or a shortage or discontinuation of certain types of grades of resin purchased from one or more of our suppliers.  Any such shortage may have a material adverse effect on our competitive position versus companies that are able to better or more cheaply source resin.

We compete with multiple companies in each of our product lines on the basis of a number of considerations, including price, service, quality, product characteristics and the ability to supply products to customers in a timely manner.  Our products also compete with metal, glass, paper, cloth, and other materials.  Some of these competitive products are not subject to the impact of changes in resin prices, which may have a significant and negative impact on our competitive position versus substitute products.  Our competitors may have financial and other resources that are substantially greater than ours and may be better able than us to withstand higher costs.  Competition could result in our products losing market share or our having to reduce our prices, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.  In addition, since we do not have long-term arrangements with many of our customers, these competitive factors could cause our customers to shift suppliers and/or packaging material quickly.  Our success depends, in part, on our ability to respond timely to customer and market changes.

Foreign operations are subject to certain risks that are unique to doing business in foreign countries. These risks include fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, inflation, economic or political instability, shipping delays in our products and receiving delays of raw materials, changes in applicable laws, including assessments of income and non-income related taxes, reduced protection of intellectual property, inability to readily repatriate cash to the U.S., and regulatory policies and various trade restrictions including potential changes to export taxes or countervailing and anti-dumping duties for exported products from these countries. Any of these risks could disrupt our business and result in significant losses. We are also subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-bribery laws that generally bar bribes or unreasonable gifts to foreign governments or officials. We have implemented safeguards and policies to discourage these practices by our employees and agents. However, our existing safeguards and policies to assure compliance and any future improvements may prove to be less than effective and our employees or agents may engage in conduct for which we might be held responsible. If employees violate our policies, we may be subject to regulatory sanctions. Violations of these laws or regulations could result in sanctions including fines, debarment from export privileges and penalties and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.