Capri Holdings (CPRI) Risk Factors

Our brands face intense competition from other accessories, footwear and apparel producers and retailers, including, primarily European and American international luxury brands. In addition, we face competition through third-party distribution channels that sell our merchandise, such as e-commerce, department stores and specialty stores. Competition is based on a number of factors, including, without limitation, the following: - anticipating and responding to changing consumer demands in a timely manner;- establishing and maintaining favorable brand name recognition;- determining and maintaining product quality;- retaining key employees;- maintaining and growing market share;- developing quality and differentiated products that appeal to consumers;- establishing and maintaining acceptable relationships with retail customers;- pricing products appropriately;- providing appropriate service and support to retailers;- optimizing retail and supply chain capabilities;- determining size and location of retail and department store selling space; and - protecting intellectual property. In addition, some of our competitors may be significantly larger and more diversified than us and may have significantly greater financial, technological, manufacturing, sales, marketing and distribution resources than we do. Their capabilities in these areas may enable them to better withstand periodic downturns in the accessories, footwear and apparel industries (including as a result of recent inflationary pressures and other macroeconomic factors), compete more effectively on the basis of price and production and more quickly develop new products. The general availability of manufacturing contractors and agents also allows new entrants easy access to the markets in which we compete, which may increase the number of our competitors and adversely affect our competitive position and our business. Any increased competition, or our failure to adequately address any of these competitive factors, could result in reduced revenues, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Competition, along with other factors such as consolidation, changes in consumer spending patterns and a highly promotional retail selling environment, could also result in significant pricing pressure. These factors may cause us to reduce our sales prices to our wholesale customers and retail consumers, which could cause our gross margins to decline if we are unable to appropriately manage inventory levels and/or otherwise offset price reductions with comparable reductions in our operating costs. If our sales prices decline and we fail to sufficiently reduce our product costs or operating expenses, our profitability may decline, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We operate a limited number of distribution facilities. Our ability to meet the needs of our own retail stores and e-commerce sites, as well as our wholesale customers, depends on the proper and uninterrupted operation of these distribution facilities. If any of these distribution facilities were to shut down or otherwise become inoperable or inaccessible for any reason, we could suffer a substantial loss of inventory and/or disruptions of deliveries to our customers. In addition, we could incur significantly higher costs and longer lead times associated with the distribution of our products during the time it takes to reopen or replace the damaged, inoperable or otherwise inaccessible facility. Any of the foregoing factors could result in decreased sales and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. To support the growth of our business, we also use third-party logistics centers that are responsible for distribution, warehousing and fulfillment services on our behalf. Significant disruptions at these facilities could have a material adverse impact on our business. Because our direct and third-party fulfillment centers include automated and computer-controlled equipment, they are susceptible to risks including power interruptions, hardware and system failures, software viruses, security breaches and other technological and operational disruptions and of which could cause shipping delays or otherwise adversely affect our business.

Global economic conditions and the related impact on levels of consumer spending worldwide have impacted, and are likely to continue to impact, our business and the accessories, footwear and apparel industry overall. Inflation, rising interest rates, higher fuel and energy costs and commodity prices, reductions in net worth based on market declines and uncertainty, home prices, credit availability and consumer debt levels, political instability due to war or other geopolitical factors and other macroeconomic pressures and general uncertainty regarding the overall future economic environment have created a challenging retail environment. Purchases of discretionary luxury items, such as the accessories, footwear and apparel that we produce, tend to decline when disposable income is lower or when there are recessions, inflationary pressures or other economic uncertainty. Other factors that could depress consumer spending include extreme weather conditions and natural disasters, pandemics (like COVID-19), high levels of unemployment, fluctuating foreign currency rates and increased taxation. Reduced consumer confidence and adversely impacted consumer spending patterns in any of the regions in which we operate could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We operate on a global basis, with approximately 51% of our total revenue from operations outside of the United States during Fiscal 2024. As a result, we are subject to the risks of doing business internationally, including: - political or civil unrest, including protests and other civil disruption;- unforeseen public health crises, such as pandemic and epidemic diseases, including COVID-19 and any variants thereof;- economic instability and unsettled regional and global conflicts (such as the current war in Ukraine), which may negatively affect consumer spending by foreign tourists and local consumers in the various regions where we operate;- laws, regulations and policies of foreign governments (including sanctions and retaliatory actions by the United States, European Union and others);- potential negative consequences from changes in taxation policies;- natural disasters or other extreme weather events, including those attributed to climate change; and - acts of terrorism, military actions or other conditions over which we have no control. In addition, we pursue selective international expansion in a number of countries around the world and through a number of channels. If our international expansion plans are unsuccessful, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. There are also some countries where we do not yet have significant operating experience, and in most of these countries we face established competitors with significantly more operating experience in those locations. We also sell our products at varying retail price points based on geographic location that yield different gross profit margins and we achieve different operating profit margins, depending on geographic region, due to a variety of factors including product mix, store size, occupancy costs, labor costs and retail pricing. Changes in any one or more of these factors could result in lower revenues, increased costs, and negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, consumer demand and behavior, as well as tastes and purchasing trends may differ in these countries and, as a result, sales of our product may not be successful, or the gross margins on those sales may not be in line with those we currently anticipate. There can be no assurance that any or all of these events will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our results of operations for our international subsidiaries are exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations as the financial results of the applicable subsidiaries are translated from the local currency into United States dollar during financial statement consolidation. If the United States dollar strengthens against foreign currencies, the translation of these foreign currency denominated transactions could impact our consolidated results of operations. In addition, we have intercompany notes amongst certain of our non-United States subsidiaries, which may be denominated in a currency other than the functional currency of a particular reporting entity. As a result of using a currency other than the functional currency of the related subsidiary, results of these operations may be adversely affected during times of significant fluctuation between the functional currency of that subsidiary and the denomination currency of the note. We continuously monitor our foreign currency exposure and hedge a portion of our foreign subsidiaries' foreign currency-denominated inventory purchases to minimize the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. However, we cannot fully anticipate all of our foreign currency exposures and cannot ensure that these hedges will fully offset the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. We use forward foreign exchange contracts and cross-currency swap contracts to hedge material exposure to adverse changes in foreign currency exchange rates. However, no hedging strategy can completely insulate us from foreign exchange risk. In addition, because we operate retail stores and concessions in various countries outside of the United States, we are also exposed to market risk from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, primarily the Euro, the British Pound, the Chinese Renminbi, the Japanese Yen, the Korean Won and the Canadian dollar, among others. A substantial weakening of foreign currencies against the United States dollar could require us to raise our retail prices or reduce our profit margins in various locations outside of the United States. In addition, our sales and profitability could be negatively impacted if consumers in those markets were unwilling to purchase our products at increased prices.

We are dependent on information technology ("IT") systems and networks for a significant portion of our direct-to-consumer sales, including our e-commerce sites and retail business credit card transaction authorization and processing. We are responsible for storing data relating to our customers and employees and also rely on third-party vendors for the storage, processing and transmission of personal and Company information. Consumers, lawmakers and consumer advocates alike are increasingly concerned over the security of personal information transmitted over the Internet, consumer identity theft and privacy and the retail industry, in particular, has been the target of many recent cyber-attacks. In addition to taking the necessary precautions ourselves, we generally require that third-party service providers implement reasonable security measures to protect our employees' and customers' identity and privacy. We do not, however, control these third-party service providers and cannot guarantee the elimination of electronic or physical computer break-ins or security breaches in the future. Cyber security breaches, including physical or electronic break-ins, security breaches due to employee error or misconduct, attacks by "hackers," phishing scams, malicious software programs such as viruses and malware, and other breaches outside of our control, could result in unauthorized access or damage to our IT systems and the IT systems of our third-party service providers. Despite our efforts and the efforts of our third-party service providers to secure our and their IT systems, attacks on these systems do occur from time to time. As the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to IT systems become more varied and sophisticated (as cybercriminals are finding new ways to launch their attacks) and if the occurrence of such security breaches becomes more frequent, we and our third-party service providers may be unable to adequately anticipate these techniques and implement appropriate preventative measures. While we maintain cyber risk insurance to provide some coverage for certain risks associated with cyber security incidents, there is no assurance that such insurance would cover all or a significant portion of the costs or consequences associated with a cyber security incident. A significant breach of customer, employee or Company data could damage our reputation, our relationship with customers and our brands, and could result in lost sales, sizable fines, significant breach-notifications and other costs and lawsuits, as well as adversely affect our results of operations. Additionally, we may incur increased costs and experience a significant strain on our resources to account for implementation of additional required security measures and technologies to protect personal data and confidential information or to comply with current and new state, federal and international laws governing the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information which are continuously being enacted and proposed, such as the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") in the EU and the UK, various consumer privacy and data privacy and protection acts in the United States, including, but not limited to, the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, the Colorado Privacy Act, the Utah Consumer Privacy Act, the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, the Iowa Consumer Data Protection Act, the Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act, the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act, the Washington MY Health My Data Act, the Florida Digital Bill of Rights, the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act and the Personal Information Protection Law in China. Lastly, increased scrutiny by federal regulators (such as the FTC) and state attorney generals focused on the retail industry may lead to increased privacy and cyber security costs such as organizational changes, deploying additional personnel, acquiring and implementing enhanced privacy and security technologies on e-commerce sites, mandatory employee training for those handling customer and employee personal data, and engaging third-party experts and consultants, and the unauthorized use of proprietary information may lead to lost revenues.

We rely extensively on our IT systems to track inventory, manage our supply chain, record and process transactions, manage customer communications, summarize results and manage our business. The failure of our IT systems to operate properly or effectively, problems with transitioning to upgraded or replacement systems, or difficulty in or failure to implement new systems, could adversely affect our business. We also operate a number of e-commerce websites throughout the world. Our IT systems and e-commerce websites may be subject to damage and/or interruption from power outages, computer, network and telecommunications failures, malicious software, such as viruses and malware, attacks by "hackers", security breaches, usage errors or misconduct by our employees and bad acts by our customers and website visitors which could materially adversely affect our business. We are undergoing a multi-year Enterprise Resource Planning ("ERP") implementation. The implementation of the ERP will require a significant investment in human and financial resources. Implementing new systems also carries substantial risk, including failure to operate as designed, failure to properly integrate with other systems, potential loss of data or information, cost overruns, implementation delays and disruption of operations. Third-party vendors are also relied upon to design, program, maintain and service our ERP implementation program. Any failures of these vendors to properly deliver their services could similarly have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, any disruptions or malfunctions affecting our ERP implementation plan could cause critical information upon which we rely to be delayed, defective, corrupted, inadequate, inaccessible or lost or otherwise cause delays or disruptions to our operations, and we may have to make significant investments to fix or replace impacted systems.

Under the laws of the British Virgin Islands, there is limited statutory law for the protection of minority shareholders other than the provisions of the BVI Act dealing with shareholder remedies. The principal protection under statutory law is that shareholders may bring an action to enforce the constituent documents of a British Virgin Islands company and are entitled to have the affairs of the Company conducted in accordance with the BVI Act and the memorandum and articles of association of the Company. As such, if those who control the Company have persistently disregarded the requirements of the BVI Act or the provisions of the Company's memorandum and articles of association, then the courts will likely grant relief. Generally, the areas in which the courts will intervene are the following: (i) an act complained of which is outside the scope of the authorized business or is illegal or not capable of ratification by the majority; (ii) acts that constitute fraud on the minority where the wrongdoers control the Company; (iii) acts that infringe on the personal rights of the shareholders, such as the right to vote; and (iv) acts where the Company has not complied with provisions requiring approval of a special or extraordinary majority of shareholders, which are more limited than the rights afforded to minority shareholders under the laws of many states in the United States.

The Company and our subsidiaries are subject to taxation in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions, with the applicable tax rates varying by jurisdiction. As a result, our overall effective tax rate is affected by the proportion of earnings from the various tax jurisdictions. We record tax expense based on our estimates of taxable income and required reserves for uncertain tax positions in multiple tax jurisdictions. At any time, there are multiple tax years that are subject to examinations by various taxing authorities. The ultimate resolution of these audits and negotiations with taxing authorities may result in a settlement amount that differs from our original estimate. Any proposed or future changes in tax laws, treaties and regulations or interpretations where we operate could have a material adverse effect on our effective tax rates, results of operations and financial condition. We and our subsidiaries are also engaged in a number of intercompany transactions. Although we believe that these transactions reflect arm's-length terms and that proper transfer pricing documentation is in place, the transfer prices and conditions may be scrutinized by local tax authorities which could result in additional tax liabilities. On October 5, 2015, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ("OECD"), an international association of 34 countries, including the United States and United Kingdom, released the final reports from its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting ("BEPS") Action Plans. The BEPS recommendations covered a number of issues, including country-by-country reporting, permanent establishment rules, transfer pricing rules and tax treaties. Future tax reform resulting from this development may result in changes to long-standing tax principles, which could adversely affect our effective tax rate and/or result in higher cash tax liabilities. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Union and other countries (including countries in which we operate) have committed to enacting substantial changes to numerous long-standing tax principles impacting how large multinational enterprises are taxed in an effort to limit perceived base erosion and profit shifting incentives. In particular, the OECD's Pillar Two initiative introduces a 15% global minimum tax applied on a country-by-country basis, for which many jurisdictions have now committed to an effective enactment date for financial year dates starting after January 1, 2024. These proposals have already been implemented in several jurisdictions in which we operate, and they could negatively impact our effective tax rate as well as increase the tax compliance and reporting costs related to such requirements. However, based on our initial analysis, the Pillar Two initiative is not projected to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. We will continue to examine and reflect the impact of any changes in future financial statements as applicable.