Fortive (FTV) Risk Factors

In addition to the environmental, health, safety, anti-corruption, and other regulations noted above, our businesses are subject to extensive regulation by U.S. and non-U.S. governmental and self-regulatory entities at the supranational, federal, state, local, and other jurisdictional levels, including the following: - we are required to comply with various import laws and export control and economic sanctions laws, which may affect our transactions with certain customers, business partners, and other persons and dealings between our employees and subsidiaries. In certain circumstances, export control and economic sanctions regulations may prohibit the export of certain products, services, and technologies. In other circumstances, we may be required to obtain an export license before exporting the controlled item. Compliance with the various import laws that apply to our businesses can restrict our access to, and increase the cost of obtaining, certain products and at times can interrupt our supply of imported inventory;- we also have agreements to sell products and services to government entities and are subject to various statutes and regulations that apply to companies doing business with government entities. The laws governing government contracts differ from the laws governing private contracts. For example, many government contracts contain pricing and other terms and conditions that are not applicable to private contracts. Our agreements with government entities may be subject to termination, reduction, or modification at the convenience of the government or in the event of changes in government requirements, reductions in federal spending and other factors, and we may underestimate our costs of performing under the contract. Government contracts that have been awarded to us following a bid process could become the subject of a bid protest by a losing bidder, which could result in loss of the contract. We are also subject to investigation and audit for compliance with the requirements governing government contracts;- we are also required to comply with increasingly complex and changing data privacy regulations in multiple jurisdictions that regulate the collection, use, protection, and transfer of personal data, including the transfer of personal data between or among countries. In particular, the General Data Protection Regulation became effective in the European Union in May 2018 and the California Consumer Privacy Act became effective in January 2020. We may also face audits or investigations by one or more domestic or foreign government agencies relating to our compliance with these regulations. An adverse outcome under any such investigation or audit could subject us to fines or other penalties. That or other circumstances related to our collection, use, and transfer of personal data could cause a loss of reputation in the market and/or adversely affect our business and financial position;- certain of our products are medical devices that are subject to regulation by the U.S. FDA, by other federal and state governmental agencies, by comparable agencies of other countries and regions, and by certain accrediting bodies. To varying degrees, these regulators require us to comply with laws and regulations governing the development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, marketing, distribution, and post-marketing surveillance of our products. Government authorities may conclude that our business practices do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, agency guidance or case law. Failure to obtain required regulatory clearances or approvals before marketing our products (or before implementing modifications to or promoting additional indications or uses of our products), other violations of laws or regulations, failure to remediate inspectional observations to the satisfaction of these regulatory authorities, and real or perceived efficacy or safety concerns or trends of adverse events with respect to our products (even after obtaining clearance for distribution) can lead to warning letters, notices to customers, declining sales, loss of customers, loss of market share, remediation and increased compliance costs, recalls, seizures, fines, expenses, injunctions, civil penalties, criminal penalties, consent decrees, administrative detentions, refusals to permit importations, partial or total shutdown of production facilities or the implementation of operating restrictions, narrowing of permitted uses for a product, refusal of the government to grant clearance, and suspension or withdrawal of approvals. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly and time-consuming and may require significant personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions brought against us, our business may be impaired;- we are also subject to the federal False Claims Act (the "FCA"), which imposes civil and criminal liability on individuals or entities that knowingly submit false or fraudulent claims for payment to the government or knowingly make, or cause to be made, a false statement in order to have a false claim paid, including qui tam or whistleblower suits. There are many potential bases for liability under the FCA. In addition, we could be held liable under the FCA if we are deemed to "cause" the submission of false or fraudulent claims; and - we are also required to comply with ever changing labor and employment laws and regulations in multiple jurisdictions. These changes could negatively impact our business or financial position. For example, we recently discovered that Gems Sensors, Inc., an entity that has been merged into Setra Systems, Inc. and now operates as Gems Setra, made certain incorrect representations regarding its status as a small business concern as defined by the Small Business Act for certain contracts that it was awarded by the Defense Logistics Agency ("DLA"). As a result, on January 26, 2024, we voluntarily notified the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General ("OIG") and the DLA of this matter. While we are continuing to investigate, we currently do not expect this matter to have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations. However, resolution of this matter could subject us to fines or penalties, and we cannot assure you of the timing or outcome of such resolution. These are not the only regulations that our businesses must comply with. The regulations we are subject to have tended to become more stringent over time and may be inconsistent across jurisdictions. We, our representatives, and the industries in which we operate may at times be under review and/or investigation by regulatory authorities. Failure to comply (or any alleged or perceived failure to comply) with the regulations referenced above or any other regulations could result in civil and criminal, monetary and non-monetary penalties, and any such failure or alleged failure (or becoming subject to a regulatory enforcement investigation) could also damage our reputation, disrupt our business, limit our ability to manufacture, import, export, and sell products and services, result in loss of customers and disbarment from selling to certain federal agencies and cause us to incur significant legal and investigatory fees. Compliance with these and other regulations may also affect our returns on investment, require us to incur significant expenses, or modify our business model or impair our flexibility in modifying product, marketing, pricing, or other strategies for growing our business. Our products and operations are also often subject to the rules of industrial standards bodies such as the International Standards Organization, and failure to comply with these rules could result in withdrawal of certifications needed to sell our products and services and otherwise adversely impact our financial statements. For additional information regarding these risks, please refer to the section entitled "Business-Regulatory Matters."

We are subject to a variety of litigation and other legal and regulatory proceedings incidental to our business (or the business operations of previously owned entities), including claims for damages arising out of the use of products or services and claims relating to intellectual property matters, employment matters, tax matters, commercial disputes, disputes with our supplier or vendors, competition and sales and trading practices, environmental matters, personal injury, insurance coverage, and acquisition or divestiture-related matters, as well as regulatory investigations or enforcement. We may also become subject to lawsuits as a result of past or future acquisitions or as a result of liabilities retained from, or representations, warranties, or indemnities provided in connection with, divested businesses. These lawsuits may include claims for compensatory damages, punitive and consequential damages, and/or injunctive relief. The defense of these lawsuits may divert our management's attention, we may incur significant expenses in defending these lawsuits, we may experience disruption in supply or sales, and we may be required to pay damage awards or settlements or become subject to equitable remedies that could adversely affect our operations and financial statements. Moreover, any insurance or indemnification rights that we may have may be insufficient or unavailable to protect us against such losses. In addition, developments in proceedings in any given period may require us to adjust the loss contingency estimates that we have recorded in our financial statements, record estimates for liabilities or assets that we were previously unable to estimate, or pay cash settlements or judgments. Any of these developments could adversely affect our financial statements in any particular period. We cannot assure you that our liabilities in connection with litigation and other legal and regulatory proceedings will not exceed our estimates or adversely affect our financial statements and reputation.

We are subject to income and transaction taxes in the United States and in multiple foreign jurisdictions. As such, changes to applicable tax laws or policies, including interpretations or retroactive applications thereof, could result in a material change in our tax provision, cash taxes paid, and effective tax rate. Furthermore, certain tax laws are inherently ambiguous requiring subjective interpretation on the application thereof. Our interpretation and the corresponding amount of income taxes we pay is, and may in the future continue to be, subject to audits by U.S. federal, state, and local tax authorities and by non-U.S. tax authorities. If these audits result in payments or assessments different from our reserves, our future results may include unfavorable adjustments to our tax liabilities and our financial statements could be adversely affected. Foreign remittance taxes have not been provided for on undistributed earnings of certain of our non-U.S. subsidiaries to the extent such earnings are considered to be indefinitely reinvested in the operations of those subsidiaries. If our intentions regarding reinvestment of such earnings change, or we determine to repatriate earnings from foreign jurisdictions that had previously been considered permanently reinvested under existing accounting standards, then our income tax provision, cash taxes paid, and effective tax rate could increase. In addition, changes by the U.S. in relation to international tax reform could increase uncertainty and may adversely affect our income tax provision, cash taxes paid, and effective tax rate. Comprehensive tax reform was enacted through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the "TCJA") which includes numerous provisions that impact U.S. corporate tax rates, business-related exclusions, deductions, and credits. The taxing authorities continue to issue regulations and guidance, some with retrospective application, to the provisions of the TCJA, and we expect this to continue for the foreseeable future. Any future adjustments resulting from retrospective regulations and guidance issued will be considered a discrete income tax expense or benefit in the period guidance is issued. For example, the TCJA eliminated the deduction of certain domestic and foreign research and development expenditures beginning on January 1, 2022 and requires capitalization and amortization of such expenditures over a specified period; any revision, regulation, or new guidance to this rule may impact our future income tax provision, cash taxes paid, and effective tax rate. Furthermore, changes in multilateral agreements and the tax laws of foreign jurisdictions could arise as a result of the base erosion and profit shifting project undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (the "OECD") and could significantly increase our tax provision, cash taxes paid, and effective tax rate. The OECD has issued significant global tax policy changes that include both expanded reporting as well as technical global tax policy changes and many countries in which we operate have implemented tax law and administrative changes to align with new OECD policies. For example, in October 2021, OECD announced an agreed framework for an expansion of the taxing rights of market countries and to establish a global minimum corporate tax rate. In December 2021, OECD published detailed model rules for a global minimum corporate tax rate of fifteen percent which will require multilateral agreement(s) and/or country-specific legislative action to be effective. A global minimum corporate tax rate and any other implemented changes could significantly increase tax uncertainty due to differing interpretations and increased audit scrutiny.

We purchase materials, components, and equipment from third parties for use in our manufacturing operations. Our income could be adversely impacted if we are unable to adjust our purchases and supply chain management to reflect any supply chain or transportation disruptions or changes in customer demand and market fluctuations, geopolitical disruptions, severe weather events, increases in demand outpacing supply capabilities, labor shortages, seasonality or cyclicality. During a market upturn or general supply chain disruptions, suppliers have extended lead times, limited supplies, or increased prices. If we cannot purchase sufficient products at competitive prices and quality and on a timely enough basis to meet demand for our products, we may not be able to satisfy market demand, product shipments may be delayed, our costs may increase, or we may breach our contractual commitments and incur liabilities. Conversely, in order to secure supplies for the production of products, we sometimes enter into noncancelable purchase commitments with vendors, which could impact our ability to adjust our inventory to reflect declining market demands. If demand for our products is less than we expect, we may experience additional excess and obsolete inventories and be forced to incur additional charges and our profitability may suffer. In addition, some of our businesses purchase certain requirements from sole or limited source suppliers for reasons of quality assurance, cost effectiveness, availability, contractual obligations or uniqueness of design. If these or other suppliers encounter financial, operating, quality, or other difficulties or if our relationship with them changes, including as a result of contractual disputes, we might not be able to quickly establish or qualify replacement sources of supply. The supply chains for our businesses could also be disrupted by supplier capacity constraints, operational or quality issues, bankruptcy or exiting of the business for other reasons, decreased availability of key raw materials or commodities, and external events such as natural disasters, severe weather events that are occurring more frequently or with more intense effects as a result of global climate change, pandemic health issues, war, terrorist actions, governmental actions, and legislative or regulatory changes, among others. Any of these factors could result in production interruptions, delays, extended lead times, and inefficiencies. Because we cannot always immediately adapt our production capacity and related cost structures to changing market conditions, our manufacturing capacity may at times exceed or fall short of our production requirements. Any or all of these problems could result in the loss of customers, provide an opportunity for competing products to gain market acceptance, and otherwise adversely affect our profitability.

We cannot provide assurance that our internal controls and compliance systems will always protect us from acts committed by employees, agents, or business partners of ours (or of businesses we acquire or partner with) that would violate U.S. and/or non-U.S. laws, including the laws governing payments to government officials, bribery, fraud, kickbacks, and false claims, sales and marketing practices, conflicts of interest, competition, export and import compliance, money laundering, and data privacy. In particular, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, and similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business, and we operate in many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree. Any such improper actions or allegations of such acts could damage our reputation and subject us to civil or criminal investigations in the United States and in other jurisdictions and related shareholder lawsuits, could lead to substantial civil and criminal, monetary and non-monetary penalties and could cause us to incur significant legal and investigatory fees. In addition, though we rely on our suppliers to adhere to our supplier standards of conduct, material violations of such standards of conduct could occur that could have a material effect on our financial statements.

We own numerous patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and other intellectual property and licenses to intellectual property owned by others, which in aggregate are important to our business. The intellectual property rights that we obtain, however, may not be sufficiently broad or otherwise may not provide us a significant competitive advantage, and patents may not be issued for pending or future patent applications owned by or licensed to us. In addition, the steps that we and our licensors have taken to maintain and protect our intellectual property may not prevent it from being challenged, invalidated, circumvented, designed-around, or becoming subject to compulsory licensing, particularly in countries where intellectual property rights are not highly developed or protected. In some circumstances, enforcement may not be available to us because an infringer has a dominant intellectual property position or for other business reasons, or countries may require compulsory licensing of our intellectual property. We also rely on nondisclosure and noncompetition agreements with employees, consultants, and other parties to protect, in part, trade secrets and other proprietary rights. There can be no assurance that these agreements will adequately protect our trade secrets and other proprietary rights and will not be breached, that we will have adequate remedies for any breach, that others will not independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information, or that third parties will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or other proprietary rights. Our failure to obtain or maintain intellectual property rights that convey competitive advantage, adequately protect our intellectual property or detect or prevent circumvention or unauthorized use of such property, and the cost of enforcing our intellectual property rights could adversely impact our competitive position and financial statements.

Our facilities, supply chains, distribution systems, and information technology systems are subject to catastrophic loss due to fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, public health crisis, war, terrorism, or other natural or man-made disasters, including those caused by climate change and other climate-related causes. If any of these facilities, supply chains, or systems were to experience a catastrophic loss, it could disrupt our operations, delay production and shipments, result in defective products or services, damage customer relationships and our reputation, and result in legal exposure and large repair or replacement expenses. The third-party insurance coverage that we maintain will vary from time to time in both type and amount depending on cost, availability, and our decisions regarding risk retention, and may be unavailable or insufficient to protect us against losses.

We have experienced growth in various end markets in China. During 2023, sales in China accounted for approximately 11% of our total sales for the year. In addition, we have numerous facilities in China, many of which serve multiple Fortive operating companies in manufacturing, distribution, product design, and selling, general and administrative functions. There continues to be significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and China, including with respect to trade policies, treaties, government regulations, and tariffs. In particular, there continues to be uncertainty about U.S. foreign trade policy with respect to China, including any changes to the trade policies that may be adopted by the Biden administration. Any increased trade barriers or restrictions on global trade, especially trade with China, could adversely impact our business and financial statements.