Marygold Companies, Inc. (MGLD) Risk Analysis

Selling products for human consumption involves inherent legal and other risks, including product contamination, spoilage, product tampering, allergens, or other adulteration. We could in the future be required to recall products due to suspected or confirmed product contamination, adulteration, product mislabeling or misbranding, tampering, undeclared allergens, or other deficiencies. Product recalls or market withdrawals could result in significant losses due to their costs, the destruction of product inventory, and lost sales due to the unavailability of the product for a period of time. Adverse attention about these types of concerns, whether or not valid, may damage our reputation, discourage consumers from buying our products, or cause production and delivery disruptions that could negatively impact our net sales and financial condition. We may also suffer losses if our products or operations violate applicable laws or regulations, or if our products cause injury, illness, or death. In addition, our marketing could face claims of false or deceptive advertising or other criticism. A significant product liability or other legal judgment or a related regulatory enforcement action against us, or a significant product recall, may materially and adversely affect our reputation and profitability. Moreover, even if a product liability or fraud claim is unsuccessful, has no merit, or is not pursued to conclusion, the negative publicity surrounding assertions against our products or processes could materially and adversely affect our product sales, financial condition, and operating results.

Gourmet Foods obtains most food related products and services from third party suppliers. Gourmet Foods typically does not have long-term contracts with suppliers. Although Gourmet Foods' purchasing volume can provide leverage when dealing with suppliers, suppliers may not provide the foodservice products and supplies Gourmet Foods needs in the quantities and at the time and prices requested. Gourmet Foods does not control the actual production of most of the products it sells. This means Gourmet Foods is also subject to delays caused by interruption in production and increases in product costs based on conditions outside its control. These conditions include work slowdowns, work interruptions, strikes or other job actions by employees of suppliers; severe weather; crop conditions; product recalls; transportation interruptions; unavailability of fuel or increases in fuel costs; competitive demands; and natural disasters, terrorist attacks or other catastrophic events (including, but not limited to, the outbreak of food-borne illnesses in the United States). Gourmet Foods' inability to obtain adequate supplies of foodservice and related products because of any of these or other factors could mean that Gourmet Foods could not fulfill its obligations to its customers and, as a result, customers may turn to other distributors.

We depend upon information technology, infrastructure, including network, hardware and software systems to conduct our businesses. Despite our implementation of security measures, there are numerous and evolving risks to cybersecurity and privacy, including risks originating from intentional acts of criminal hackers, nation states and competitors, intentional and unintentional acts or omissions of customers, vendors, contractors, employees and other third parties that may result in damage, breakdown, or interruption from computer viruses, ransomware, malware, phishing, social engineering, fraudulent inducement, electronic fraud, wire fraud, human error or malfeasance, unauthorized access, natural disasters, and telecommunications and electrical failures. Each of our businesses directly or indirectly store, collect and transmit sensitive data, including intellectual property, confidential information, proprietary business information, customer or personal data. The secure processing of such data, maintenance, and transmission of such data is important to our operations. We face increased cybersecurity risks due to our reliance on internet technology. We may not be able to anticipate all types of security threats or be able to implement security measures effective against all such threats or implement preventive measures effective against all such threats. The techniques used by cybercriminals change frequently and may not be recognized until launched and can originate from a wide variety of sources, as discussed above. Even if identified, we may not be able to adequately investigate or remediate incidents or breaches due to attacks increasingly using tools and techniques that are designed to circumvent controls, to avoid detection, and to remove or obfuscate forensic evidence. Accordingly, our data protection efforts and related security measures may not be adequate to protect against highly targeted sophisticated cyber-attacks, or other improper disclosures of confidential and/or sensitive information. Additionally, we may have access to confidential or other sensitive information of our customers. suppliers, or services providers which despite our efforts to protect, may be vulnerable to security breaches, theft, or improper disclosure any of which could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. The increase in personnel working remotely during and after the recent pandemic has increased the risk for our and our vendors and suppliers' security breaches and incidents. If a security breach or other incident results in the unauthorized access to or use, disclosure, release, or other processing of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and it may be necessary to notify persons, governmental authorities, supervisory bodies, the media and other parties pursuant to privacy and security laws. Any such access, disclosure or other loss of information could result in legal claims, proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information of our employees or others, and any such event could disrupt our operations, damage our reputation, and cause loss of confidence in us. Our contracts with our customers, suppliers, or services providers may not contain limitation of liability and there can be no assurance that limitations of liability in our contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities, damages, or claims related to privacy, data protection, or data security. Further, we can give no assurance that our insurance coverage will be adequate or sufficient to cover the financial, legal, business or reputational losses that may result from an interruption or breach of our systems, that such coverage will continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or that such coverage will pay future claims. Any of these risks could materially affect our consolidated results of operations and financial condition.

Our business is subject to complex and changing laws, rules, regulations, policies, and legal interpretations in the markets in which we operate, including, but not limited to, those governing and enforcing: banking, credit, deposit taking, cross-border and domestic money transmission, prepaid access, foreign currency exchange, privacy and data protection, data governance, cybersecurity, banking secrecy, digital payments and cryptocurrency, payment services (including payment processing and settlement services), fraud detection, consumer protection, antitrust and competition, economic and trade sanctions, anti-money laundering, and counter-terrorist financing. As we, through our subsidiaries, introduce new products and services and expand into new markets, including through acquisitions, we may become subject to additional regulations, restrictions, and licensing requirements. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with existing or new laws, regulations, or orders of any government authority (including changes to or expansion of their interpretation) may subject us to significant fines, penalties, criminal and civil lawsuits, forfeiture of significant assets, and enforcement actions in one or more jurisdictions; result in additional compliance and licensure requirements; cause us to lose existing licenses or prevent or delay us from obtaining additional licenses that may be required for our business; increase regulatory scrutiny of our business; divert management's time and attention from our business; restrict our operations; lead to increased friction for customers; force us to make changes to our business practices, products or operations; require us to engage in remediation activities; or delay planned transactions, product launches or improvements. Any of the foregoing could, individually or in the aggregate, harm our reputation, damage our brands and business, and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. We have implemented policies and procedures designed to help ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, but there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors, and agents will not violate such laws and regulations.

USCF LLC, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, is currently the subject of class action litigation. See "Note 14. Commitments and Contingencies - Legal Proceedings" to our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K. Estimating an amount or range of possible losses resulting from litigation proceedings is inherently difficult and requires an extensive degree of judgment, particularly where the matters involve indeterminate claims for monetary damages, are in the early stages of proceedings, and are subject to appeal. In addition, because most legal proceedings are resolved over extended periods of time, potential losses are subject to change due to, among other things, new developments, changes in legal strategy, the outcome of intermediate procedural and substantive rulings and other parties' settlement posture and their evaluation of the strength or weakness of their case against us. For these reasons, we are currently unable to predict the ultimate timing or outcome of, or reasonably estimate the possible losses or a range of possible losses resulting from, the matters described in "Item 3. Legal Proceedings" of this Form 10-K and "Note 14. Commitments and Contingencies – Legal Proceedings" to our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K. In light of the inherent uncertainties involved in such matters, an adverse outcome in this litigation could materially adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows in any particular reporting period. Litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management's attention and resources from our business. Additionally, litigation could give rise to perceived uncertainties as to our future, adversely affect our relationships with investors in our funds, customers and vendors and make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel. Also, a company subject to litigation may be required to incur significant legal fees and other expenses related to any litigation.

Under the Internal Revenue Code ("Code") provisions governing the taxation of income earned by "controlled foreign corporations," most or all of the income earned by our non-U.S. subsidiaries will be subject to U.S. federal income tax in the year earned, even if not distributed to Marygold and even if fully taxed in the foreign countries in which those subsidiaries are organized or operate. Although the Code provides for foreign tax credit relief with respect to the foreign income taxes imposed on such income, that relief is limited in several respects that could have the effect of subjecting the same income to both U.S. and foreign income taxation.

War, terrorism, geopolitical uncertainties, public health issues, and other business interruptions have caused and could cause damage or disruption to international commerce and the global economy, and thus could have a material adverse effect on us, our suppliers, and manufacturing vendors. Our business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, fire, power shortages, nuclear power plant accidents, terrorist attacks, and other hostile acts, labor disputes, public health issues, and other events beyond our control. Such events could decrease demand for our products, make it difficult or impossible for us to make and deliver products or services to our customers, or to receive products from our suppliers, and create delays and inefficiencies in our supply chain. If major public health issues, including pandemics, arise, we could be adversely affected by more stringent employee travel restrictions, additional limitations in freight services, governmental actions limiting the movement of products between regions, delays in production ramps of new products, and disruptions in the operations of our vendors and suppliers. In the event of a natural disaster, we could incur significant losses, require substantial recovery time and experience significant expenditures in order to resume operations.

We face increased operational, regulatory, financial, compliance, reputational and foreign exchange rate risks as a result of our international expansion. The failure of our compliance and internal control systems to properly mitigate such additional risks, or of our operating infrastructure to support such expansion, could result in operational failures and regulatory fines or sanctions. If our international products and operations experience any negative consequences or are perceived negatively in non-U.S. markets, it may also harm our reputation in other markets, including the U.S. market. Our risk management policies and procedures, and those of our third-party vendors upon which we rely, may not be fully effective in identifying or mitigating risk exposure, including employee misconduct. If our policies and procedures do not adequately protect us from exposure to these risks, we may incur losses that would adversely affect our financial condition, reputation and market share. We have developed risk management policies and procedures and we continue to refine them as we conduct our business. Many of our procedures involve oversight of third-party vendors that provide us with critical services. Our policies and procedures to identify, monitor and manage risks may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure. These risks are difficult to detect in advance and deter, and could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition. If our policies and procedures do not adequately protect us from exposure and our exposure is not adequately covered by insurance or other risk-shifting tools, we may incur losses that would adversely affect our financial condition and could cause a reduction in our revenues as investors in our products shift their investments to the products of our competitors.

The Company may be impacted by certain continuing aftereffects from the economic disruption imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has resulted in numerous deaths, travel restrictions, closed international borders, enhanced health screenings at ports of entry and elsewhere, disruption of and delays in healthcare service preparation and delivery, prolonged quarantines and the imposition of both local and more widespread "work from home" measures, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, and lower consumer demand, as well as general concern and uncertainty. The extent to which COVID-19 will continue to affect the Company and its' service providers will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information that may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions taken to contain COVID-19. Given the significant economic and financial market disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company's results of operations could be adversely impacted. Additional risks and uncertainties that are presently unknown or are currently deemed immaterial may also impair our business operations. These risk factors should be read in connection with the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and our financial statements and the related notes.

In the event we are unable to raise additional financing to further develop our Fintech app business discussed above, management may, as an alternative, seek to enter arrangements to license or otherwise offer our Fintech app to third parties, including financial institutions and other payment providers in the U.S. and abroad. Although management believes there are several financial institutions and other payment providers in the U.S. and abroad who may be interested in a consumer faced mobile app such as ours, there can be no assurance we will be successful in monetizing our app in its current state of development to these third parties through license, fee-based user, or other arrangement.