ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should not invest in our stock unless you are able to bear the complete loss of your investment. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as other information provided to you in this annual report on Form 10-K, including information in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information” before making an investment decision. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones facing C-Bond Systems. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial may also impair our business operations. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected, the value of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.
We have incurred substantial losses to date, may continue to incur losses in the future, and we may never achieve or sustain profitability.
As reflected in our accompanying consolidated financial statements, we reflected net income of $1,886,807 for the year ended December 31, 2023. Additionally, as of December 31, 2023, the Company had an accumulated deficit, shareholders’ deficit, and working capital deficit of $60,851,714, $4,324,535 and $1,351,954, respectively. On May 8, 2023, we sold our nanoShield product line for approximately $4,000,000 and for the year ended December 31, 2023, we recorded a gain from this sale of the nanoShield product line of $4,051,709. Aside from the 2023 gain recognized from the sale of the nanoShield product line, we have incurred substantial losses since our inception, including a net loss of $5,156,478 (which included stock-based compensation of $1,039,943), for the year ended December 31, 2022. Net cash used in operations was $1,602,218 and $1,584,918 for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of twelve months from the issuance date of this report. Management cannot provide assurance that the Company will ultimately operations or become cash flow or raise additional debt and/or equity capital.
Our ability to continue as a going concern will require us to obtain additional financing to fund our current operations, which may be unavailable on attractive terms, if at all.
As of December 31, 2023, our recurring operating losses (excluding the gain we recognized from the sale of our nanoShield product line), cash used in operations and our current operating plans raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of twelve months from the issuance date of this report. Our ability to continue as a going concern will require us to obtain additional financing to fund our current operating plans. We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will not be sufficient to fund our current operating plans. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we would be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our commercialization efforts.
Unfavorable global economic, business, or political conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the global financial markets, including conditions that are outside of our control, including the impact of health and safety concerns, such as those relating to global pandemics. The most recent global financial crisis caused extreme volatility and disruptions in the capital and credit markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn could result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened demand for our products and our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. A weak or declining economy could strain our domestic and international customers, possibly resulting in delays in customer payments. Any of the foregoing could our business and we cannot anticipate all the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions could impact our business.
We hold our cash and cash equivalents that we use to meet our working capital and operating expense needs in deposit accounts that could be adversely affected if the financial institution holding such funds fails.
We hold our cash and cash equivalents that we use to meet our working capital and operating expense needs in deposit accounts. At times, the balance held in these accounts may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, standard deposit insurance limit of $250,000. If the financial institution in which we hold such funds fails or is subject to significant adverse conditions in the financial or credit markets, we could be subject to a risk of loss of all or a portion of such uninsured funds or be subject to a delay in accessing all or a portion of such uninsured funds. Any such loss or lack of access to these funds could adversely impact our short-term liquidity and ability to meet our operating expense obligations, including payroll obligations.
For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, and Signature Bank, were closed by state regulators and the FDIC was appointed receiver for each bank. The FDIC created successor bridge banks and all deposits of SVB and Signature Bank were transferred to the bridge banks under a systemic risk exception approved by the United States Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC. If the financial institution in which we hold funds for working capital and operating expenses were to fail, we cannot provide any assurances that such governmental agencies would take action to protect our uninsured deposits or investments in a similar manner.
Our future revenues are very difficult to predict with any accuracy.
Predicting the timing or the amount of revenues that we will receive from the sale of our products is very difficult. Any delay in the development and acceptance of one or more of our products, could result in significant delays in the realization of revenues, the need to raise additional capital through the issuance of additional equity or debt securities sooner than we intend, and may allow competitors to reach certain of such markets with products before we do. In view of the emerging nature of the technology involved in certain of these markets, and the attendant uncertainty as to whether our products will achieve meaningful commercial acceptance, if at all, there can be no assurance that we will realize revenues sufficient to achieve profitability.
Our intellectual property is subject to patents that may expire.
We rely on U.S. patents to protect our propriety products that form the core of our revenue potential. These patents are subject to standard patent expiration terms. Upon expiration of our patents, we will no longer be able to prevent our competitors from developing similar products to ours.
If we are unable to adequately protect our intellectual property, our competitive position and results of operations may be adversely impacted.
Protecting our intellectual property is critical to our innovation efforts. We own patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks and/or other intellectual property rights related to many of our products, and also have a non-exclusive license right under intellectual property owned by others. Our intellectual property rights may be challenged or infringed upon by third parties, particularly in countries where property rights are not highly developed or protected, or we may be unable to maintain, renew or enter into new license agreements with third-party owners of intellectual property on reasonable terms. Unauthorized use of our intellectual property rights or inability to preserve existing intellectual property rights could adversely impact our competitive position and results of operations.
We are dependent on key personnel, and our ability to grow and compete in our industry will be harmed if we do not retain the continued services of our key personnel, or we fail to identify, hire, and retain additional qualified personnel.
Our success depends on the efforts of our senior management team and other key personnel. The loss of services of members of our senior management team could have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, if we expect to grow our operations, it will be necessary for us to attract and retain additional qualified personnel. If we are unable to attract or retain qualified personnel as needed, the growth of our operations could be slowed or hampered.
Potential adverse outcomes in legal proceedings may adversely affect results.
Our business exposes us to product liability claims that are inherent in the design, manufacture and sale of our products and the products of suppliers. We may not be able to obtain insurance on acceptable terms or our insurance may not provide adequate protection against actual losses. In addition, we are subject to the risk that one or more of our insurers may become insolvent and become unable to pay claims that may be made in the future. Even if we maintain adequate insurance, claims could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, liquidity and results of operations and on our ability to obtain suitable, adequate or cost-effective insurance in the future.
If we are unable to successfully introduce new products, our future growth may be adversely affected.
Our ability or failure to develop new products based on innovation can affect our competitive position and requires the investment of significant time and resources. Difficulties or delays in research, development, production or commercialization of new products and services may reduce future revenues and adversely affect our competitive position. If we are unable to create sustainable product differentiation, our organic growth may be adversely affected.
Research and development for continued growth of our IP portfolio and product offerings is expensive, and we may not have sufficient funds to continue research and develop activities and may not be able to acquire additional funding.
Our ability to continue our research and development activities to improve and expand our products and service offerings requires extensive amounts of funding. We may not be able to obtain the necessary funding on attractive terms and on a timely basis to continue our research and development activities, which could cause our research and development activities to be delayed, reduced or terminated. Delaying, reducing or terminating our research activities could impede our estimated growth and results of operations.
We rely heavily on collaborative partners such as distributors, manufacturers and vendors and our relationships with such parties may restrict or limit our business operations.
We are currently working with several third-party entities with respect to the validation, optimization, and distribution of our products. Our current and future collaborations and joint ventures are important as they allow greater access to funds, to research, development and testing resources, validation, and to manufacturing, sales and distribution resources that we would otherwise not have. We intend to continue to significantly rely on such collaborative and joint venture arrangements. Some of the risks and uncertainties related to the reliance on such collaborations and joint ventures include the fact that such relationships could actually serve to limit or restrict us, while our partners are free to pursue other products either on their own or with others. Further, our partners may terminate a collaborative technology relationship and such termination may require us to seek other partners or expend substantial resources to pursue these activities independently.
We rely somewhat on a third-party distribution model for our products and the number and quality of distributors can vary and may impact our revenues.
We rely somewhat on numerous third-party distributors for the distribution of our products. While we believe that alternative distributors could be located if required, our product sales could be affected if any of these distributors do not continue to distribute our products in required quantities or at all, or with the required levels of quality. In addition, difficulties encountered by these distributors, such as fire, accident, natural disasters, or political unrest, could halt or disrupt distributions, resulting in delay or cancellation of orders. Any of these events could result in delayed deliveries by us of our products, causing reduced sales and harm to our reputation and brand name.
We only have one manufacturing facility for our propriety products.
Our proprietary products are manufactured for us by CB Nanoshield, the Buyer of the nanoShield product, in their Houston, Texas facility. In the event of a fire, flood, tornado, hurricane or other form of a catastrophic event, we may be unable to fulfill any then-existing demand for our products, possibly for a prolonged period, depending upon the severity of the event. As a result, should a catastrophic event occur, our financial condition and results of operation would be materially adversely affected.
Our Contract Manufacturing Agreement with CB Nanoshield expires on May 8, 2024 (the “Anniversary Date”). For each year thereafter automatic one-year extensions to the agreement automatically trigger on the Anniversary Date unless terminated or revised. If a party elects to terminate the agreement, they must provide written notification to the other party no less than sixty (60) days prior to the Anniversary Date. If we are not able to renew or extend our manufacturing agreement, we may have to move our corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility. Doing so could cause us to incur significant expenses and could delay or reduce our ability to manufacture our products for some time. Our financial condition and results of operation could be materially adversely affected by any such move.
The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources, divert management’s attention, and affect our ability to attract and retain qualified members of the board of directors.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), the Dodd-Frank Act, the listing requirements of the OTC and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations requires significant legal and financial compliance costs, makes some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increases demand on our systems and resources. The Exchange Act requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and operating results. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business and operating results. We may need to hire more employees in the future to comply with these regulatory requirements, which will increase our costs and expenses.
In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time consuming. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be harmed.
We also expect that being a public company with these rules and regulations will make it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members for our board of directors, particularly to serve any committees, and qualified executive officers.
As a result of disclosure of information in filings required of a public company, our business and financial condition will become more visible, which we believe may result in threatened or actual litigation, including by competitors and other third parties. If such claims are successful, our business and operating results could be harmed, and even if the claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor, these claims, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them, could divert the resources of our management and harm our business and operating results.
We may not reach sufficient size to justify our public reporting status. If we are forced to become a private company, then our stockholders may lose their ability to sell their shares.
We may not be able to fulfill our obligation to develop and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting.
We are required, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting annually. This assessment needs to include disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. Management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 was not effective, see “ We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting which could, if not remediated, result in a material misstatement in our financial statement. ” In the future, we may not be able to complete our evaluation, testing and any required remediation in a timely fashion. Failure to comply, or any adverse results from such evaluation, could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports and have an adverse effect on the trading price of our equity securities. Achieving continued compliance with Section 404 may require us to incur significant costs and expend significant time and management resources. We cannot you that we will be to fully comply with Section 404 or that we will be to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is .
Risks Related to the Glass Strengthening and Water Repellent Industries
We face competition from companies that have substantially greater capital resources, research and development, manufacturing, and marketing resources.
While we believe that we have significant competitive benefits offered by our proprietary products, there are competitors with much longer operating histories, greater name recognition, larger customer bases and significantly greater financial, technical, and marketing resources than we have. As we grow and become successful with our products, we expect these competitors to increase the resources they dedicate to our market. Such competition could materially adversely affect our business, operating results, or financial condition.
We may face increased pricing pressures from current and future competitors and, accordingly, there can be no assurance that competitive pressures will not require us to reduce our prices .
It is likely that we will experience significant competitive pressure over time. Accordingly, the use and pricing of our products may decline as the market becomes more competitive. Any material reduction in the price of our products will negatively affect our gross margin and results of operations.
We may have difficulty developing brand awareness for our products.
We believe that a developed market for glass strengthening products currently does not exist. Generation of the brand and market communications are essential to the Company’s long-term success. Funding constraints will limit the Company’s ability to build product awareness through marketing and advertising. Without clear market communication the risk of having the product confused with other applications such as a stand-alone hydrophobic product is possible. If we are unable to develop such a market or create demand for our products, it would adversely impact our business and operating results.
Risks Related to our Common Stock
Our common stock is quoted on the OTC Pink, which may limit the liquidity and price of our common stock more than if our common stock were listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market or another national exchange.
Our securities are currently quoted on the OTC Markets, specifically the OTC Pink (the “OTC Pink”), an inter-dealer automated quotation system for equity securities. Quotation of our securities on the OTC Pink may limit the liquidity and price of our securities more than if our securities were listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market or another national exchange. As an OTC Pink company, we do not attract the extensive analyst coverage that accompanies companies listed on national securities exchanges. Further, institutional and other investors may have investment guidelines that restrict or prohibit investing in securities traded on the OTC Pink. These factors may have an adverse impact on the trading and price of our common stock.
The trading price of our common stock may decrease due to factors beyond our control.
The stock market from time to time has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations, which have particularly affected the market prices for smaller reporting companies, and which often have been unrelated to the operating performance of the companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. If our shareholders sell substantial amounts of their common stock in the public market, the price of our common stock could fall. These sales also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity, or equity-related securities, in the future at a price we deem appropriate.
The market price of our common stock may also fluctuate significantly in response to the following factors, most of which are beyond our control:
variations in our quarterly operating results,
changes in general economic conditions and in our industry,
changes in market valuations of similar companies,
announcements by us or our competitors of significant new contracts, acquisitions, strategic partnerships or joint ventures, or capital commitments,
loss of a major customer, partner or joint venture participant and
the addition or loss of key managerial and collaborative personnel.
Any such fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. As a result, stockholders may be unable to sell their shares, or may be forced to sell them at a loss.
The market price for our common shares is particularly volatile given our status as a relatively unknown company with a small and thinly traded public float, limited operating history and lack of profits which could lead to wide fluctuations in our share price. You may be unable to sell your common shares at or above your purchase price, which may result in substantial losses to you.
The market for our common shares is characterized by significant price volatility when compared to seasoned issuers, and we expect that our share price will continue to be more volatile than a seasoned issuer for the indefinite future. The volatility in our share price is attributable to a number of factors. First, as noted above, our common shares are sporadically and thinly traded. As a consequence of this lack of liquidity, the trading of relatively small quantities of shares by our shareholders may disproportionately influence the price of those shares in either direction. The price for our shares could, for example, decline precipitously in the event that a large number of our common shares are sold on the market without commensurate demand, as compared to a seasoned issuer which could better absorb those sales without adverse impact on its share price. Secondly, we are a speculative or “risky” investment due to our limited operating history and of profits to date. As a consequence of this risk, more risk- investors may, under the of all or most of their investment in the event of news or of , be more inclined to sell their shares on the market more quickly and at discounts than would be the case with the stock of a seasoned issuer. Many of these factors are beyond our control and may decrease the market price of our common shares, regardless of our operating performance. We cannot make any predictions or projections as to what the prevailing market price for our common shares will be at any time, including as to whether our common shares will sustain their current market prices, or as to what effect that the sale of shares or the availability of common shares for sale at any time will have on the prevailing market price.
Penny stock regulations may impose certain restrictions on marketability of our securities.
Our common stock is subject to penny stock rules, which may discourage broker-dealers from effecting transactions in our common stock or affect their ability to sell our securities. As a result, purchasers and current holders of our securities could find it more difficult to sell their securities. Trading volume of OTC Pink stocks have been historically lower and more volatile than stocks traded on an exchange or the Nasdaq Stock Market. In addition, we may be subject to rules of the SEC that impose additional requirements on broker-dealers when selling penny stocks to persons other than established customers and accredited investors. In general, an accredited investor is a person with net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or annual income exceeding $200,000 individually, or $300,000 together with his or her spouse. The relevant SEC regulations generally define penny stocks to include any equity security not traded on an exchange or the Nasdaq Stock Market with a market price (as defined in the regulations) of less than $5 per share. Under the penny stock regulations, a broker-dealer must make a special suitability determination as to the purchaser and must have the purchaser’s prior written consent to the transaction. Prior to any transaction in a penny stock covered by these rules, a broker-dealer must deliver a disclosure schedule about the penny stock market prepared by the SEC. Broker-dealers must also make disclosure concerning commissions payable to both the broker-dealer and any registered representative and provide current quotations for the securities. Finally, broker-dealers are required to send monthly statements recent price information for the penny stock held in an account and information on the limited market in penny stocks.
You may find it difficult to sell our common stock.
As mentioned above, there has been a limited trading market in our common stock. We cannot assure you that an active trading market for our common stock will develop or be sustained. Regardless of whether an active and liquid public market exists, negative fluctuations in our actual or anticipated operating results will likely cause the market price of our common stock to fall, making it more difficult for you to sell our common stock at a favorable price, or at all.
We intend to issue additional equity and stock options to employees and consultants as compensation in the future, which will result in dilution to existing and new investors.
We provide and intend to continue to provide additional equity-based compensation to our employees, officers, directors, consultants, and independent contractors through an equity incentive plan. Our equity incentive plan permits the award of options to purchase shares of common stock and the issuance of restricted shares of our common stock. Because stock options granted under the plan will generally only be exercised when the exercise price for such option is below the then market value of the common stock, the exercise of such options or the issuance of shares will cause dilution to the book value per share of our common stock and to existing and new investors.
Holders of convertible debt issued by the Company may convert their promissory notes and exercise warrants into shares of our common stock, which will result in significant dilution to existing and new investors.
We closed various financing transactions with investors whereby the respective investor purchased convertible promissory notes and warrants from the Company. If the investors convert their notes and exercise their warrants, the Company will issue shares of the Company’s common stock to the investor, which may cause substantial dilution to the book value per share of our common stock and to existing and new investors.
Holders of Series B Preferred Shares or Series C Preferred Shares issued by the Company may, as of December 31, 2023, convert such shares into approximately 335,772,000 and 438,151,000 shares of our common stock, respectively, which could result in significant dilution to existing and new investors.
As of December 31, 2023, we had 1,144 Series B and 15,150 Series C shares of Preferred Stock issued and outstanding. If a holder of Series B Preferred shares or Series C Preferred shares issued by the Company elects to convert such shares into approximately 335,772,000 and 438,151,000 shares of our common stock, respectively, it would result in significant dilution to existing and new investors.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market by our existing stockholders could cause our stock price to fall.
We have not entered into lock-up agreements with any of our existing stockholders. As a result, sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that sales may have on the prevailing market price of our common stock.
Our stock price is likely to be volatile.
There is generally significant volatility in the market prices and limited liquidity of securities of companies at our stage. Contributing to this volatility are various events that can affect our stock price in a positive or negative manner. These events include, but are not limited to: governmental regulations or actions; market acceptance and sales growth of our products; litigation involving our industry; developments or disputes concerning our patents or other proprietary rights; departure of key personnel; future sales of our securities; fluctuations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us; investors’ general perception of us; announcements by us of significant contracts, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments, and general economic, industry and market conditions. If any of these events occur, it could cause our stock price to fall.
The price of our common stock may be adversely affected by the future issuance and sale of shares of our common stock or other equity securities.
We cannot predict the size of future issuances or sales of our common stock or other equity securities future acquisitions or capital raising activities, or the effect, if any, that such issuances or sales may have on the market price of our common stock. The issuance and sale of substantial amounts of common stock or other equity securities or announcement that such issuances and sales may occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Any decline in the price of our common stock may encourage short sales, which could place further downward pressure on the price of our common stock and may impair our ability to raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities.
Our reduced stock price may adversely affect our liquidity.
Our common stock has limited trading history. Many market makers are reluctant to make a market in stock with a trading price of less than $5.00 per share, as well as shares quoted on the OTC Pink. To the extent that we have fewer market makers for our common stock, our volume and liquidity will likely decline, which could further depress our stock price.
We have never paid dividends on our common stock and cannot guarantee that we will pay dividends to our stockholders in the future.
We have never paid dividends on our common stock. For the foreseeable future, we intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to reinvest in the development and growth of our business and, therefore, do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock. However, in the future, our board of directors may declare dividends on our common stock. Any future determination to pay dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, and such other factors as our board of directors deems relevant. Accordingly, investors may need to sell their shares of our common stock to realize a return on their investment, and they may not be able to sell such shares at or above the price paid for them. We cannot guarantee that we will pay dividends to our stockholders in the future.
Colorado law and our Articles of Incorporation protect our directors from certain types of lawsuits, which could make it difficult for us to recover damages from them in the event of a lawsuit.
Colorado law provides that our directors will not be liable to our company or to our stockholders for monetary damages for all but certain types of conduct as directors. Our Articles of Incorporation require us to indemnify our directors and officers against all damages incurred in connection with our business to the fullest extent provided or allowed by law. The exculpation provisions may have the effect of preventing stockholders from recovering damages against our directors caused by their negligence, poor judgment, or other circumstances. The indemnification provisions may require our company to use our assets to defend our directors and officers against claims, including claims arising out of their negligence, judgment, or other circumstances.
Additional risks may exist since we became public through a “reverse merger.”
Because our business became public by means of a “reverse merger,” we may not be able to attract the attention of major brokerage firms. Securities analysts of major brokerage firms may not provide coverage of us since there is little incentive to brokerage firms to recommend the purchase of our common stock. We cannot assure you that brokerage firms will want to conduct any secondary offerings on our behalf in the future.
We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting which could, if not remediated, result in a material misstatement in our financial statements.
We are subject to the reporting and other obligations under the Exchange Act, including the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which require annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. As reported in Item 9A hereof, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2023 because of a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. The ineffectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures was due to the following material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting: (1) the lack of multiple levels of management review on complex business, accounting, and financial reporting issues and (2) a lack of adequate segregation of duties as a result of our limited financial resources to support hiring of personnel. Until such time as we expand our staff to include additional accounting and executive personnel, it is likely we will continue to report material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting.
While management has undertaken and will continue to undertake steps to improve our internal control over financial reporting to address and remediate the material weaknesses, there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully remediate the identified material weaknesses, or that we will not identify additional control deficiencies or material weaknesses in the future. If we are unable to successfully remediate our existing or any future material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities laws regarding the timely filing of periodic reports, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and the price of our ordinary shares may .
