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YoY shift: Neutral
Year-over-year tone shift - average net-tone change across Risk Factors and MD&A vs the prior 10-K. This filing is 0.11pp more bullish than last year's.
Why YoY instead of absolute: the LM lexicon has ~6.6× more negative words than positive (legal/risk-disclosure language is heavy on hedging), so every 10-K reads bearish on raw tone. Year-over-year change strips that bias and surfaces the actual shift in management's framing.
Tone shift by section
The two components the gauge averages: how Risk Factors and MD&A each shifted in net tone versus last year's 10-K. The headline above is their average, so a green needle over a soft section just means the other section carried it.
Risk Factors
-0.02pp
Flat
Net-tone change vs last year's 10-K.
MD&A
+0.24pp
Flat
Net-tone change vs last year's 10-K.
Per-snippet highlights
Sentence-level sentiment highlighting with category and subcategory filters is coming once the snippet-scoring pipeline lands. For now, dig into the actual section text on the Sections tab.
Language change vs prior 10-K
Risk Factors (Item 1A) - words with the biggest YoY frequency increase
Negative rising
failure+4
default+3
adversely+2
impair+2
critical+2
Positive rising
achieve+2
innovate+1
leadership+1
proficiency+1
satisfy+1
Risk Factors (Item 1A)
10,963 words
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Ownership of the Company’s securities involves a number of risks and uncertainties. Potential investors should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below and the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before deciding whether to invest in the Company’s securities. The Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks. The risks described below are not the only ones the Company faces. Additional risks that are currently unknown to the Company or that the Company currently considers immaterial may also impair its business or adversely affect its financial condition or results of operations.
Strategic and Operational Risks
The Company is subject to intense competition in a marketplace dominated by large omni-channel and e-commerce retailers.
The Company competes with numerous other manufacturers and distributors of consumer and commercial products, many of which are large and well-established. A proliferation of digitally native brands has further intensified the competitive landscape. The Company’s principal customers are large mass merchandisers, discount stores, home centers, warehouse clubs, office superstores, specialty retailers, wholesalers, commercial distributors, direct-to-consumer channels, and e-commerce retailers. The dominant share of the market represented by these large retailers, together with changes in consumer shopping patterns, and the integration of brick and mortar and e-commerce operations at major retailers, has contributed to the formation of dominant multi-category omni-channel and e-commerce retailers that have negotiating power with suppliers. These retailers have and may continue to foster high levels of competition among suppliers, reduce inventory levels, demand new products and products tailored to each of their unique specifications, require suppliers to maintain or reduce product prices in response to competitive, economic or other factors, and require product delivery with shorter lead times. Retailers have imported and may continue to import products directly from foreign sources and source and sell products under their own private label brands, typically at lower prices, that compete with the Company’s products.
Language change vs prior 10-K
MD&A (Item 7) - words with the biggest YoY frequency increase
Negative rising
retaliatory+4
declines+2
downgraded+2
disclosed+2
failure+1
Positive rising
favorably+2
enable+2
innovations+2
able+1
gain+1
MD&A (Item 7)
9,662 words
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations section should be read in conjunction with “ Financial Statements and Supplementary Data ” included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the Company’s audited Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The “ Business Strategy ” and “ Recent Developments ” sections below are brief presentations of our business and certain significant items addressed in this section or elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This section should be read along with the relevant portions of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a complete discussion of the events and items summarized below. The “ Results of Operations ” section generally discusses 2025 and 2024 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2025 and 2024. Discussions of 2023 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2024 and 2023 that are not included in this Form 10-K can be found in “ Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.
Overview
Newell Brands is a leading global consumer goods company with a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Coleman, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Yankee Candle, Paper Mate, FoodSaver, Dymo, EXPO, Elmer’s, Oster, NUK, Spontex and Campingaz. Newell Brands is focused on consumers by lighting up everyday moments. The Company sells its products in over 150 countries around the world and has operations on the ground in more than 45 of these countries, excluding third-party distributors. The Company has three operating segments: Home and Commercial Solutions (“H&CS”), Learning and Development (“L&D”) and Outdoor and Recreation (“O&R”).
The combination of these market influences and retailer consolidation has created an intensely competitive environment in which the Company’s principal customers continuously evaluate which product suppliers to use, resulting in downward pricing pressures and the need for consumer-meaningful brands, the ongoing introduction and commercialization of innovative new products, continuing improvements in category management and customer service, and the maintenance of strong relationships with large, high-volume purchasers. The Company also faces the risk of changes in the strategy or structure of its major customers, such as overall store and inventory reductions. The intense competition in the traditional retail and e-commerce sectors may result in a number of customers experiencing financial difficulty or failing in the future. To address these challenges, the Company must be able to respond to competitive factors and the potential loss of customers in the future, and the failure to respond effectively could result in a loss of sales, reduced profitability and a limited ability to recover cost increases through price increases.
The Company’s customers may further consolidate, which could materially adversely affect the Company’s sales and margins.
The Company’s customers have steadily consolidated over time. The Company expects any customers that consolidate will take actions to harmonize pricing from their suppliers, close retail outlets, reduce inventory, and rationalize their supply chain, which could adversely affect the Company’s business and results of operations. There can be no assurance that, following consolidation, the Company’s large customers will continue to buy from the Company across different product categories or geographic regions, or at the same levels as prior to consolidation, which could negatively impact the Company’s financial results. Further, if the consolidation trend continues, it could result in additional increase in the customers’ negotiating power with suppliers, as well as pricing and other competitive pressures that could reduce the Company’s sales and profitability.
The Company’s sales are dependent on purchases by several large customers and any significant decline in these purchases or pressure from these customers to reduce prices could have a negative effect on the Company’s future financial performance.
Although the Company has long-established relationships with many customers, the Company generally does not have long-term supply or binding contracts or guarantees of minimum purchases with its largest customers. Purchase commitments by these customers are generally made using individual purchase orders. As a result, these customers may cancel their orders, change purchase quantities from forecast volumes, delay purchases for a number of reasons beyond the Company’s control or change other terms of the business relationship. Significant or numerous cancellations, reductions, delays in purchases or changes in business practices by customers could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, because many of the Company’s costs are fixed, a reduction in customer demand due to decreased sales to end consumers could have an adverse effect on the Company’s profitability. The retail landscape in many of the Company’s markets continues to be impacted by the rapid growth of e-commerce retailers, changing consumer preferences (including shopping online and through mobile commerce and social applications) and the emergence of alternative retail channels, such as subscription services and direct-to-consumer businesses. The rapid growth in e-commerce and emergence of alternative retail channels may adversely affect the Company’s relationships with its key retailers, whereby the number of products it sells will no longer be a reliable indicator of the amount of future business the Company can expect.
The Company depends on a continuous flow of new orders from large, high-volume retail customers; however, the Company may be unable to continually meet the needs of these customers. Retailers are increasing their demands on suppliers to:
• reduce lead times for product delivery, which may require the Company to increase inventories and could impact the timing of reported sales;
• improve customer service; and
• adopt new technologies including those related to inventory management such as Radio Frequency Identification, otherwise known as RFID technology, which may have substantial implementation costs.
The Company cannot provide any assurance that it can continue to successfully meet the needs of its customers or that customer demand will remain consistent. A substantial decrease in sales to any of its major customers and an inability to adapt to the emergence of alternative retail channels could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.
If the Company is unable to innovate and commercialize a continuing stream of new products that create demand, the Company’s ability to compete in the marketplace and financial results may be adversely impacted.
The Company’s strategy includes investment in new product development and a focus on innovation. Its long-term success in the competitive retail environment and the industrial and commercial markets depends on its ability to develop and commercialize a continuing stream of innovative new products and line extensions that create demand. The Company’s ability to quickly innovate in order to adapt its products to meet changing consumer demands is essential, especially in light of e-commerce significantly reducing the barriers for even small competitors to quickly introduce new brands and products directly to consumers. New product development and commercialization efforts, including efforts to enter markets or product categories in which the Company has limited or no prior experience, have inherent risks. These risks include the costs involved, such as development and commercialization, product development or launch delays, and the failure of new products and line extensions to achieve anticipated levels of market acceptance or growth in sales or operating income. The Company also faces the risk that its competitors will introduce innovative new products that compete with the Company’s products. In addition, sales generated by new
products or line extensions could cause a decline in sales of the Company’s existing products. If new product development and commercialization efforts are not successful, the Company’s financial results could be adversely affected.
If the Company does not continue to develop and maintain leading brands or realize the anticipated benefits of advertising and promotion spend over the long term, its operating results may suffer.
The Company’s ability to compete successfully also depends increasingly on its ability to develop and maintain leading brands that consumers choose and prefer. Leading brands allow the Company to compete at desirable price levels and to realize economies of scale in its operations. The development and maintenance of such brands require significant investment in brand-building and marketing initiatives. Over the long term, these initiatives may not deliver the anticipated results and the results of such initiatives may not cover the costs of the increased investment.
Failure to further expand the Company’s e-commerce business, despite e-commerce investments, may materially and adversely affect the Company’s market position, net sales and financial performance.
The retail industry has rapidly evolved, and consumers have embraced shopping online and through mobile commerce and social applications. As a result, the portion of total consumer expenditures with retailers occurring through digital platforms is increasing, and the pace of this increase has accelerated. At the same time, the portion of retail business at traditional “brick and mortar” stores and shopping centers has decreased.
The Company’s strategy includes investments in e-commerce, omni-channel and technology initiatives. If these investments fail to adequately or effectively allow the Company to further expand its e-commerce business, maintain or grow its overall market position or otherwise benefit the Company, the Company’s market position, net sales and financial performance could be adversely affected. In addition, a greater concentration of e-commerce sales could result in a reduction in sales by the Company’s other customers, which could, if not offset by a greater increase in e-commerce sales, materially adversely affect the business of the Company.
Furthermore, the cost of certain e-commerce, omni-channel and technology investments may adversely impact the Company’s financial performance in the short and long-term. There can be no assurance that investments in e-commerce and omni-channel infrastructure and technology will result in increased sales through e-commerce or otherwise.
The Company’s plans to execute its turnaround plan and restructuring initiatives, improve productivity and reduce complexity and costs may not be successful, which would materially adversely affect its financial results.
The Company is executing a turnaround plan to build a global, next generation consumer products company that can unleash the full potential of its brands in a fast-moving omni-channel environment. The Company is implementing various global initiatives in connection with the turnaround plan to reduce costs and improve cash flows, as further described in Item 1-Business Strategy.
These initiatives may not be substantially completed in the expected timeframe, may be more costly to implement than expected, or may not fully achieve the anticipated cost savings. Such initiatives involve a significant amount of capital expenditures, organizational change and execution risk, which could have a negative impact on employee engagement, divert management’s attention from other initiatives, and if not properly managed, impact the Company’s ability to retain key employees, cause disruptions in the Company’s day-to-day operations and have a negative impact on the Company’s financial results. In addition, the Company’s ongoing review of its operating footprint and non-core brands will likely result in future restructuring charges.
Further, the Company has pursued and may continue to pursue acquisitions of brands, businesses, or technologies from third parties. The Company’s success depends on its ability to integrate such acquired brands, businesses, or technologies, to continuously improve its manufacturing operations to gainefficiencies, to reduce supply chain costs and to streamline and redeploy nonstrategic selling, general and administrative expenses in order to produce products at a best-cost position and allow the Company to invest in innovation and brand building, including advertising and promotion. Future acquisitions could result in substantial additional debt, exposure to contingent liabilities, such as litigation or earn-out obligations, the potential impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets, or significant integration and transaction costs.
The Company’s operations are dependent upon third-party vendors and suppliers whose failure to perform adequately could disrupt the Company’s business operations.
The Company currently sources a significant portion of parts and products from third parties. The Company’s ability to select and retain reliable vendors and suppliers who provide timely deliveries of quality parts and products will impact the Company’s success in meeting customer demand for timely delivery of quality products.
The ability of third-party suppliers to timely deliver finished goods and/or raw materials, and the ability of the Company’s own facilities to timely deliver finished goods, may be affected by events beyond their control, such as inability of shippers to timely deliver merchandise due to work stoppages or slowdowns, demand volatility or port congestion, disruption from geopolitical conflicts, unavailability of shipping containers or other equipment, or significant weather and health conditions affecting manufacturers and/or shippers. Any adverse change in the Company’s relationships with its third-party suppliers, the financial condition of third-party suppliers, the ability of third-party suppliers to manufacture and deliver outsourced parts or products on a timely basis, or the Company’s ability to import products from third-party suppliers or its own facilities could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.
In addition, the financial condition of the Company’s vendors and suppliers may be adversely affected by general economic conditions, such as credit difficulties and the uncertain macroeconomic environment. In some instances, the Company maintains single-source or limited-source sourcing relationships, either because multiple sources are not available or the relationship is advantageous due to performance, quality, support, delivery, capacity or price considerations. For example, the Baby business unit within the Company’s L&D segment has a single source of supply for products that comprise a majority of its sales and which owns intellectual property rights in respect to many of those products. Any inability of the Company’s vendors and suppliers to timely deliver quality parts and products or any unanticipated change in supply, quality or pricing of products could be disruptive and costly to the Company. The Company may not be able to quickly or effectively replace any of its suppliers if the need arose, and it may be difficult to retrieve tooling and molds possessed by any of its third-party suppliers. The Company’s dependence on these few suppliers could also adversely affect its ability to react quickly and effectively to changes in the market for its products.
The Company may use artificial intelligence in its business, and challenges with properly managing its use could result in reputational harm, competitive harm, and legal liability, and could adversely affect the Company’s business.
The Company’s use of AI tools in its operations and systems poses inherent risk and could adversely affect the Company’s operations and financial conditions. The Company’s success may increasingly become dependent on its ability to effectively leverage AI to support its operational efficiencies, such as in supply chain and support functions, and its product development and marketing capabilities. The Company may be outpaced by its competitors in their more successful or earlier adoption of AI solutions, which could negatively affect the Company’s commercial competitiveness. Use of AI exposes the Company to risks that such AI solutions may be deficient, produce inaccurate or misleading output, become inoperable or subject the Company to cybersecurity and data privacy breaches, all of which could lead to operational disruptions, flawed decision-making, increased costs, and an inhibited ability to improve product development and marketing through the use of AI, and could impact the Company’s operational effectiveness and financial condition. Additionally, the use of certain AI solutions could put the Company’s own information and intellectual property rights at risk or expose the Company to risk of infringing third parties’ intellectual property or other rights. The global legal, regulatory, and ethical landscape surrounding AI is rapidly evolving and remains uncertain, which creates continued compliance risk and may incur additional operational costs associated with the Company’s use of AI, may limit the Company’s ability to fully develop or use AI solutions as intended, and may further cause legal repercussions and brand or reputational harm to the Company.
A cyber-attack or failure of one or more key information technology systems, networks, processes, associated sites or service providers could have a material adverse impact on the Company’s business or reputation.
The Company relies extensively on information technology (“IT”) systems, networks and services, including Internet sites, data hosting and processing facilities and tools and other hardware, software and technical applications and platforms, some of which are managed, hosted, provided and/or used by third parties or their vendors, to assist in conducting business. The various uses of these IT systems, networks and services include, but are not limited to:
• ordering and managing materials from suppliers;
• converting materials to finished products;
• shipping products to customers;
• marketing and selling products to consumers;
• processing transactions;
• summarizing and reporting results of operations;
• hosting, processing and sharing confidential and proprietary research, business plans and financial information;
• complying with regulatory, legal or tax requirements;
• providing data security; and
• handling other processes necessary to manage the Company’s business.
Increased IT security threats and cyber-crime, including advanced persistentthreats, computer viruses, ransomware, other types of malicious code, hacking, phishing, use of AI and social engineering schemes designed to gainunauthorized access to the Company’s networks or data, pose a potential risk to the security of the Company’s IT systems, networks and services, as well as the confidentiality, availability and integrity of the Company’s data. Cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated, are constantly evolving and are being made by groups and individuals with a wide range of expertise and motives, increasing the difficulty of detecting and successfullydefendingagainst them. The Company deploys technical and organizational measures to protect and prevent unauthorized access to or loss of data; however, as techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, the Company may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement preventive measures. Furthermore, the Company’s relationships with, and access provided to, third parties and their vendors may create difficulties in anticipating and implementing adequate preventive measures or fully mitigating harms after an attack or breach occurs.
The Company cannot guarantee that its security efforts will prevent attacks and resulting breaches or breakdowns of the Company’s, or its third-party service providers’ databases or systems notwithstanding whether the Company takes reasonable steps to prevent such attacks. The Company’s operations, especially its retail operations and employee benefits administration, involve the storage and transmission of employees’, customers’ and consumers’ personal and sensitive information, such as credit card and bank account numbers. The Company’s payment services may be subject to credit card and other payment fraud schemes, including unauthorized use of credit cards, debit cards or bank account information, identity theft or merchant fraud. If the IT systems, networks or service providers relied upon fail to function properly, or if the Company suffers a loss or disclosure of customers’ and consumers’ data, business or stakeholder information, due to any number of causes, ranging from catastrophic events to power outages to security breaches, or the inability to effectively address these failures on a timely basis, the Company may sufferinterruptions in its ability to manage operations, a risk of government enforcement action, litigation and possible liability, and reputational, competitive and/or business harm, which may adversely impact the Company’s results of operations and/or financial condition. In addition, if the Company’s service providers, suppliers or customers experience a breach or unauthorized disclosure or system failure, their businesses could be disrupted or otherwise negatively affected, which may result in a disruption in the Company’s supply chain or reduced customer orders or other business operations, which could adversely affect the Company.
The Company may face particular data protection and privacy risks in connection with privacy laws and regulations globally.
The Company is subject to laws of various jurisdictions where it operates or does business related to solicitation, collection, processing, transferring, storing or use of consumer, customer, vendor, investor, employee or other stakeholder information and personal data, including but, not limited to, the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union, the California Consumer Privacy Act, and various other privacy laws and regulations. The Company may be subject to additional regulations, such as the European Union AI Act, that specifically affect the use of personal information in the context of AI systems. The changes introduced by these laws and regulations increase the complexity of regulations enacted to protect business and personal data, subject the Company to additional costs and have required, and may in the future require, costly changes to the Company’s security systems, policies, procedures and practices. These laws and regulations may grant, among other things, individual rights to access and delete personal information and the right to opt out of the sale of personal information, causing the Company to incur costs and operational inefficiencies. These laws and regulations can also impose significant forfeitures and penalties for noncompliance and afford private rights of action to individuals under certain circumstances. Any failure to manage data privacy in compliance with applicable laws and regulations could result in significant regulatory investigations, fines, and sanctions, consumer and class action litigation, commercial litigation, prolongednegative publicity, data breaches, declining customer confidence, loss of key customers, employee liability, and other unfavorable consequences.
The Company’s operating results can be adversely affected by inflation, changes in the cost or availability of raw materials, labor, energy, transportation and other necessary supplies and services.
The Company’s success is dependent, in part, on its continued ability to reduce its exposure to or mitigate the impact of increases in the cost of raw materials, finished goods, energy, transportation and other necessary supplies and services through a variety of programs, including periodic purchases, future delivery purchases, long-term contracts, sales price adjustments and certain derivative instruments, while maintaining and improving margins and market share. Significant inflation in the costs of labor, finished goods, raw materials, energy and transportation has negatively impacted, and may continue to negatively impact, the Company’s results of operations. There is no assurance that we will be able to fully offset any such cost increases through cost reduction programs or price increases of our products, especially given the competitive environment. If we generally are not able to sufficiently increase our pricing to offset these increased costs or if increased costs and prolonged inflation were to occur, it could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results and profitability. Sustained price increases may lead to declines in volume as competitors may not adjust their prices or customers may decide not to pay the higher prices, which could lead to sales declines and loss of market share. While we seek to project tradeoffs between price increases and volume, our projections may not accurately predict the volume impact of price increases. Conversely, when raw material prices decline, customer demands for lower prices could result in lower sale prices and, to the extent the Company has existing inventory, lower margins. As a result, fluctuations in raw material prices could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.
In addition, some of the products the Company manufactures require particular types of glass, metal, paper, plastic, resin, wax, wood or other materials. Supply shortages for a particular type of material can delay production or cause increases in the cost of manufacturing the Company’s products. Pricing and availability of finished goods, raw materials, energy, transportation and other necessary supplies and services for use in the Company’s businesses can be volatile due to numerous factors beyond its control, including general, domestic and international economic conditions, natural disasters, labor costs, production levels, competition, consumer demand, import duties and tariffs, currency exchange rates, international treaties, and changes in laws, regulations, and related interpretations.
The Company’s operations and financial condition can be adversely impacted by global macroeconomic environment, including the impact of tariffs imposed by the U.S. and retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries.
Evolving trade policies could continue to make sourcing products from foreign countries more difficult and costly, as the Company sources a significant amount of its products from outside of the U.S. In 2025, the current U.S. presidential administration announced and/or imposed a series of new tariffs on foreign imports into the U.S., including without limitation significant tariffs on products manufactured in China. Tariffs on imports into the U.S., most significantly from China, and retaliatory tariffs on exports from the U.S. to other countries, have increased costs for the Company and could impact the level of trade between the U.S. and its various trading partners around the globe in general. The Company continues to deploy a mitigation strategy designed to offset the impact of this tariff exposure through a number of actions, including pricing, productivity and in some cases relocation of manufacturing. However, the rate or duration of these tariffs and the resulting impact on general economic conditions and on our business are uncertain and depend on various factors, such as negotiations between the U.S. and affected countries, the responses of other countries or regions, exemptions or exclusions that may be granted, availability and cost of alternative sources of supply, and demand for our products in affected markets, and there can be no assurance as to the extent to which the Company will be able to offset the impact through mitigation actions. Given the Company’s reliance upon non-domestic suppliers, new or additional tariffs on goods imported to the U.S. from China, Mexico or other countries, or products imported into the European Union or other non-U.S. markets, or other significant changes to the U.S. trade policies (and those of other countries in response) or changes without sufficient notice may cause a material adverse effect on the Company’s ability to source products from other countries or significantly increase the costs of obtaining such products, which could result in a material adverse effect on our financial results.
Unfavorable shifts in industry-wide demand for the Company’s products could result in inventory valuation risk.
The Company evaluates its ending inventories for excess quantities, impairment of value, and obsolescence. This evaluation includes analysis of sales levels by product and projections of future demand based upon input received from our customers, sales team, and management. If inventories on hand are in excess of demand or slow moving, appropriate write-downs may be recorded. In addition, the Company writes off inventories that are considered obsolete based upon changes in customer demand, product design changes including those required by new product regulation,
that result in existing inventory obsolescence, or new product introductions, which eliminate demand for existing products. Remaining inventory balances are adjusted to approximate net realizable market value.
If future demand or market conditions are less favorable than the Company’s estimates, including the volatility of customer demand patterns and the impact of retailer inventory rebalancing in response to soft global demand, write-downs may be required. The Company cannot be certain that obsolete or excess inventories, which may result from unanticipated changes in the estimated total demand for its products, will not affect it beyond the inventory charges that have already been recorded.
The Company’s ability to attract, retain and develop critical talent, including readiness for emerging technologies such as AI, is essential to executing its strategic objectives and sustaining long-term performance.
The Company’s success depends significantly on the continued contributions of executive leadership and other key personnel. The loss of the services of one or more of these individuals could materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition, and operating results. Additionally, maintaining a pipeline of highly skilled talent across all levels of the organization is critical as global competition intensifies and workforce expectations evolve, including remote work flexibility and technology-driven roles. Failure to attract, retain, or upskill employees—particularly in areas requiring AI proficiency, could impair our ability to innovate, adapt to market changes, and achieve operational goals.
Damage to the Company’s reputation or loss of consumer confidence could have an adverse effect on the Company’s business .
Maintaining the Company’s strong reputation with consumers, customers and suppliers worldwide is critical to the Company’s continued success. Adverse publicity about the Company, its brands, corporate practices, or any other issue that may be associated with the Company, whether or not deserved, could jeopardize that reputation. Such adverse publicity could come from traditional sources such as government investigations or public or private litigation, but may also arise from negative comments on social media regarding the Company or its brands.
Additionally, due to the scale and scope of our business, we must rely on relationships with third parties, including our suppliers, distributors, contractors, and other external business partners for certain functions. While we have policies and procedures for managing these relationships, they inherently involve less control over business operations, governance, and compliance, thereby potentially increasing our reputational and legal risk. If third parties fail to comply with our policies and procedures or similar compliance requirements set forth by our customers, the Company could potentially suffer significant losses of business and revenue from certain customers.
Further, third parties sell counterfeit or materially altered versions of some of our products, which are often inferior or may pose safety risks. As a result, consumers of our brands could confuse our products with these counterfeit products, which could cause them to refrain from purchasing our brands in the future and in turn could impair our brand equity.
Finally, there has been an increased focus from certain investors, customers, consumers, employees, and other stakeholders, as well as legislative bodies and regulatory agencies, concerning corporate citizenship and sustainability matters. From time to time, the Company announces certain initiatives regarding its focus areas, some of which may be required in accordance with applicable laws, and which may include environmental matters, human capital, sustainability, packaging, responsible sourcing and social investments. The Company could fail, or be perceived to fail, in its achievement of such initiatives and goals or it could fail in accurately reporting its progress on such initiatives and goals. In addition, the Company could be criticized for the scope of such initiatives or perceived as not acting responsibly in connection with these matters. The Company’s reputation and business could be negatively impacted by such developments or litigation may be filed against the Company resulting in significant expenses or investments to repair such impacts. Damage to the Company’s reputation or a loss of consumer confidence in the Company’s brands could adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition as well as require resources to repair the harm.
A deterioration in labor relations could adversely impact the Company’s global business.
At December 31, 2025, the Company had approximately 21,900 employees worldwide, a portion of which are covered by collective bargaining agreements or are located in countries that have collective arrangements decreed by statute. The Company periodically negotiates with certain unions and labor representatives and may be subject to work stoppages or may be unable to renew such collective bargaining agreements on the same or similar terms, or at all.
Risks related to the strength of global retail, commercial and industrial sectors and changes in foreign, cultural, political and financial market conditions could impair the Company’s international operations and financial performance.
The Company’s business depends on the strength of the retail, commercial and industrial sectors of the economy in various parts of the world, primarily in North America, and to a lesser extent Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region. These sectors of the economy are affected primarily by factors such as consumer demand and the condition of the retail industry, which, in turn, can be affected by specific events or general economic conditions, including worldwide or country-specific economic instability.
Continuing challenging global economic conditions, particularly outside of the U.S., and potential volatility in domestic and/or foreign equity markets, may result in considerable pressure on consumer demand, which may have an adverse effect on demand for the Company’s products, as well as its financial condition and results of operations. The Company could also be negatively impacted by economic crises in specific countries or regions. Such events could negatively impact the Company’s overall liquidity and/or create significant credit risks relative to its local customers and depository institutions. Consumer demand and the condition of these sectors of the economy may also be impacted by other external factors such as war, terrorism, geopolitical uncertainties, public health issues, natural disasters and other business interruptions. The impact of these external factors is difficult to predict, and one or more of these factors could adversely impact the Company’s business.
Further, some of the Company’s operations are conducted or products are sold in countries where economic growth has slowed, or where economies have suffered economic, social and/or political instability or hyperinflation; or where the ability to repatriate funds has been significantly delayed or impaired. Current government economic and fiscal policies in these economies, including stimulus measures and currency exchange rates and controls, may not be sustainable and, as a result, the Company’s sales or profits related to those countries may decline. The economies of other foreign countries important to the Company’s operations could also sufferslower economic growth or economic, social and/or political instability or hyperinflation in the future. The Company’s international operations (and particularly its business in emerging markets), including manufacturing and sourcing operations (and the international operations of the Company’s customers), are subject to inherent risks which could adversely affect the Company, including, among other things:
• protectionist policies restricting or impairing the manufacturing, sales or import and export of the Company’s products, including tariffs and countermeasures;
• new restrictions on access to markets;
• lack of developed infrastructure;
• inflation (including hyperinflation) or recession;
• devaluations or fluctuations in the value of currencies;
• changes in and the burdens and costs of compliance with a variety of laws and regulations, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, tax laws, accounting standards, trade protection measures and import and export licensing requirements, environmental laws and occupational health and safety laws;
• social, political or economic instability;
• acts of war and terrorism;
• natural disasters or other crises;
• reduced protection of intellectual property rights;
• restrictions on transfer of funds and/or exchange of currencies;
• expropriation of assets or forced relocations of operations; and
• other adverse changes in policies, including monetary, tax and/or lending policies, encouraging foreign investment or foreign trade by host countries.
In addition, our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, which could harm our business and cause our operational results to suffer.
Additionally, if a potential devaluation of the local currencies of our international customers relative to the U.S. dollar occurs, it may impair the purchasing power of our international customers and could cause international customers to decrease their volume of orders or cancel orders completely. Should any of these risks occur, the Company’s ability to manufacture, source, sell or export its products or repatriate profits could be impaired. In addition, the Company could experience a loss of sales and profitability from its international operations and/or the Company could experience a substantial impairment or loss of assets.
Financial Risks
The Company has substantial indebtedness, which could materially and adversely affect the Company and its financial position, including decreasing its business flexibility, impacting its ratings and increasing its borrowing costs.
At December 31, 2025, the Company had $4.67 billion in outstanding debt, reflecting an increase of approximately $100 million versus December 31, 2024. The Company’s substantial indebtedness has, and could continue to have, important consequences for the Company, including:
• requiring the Company to dedicate a substantial portion of its cash flow from operations to payments on its indebtedness, which reduces the availability of its cash flow to fund working capital requirements, capital expenditures, future acquisitions, dividends, repurchases of the Company’s common stock and other general corporate purposes;
• limiting the Company’s flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, adverse business and economic conditions or changes in the Company’s business and the industries in which it operates;
• placing the Company at a competitive disadvantage compared to its competitors that have less debt;
• limiting its ability to borrow additional funds;
• requiring the Company to comply with financial and non-financial covenants in its debt documents that may place restrictions on business activities and, if breached, subject the Company to cross-default and acceleration provisions.
If the Company is unable to timely reduce its level of indebtedness, the Company will be subject to increased demands on its cash resources, which could decrease its collateral coverage ratios, increase its leverage ratios, lower its credit ratings, result in a breach of covenants or otherwise adversely affect the business and financial results of the Company going forward.
The Company is a party to a $1.00 billion credit revolver maturing in August 2027 (the “Credit Revolver”), which requires compliance with certain financial covenants (as more fully described in Item 7-Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ). The failure of the Company to achieve anticipated financial results at any point during the term of the Credit Revolver, due to an economic downturn or otherwise, could result in a failure to satisfy one of more financial covenants under the Credit Revolver. The Company’s ability to continue to comply with these financial covenants is dependent upon the Company’s future operating and financial performance, which may be affected by economic conditions and other factors beyond our control. A failure to maintain the Company’s financial covenants and to subsequently remedy a default would impair our ability to borrow under the Credit Revolver and, absent a waiver of such default by the lenders under the Credit Revolver or an amendment or replacement of the Credit Revolver with alternative financing, potentially subject the Company to cross-default and acceleration provisions in its debt documents, which would have a significant adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and operating results.
While the majority of the Company’s debt is fixed, fluctuations in interest rates can increase borrowing costs on the portion that is variable, and interest rate increases on this portion of the Company’s debt could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business. Increases in interest rates would raise the cost of servicing our debt and could reduce our profitability and cash flows. Any change in the fiscal policies or stated target interest rates of the U.S. Federal Reserve or other central banking institutions, or market expectations of such change, are difficult to predict and may result in significantly higher long-term interest rates. Such a transition may be abrupt and may, among other things, reduce the availability and/or increase the costs of issuing new notes, obtaining new debt and refinancing existing indebtedness.
Reductions in the Company’s credit ratings could materially and adversely affect its business, availability of future borrowings, financial condition and results of operations.
The Company’s credit ratings impact the cost and availability of future borrowings and, accordingly, the Company’s cost of capital. The Company’s credit ratings reflect each rating organization’s opinion of its financial strength, operating performance and ability to meet its debt obligations. The credit ratings assigned to the Company also impact the interest rates paid on short- and long-term financing.
For example, the Company’s credit ratings were downgraded in both 2025 and 2024 by each of Moody’s Corporation (“Moody’s”) and S&P Global Inc. (“S&P”) which resulted in a coupon step-up of certain of the Company’s outstanding senior notes. In addition, credit ratings can also affect the terms of debt agreements to include more restrictive
covenants which may further restrict our business operations or limit our ability to raise additional capital due to our covenant restrictions then in effect. For example, in November 2024, the Company issued $750 million of aggregate principal amount of 6.375% senior notes due 2030 and $500 million of aggregate principal amount of 6.625% senior notes due 2032, and in May 2025, the Company completed the offering and sale of $1.25 billion of 8.500% senior notes due 2028 (collectively the “Notes”). These Notes include covenants that limit the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to incur or guarantee additional debt, create or permit certain liens, redeem or repurchase certain debt, consummate certain asset sales, make certain loans and investments, consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of the Company and its subsidiaries assets, enter into certain transactions with affiliates and pay distributions on, or redeem or repurchase the Company’s capital stock, subject in each case to certain qualifications and exceptions, including the termination of certain of these covenants upon the Notes receiving investment grade credit ratings. There is no guarantee that debt or equity financings will be available in the future to fund future acquisitions, developments, or general operating expenses, or that such financing will be available on terms consistent with our historical agreements or expectations. See Liquidity and Capital Resources in Item 7 and Footnote 8 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.
Failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in material misstatements in our financial statements, and our failure to meet our reporting and financial obligations, which in turn could have a negative impact on our financial condition.
The Company is required by the SEC to establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting that provides reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of its financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Our internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements because of its inherent limitations, including the possibility of human error, the circumvention or overriding of controls, or fraud. Effective internal controls can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements.
The Company has experienced, and in the future may experience again, material weaknesses along with potential problems implementing and maintaining adequate internal controls. Failure to maintain effective internal controls, including any failure to implement required new or improved controls, could result in our inability to conclude that the Company has effective internal control over financial reporting. If the Company cannot meet its financial reporting obligations in a timely and reliable manner, or prevent fraud, the public perception of the Company and its securities may be harmed, and it may be unable to raise capital on favorable terms in the future or otherwise, which could have a negative impact on the Company’s financial condition.
Continued declines in the future expected cash flows for the Company’s businesses or changes to underlying assumptions used to calculate fair value could result in additional impairment charges which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial results of operations.
The Company is required under U.S. GAAP to review its long-lived assets for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable, and is also required to conduct impairment tests on goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets annually or more frequently, if circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable or that an other-than-temporary impairment exists.
During the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, the Company recorded non-cash impairment charges related to goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles of $340 million, $345 million and $339 million, respectively. Future events or factors may occur that could adversely affect the fair value of the Company’s assets and require impairment charges, including, but not limited to, divestitures of certain businesses or product lines, strategic decisions made in response to changes in economic and competitive conditions, the impact of the economic environment on the Company’s sales and customer base, a material adverse change in the Company’s relationship with significant customers or business partners, or a further sustained decline in the Company’s stock price. In the event any such impairment indicators become known or are present, the Company may be required to perform impairment tests based on changes in the economic environment and other factors, and these tests could result in non-cash impairment charges in the future. As there is minimal difference between the estimated fair values and the carrying values of some of the Company’s intangible assets as a result of recent non-cash impairment charges, future non-cash impairment charges may occur. See Critical Accounting Estimates in Item 7 and Footnotes 1 and 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.
The Company is exposed to both foreign currency translation and transaction risks that may materially adversely affect the Company’s operating results, financial condition and liquidity.
The reporting currency for the Company’s financial statements is the U.S. dollar and it has substantial assets, liabilities, revenues and costs denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars. The preparation of the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements requires translation of those assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses into U.S. dollars at then-applicable exchange rates. Consequently, increases and decreases in the value of the U.S. dollar versus other currencies will affect the amount of these items in the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements, even if their value has not changed in their original currency. These translations could result in significant changes to the Company’s results of operations from period to period. Although the Company may employ, at times, a variety of techniques to mitigate the impact of exchange rate fluctuations, including foreign currency hedging activities, it cannot guarantee that such risk management strategies will be effective, and its financial condition or results of operations could be adversely impacted.
In addition, foreign currency transaction risk arises when the Company and its subsidiaries enter into transactions where the settlement occurs in a currency other than its functional currency. The Company continues to recognize foreign exchange losses related to the currency devaluation in Argentina and its designation as a hyperinflationary economy. Exchange differences (gains and losses) arising on the settlement of monetary items or on translation of monetary items at rates different from those at which they were translated on initial recognition during the period or in previous financial statements are recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations in the period in which they arise. Although the Company may employ, at times, a variety of techniques to mitigate the impact of foreign currency transaction risk, including the hedging of forecasted cash inflows and outflows, it cannot guarantee that such risk management strategies will be effective, and its financial condition or results of operations could be adversely impacted. See Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Footnote 9 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Circumstances associated with divestitures and brand or product line exits could adversely affect the Company’s results of operations and financial condition.
The Company may decide to sell or discontinue or exit certain brands, businesses or product lines in the future based on an evaluation of performance and strategic fit. Divestitures or discontinuations of businesses or products may result in asset impairments, including those related to goodwill and other intangible assets, and losses upon disposition, both of which could have an adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations and financial condition. In addition, the Company may encounter difficulty in finding buyers or executing alternative exit strategies at acceptable prices and terms and in a timely manner, and prospective buyers may have difficulty obtaining financing. Past and future divestitures and business discontinuations also involve additional risks, including the following:
• difficulties in the separation of operations, services, products and personnel;
• the retention of certain current or future liabilities in order to induce a buyer to complete a divestiture;
• the disruption of the Company’s business;
• the potential loss of key employees; and
• disputes or litigation with the buyers.
The Company may not be successful in managing these or any other significant risks that it may encounter in divesting, discontinuing or exiting a brand, business or product line, which could have a material adverse effect on its business.
Legal, Tax and Regulatory Risks
Governmental investigations or actions by other third parties could have a material adverse effect on management and the Company’s business operations.
The Company is subject to various federal, state and foreign laws and regulations. As further described in Footnote 17 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements , the Company is also subject to third party litigation. The potential outcomes of third-party litigation, if insured, could exceed policy limits, resulting in significant costs and expenses. The Company could be responsible for any settlement or judgment over the amount of available insurance coverage or for the entire settlement or judgment, if not insured. The Company is also subject to formal and informal regulatory and governmental examinations, subpoenas, requests for documents, testimony or information, inquiries, investigations, threatened legal actions and proceedings. For example, in 2023, the Company entered into a settlement with the SEC, which concluded an investigation primarily relating to the Company’s sales practices and certain accounting matters between the third quarter of fiscal year 2016 and second quarter of fiscal year 2017. Under the terms of the settlement,
the Company neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s findings and agreed to pay a civil penalty of approximately $13 million. Responding to governmental investigations, voluntary document requests, subpoenas or actions by regulatory bodies is time-consuming, expensive and disruptive to the Company’s operations and could divert the attention of management and key personnel from the Company’s business operations.
The Company’s businesses and operations are subject to regulation in the U.S. and abroad.
Changes in laws, regulations and related interpretations may alter the environment in which the Company does business. This includes changes in environmental, data privacy, competition and product-related laws, as well as changes in accounting standards, taxation and other regulations. Accordingly, the Company’s ability to manage regulatory, tax and legal matters (including environmental, human resource, product liability, patent and other intellectual property matters), and to resolve pending legal and environmental matters without significant liability could require the Company to record significant reserves in excess of amounts accrued to date or pay significant fines during a reporting period, which could materially impact the Company’s results. In addition, new regulations may be enacted in the U.S. or abroad that may introduce compliance uncertainty and may require the Company to incur additional personnel-related, environmental or other costs on an ongoing basis, significantly restrict the Company’s ability to sell certain products, or incur fines or penalties for noncompliance, any of which could adversely affect the Company’s results of operations.
As a U.S.-based multi-national company, the Company is also subject to tax regulations in the U.S. and multiple foreign jurisdictions, some of which are interdependent. For example, certain income that is earned and taxed in countries outside the U.S. may not be taxed in the U.S. until those earnings are actually repatriated or deemed repatriated. If these or other tax regulations should change, the Company’s financial results could be impacted. Furthermore, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (the “OECD”) introduced a framework implementing a global minimum corporate tax of 15%, referred to as Pillar Two. Much of Pillar Two was enacted in countries outside the U.S. effective as of January 1, 2024, with certain remaining aspects effective beginning January 1, 2025 or later. In January 2025, the U.S. issued an executive order announcing opposition to aspects of these rules. While it is unlikely that the U.S. will enact legislation to adopt Pillar Two, many countries in which we operate have adopted the legislation, and other countries are in the process of introducing legislation to implement Pillar Two.
On June 18, 2019, the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released temporary regulations under IRC Section 245A (“Section 245A”) as enacted by the 2017 U.S. Tax Reform Legislation (“2017 Tax Reform”) and IRC Section 954(c)(6) (the “Temporary Regulations”) to apply retroactively to the date the 2017 Tax Reform was enacted. On August 21, 2020, the U.S. Treasury and IRS released finalized versions of the Temporary Regulations (collectively with the Temporary Regulations, the “Regulations”). The Regulations seek to limit the 100% dividends received deduction permitted by Section 245A for certain dividends received from controlled foreign corporations and to limit the applicability of the look-through exception to foreign personal holding company income for certain dividends received from controlled foreign corporations. Before the retroactive application of the Regulations, the Company benefited in 2018 from both the 100% dividends received deduction and the look-through exception to foreign personal holding company income. The Company analyzed the Regulations and concluded the relevant Regulations were not validly issued. Therefore, the Company has not accounted for the effects of the Regulations in its Consolidated Financial Statements for the periods presented. If the Company’s position on the Regulations is not sustained, the Company would be required to recognize an income tax expense of approximately $180 million to $220 million related to an income tax benefit from fiscal year 2018 that was recorded based on regulations in existence at the time. In addition, the Company may be required to pay any applicable interest and penalties. The Company believes it has strongarguments in favor of its position and believes it has met the more likely than not recognition threshold that its position will be sustained. However, due to the inherent uncertainty involved in challenging the validity of regulations as well as a potential litigation process, there can be no assurances that the relevant Regulations will be invalidated or that a court of law will rule in favor of the Company.
The resolution of the Company’s tax contingencies may result in additional tax liabilities, which could adversely impact the Company’s cash flows and results of operations.
The Company is subject to income tax in the U.S. and numerous jurisdictions internationally. Significant estimation and judgment are required in determining the Company’s worldwide provision for income taxes. In the ordinary course of the Company’s business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. The Company is regularly under audit by various worldwide tax authorities. Although the Company believes its tax estimates are reasonable, the final outcome of tax audits and related litigation could be materially different than that reflected in its historical income tax provisions and accruals. There can be no assurance that the resolution of any audits
or litigation will not have an adverse effect on future operating results. See Footnote 11 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
The Company may incur significant costs in order to comply with environmental remediation obligations.
In addition to operational standards, environmental laws also impose obligations on various entities to investigate and/or clean up contaminated properties or to pay for the cost of such activities, often upon parties that did not actually cause the contamination. Accordingly, the Company may be liable, either contractually or by operation of law, for investigation and/or remediation costs even if the contaminated property is not presently owned or operated by the Company, is a landfill or other location where it has disposed of wastes, or if the contamination was caused by third parties during or prior to the Company’s ownership or operation of the property. Given the nature of the past industrial operations conducted by the Company and others at these properties, there can be no assurance that all potential instances of soil or groundwater contamination have been identified, even for those properties where an environmental site assessment has been conducted. The Company does not believe that any of the Company’s existing obligations, including at third-party sites where it has been named a potentially responsible party, will have a material adverse effect upon its business, results of operations or financial condition. However, future events, such as changes in existing laws or policies or their enforcement, or the discovery of currently unknown contamination, may give rise to additional remediation liabilities that may be material. See Footnote 17 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a further discussion of these and other environmental-related matters.
The Company’s business involves the potential for product recalls, product liability and other claimsagainst it, which could affect its earnings and financial condition.
As a manufacturer and distributor of consumer products, the Company is subject to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Act of 1972, as amended by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which empowers the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission to exclude from the market products that are found to be unsafe or hazardous, and similar laws under foreign jurisdictions. Under certain circumstances, the Consumer Products Safety Commission or a comparable foreign agency could require the Company to repurchase or recall one or more of its products. Additionally, other laws and agencies, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, regulate certain consumer products sold by the Company in the U.S. and abroad, and more restrictive laws and regulations may be adopted in the future. From time to time, the Company has announced voluntary recalls of its products where it has identified potential product safety concerns. When the Company is required to remove, or voluntarily removes, its products from the market, the Company might have large quantities of finished products that it is unable to sell. The Company also faces exposure to product liability claims if one of its products is alleged to have resulted in property damage, bodily injury or other adverse effects.
In addition to the risk of substantial monetary judgments or fines or penalties that may result from any governmental investigations, product liability claims or regulatory actions could result in negative publicity that could harm the Company’s reputation in the marketplace, adversely impact the value of its end-user brands, or result in an increase in the cost of producing the Company’s products. Similar to product liability claims, the Company faces exposure to class action lawsuits related to the performance, safety or advertising of its products. Such class action suits could result in substantial monetary judgments and, injunctions related to the sale of products and could potentially tarnish the Company’s reputation.
Although the Company maintains product liability insurance in amounts that it believes are reasonable, that insurance is, in most cases, subject to significant self-insured retentions for which the Company is responsible, and the Company cannot assure that it will be able to maintain such insurance on acceptable terms, if at all, in the future or that product liability claims will not exceed the amount of insurance coverage. The Company does not maintain insurance against many types of claims involving alleged product defects other than personal injury or property damage. Additionally, the Company does not maintain product recall insurance and may not have insurance coverage for claims asserted in consumer class action lawsuits that seek monetary compensation unrelated to personal injury and/or property damage, such as claims related to the marketing or warranty of the product. The Company spends substantial resources ensuring compliance with governmental and other applicable standards. However, compliance with these standards does not necessarily prevent individual or class action lawsuits, which can entail significant cost and risk. As a result, these types of claims could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.
The Company’s product liability insurance program is an occurrence-based program based on its current and historical claims experience and the availability and cost of insurance. The Company currently either self-insures or administers a high retention insurance program for most product liability risks. The Company cannot give assurance that its future
product liability experience will be consistent with its past experience or that claims and awards subject to self-insured retention will not be material. See Footnote 17 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a further discussion of these and other regulatory and litigation-related matters.
If the Company fails to adequately protect its intellectual property rights, competitors may manufacture and market the same or similar products, which could adversely affect the Company’s market share and results of operations.
The Company’s success with its proprietary products depends, in part, on its ability to protect its current and future technologies and products and to defend its intellectual property rights, including its patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark rights. If the Company fails to adequately protect its intellectual property rights, competitors may manufacture and market the same or similar products, or the incidence of counterfeit products may increase.
The Company holds numerous design and utility patents covering a wide variety of products. The Company cannot be sure that it will receive patents for any of its innovations or that any existing or future patents that it receives or licenses from others will provide competitive advantages for its products. The Company also cannot be sure that competitors will not challenge and potentially invalidate any existing or future patents that the Company receives or licenses. In addition, patent rights may not prevent competitors from developing, using or selling products that are similar or functionally equivalent to the Company’s products.
If the Company is found to have infringed the intellectual property rights of others or cannot obtain necessary intellectual property rights from others, its competitiveness could be negativelyimpaired.
If the Company is found to have violated the trademark, trade secret, copyright, patent or other intellectual property rights of others, directly or indirectly, such a finding could result in the need to cease use of such intellectual property in the Company’s business, as well as the obligation to pay for past infringement. If rights holders are willing to permit the Company to continue to use such intellectual property rights, they could require a payment of a substantial amount for such continued use. Either ceasing use or paying such amounts could cause the Company to become less competitive and could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Even if the Company is not found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, claims of infringement could adversely affect the Company’s business. The Company could incur significant legal costs and related expenses to defendagainst such claims, and the Company could incur significant costs associated with discontinuing to use, provide, or manufacture certain products, or services even if it is ultimately found not to have infringed such rights.
Climate change and increased focus by governmental and non-governmental organizations and customers on sustainability issues, including those related to climate change, may adversely affect our business and financial results.
Rising temperatures and increased frequency of extreme weather resulting from climate change could cause increased incidence of disruption to the production and distribution of our products at these locations and could subject the Company to increased operating costs and capital expenses in response thereto. The consequences of climate change could also be a direct threat to our third-party vendors, service providers or other stakeholders, including increased costs of supplies and disruptions of supply chains or IT or other necessary services for our Company.
Federal, state, and local governments, as well as some of our customers, are beginning to respond to climate change issues. This increased focus on sustainability is resulting in new legislation, regulations and customer requirements that could negatively affect us, as we may incur additional costs or be required to make changes to our operations in order to comply with any new regulations or customer requirements. Legislation or regulations that potentially impose restrictions, caps, taxes, or other controls on emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, a by-product of burning fossil fuels such as those used in the Company’s supply chain, could adversely affect our operations and financial results.
More specifically, legislative or regulatory actions related to climate change could adversely impact the Company by increasing our energy costs and reducing fuel efficiency and could result in the creation of substantial additional capital expenditures and operating costs in the form of taxes, emissions allowances, or required equipment upgrades. Any of these factors could impair our operating efficiency and productivity and result in higher operating costs. In addition, revenues could decrease if we are unable to meet regulatory or customer sustainability requirements. These additional costs, changes in operations, or loss of revenues could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Likewise, a failure to comply with any current or future sustainability-related
reporting requirements, as established by regulators in the U.S., Europe and beyond, may result in loss of business, regulatory penalties, litigation, and/or reputational damage.
Expectations relating to environmental, social and governance considerations expose the Company to potential liabilities, increased costs, reputational harm and other adverse effects on the Company’s business.
Many governments, regulators, investors, employees, customers and other stakeholders are increasingly focused on environmental, social and governance and sustainability considerations relating to businesses, including climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, data privacy, AI and human capital. The Company makes statements about its environmental, social and governance targets, goals and initiatives that require investments and are impacted by factors that may be outside the Company’s control. In addition, some stakeholders may disagree with the Company’s goals and initiatives and the focus of stakeholders may change and evolve over time. The Company may also amend, abandon or replace its targets, goals and initiatives due to a change in strategy, reduced relevance of such targets, goals and initiatives or changing market conditions, and the Company may take certain actions that stakeholders or regulators view as contrary to such targets, goals and initiatives. Stakeholders also may have very different views on where the Company’s focus on environmental, social and governance and sustainability issues should be placed, including differing views of regulators in various jurisdictions in which we operate. Any failure, or perceived failure, by the Company to achieve its targets or goals, further its initiatives, adhere to its public statements, comply with federal, state or international environmental, social and governance laws and regulations, or meet evolving and varied stakeholder expectations and standards could result in legal and regulatory proceedings against the Company and materially adversely affect the Company’s business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition and stock price.
delighting
Business Strategy
The Company is actively advancing the strategic priorities identified through its comprehensive capability assessment completed in 2023. These priorities are based on a clear set of “where to play” and “how to win” strategic choices with the goal of improving the Company’s top line, expanding margins and improving cash flows with a new operating model, critical talent upgrades and a culture redesign.
Execution of these strategic imperatives, in combination with other initiatives aimed to build operational excellence, will better position the Company for long-term sustainable growth. One such initiative is the organizational Realignment
Plan, announced in 2024, which was designed to strengthen the Company’s front-end commercial capabilities, such as consumer understanding and brand communication, in support of the “where to play” and “how to win” strategies the Company initiated in 2023. Actions under the Realignment Plan were implemented by the end of fiscal year 2025.
Further building on the Company’s turnaround strategy, the Company announced the Productivity Plan in December 2025. The Productivity Plan is designed to further simplify processes, streamline overhead and redirect resources to the highest-value activities. See Business in Item 1 for additional information on these initiatives.
Recent Developments
Update on Tariffs
The current U.S. presidential administration has announced and/or imposed a series of new tariffs on foreign imports into the U.S., including without limitation significant tariffs on products manufactured in China. Tariffs on imports into the U.S., most significantly from China, and any retaliatory tariffs on exports from the U.S. to other countries, have increased costs for the Company and could impact the level of trade between the U.S. and its various trading partners around the globe in general.
We believe that the Company is well-positioned to respond to the current tariff environment, primarily because the Company maintains a significant U.S. manufacturing presence of 15 production facilities and manufacturers, in the U.S. and two of its facilities in Mexico, products representing over half of the Company’s U.S. revenues that are not presently subject to the recently announced U.S. tariffs. This manufacturing presence is expected to provide a competitive advantage to the Company in certain categories where its competitors are exposed to import tariffs. The Company also has a scaled, centralized procurement team that is proficient in sourcing raw materials and finished products from over 50 countries around the world.
The Company incurred incremental cash tariff cost of approximately $174 million in 2025 due to the currently announced and imposed tariffs as well as retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, prior to any offsetting impact from mitigating actions. There will be a timing difference between the operating cash outflow and the recognition of cost of products sold arising from the tariffs. As a result, the Company recognized approximately $114 million of incremental costs of products sold in the Consolidated Statement of Operations in 2025. The Company continues to deploy a mitigation strategy designed to offset the impact of this tariff exposure through a number of actions, including pricing, productivity and in some cases relocation of manufacturing. At this time, it is difficult to predict the rate or duration of these tariffs, and there can be no assurance as to the extent to which the Company will be able to offset the impact through mitigation actions. Additional tariffs or further increases to the U.S. tariffs, retaliatory actions taken by other countries, or failure to effectively deploy the Company’s mitigation plans could have a significant negative impact on the Company.
Global Productivity Plan
In December 2025, the Company announced the Productivity Plan, as further described in the preceding section. The Company expects to record $75 million to $90 million of restructuring and restructuring-related charges in connection with the Productivity Plan, primarily for severance and related costs, with most of the charges to be recognized by the end of 2026. The Company commenced separation of professional and clerical employees during December 2025 and recorded $40 million of restructuring charges for severance and other termination benefits and restructuring-related charges. See Risk Factors in Item 1A, and Footnote 3 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Asset Impairment
During the fourth quarter of 2025, as a result of the Company’s annual impairment testing, the Company recorded an aggregate non-cash impairment charge of $340 million related to two tradenames in the H&CS segment and one in the L&D segment, as the carrying values of the tradenames exceeded their fair values. The decline in the fair values resulted primarily from a downward revision of the forecasted cash flows and an increase in the reporting unit’s discount rate, primarily due to the increased risk premium applied to enable reconciliation to the Company’s total enterprise value given the decline in the Company’s stock price since the last annual impairment test. See Critical Accounting Estimates and Footnotes 1 and 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Debt Redemption
In November 2025, the Company repaid the outstanding principal amount of its 3.900% senior notes due 2025 (the “2025 Notes”), plus accrued and unpaid interest upon maturity for total consideration of $48 million.
Debt Rating Downgrades
During the fourth quarter of 2025, Moody’s further downgraded the Company’s senior unsecured debt rating to “B2”, without any further impact to the interest rates on any of the Company’s senior notes, as the Company has reached the maximum provision on the affected bonds.
See Footnote 8 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on debt redemption and debt rating downgrades.
Results of Operations
Consolidated Operating Results 2025 vs. 2024
Years Ended December 31,
(in millions, except per share data)
$ Change
% Change
Net sales
Gross profit
Gross margin
Operating income
Operating margin
Interest expense, net
Loss on extinguishment and modification of debt
Other expense, net
Loss before income taxes
Income tax benefit
Income tax rate
Net loss
Diluted loss per share
Net sales decreased 5% compared to the prior year. Net sales were unfavorably impacted by soft demand across all segments, primarily by our H&CS and O&R segments, net distribution losses and product line exits. These unfavorable factors were partially mitigated by launches of product innovations. Changes in foreign currency unfavorably impacted net sales by $2 million, or less than 1%.
Gross profit decreased by approximately $116 million, or approximately 5% compared to the prior year, primarily driven by our H&CS segment. Gross margin improved to 33.8% as compared with 33.6% in 2024. The improvement in gross margin was driven by gross productivity and pricing and lower restructuring-related charges of approximately $32 million, partially offset by volume impact of lower sales, additional tariffs of approximately $114 million and inflation.
Notable items, other than the aforementioned, impacting operating income for 2025 and 2024 are as follows:
Years Ended December 31,
(in millions)
$ Change
Impairment of goodwill and intangible assets (a)
Restructuring and restructuring-related (b)
Transaction costs and other (c)
(a) See Footnotes 1 and 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
(b) Restructuring-related costs reported in cost of products sold and selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) for 2025 were $4 million and $24 million, respectively, and primarily relate to facility closures associated with the Realignment Plan and various discrete initiatives as well as previously disclosed but substantially completed restructuring activities. Restructuring-related costs reported in cost of products sold, SG&A and in impairment of goodwill, intangibles and other assets for 2024 were $36 million, $13 million and $8 million, respectively, and primarily relate to facility closures associated with previously disclosed but substantially completed restructuring activities, as well as other discrete initiatives. Restructuring costs for 2025 and 2024 were $62 million and $45 million, respectively. See Footnote 3 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
(c) Transaction costs and other for 2025 includes expenses for certain legal proceedings and completed divestitures, costs of a product recall, fire-related losses and hyperinflationary currency movements. Transaction costs and other reported in cost of products sold and SG&A for 2025 were $29 million and $10 million, respectively. Transaction costs and other for 2024 primarily relate to release of a bad debt reserve due to a recovery of a receivable from an international customer, hyperinflationary currency movements and accelerated amortization and write-offs of other assets associated with integration projects. Transaction costs and other reported in cost of products sold and SG&A for 2024 were $11 million and $1 million, respectively.
Operating income was $39 million as compared to $67 million in the prior year period. The decline reflects the aforementioned impact of lower gross profit of $116 million, higher restructuring charges of $17 million (See Footnote 3 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information), and increase in advertising and promotion costs of $12 million, partially offset by lower incentive compensation expense of approximately $95 million, due to weaker performance relative to targets in 2025, and savings from restructuring actions related to the Realignment Plan and Productivity Plan.
Interest expense, net increased primarily due to higher interest rates and lower interest income. The weighted average interest rates for 2025 and 2024 were approximately 6.4% and 5.8%, respectively. The loss on extinguishment and modification of debt of $13 million for 2025, is primarily related to the Company’s redemption of certain of its senior notes. See Footnote 8 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Other expense, net for 2025 and 2024 include the following items:
Years Ended December 31,
(in millions)
(Gain) loss on disposition of businesses and investments (a)
Foreign exchange losses, net (b)
Discount on factored receivables and other, net
(a) During 2025, the Company sold its equity interest in a joint venture and realized a pretax gain of $12 million.
(b) See Footnote 9 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
The income tax benefit for 2025 was $16 million as compared to $44 million in 2024. The effective tax rate for 2025 was 5.3% as compared to 16.9% for 2024. The decrease in the tax benefit rate was primarily driven by decrease in discrete benefits and lower pretax book income for 2025. See Footnote 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on income taxes.
Business Segment Operating Results 2025 vs. 2024
Home and Commercial Solutions
Years Ended December 31,
(in millions)
$ Change
% Change
Net sales
Operating loss
Operating margin
NM — NOT MEANINGFUL
H&CS net sales for 2025 decreased approximately 7% compared to prior year, which reflected soft demand across all businesses, net distribution losses and product line exits, primarily in our Kitchen and Commercial businesses. These declines were partially offset by launches of product innovations mainly in the Kitchen and Home Fragrance businesses. Changes in foreign currency unfavorably impacted net sales by $8 million, or less than 1%.
Operating loss was $138 million as compared to $2 million in the prior year. The decline in operating results is primarily due to lower gross profit of $116 million, resulting from unfavorable fixed cost leverage associated with lower sales volume, additional tariffs and inflation, partially offset by gross productivity. The decline in operating results was also
unfavorably impacted by $15 million of higher non-cash impairment charges related to indefinite-lived tradenames (see Footnote 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information) and $15 million of higher advertising and promotion costs. These unfavorable factors were partially offset by savings from restructuring actions related to the Realignment Plan.
Learning and Development
Years Ended December 31,
(in millions)
$ Change
% Change
Net sales
Operating income
Operating margin
L&D net sales for 2025 decreased 1%, compared to prior year as soft demand primarily in the Writing business was partially offset by contributions from launches of product innovations in both the Baby and Writing businesses. Changes in foreign currency favorably impacted net sales by $4 million, or less than 1%.
Operating income for 2025 decreased to $464 million as compared to $473 million in 2024. The decrease in operating income is primarily due to lower gross profit of $31 million, as gross productivity was more than offset by inflation and impact of tariffs. The decline in gross profit was partially offset by lower non-cash impairment charge of $20 million, related to an indefinite-lived tradename (see Footnote 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information) and savings from restructuring actions primarily related to the Realignment Plan.
Outdoor and Recreation
Years Ended December 31,
(in millions)
$ Change
% Change
Net sales
Operating loss
Operating margin
O&R net sales for 2025 decreased approximately 7% compared to prior year primarily due to net distribution losses, soft demand and business exits. These declines were partially offset by contribution from launches of product innovation and pricing. Changes in foreign currency favorably impacted net sales by $2 million, or less than 1%.
Operating loss for 2025 was $25 million as compared to $86 million in 2024. The improvement was due to higher gross profit of $31 million driven primarily by gross productivity, pricing actions and mix. Savings from restructuring actions also contributed to the improvement of operating results.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Liquidity
The Company believes the extent of the impact of the rapidly changing retail and consumer landscape, which reflects an increased focus by retailers to rebalance inventory levels, inflationary pressures and uncertainty over the volatility and direction of future demand patterns on the Company’s future sales, operating results, cash flows, liquidity and financial condition, will continue to be driven by numerous evolving factors the Company cannot accurately predict and which will vary. As noted in Business Strategy and Recent Developments, the Company has taken actions to further strengthen its financial position and balance sheet, and maintain financial liquidity and flexibility, including refinancing certain of its senior notes.
The Company believes these actions and its cash generating capability, together with its borrowing capacity and available cash and cash equivalents, provide adequate liquidity to fund its operations, support its growth platforms, pay down debt and debt maturities as they come due and execute its ongoing business initiatives. The Company regularly assesses its cash requirements and the available sources to fund these needs. For further information, refer to Item 1A . Risk Factors – Financial Risks in Part I.
At December 31, 2025, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $203 million, of which approximately $133 million was held by the Company’s non-U.S. subsidiaries. The Company maintains a position of partial permanent reinvestment in the earnings of its non-U.S. subsidiaries. Deferred taxes are recorded for earnings of
the Company’s foreign operations that are determined to be not indefinitely reinvested. See Footnote 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
The table below summarizes the Company’s cash activity for 2025 and 2024 (in millions):
Increase (Decrease)
Cash provided by operating activities
Cash used in investing activities
Cash used in financing activities
Exchange rate effect on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash
Increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash
The Company has historically generated the majority of its operating cash flow in the third and fourth quarters of the year due to seasonal variations in operating results, the timing of annual performance-based compensation payments, customer program payments, working capital requirements and credit terms provided to customers.
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
The change in net cash provided by operating activities for 2025, was primarily driven by lower cash generated from accounts receivable, due to lower net sales and timing of collections, cash impact of additional tariffs and higher cash incentive compensation payments in 2025. These were partially offset by improvement in inventory levels and timing of vendor payments as well as lower restructuring payments during the year.
Cash Flows from Investing Activities
The change in net cash used in investing activities for 2025 primarily reflects lower capital expenditures of $12 million, as the Company continues to streamline its initiatives and higher proceeds from sale of divested businesses and investments, offset by lower proceeds from settlement of swaps. See Footnote 9 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on swaps.
Cash Flows from Financing Activities
The change in cash used in financing activities was primarily due to higher utilization of the Credit Revolver during the current year.
See Footnote 8 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Capital Resources
The Company currently believes its capital structure and cash resources, as further described below, will continue to support the funding of the future dividends, and the Company will continue to evaluate all actions to strengthen its financial position and balance sheet and to maintain its financial liquidity, flexibility and capital allocation strategy.
The Company was in compliance with all of its debt covenants at December 31, 2025.
Credit Revolver
The Company’s $1.00 billion Credit Revolver matures in August 2027. Under the Credit Revolver, the Company may borrow funds on a variety of interest terms. The Credit Revolver agreement (i) requires the Company to satisfy financial covenants testing the Company’s Collateral Coverage Ratio and Total Net Leverage Ratio (each further defined in the Credit Revolver, as amended), (ii) requires the Company and certain of its domestic and foreign subsidiaries (the “Guarantors”) to guaranty Company obligations under the Credit Revolver and (iii) requires the Company and other Guarantors to grant a lien and security interest in certain assets consisting of eligible accounts receivables, eligible inventory, eligible equipment and eligible intellectual property, and all products and proceeds of the foregoing, subject to certain limitations.
In accordance with the terms of the Credit Revolver, the Total Net Leverage Ratio covenant, is scheduled to decrease as of the last day of the fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2026 and to continue at such level for each fiscal quarter
ending thereafter during the remaining term of the Credit Revolver. The Company’s ability to continue to comply with the Total Net Leverage Ratio covenant is dependent upon the Company’s future operating and financial performance, which may be affected by economic conditions and other factors beyond our control. A failure to maintain the Company’s financial covenants and to subsequently remedy a default would impair its ability to borrow under the Credit Revolver and, absent a waiver of such default by the lenders under the Credit Revolver or an amendment or replacement of the Credit Revolver with alternative financing, potentially subject the Company to cross-default and acceleration provisions in its debt documents, which would have a significant adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and operating results. While the Company would pursue refinancing the Credit Revolver with a new or amended borrowing facility should such action be necessary, there can be no assurance regarding the availability of such a new or amended facility on terms favorable to the Company or at all.
Other than outstanding borrowings under the Credit Revolver, availability under the Credit Revolver is subject to change in accordance with the terms of the agreement, including in response to changes in the Company’s pledged collateral value or outstanding letters of credit under the Credit Revolver. At December 31, 2025, there was $852 million of availability under the Credit Revolver, based on the value of the pledged collateral and prior to giving effect to outstanding borrowings and letters of credit.
The Credit Revolver provides for the issuance of up to $150 million of letters of credit, so long as there is sufficient availability for borrowing under the Credit Revolver. At December 31, 2025, the Company had approximately $37 million of outstanding standby letters of credit issued against the Credit Revolver and $130 million of outstanding borrowings under the Credit Revolver resulting in a net availability of approximately $685 million.
Customer Receivable Purchase Agreements
The Company maintains a factoring agreement with a financial institution to sell certain customer receivables (the “Customer Receivables Purchase Agreement”) up to $700 million of eligible accounts receivable. Outstanding receivables sold under the Customer Receivables Purchase Agreement totaled approximately $270 million at both December 31, 2025 and 2024.
In addition, the Company, through a wholly-owned special purpose entity (“SPE”), has a three-year factoring agreement with a financial institution to sell certain customer receivables up to $225 million, between February and April of each year and up to $275 million at all other times, of eligible accounts receivable without recourse on a revolving basis (the “Receivables Facility”). Under the Receivables Facility, certain of the Company’s subsidiaries continuously sell their accounts receivables, originated in the U.S., to the SPE which then sells the receivables to the financial institution. The SPE is a variable interest entity for which the Company is considered to be the primary beneficiary. The SPE’s sole business consists of the purchase of receivables from certain subsidiaries of the Company and the subsequent transfer of such receivables to the financial institution. Although the SPE is included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements, it is a separate legal entity with separate creditors. The assets of the SPE are not available to pay creditors of the Company or its subsidiaries. The fair value of these servicing arrangements as well as the fees earned was immaterial. Outstanding receivables sold under the Receivables Facility at December 31, 2025 and 2024 were approximately $125 million and $145 million, respectively.
The Company accounts for receivables sold to the financial institutions under both factoring agreements as a sale of financial assets and derecognizes the trade receivables from the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company classifies the proceeds received from the sales of accounts receivable to the financial institutions as an operating cash flow and collections of accounts receivables not yet remitted to the financial institutions as financing cash flow in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, and such collections are classified as restricted cash (included in prepaid expenses and other current assets) on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets.
Senior Notes
In May 2025, the Company completed the offering and sale of $1.25 billion of 8.500% senior notes due 2028 (the “2028 Notes”) and received proceeds of $1.23 billion, net of fees and expenses paid. The Company used the proceeds of the offering to fully redeem its outstanding 4.200% senior notes due 2026 (the “2026 Notes”) at a redemption price equal to 100.757% of the outstanding aggregate principal amount of the notes, plus accrued unpaid interest to the redemption date. The total consideration was approximately $1.25 billion. As a result of the redemption, the Company recorded a loss on debt extinguishment of $13 million.
In November 2025, the Company repaid the outstanding principal amount of the 2025 Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest upon maturity for total consideration of $48 million.
During the second quarter of 2025 Moody’s and S&P downgraded the Company’s senior unsecured debt rating. As a result, certain of the Company’s outstanding senior notes were subject to interest rate adjustments, taking effect in the fourth quarter of 2025. During the fourth quarter of 2025, Moody’s further downgraded the Company’s senior unsecured debt rating to “B2”, without any further impact to the interest rates on any of the Company’s senior notes, as the Company has reached the maximum provision on the affected bonds.
See Footnote 8 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Risk Management
From time to time, the Company enters into derivative transactions to hedge its exposures to interest rate, foreign currency rate and commodity price fluctuations. The Company does not enter into derivative transactions for trading purposes.
See Footnote 9 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on the Company’s derivative instruments.
Contractual Obligations, Commitments and Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
The Company has outstanding debt obligations maturing at various dates through 2046. Certain other items, such as purchase commitments and other executory contracts, are not recognized as liabilities in the Company’s consolidated financial statements but are required to be disclosed. Examples of items not recognized as liabilities in the Company’s consolidated financial statements are commitments to purchase raw materials or inventory that has not yet been received at December 31, 2025, and other non-cancelable obligations including capital assets and other licensing services.
The following table summarizes the effect that material contractual obligations and commitments are expected to have on the Company’s cash flow in the indicated period at December 31, 2025. Additional details regarding these obligations are provided in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements :
(in millions)
Total
1 year
2-3 years
4-5 years
After
5 years
Debt (a)
Interest on debt (b)
Lease obligations (c)
Purchase obligations (d)
Total (e)
(a) Amounts represent contractual obligations based on the earliest date that the obligation may become due, excluding interest, based on borrowings outstanding as of December 31, 2025. For further information relating to these obligations, see Footnote 8 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements .
(b) Amounts represent estimated interest payable on borrowings outstanding as of December 31, 2025, excluding the impact of fixed to floating rate interest rate swaps. Interest on floating-rate debt was estimated using the rate in effect as of December 31, 2025. For further information, see Footnotes 8 and 9 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements .
(c) Amounts represent lease liabilities on operating leases as of December 31, 2025. See Footnote 12 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements .
(d) Primarily consists of purchase commitments with suppliers entered into as of December 31, 2025, for the purchase of materials, packaging and other components and services. These purchase commitment amounts represent only those items which are based on agreements that are legally enforceable and that specify all significant terms including minimum quantity, price and term and do not represent total anticipated purchases.
(e) Total does not include contractual obligations reported as of December 31, 2025 balance sheet as current liabilities, except for the current portion of long-term debt, short-term debt, accrued interest and current portion of lease liabilities.
The Company also has liabilities for uncertain tax positions and unrecognized tax benefits. The Company is under audit from time-to-time by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and other taxing authorities, and it is possible that the amount of the liability for uncertain tax positions and unrecognized tax benefits could change in the coming year. While it is possible that one or more of these examinations may be resolved in the next year, the Company is not able to reasonably estimate the timing or the amount by which the liability will be settled over time; therefore, the $360 million in unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2025 is excluded from the preceding table. See Footnote 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Additionally, the Company has obligations with respect to its pension and postretirement benefit plans, which are excluded from the preceding table. The timing and amounts of the funding requirements are uncertain because they are dependent on interest rates and actual returns on plan assets, among other factors. See Footnote 10 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
At December 31, 2025, the Company had approximately $49 million in standby letters of credit primarily related to the Company’s self-insurance programs, including workers’ compensation, product liability and medical. See Footnote 17 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
At December 31, 2025, the Company did not have any significant off-balance sheet arrangements, as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K.
Critical Accounting Estimates
The preparation of the Company’s financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying footnotes. Future events and their effects cannot be determined with absolute certainty. Therefore, the determination of estimates requires the exercise of judgment. Actual results will differ from those estimates, and such differences may be material to the Consolidated Financial Statements. The Company’s significant accounting policies are more fully described in Footnote 1 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements . The Company’s most critical accounting policies, which are those that have or are reasonably likely to have a material impact on its financial condition and results of operations, are described below.
Revenue Recognition
The Company recognizes revenue when performance obligations under the terms of a contract with the customer are satisfied or at a point in time, which generally occurs either on shipment or on delivery based on contractual terms, when control is transferred. The Company’s primary performance obligation is the sale and distribution of its consumer and commercial products to its customers.
Revenue is measured as the amount of consideration to which it expects to be entitled in exchange for transferring goods or providing services. Certain customers may receive cash and/or non-cash incentives such as cash discounts, returns, credits or reimbursements related to defective products, customer discounts (such as volume or trade discounts), cooperative advertising and other customer-related programs, which are accounted for as variable consideration. In some cases, the Company applies judgment when estimating variable consideration by evaluating contractual rates and historical payment trends.
In addition, the Company participates in various programs and arrangements with customers designed to increase the sale of products by these customers. Among the programs negotiated are arrangements under which allowances are earned by customers for attaining agreed-upon sales levels or for participating in specific marketing programs. Coupon programs are also developed on a customer- and territory-specific basis.
Under customer programs and arrangements that require sales incentives to be paid in advance, the Company amortizes the amount paid over the period of benefit or contractual sales volume. When incentives are paid in arrears, the Company accrues the estimated amount to be paid based on the program’s contractual terms, expected customer performance and/or estimated sales volume. These estimates are determined using historical customer experience and other factors, which sometimes require significant judgment. Due to the length of time necessary to obtain relevant data from customers, among other factors, actual amounts paid can differ from these estimates.
Sales taxes and other similar taxes are excluded from revenue. The Company has elected to account for shipping and handling activities as a fulfillment cost. The Company also elected not to disclose the value of unsatisfied performance obligations for (i) contracts with an original expected length of one year or less and (ii) contracts for which revenue is recognized at the amount to which the Company has the right to invoice for services performed.
Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangibles
Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles are tested and reviewed for impairment annually during the fourth quarter (on December 1), or more frequently if facts and circumstances warrant. On December 1, 2025, the carrying values for goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets were $3.1 billion and $889 million, respectively.
Goodwill
Goodwill is tested for impairment at a reporting unit level, and all of the Company’s goodwill is assigned to its reporting units. Reporting units are determined based upon the Company’s organizational structure in place at the date of the goodwill impairment testing and generally are one level below the operating segment level. The Company’s operations are comprised of six reporting units, within its three primary operating segments. The Company has the option of first analyzing qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of any reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. However, the Company may elect to perform a quantitative goodwill impairment test in lieu of the qualitative test.
When a qualitative goodwill test is performed, the Company analyzes factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than the carrying amount as a basis for determining whether it is necessary to perform the quantitative goodwill impairment test. The evaluation of qualitative factors includes an assessment of relevant facts, events, and circumstances including but not limited to: macroeconomic conditions, industry and market conditions, and the current and forecasted financial performance of the reporting unit. If the qualitative test indicates it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than the carrying amount the Company performs the quantitative test, which measures the amount of the goodwill impairment, if any.
During the fourth quarter of 2025, the Company elected to perform a qualitative assessment for the Writing reporting unit and a quantitative assessment for the Commercial and Baby reporting units. Based on the Company’s qualitative assessment, the Company concluded there were no events or circumstances that rise to a level that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of the Writing reporting unit below the carrying value; therefore, a quantitative goodwill impairment analysis was not required for the Writing reporting unit.
In performing a quantitative assessment, the Company estimates the fair value of each reporting unit by using the income approach. The quantitative goodwill impairment test requires significant use of judgment and assumptions, such as the identification of reporting units; assignment of assets and liabilities to reporting units; and estimation of future cash flows (including net sales, gross profit and operating expenses), terminal values, discount rates and total enterprise value.
The income approach used is the discounted cash flow methodology and is based on five-year cash flow projections reflecting the Company’s latest projections which included, among other things, the impact of current and projected financial performance of the reporting unit at the time the Company performed its impairment testing. The cash flows projected are analyzed on a debt-free basis (before cash payments to equity and interest-bearing debt investors) in order to develop an enterprise value from operations for the reporting unit. A provision is made, based on these projections, for the value of the reporting unit at the end of the forecast period, or terminal value. The present value of the finite-period cash flows and the terminal value are determined using a selected discount rate. Changes in forecasted operations and other assumptions could materially affect the estimated fair values. Changes in business conditions could potentially require adjustments to these asset valuations.
During the fourth quarter of 2025, in conjunction with its annual impairment testing, there were no goodwill impairment charges recorded as a result of the quantitative goodwill assessments. However, the Commercial reporting unit in the H&CS segment, had a fair value within 10% of its associated carrying value. The decline in fair value of the Commercial reporting unit resulted primarily from a downward revision of forecasted cash flows and an increase in the reporting unit’s discount rate, primarily due to an increased risk premium applied to enable reconciliation to the Company's total enterprise value, given the decline in the Company’s stock price since the last annual impairment test. A hypothetical 10% reduction in forecasted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization used in the discounted cash flows to estimate the fair value to the Commercial reporting unit would have resulted in an impairment charge of approximately $131 million against its goodwill carrying value of $747 million.
See Footnote 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on the Company's goodwill.
Indefinite-lived intangibles
As part of the Company’s annual indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment testing (primarily tradenames), the Company has the option to first analyze qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired. The evaluation of qualitative factors includes an assessment of relevant facts, events, and circumstances including but not limited to: macroeconomic conditions, industry and market conditions, and the current and forecasted financial performance. The Company performs a quantitative test when
qualitative factors alone are not sufficient to conclude whether it is more likely than not that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is not impaired. If the Company performs a quantitative test, an impairmentloss will only be recognized for the amount by which the carrying value of the indefinite-lived intangible asset exceeds its fair value, not to exceed the total carrying value of the asset.
During the fourth quarter of 2025, the Company elected to perform qualitative assessments for two indefinite-lived intangible assets in the L&D segment and quantitative assessments for two indefinite-lived intangible assets in the H&CS segment as well as two for the L&D segment. Based on the Company’s qualitative assessments, the Company concluded there were no events or circumstances that rise to a level that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of those indefinite-lived intangible assets in the L&D segment below the carrying value; therefore, a quantitative impairment analysis was not required for these two indefinite-lived intangible assets.
The quantitative testing of indefinite-lived intangibles under established guidelines for impairment requires significant use of judgment and assumptions (such as estimation of future cash flows, royalty rates, terminal values and discount rates). An indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired by the amount by which its carrying value exceeds its estimated fair value. For impairment testing purposes, the fair value of indefinite-lived intangibles is determined using either the relief from royalty method or the excess earnings method. The relief from royalty method estimates the value of a tradename by discounting the hypothetical avoided royalty payments to their present value over the economic life of the asset. The excess earnings method estimates the value of the intangible asset by quantifying the residual (or excess) cash flows generated by the asset and discounts those cash flows to the present. The excess earnings methodology requires the application of contributory asset charges. Contributory asset charges typically include assumed payments for the use of working capital, tangible assets and other intangible assets. Changes in forecasted operations and other assumptions could materially affect the estimated fair values. Changes in business conditions could potentially require adjustments to these asset valuations.
During the fourth quarter of 2025, in conjunction with its annual impairment testing, the Company recorded non-cash impairment charges of $163 million and $127 million associated with two tradenames in the H&CS segment and $50 million associated with one tradename in the L&D segment, as the carrying values exceeded the fair values.
The decline in the fair value of the tradenames in the H&CS and L&D segments resulting in the aforementioned non-cash impairment charges was the result of a downward revision of forecasted cashflows and an increase in the tradenames’ discount rates, primarily due to increased risk premiums applied to enable reconciliation to the Company's total enterprise value, given the decline in the Company’s stock price since the last annual impairment test. A hypothetical 10% reduction in the forecasted revenue and residual (excess) cash flows used in the excess earnings method applied in determining the fair value of each tradename would have resulted in an incremental non-cash impairment charge in the H&CS segment of $19 million and $9 million, for each tradename. A hypothetical 10% reduction in the forecasted revenue used in the relief from royalty method in determining the fair value of the tradename would have resulted in an incremental non-cash impairment charge in the L&D segment of $1 million.
There was no resulting non-cash impairment charge with respect to the other tradename in the L&D segment for which a quantitative assessment was performed. However, this tradename had a fair value within 10% of its associated carrying value of $135 million. A hypothetical 10% reduction in the forecasted revenue used in the relief from royalty method in determining the fair value of the tradename would have resulted in a non-cash impairment charge of $9 million in the L&D segment.
The Company has experienced headwinds due to soft global demand, announced and/or imposed tariffs on foreign imports into the U.S., and an increased focus by retailers to rebalance inventory levels in light of continued inflationary pressures on consumers. The Company expects that current market contraction is reflective of a reset of demand levels. If the demand continues to contract or the business fails to regainlost distribution, additional declines in the fair value of reporting units or certain tradenames may occur resulting in an impairment charge. Additional impairment testing may be required based on further deterioration of global demand and/or the macroeconomic environment, further declines in operating results of the Company’s reporting units and/or tradenames, further sustained deterioration of the Company’s market capitalization, and other factors, which may necessitate changes to estimates or valuation assumptions used in the fair value of the reporting units for goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible tradenames. Although management cannot predict when improvements in macroeconomic conditions will occur, if consumer confidence and consumer spending continue to decline significantly in the future or if commercial and industrial economic activity experiences a sustained deterioration from current levels, the Company may be required to record further impairment charges in the future.
See Footnote 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information associated with non-cash indefinite-lived intangibles impairment charges resulting from its annual test during 2025.
Other Long-Lived Assets
The Company continuously evaluates whether impairment indicators related to its property, plant and equipment, operating leases and other long-lived assets are present. These impairment indicators may include a significant decrease in the market price of a long-lived asset or asset group, early termination of an operating lease, a significant adverse change to the extent or manner in which a long-lived asset or asset group is being used or in its physical condition, or a current-period operating or cash flow loss combined with a history of operating or cash flow losses or a forecast that demonstrates continuing losses associated with the use of a long-lived asset or asset group. If impairment indicators are present, the Company estimates the future cash flows for the asset or group of assets. The sum of the undiscounted future cash flows attributable to the asset or group of assets is compared to their carrying amount. The cash flows are estimated utilizing various assumptions regarding future sales and expenses, working capital and proceeds from asset disposals on a basis consistent with the Company’s forecasts. If the carrying amount exceeds the sum of the undiscounted future cash flows, the Company discounts the future cash flows using a discount rate required for a similar investment of like risk and records an impairment charge as the difference between the fair value and the carrying value of the asset group. The Company performs its testing of the asset group at the reporting unit level, as this is the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are available, with the exception of the Yankee Candle business, where testing is performed at the retail store level. See Footnotes 5, 6, and 12 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for deferred income taxes using the asset and liability approach. Under this approach, deferred income taxes are recognized based on the tax effects of temporary differences between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities, as measured by current enacted tax rates. Valuation allowances are recorded to reduce the deferred tax assets to an amount that will more likely than not be realized.
The Company’s income tax provisions are based on calculations and assumptions that are subject to examination by various worldwide tax authorities. Although the Company believes that the positions taken on previously filed tax returns are reasonable, it has established tax, interest and penalty reserves in recognition that various taxing authorities may challenge the positions taken, which could result in additional liabilities for taxes, interest and penalties. The Company regularly reviews its deferred tax assets for recoverability considering historical profitability, projected future taxable income, the expected timing of the reversals of existing temporary differences and tax planning strategies.
For uncertain tax positions, the Company applies the provisions of relevant authoritative guidance, which requires application of a “more likely than not” threshold to the recognition and derecognition of tax positions. The Company’s ongoing assessments of the more likely than not outcomes of tax authority examinations and related tax positions require significant judgment and can increase or decrease the Company’s effective tax rate, as well as impact operating results.
The Company’s provision for income taxes is subject to volatility and could be favorably or adversely affected by earnings being higher or lower in countries that have lower tax rates and higher or lower in countries that have higher tax rates; by changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities; by expiration of or lapses in tax-related legislation; by expiration of or lapses in tax incentives; by tax effects of nondeductible compensation; by changes in accounting principles; by liquidity needs driving repatriations of non-U.S. cash to the U.S.; or by changes in tax laws and regulations, including possible U.S. changes to the taxation of earnings of foreign subsidiaries, the deductibility of expenses attributable to foreign income, or the foreign tax credit rules.
The Company’s effective tax rate differs from the statutory rate, primarily due to the tax impact of state taxes, foreign tax rates, tax credits, the domestic manufacturing deduction, tax audit settlements and valuation allowance adjustments. Significant judgment is required in evaluating uncertain tax positions, determining valuation allowances recorded against deferred tax assets, and ultimately, the income tax provision.
It is difficult to predict when resolution of income tax matters will occur and when recognition of certain income tax assets and liabilities is appropriate, and the Company’s income tax expense in the future may continue to differ from the statutory rate because of the effects of similar items. For example, if items are favorably resolved or management determines a deferred tax asset is realizable that was previously reserved, the Company will recognize period tax benefits. Conversely, to the extent tax matters are unfavorably resolved or management determines a valuation
allowance is necessary for a tax asset that was not previously reserved, the Company will recognize incremental period tax expense. These matters are expected to contribute to the tax rate differing from the statutory rate and continued volatility in the Company’s effective tax rate. See Footnote 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Pensions and Postretirement Benefits
The Company records annual amounts relating to its pension and postretirement plans based on calculations, which include various actuarial assumptions, including discount rates, assumed rates of return, compensation increases, turnover rates and health care cost trend rates. The Company reviews its actuarial assumptions on an annual basis and makes modifications to the assumptions based on current rates and trends when it is deemed appropriate to do so. The effect of modifications is generally deferred and amortized over future periods. The Company believes that the assumptions utilized in recording its obligations under its plans are reasonable based on its experience, market conditions and the input from its actuaries and investment advisors. The pension and postretirement obligations are measured at December 31, 2025 and 2024.
The Company employs a total return investment approach for its pension and postretirement benefit plans whereby a mix of equities and fixed income investments are used to optimize the long-term return of pension plan assets. The intent of this strategy is to minimize plan expenses by outperforming plan liabilities over the long run. Risk tolerance is established through careful consideration of plan liabilities, plan funded status, and corporate financial condition. The investment portfolios contain a diversified blend of equity and fixed-income investments. The equity investments are diversified across geography and market capitalization through investments in U.S. large-capitalization stocks, U.S. small-capitalization stocks and international securities. Investment risk is measured and monitored on an ongoing basis through annual liability measurements, periodic asset/liability studies and quarterly investment portfolio reviews.
The expected long-term rate of return for plan assets is based upon many factors including expected asset allocations, historical asset returns, current and expected future market conditions, risk and active management premiums. The target asset allocations for the Company’s domestic pension plans may vary by plan, in part due to plan demographics, funded status and liability duration. In general, the Company’s target asset allocations are as follows: equities approximately 30%; fixed income approximately 65%; multi-sector fixed income approximately 5% and nominal for cash, alternative investments and other at December 31, 2025. Actual asset allocations may vary from the targeted allocations for various reasons, including market conditions and the timing of transactions. The Company maintains numerous international defined benefit pension plans. The asset allocations for the international investment may vary by plan and jurisdiction and are primarily based upon the plan structure and plan participant profile. At December 31, 2025, the domestic plan assets were allocated as follows: equities approximately 30% and other investments (alternative investments, fixed-income securities, cash and other) approximately 70%. Actual asset allocations may vary from the targeted allocations for various reasons, including market conditions and the timing of transactions.
For 2025, 2024 and 2023, the actual return on plan assets for the Company’s U.S. pension plan assets was approximately $66 million, $14 million and $57 million, respectively, versus an expected return on plan assets of approximately $48 million, $47 million and $52 million, respectively. The actual amount of future contributions will depend, in part, on long-term actual return on assets and future discount rates. Pension contributions for all the Company’s pension plans and postretirement benefit obligations for 2026 are estimated to be approximately $8 million, as compared to the 2025 contributions of approximately $3 million.
The weighted average expected return on plan assets assumption for 2025 was approximately 5.7% for the Company’s domestic and international pension plans. The weighted average discount rate at the 2025 measurement date used to measure the pension plans’ benefit obligations and postretirement benefit obligations was approximately 5.0% and 4.8%, respectively. A 25 basis points decrease in the discount rate at the 2025 measurement date would increase projected benefit obligations for the pension plans and postretirement plans by approximately $17 million.
See Footnote 10 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
A summary of recent accounting pronouncements is included in Footnote 1 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements .
International Operations
The Company’s non-U.S. businesses accounted for approximately 39%, 38% and 37% of net sales for 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively (see Footnote 16 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements ).
Forward-Looking Statements
This report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities law. These statements generally can be identified by the use of words such as “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “target,” “plan,” “expect,” “setting up,” “beginning to,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “resume,” “are confident that,” “remain optimistic that,” “seek to,” or similar statements. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are not guarantees because there are inherent difficulties in predicting future results. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
• the Company’s ability to optimize costs and cash flow and mitigate the impact of soft global demand and retailers’ inventory rebalancing through discretionary and overhead spend management, advertising and promotion expense optimization, demand forecast and supply plan adjustments and actions to improve working capital;
• the Company’s dependence on the strength of retail and consumer demand and commercial and industrial sectors of the economy in various countries around the world;
• the Company’s ability to improve productivity, reduce complexity and streamline operations;
• risks related to the Company’s substantial indebtedness and current leverage profile, ability to refinance upcoming revolver and bond maturities on favorable terms, and potential increases in interest rates or changes in the Company’s credit ratings including the failure to maintain financial covenants which if breached could subject us to cross-default and acceleration provisions in our debt documents;
• the impact on the Company’s operations and financial condition resulting from current global macroeconomic environment, including the impact of tariffs imposed by the U.S. and retaliatory tariffs imposed by foreign countries, and the Company’s ability to effectively execute its mitigation plans;
• competition with other manufacturers and distributors of consumer products;
• major retailers’ strong bargaining power and consolidation of the Company’s customers;
• supply chain and operational disruptions in the markets in which we operate, including as a result of geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions and any global military conflicts including those between Russia and Ukraine and in the Middle East;
• changes in the prices and availability of labor, transportation, raw materials and sourced products, including significant inflation, and the Company’s ability to offset cost increases through pricing and productivity in a timely manner;
• the Company's ability to effectively execute its turnaround plan, including the Productivity Plan and other restructuring and cost saving initiatives;
• the Company’s ability to develop innovative new products, to develop, maintain and strengthen end-user brands and to realize the benefits of increased advertising and promotion spend;
• the risks inherent to the Company’s foreign operations, including currency fluctuations, exchange controls and pricing restrictions;
• future events that could adversely affect the value of the Company’s assets and/or stock price and require additional impairment charges;
• unexpected costs or expenses associated with dispositions;
• the cost and outcomes of governmental investigations, inspections, lawsuits, legislative requests or other actions by third parties, including but not limited to those described in Footnote 17 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements , the potential outcomes of which could exceed policy limits, to the extent insured;
• the Company’s ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting;
• risk associated with the use of artificial intelligence in the Company’s operations and the Company’s ability to properly manage such use;
• a failure or breach of one of the Company’s key information technology systems, networks, processes or related controls or those of the Company’s service providers;
• the impact of U.S. and foreign regulations on the Company’s operations, including environmental remediation costs and legislation and regulatory actions related to product safety, data privacy and climate change;
• the potential inability to attract, retain and motivate key employees;
• changes in tax laws and the resolution of tax contingencies resulting in additional tax liabilities;
• product liability, product recalls or related regulatory actions;
• the Company’s ability to protect its intellectual property rights;
• the impact of climate change and the increased focus of governmental and non-governmental organizations and customers on sustainability issues, as well as external expectations related to environmental, social and governance considerations;
• significant increases in the funding obligations related to the Company’s pension plans; and
• other factors listed from time to time in our SEC filings, including but not limited to our Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings.
The information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K is as of the date indicated. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as a result of new information or future events or developments. In addition, there can be no assurance that the Company has correctly identified and assessed all of the factors affecting the Company or that the publicly available and other information the Company receives with respect to these factors is complete or correct.
