Rogers Corp: Form 10-K for the period ended Dec 31, 2023

As used herein, the “Company,” “Rogers,” “we,” “us,” “our” and similar terms include Rogers Corporation and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Such statements are generally accompanied by words such as “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “foresee,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “seek,” “target” or similar expressions that convey uncertainty as to future events or outcomes. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and beliefs that we believe to be reasonable; however, assumed facts almost always vary from actual results, and the differences between assumed facts and actual results could be material depending upon the circumstances. Where we express an expectation or belief as to future results, that expectation or belief is expressed in good faith and based on assumptions believed to have a reasonable basis. We cannot assure you, however, that the stated expectation or belief will occur or be achieved or accomplished. Among the factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements are risks and uncertainties inherent in our business including, without limitation:

• failure to capitalize on, volatility within, or other adverse changes with respect to our growth drivers, such as delays in adoption or implementation of new technologies;
• failure to successfully execute on our long-term growth strategy as a standalone company;
• uncertain business, economic and political conditions in the U.S. and abroad, particularly in China, South Korea, Germany, Belgium, England and Hungary, where we maintain significant manufacturing, sales or administrative operations;
• the trade policy dynamics between the U.S. and China reflected in trade agreement negotiations, the imposition of tariffs and other trade restrictions, as well as the potential for U.S.-China supply chain decoupling;
• fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;
• our ability to develop innovative products and the extent to which they are incorporated into end-user products and systems;
• the extent to which end-user products and systems incorporating our products achieve commercial success;
• the ability and willingness of our sole or limited source suppliers to deliver certain key raw materials, including commodities, to us in a timely and cost-effective manner;
• intense global competition affecting both our existing products and products currently under development;
• business interruptions due to catastrophes or other similar events, such as natural disasters, war, terrorism or public health crises;
• the impact of sanctions, export controls and other foreign asset or investment restriction;
• failure to realize, or delays in the realization of, anticipated benefits of acquisitions and divestitures due to, among other things, the existence of unknown liabilities or difficulty integrating acquired businesses;
• our ability to attract and retain management and skilled technical personnel;
• our ability to protect our proprietary technology from infringement by third parties and/or allegations that our technology infringes third party rights;
• changes in effective tax rates or tax laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate;
• failure to comply with financial and restrictive covenants in our credit agreement or restrictions on our operational and financial flexibility due to such covenants;
• the outcome of ongoing and future litigation, including our asbestos-related product liability litigation;
• changes in environmental laws and regulations applicable to our business;
• disruptions in, or breaches of, our information technology systems; and
• our terminated merger with DuPont, which may cause us to incur substantial costs that may adversely affect our financial results and operations and the market price of our capital stock, including as a result of litigation.

Our forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements, which you should consider carefully, along with the risks discussed under the headings “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Results of Operations and Financial Position” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or anticipated results. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law.

Company Background

Rogers Corporation designs, develops, manufactures and sells high-performance and high-reliability engineered materials and components to meet our customers’ demanding challenges. We operate two strategic operating segments: AES and EMS. Our remaining operations, which represent our non-core businesses, are reported in our Other operating segment. We are headquartered in Chandler, Arizona.

Operating Segments

Advanced Electronics Solutions

Our AES operating segment designs, develops, manufactures and sells circuit materials, ceramic substrate materials, busbars and cooling solutions for applications in EV/HEV, automotive (e.g, ADAS), aerospace and defense (e.g., antenna systems, communication systems and phased array radar systems), renewable energy (e.g., wind and solar), wireless infrastructure (e.g., power amplifiers, antennas and small cells), mass transit, industrial (e.g., variable frequency drives), connected devices (e.g., mobile internet devices and thermal solutions) and wired infrastructure (e.g., computing and internet protocol infrastructure) markets. We believe these materials have characteristics that offer performance and other functional advantages in many market applications, which serve to differentiate our products from other commonly available materials. AES products are sold globally to converters, fabricators, distributors and OEMs. Trade names for our AES products include: curamik®, ROLINX®, RO4000® Series, RO3000® Series, RT/duroid®, CLTE Series®, TMM®, AD Series®, DiClad® Series, CuClad® Series, Kappa®, COOLSPAN®, TC Series®, IsoClad® Series, MAGTREX®, IM Series™, 2929 Bondply, SpeedWave® Prepreg, RO4400™/RO4400T™ Series and Radix™. As of December 31, 2023, our AES operating segment had manufacturing and administrative facilities in Chandler, Arizona; Rogers, Connecticut; Bear, Delaware; Eschenbach, Germany; Evergem, Belgium; Budapest, Hungary; and Suzhou, China.

Elastomeric Material Solutions

Our EMS operating segment designs, develops, manufactures and sells engineered material solutions for a wide variety of applications and markets. These include polyurethane and silicone materials used in cushioning, gasketing and sealing, and vibration management applications for EV/HEV, general industrial, portable electronics, automotive, mass transit, aerospace and defense, footwear and impact mitigation markets; customized silicones used in flex heater and semiconductor thermal applications for EV/HEV, general industrial, portable electronics, automotive, mass transit, aerospace and defense and medical markets; polytetrafluoroethylene and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene materials used in wire and cable protection, electrical insulation, conduction and shielding, hose and belt protection, vibration management, cushioning, gasketing and sealing, and venting applications for EV/HEV, general industrial, automotive and aerospace and defense markets. We believe these materials have characteristics that offer functional advantages in many market applications, which serve to differentiate our products from other commonly available materials. EMS products are sold globally to converters, fabricators, distributors and OEMs. Trade names for our EMS products include: PORON®, BISCO®, DeWAL®, ARLON®, eSorba®, XRD®, Silicone Engineering and R/bak®. As of December 31, 2023, our EMS operating segment had manufacturing and administrative facilities in Rogers, Connecticut; Woodstock, Connecticut; Bear, Delaware; Carol Stream, Illinois; Narragansett, Rhode Island; Evergem, Belgium; Blackburn, England; Siheung, South Korea; and Suzhou, China.

We also own 50% of two unconsolidated joint ventures: (1) RIC, a joint venture established in Japan to design, develop, manufacture and sell PORON® products predominantly for the Japanese market and (2) RIS, a joint venture established in China to design, develop, manufacture and sell PORON® products primarily for RIC customers in various Asian countries. INOAC Corporation owns the remaining 50% of both RIC and RIS. RIC has manufacturing facilities at the INOAC facilities in Nagoya and Mie, Japan, and RIS has manufacturing facilities at Rogers’ facilities in Suzhou, China.

Other

Our Other operating segment consists of elastomer components for applications in the general industrial market, as well as elastomer floats for level sensing in fuel tanks, motors, and storage tanks applications in the general industrial and automotive markets. We sell our elastomer components under our ENDUR® trade name and our floats under our NITROPHYL® trade name.

Terminated Merger Agreement with DuPont

On November 1, 2021, we entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by DuPont in an all-cash transaction. Our shareholders approved the merger agreement at a special shareholder meeting held on January 25, 2022. Consummation of the merger was subject to various customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval by the SAMR, and either party had the right to terminate the merger agreement if the merger had not closed on or before November 1, 2022. As of November 1, 2022, the parties had not received regulatory approval from SAMR and on that date, DuPont issued a notice of termination of the merger agreement. Pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, we received a regulatory termination fee in the amount of $162.5 million, before taxes, and incurred a transaction-related fee of $20.4 million.

Sales and Competition

We sell our materials and components primarily through direct sales channels positioned near major concentrations of our customers in North America, Europe and Asia. We sold to approximately 3,200 customers worldwide in 2023, consisting primarily of OEMs and component suppliers. No individual customer represented more than 10% of our total net sales for 2023; however, there are concentrations of OEM customers in our AES operating segment (semiconductor and automotive manufacturers). Although the loss of any one of our larger customers would require a period of adjustment, during which the results of operations could be materially adversely impacted, we believe that such events could be successfully mitigated over a period of time due to the diversity of our customer base.

We employ a technical sales and marketing approach pursuant to which we work collaboratively to provide design engineering, testing, product development and other technical support services to OEMs that incorporate our engineered materials and components in their products. Component suppliers convert, modify or otherwise incorporate our engineered materials and components into their components for these OEMs in accordance with their specifications. Accordingly, we provide similar technical support services to component suppliers.

We compete primarily with manufacturers of high-end materials, some of which are large, multi-national companies, principally on the basis of innovation, historical customer relationships, product quality, reliability, performance and price, technical and engineering service and support, breadth of product line, and manufacturing capabilities. We also compete with manufacturers of commodity materials, including smaller regional producers with lower overhead costs and profit requirements located in Asia that attempt to upsell their products based principally upon price, particularly for products that have matured in their life cycle. We believe that we have a competitive advantage because of our reputation for innovation, the performance, reliability and quality of our materials and components, and our commitment to technical support and customer service.

Our sales are generally pursuant to short-term purchase orders. These purchase orders are made without deposits and may be rescheduled, canceled or modified on relatively short notice, without substantial penalty. Therefore, even though we may have a large backlog from time to time, we believe the purchase orders or backlog are not necessarily a reliable indicator of future sales.

Research and Development

We have a history of innovation, and innovation leadership is a key component of our overall business strategy. The markets we serve are typically characterized by rapid technological changes and advances. Accordingly, the success of our strategy is in part dependent on our ability to develop market-leading products, which is primarily driven by efforts in R&D. We are focused on identifying technologies and innovations related to both our current product portfolio as well as initiatives targeted at further diversifying and growing our business. As part of this technology commitment, we have a Rogers Innovation Center co-located at Northeastern University in Burlington, Massachusetts, as well as Rogers Innovation Centers at our facilities in Chandler, Arizona; Eschenbach, Germany; and Suzhou, China. Our Innovation Centers focus on early stages of technical and commercial development of new high-tech materials solutions in an effort to align with market direction and needs.

Patents and Other Intellectual Property

We have many domestic and foreign patents, licenses and additional patent applications pending related to technology in each of our operating segments. These patents and licenses vary in duration and provide some protection from competition. We also own a number of registered and unregistered trademarks and have acquired and developed certain confidential and proprietary technologies, including trade secrets that we believe to be of some importance to our business.

While we believe our patents and other intellectual property provide a competitive advantage to our operating segments, we believe that a significant part of our competitive position and future success will be determined by factors such as the innovative skills, systems and process knowledge, and technological expertise of our personnel; the range of new products we develop; and our customer service and support.

Manufacturing and Raw Materials

The key raw materials used in our business are as follows: for our AES operating segment, copper, including copper foil, polymer, polytetrafluoroethylene, fiberglass materials, ceramic and brazing paste materials, including silver, and various fillers and flame retardants; and for our EMS operating segment, polyol, isocyanates, polytetrafluoroethylene, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene materials and silicone materials.

Some of the raw materials used in our business are available through sole or limited-source suppliers. While we have undertaken strategies to mitigate the risks associated with sole or limited source suppliers, these strategies may not be effective in all cases, and price increases or disruptions in our supply of raw materials could have a material adverse impact on our business. For additional information, refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”

Seasonality

Except for some minor seasonality for consumer products, which often aligns with year-end holidays and product launch cycles, the operations of our segments have not been seasonal.

Human Capital Management

The Company’s continuing success derives from our talented and dedicated employees globally, who are responsible for the innovation, operations and ethics foundational to our business and its future.

As of December 31, 2023, we employed approximately 3,300 people, of whom approximately 1,200 were employed in North America, 1,100 in the EMEA region and 1,000 in APAC region. Approximately 300 of our domestic employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements or by specific labor agreements and approximately 600 of our European employees are covered by work council arrangements.

Our approach to human capital management is based on our culture of respect, which is built on the ethical foundation of our Code of Business Ethics and our commitment to making choices that are based on what is ethically sound and not just what is easy or expedient. Additionally, we connect our day-to-day work with our organizational objectives through our Cultural Behaviors: Live Safely, Trust, Just Decide, Speak Openly, Simply Improve, Innovate and Deliver Results. Management’s principal objectives, with oversight from our Board of Directors, are Health and Safety, Employee Experience and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Health and Safety

Promoting the health and safety of our employees is one of our most important objectives. We strive to minimize lost workdays and recordable incidents. To promote awareness and accountability, our vision is clear: Everyone, Everywhere goes home safely Every Day. Our commitment is to put safety first and we ask for everyone’s commitment to never compromise their safety or the safety of others.

Employment Experience

We take a comprehensive approach to the employment experience, striving to use a fair and inclusive recruiting process to select talented individuals. Once we hire, we endeavor to provide our employees a safe and ethical work environment that includes fair compensation, opportunities for career development and employee engagement. We are proud to invest in our employees’ futures through a variety of technical and other training opportunities internally, as well as education reimbursement programs globally.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We continue to advance efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion within the Company, focusing on attracting and maintaining diverse talent within the organization and promoting awareness and acceptance globally. We believe that our diversity, equity and inclusion will make our Company a more desirable workplace and will lead to improved business performance.

Information About Our Executive Officers

Our executive officers as of February 26, 2024 were as follows:

Available Information

We make available on our website (http://www.rogerscorp.com), or through a link posted on our website, free of charge, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, reports filed by our executive officers and directors pursuant to Section 16 of the Exchange Act, and amendments to those reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. In addition, the SEC maintains an internet site that contains these reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC (http://www.sec.gov).

We also make available on our website the charters for our Audit Committee, Compensation and Organization Committee, and Nominating and Governance Committee, in addition to our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Bylaws, Code of Business Ethics, and Compensation Recovery Policy. Our website is not incorporated into or a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our business, results of operations and financial position are subject to various risks, including those discussed below, which may affect the value of our capital stock. The following risk factors, which we believe represent the most significant factors that may make an investment in our capital stock risky, may cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. You should carefully consider these factors, as well as the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the information set forth in “Item 1. Business - Forward-Looking Statements” and “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Results of Operations and Financial Position,” when evaluating an investment in our capital stock.

Risks Relating to Our Business, Strategy and Operations

Failure to capitalize on, volatility within, or other adverse changes with respect to the Company’s growth drivers, including significant growth markets and high growth markets, may adversely affect our business.

We derived approximately 22% and 31% of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023 from sales relating to the significant growth markets (e.g., EV/HEV) and high growth markets (e.g., ADAS, portable electronics, renewable energy and aerospace and defense), respectively. These growth drivers, as well as specific market and industry trends within them, may be volatile, cyclical and sensitive to a variety of factors, including general economic conditions (including higher inflation and interest rates), demand disruptions (including third-party component availability at our customers), technology disruptions, consumer preferences and political priorities. Adverse or cyclical changes to and within these growth drivers, such as delays in adoption or implementation of new technologies, has resulted in, and may continue to result in, reduced demand for certain of our products, production overcapacity, increased inventory levels and related risks of obsolescence, as well as price erosion, ultimately leading to a decline in our operating results. Acceleration within these growth drivers and corresponding rapid increases in demand for certain products may also require us to make significant capital investments or acquisitions in facilities and information systems and significantly increase our personnel in order to increase production levels and to maintain customer relationships and market positions. However, we may not be able to increase our production levels with sufficient speed or efficiency to capitalize on such increases in demand.

We face intense global competition, which could reduce demand for our products or create additional pricing pressure on our products.

We operate in a highly competitive global environment and compete with domestic and international companies principally on the basis of the following:

• innovation;
• historical customer relationships;
• product quality, reliability, performance and price;
• technical and engineering service and support;
• breadth of product line; and
• manufacturing capabilities.

Our competitors include commodity materials suppliers, which offer product substitutions based mostly on price, and suppliers of alternate solutions, which offer product substitutions or eliminations based mostly on disruptive technology. Certain of these competitors have greater financial and other resources than we have and, in some cases, these competitors are well established in specific product niches. We expect that our competitors will continue to improve the design and performance of their products, which could result in the development of products that offer price or performance features superior to our products. Furthermore, our customers may engage in internal manufacturing of products that may result in reduced demand for our products. If we are unable to maintain our competitive advantage for any reason, demand for our products may be materially reduced, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial position.

Moreover, as OEMs, particularly in the electronics and automotive markets, seek cost reductions from their supply chains, our customers may make greater demands on us with regard to pricing and other contractual terms. This may adversely affect our gross margins on certain products or exacerbate competition that we face which could ultimately result in lower potential sales.

Our business is dependent upon our development of innovative products and our customers’ incorporation of those products into end user products and systems that achieve commercial success.

As a manufacturer and supplier of engineered materials and components, our business depends upon our ability to innovate and sell our materials and components for inclusion in other products that are developed, manufactured and sold by our customers. We strive to differentiate our products and secure long-term demand through our engagement with our customers to design in our materials and components as part of their product development processes. The value of any design-in largely depends upon the decision of our customers to manufacture their products or systems in sufficient production quantities, the commercial success of the end product and the extent to which the design of our customers’ products or systems could accommodate substitution of competitor products. A consistent failure to introduce new products in a timely manner, achieve design wins or achieve market acceptance on commercially reasonable terms could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial position. The introduction of new products presents particularly significant business challenges in our business because product development commitments and expenditures must be made well in advance of product sales.

Macroeconomic conditions could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Macroeconomic conditions, such as high inflationary pressure, changes to monetary policy, high interest rates, volatile currency exchange rates, credit and sovereign debt concerns, decreasing consumer confidence and spending, including capital spending, concerns about the stability and liquidity of certain financial institutions, the introduction of or changes in tariffs or trade barriers, and global or local recessions can adversely impact demand for our products, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, or results of operations. Recent macroeconomic conditions have been adversely impacted by geopolitical instability and military hostilities in multiple geographies (including the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the conflict between Israel and Hamas), and monetary and financial uncertainties.

The results of these macroeconomic conditions, and the actions taken by governments, central banks, companies, and consumers in response, have resulted in, and may continue to result in, higher inflation in the U.S. and globally, which is likely, in turn, to lead to an increase in costs and may cause changes in fiscal and monetary policy, including additional increases in interest rates. Other adverse impacts of recent macroeconomic conditions have been, and may continue to be, supply chain constraints, logistics challenges, liquidity concerns in the broader financial services industry, and fluctuations in labor availability.

Our dependence on sole or limited source suppliers for certain of our raw materials could materially adversely affect our ability to manufacture products and materially increase our costs.

We rely on sole and limited source suppliers for certain of the raw materials that are critical to the manufacturing of our products. This reliance subjects us to risks related to our potential inability to obtain an adequate supply of required raw materials, particularly given our use of lean manufacturing and just-in-time inventory techniques, and reduces our control over pricing and timing of delivery of raw materials. Our operating results could be materially adversely affected if we were unable to obtain adequate supplies of these materials in a timely manner or if their cost increased significantly.

While we believe we could obtain and qualify alternative sources for most sole and limited source supplier materials if necessary, the transition time could be long, particularly if the change requires us to redesign our systems. Ultimately, we may be unable to redesign our systems, which could further increase delays or prevent us from manufacturing our products at all. Even if a system redesign is feasible, increased costs associated with such a redesign would decrease our profit margins, perhaps materially, if we could not effectively pass such costs along to our customers. Further, it would likely result in production and delivery delays, which could lead to lost sales and damage to our relationships with current and potential customers.

We have engaged in transactions in the past and may in the future acquire or dispose of businesses, or engage in other transactions, which expose us to a variety of risks that could materially adversely affect our business operating results and financial position.

From time to time, we have explored and pursued transaction opportunities that we believe complement our core businesses, and we expect to do so again in the future. We have also divested and may again consider divesting businesses or assets that we do not regard as part of our core businesses. These transaction opportunities may come in the form of acquisitions, joint ventures, investments, divestitures or other structures. There are risks associated with such transactions, including, without limitation, general business risk, technology risk, market acceptance risk, litigation risk, environmental risk, regulatory approval risk and risks associated with the failure to complete announced transactions. In the case of acquisitions, we may not be able to discover, during the due diligence process or otherwise, all known and unknown risks associated with the business we are acquiring, including the existence of liabilities. We may spend a significant portion of available cash, incur substantial debt or issue equity securities, which would dilute current shareholders’ equity ownership, to pay for the acquisitions. In addition, if we are unsuccessful in integrating any acquired company or business into our operations or if integration is more difficult than anticipated, we may experience disruptions that could harm our business and result in our failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions. In the case of divestitures, we may agree to indemnify acquiring parties for known or unknown liabilities arising from the businesses we are divesting. We have incurred, and may in the future incur, significant costs in the pursuit and evaluation of transactions that we do not consummate for a variety of reasons.

As a result, these transactions may not ultimately create value for us or our shareholders and may harm our reputation and materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial position.

Our business strategy includes plans for organic growth, and our results of operations and financial position could be adversely affected if we fail to grow or fail to manage our growth effectively.

As part of our general growth strategy, we expect to continue to pursue organic growth (including the significant capital expenditures associated therewith), while also continuing to evaluate potential acquisitions and expansion opportunities that we believe provide a strategic or geographic fit with our business. Although we have experienced significant growth in our assets and revenues in the past, we may not be able to sustain our historical growth rate or be able to grow at all. Our growth strategy may divert management from our existing business and may require us to incur additional expenditures to expand our administrative and operational infrastructure and, if we are unable to effectively manage our growth, including to the satisfaction of our regulators, we could be materially and adversely affected. Consequently, continued organic growth, if achieved, may place a strain on our administrative and operational infrastructure, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on highly specialized technical personnel and management, and the failure to attract and retain these individuals could impair our expected growth and future success.

We depend upon the continued services and performance of key executives, senior management and skilled technical personnel, particularly our sales engineers and other professionals with significant experience in the key industries we serve. Our ability to compete effectively and our future success depend on our continuing to identify, hire, develop, motivate, and retain highly skilled personnel for all areas of our organization. Competition for these personnel from other companies, academic institutions and government entities is intense. In addition, our compensation arrangements, such as our equity award programs, may not always be successful in attracting new employees and retaining and motivating our existing employees. Outside the U.S., it is increasingly important that we are also able to attract and retain personnel with relevant local qualifications and experience. We may not be able to continue to attract and retain the qualified personnel necessary to continue to advance our business and achieve our strategic objectives.

In addition, we have recently appointed several new senior executives, including our new Senior Vice President and General Manager of AES; Senior Vice President and General Manager of EMS; Senior Vice President, Global Operations and Supply Chain; Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary; Vice President and Chief Technology Officer; and Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. Our continued performance will depend in part on the success of our new leadership.

If we suffer loss or disruption to our facilities, supply chains, distribution systems or information technology systems due to catastrophe or other events, our business could be seriously harmed.

Our facilities, supply chains, distribution systems and information technology systems are subject to catastrophic loss or disruption due to fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, public health crisis, war, terrorism or other natural or man-made disasters or events. If any of these facilities, supply chains or systems were to experience a catastrophic loss or disruption, it could disrupt our operations, delay production and shipments, result in defective products or services, damage customer relationships and our reputation and result in legal exposure and large repair or replacement expenses. Additionally, there was a fire at our UTIS manufacturing facility in Ansan, South Korea in early February 2021, which resulted in extensive damage to the manufacturing site. Commercial operations resumed in late 2021, with the launch of a replacement production line at one of our Suzhou, China facilities, and commercial production at our new location in Siheung, South Korea commenced in late-January 2023. Disruptions to our South Korean operations and certain customer relationships in South Korea directly resulting from the closure of the UTIS facility continued to be experienced through 2023. The extent to which these events will continue to affect our results of operations and financial position remains uncertain. The third-party insurance coverage that we maintain will vary from time to time in both type and amount depending on cost, availability and our decisions regarding risk retention, and may be unavailable or insufficient to protect us against losses or disruptions.

We have extensive international operations, and events and circumstances that have general international consequence or specific impact in the countries in which we operate may materially adversely affect our business.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, approximately 74% of our net sales resulted from sales in foreign markets, with approximately 40% and 31% of such net sales occurring in Asia and Europe, respectively. We expect our net sales in foreign markets to continue to represent a substantial majority of our consolidated net sales. We maintain significant manufacturing and administrative operations in China, Germany, Belgium, England, South Korea and Hungary, and approximately 64% of our employees were located outside the U.S. as of December 31, 2023. Risks related to our extensive international operations include the following:

• foreign currency fluctuations, particularly in the value of the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the South Korean won, the British pound, the Japanese yen and the Hungarian forint against the U.S. dollar;
• economic and political instability due to regional or country-specific events or changes in relations between the U.S. and the countries in which we operate;
• accounts receivable practices across countries, including longer payment cycles;
• export control or customs matters, including tariffs and trade restrictions;
• changes in multilateral and bilateral trade relations;
• complications in complying, and failure to comply, with a variety of laws and regulations applicable to our foreign operations, including due to unexpected changes in the laws or regulations of the countries in which we operate;
• failure to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or other applicable anti-corruption laws;
• greater difficulty protecting our intellectual property; and
• compliance with foreign employment regulations, as well as work stoppages and labor and union disputes.

The foregoing risks may be particularly acute in emerging markets such as China, where our operations are subject to greater uncertainty due to increased volatility associated with the developing nature of the economic, legal and governmental systems of these countries, changes in bilateral and multilateral arrangements with the U.S. and other governments, and challenges that some multinational customers that are headquartered in emerging markets may have complying fully with U.S. and other developed market extraterritorial regulations. In addition, our business has been, and may continue to be, adversely affected by the lack of development, or disruptions, of transportation or other critical infrastructure, including wireless infrastructure, in emerging markets. If we are unable to successfully manage the risks associated with expanding our global business, or to adequately manage operational fluctuations, it may materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial position.

Deteriorating trade relations between the U.S. and China, other trade conflicts and barriers, economic sanctions, and Chinese policies to decrease dependence on foreign suppliers could limit or prevent certain existing or potential customers from doing business with us and materially adversely affect our business.

The increased trade conflicts between the U.S. and its major trading partners, evidenced by trade restrictions such as tariffs, taxes, export controls, economic sanctions, and enhanced policies designed to protect national security, could adversely impact our business. In particular, we have experienced in the past and expect that we may in the future experience impacts on our business due to the increase in trade conflicts between the U.S. and China. Export controls, as well as retaliatory controls and tariffs that China has imposed and which remain in place to a certain extent under the Phase 1 agreement reached between the U.S. and China on January 15, 2020, could continue to restrict our ability to do business with Chinese customers. Further U.S. government actions to protect domestic economic and security interests could lead to further restrictions. China continues to be a fast-developing market and an area of potential growth for us. Sales to customers located in China and the Asia Pacific region have typically accounted for nearly half of our total sales and a substantial majority of our overall sales to customers located outside the U.S. In addition, certain of the end products created in China that incorporate our products are ultimately sold outside of the Asia Pacific region. We expect that revenue from these sales generally, and sales to China and the Asia Pacific region specifically, will continue to be a material component of our total revenue. Therefore, any financial crisis, trade war or dispute or other major event causing business disruption in international jurisdictions generally, and China and the Asia Pacific region in particular, could negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial position.

China’s stated policy of reducing its dependence on foreign manufacturers and technology companies has resulted and may continue to result in reduced demand for our products in China. These trends may lead to increased decoupling of the supply chains for U.S. and Chinese economies, thereby leading to reduced market opportunities and disrupted supply chains for U.S. companies with sales and operations in China. Increased geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China would likely accelerate these trends. Both countries could pursue policies to reduce their dependence on foreign goods. Such policies could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial position. In addition, as a consequence of such policies, there are risks that the Chinese government may, among other things, require the use of local suppliers, compel companies that do business in China to partner with local companies to conduct business, or provide incentives to government-backed local customers to buy from local suppliers rather than companies like ours, all of which could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial position.

A significant disruption in, or breach in security of, our information technology systems or violations of data protection laws could materially adversely affect our business and reputation.

In the ordinary course of business, we collect and store confidential information, including proprietary business information belonging to us, our customers, suppliers, business partners and other third parties and personally identifiable information of our employees. We rely on information technology systems to protect this information and to keep financial records, process orders, manage inventory, coordinate shipments to customers, and operate other critical functions. Our information technology systems are susceptible to damage, disruptions or shutdowns due to power outages, hardware failures, telecommunication failures, systems upgrades (including the planned implementation of a new enterprise resource planning system) and user errors. If we experience a disruption in our information technology systems, it could result in the loss of sales and customers and significant incremental costs, which could materially adversely affect our business.

We are also subject to security breaches caused by computer viruses, illegal break-ins or hacking, sabotage, or acts of vandalism by disgruntled employees or third parties. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyberattack or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, has increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased, in part because of evolving technologies, the ubiquitous use of the Internet and telecommunications technologies (including mobile devices) to conduct business transactions. Our information technology network and systems have been and, we believe, continue to be under constant attack. Accordingly, despite our security measures or those of our third-party service providers, we have experienced and may in the future experience security breaches, including breaches that we may not be able to detect. Security breaches of our information technology systems, including through mobile devices, could result in the misappropriation or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information belonging to us or to our customers, suppliers, business partners, employees or other third parties, which could result in our suffering significant financial and reputational damage. If we are unable to protect sensitive information, our customers or governmental authorities could question the adequacy of our security processes and procedures and our compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including evolving government cyber security requirements for government contractors.

In addition, the processing and storage of certain information is increasingly subject to privacy and data security regulations, and many such regulations are country-specific. The interpretation and application of data protection laws in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, are uncertain, evolving and may be inconsistent among jurisdictions. Compliance with these various laws may be onerous and require us to incur substantial costs or to change our business practices in a manner that adversely affects our business, while failure to comply with such laws may subject us to substantial penalties.

Employee benefit cost increases could reduce our profitability.

Our profitability is affected by employee benefit costs, particularly medical and other employee benefits. In recent years, employee medical costs have increased due to factors such as the increase in health care costs in the U.S. These factors will continue to put pressure on our business and financial performance, as employee benefit costs continue to escalate. We may not succeed in limiting future cost increases. Continued employee benefit cost increases could have an adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows and financial position.

Changes in accounting guidance may cause us to experience greater volatility in our financial results. If we are unsuccessful in adapting to and interpreting the requirements of new guidance, or in clearly explaining to shareholders how the new guidance affects reporting of our results of operations, our share price may decline.

We prepare our consolidated financial statements to conform to U.S. GAAP. These accounting principles are subject to interpretation by the SEC, FASB, and various bodies formed to interpret and create accounting rules and regulations. Accounting standards, or the guidance relating to interpretation and adoption of standards, could have a significant effect on our financial results and could affect our business. Additionally, the FASB and the SEC are focused on the integrity of financial reporting, and our accounting policies are subject to scrutiny by regulators and the public.

We cannot predict the impact of future changes to accounting principles or our related accounting policies on our financial statements going forward. In addition, were we to change our accounting estimates, including those related to the timing of revenue recognition and those used to allocate revenue between various performance obligations, our reported revenue and results of operations could be significantly impacted. If we are unsuccessful in adapting to the requirements of any new standard, then we may experience greater volatility in our quarterly and annual results, which may cause our stock price to decline.

We may experience difficulties in implementing our new enterprise resource planning system.

We are in the midst of a multi-year design and implementation of a new enterprise resource planning system (ERP), which will replace our existing financial and operating systems. The implementation of this ERP requires an investment of significant personnel and financial resources, including substantial expenditures for outside consultants, system hardware and software in addition to other expenses in connection with the transformation of our organizational structure and financial and operating processes. As we work to complete the implementation phase of this ERP, and even after the implementation phase, we may experience additional delays, increased costs and other difficulties, including potential design defects, miscalculations, testing requirements, re-work due to changes in business plans or reporting standards, and the diversion of management’s attention from day-to-day business operations. Additional extended delays could also introduce operational risk, including cybersecurity risks, and other complications. If we are unable to implement this ERP as planned, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting could be adversely affected, our ability to assess those controls adequately could be delayed, and our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be negatively impacted.

Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Risks

We are subject to many environmental laws and regulations as well as potential environmental liabilities that could adversely affect our business.

We are subject to a variety of federal, state, local and foreign laws, rules and regulations related to the use, storage, handling, discharge or disposal of certain toxic, volatile or otherwise hazardous chemicals, gases and other substances used in manufacturing our products. Some of these laws in the U.S. include the Federal Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, and similar state statutes and regulations. In the EU, we are subject to the EU regulations (and their related national implementing legislation) including the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals, the Regulation on the Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures and the Industrial Emissions Directive.

Compliance with these laws and regulations could require us to incur substantial expenses, including in connection with the acquisition of new equipment. Any failure to comply with present or future environmental laws, rules and regulations could result in criminal and civil liabilities, fines, suspension of production or cessation of certain operations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial position.

By way of example, but not limitation, governmental authorities in the U.S. and in other jurisdictions are increasingly focused on potential contamination resulting from the use of so-called “forever chemicals,” most notable at present are per- and polyfluoroalkyl, substances (PFAS). Products containing PFAS have been used in manufacturing, industrial, and consumer applications over many decades, including in some of our engineered materials and components, and are virtually ubiquitous in parts of the environment. Until recently, these substances were largely unregulated. Nevertheless, over the last few years, PFAS regulation has been evolving rapidly. In 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a new rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act, requiring manufacturers and importers of PFAS to submit additional reporting information about production volumes, industrial uses, byproducts, worker exposure, and disposal. In 2023, certain EU member states submitted a proposal to the European Chemicals Agency calling for the phase out of the manufacture, import, sale, and use of PFAS substances beginning in late 2025. While PFAS regulation continues to advance at the federal level and in many states, the full scope of such regulation is still being developed. In some cases, PFAS compounds are regulated at, or even below, the ability of current technology to detect their presence, making remediation difficult and complex. We may therefore incur costs in connection with any obligations to transition away from the usage of PFAS-containing products, to dispose of PFAS-containing waste or to remediate any PFAS contamination, which could have a negative effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

New and evolving laws, regulations and rule makings globally are expected to impose different and more restrictive standards and require greater disclosures. They could also require capital investments, incremental personnel resources, could adversely impact our ongoing operations, and could require changes on a more accelerated time frame. Our suppliers are expected to face similar challenges and incur additional compliance costs that may be passed on to us. These direct and indirect costs may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition, and, if we are unable to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements or meet our sustainability objectives, our reputation and ability to do business could be negatively impacted. In addition, our customers’ requirements, priorities and ways of doing business with respect to environmental matters, and climate change specifically, also may have an impact on our business, operations and financial success. For example, in 2022, the SEC issued proposed rule-makings on climate change. The proposed rules, depending on how they are finally adopted, as well as other changes the government might implement, could impose significant new burdens on the company and our suppliers, with significant potential costs and operational impacts, and adversely impact our ability to win business and operate successfully.

Environmental matters may significantly impact our business and operations and present evolving risks and challenges. Environmental impacts, including climate change specifically, create short and long-term financial risks to our business globally. Increased worldwide focus on climate change has led to legislative and regulatory efforts to combat both potential causes and adverse impacts of climate change, including regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. New or more stringent laws and regulations related to greenhouse gas emissions and other climate change related concerns have affected and will likely continue to affect us, our suppliers and our customers. There can be no assurance the company will meet the evolving sustainability expectations and standards of our investors and other external stakeholders.

In addition, some environmental laws impose liability, sometimes without fault, for investigating and/or cleaning up contamination on, or emanating from, properties currently or formerly owned, leased or operated by us, as well as for damages to property or natural resources and for personal injury arising out of such contamination. Such liability may be joint and several, meaning that we could be held responsible for more than our share of the liability involved, or even the entire liability. For additional information regarding our material legal proceedings, refer to “Note 10 – Commitments and Contingencies” to “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

Our business may be materially adversely affected if we cannot protect our proprietary technology or if we infringe the proprietary rights of others.

Our proprietary technology supports our ability to compete effectively with other companies, and we seek to protect our intellectual property rights by obtaining domestic and foreign patents, trademarks and copyrights, and maintaining trade secrets. It is possible, however, that our efforts to obtain such protection in the U.S. and abroad will be unsuccessful or that the protection afforded will not be sufficiently broad to protect our technology.

Even if domestic and foreign laws do grant initial protection to our technology, our competitors or other third parties may subsequently obtain and unlawfully copy, use or disclose our technologies, products, and processes. We believe that the risk of piracy of our technology is particularly acute in the foreign countries in which we operate. In circumstances in which we conclude that our proprietary technology has been infringed, we have pursued, and may again pursue, litigation to enforce our rights. The defense and prosecution of intellectual property infringement suits are both costly and time consuming, even if the outcome is favorable to us. If we are not successful in protecting our proprietary technology or if the protection afforded to us is not sufficiently broad, our competitors may be able to manufacture and offer products substantially similar to our own, thereby reducing demand for our products and adversely affecting our results of operations and financial position. We may also be adversely affected by, and subject to increased competition as a result of, the normal expiration of our issued patents.

Our competitors or other third parties may also assert infringement or invalidity claims against us in the future. In addition to the significant costs associated with such suits, as noted above, an adverse outcome could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties and require us to license rights from third parties or cease selling our products. Any of these events may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial position.

As a multinational corporation doing business in the U.S. and various foreign jurisdictions, changes in tax laws or exposures to additional tax liability could negatively impact our operating results.

As a result of the variability and uncertainty in global taxation, we are subject to a wide variety of tax-related risks, any of which could provoke changes in our global structure, international operations or intercompany agreements, which could materially reduce our net income in future periods or result in restructuring costs, increased effective tax rates and other expenses. Given the global nature of our business, a number of factors may increase our effective tax rates or otherwise subject us to additional tax liability, including:

• decisions to redeploy foreign earnings outside of their country of origin for which we have not previously provided for income taxes;
• increased scrutiny of our transactions by taxing authorities;
• changes in the geographic mix of our profits among jurisdictions with differing statutory income tax rates;
• ability to utilize, or changes in the valuation of, deferred tax assets; and
• changes in tax laws, regulations and interpretations thereof or issuance of new interpretations of laws or regulations applicable to us.

For instance, many foreign jurisdictions are actively considering, and some have enacted, changes to existing tax laws as a result of the base erosion and profit shifting project undertaken by the OECD. As these changes are enacted, our tax obligations could increase in countries where we do business or sell our products.

The terms of our credit agreement subject us to risks, including potential acceleration of our outstanding indebtedness if we fail to satisfy financial ratios and comply with numerous covenants.

Our credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase contains, and any future debt agreements into which we enter may contain, certain financial ratios and certain restrictive covenants that, among other things, limit our ability to incur indebtedness or liens, acquire other businesses, dispose of assets, or make investments. Our ability to make scheduled payments on these borrowings and to satisfy financial ratios may be adversely affected by changes in economic or business conditions beyond our control, while the restrictive covenants to which we are subject may limit our ability to take advantage of potential business opportunities as they arise. Failure to satisfy these financial ratios or to comply with the covenants in our credit agreement would constitute a default. An uncured default with respect to one or more of our covenants could result in outstanding borrowings thereunder being declared immediately due and payable, which may also trigger an obligation to repay other outstanding indebtedness. Any such acceleration of our indebtedness would have a material adverse effect on our cash flows, financial position and results of operations.

We may be adversely affected by litigation stemming from product liability and other claims.

Our products may contain defects that we do not detect before sale, which may lead to warranty or damage claims against us or product recalls. We are involved in various unresolved legal matters that arise in the ordinary course of our operations or otherwise, including asbestos-related product liability claims related to our operations before the 1990s. For additional information, refer to “Item 3. Legal Proceedings” and “Note 10 – Commitments and Contingencies” to “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.” We maintain insurance coverage with respect to certain claims, but the policy coverage limits may not be adequate or cover a particular loss. Costs associated with, among other things, the defense of, or settlements or judgments relating to, claims against us that are not covered by insurance or that result in settlements in excess of insurance coverage may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial position. Irrespective of insurance coverage, claims against us could divert the attention of our senior management and/or result in reputational damage, thereby adversely affecting our business.

Our projections on the potential exposure and expected insurance coverage relating to our asbestos-related product liability claims are based on a number of assumptions, including the number of new claims to be filed each year, the average cost of disposing of such claims, the length of time it takes to dispose of such claims, coverage issues among insurers and the continuing solvency of various insurance companies, as well as the numerous uncertainties surrounding asbestos litigation in the U.S. The full extent of our financial exposure to asbestos-related litigation remains very difficult to estimate and could include both compensatory and punitive damage awards. To the extent such assumptions are inaccurate, the net liabilities that we have recorded in our financial statements may fail to approximate the losses we could suffer in connection with such claims.

We may incur substantial costs to comply with climate change legislation and related regulatory initiatives.

There has been a broad range of proposed or promulgated international, national and state laws and/or regulations focusing on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction and global climate change. These proposed or promulgated laws and/or regulations apply or could apply in countries where we have interests or may have interests in the future. Laws and regulations in this field continue to evolve and, while they are likely to be increasingly widespread and stringent, at this stage it is not possible to accurately estimate either a timetable for implementation or our future compliance costs relating to implementation. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to undertake ambitious efforts to reduce GHG emissions and strengthen adaptation to the effects of climate change.

Jurisdictions in which we operate, including, in particular, the EU, are preparing national legislation and protection plans to implement their emission reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement. In June 2021, the European Climate Law set legally binding targets of net zero GHG emissions by 2050, and a 55% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030. In December 2022, the EU announced forthcoming regulations to support the 2030 climate target, including a revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), and the introduction of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Our operations in Europe participate in the ETS and we meet our obligations through a combination of free and purchased emission allowances. We anticipate the forthcoming regulations will result in an accelerated reduction of our free allowances and higher market prices for purchased allowances. These and other future regulations could result in increased costs, additional capital expenditures, and/or restrictions on operations.

In the U.S., addressing climate change is a stated priority of the current presidential administration, and in February 2021, the U.S. recommitted to the Paris Agreement after having withdrawn in August 2017. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in addition to several state governments, promulgated regulations directed at GHG emissions reductions from certain types of facilities. Additional regulations could be forthcoming at the U.S. federal or state level that could result in increased operating costs for compliance, required acquisition or trading of emission allowances, or compliance costs associated with additional regulatory frameworks for a range of potential carbon reduction projects, including carbon capture, use, and sequestration projects. Additionally, demand for the products we produce may be reduced.

Failure to meet environmental, social and governance (ESG) expectations or standards or achieve our ESG goals could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, or stock price.

There has been an increased focus from regulators and stakeholders on ESG matters. Given our commitment to ESG, we actively manage these issues and have established and publicly announced certain goals, commitments, and targets which we may refine or even expand further in the future. These goals, commitments, and targets reflect our current plans and aspirations and are based on available data and estimates. However, these are not guaranteed outcomes and are subject to numerous factors, both within and outside of our control.

Initiatives to address such ESG issues may be costly and may not have the desired effect. Evolving stakeholder expectations and our efforts and ability to manage these issues and accomplish our goals, commitments, and targets present numerous operational, regulatory, reputational, financial, legal, and other risks, any of which may be outside of our control or could have adverse impacts on our business, including on our stock price. Our failure or perceived failure to achieve some or all of our ESG goals or maintain ESG practices that meet evolving stakeholder expectations or regulatory requirements could harm our reputation, adversely impact our ability to attract and retain employees or customers and expose us to increased scrutiny from the investment community, regulatory authorities and others or subject us to liability. Further, there is uncertainty around the accounting standards and climate-related disclosures associated with emerging laws and reporting requirements and the related costs to comply with the emerging regulations.

Our failure, or even the perceived failure, to achieve our ESG goals or maintain ESG practices that meet evolving stakeholder expectations or regulatory requirements could harm our reputation. This could adversely impact our ability to attract and retain customers and talent, and expose us to increased scrutiny from the investment community and enforcement authorities. Furthermore, perceptions about our action or inaction on certain ESG-related issues could also harm our reputation, particularly if stakeholders disagree with our goals and initiatives. Damage to our reputation and loss of brand equity may reduce demand for our products and services, adversely affecting our future financial performance and stock price, as well as require additional resources to rebuild our reputation.

Our business could be negatively affected as a result of actions of activist shareholders, and such activism could impact the trading value of our securities.

In recent years, shareholder activists have become involved in numerous public companies. While we strive to maintain constructive communications with our shareholders, activist shareholders have engaged and may, from time to time, engage in proxy solicitations or shareholder proposals, or otherwise attempt to effect changes and assert influence on our board of directors and management. For example, as previously reported, in February 2023, after an activist shareholder provided notice of its intention to conduct a proxy contest to seek to elect several director candidates to our board of directors, we entered into a settlement agreement with the shareholder and certain of its affiliates regarding, among other things, changes to the composition of our board of directors, including the appointment of two new independent directors.

Responding to actions by activist shareholders can be costly and time-consuming, disrupting our operations and diverting the attention of management and our employees. Such activities could interfere with our ability to execute our strategic plan. In addition, a proxy contest for the election of directors at our annual meeting of shareholders would require us to incur significant legal fees and proxy solicitation expenses and require significant time and attention by management and our board of directors. The perceived uncertainties as to our future direction also could affect the market price and volatility of our securities.

Safeguarding our information technology systems, intellectual property, and the confidential information and personal data that customers, suppliers, business partners, employees and others share with us is a critical concern for our business. As such, we have processes in place to assess, identify, and manage material cybersecurity threats and incidents. Key to these efforts is our cybersecurity risk management program (the “Cybersecurity Program”). We aim to incorporate industry best practices throughout our Cybersecurity Program. It is founded on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover) and includes elements of ISO 27001 standards, NIST SP 800-171 guidance, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and other applicable industry standards for protecting controlled unclassified information. The Cybersecurity Program also incorporates preventative, detective and corrective controls to identify relevant cyber risks. The controls are tested and evaluated on a regular basis and include the following controls: network and endpoint protection technologies that are designed to block and detect security events at the perimeter and within our networks; evaluation and monitoring of detected security events; and documented incident response actions and procedures. In addition to internal assessments, third party security firms perform annual risk reviews to evaluate and assess the Cybersecurity Program.

We regularly remind employees of the importance of handling and protecting customer and employee data, including through periodic security training to enhance employee awareness of how to detect and respond to cybersecurity incidents. We also conduct tabletop exercises to simulate response plans to various cybersecurity incidents. Our team of cybersecurity professionals then collaborate with relevant stakeholders within the Company to evaluate and adjust our detection and mitigation strategies.

We impose security requirements upon our suppliers, including maintaining an effective security management program, abiding by information handling and asset management requirements; and notifying us in the event of any known or suspected cyber incident.

Our Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for leading the Cybersecurity Program, which is coordinated and primarily executed by our Senior Manager of Information Security. Our CIO has more than 25+ years of information technology and cybersecurity experience, and has served in this role since 2021.

Our Board of Directors, primarily through the Audit Committee, oversees our enterprise risk management program, including cybersecurity risks. The enterprise risk management program is utilized in making decisions with respect to company priorities, resource allocation, and oversight structures. Our CIO delivers updates on the Cybersecurity Program to our Board of Directors semi-annually, including with respect to significant projects and initiatives. These updates consist of a report to the full Board of Directors and to the Audit Committee, and cover a wide range of topics, including evolving regulations and standards, vulnerability assessments, mitigation strategies, third-party and independent reviews, the evolving threat environment, technological and industry trends, and information security considerations arising with respect to the Company’s peers and other third parties. Our CIO will also provide reports of material cybersecurity incidents or other relevant developments to our Board of Directors and Audit Committee as and when needed. Furthermore, our CIO provides periodic updates to our senior management regarding cybersecurity risks, as well as interim updates during regular meetings with our leadership team.

For a discussion regarding risks from cybersecurity threats that have or are reasonably likely to materially affect the company, see the risk factor titled “A significant disruption in, or breach in security of, our information technology systems or violations of data protection laws could materially adversely affect our business and reputation” in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We operate various general offices and manufacturing facilities throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The following table provides certain information about the material general offices and manufacturing facilities used by our operating segments:

* Rogers Corporation is a guarantor to this lease, which was signed in January 2024, to establish a premise of operations for our manufacturing operations through a shelter agreement in Mexico.

The information called for by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the information set forth in “Note 10 – Commitments and Contingencies” to “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

The following discussion and analysis of our results of operations and financial position should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes, which are contained in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

The discussion of the comparison of our 2022 and 2021 results was previously disclosed within the Management’s Discussion & Analysis in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 1, 2023, and has been omitted from this section pursuant to Instruction 1 to Item 303(b) of Regulation S-K.

Company Overview and Strategy

Rogers Corporation designs, develops, manufactures and sells high-performance and high-reliability engineered materials and components to meet our customers’ demanding challenges. We operate two strategic operating segments: AES and EMS. Our remaining operations, which represent our non-core businesses, are reported in our Other operating segment. We have a history of innovation and have established Innovation Centers for our R&D activities in Chandler, Arizona; Burlington, Massachusetts; Eschenbach, Germany; and Suzhou, China. We are headquartered in Chandler, Arizona.

Our growth and profitability strategy is based upon the following principles: (1) market-driven organization, (2) innovation leadership, (3) synergistic mergers and acquisitions, and (4) operational excellence. Our priorities in executing this strategy are focused on driving near-term improvements to profitability and improving the growth outlook for the Company over the next several years by further strengthening our focus on commercial activities, expanding capacity to meet customer demand and driving innovation.

As a market-driven organization, we are focused on capitalizing on growth opportunities in the increasing electrification of vehicles, including EV/HEV, and increasing use of ADAS in the automotive industry, the advancement of communication systems in aerospace and defense, the growth of 5G smartphones in the portable electronics industry, and in renewable energy. In addition to our focus on these markets, we sell into a variety of other markets including general industrial, wireless infrastructure and mass transit.

Our growth strategy is based on addressing trends in these markets and applying our repeatable customer engagement process. Our sales engineers and technical service employees work closely with our customers to understand their complex challenges. They then leverage our innovation and technology capabilities and deep applications expertise to provide unique solutions to customers’ challenges. In addition to these capabilities, our strategy for success as a manufacturer of engineered materials and components is also built on our reputation for high performance and reliability solutions, trusted customer relationships, a broad product portfolio and custom design capabilities. Through this strategy we expect to be able to drive further commercial wins, which provide the potential for higher growth in the future. We have also expanded our capabilities through organic investment and acquisitions and strive to ensure high quality solutions for our customers.

Our operational excellence efforts are focused on driving significant near-term enhancements to our profitability and ongoing cost structure improvements. These efforts include focusing on improving yields, throughput, procurement capabilities and manufacturing processes and selectively adding strategic new hires to achieve better performance. We have also taken specific cost improvement actions in the fourth quarter of 2022 through the end of 2023 that have benefited subsequent quarters. These actions include optimizing our manufacturing footprint, divesting non-core product lines and reductions to manufacturing and corporate employees. We continue to review and re-align our manufacturing and engineering footprint in an effort to maintain a leading competitive position globally and to support our customers’ growth initiatives.

We seek to enhance our operational and financial performance by investing in research and development, manufacturing and materials efficiencies, and new product initiatives that respond to the needs of our customers. We strive to evaluate operational and strategic alternatives to improve our business structure and align our business with the changing needs of our customers and major industry trends affecting our business.

If we are able to successfully execute on our strategy, we see an opportunity, over the next several years, to return to historical levels of profitability and meaningfully improve revenues from 2023 levels, led by organic growth and complemented by targeted acquisitions. This outlook is supported by our participation in a number of growth markets and by our strong competitive positions in these markets. The fastest growing market opportunity is expected to be EV/HEV where third-party analysis projects that the market will increase at a compound annual growth rate of between 15% and 20% over the next several years. Within the EV/HEV market, we believe our advanced battery cell pads, ceramic substrates and power interconnects provide multiple content opportunities to capitalize on this growth. In each of these areas we have secured a number of design wins and have a strong opportunity pipeline, which provides confidence in our growth outlook. Other markets with a good growth trajectory include ADAS, aerospace and defense, portable electronics and renewable energy. Each of these markets is expected to contribute to our growth.

Executive Summary

The following key highlights and factors should be considered when reviewing our results of operations, financial position and liquidity:

• In 2023 as compared to 2022, our net sales decreased by 6.5% to $908.4 million, our gross margin increased 70 basis points to 33.8% from 33.1%, and operating income as a percentage of net sales decreased 550 basis points to 9.4% from 14.9%.
• We recognized restructuring charges of $16.9 million in 2023 related to our reduction in global workforce and facility consolidation plans.
• In 2023, we recognized insurance recoveries of $31.4 million related to our business interruption and property damage insurance claims and incurred $0.9 million of charges for various professional services in connection with the 2021 UTIS fire.
• On September 22, 2023, we entered into asset purchase agreement to sell of one of our Suzhou, China facilities for a purchase price of $6.8 million, resulting in a pre-tax gain of $1.9 million, inclusive of selling and disposal costs. The sale was completed in December 2023.
• On February 17, 2023, we entered into an asset purchase agreement to sell our high-performance engineered cellular elastomer business for a purchase price of $1.8 million. The sale was completed in September 2023.
• We made $185.0 million of discretionary principal payments on our revolving credit facility in 2023.

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, selected operations data expressed as a percentage of net sales:

Net Sales and Gross Margin

(Dollars in millions)

Net sales decreased by 6.5% in 2023 compared to 2022. Our AES and EMS operating segments had net sales decreases of 3.9% and 9.8%, respectively. The decrease in net sales was primarily due to lower net sales in the power interconnects EV/HEV, aerospace and defense, wireless infrastructure and portable electronics markets in our AES operating segment and lower net sales in the general industrial, consumer, portable electronics and EV/HEV markets in our EMS operating segment. These decreases in net sales were partially offset by higher net sales in the power substrates EV/HEV, renewable energy and ADAS markets in our AES operating segment and higher net sales in the aerospace and defense market in our EMS operating segment. Net sales were unfavorably impacted by foreign currency impacts of $3.3 million, or 0.3%, due to the depreciation in value of the Chinese renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar, partially offset by the appreciation in value of the euro relative to the U.S. dollar.

Gross margin as a percentage of net sales increased 70 basis points to 33.8% in 2023 compared to 33.1% in 2022. Gross margin in 2023 improved due to lower freight, duties and tariffs costs, lower raw material costs and favorable factory cost optimization efforts in our AES and EMS operating segments. This was partially offset by lower volume and unfavorable mix, as well as higher inventory reserves provisions and unfavorable yield performance in our AES and EMS operating segments.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

(Dollars in millions)

SG&A expenses decreased 7.5% in 2023 from 2022, primarily due to a $11.4 million decrease in compensation and benefits, a $3.8 million decrease in professional services expense and a $3.0 million decrease in other intangible asset amortization expense, partially offset by a $1.0 million increase in fixed asset depreciation expense and $0.5 million increase in travel expenses.

The decrease in compensation and benefits was primarily due to the $6.5 million discretionary RESIP contribution in 2022 and a $3.3 million decrease in the impact for retention awards issued in connection with the terminated DuPont merger. The decrease in professional services expense was due to a $6.3 million decrease in expenses incurred related to the terminated merger with DuPont, a $0.7 million decrease in expenses incurred related to our acquisition of Silicone Engineering as well as an overall general reduction of professional service expenses across general and administrative departments, offset by $7.6 million of expenses related to non-routine shareholder advisory costs and $1.1 million of expenses in connection with the sale of our high-performance engineered cellular elastomer business in 2023.

Research and Development Expenses

(Dollars in millions)

R&D expenses increased 1.4% in 2023 from 2022, primarily due to a $1.8 million increase in trial costs for alternative raw materials, partially offset by a $1.0 million decrease in professional services expense and a $0.2 million decrease in compensation and benefits expense.

Restructuring and Impairment Charges and Other Operating (Income) Expense, Net

(Dollars in millions)

We recognized $16.9 million and $1.5 million of restructuring charges in 2023 and 2022, respectively. The restructuring charges in 2023 were related to the reduction in global workforce and facility consolidation plans announced in February 2023. The restructuring charges in 2022 were related to the manufacturing footprint optimization plans involving certain Europe and Asia manufacturing locations.

We recognized $65.1 million of impairment charges in 2022, primarily related to certain AES operating segment equipment-in-process in the U.S. as well as certain EMS operating segment intangibles and fixed assets related to our high-performance engineered cellular elastomer business in the U.S.

With respect to other operating (income) expense, net, we recognized income of $33.1 million and income of $144.0 million in 2023 and 2022, respectively. The income recognized in 2023 was primarily related to insurance recoveries from the fire at our UTIS manufacturing facility in Ansan, South Korea. The income recognized in 2022 was primarily related to the DuPont merger termination fee less costs incurred, as well as the impacts from the fire at our UTIS manufacturing facility in Ansan, South Korea.

For additional information, refer to “Note 14 – Supplemental Financial Information” to “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

Equity Income in Unconsolidated Joint Ventures

(Dollars in millions)

As of December 31, 2023, we had two unconsolidated joint ventures, each 50% owned: RIC and RIS. Equity income in those unconsolidated joint ventures decreased 59.1% in 2023 from 2022 due to lower net sales for RIC and RIS, which was primarily driven by the portable electronics market in Asia, as well as a change in the business model for RIS to subcontracting manufacturing in the second half of 2023.

Other Income (Expense), Net

(Dollars in millions)

Other income (expense), net decreased to $0.7 million of expense in 2023 compared to $1.1 million of income in 2022. The decrease was due to unfavorable year-over-year change in impacts from our foreign currency transactions, partially offset by the favorable year-over-year change in impacts from our foreign currency derivatives and copper derivative contracts.

Interest Expense, Net

(Dollars in millions)

Interest expense, net, increased by $0.6 million in 2023 from 2022, primarily due to a higher weighted-average interest rate, partially offset by a lower weighted-average outstanding balance for our borrowings under our revolving credit facility.

Income Tax Expense

(Dollars in millions)

Our effective income tax rate for 2023 was 25.8% compared to 16.9% for 2022. The increase from 2022 was primarily due to the impact of the decrease in the reversals of unrecognized tax positions in 2022 that did not reoccur in 2023.

Operating Segment Net Sales and Operating Income

Advanced Electronics Solutions

(Dollars in millions)

Our AES operating segment net sales decreased by 3.9% in 2023 compared to 2022. The decrease in net sales was primarily driven by lower net sales in the power interconnects EV/HEV, aerospace and defense, wireless infrastructure and portable electronics markets, partially offset by higher net sales in the power substrates EV/HEV, renewable energy and ADAS markets. Net sales were favorably impacted by foreign currency fluctuations of $0.7 million, or 0.1%, due to the appreciation in value of the euro relative to the U.S. dollar, partially offset by the depreciation in value of Chinese renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar.

Operating income decreased by 96.6% in 2023 from 2022. The decrease in operating income was primarily due to unfavorable year-over-year changes in shared service operating expense allocations and a $9.6 million unfavorable year-over-year change in restructuring charges, as well as, lower volumes and unfavorable mix, unfavorable yield performance and higher inventory reserves provisions. The decrease in operating income was partially offset by a $40.5 million favorable year-over-year change in impairment charges and a $1.8 million net gain on the sale of one of our Suzhou, China facilities, as well as lower freight, duties and tariffs costs, lower raw material costs and favorable factory optimization efforts. As a percentage of net sales, operating income in 2023 was 0.5% as compared to 14.5% in 2022.

The unfavorable changes in shared service expense allocations were driven by the merger termination fee less costs incurred related to the terminated DuPont merger in 2022 not recurring, as well as non-routine shareholder advisory costs incurred in 2023, partially offset by favorable year-over-year changes in costs associated with the terminated DuPont merger, including compensation and benefits costs as well as professional services expenses.

In 2022, our AES operating segment recognized impairment charges of $40.5 million. In 2023 and 2022, our AES operating segment recognized restructuring charges and related expenses of $10.7 million and $1.1 million, respectively. For additional information related to restructuring and impairment charges, as well as the sale of one of our Suzhou, China facilities, refer to “Note 14 – Supplemental Financial Information” to “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

Elastomeric Material Solutions

(Dollars in millions)

Our EMS operating segment net sales decreased by 9.8% in 2023 compared to 2022. The decrease in net sales was primarily driven by lower net sales in the general industrial, consumer, portable electronics and EV/HEV markets, partially offset by higher net sales in the aerospace and defense market. Net sales were unfavorably impacted by foreign currency fluctuations of $3.6 million, or 0.9%, due to the depreciation in value of Chinese renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar, partially offset by the appreciation in value of the euro relative to the U.S. dollar.

Operating income increased by 26.0% in 2023 from 2022. The increase in operating income was primarily due to a $28.0 million favorable year-over-year change in charges/benefits related to the UTIS fire and a $24.6 million favorable year-over-year change in impairment charges, as well as lower freight, duties and tariffs costs, lower raw material costs and favorable factory optimization efforts. The increase in operating income was partially offset by unfavorable year-over-year changes in shared service operating expense allocations and a $5.8 million unfavorable year-over-year change in restructuring charges, as well as lower volumes, unfavorable yield performance and higher inventory reserves provisions. As a percentage of net sales, operating income in 2023 was 20.1% as compared to 14.4% in 2022.

The unfavorable changes in shared service expense allocations were driven by the merger termination fee less costs incurred related to the terminated DuPont merger in 2022 not recurring, as well as non-routine shareholder advisory costs incurred in 2023, partially offset by favorable year-over-year changes in costs associated with the terminated DuPont merger, including compensation and benefits costs as well as professional services expenses.

In 2022, our EMS operating segment recognized impairment charges of $24.6 million. In 2023 and 2022, our EMS operating segment recognized restructuring charges and related expenses of $6.2 million and $0.4 million, respectively. For additional information related to restructuring and impairment charges, as well as UTIS fire charges/benefits, refer to “Note 14 – Supplemental Financial Information” to “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

Other

(Dollars in millions)

Net sales in our Other operating segment decreased by 6.2% in 2023 from 2022. Net sales were unfavorably impacted by foreign currency fluctuations of $0.4 million, or 2.0%, due to the depreciation in value of Chinese renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar. Our Other operating segment operating income decreased by 4.3% in 2023 from 2022. The decrease in operating income was primarily driven by lower volume and unfavorable factory utilization, partially offset by lower freight, duties and tariffs costs. As a percentage of net sales, operating income in 2023 was 33.5%, an approximately 60 basis point increase as compared to 32.9% in 2022.

Liquidity, Capital Resources and Financial Position

We believe that our existing sources of liquidity and cash flows that are expected to be generated from our operations, together with our available credit facilities, will be sufficient to fund our operations, currently planned capital expenditures, R&D efforts and our debt service commitments, for at least the next 12 months. We regularly review and evaluate the adequacy of our cash flows, borrowing facilities and banking relationships, seeking to ensure that we have the appropriate access to cash to fund both our near-term operating needs and our long-term strategic initiatives. The following table illustrates the location of our cash and cash equivalents by our three major geographic areas:

(Dollars in millions)

Approximately $71.7 million of our cash and cash equivalents were held by non-U.S. subsidiaries as of December 31, 2023. We did not make any changes in 2023 to our position on the permanent reinvestment of our historical earnings from foreign operations. With the exception of certain of our Chinese subsidiaries, where a substantial portion of our Asia cash and cash equivalents is held, we continue to assert that historical foreign earnings are indefinitely reinvested.

Net working capital was $410.5 million and $517.4 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Key Financial Position Accounts

(Dollars in millions)

26

Significant changes in our statement of financial position accounts from December 31, 2022 to December 31, 2023 were as follows:

• Cash and cash equivalents were $131.7 million as compared to $235.9 million as of December 31, 2022, a decrease of $104.2 million, or 44.2%. This decrease was primarily due to $185.0 million in discretionary principal payments on our revolving credit facility, $57.0 million in capital expenditures and $3.2 million in tax payments related to net share settlement of equity awards, partially offset by $131.4 million of net cash flow provided by operations.
• Accounts receivable, net decreased 8.7% to $161.9 million as of December 31, 2023, from $177.4 million as of December 31, 2022. The decrease was primarily due to a $15.4 million decrease in our income taxes receivable as well as lower net sales at the end of 2023 compared to at the end of 2022, partially offset by the recognition of $4.1 million in UTIS fire insurance receivables for our business interruption claims.
• Inventories, net decreased 15.8% to $153.5 million as of December 31, 2023, from $182.4 million as of December 31, 2022, primarily driven by a reduction in finished goods stock and raw materials, as well as a $7.5 million increase in inventory reserves provisions.
• Borrowings under revolving credit facility decreased to $30.0 million as of December 31, 2023, from $215.0 million as of December 31, 2022. The decrease was due to $185.0 million in discretionary principal payments on our revolving credit facility made in 2023. For additional information regarding this facility, as well as the Fifth Amended Credit Agreement, refer to “Note 9 – Debt” to “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

(Dollars in millions)

In 2024, we expect capital spending to be in the range of approximately $70.0 million to $80.0 million, of which we are contractually committed to $5.3 million as of December 31, 2023. We plan to fund our capital spending in 2024 with cash from operations and cash on-hand, as well as our existing revolving credit facility, if necessary.

Excluding $1.6 million of inventory purchase commitments, there are no contractual obligations requiring material cash requirements in 2024 and beyond, excluding those already noted, including those related to our outstanding borrowings under our revolving credit facility, our operating and finance lease obligations and our pension benefit and other postretirement benefit obligations, which are discussed in “Note 9 – Debt,” “Note 6 – Leases” and “Note 8 – Pension Benefits, Other Postretirement Benefits and Employee Savings and Investment Plan,” to “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” respectively.

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements that have, or are, in the opinion of management, reasonably likely to have a current or future material effect on our results of operations or financial position.

Restriction on Payment of Dividends

The Fifth Amended Credit Agreement generally permits us to pay cash dividends to our shareholders, provided that (i) no default or event of default has occurred and is continuing or would result from the dividend payment and (ii) our total net leverage ratio does not exceed 2.75 to 1.00. If our total net leverage ratio exceeds 2.75 to 1.00, we may nonetheless make up to $20.0 million in restricted payments, including cash dividends, during the fiscal year, provided that no default or event of default has occurred and is continuing or would result from the payments. Our total net leverage ratio did not exceed 2.75 to 1.00 as of December 31, 2023. For additional information regarding the Fifth Amended Credit Agreement, refer to “Note 9 – Debt” to “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

Critical Accounting Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, which require management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances and believe that appropriate reserves have been established using on reasonable methodologies and appropriate assumptions based on facts and circumstances that are known; however, actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. Certain accounting policies may require a choice between acceptable accounting methods or may require substantial judgment or estimation in their application. A summary of our critical accounting estimates is presented below:

Product Liabilities

We endeavor to maintain insurance coverage with reasonable deductible levels to protect us from potential exposures to product liability claims. Any liability associated with such claims is based on management’s best estimate of the potential claim value, while insurance receivables associated with related claims are not recorded until verified by the insurance carrier.

For asbestos-related claims, we recognize projected asbestos liabilities and related insurance receivables, with any difference between the liability and related insurance receivable recognized as an expense in the consolidated statements of operations. Our estimates of asbestos-related contingent liabilities and related insurance receivables are based on a claim projection analysis and an insurance usage analysis prepared annually by third parties. The claim projection analysis contains numerous assumptions, including number of claims that might be received, the type and severity of the disease alleged by each claimant, the long latency period associated with asbestos exposure, dismissal rates, average indemnity costs, average defense costs, costs of medical treatment, the financial resources of other companies that are co-defendants in claims, uncertainties surrounding the litigation process from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and from case to case, and the impact of potential changes in legislative or judicial standards, including potential tort reform. Furthermore, any predictions with respect to these assumptions are subject to even greater uncertainty as the projection period lengthens. The insurance usage analysis considers, among other things, applicable deductibles, retentions and policy limits, the solvency and historical payment experience of various insurance carriers, the likelihood of recovery as estimated by external legal counsel and existing insurance settlements.

The liability projection period covers all current and future indemnity and defense costs through 2064, which represents the expected end of our asbestos liability exposure with no further ongoing claims expected beyond that date. This conclusion was based on our history and experience with the claims data, the diminished volatility and consistency of observable claims data, the period of time that has elapsed since we stopped manufacturing products that contained encapsulated asbestos and an expected downward trend in claims due to the average age of our claimants, which is approaching the average life expectancy.

Our accrued asbestos liabilities may not approximate our actual asbestos-related indemnity and defense costs, and our accrued insurance recoveries may not be realized. We believe it is reasonably possible that we may incur additional charges for our asbestos liabilities and defense costs in the future that could exceed existing reserves and insurance recoveries. We plan to continue to vigorously defend ourselves and believe we have substantial unutilized insurance coverage to mitigate future costs related to this matter.

We review our asbestos-related projections annually in the fourth quarter of each year unless facts and circumstances materially change during the year, at which time we would analyze these projections. We believe the assumptions made on the potential exposure and expected insurance coverage are reasonable at the present time, but are subject to uncertainty based on the actual future outcome of our asbestos litigation.

As of December 31, 2023, the estimated liabilities and estimated insurance recoveries for all current and future indemnity and defense costs projected through 2064 were $61.5 million and $56.5 million, respectively.

Market Risk

• Foreign Currency Risk

Our financial results are affected by changes in foreign exchange rates and economic conditions in foreign countries in which we operate. Our primary overseas markets are in Europe and Asia, thus exposing us to exchange rate risk from fluctuations in the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the British pound, the Japanese yen, the Korean won and certain other currencies. We seek to mitigate exposure to variability in currency exchange rates, when possible, through the use of natural hedges, whereby purchases and sales in the same foreign currency and with similar maturity dates offset one another. We further seek to mitigate this exposure through hedging activities by entering into foreign exchange forward contracts with third parties when the use of natural hedges is not possible or desirable. We currently do not use derivative instruments for trading or speculative purposes. We monitor foreign exchange risks and at times manage such risks on specific transactions. Our risk management process primarily uses analytical techniques and sensitivity analysis. In 2023, a 10% strengthening of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies would have resulted in a decrease to net sales of approximately $41 million, while a 10% weakening of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies would have resulted in an increase to net sales of approximately $51 million. The impacts to net income in either scenario would have been less than $1 million. These impacts are not reflective of the effects of our foreign currency forward contracts.

• Interest Rate Risk

As of December 31, 2023, we had $30.0 million in borrowings outstanding under our revolving credit facility. The interest charged on these borrowings fluctuates with movements in the benchmark SOFR. As of December 31, 2023, the interest rate on our revolving credit facility was 7.10%, and a 100 basis point increase in SOFR would have increased the amount of interest expense by approximately $1.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023.

• Commodity Risk

We are subject to fluctuations in the cost of raw materials used to manufacture our materials and products. In particular, we are exposed to market fluctuations in commodity pricing as we utilize certain materials, such as copper and ceramic, which are key materials in certain of our products. In order to minimize the risk of market driven price changes in these commodities, we utilize hedging strategies to insulate us against price fluctuations of copper, the most frequently used commodity in our manufacturing processes. We currently do not use hedging strategies to minimize the risk of price fluctuations on other commodity-based raw materials; however, we regularly review such strategies to hedge market risk on an ongoing basis.

For additional discussion, refer to “Note 3 – Derivatives and Hedging” to “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

EVALUATION OF DISCLOSURE CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

We conducted, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, an evaluation of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d- 15(e) under the Exchange Act, as of December 31, 2023. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed (i) to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and (ii) to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Based on their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2023.

CHANGES IN INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING

There were no changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting during the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect our internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act.

MANAGEMENT’S REPORT ON INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f). Our internal control over financial reporting was designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:

• pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of our assets;
• provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors; and
• provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023. In making its assessment of internal control over financial reporting, management used the criteria issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013). Based on the results of this assessment, management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, has concluded that, as of December 31, 2023, our internal control over financial reporting was effective.

The Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, has audited the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, as stated in their report included under “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”