Atmus Filtration Technologies, Inc. (ATMU) Risk Factors

Due to the international scope of our operations, we are subject to a complex system of commercial regulations around the world. Recent years have seen an increase in the development and enforcement of laws regarding trade compliance, as well as new regulatory requirements regarding privacy and data protection, such as the European Union General Data Protection Regulation. For example, in January 2024, the Tax Administration Service in Mexico amended the customs requirements for transactions between a maquiladora in Mexico shipping its manufactured goods to a domestic Mexican company, and to-date maquiladoras in Mexico, including our manufacturing facility in San Luis Potosi, have responded by exporting manufactured goods outside of Mexico and then re-importing them back into Mexico for delivery to domestic purchasers, resulting in increased costs for our Mexican operations. Our foreign subsidiaries and affiliates are governed by laws, rules and business practices that differ from those of the U.S. The activities of these entities may not comply with U.S. laws or business practices or our Code of Business Conduct. Violations of these laws may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, could disrupt our business and result in an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. We cannot predict the nature, scope or effect of future regulatory requirements to which our operations might be subject or the manner in which existing laws might be administered or interpreted. We are subject to national and international anti-corruption laws and regulations laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"), the U.K. Bribery Act (the "Bribery Act") and export controls and economic sanctions programs, including those administered by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"), relating to our business and our employees. As part of our business, we deal with state-owned business enterprises, the employees of which are considered foreign officials for purposes of the FCPA's prohibition on providing anything of value to foreign officials for the purposes of obtaining or retaining business or securing any improper business advantage. In addition, the provisions of the Bribery Act extend beyond bribery of foreign public officials and also apply to transactions with individuals that a government does not employ. Some of the international locations in which we operate lack a developed legal system and have higher than normal levels of corruption. Our continued expansion outside the United States, including in China, India and developing countries, and our development of new partnerships worldwide, could increase the risk of FCPA, OFAC or Bribery Act violations in the future. Despite our policies, procedures and compliance programs, our internal control and compliance systems may not be able to protect it from prohibited acts willfully committed by our employees, agents or business partners that would violate such applicable laws and regulations. Additionally, there can be no assurance that our policies and procedures will effectively prevent us from violating these regulations in every transaction in which we may engage or provide a defense to any alleged violation. For example, actions taken by OFAC in response to the Russia-Ukraine War have included the imposition of export controls and broad financial and economic sanctions against Russia, Belarus and specific areas of Ukraine. Any violation or alleged violation of these laws and regulations, even if prohibited by our policies, could result in criminal or civil sanctions, reputational damage or other substantial costs and penalties, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. In particular, we may be held liable for the actions that our joint venture partners take inside or outside of the United States, even though our partners may not be subject to these laws. Any such improper acts could damage our reputation, subject us to civil or criminal judgments, fines or penalties, and could otherwise disrupt our business. Our operations are also subject to certain antitrust and competition laws in the jurisdictions in which we conduct our business, in particular the United States and Europe. These laws prohibit, among other things, anticompetitive agreements and practices. If any of our commercial agreements or practices are found to violate or infringe such laws, we may be subject to civil and other penalties. We may also be subject to third-party claims for damages. Further, agreements that infringe antitrust and competition laws may be void and unenforceable, in whole or in part, or require modification in order to be lawful and enforceable. Accordingly, any violation of these laws could harm our reputation and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. From time to time, we are subject to litigation or other commercial disputes and other legal and regulatory proceedings relating to our business, including actual or perceived failure to comply with the laws and regulations mentioned above. Due to the inherent uncertainties of any litigation, commercial disputes or other legal or regulatory proceedings, we cannot accurately predict their ultimate outcome, including the outcome of any related appeals. An unfavorable outcome could materially adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Furthermore, as required by U.S. GAAP, we establish reserves based on our assessment of contingencies, including contingencies related to legal claims asserted against us. Subsequent developments in legal proceedings may affect our assessment and estimates of the loss contingency recorded as a reserve and require us to make payments in excess of our reserves, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

The separation agreement, among other things, provides for indemnification obligations designed to make us financially responsible for liabilities that may exist relating to our business activities, whether incurred prior to or after the Separation. If we are required to indemnify Cummins under the circumstances set forth in the separation agreement, we may be subject to substantial liabilities.

We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and numerous international jurisdictions. Our income tax provision and cash tax liability in the future could be adversely affected by the adoption of new tax legislation, changes in the amounts or composition of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities and the discovery of new information in the course of our tax return preparation process. Additionally, we may be subject to tax audits. These audits can involve complex issues, which may require an extended period of time to resolve and can be highly judgmental. Tax authorities may disagree with certain tax reporting positions taken by us and, as a result, assess additional taxes against us. We may have to engage in litigation to achieve the results reflected in our tax estimates, and such litigation may be time consuming and expensive. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of any audits in order to determine the appropriateness of our tax provision. The amounts ultimately paid upon resolution of these or subsequent tax audits could be materially different from the amounts previously included in our income tax provisions and accruals, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

As of December 31, 2023, we employed approximately 4,500 persons worldwide. As of December 31, 2023, approximately 53% of our employees worldwide were represented by various unions under collective bargaining agreements. Among these collective bargaining agreements, those for the employees in Mexico, Brazil and France are renewed annually after compensation negotiations, while the collective bargaining agreement for the Cookeville, Tennessee plant typically has a four- to five-year term. The collective bargaining agreement for Brazil is in place and active and the compensation negotiations for a new annual term on the collective bargaining agreements for Mexico and France were recently concluded. These collective bargaining agreements have terms that will expire between December 2024 and February 2025. The collective bargaining agreement for the Cookeville, Tennessee plant is expiring at the end of its four year term on February 29, 2024 and negotiations for its renewal started in January 2024. While we have no reason to believe that we will be materially impacted by work stoppages or other labor matters, there can be no assurance that future issues with our labor unions will be resolved favorably or that we will not encounter future strikes, work stoppages, or other types of conflicts with labor unions or our employees. For example, during periodic collective bargaining in 2020, the United Auto Workers union representing manufacturing employees at the Cookeville, Tennessee site conducted a strike for six weeks after failing to accept modified terms and conditions offered by the company. Any of these consequences may have an adverse effect on us or may limit our flexibility in dealing with our workforce. In addition, many of our customers and suppliers have unionized work forces. Work stoppages or slowdowns experienced by us, our customers or suppliers could result in slowdowns or closures that would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Our ability to fulfill customer orders is dependent on our manufacturing and distribution operations. Although we forecast demand, additional plant capacity takes significant time to bring online and thus changes in demand could result in longer lead times. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to adjust manufacturing capacity, in the short-term, to meet higher customer demand. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant supply chain disruptions. These disruptions impacted the availability of raw materials, including steel, resin, other petrochemical products and electronic components, and freight availability and reliability, which resulted in increased lead times. Efficient operations require streamlining processes, which we may not be capable of achieving. Unacceptable levels of service for key customers may result if we are not able to fulfill orders on a timely basis or if product quality or warranty or safety issues result from compromised production. Due to the complexity of our manufacturing operations, we may be unable to timely respond to fluctuations in demand, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. While we have not experienced significant global surges or declines in demand, for much of 2022, overall demand exceeded our ability to fully meet such demand, resulting in an elevated level of backlog. For 2023, the level of backlog that accumulated during 2022 reduced and stabilized. As we move into 2024, there has been a reduction in these backlogs from peak levels, and we expect further stabilization in the first half of 2024.

We face an inherent business risk of exposure to warranty claims if our products fail to perform to specification, or are alleged to result in property damage. At any given time, we are subject to various and multiple warranty claims, any one of which, if decided adversely to us, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows in the period in which our liability with respect to any such claim is recognized. This can include customer claims for support outside of standard warranty obligations.

Cummins is our largest customer. For the year ended December 31, 2023, net sales to Cummins accounted for approximately 17.4% of our net sales. Sales to Cummins joint ventures and to distributors with which Cummins has a relationship also account for a portion of our net sales. A portion of our net sales is dependent upon customer acceptance of, and demand for, Cummins' engines or generators that use our filters. This customer concentration increases the risk of fluctuations in our operating results and our sensitivity to any material adverse developments experienced by Cummins. While our relationship with Cummins is defined by our first-fit supply agreement and aftermarket supply agreement, we may fail in the future to renew these contracts, and, moreover, even if renewed, Cummins' purchasing power may give it the ability to make greater demands on us with regard to pricing and contractual terms in general. In addition, Cummins may procure supplemental supply of top volume aftermarket products from alternative suppliers for a limited time if we fail to meet certain delivery performance requirements or if we do not offer a product or similar product for sale. Cummins historically did not seek competitive bids for filtration products. However, prior to the completion of the IPO, Cummins initiated a competitive process to source a selective group of future first-fit programs and associated aftermarket products from its filtration product suppliers, including us. Subsequently, we were successful in being awarded this business. In the future, we expect that Cummins will continue to seek competitive bids for new filtration products and, while we will have a preferred supplier relationship with Cummins, we will have to successfully win bids through Cummins' bidding process in order to maintain or grow our current level of sales to Cummins and cannot guarantee that Cummins will always select our products. The loss of, or any substantial reduction in sales to, Cummins would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. For the year ended December 31, 2023, net sales to PACCAR and the Traton Group accounted for approximately 15.6% and 11.8%, respectively, of our net sales. We cannot guarantee that PACCAR or the Traton Group will always choose to purchase our products. The loss or substantial reduction of sales to PACCAR or the Traton Group could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, our association with Cummins has contributed to the relationships we have with certain significant customers due to the relationship those customers had with Cummins. We may not be able to attract new customers of Cummins, or retain existing customers, without Cummins' support.

Our business is subject to the political, economic and other risks that are inherent in operating in numerous countries, including: - public health crises, including the spread of a contagious disease, such as COVID-19 and other catastrophic events;- the difficulty of enforcing agreements and collecting receivables through foreign legal systems;- trade protection measures and import or export licensing requirements;- the imposition of taxes on foreign income and tax rates in certain foreign countries that exceed those in the U.S.;- the imposition of tariffs, exchange controls, sanctions or other restrictions;- difficulty in staffing and managing widespread operations and the application of foreign labor regulations;- required compliance with a variety of foreign laws and regulations; and - changes in general economic and political conditions, including changes in relationship with the U.S., in countries where we operate, particularly in China, India and other emerging markets. As we continue to operate and grow our business globally, our success will depend, in part, on our ability to anticipate and effectively manage these and other related risks. There can be no assurance that the consequences of these and other factors relating to our multinational operations will not have a material adverse effect upon our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, there continues to be significant uncertainty about the future relationships between the U.S. and China, including with respect to trade policies, treaties, government regulations and tariffs. We currently have significant operations in China, including a joint venture and our wholly-owned subsidiary Cummins Filtration China. For the year ended December 31, 2023, total sales in China, including consolidated and non-consolidated sales from our joint venture, were approximately $265.1 million, an increase of $32.1 million compared to approximately $233.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. In the first half of 2022, the resurgence of COVID-19 in China led to lockdowns in several cities that negatively impacted the economy and our end markets. Among the cities impacted by these lockdowns was Shanghai, which resulted in the shutdowns of us and our China joint ventures' Shanghai-based facilities, and the results from our China operations were adversely impacted in 2023 as a result of general market conditions in China. Equity, royalty and interest income from our China joint venture for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $5.9 million, an increase of $0.6 million compared to $5.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. In addition, any increased trade barriers or restrictions on global trade, especially trade with China, could adversely impact our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

The scientific consensus indicates that emissions of GHG continue to alter the composition of Earth's atmosphere in ways that are affecting, and are expected to continue to affect, the global climate. The potential impacts of climate change on our customers and end-users, product offerings, operations, facilities and suppliers are accelerating and uncertain, as they will be particular to local, customer-specific circumstances. These potential impacts may include, among other things, rising sea levels and the frequency and severity of weather events as well as customer and end-user product changes either through preference or regulation. Concerns regarding climate change may lead to additional international, national, regional and local legislative and regulatory responses. For example, proposed SEC rules to enhance disclosures regarding the effects of climate change could increase our reporting and compliance costs, and in October 2023, the California Governor signed the Climate-Related Financial Risk and the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act into law, which impose significant and mandatory climate-related reporting requirements for large companies doing business in the state. Similarly, enhanced mandatory climate reporting requirements came into force in 2019 and again in 2022 in the United Kingdom and broader sustainability reporting requirements (including climate) will apply to certain European Union entities on a staged basis from 2024 and to their non-European Union parent undertakings from 2028. We believe these reporting requirements could increase our reporting and compliance costs. Various stakeholders, including legislators and regulators, shareholders and non-governmental organizations, are continuing to look for ways to reduce GHG emissions, including limits on GHG emissions, bans on future sales of gas-powered vehicles, and measures intended to incentivize GHG reduction such as fuel taxes, carbon taxes and subsidies. As the impact of any future GHG legislative or regulatory requirements on our global businesses and products is dependent on the timing, scope and design of the mandates or standards, we are currently unable to predict the potential impact. Moreover, as discussed in "- Risks Related to our Business Operations - Evolving customer needs and developing technologies may threaten our existing business and growth", certain consequences of climate change, such as shifts in customer and end-user preferences and the pace and extent to which customers and end-users adopt alternative power, including electrified vehicles, could impact demand for our products and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

In order to support the new business processes under the terms of our transition services agreement with Cummins, we have made significant configuration, process and data changes within many of the information technology systems that we use. If our information technology systems and processes are not sufficient to support our business and financial reporting functions, or if we fail to properly implement our new business processes, manufacturing, shipping, invoicing or other critical operating activities may be interrupted or negatively affected, and our financial reporting may be delayed or inaccurate and, as a result, our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows may be materially adversely affected. Even if we are able to successfully configure and change our systems, all technology systems, even with implementation of security measures, are vulnerable to disability, failures or unauthorized access. If our information technology systems were to fail or be breached, this could materially adversely affect our reputation and our ability to perform critical business functions, and sensitive and confidential data could be compromised.