Avient (AVNT) Risk Analysis

We conduct a substantial portion of our business outside the U.S., with approximately 60% of our sales outside the U.S. We also have many facilities located outside the U.S., as detailed in Item 2, "Properties." Accordingly, our business is subject to risks related to the differing legal, political, social and regulatory requirements, and economic conditions of many jurisdictions. Risks inherent in international operations include, but are not limited to, the following: - changes in local government regulations and policies including, but not limited to, duty or tariff restrictions, foreign currency exchange controls or monetary policy, repatriation of earnings, expropriation of property, investment limitations and tax policies;- political and economic instability and disruptions, including labor unrest, withdrawal or renegotiation of trade agreements, natural disasters, major public health issues, pandemics, civil strife, acts of war, insurrection and terrorism;- supply chain disruptions;- compliance with international trade laws and regulations, including tariffs, export control and economic sanctions, and other trade barriers;- legislation that regulates the use of chemicals;- disadvantages of competing against companies from countries that are not subject to U.S. laws and regulations, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the UK Bribery Act;- difficulties in staffing and managing multi-national operations;- limitations on our ability to enforce legal rights and remedies;- reduced protection of intellectual property rights;- other risks arising out of foreign sovereignty over the areas where our operations are conducted; and - increasingly complex laws and regulations concerning privacy and data security, including, but not limited to, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation. We could be adversely affected by violations of the FCPA, UK Bribery Act and similar worldwide anti-bribery laws, as well as export controls and economic sanction laws. As a global company, we operate in many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption. While we have no basis to believe such actions are occurring, if we are found to be liable for FCPA, UK Bribery Act, export control or sanction violations, we could suffer from criminal or civil penalties or other sanctions, including loss of export privileges or authorization needed to conduct aspects of our international business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. We have robust policies that require compliance with all laws and regulations and we strictly enforce those policies. It is always possible an employee's or agent's unlawful actions may avoid detection. Any of these risks could have an adverse effect on our international operations by reducing demand for our products.

The occurrence of an operating problem at our facilities may have a material adverse effect on the productivity and profitability of a particular manufacturing facility or on our operations as a whole, during and after the period of these operating difficulties. Operating problems may cause personal injury and/or loss of life, customer attrition and severe damage to or destruction of property and equipment and environmental damage. We are subject to present claims and potential future claims with respect to workplace exposure, workers' compensation and other matters. Our property and casualty insurance, which we believe are of the types and in the amounts that are customary for the industry, may not fully insure us against all potential hazards that are incident to our business or otherwise could occur.

The cost of our electricity, fuel, logistics and raw materials may not correlate with changes in the prices we receive for our products, either in the direction of the price change or in absolute magnitude. Electricity and raw materials costs represent a substantial part of our manufacturing costs. Most of the raw materials we use are commodities and the price of each can fluctuate widely for a variety of reasons, including changes in availability because of major capacity additions or reductions or significant facility operating problems. Other external factors beyond our control, including, but not limited to, trade barriers due to geopolitical tensions, can also cause fluctuations in raw materials prices, which could negatively impact demand for our products and cause volatility in our results.

We encounter competition in price, payment terms, delivery, service, performance, product innovation, product recognition and quality, depending on the product involved. Avient's operating results depend, in part, on continued successful research, development, and marketing of new products, and some of such efforts may not come to fruition or may be delayed. We expect that our competitors will continue to develop and introduce new and enhanced products, which could cause a decline in the market acceptance of our products. In addition, our competitors could cause a reduction in the selling prices of some of our products as a result of intensified price competition. Competitive pressures could also result in the loss of customers.

Several factors have in the past and may in the future affect the demand for and supply of our products and services, including: - economic downturns, inflation or other volatility in the significant end markets that we serve;- product obsolescence or technological changes that unfavorably alter the value/cost proposition of our products and services;- competition from existing and unforeseen polymer and non-polymer based products;- declines in general economic conditions or reductions in industrial production growth rates, both domestically and globally, which could impact customer demand and our customers' ability to pay amounts owed to us;- changes in environmental regulations that limit our ability to sell our products and services in specific markets;- changes in demand for and laws and regulations regarding plastic materials; and - inability to obtain raw materials or supply products to customers due to factors such as supplier work stoppages or insolvency, supply shortages, plant outages or regulatory changes that may limit or prohibit overland transportation of certain hazardous materials and exogenous factors, like severe weather. If any of these events occur in the future, the demand for and supply of our products and services could suffer and potentially lead to asset impairment or otherwise adversely affect our results.

We depend on integrated information systems to conduct our business, including communicating with employees and customers, ordering and managing materials from suppliers, shipping products to customers, and analyzing and reporting results of operations. In addition, some of our systems, tools and resources use, integrate, or will integrate some form of artificial intelligence, which has the potential to result in bias, miscalculations, data errors, intellectual property infringement and other unintended consequences. Further, we store sensitive data, including proprietary business information, intellectual property and confidential employee or other personal data, on our servers and databases. Cybersecurity breaches, global information systems security threats and more sophisticated and targeted computer crime pose a risk to the security of our systems and networks and the confidentiality, availability and integrity of our data and communications. We continue to update our infrastructure, security tools, employee training and processes to protect against security incidents, including both external and internal threats, and to prevent their recurrence; however, our systems, networks and products may nevertheless be vulnerable to advanced persistent threats or other types of system failures. Depending on their nature and scope, such threats and system failures could lead to the compromising of confidential information and communications, improper use of our systems and networks, manipulation and destruction of data, defective products, production downtimes and operational disruptions, which in turn could cause customers to cancel orders or otherwise adversely affect our reputation, competitiveness and results of operations. We have experienced targeted and non-targeted cybersecurity attacks in the past and we could experience similar incidents in the future. To date, no cybersecurity incident or attack has had a material impact on our business or consolidated financial statements.