Aviat Networks (AVNW) Risk Factors

The development and production of products with high technology content is complicated and often involves problems with hardware, software, components and manufacturing methods. Complex hardware and software systems, such as our products, can often contain undetected errors or bugs when first introduced or as new versions are released. In addition, errors associated with components we purchase from third parties, including customized components, may be difficult to resolve. We have experienced issues in the past in connection with our products, including failures due to the receipt of faulty components from our suppliers and performance issues related to software updates. From time to time we have had to replace certain components or provide software remedies or other remediation in response to errors or bugs, and we may have to do so again in the future. In addition, performance issues can be heightened during periods where we are developing and introducing multiple new products to the market, as any performance issues we encounter in one technology or product could impact the performance or timing of delivery of other products. Our products may also suffer degradation of performance and reliability over time. If reliability, quality, security or network monitoring problems develop, a number of negative effects on our business could result, including: - reduced orders from existing customers;- declining interest from potential customers;- delays in our ability to recognize revenue or in collecting accounts receivables;- costs associated with fixing hardware or software defects or replacing products;- high service and warranty expenses;- delays in shipments;- high inventory excess and obsolescence expense;- high levels of product returns;- diversion of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts; and - payment of liquidated damages, performance guarantees or similar penalties. Because we outsource the manufacturing of certain components of our products, we may also be subject to product performance problems as a result of the acts or omissions of third parties, and we may not have adequate compensating remedies against such third parties. From time to time, we encounter interruptions or delays in the activation of our products at a customer's site. These interruptions or delays may result from product performance problems or from issues with installation and activation, some of which are outside our control. If we experience significant interruptions or delays that we cannot promptly resolve, the associated revenue for these installations may be delayed or confidence in our products could be undermined, which could cause us to lose customers, fail to add new customers, and consequently harm our financial results.

We outsource all of our manufacturing and a substantial portion of our repair service operations to independent contract manufacturers and other third parties. Our contract manufacturers typically manufacture our products based on rolling forecasts of our product needs that we provide to them on a regular basis. The contract manufacturers are responsible for procuring components necessary to build our products based on our rolling forecasts, building and assembling the products, testing the products in accordance with our specifications and then shipping the products to us. We configure the products to our customer requirements, conduct final testing and then ship the products to our customers. There can be no assurance that we will not encounter problems with our contract manufacturer related to these manufacturing services or that we will be able to replace a contract manufacturer that is not able to meet our demand. In addition, if we fail to effectively manage our relationships with our contract manufacturers or other service providers, or if they do not fully comply with their contractual obligations or should experience delays, disruptions, component procurement problems or quality control problems, then our ability to ship products to our customers or otherwise fulfill our contractual obligations to our customers could be delayed or impaired which would adversely affect our business, financial results and customer relationships.

We experience difficulty in accurately predicting the timing of the sale of products and amounts of revenue generated from sales of our products, primarily in developing countries. The establishment of a business relationship with a potential customer is a lengthy process, usually taking several months or more. Following the establishment of the relationship, the negotiation of purchase terms can be time-consuming, and a potential customer may require an extended evaluation and testing period. Once a purchase agreement has been executed, the timing and amount of revenue, if applicable, may remain difficult to predict. Our typical product sales cycle, which results in our products being designed into our customers' networks, can take 12 to 24 months. A number of factors contribute to the length of the sales cycle, including technical evaluations of our products and the design process required to integrate our products into our customers' networks. The completion of services such as installation and testing of the customer's networks and the completion of all other suppliers' network elements are subject to the customer's timing and efforts and other factors outside our control, each of which may prevent us from making predictions of revenue with any certainty and could cause us to experience substantial period-to-period fluctuations in our operating results. Due to the challenges from our lengthy sales cycle, our recognition of revenue from our selling efforts may be substantially delayed, our ability to forecast our future revenue may be more limited and our revenue may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter. Our operating results are expected to be difficult to predict and delays in product delivery or closing a sale can cause revenue, margins and net income or loss to fluctuate significantly from anticipated levels. A substantial portion of our contracts are completed in the latter part of a quarter and a significant percentage of these are large orders. Because a significant portion of our cost structure is largely fixed in the short term, revenue shortfalls tend to have a disproportionately negative impact on our profitability and can increase our inventory. The number of large new transactions also increases the risk of fluctuations in our quarterly results because a delay in even a small number of these transactions could cause our quarterly revenues and profitability to fall significantly short of our predictions. In addition, we may increase spending in response to competitive actions, in pursuit of new market opportunities, or to mitigate supply chain disruptions. Accordingly, we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to achieve profitability in the future or that if profitability is attained, that we will be able to sustain profitability, particularly on a quarter-to-quarter basis.

We do not expect that our disclosure controls or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well-designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system's objectives will be met. The design of a control system must reflect the fact that resource constraints exist, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Further, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple errors or mistakes, including at times of personnel turnover. Controls can also be circumvented by individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management's override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of controls to future periods are subject to risks. Over time, controls may become inadequate due to changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures. If our controls become inadequate, we could fail to meet our financial reporting obligations, our reputation may be adversely affected, our business and operating results could be harmed, and the market price of our stock could decline. We may not be successful implementing internal control procedures related to acquired businesses. Our evaluation and remediation of assessed deficiencies over internal controls, if any, could require us to incur significant expense and adversely affect our operating results, investor confidence and our stock price. As discussed in Note 16. Revisions to Prior Period Consolidated Financial Statements of the Notes to the consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent to the issuance of the consolidated financial statements and related disclosures for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, the Company identified certain errors in its previously issued consolidated financial statements related to estimated total contract costs and progress to completion for an over-time arrangement. The Company has identified additional errors impacting the quarterly financial statements for fiscal 2024 related to the recognition of revenue prior to performance obligations being met and related to journal entries recorded in error. In accordance with ASC 250, Accounting Changes and Error Corrections and Staff Accounting Bulletins ("SAB") No. 99, Materiality and No. 108, Considering the Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in Current Year Financial Statements, the Company evaluated the materiality of the errors and determined that the impacts were not material, individually or in the aggregate, to the Company's previously issued consolidated financial statements for any of the prior reporting periods in which they occurred, but that correcting the error in the current reporting period would be material to the Company's results of operations for fiscal 2024. As a result, the Company has restated the prior period financial statements and related disclosures for fiscal 2023 to correct the errors. The Company will also correct previously issued quarterly financial statements and related disclosures for such immaterial errors in future filings, as applicable (see "Part II, Item 9B. Other Information" below for additional information). Under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we are required to evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. Ineffective internal control over financial reporting could result in errors in our financial statements, reduce investor confidence, and adversely affect our stock price. As disclosed in Part II, Item 9A "Controls and Procedures" in this Form 10-K, we concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective for the fiscal year ended June 28, 2024, due to certain material weaknesses identified related to an ineffective control environment, ineffective control activities, and ineffective monitoring activities. We implemented certain corrective measures in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, including hiring a new Chief Financial Officer, Head of Internal Audit, and backfilling vacancies resulting from key finance and accounting personnel turnover. However, due to the material weaknesses described above, there is a reasonable possibility that our existing controls would not have detected a material misstatement in a timely manner if it were to be material. These measures are part of a process of remediating the material weaknesses that is under way and that we believe will remediate the material weaknesses. However, if we are unable to remediate the material weaknesses in an appropriate and timely manner, or if we identify additional control deficiencies that individually or together constitute significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, our ability to accurately record, process, and report financial information and, consequently, our ability to prepare financial statements within required time periods, could be adversely affected. Our failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in violations of applicable securities laws and stock exchange listing requirements; subject us to litigation and investigations; negatively affect investor confidence in our financial statements; and adversely impact our stock price and ability to access capital markets.

The market for our products and services is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards and frequent new product introductions. Our future success will depend, in part, on continuous timely development and introduction of new products and enhancements that address evolving market requirements and are attractive to customers. If we fail to develop or introduce, on a timely basis, new products or product enhancements or features that achieve market acceptance, our business may suffer. Additionally, we work closely with a variety of third-party partners to develop new product features and new platforms. Should our partners face delays in the development process, then the timing of the rollout of our new products may be significantly impacted which may negatively impact our revenue and gross margin. Another factor impacting our future success is the growth in the customer demand of our new products. Rapidly changing technology, frequent new product introductions and enhancements, short product life cycles and changes in customer requirements characterize the markets for our products. We believe that successful new product introductions provide a significant competitive advantage because of the significant resources committed by customers in adopting new products and their reluctance to change products after these resources have been expended. We have spent, and expect to continue to spend, significant resources on internal research and development to support our effort to develop and introduce new products and enhancements. As we transition to new product platforms, we face significant risk that the development of our new products may not be accepted by our current customers or by new customers. To the extent that we fail to introduce new and innovative products that are adopted by customers, we could fail to obtain an adequate return on these investments and could lose market share to our competitors, which could be difficult or impossible to regain. Similarly, we may face decreased revenue, gross margins and profitability due to a rapid decline in sales of current products as customers hold spending to focus purchases on new product platforms. We could incur significant costs in completing the transition, including costs of inventory write-downs of the current product as customers transition to new product platforms. In addition, products or technologies developed by others may render our products non-competitive or obsolete and result in significant reduction in orders from our customers and the loss of existing and prospective customers.

The wireless telecommunications industry is characterized by vigorous protection and pursuit of intellectual property rights, which has resulted in often protracted and expensive litigation. Any litigation regarding patents or other owned or exclusively licensed intellectual property, including claims that our use of intellectual property infringes or violates the rights of others, could be costly and time-consuming and could divert our management and key personnel from our business operations. The complexity of the technology involved and the uncertainty of intellectual property litigation increase these risks. Such litigation or claims could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources. In the event of an adverse result in any such litigation, we could be required to pay substantial damages, cease the use and transfer of allegedly infringing technology or the sale of allegedly infringing products and expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology or obtain licenses for the infringing technology. We can give no assurances that we would be successful in developing such non-infringing technology or that any license for the infringing technology would be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. This could have a materially adverse effect on our business, results of operation, financial condition, competitive position and prospects.