Celestica (CLS) Risk Factors

There is some uncertainty with respect to the pace of rising labor costs (including minimum wage increases that are government-mandated from time to time), and increasing competition for specific talent/resources in various regions in which we operate. Any increase in labor costs that we are unable to recover in our pricing to our customers would negatively impact our margins and operating results.

The recruitment of personnel in the EMS and ODM industries is highly competitive. We believe that our future success depends, in part, on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled executive, technical and management talent in the various geographies in which we operate. Competitive dynamics, as well as the time required to replace or redistribute responsibilities related to the loss of the services of certain executive, management and technical employees, individually or in the aggregate, could have a material adverse effect on our operations, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to retain their services. Regional competitive dynamics may also impact our ability to retain and acquire talent. Organizational changes may impact our relationships with customers, vendors, and employees, potentially resulting in loss of business, loss of vendor relationships, and the loss of key employees or declines in employee productivity. Uncertainties associated with any senior management transitions could lead to concerns from current and potential third parties with whom we do business, any of which could hurt our business prospects. Turnover in key leadership positions within the Company, or any failure to successfully integrate key new hires or promoted employees, may adversely impact our ability to manage the Company efficiently and effectively, could be disruptive and distracting to management and may lead to additional departures of existing personnel, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial results and/or internal control over financial reporting.

The purchase of materials and electronic components represents a significant portion of our costs. We rely on third parties to provide such items. Materials shortages or other issues affecting timely access to these materials (which often occur in our industry) may impact our ability to successfully complete a program. A delay or interruption in supply from a component supplier, especially for single-sourced components, could have a significant impact on our operations and on our customers if we are unable to deliver finished products in a timely manner. If the amount we are required to pay for equipment and supplies exceeds what we have estimated, especially in a fixed price contract, we may suffer losses on these contracts. If a supplier or manufacturer fails to provide components, supplies or equipment as required under a contract, we may be required to source these items from other third parties on a delayed basis or on less favorable terms, which could impact our profitability. Additionally, quality or reliability issues at any of our component providers, or financial difficulties that affect their production and ability to supply us with components, could halt or delay production of a customer's product, or result in claims against us for failure to meet required customer specifications, which could materially adversely impact our operating results. Shortages may also result in our carrying higher levels of inventory and extended lead-times, or result in increased component prices, which may require price increases in the products and services that we provide. Any increase in our costs that we are unable to recover would negatively impact our margins and operating results. Changes in forecasted volumes or in our customers' requirements can also negatively affect our ability to obtain components and adversely impact our operating results. We have experienced materials constraints from certain suppliers in recent years, due in part to industry-wide shortages for certain electronic components. These constraints were significantly exacerbated by COVID-19 (including as a result of COVID-19-related workforce constraints on the factories of certain of our suppliers) in 2020 to 2022. As we are dependent on our suppliers to prioritize their manufacturing to produce the products we need to fulfill our customer orders, these shortages caused delays in the production of customer products in both of our segments, and in combination with volatile market demand, resulted in adverse impacts on our margins and higher-than-expected levels of inventory in recent years. As global supply shortages for certain components continued during 2023 (although to a lesser extent than in recent prior years), we have been placing purchase orders with longer-than-usual lead times (in some cases in excess of one year), in order to secure materials needed for production. Combined with other supply chain management techniques and collaboration with our customers and suppliers, materials constraints did not have a material impact on our revenues or expenses during 2023. However, we continue to experience extended lead-times for certain components, and adverse impacts of materials constraints will remain a risk to us for at least the near term. Some sub-tier suppliers providing raw materials such as palladium, neon gas and high-grade aluminum are partially dependent on supply from Russia/Ukraine region. In addition, we source some parts from certain suppliers located in Israel. Although the impact of the Russia/Ukraine conflict and the Middle East Conflicts on our supply chain has not been significant to date, we cannot assure that this will continue to be the case, and we may experience, among other impacts, export restrictions and further increases to fuel costs. See "Geopolitical uncertainty, including as a result of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and/or the Middle East Conflicts, may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations," and "Our products and services involve inventory risk," as well as Item 5, Operating and Financial Review and Prospects - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) - "Recent Developments – Segment Environment" and "Liquidity - Contractual Obligations."

We are a foreign private issuer, and are therefore not required to comply with all of the periodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of the Exchange Act applicable to U.S. domestic issuers. If more than 50% of our outstanding voting securities are directly or indirectly owned of record by residents of the U.S., we would lose our foreign private issuer status. If we lose our foreign private issuer status, we would be required to comply with the Exchange Act reporting and other requirements applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, which are more detailed and extensive than the requirements for foreign private issuers. For example, we would be required to change our basis of accounting from IFRS to U.S. GAAP, which could also result in potentially material changes to historical financial statements previously prepared on the basis of IFRS. We would also be required to comply with U.S. federal proxy requirements; our officers, directors, and more than 10% shareholders will become subject to the disclosure and short-swing profit recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act; and we would lose our ability to rely upon exemptions from certain corporate governance rules of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Further, to guarantee continuity of supply for many of our customers, we are required to manufacture and warehouse specified quantities of finished goods. The uncertainty of demand in our customers' end markets, intense competition in our customers' industries and general order volume volatility from time to time result in customers delaying or canceling the delivery of products we manufacture for them or placing purchase orders for lower volumes of products than previously anticipated. This may result in higher than expected levels of inventory, which could in turn have a material adverse impact on our operating results and working capital performance. Although the levels of inventory we carry in any period reflect inventory required to support new program ramps and business growth, inventory levels are also impacted by demand volatility and significant product mix changes, including late changes from customers, as well as materials constraints from suppliers (which persisted in 2023, but to a lesser extent than in 2022). We may not be able to return or re-sell excess inventory resulting from these factors, or we may be required to hold such inventory for a period of time, any of which may result in higher working capital needs (offset in part by customer cash deposits), and/or a requirement to record additional (and higher-than-typical) reserves for excess or obsolete inventory (as occurred in 2022 and 2023). Order cancellations and delays could also lower our asset utilization, resulting in higher levels of unproductive assets, lower inventory turns, and lower margins. See "Our products and services involve inventory risk."

The semiconductor industry is highly cyclical and is currently experiencing, and in the past has experienced, significant economic downturns, often in connection with, or in anticipation of, maturing product cycles or a decline in general economic conditions. These downturns are characterized by diminished product demand, lower volumes and rapid erosion of average selling prices, resulting in revenue declines, production overcapacity, and excess inventory. The timing, length and volatility of these cycles are difficult to predict. The quick onset of demand changes, as well as the high level of fixed costs associated with this business, exacerbate the adverse impact of these downturns on our operating results. Actions taken to reduce our costs may be insufficient to align our structure with prevailing business conditions, and we may be unable to invest in R&D and engineering at the levels we believe are necessary to maintain our competitive position. On the other hand, in the event of a significant upturn, we may not be able to expand our workforce and operations in a sufficiently timely manner, procure adequate resources and raw materials, or locate suitable third-party suppliers to respond effectively to changes in demand for our existing products or to the demand for new products requested by our customers. Any of the foregoing may adversely affect our margins, cash flow, and our ability to grow our revenue, and may increase the variability of our operating results from period to period.

In any given quarter, we can experience quality and process variances related to materials, testing, or other manufacturing or supply chain activities. Although we are successful in resolving the majority of such issues, the existence of these variances could cause us to incur significant costs in relation to corrective actions, have a material adverse impact on the demand for our services in future periods from any affected customers, damage our reputation, and/or have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.

Customer relationships with emerging companies present special risks because we do not have an extensive product or customer relationship history. There is less demonstration of market acceptance of their products making it harder for us to anticipate requirements than with established customers. Our credit risk on these customers, especially in accounts receivable (A/R) and inventories, and the risk that these customers will be unable to fulfill indemnification obligations to us, are potentially increased.

We depend upon a small number of customers for a substantial portion of our revenue. Our top 10 customers represented 64% of our total revenue in 2023 (each of 2022 and 2021 - 66%). We also remain dependent upon revenue from our Connectivity and Cloud Solutions (CCS) segment, which represented 58% of our consolidated revenue in 2023 (each of 2022 and 2021 - 59%). Notwithstanding the expansion of our Advanced Technology Solutions (ATS) segment and growth in our Hardware Platform Solutions (HPS) business and high-value EMS programs (including with hyperscalers), we remain dependent on our traditional CCS business for a portion of our revenue, which continues to experience slower growth rates, increased pricing pressures and a highly competitive marketplace, including from original design manufacturers (ODMs). A decline in revenue from, or the loss of, any significant customer could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results. We cannot assure: (i) the replacement of completed, delayed, cancelled or reduced orders with new business; (ii) that our current customers will continue to utilize our services consistent with historical volumes or at all; and/or (iii) that our customers will renew their long-term manufacturing or services contracts with us on acceptable terms or at all. There can also be no assurance that our efforts to secure new customers and programs will succeed in reducing our customer concentration. Failure to secure business from existing or new customers in any of our end markets would adversely impact our operating results. Any of the foregoing may adversely affect our margins, cash flow, and our ability to grow our revenue, and may increase the variability of our operating results from period to period. See "Our revenue and operating results may vary significantly from period to period."

Concerns over global economic conditions, financial markets, geopolitical issues, energy costs, inflation, and the availability and cost of credit, have contributed to increased global economic and political uncertainty. The political environment in the U.S., tensions between the U.S. and other countries (including threats of retaliatory action from the Chinese government due to continuing tensions between the U.S. and China), the continuing Russia/Ukraine conflict, Middle East Conflicts, and increased tensions between mainland China and Taiwan, have contributed to such uncertainty. All of the foregoing factors are outside of our control. See "Our operations have been and could continue to be adversely affected by events outside our control," "U.S. policies or legislation could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition," and "Geopolitical uncertainty, including as a result of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and/or the Middle East Conflicts, may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations." Uncertain global economies have adversely impacted, and may continue to unpredictably impact, currency exchange rates. See "We are exposed to translation and transaction risks associated with foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; hedging instruments may not be effective in mitigating such risks." Financial market instability may result in lower returns on our financial investments, and lower values on some of our assets. Our operating costs have increased, and may continue to increase, as a result of the recent growth in inflation due to, among other things, the Russia/Ukraine conflict and related international response, and the uncertain economic environment. Although we have been successful in offsetting the majority of our increased costs with increased pricing for our products and services to date, unrecovered increased operating costs in future periods would adversely impact our margins. We cannot predict future trends in the rate of inflation or other negative economic factors or associated increases. In the event of a further economic slowdown or recession, we may experience declines in revenues, profitability and cash flows from lower customer demand, including as a result of payment delays, collection difficulties, increased pricing pressures and other factors caused by the impact of adverse economic conditions on our customers. Adverse conditions in the financial and credit markets, lower consumer confidence and spending, inflation, higher labor, healthcare, and insurance costs, fluctuating fuel and commodities costs and their effects on the U.S. and global economies and markets are all examples of negative factors which could cause customers to delay or forgo use of our services. These economic conditions may also reduce our customers' operating budgets or ability to commit funds to purchase our solutions or renew their existing contracts with us. If an economic recession is followed by a slow and relatively weak recovery, the effects from a broadening or protracted extension of these negative economic conditions on our customers could have a significant adverse effect on our revenues, cash flows and results of operations. General uncertainty surrounding the global economic environment and geopolitical outlook may impact current and future demand for some of the products we manufacture or services we provide, the financial condition of our customers and/or suppliers, as well as the number and pace of customer consolidations. If any of the foregoing impacts the financial condition of our customers, they may delay payments to us or request extended payment terms, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and working capital. If any of the foregoing impacts the financial condition of our suppliers, this may have an adverse effect on our operations, financial condition and/or customer relationships. We cannot predict the precise nature, extent, or duration of these economic or political conditions or if they will have any impact on our financial results. A deterioration in the economic environment may exacerbate the effect of the various risk factors described in this Annual Report and could result in other unforeseen events that may adversely impact our business and financial condition.

We rely on a variety of contracted or common carriers to transport raw materials and components from our suppliers to us, and to transport our products to our customers. The use of contracted or common carriers is subject to a number of risks, including increased costs due to rising energy prices and labor, vehicle and insurance costs; hijacking and theft resulting in lost shipments; delivery delays resulting from port congestion and labor shortages and/or strikes; and other factors beyond our control. Although we attempt to mitigate our liability for any losses resulting from these risks through the use of multiple carriers and modes of transport, as well as insurance, any costs or losses relating to shipping or shipping delays that cannot be mitigated, avoided or passed on to our customers could reduce our profitability, require us to manufacture replacement products or damage our relationships with our customers. Although we have incurred some increased shipping expenses and delays as a result of the Middle East Conflicts, such increases and delays have not been significant to date. However, we cannot assure that this will continue to be the case.

We are subject to various federal/national, state/provincial, local, foreign and supra-national environmental laws and regulations. Maintaining compliance with and responding to increasingly stringent environmental regulations requires a significant investment of time and resources and may restrict our ability to modify or expand our manufacturing sites or to continue production. Although our environmental management systems and practices have been designed to provide for compliance with these laws and regulations, such compliance cannot be assured, and any failure to comply with these laws and regulations may result in significant fines and penalties, our operations may be suspended or subjected to increased oversight, and our cost of related investigations could be material in any period. More complex and stringent environmental legislation continues to be imposed globally, including laws that place increased responsibility and requirements on the "producers" of electronic equipment and, in turn, their providers and suppliers. Such laws may relate to product inputs (such as hazardous substances and energy consumption), product use (such as energy efficiency and waste management/recycling), and/or operational outputs/by-products from our manufacturing processes that can result in environmental contamination (such as waste water, air emissions and hazardous waste). Noncompliance with these requirements could result in substantial costs, including fines and penalties, and we may incur liability to our customers and consumers. Even where compliance responsibility rests primarily with our customers, they may request our assistance in meeting their obligations. Our customers remain focused on issues such as waste management (including recycling), climate change (including the reduction of carbon emissions) and product stewardship, and expect their EMS providers to be environmental leaders. We strive to meet such customer expectations, although these demands may extend beyond our regulatory obligations and require significant investments of time and resources to attract and retain customers. We generally conduct environmental assessments, or review assessment reports undertaken by others, for our manufacturing sites at the time of acquisition or leasing. However, such assessments may not reveal all environmental liabilities, and assessments have not been obtained for all sites. In addition, some of our operations involve the use of hazardous substances that could cause environmental impacts. While we have operational systems to provide environmental management, we cannot rule out all risk of non-compliance and could incur substantial costs to comply. Although if deemed necessary, we may investigate, remediate or monitor emissions and site conditions at some of our owned or leased sites (such as air, soil and/or groundwater conditions), we may not be aware of, or adequately address, all such emissions and conditions, and we may incur significant costs should such work be required. In many jurisdictions in which we operate, environmental laws impose liability for the costs of removal, remediation or risk assessment of hazardous or toxic substances on an owner, occupier or operator of real estate, even if such person or company was unaware of or not responsible for the discharge or migration of such substances. In some instances, where soil or groundwater contamination existed prior to our ownership or occupation, landlords or former owners may have retained some contractual responsibility or regulatory liability, but this may not provide sufficient protection to reduce or eliminate our liability. Third-party claims for damages or personal injury are also possible and could result in significant costs to us. If more stringent compliance or cleanup standards under environmental laws or regulations are imposed, or the results of future testing and analyses at our current or former operating sites indicate that we are responsible for the release of hazardous substances into the air, ground and/or water, we may be subject to additional liability. Additional environmental matters may arise in the future at sites where no problem is currently known or at sites that we may acquire in the future. Our HealthTech business is subject to regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Health Canada, the European Medicines Agency, and similar regulatory bodies in other jurisdictions, relating to the medical devices and hardware we manufacture for our customers. Our sites that deliver products to the healthcare industry are certified or registered in applicable quality management standards. We are required to comply with various statutes and regulations related to the design, development, testing, manufacturing and labeling of our medical devices. Any failure to comply with these regulations could result in fines, injunctions, product recalls, import detentions, additional regulatory controls, suspension of production, and/or the shutting down of one or more of our sites, among other adverse outcomes. Failure to comply with these regulations may also materially affect our reputation and/or relationships with customers and regulators. We provide design, engineering and manufacturing related services to our customers in the A&D business. As part of these services, we are subject to substantial regulation from government agencies including the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Our A&D sites are certified in quality management standards applicable to the A&D industry. Failure to comply with these regulations or the loss of any of our quality management certifications may result in fines, penalties and injunctions, and could prevent us from executing on current or winning future contracts, any of which may materially adversely affect our financial condition and operating results. In addition to quality management standards, there are several other U.S. regulations with which we are required to comply, including the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), which provides uniform policies and procedures for acquisition; the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, a DOD agency supplement to the FAR that provides DOD-specific acquisition regulations that DOD government acquisition officials, and those contractors doing business with DOD, must comply with in the procurement process for goods and services; and the Truth in Negotiations Act, which requires full and fair disclosure by contractors in the conduct of negotiations with the government and its prime contractors. These rules are complex, our performance under them is subject to audit by the U.S. Defense Contract Audit Agency, the U.S. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and other government regulators, and in most cases must be complied with by our suppliers. If an audit or investigation reveals a failure to comply with regulations, we could become subject to civil or criminal penalties and administrative sanctions by either the government or the prime customer, including government pre-approval of our government contracting activities, termination of the contract, payment of fines and suspension or debarment from doing further business with the U.S. government. Any of these actions could increase our expenses, reduce our revenue and damage our reputation as a reliable U.S. government supplier. We are also subject to the export control laws and regulations of the countries in which we operate, including, but not limited to, the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations. Our international operations require us to comply with various anti-bribery laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (Canada) (CFPOA). In some countries in which we operate, it may be customary for businesses to engage in business practices that are prohibited by the FCPA, CFPOA or other laws and regulations. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with the FCPA, CFPOA and similar laws in other jurisdictions, there can be no assurance that all of our employees and agents, as well as those companies to which we outsource certain business operations, will not be in violation of these laws and our policies or procedures. In addition to the difficulty of monitoring compliance, any suspected or alleged activity would require a costly investigation by us and may result in the diversion of management's time, resources and attention. Failure to comply with these laws may subject us to, among other things, adverse publicity, penalties and legal expenses that may harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. As a public company, we are subject to stringent laws, regulations and other requirements, including the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the U.S. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), affecting, among other areas, our accounting, internal controls, corporate governance practices, securities disclosures and reporting. For example, due to our complex supply chain, compliance with Dodd-Frank diligence, disclosure and reporting requirements with respect to defined "conflict minerals" is time-consuming and costly. If we are unable to ascertain the origins of all such minerals used in the manufacturing of our products through the due diligence procedures we implement, we may be unable to satisfy our customers' certification requirements. This may harm our reputation, damage our customer relationships and result in a loss of revenue. If the SEC rules or other new social or environmental standards limit our pool of suppliers in order to produce "conflict free" or "socially responsible" products, or otherwise adversely affect the sourcing, supply and pricing of materials used in our products, we could also experience cost increases and a material adverse impact on our operating results. Further, on March 6, 2024, the SEC adopted broad rules requiring significant new climate-related information in specified SEC filings. Although we have not yet assessed the impact of the new rules, as with any increase in reporting requirements, they can be expected to require increased compliance costs, management attention and administrative effort. We cannot currently assess whether these requirements will also have an impact on our environmental goals or targets.. In addition, whenever we pursue business in new end markets, or our customers pursue new technologies or businesses, we are required to navigate the potentially heavy regulatory and legislative burdens of such end markets or technologies, as well as applicable quality standards with respect thereto. The regulatory climate can itself affect the demand for our services. For example, government reimbursement rates and other regulations, as well as the financial health of healthcare providers, changes in how healthcare in the U.S. is structured, and how medical devices are taxed, could affect the willingness and ability of end customers to purchase the products of our customers in this market as well as impact our margins. Our customers are also required to comply with various government regulations, legal requirements and industry standards, including many of the industry-specific regulations discussed above. Our customers' failure to comply could affect their businesses, which in turn would affect our sales to them. In addition, if our customers are required by regulation or other requirements to make changes in their product lines, these changes could significantly disrupt particular programs for these customers and create inefficiencies in our business. In addition, a failure by a supplier or manufacturer to comply with applicable laws, regulations or customer requirements could negatively impact our business, and for governmental customers, could result in fines, penalties, suspension or even debarment being imposed on us, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition to government regulations and industry standards, our customers may require us to comply with their own climate change, social responsibility, conflict minerals, quality or other business policies or standards, which may be more restrictive than current laws and regulations and our pre-existing policies. Such policies or standards may be customer-driven, established by the industries in which we operate, or imposed by third party organizations. For example, we are a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA). The RBA is a non-profit coalition of companies that, among other things, establishes standards for its members in responsible and ethical practices in the areas of labor, environmental compliance, employee health and safety, ethics and social responsibility. Our compliance with these policies, standards and third-party certification requirements could be costly, and our failure to comply could adversely affect our operations, customer relationships, reputation and profitability.