DXP Enterprises (DXPE) Risk Factors

We are subject to federal, state, local, foreign and provincial environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. Fines and penalties may be imposed for non-compliance with applicable environmental, health and safety requirements and the failure to have or to comply with the terms and conditions of required permits. The failure by us to comply with applicable environmental, health and safety requirements could result in significant liabilities including fines, penalties, enforcement actions, third party claims for property damage and personal injury, requirements to clean up property or to pay for the costs of cleanup, or regulatory or judicial orders requiring corrective measures, which could negatively impact our business.

The loss of the services of any of the executive officers of the Company could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, our ability to grow successfully will be dependent upon our ability to attract and retain qualified management and technical and operational personnel. The failure to attract and retain such persons could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

A portion of our revenue depends upon the level of capital and operating expenditures in the oil and natural gas industry. Therefore, a significant decline in oil or natural gas prices could lead to a decrease in our customers' capital and other expenditures and could adversely affect our revenues.

We conduct a meaningful amount of business outside of the U.S. We could be adversely affected by economic, legal, political and regulatory developments in countries that we conduct business in. We have meaningful operations in Canada in which the functional currency is denominated in Canadian dollars. We also have operations in Dubai, where the functional currency is dirham. As the value of currencies in foreign countries in which we have operations increases or decreases related to the U.S. dollar, the sales, expenses, profits, losses assets and liabilities of our foreign operations, as reported in our consolidated financial statements, increase or decrease, accordingly.

Certain areas in which we operate are susceptible to adverse weather conditions or natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and earthquakes. These events can disrupt our operations, result in damage to our properties and negatively affect the local economies in which we operate. Additionally, we may experience communication disruptions with our customers, vendors and employees. We cannot predict whether or to what extent damage caused by these events will affect our operations or the economies in regions where we operate. These adverse events could result in disruption of our purchasing or distribution capabilities, interruption of our business that exceeds our insurance coverage, our inability to collect from customers and increased operating costs. Our business or results of operations may be adversely affected by these and other negative effects of these events.

Through our sales channels and electronic communications with customers generally, we collect and maintain confidential information that customers provide to us in order to purchase products or services. We also acquire and retain information about suppliers and employees in the normal course of business. Computer hackers may attempt to penetrate our information systems or our vendors' information systems and, if successful, misappropriate confidential customer, supplier, employee or other business information. In addition, one of our employees, contractors or other third party may attempt to circumvent security measures in order to obtain such information or inadvertently cause a breach involving such information. Loss of information could expose us to claims from customers, suppliers, financial institutions, regulators, payment card associations, employees and other persons, any of which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. We may not be able to adequately insure against cyber risks. Despite our security measures and those of our third-party service providers, our systems may be vulnerable to interruption or damage from computer hacks, computer viruses, worms or other destructive or disruptive software, process breakdowns, denial of service attacks, malicious social engineering or other malicious activities, or any combination of the foregoing. Our computer systems have been, and will likely continue to be, subject to cyber incidents. A cyber incident is considered to be any adverse event that threatens the confidentiality, integrity or availability of our information resources. More specifically, a cyber incident is an intentional attack or an unintentional event that can include gaining unauthorized access to systems to disrupt operations, corrupt data or steal confidential information. Our three primary risks that could directly result from the occurrence of a cyber incident include operational interruption, damage to our reputation and image and private data exposure. For example, in August 2020, the Company's computer network was the target of a cyber-attack that we believe was orchestrated by a foreign actor. The systems housing confidential vendor, customer and employee data were not breached in this attack. The costs incurred to remedy the breach were not material to the results of the Company, and the increased cost of future mitigating measures are not expected to be material to our results. However, in the future, if we suffer a more significant cyber incident, we may be required to shut off our computer systems, reboot them and reestablish our information from back up sources. In other future incidents, we may be required under various laws to notify any third parties whose data has been compromised. While we have implemented controls and taken other preventative actions to further strengthen our systems against future attacks, these controls and preventative actions may not be effective against future attacks. Any breach of network, information systems, or our data security could result in a disruption of our services or improper disclosure of personal data or confidential information, which could harm our reputation, require us to expend resources to remedy such a security breach or defend against further attacks or subject us to liability under laws that protect personal data, resulting in increased operating costs or loss of revenue.

The proper functioning of the Company's information systems is critical to the successful operation of our business. Our information systems are vulnerable to natural disasters, power losses, telecommunication failures and other problems despite the protection of our information systems through physical and software safeguards and remote processing capabilities. If critical information systems fail or are otherwise unavailable, The Company's ability to procure products to sell, process and ship customer orders, identify business opportunities, maintain proper levels of inventories, collect accounts receivable and pay accounts payable and expenses could be adversely affected.

Our business is highly competitive. We compete with a variety of industrial supply distributors, some of which may have greater financial and other resources than us. Although many of our traditional distribution competitors are small enterprises selling to customers in a limited geographic area, we also compete with larger distributors that provide integrated supply programs such as those offered through outsourcing services similar to those that are offered by our SCS segment. Some of these large distributors may be able to supply their products in a more timely and cost-efficient manner than us. Our competitors include catalog suppliers, large warehouse stores and, to a lesser extent, certain manufacturers. Competitive pressures could adversely affect the Company's sales and profitability.

Typically, MRO products have been purchased through distributors and not directly from the manufacturers of those products. If customers were to purchase our products directly from manufacturers, or if manufacturers sought to increase their efforts to sell directly to end users, we could experience a significant decrease in sales and earnings.