LGL Group (LGL) Risk Factors

Our order backlog is comprised of orders that are subject to specific production release, orders under written contracts, oral and written orders from customers with which we have had long-standing relationships and written purchase orders from sales representatives. Our customers may order products from multiple sources to ensure timely delivery when backlog is particularly long and may cancel or defer orders without significant penalty. They also may cancel orders when business is weak, and inventories are excessive. As a result, we cannot provide assurances as to the portion of backlog orders to be filled in a given year, and our order backlog as of any particular date may not be representative of actual revenues for any subsequent period.

The equity securities in which we may invest may include common stock, preferred stock and securities convertible into common stock, as well as warrants to purchase these securities. The debt securities in which we may invest may include bonds, debentures, notes or non-rated mortgage-related securities, municipal obligations, bank debt and mezzanine loans. Certain of these securities may include lower rated or non-rated securities, which may provide the potential for higher yields and therefore may entail higher risk and may include the securities of bankrupt or distressed companies. In addition, we may engage in various investment techniques, including derivatives, options and futures transactions, foreign currency transactions, "short" sales and leveraging for either hedging or other purposes. We may concentrate our activities by owning significant or controlling interests in certain investments. We may not be successful in finding suitable opportunities to invest our cash and our strategy of investing in undervalued assets may expose us to numerous risks.

Our investments may not be successful for many reasons, including, but not limited to: - fluctuations of or sustained increases in interest rates;- lack of control in minority investments;- worsening of general economic and market conditions;- lack of diversification;- lack of success of the Merchant Investment business's strategies;- inflationary conditions;- fluctuations of U.S. dollar exchange rates; and - adverse legal and regulatory developments that may affect particular businesses.

As of December 31, 2023, we had investments in Cash and cash equivalents and Marketable securities with a fair market value of $40,733, which may be accessed on short notice to satisfy our liquidity needs. However, if the investments experience negative performance, the value of these investments will be negatively impacted, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, cash flows and financial position.

Investments by the Merchant Investment business may include investments in debt or equity securities of publicly traded companies or private companies that we do not control. Such investments may be acquired by the Merchant Investment business through open market trading activities or through purchases of securities from the issuer. These investments will be subject to the risk that the company in which the investment is made may make business, financial or management decisions with which our Merchant Investment business disagree or that the majority of stakeholders or the management of the company may take risks or otherwise act in a manner that does not serve the best interests of the Merchant Investment business. In addition, the Merchant Investment business may make investments in which it shares control over the investment with co-investors, which may make it more difficult for it to implement its investment approach or exit the investment when it otherwise would. If any of the foregoing were to occur, the values of the investments by the Merchant Investment business could decrease and our Merchant Investment business revenues could suffer as a result.

The Merchant Investment business may leverage its capital if management believes that the use of leverage may enable the Merchant Investment business to achieve a higher rate of return. Accordingly, the Merchant Investment business may pledge their securities in order to borrow additional funds for investment purposes. The Merchant Investment business may also leverage their investment return with options, short sales, swaps, forwards and other derivative instruments. The amount of borrowings that the Merchant Investment business may have outstanding at any time may be substantial in relation to their capital. While leverage may present opportunities for increasing the Merchant Investment business's total return, leverage may increase losses as well. Accordingly, any event that adversely affects the value of an investment by the Merchant Investment business would be magnified to the extent such fund is leveraged. The cumulative effect of the use of leverage by the Merchant Investment business in a market that moves adversely to the Merchant Investment business's investments could result in a substantial loss to the Merchant Investment business that would be greater than if the Merchant Investment business were not leveraged. There is no assurance that leverage will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. In general, the use of short-term margin borrowings results in certain additional risks to the Merchant Investment business. For example, should the securities pledged to brokers to secure any Merchant Investment business's margin accounts decline in value, the Merchant Investment business could be subject to a "margin call," pursuant to which it must either deposit additional funds or securities with the broker, or suffer mandatory liquidation of the pledged securities to compensate for the decline in value. In the event of a sudden drop in the value of any of the Merchant Investment business's assets, the Merchant Investment business might not be able to liquidate assets quickly enough to satisfy its margin requirements. The Merchant Investment business may enter into repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements. When the Merchant Investment business enters into a repurchase agreement, it "sells" securities issued by the U.S. or a non-U.S. government, or agencies thereof, to a broker-dealer or financial institution, and agrees to repurchase such securities for the price paid by the broker-dealer or financial institution, plus interest at a negotiated rate. In a reverse repurchase transaction, the Merchant Investment business "buys" securities issued by the U.S. or a non-U.S. government, or agencies thereof, from a broker-dealer or financial institution, subject to the obligation of the broker-dealer or financial institution to repurchase such securities at the price paid by the Merchant Investment business, plus interest at a negotiated rate. The use of repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements by any of the Merchant Investment business involves certain risks. For example, if the seller of securities to the Merchant Investment business under a reverse repurchase agreement defaults on its obligation to repurchase the underlying securities, as a result of its bankruptcy or otherwise, the Merchant Investment business will seek to dispose of such securities, which action could involve costs or delays. If the seller becomes insolvent and subject to liquidation or reorganization under applicable bankruptcy or other laws, the Merchant Investment business's ability to dispose of the underlying securities may be restricted. Finally, if a seller defaults on its obligation to repurchase securities under a reverse repurchase agreement, the Merchant Investment business may suffer a loss to the extent it is forced to liquidate its position in the market, and proceeds from the sale of the underlying securities are less than the repurchase price agreed to by the defaulting seller. The financing used by the Merchant Investment business to leverage its portfolio will be extended by securities brokers and dealers in the marketplace in which the Merchant Investment business invest. While the Merchant Investment business will attempt to negotiate the terms of these financing arrangements with such brokers and dealers, its ability to do so will be limited. The Merchant Investment business is therefore subject to changes in the value that the broker-dealer ascribes to a given security or position, the amount of margin required to support such security or position, the borrowing rate to finance such security or position and/or such broker-dealer's willingness to continue to provide any such credit to the Merchant Investment business. Because the Merchant Investment business currently have no alternative credit facility which could be used to finance its portfolio in the absence of financing from broker-dealers, it could be forced to liquidate its portfolio on short notice to meet its financing obligations. The forced liquidation of all or a portion of the Merchant Investment business's portfolios at distressed prices could result in significant losses to the Merchant Investment business.

- Generally, there are few limitations set forth in the governing documents of the Merchant Investment business on the execution of its investment activities, which are subject to the sole discretion of our management and the Investment Committee of the Board of Directors. - The Merchant Investment business may buy or sell (or write) both call options and put options, and when it writes options, it may do so on a covered or an uncovered basis. When the Merchant Investment business sell (or write) an option, the risk can be substantially greater than when it buys an option. The seller of an uncovered call option bears the risk of an increase in the market price of the underlying security above the exercise price. The risk is theoretically unlimited unless the option is covered. If it is covered, the Merchant Investment business would forego the opportunity for profit on the underlying security should the market price of the security rise above the exercise price. Swaps and certain options and other custom instruments are subject to the risk of non-performance by the swap counterparty, including risks relating to the creditworthiness of the swap counterparty, market risk, liquidity risk and operations risk. - The Merchant Investment business may engage in short-selling, which is subject to a theoretically unlimited risk of loss because there is no limit on how much the price of a security may appreciate before the short position is closed out. The Merchant Investment business may be subject to losses if a security lender demands return of the borrowed securities and an alternative lending source cannot be found or if the Merchant Investment business are otherwise unable to borrow securities that are necessary to hedge its positions. There can be no assurance that the Merchant Investment business will be able to maintain the ability to borrow securities sold short. There also can be no assurance that the securities necessary to cover a short position will be available for purchase at or near prices quoted in the market. - The ability of the Merchant Investment business to execute a short selling strategy may be materially adversely impacted by temporary and/or new permanent rules, interpretations, prohibitions and restrictions adopted in response to adverse market events. Regulatory authorities may from time-to-time impose restrictions that adversely affect the Merchant Investment business's ability to borrow certain securities in connection with short sale transactions. In addition, traditional lenders of securities might be less likely to lend securities under certain market conditions. As a result, the Merchant Investment business may not be able to effectively pursue a short selling strategy due to a limited supply of securities available for borrowing. - The Merchant Investment business may affect transactions through over-the-counter or inter-dealer markets. The participants in such markets are typically not subject to credit evaluation and regulatory oversight as are members of exchange-based markets. This exposes the Merchant Investment business to the risk that a counterparty will not settle a transaction in accordance with its terms and conditions because of a dispute over the terms of the contract (whether or not bona fide) or because of a credit or liquidity problem, thus causing the Merchant Investment business to suffer a loss. Such "counterparty risk" is accentuated for contracts with longer maturities where events may intervene to prevent settlement, or where the Merchant Investment business have concentrated its transactions with a single or small group of its counterparties. The Merchant Investment business is not restricted from dealing with any particular counterparty or from concentrating any or all of the Merchant Investment business's transactions with one counterparty. - Credit risk may arise through a default by one of several large institutions that are dependent on one another to meet their liquidity or operational needs, so that a default by one institution causes a series of defaults by other institutions. This systemic risk may materially adversely affect the financial intermediaries (such as prime brokers, clearing agencies, clearing houses, banks, securities firms and exchanges) with which the Merchant Investment business interact on a daily basis. - The efficacy of investment and trading strategies depends largely on the ability to establish and maintain an overall market position in a combination of financial instruments. The Merchant Investment business's trading orders may not be executed in a timely and efficient manner due to various circumstances, including systems failures or human error. In such event, the Merchant Investment business might only be able to acquire some but not all of the components of the position, or if the overall positions were to need adjustment, the Merchant Investment business might not be able to make such adjustment. As a result, the Merchant Investment business may not be able to achieve the market position selected by our Merchant Investment business and might incur a loss in liquidating their position. - The Merchant Investment business assets may be held in one or more accounts maintained for the Merchant Investment business by its prime brokers or at other brokers or custodian banks, which may be located in various jurisdictions. The prime broker, other brokers (including those acting as sub-custodians) and custodian banks are subject to various laws and regulations in the relevant jurisdictions in the event of their insolvency. Accordingly, the practical effect of these laws and their application to the Merchant Investment business's assets may be subject to substantial variations, limitations and uncertainties. The insolvency of any of the prime brokers, local brokers, custodian banks or clearing corporations may result in the loss of all or a substantial portion of the Merchant Investment business's assets or in a significant delay in the Merchant Investment business having access to those assets. - The Merchant Investment business may invest in synthetic instruments with various counterparties. In the event of the insolvency of any counterparty, the Merchant Investment business's recourse will be limited to the collateral, if any, posted by the counterparty and, in the absence of collateral, the Merchant Investment business will be treated as a general creditor of the counterparty. While the Merchant Investment business expect that returns on a synthetic financial instrument may reflect those of each related reference security, as a result of the terms of the synthetic financial instrument and the assumption of the credit risk of the counterparty, a synthetic financial instrument may have a different expected return. The Merchant Investment business may also invest in credit default swaps.

The Merchant Investment business may invest in securities of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers in weak financial condition, experiencing poor operating results, having substantial capital needs or negative net worth, facing special competitive or product obsolescence problems, or that are involved in bankruptcy or reorganization proceedings. Investments of this type may involve substantial financial, legal and business risks that can result in substantial, or at times even total, losses. The market prices of such securities are subject to abrupt and erratic market movements and above-average price volatility. It may take a number of years for the market price of such securities to reflect their intrinsic value. In liquidation (both in and out of bankruptcy) and other forms of corporate insolvency and reorganization, there exists the risk that the reorganization either will be unsuccessful (due to, for example, failure to obtain requisite approvals), will be delayed (for example, until various liabilities, actual or contingent, have been satisfied) or will result in a distribution of cash, assets or a new security the value of which will be less than the purchase price to the Merchant Investment business of the security in respect to which such distribution was made and the terms of which may render such security illiquid.

Our Merchant Investment business's revenue depends on the investments made by the Merchant Investment business. There are numerous and significant risks associated with these investments, certain of which are described in this risk factor and in other risk factors set forth herein. Certain investment positions held by the Merchant Investment business may be illiquid. The Merchant Investment business may own restricted or non-publicly traded securities and securities traded on foreign exchanges. We may also have significant influence with respect to certain companies owned by the Merchant Investment business, including representation on the board of directors of certain companies, and may be subject to trading restrictions with respect to specific positions in the Merchant Investment business at any particular time. These investments and trading restrictions could prevent the Merchant Investment business from liquidating unfavorable positions promptly and subject the Merchant Investment business to substantial losses. At any given time, the Merchant Investment business's assets may become highly concentrated within a particular company, industry, asset category, trading style or financial or economic market. In that event, the Merchant Investment business's investment portfolio will be more susceptible to fluctuations in value resulting from adverse events, developments or economic conditions affecting the performance of that particular company, industry, asset category, trading style or economic market than a less concentrated portfolio would be. As a result, the Merchant Investment business's investment portfolio's aggregate returns may be volatile and may be affected substantially by the performance of only one or a few holdings. The Merchant Investment business seeks to invest in securities that are undervalued. The identification of investment opportunities in undervalued securities is challenging, and there are no assurances that such opportunities will be successfully recognized or acquired. While investments in undervalued securities offer the opportunity for above-average capital appreciation, these investments involve a high degree of financial risk and can result in substantial losses. Returns generated from the Merchant Investment business's investments may not adequately compensate for the business and financial risks assumed. From time to time, the Merchant Investment business may invest in bonds or other fixed income securities, such as commercial paper and higher yielding (and, therefore, higher risk) debt securities. It is likely that a major economic recession could severely disrupt the market for such securities and may have a material adverse impact on the value of such securities. In addition, it is likely that any such economic downturn could adversely affect the ability of the issuers of such securities to repay principal and pay interest thereon and increase the incidence of default for such securities. For reasons not necessarily attributable to any of the risks set forth in this Report (e.g., supply/demand imbalances or other market forces), the prices of the securities in which the Merchant Investment business invest may decline substantially. In particular, purchasing assets at what may appear to be undervalued levels is no guarantee that these assets will not be trading at even more undervalued or otherwise lower levels at a future time of valuation or at the time of sale. The prices of financial instruments in which the Merchant Investment business may invest can be highly volatile. Price movements of forward and other derivative contracts in which the Merchant Investment business's assets may be invested are influenced by, among other things, interest rates, changing supply and demand relationships, trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs and policies of governments, and national and international political and economic events and policies. The Merchant Investment business is subject to the risk of failure of any of the exchanges on which their positions trade or of their clearinghouses.

We intend to continue exploring opportunities to buy other businesses or technologies that could complement, enhance, or expand our current business or product line, or that might otherwise offer us growth opportunities. We may have difficulty finding such opportunities or, if such opportunities are identified, we may not be able to complete such transactions for reasons including a failure to secure necessary financing. Any transactions that we are able to identify and complete may involve a number of risks, including: ? The diversion of our management's attention from the management of our existing business to the integration of the operations and personnel of the acquired or combined business or joint venture;? Material business risks not identified in due diligence;? Possible adverse effects on our operating results during the integration process;? Substantial acquisition-related expenses, which would reduce our net income, if any, in future years;? The loss of key employees and customers as a result of changes in management; and ? Our possible inability to achieve the intended objectives of the transaction. In addition, we may not be able to integrate, operate, maintain or manage, successfully or profitably, our newly acquired operations or employees. We may not be able to maintain uniform standards, controls, policies and procedures, and this may lead to operational inefficiencies. Any of these difficulties could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.