Napco Security Technologies (NSSC) Risk Analysis

We compete with approximately 12 other companies that manufacture and market security equipment to distributors, dealers, control stations and original equipment manufacturers in the U.S. Most of these companies may have substantially greater financial and other resources than the Company. The Company competes primarily on the basis of the features, quality, reliability and pricing of, and the incorporation of the latest innovative and technological advances into its products, as well as technical support services to its customers. The Company competes on the basis of its expertise, its proven products, its reputation and its ability to provide products to customers on a timely basis. The inability of the Company to compete with respect to any one or more of the aforementioned factors could have an adverse impact on the Company's business. Our business may also be materially adversely affected by the announcement or introduction of new products and services by our competitors, and the implementation of effective marketing or sales strategies by our competitors. Our industry is characterized by constantly improved products. There can be no assurance that competitors will not develop products that are superior to the Company's products. We have historically invested approximately 5% to 8% of annual revenues on R&D to mitigate this risk. However, many of our competitors have dedicated more resources and capabilities to R&D, including committing more engineers and capital expenditures, to develop and design new product that may enter the markets sooner or with more penetration. Future success will depend, in part, on our ability to continue to develop and market products and product enhancements cost-effectively. The Company's research and development expenditures are principally targeted at enhancing existing products, and to a lesser extent at developing new ones. Further, there can be no assurance that the Company will not experience additional price competition, and that such competition may not adversely affect the Company's revenues and results of operations

We rely on introduction of new products and services to penetrate new markets and identify additional sources of revenues order to grow our business. However, many of our distributors and customers may not be willing to change or switch to new products and equipment, or may require an extended period time to assess, test and evaluate functionalities and performance of our new products. Any delays in establishing widespread acceptance of our new products may adversely affect our financial performance and growth. In order to ensure market acceptance of new products, we have incurred and expect to incur significant expenses in sales and marketing campaign, and we may not be able to justify such costs if the effort does not produce sufficient sales and customer accounts. We believe that building and maintaining market awareness, brand recognition and goodwill of our business and products in a cost-effective manner is important to our overall success in achieving widespread acceptance of our existing and future products and is an important element in attracting new customers. An important part of our business strategy is to increase awareness of our brand and to provide marketing leadership, services and support to our distributor and customer network. While we may choose to engage in a broader marketing campaign to further promote our brand, this effort may not be successful. Our efforts in developing our brand may be hindered by the marketing efforts of our competitors and our reliance on our third parties to promote our brand. If we are unable to cost-effectively maintain and increase awareness of our brand, our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations could be harmed.

Any epidemics, pandemics, or similar outbreaks such as COVID-19 and its variants could create economic uncertainty and disruptions to the global economy that could adversely affect our businesses, or could lead to operational difficulties, including travel limitations, that could impair our ability to manage or conduct our business. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related economic downturn, we experienced a decline in the demand for our products, as our distributors and customers reduced orders and adjusted their inventory channel in response to slowdown in spending and demand for security products. While the economic recovery from this pandemic has resulted in increased demand for our products beginning in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, re-institution of a prolonged stay-at-home order, or any other continued decrease in economic activity as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, could have a negative adverse impact on our customers and their financial condition, which could impact their ability to meet their financial obligations and could result in elevated levels of delinquencies and bad debt losses. In addition, we rely upon our third-party vendors to provide parts and materials for us to produce our products. If any of these vendors are unable to continue to provide us with these parts and materials, it could negatively impact our ability to serve our customers. We also could be adversely affected if key personnel or a significant number of employees were to become unavailable due to the effects and restrictions of COVID-19 pandemic in areas where we operate. Beginning in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's operations lessened. However, the future impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain and subject to change. We cannot predict if there will be a resurgence of COVID-19 or a similar pandemic or outbreak, and when related governmental orders and restrictions will be eased or lifted, and any extension or prolonged implementation of these restrictions will further adversely affect our business, customers and financial results. Even after such orders and restrictions are eased or lifted, the severe economic harm and recession inflicted upon the jurisdictions and areas in which we operate may last for an extended period of time and continue to adversely affect our business and financial performance, and there is no guarantee that we will be able to act quickly and effectively to return to our normal operations. Any future epidemic, pandemic, or similar outbreak as the COVID-19 pandemic may have similar impacts, and we cannot currently anticipate the potential impact on our business and results of operations due to any such outbreak.

We are exposed to foreign currency risks due to our operations in the Dominican Republic. We have significant operations in the Dominican Republic, which conducts certain transactions in Dominican pesos. We are subject to the risk that currency exchange rates between the United States and the Dominican Republic will fluctuate significantly, potentially resulting in an increase in some of our expenses when US dollars are transferred to Dominican pesos to pay these expenses. For example, if the U.S. dollars weakens and the currency exchange rate is less favorable, it may be more costly for us to pay expenses for our factory in the Dominican Republic, which may adversely affect our financial conditions and results of operations.

We are subject to numerous state, federal and international laws and regulations that involve matters central to our business, including data privacy and security, employment and labor relations, immigration, taxation, anti-corruption, anti-bribery, import-export controls, trade restrictions, internal and disclosure control obligations, securities regulation and anti-competition. Compliance with legal requirements is costly, time-consuming and requires significant resources. Violations of one or more of these legal requirements in the conduct of our business, including by us, or any of our employees, distributors, or other service providers or partners, could result in significant fines and other damages, criminal sanctions against us or our employees, prohibitions on doing business and damage to our reputation. Violations of these regulations or contractual obligations related to regulatory compliance in connection with our products or commercial contracts could also result in liability for significant monetary damages, fines and criminal prosecution, unfavorable publicity, and other reputational damage, restrictions on our ability to compete for certain work and allegations by our customers that we have not performed our contractual obligations.

We are subject to and may become a party to various litigation matters, claims, investigations, enforcement actions, arbitrations, or other legal proceedings that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. Adverse judgments or settlements in some or all of these legal disputes may result in significant monetary damages, penalties, or injunctive relief against us. Any claims or litigation could be costly to defend, and even if we are successful or fully indemnified or insured, they could damage our reputation and make it more difficult to compete effectively or obtain adequate insurance in the future, and responding to any action may result in a significant diversion of management's attention and resources. For example, we are subject to a purported class action related to the restatement of our previously issued condensed financial statements with respect to the first three quarters of the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023. Litigation and other claims are subject to inherent uncertainties and management's view of these matters may change in the future.

We have operations both within the United States and offshore, with a portion of our operating income generated outside the United States. We intend to reinvest these earnings in our foreign operations indefinitely, except where we are able to repatriate these earnings to the United States without material incremental tax expense. A significant portion of our assets that result from these earnings remain outside the United States. If these indefinitely reinvested earnings were repatriated into the United States as dividends, we would be subject to additional withholding taxes.

We operate a manufacturing facility in Dominican Republic where the majority of our products is made and shipped to our U.S. distributors. The facility requires us to incur certain fixed operating costs that do not fluctuate with changes in production levels or utilization of our manufacturing capacity. If production levels decline due to lower demand or reduced customer orders, our fixed costs are spread over reduced levels, which may contribute to decreasing margins and reduced profitability. Operation of a manufacturing facility also subjects us to certain additional risks, including but not limited to the following: -          Unavailability of workers or insufficient workforce to operate the factory;-          Compliance with local regulatory requirements, including labor laws and tax requirements;-          Difficulties in communication and coordination with U.S. headquarters;-          Natural disasters such as hurricanes which may damage our factory; and -          Effect of general political and economic conditions of the Dominican Republic. The occurrence of any of these factors may adversely affect the production output and operation of our factory, which will disrupt our supply chain and negatively impact our financial performance. Furthermore, we have not identified any alternative third-party factory that can manufacture our products; therefore it would be difficult for us to replace any loss of output of capacity if our factory in Dominican Republic is not functioning properly or at all.

The success of the Company is largely dependent on the effort and service of our senior management members, including Mr. Richard Soloway, the founder, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of our board of directors, and Mr. Kevin Buchel, President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. We depend on them for various aspects of our business operation, including their experience and knowledge in the industry, extensive relationships with distributors and customers, and their leadership to develop and implement business strategies. The loss or reduction of services by Mr. Soloway and Mr. Buchel could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business and prospects.

Certain of our expenses are fixed or semi-variable, including our costs for operating our manufacturing facilities. While expense levels relative to current sales levels result in positive net income and cash flows, if sales levels decrease significantly and we are unable to reduce expenses proportionately, our business may be adversely affected. The amount of our operating expenses are subject to variables and factors that may not be within our control, including but are not limited to, unexpected expenses relating to the manufacturing of products; increased compensation requirement for our employees and cost of raw materials. A significant portion of our expense is labor cost, including costs for workers who are operating our facility in the Dominican Republic. While we have been able to control our expenses due to the lower labor costs in the Dominican Republic, there is no guarantee that such costs will not increase in the future, or that a sufficient number of workers in Dominican Republic will be available to operate the facility efficiently, and our failure to maintain effective labor costs may adversely affect our results of operations. We may face heightened inflationary pressure, which could impact the cost of doing business in both supply and labor markets. Any potential inflationary pressures could be exacerbated by geopolitical turmoil and economic policy actions, and the duration of any such pressures is uncertain.

We recently experienced significant growth of demand for our security products from schools, universities and other educational institutions as a result of the national focus on prevention of school violence. Federal and state governmental authorities have proposed and enacted numerous legislation and laws, including the School Violence Prevention and Mitigation Act of 2019 that provide increased funding to public schools to implement and enhance security systems. While our business has benefited from such additional federal and state funding and increased demand, there is no guarantee that such funding and trend will continue. For example, if school shutdowns return as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and various stay-at-home orders imposed by state governments, there could be a reduced need for schools to acquire and implement security systems, and state and federal government may also decide to reduce funding or impose additional criteria for funding. These factors may result in a decline of demand for our school security products, which in turn may adversely affect our financial performance.

We are dependent on information technology networks and systems, including the Internet, to process, transmit, report and store electronic information and, in the normal course of our business, we collect and retain certain information pertaining to our distributors, customers, partners and employees, including personal information. Our information technology systems, along with those of the third parties whom we rely on, are potentially vulnerable to a variety of evolving cybersecurity threats that may expose our data to unauthorized persons or otherwise compromise its integrity. In addition, cyber-attacks from computer hackers and cyber criminals and other malicious Internet-based activity continue to increase generally, and perpetrators of cyber-attacks may be able to develop and deploy viruses, worms, ransomware, malware, DNS attacks, wireless network attacks, attacks on our cloud networks, phishing attempts, social engineering attempts, distributed denial of service attacks and other advanced persistent threats or malicious software programs that attack our products and services, our networks and network endpoints or otherwise exploit any security vulnerabilities of our products, services and networks. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target. As a result, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. We cannot be certain that advances in cyber-capabilities or other developments will not compromise or breach the technology protecting the networks that access our platforms and solutions, and we can make no assurance that we will be able to detect, prevent, timely and adequately address or mitigate the negative effects of cyber-attacks or other security breaches. If any one of these risks materializes, our business, financial condition, cash flows or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. While we have implemented cybersecurity measures designed to protect our information technology systems as well as the confidential and sensitive data in our possession, there can be no assurance that these measures will be effective. Additionally, the third-parties with whom we do business (including, but not limited to, service providers, such as accountants, custodians and administrators) may be sources or targets of cybersecurity attacks or other technological risks. While we engage in actions to reduce our exposure to third-party risks, we cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by these third parties and ongoing threats may result in unauthorized access, loss, exposure or destruction of data, or other cybersecurity incidents, with increased costs and other consequences, including those described above. Cybersecurity threat actors and their techniques change frequently, are often sophisticated in nature, and may not be detected until after a cybersecurity incident has occurred. If we, or a third party upon whom we rely, experience a cybersecurity incident or are perceived to have experienced a cybersecurity incident, we may experience adverse consequences. These consequences may affect our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition and can include: government enforcement actions (for example, investigations, fines, penalties, audits, and inspections); additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; restrictions on processing sensitive data (including personal data); litigation (including class claims); indemnification obligations; negative publicity; reputational harm; monetary fund diversions; interruptions in our operations (including availability of data); financial loss; and other similar harms. The legal, regulatory and contractual environment surrounding information security, privacy and credit card fraud is constantly evolving and companies that collect and retain such information are under increasing attack by cyber-criminals around the world. Further, as the regulatory focus on cybersecurity issues continues to increase and worldwide laws and regulations concerning the protection of computer systems, data and personal information expand and become more complex, these potential risks to our business will intensify. A significant actual or potential theft, loss, fraudulent use or misuse of distributor, customer, employee or other personally identifiable data, whether by third parties or as a result of employee malfeasance or otherwise, non-compliance with our contractual or other legal obligations regarding security of such data or a violation of security policies with respect to such data could result in loss of confidential information, damage to our reputation, early termination of our business relationships, litigation, regulatory investigations or actions and other liabilities or actions against us, including significant fines by U.S. federal and state authorities, and other countries and private claims by companies and individuals for violation of data privacy and security regulations.