Parker Hannifin (PH) Risk Factors

Our operations necessitate the use and handling of hazardous materials and, as a result, subject us to various U.S. federal, state and local laws and regulations, as well as non-U.S. laws, designed to protect the environment and to regulate the discharge of materials into the environment. These laws impose penalties, fines and other sanctions for non-compliance and liability for response costs, property damages and personal injury resulting from past and current spills, disposals or other releases of, or the exposure to, hazardous materials. Among other laws, we are subject to the U.S. federal "Superfund" law, under which we have been designated as a "potentially responsible party" and may be liable for clean-up costs associated with various waste sites, some of which are on the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund priority list. We could incur substantial costs as a result of non-compliance with or liability for cleanup or other costs or damages under environmental laws, including the "Superfund" law. In addition, increased worldwide focus on climate change issues has led to legislative and regulatory efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Increased regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and other climate change concerns could subject us to additional costs and restrictions, including increased energy and raw material costs. We are not able to predict how such regulations would affect our business, operations or financial results, but increased regulation could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations and financial condition. Further, climate change resulting from increased concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could present risks to our operations. Extreme weather events linked to climate change, including hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, high heat and water scarcity, among others, create physical risks to our operating locations and supply chains. Although we are working towards and intend to meet our goal of making our own operations carbon neutral by 2040, we may be required to expend significant resources to do so, which could increase our operational costs. Further, there can be no assurance of the extent to which any of our climate-related goals will be achieved, if at all, including on the timeline expected by customers or investors, or that any future investments we make in furtherance of achieving our goals will meet customer expectations and needs, investor expectations or market standards regarding sustainability, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to achieve our climate-related goals, further our initiatives, adhere to our public statements, comply with federal, state or international climate-related laws and regulations or meet evolving and varied customer and investor expectations and standards could result in legal and regulatory proceedings against us or could cause our customers to find other suppliers, each of which could adversely affect our reputation, the market price of our common shares, our results of operations, our financial condition or our cash flows.

The markets we serve are characterized by rapidly changing technologies and frequent introductions of new products and services. Our ability to develop new products based on technological innovation can affect our competitive position and often requires the investment of significant resources. If we cannot develop, or have difficulties or delays developing new and enhanced products and services, or if we fail to gain market or regulatory acceptance of new products and technologies, our revenues may be materially reduced and our competitive position could be materially adversely affected. In addition, we may invest in research and development of products and services, or in acquisitions or other investments, that do not lead to significant revenue, which could adversely affect our profitability.

Protecting our intellectual property is critical to our innovation efforts. We own a number of patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, trade names and other forms of intellectual property related to our products and services throughout the world and in the operation of our business. We also have exclusive and non-exclusive rights to intellectual property owned by others. Our intellectual property may be challenged, stolen or otherwise infringed upon by third parties or we may be unable to maintain, renew or enter into new license agreements with third-party owners of intellectual property on reasonable terms. In addition, the global nature of our business increases the risk that our intellectual property may be subject to infringement, theft or other unauthorized use or disclosure by others. In some cases, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights by legal recourse or otherwise may be limited, particularly in countries where laws or enforcement practices are inadequate or undeveloped. And the cost of enforcing our rights may be significant. Unauthorized use or disclosure of our intellectual property rights or our inability to protect our intellectual property rights could lead to reputational harm and/or adversely impact our competitive position and results of operations.

We rely extensively on information technology systems to manage and operate our business, some of which are managed or accessible by third parties. The security and functionality of these information technology systems, and the processing of data by these systems, are critical to our business operations. If these systems, or any part of the systems, are damaged, intruded upon, attacked, shutdown or cease to function properly (whether by planned upgrades, force majeure, telecommunications failures, criminal acts, including hardware or software break-ins or extortion attempts, or viruses, or other cybersecurity incidents) and we suffer any resulting interruption in our ability to manage and operate our business or if our products are affected, our results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. There can be no guarantee that the actions and controls we have implemented and are implementing, or which we cause or have caused third-parties with access to our systems to implement, will be sufficient to protect and mitigate risks associated with our information technology systems. Additionally, certain of our employees working remotely at times and the increased adoption of generative artificial intelligence may increase our vulnerability to cyber and data protection risks. In addition to existing risks, any adoption or deployment of or exposure to new technologies via acquisitions or internal initiatives or changes to our information technology systems as a result of divestitures may increase our exposure to risks, breaches, or failures, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. Furthermore, the Company has access to sensitive, confidential, or personal data or information that is subject to privacy and security laws, regulations, or other contractually-imposed controls. Despite our use of reasonable and appropriate controls, security breaches, theft, misplaced, lost or corrupted data, programming, or employee errors and/or malfeasance have led and could in the future lead to the compromise or improper use of such sensitive, confidential, or personal data or information. Such events may result in possible negative consequences, such as fines, ransom demands, penalties, failure to comply with laws governing sensitive data, loss of reputation, intellectual property, competitiveness or customers, increased security and compliance costs or other negative consequences. Further, the amount of insurance coverage that we maintain may be inadequate to cover claims or liabilities relating to a cybersecurity incident. Depending on the nature and magnitude of these events, they may have an adverse impact on our results of operations or financial condition.

Our supply of raw materials could be interrupted for a variety of reasons, including availability and pricing. Furthermore, changes to United States and other countries' tariff and import/export regulations have in the past and may in the future have a negative impact on the availability and pricing of raw materials. Prices for raw materials necessary for production have fluctuated significantly in the past and significant increases could adversely affect our results of operations and profit margins. Our efforts to manage these fluctuations by, among other things, passing along price increases to our customers, may be subject to a time delay between the increased raw material prices and our ability to increase the price of our products, or we may be unable to increase the prices of our products due to pricing pressure, contract terms or other factors. Any such inability to manage fluctuations could adversely impact our results of operations and cash flows. Our suppliers of component parts may significantly and quickly increase their prices in response to increases in costs of raw materials that they use to manufacture the component parts. As a result, we may not be able to increase our prices commensurately with our increased costs. Consequently, our results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Our business is sensitive to global macro-economic conditions. Macroeconomic downturns may have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as our distributors, customers and suppliers, and on activity in many of the industries and markets we serve. Among the economic factors which may have such an effect are manufacturing and other end-market activity, currency exchange rates, air travel trends, difficulties entering new markets, tariffs and governmental trade and monetary policies, global pandemics, and general economic conditions such as inflation, deflation, interest rates and credit availability. These factors may, among other things, negatively impact our level of purchases, capital expenditures, and creditworthiness, as well as our distributors, customers and suppliers, and, therefore, the Company's revenues, operating profits, margins, and order rates. We cannot predict changes in worldwide or regional economic conditions and government policies, as such conditions are highly volatile and beyond our control. If these conditions deteriorate or remain at depressed levels for extended periods, however, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Our net sales attributable to selling locations outside of the United States were approximately 36 percent in 2024, 37 percent in 2023 and 39 percent in 2022. In addition, many of our customers, manufacturing operations and suppliers are located outside the United States. The Company expects net sales from non-U.S. markets to continue to represent a significant portion of its total net sales. Our non-U.S. operations are subject to risks in addition to those facing our domestic operations, including: - fluctuations in currency exchange rates and/or changes in monetary policy;- limitations on ownership and on repatriation of earnings;- transportation delays and other supply chain disruptions;- political, social and economic instability and disruptions, including armed conflicts such as the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine;- government embargoes, sanctions or trade restrictions, including possible further restrictions on trade and/or obstacles to conducting business in China;- the imposition of duties and tariffs and other trade barriers;- import and export controls;- labor unrest and current and changing regulatory environments;- public health crises, including pandemics;- the potential for nationalization of enterprises;- difficulties in staffing and managing multi-national operations;- limitations on our ability to enforce legal rights and remedies;- potentially adverse tax consequences; and - difficulties in implementing restructuring actions on a timely basis. For example, the global nature of our business and our operations exposes us to political, economic, and other conditions in foreign countries and regions, including geopolitical risks such as the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The broader consequences of this conflict, which may include further sanctions, embargoes, regional instability, and geopolitical shifts; potential retaliatory action by the Russian government against companies, including possible nationalization of foreign businesses in Russia; increased tensions between the United States and countries in which we operate; and the extent of the conflict's effect on our business and results of operations as well as the global economy, cannot be predicted. To the extent the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine adversely affects our business, it may also have the effect of heightening many other risks, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Such risks include, but are not limited to, adverse effects on macroeconomic conditions, including inflation, particularly with regard to raw material, transportation and labor price fluctuations; disruptions to our information technology environment, including through cyberattack, ransom attack, or cyber-intrusion; adverse changes in international trade policies and relations; disruptions in global supply chains; and our exposure to foreign currency exchange rate changes. In addition, there continues to be uncertainty about the future relationship between the U.S. and China, including with respect to trade policies, treaties, government regulations and tariffs. Any increased trade barriers or restrictions on global trade, including trade with China, could adversely impact our business, results of operations or financial condition. If we are unable to successfully manage the risks associated with expanding our global business or adequately manage operational fluctuations internationally, the risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

The occurrence of one or more unexpected events, including war, acts of terrorism or violence, civil unrest, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and other forms of severe weather in the United States or in other countries in which we operate or in which our suppliers are located could adversely affect our operations and financial performance. Natural disasters, pandemics, equipment failures, power outages or other unexpected events could result in physical damage to and complete or partial closure of one or more of our manufacturing facilities or distribution centers, temporary or long-term disruption in the supply of component products from some local and international suppliers, and disruption and delay in the transport of our products to dealers, end-users and distribution centers. Existing insurance coverage may not provide protection for all of the costs that may arise from such events. The impacts of these unexpected events are difficult to predict but could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our operations are subject to competition from a wide variety of global, regional and local competitors, which could adversely affect our results of operations by creating downward pricing pressure and/or a decline in our margins or market shares. To compete successfully, we must excel in terms of product quality and innovation, technological and engineering capability, manufacturing and distribution capability, delivery, price competitiveness, and customer experience.

Demand for and supply of our products has been and may be adversely affected by numerous factors, some of which we cannot predict or control. Such factors include: - changes in business relationships with and purchases by or from major customers, suppliers or distributors, including delays or cancellations in shipments, disputes regarding contract terms or significant changes in financial condition, and changes in contract cost and revenue estimates for new development programs;- changes in product mix;- changes in the market acceptance of our products;- increased competition in the markets we serve;- declines in the general level of industrial production;- weakness in the end-markets we serve;- fluctuations in the availability or the prices of raw materials; and - fluctuations in currency exchange rates. If any of these factors occur, the demand for and supply of our products could suffer, which could materially adversely affect the Company's results of operations.