Post Holdings (POST) Risk Analysis

The human and pet food categories in which we operate are highly competitive. Competition in our categories is based on, among other things, price, brand appeal, recognition and loyalty, taste, product quality and safety, nutritional profile, ingredients, effective promotional activities, product-related certifications, sourcing practices, product availability, variety, innovation, distribution, shelf space and product visibility, packaging, convenience and the ability to identify and satisfy dynamic, emerging consumer preferences. In most of our retail categories, we have both branded and private label products, which each compete with widely advertised branded products and private label products. Generally, branded products have an advantage over private label products primarily due to advertising and name recognition. However, private label products typically sell at a discount to those of branded competitors. Nevertheless, when branded competitors focus on price and promotion, private label products generally are disadvantaged because branded products have name recognition and the price differential between the private label and branded products becomes less significant, which could require us or our customers to lower prices or increase the use of discounting or promotional programs for our or our customers' private label products. Our businesses can be adversely affected if we are unable to effectively market our existing products or effectively develop, introduce or market new products, if we are unable to establish and convey our brand and product value to consumers, if we do not have adequate or desirable shelf space or product accessibility or visibility on online platforms, if we are unable to effectively leverage technology or develop the data analytics capabilities needed to generate actionable commercial insights and appropriately act on such insights, if we are unable to develop and maintain relationships with our customers, if our competitors spend more aggressively or effectively on advertising and promotional activities than we do or if we are otherwise unable to compete effectively. Further, increased competition can reduce our sales due to loss of market share or require us to reduce prices to respond to competitive and customer pressures or can result in increased capital, marketing or other expenditures. In recent years, smaller competitors have been gaining market share in categories in which our retail businesses compete. Competitive and customer pressures, as well as industry supply and market demand, also from time to time limit our ability to increase prices, including in response to increased costs (such as those resulting from inflation or new or increased tariffs).

Successful growth depends upon our ability to add new retail and foodservice customers, enter into new markets, expand the number of products sold through existing customers and enhance our product portfolio with new innovative and profitable products. The development and introduction of new products involves risks, including the investment associated with developing and marketing such new products, uncertainties regarding trade and consumer acceptance of such new products, the timeliness of such new product introductions and the potential for such new products to cause a decline in sales of our existing products. In addition, our growth depends upon our ability to obtain new customers while also expanding our business with existing customers. Our failure to successfully add new customers, enter into new markets, expand our business with existing customers or enhance our product portfolio could materially adversely impact our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our reputation could be adversely affected by a number of factors, including adverse publicity or negative perceptions (whether or not valid) about us, our business practices, brands, products, ingredients, packaging materials, sponsorship or endorsement relationships, directors, employees or third-party suppliers, manufacturers, licensors or licensees (including those that license third-party trademarks that we license), others in our supply chain or the food and beverage or pet food industries generally, our failure to maintain the quality of our products, the failure of our products to deliver consistently positive consumer experiences, concerns about food safety, real or perceived health concerns regarding our products, real or perceived concerns regarding animal welfare, lawsuits filed against us or our third-party suppliers, manufacturers, licensors or licensees, our products becoming unavailable to consumers, consumer perceptions that we or our directors, employees or third-party suppliers, manufacturers, licensors or licensees have acted in an irresponsible or misleading manner, unethically or in violation of law (including with respect to human rights, child labor, materials sourcing, workplace conditions or employee health and safety), the manner and extent to which we address various environmental, social and governance matters or our failure or perceived failure to act in a manner consistent with evolving stakeholder expectations. Negative social or digital media posts or comments or negative information contained in shopping, health or product evaluation applications (whether or not valid) about us, our business practices, brands, products, ingredients, packaging materials, sponsorship or endorsement relationships, directors,employees or third-party suppliers, manufacturers, licensors or licensees, others in our supply chain or the food and beverage or pet food industries generally could damage our brands and reputation. Placement of our advertisements in digital media may also result in damage to our reputation if any such media experiences negative publicity. In addition, our brands may be associated with or appear alongside harmful content before these platforms or our own social media monitoring can detect the issue. The harm resulting from such incidents may be immediate, and we may not be afforded an opportunity for redress or correction. If we do not maintain favorable perceptions of our Company or brands or if we experience a loss of confidence in us or our products, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely impacted.

We have in the past been and continue to be adversely affected by changes in macroeconomic conditions and other conditions and events resulting in economic or financial market uncertainty or business disruption, which may from time to time include inflation, new or increased tariffs or other trade restrictions, reduced consumer confidence or spending rates, animal health crises (such as HPAI outbreaks), supply chain challenges, labor shortages, increased unemployment, heightened interest rates, decreased availability of capital, volatility in financial markets, slow economic growth, recessions, decreased energy availability and increased energy costs (including fuel surcharges), changes in governmental administrations or regulatory priorities, geopolitical events or tensions (including the tensions between the U.S. and China), war or armed hostilities (including the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East), terrorism or other acts of violence, government shutdowns, public health crises, foreign currency exchange rate volatility and changes in tax laws or rates, and the effects of governmental responses to manage such conditions or events. The impacts of such conditions or events from time to time include: - fluctuations in consumer demand, including consumers shifting purchases from branded to lower-priced private label or other value products, shifting purchases from traditional retail outlets to mass merchandisers and dollar stores or forgoing certain purchases altogether, which from time to time result in loss of our category share or sales volume or a shift in our product mix to lower margin offerings, or decreases in away-from-home demand, which during the COVID-19 pandemic materially impacted our Foodservice segment;- customers managing their inventory levels or otherwise reducing their purchases of our products;- disruptions in our supply chain;- increased volatility in commodity or other input costs or availability, which could include substantial cost increases or input shortages as a result of product reformulations or packaging changes;- increased uncollectible receivables or non-performance due to the financial instability of our customers, suppliers, distributors, third-party manufacturers or financial institutions or other counterparties;- increases in labor-related costs;- increases in the costs of equipment or other materials necessary for our planned capital projects;- increased volatility in foreign currency exchange rates;- increases in the cost or difficulty of obtaining debt or equity financing to fund operations or investment opportunities, or to refinance our debt in the future, in each case on terms and within a time period acceptable to us;- decreases in the fair value of our fixed rate debt and increases in interest expense on our variable rate debt;- physical harm to our, our customers or third-party manufacturers', suppliers' or vendors' employees or properties; and - cybersecurity incidents or other breaches of information systems. These and other impacts of such conditions and events could also heighten many of the other risks disclosed herein. The results of these and other impacts from such conditions and events are from time to time material to our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. With regard to the conflict in Ukraine, although we do not have operations in Russia, Ukraine or Belarus and do not have significant direct exposure to customers in those countries, this conflict has in the past resulted in increased inflation, escalating energy and fuel prices and constrained availability, and thus increasing costs, of certain of our raw materials and other commodities, geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty and declarations of force majeure by certain suppliers, which adversely impacted us. While such impacts are no longer occurring or have been mitigated, such events are unpredictable and change rapidly, and we may face similar or additional challenges in the future, which may result in adverse impacts on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows that may be material. Similarly, although we do not have manufacturing operations or significant direct exposure to customers in the Middle East, our businesses and operations could be negatively impacted by increased energy costs, supply chain disruptions or adverse impacts on customers.

We are subject to a number of risks related to doing business internationally, any of which could significantly harm our financial and operational performance. These risks include: - unfavorable changes in trade agreements, treaties or policies or the imposition of new or increased tariffs, quotas, trade barriers, import or export licensing requirements, price controls, sanctions or other trade restrictions or controls or limits on our ability to import or export raw materials or finished products;- increased exposure to general market and economic conditions, political and economic uncertainty and volatility and other events, including inflation, the ongoing longer-term impact of changes in international trade policies (including as a result of the exit of the U.K. from the E.U. (Brexit)), volatility in the prices and availability of raw materials, labor and freight, shipping disruptions, foreign currency exchange rate volatility, public health crises, social unrest, government shutdowns, terrorist activity and other acts of violence, acts of war and other armed hostilities (such as the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East) and acute or chronic weather events, outside of the U.S.;- exposure to treaties, antitrust and competition laws, data privacy laws (including the U.K. GDPR and the E.U. GDPR), laws on AI (including the E.U.'s Artificial Intelligence Act), anti-corruption laws (including the U.K. Bribery Act), food safety and marketing laws, import and export laws, human rights laws and other regulatory requirements and a variety of other local, national and multi-national regulations and laws in multiple jurisdictions, and unfavorable changes to such treaties, laws and regulations and interpretations thereof;- compliance with U.S. laws and regulations affecting operations outside of the U.S., including anti-corruption regulations (such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act), or unfavorable changes to such laws and regulations and interpretations thereof;- unfavorable changes in foreign tax treaties and policies, changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in tax laws or their interpretations or tax audit implications;- restrictions on the transfer of funds to and from foreign countries, including potentially negative tax consequences;- exposure to evolving regulations and stakeholder expectations related to environmental, social and governance matters, which could have significant implications on our operations, sourcing, products, marketing and disclosures, and the requirements of which could contradict one another;- the potential difficulty of enforcing intellectual property and contractual rights;- unfavorable changes in labor conditions and difficulties in staffing our operations; and - the difficulty and costs of designing and implementing an effective data security and control environment across diverse regions and employee bases. Our financial performance on a U.S. Dollar denominated basis is subject to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Because we have operations and assets in foreign jurisdictions, as well as a portion of our contracts and revenues denominated in foreign currencies, and our consolidated financial statements are presented in U.S. Dollars, we must translate our foreign assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses into U.S. Dollars at applicable exchange rates. In addition, we also engage in other transactions denominated in foreign currencies, including purchases of raw materials or product sales, which are remeasured at applicable exchange rates. Consequently, fluctuations in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. Dollar may negatively affect the value and comparability of these items in our consolidated financial statements. In addition, any cash we hold in foreign jurisdictions is subject to volatility in, and unfavorable changes to, foreign currency exchange rates. Our primary currency exposures are to the British Pound Sterling, the Euro and the Canadian Dollar. From time to time, we enter into agreements that are intended to reduce the effects of our exposure to currency fluctuations, but these agreements may not be effective in significantly reducing our exposure.

U.S. and global credit markets have, from time to time, experienced significant dislocations and liquidity disruptions which have caused the spreads to applicable reference U.S. Treasury notes on prospective debt financings to widen considerably. In the past, such circumstances have materially impacted liquidity in the debt markets, making financing terms for borrowers less attractive and in certain cases resulted in the unavailability of certain types of debt financing, any of which could occur in the future. Further, our access to funds under our revolving credit facilities is dependent on the ability of the financial institutions that are parties to such facilities to meet their respective funding commitments. Unfavorable macroeconomic and other conditions, including inflation, new or increased tariffs or other trade restrictions, reduced consumer confidence or spending rates, supply chain challenges, labor shortages, heightened interest rates, volatility in global capital markets, recession risks, adverse geopolitical conditions, foreign currency exchange rate volatility and macroeconomic uncertainty, have caused, and may continue to cause, periods of increased volatility and pricing in the credit and capital markets. If such periods of increased volatility recur, it may become more difficult or costly for us to raise capital through debt financings or the issuance of common stock or other equity securities, refinance our existing debt or sell our assets. These and other events affecting the credit and capital markets also have had, and may continue to have, an adverse effect on other financial markets in the U.S. Our businesses also could be negatively impacted if the third parties on which we rely, including customers or third-party suppliers, manufacturers, carriers or distributors, experience disruptions resulting from tighter capital and credit markets or a slowdown in the general economy. Any of these risks could impair our ability to fund our operations, limit our ability to expand our businesses, result in interruptions to our businesses or increase our interest expense, any of which could have material adverse impacts on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our operations and the operations of the third parties on which we rely, including third-party suppliers, manufacturers, carriers, customs brokers, freight forwarders and distributors, from time to time experience damage or disruption due to a number of factors that impacts our ability to source inputs or manufacture, sell or timely deliver our products. Such factors include inflation, new or increased tariffs or other trade restrictions, repairs or enhancements at facilities (including delays in repairing, obtaining and installing equipment), delays in the addition of incremental capacity, execution issues, diseases affecting livestock (such as HPAI outbreaks that occur periodically), compliance (including our food safety or quality or social compliance standards) or regulatory issues, labor shortages, strikes or other labor unrest or workforce disruptions, volatility in product or input availability or cost, operational or financial instability of parties in our supply chain, vendor disputes, limited freight carrier availability, information systems disruptions or failures (including due to cybersecurity incidents), public health crises, government shutdowns, governmental restrictions or mandates, war or armed hostilities (such as the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East), geopolitical events or tensions, national or international disputes, terrorism or other acts of violence, border closures, any acute (including extreme weather and natural disasters) or chronic (including prolonged temperature and precipitation patterns) weather events, prolonged power outages, fire or evacuations related thereto, water stress or usage regulation, insects or pests, plant diseases, explosions or other reasons. Some raw materials and supplies for the manufacturing of our products, including packaging materials, are available only from a limited number of suppliers, from a sole supplier or from a single location, and some of our products are manufactured by a limited number of third-party manufacturers, by a single third-party manufacturer or at a single location. In addition, there are limited supplies of some inputs, including natural food coloring alternatives, which, if all food manufacturers reformulate their products to exclude certain inputs, could result in supply shortages that impact our ability to manufacture our products and could result in increased costs. Failure to take adequate steps to reduce the likelihood or mitigate the potential impact of any of these events, or to effectively manage such events when they occur, particularly when we are relying on a single third-party supplier or manufacturer or a limited number thereof or when an input is sourced from, or a product is manufactured at, a single location or a limited number thereof, from time to time adversely affects our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and requires additional resources to restore our supply chain. From time to time, we incur customer penalties as a result of our failure to deliver our products timely or in full. Also, certain of our relationships with third-party manufacturers, suppliers and customers require us to maintain or provide minimum volumes, and we have in the past incurred and could in the future incur significant penalties if we do not satisfy the quantities required under these commitments. In addition, construction or other capital projects at our manufacturing facilities have in the past resulted and could in the future result in manufacturing delays or increased costs, and our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows have in the past been and could in the future be adversely impacted by the inability to complete such projects within anticipated time frames or within our cost estimates or if such projects do not result in the anticipated benefits. Further, short-term or sustained increases in consumer demand for our products could exceed our manufacturing capacity or otherwise strain our supply chain (such as occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic or due to egg shortages resulting from HPAI outbreaks), resulting in our inability to meet demand for our products and adverse impacts to us.

Our businesses purchase and use many different inputs to manufacture our products, including ingredients, packaging materials, energy and other supplies. For a discussion of the raw materials, energy and other supplies used in our businesses, refer to "Raw Materials, Energy and Other Supplies" within "Business" in Item 1 of this report. In addition, we incur expenses in connection with the transportation and delivery of our products. The supply and price of our inputs, as well as freight, are subject to market conditions and are impacted by many factors beyond our control, including, as applicable, inflation, new or increased tariffs (including the tariffs imposed by the U.S. on imports and exports in 2025 and any retaliatory tariffs by other countries in response thereto) or other trade restrictions, diseases affecting livestock (including HPAI outbreaks that occur periodically and swine outbreaks that occur occasionally), new or changing regulatory or market-driven requirements (including requirements that products exclude certain inputs), labor shortages, strikes or other labor unrest or other workforce disruptions, increased fuel costs, concentration of agriculture commodity suppliers through cooperatives or other consolidations, limited freight carrier availability, information systems disruptions or failures (including due to cybersecurity incidents), animal feed costs, agricultural yield, increased demand, public health crises, war or armed hostilities (such as the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East), geopolitical events or tensions, national or international disputes, terrorism or other acts of violence, any acute (including extreme weather and natural disasters) or chronic (including prolonged temperature and precipitation patterns) weather events, fire, water stress or usage regulation, governmental programs, incentives or controls, insects or pests, plant diseases, foreign currency exchange rates and milk price supports established by the USDA. In addition, the prices of inputs and freight from time to time increase as we pursue more sustainable, specially sourced or certified raw materials or alternative energy sources. During recent years, we have experienced increased input and freight costs, including as a result of inflation, tariffs, labor shortages and heightened interest rates. During fiscal 2025, cost pressures on certain inputs eased, while other inputs continued to face heightened cost pressures, and we expect this trend to continue into fiscal 2026. We anticipate that announced tariffs, and any potential future modifications or incremental tariffs, could increase supply chain challenges, commodity cost volatility and consumer and economic uncertainty due to rapid changes in global trade policies. Similarly, from time to time, we experience limited supply or shortages of certain of our inputs or freight availability, which has resulted, and may in the future result, in us paying increased amounts for such inputs or freight or has impacted, and may in the future impact, our ability to produce or deliver our products. Also, in response to changing regulatory or market-driven requirements, we may need to source new inputs from third-party suppliers, which may be limited in availability or result in increased costs. Although we try to manage the impact of increases in certain of these costs by using hedges to lock in prices on quantities required to meet our anticipated production requirements, when we fail, or are unable, to hedge and prices subsequently increase, or when we institute a hedge and prices subsequently decrease, our costs are from time to time greater than anticipated or greater than our competitors' costs, and our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows are from time to time adversely affected. In addition, from time to time, we take measures to mitigate the impact of adverse conditions, including increased costs for ingredients, packaging materials, energy, other supplies and freight and employee-related costs, through pricing measures (such as increasing the prices of our products or decreasing the size of our products). However, the prices charged for our products may not reflect changes in our costs or the impact of such conditions at the time they occur or at all. When these measures are ineffective or are not implemented in a timely manner, changes in costs or the impact of other adverse conditions from time to time limit our ability to maintain existing margins and otherwise materially adversely impact our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Further, from time to time, we are not able to raise our prices sufficiently in response to cost increases or other adverse conditions (including when inflation or cost increases outpace our price elasticities or as a result of competitive pressures) or such price increases result in decreased sales volume or consumption or shifts to competitors' products or private label or value brands. Also, we could be the subject of regulatory investigations or actions as a result of price increases.

Information technology is critically important to our operations. We rely on information technology networks and systems to process, transmit and store operating and financial information, to comply with regulatory, legal and tax requirements and to manage and support our business processes and activities, including our manufacturing operations. We also depend upon our information technology infrastructure for electronic communications among our locations, personnel, customers and third-party manufacturers and suppliers. With a number of employees working remotely in our workforce, our traditional network boundaries have been extended past our physical facilities, requiring that we protect our systems and data in environments that we do not control. In addition, third parties in our supply chain and other third-party providers, including our third-party suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and service providers ("Third Parties"), could be a source of security risk to us, or cause disruptions to our normal operations, in the event of a technology failure or breach of their products, components, networks, security systems or infrastructure. Further, our increasing reliance on cloud-based and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions heightens our dependency on certain of these Third Parties, which, while this may shift certain of our operational and security risks to such Third Parties, increases our risks related to our reliance on vendor controls and adds potential concentration risk and compliance challenges. Also, the rapid evolution and adoption of artificial intelligence ("AI"), including generative AI, may amplify certain existing technology-related risks such as cybersecurity threats, data privacy concerns and intellectual property challenges. If we do not build and sustain the proper technology infrastructure or maintain or protect the related automated and manual control processes, or if one of our Third Parties fails to provide the products or services we require, we could be subject to, among other things, billing and collection errors, business disruptions or damage resulting from such events, particularly material security breaches and cybersecurity incidents. Further, from time to time, we modernize and upgrade our information systems, including enterprise resource planning systems, which if not properly designed or implemented or if such implementations do not operate properly, could adversely impact our operations, could subject us to heightened cybersecurity risks or could adversely impact the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting or our ability to adequately assess those controls in a timely manner. Our and our Third Parties' information technology systems may be vulnerable to a variety of invasions, interruptions or malfunctions due to events beyond our or their control, including natural disasters, user error, terrorist attacks, telecommunications failures, power outages, computer viruses, issues with or errors in systems' maintenance or security, ransomware and malware, hardware and software failures, cybersecurity incidents, hackers and other causes. Such invasions, interruptions or malfunctions could negatively impact our businesses. If any of our or our Third Parties' significant information technology systems suffers severe damage, disruption or shutdown, including by malicious or unintentional actions of contractors or employees or by cybersecurity attacks, and our business continuity plans do not effectively resolve the issues in a timely manner, our product sales, businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be materially adversely affected, and we could experience delays in reporting our financial results. In addition, there is a risk of business interruption, competitive loss, litigation, violation of data privacy laws, reputational damage, theft of funds and other losses from such events, including any leaks of confidential or personal information or trade secrets resulting therefrom. While we have insurance programs in place related to these matters, the potential liabilities associated with such events, or those that could arise in the future, could be excluded from coverage or, if covered, could exceed the coverage provided by such programs. In addition, such insurance programs are costly, and the costs could increase substantially over time. Cyber attacks and other cybersecurity incidents are occurring more frequently, are constantly evolving in nature, especially with the public availability of generative AI, are becoming more sophisticated and are being made by individuals and groups (including criminal hackers, hacktivists, state-sponsored institutions, terrorist organizations and individuals or groups participating in organized crime) with a wide range of expertise and motives (including monetization of corporate, payment or other internal or personal data, fraud, identity theft, public embarrassment with the intent to cause financial or reputational harm, corporate or nation-state espionage, theft of trade secrets and intellectual property for competitive advantage and leverage for political, social, economic and environmental reasons). Our and our Third Parties' networks and systems are subject to constant attempts to identify and exploit potential vulnerabilities in our and their operating environments potentially resulting in cyber intrusions, hacks or ransom attacks with intent to disrupt our and their business operations and capture, destroy, manipulate or expose various types of information relating to corporate trade secrets, customer information, vendor information and other sensitive business information, including acquisition activity, non-public financial results, employee, customer or consumer personal information and intellectual property ("General Cyber Events"). Although we have not detected a material cybersecurity breach to date, nor have we had a material impact resulting from a breach of one of our Third Parties, we have had and continue to experience General Cyber Events or other events of this nature and expect them to continue. We implement and maintain systems and processes aimed at detecting and preventing information security and cybersecurity incidents, which require significant investment, maintenance and ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies and regulatory requirements change and as efforts to overcome security measures become more sophisticated. Despite our efforts, the possibility of information security and cybersecurity incidents and human error or malfeasance cannot be eliminated entirely and will evolve as new and emerging technology is deployed, including the use of generative AI and personal mobile and computing devices that are outside of our network and control environments. An information security or cybersecurity incident may not be detected until well after it occurs and the severity and potential impact may not be fully known for a substantial period of time after it has been discovered. For more information regarding our cybersecurity activities, refer to Item 1C of this report.

In March 2022, we completed a series of transactions related to a divestiture of a substantial portion of our interest in BellRing, including contributing our equity interests in BellRing Intermediate Holdings, Inc. (formerly known as BellRing Brands, Inc.) ("Old BellRing") and BellRing Brands, LLC, plus cash, to BellRing in exchange for equity interests in BellRing and the right to receive $840.0 million in aggregate principal amount of BellRing's 7.00% senior notes maturing in 2030 (the "BellRing Notes"), distributing 80.1% of our shares of BellRing common stock ("BellRing Common Stock") to our shareholders in the BellRing Distribution and exchanging the BellRing Notes with certain of our lenders in satisfaction of certain of our debt obligations (the "Debt-for-Debt Exchange"). After the BellRing Distribution, we retained 14.2% of the outstanding shares of BellRing Common Stock. During August and November 2022, we completed two transactions (collectively, the "Debt-for-Equity Exchanges") in which we transferred our remaining shares of BellRing Common Stock to certain of our lenders in satisfaction of certain debt obligations. Upon completion of the Debt-for-Equity Exchanges, we no longer held any interest in BellRing. Refer to "Our Business Model" within "Business" in Item 1 of this report for additional information. The BellRing Distribution was conditioned upon the receipt of a tax opinion from our tax advisor which concluded that the BellRing Distribution, together with certain related transactions, such as the Debt-for-Debt Exchange and the Debt-for-Equity Exchanges, qualifies as a tax-free reorganization within the meaning of Sections 368(a) and 355 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (the "IRC") and is eligible for nonrecognition within the meaning of Sections 355 and 361 of the IRC. The tax opinion was based on, among other things, then-current law and certain representations and assumptions as to factual matters and certain statements and undertakings made by us and Old BellRing. Any change in the then-current applicable law, which may or may not be retroactive, or the failure of any factual representation, assumption, statement or undertaking to be true, correct and complete in all material respects, could adversely affect the conclusions reached in the tax opinion. In addition, the tax opinion is not binding on the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS") or the courts, and the IRS and/or the courts may not agree with the tax opinion. If the BellRing Distribution, the Debt-for-Debt Exchange or either of the Debt-for-Equity Exchanges do not qualify as tax-free transactions for any reason, we may recognize a substantial gain for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which could materially adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Moreover, if the BellRing Distribution is determined not to qualify for nonrecognition of gain and loss under Sections 368(a) and 355 of the IRC, each of our U.S. shareholders who received shares of BellRing Common Stock in the BellRing Distribution would generally be treated as receiving a taxable distribution in an amount equal to the fair market value of the shares of BellRing Common Stock received by such shareholder in the BellRing Distribution. In the event that one of our shareholders is treated as receiving a taxable distribution pursuant to the BellRing Distribution, the distribution to such shareholder would generally be taxable as a dividend to the extent of such shareholder's allocable share of our current and accumulated earnings and profits (as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes). To the extent the distribution exceeds such earnings and profits, the distribution would generally constitute a non-taxable return of capital to the extent of such shareholder's tax basis in its shares of Post common stock, with any remaining amount of the distribution taxed as a capital gain. Pursuant to a tax matters agreement among us, BellRing and Old BellRing (the "Tax Matters Agreement"), BellRing has agreed to indemnify us for any tax liabilities resulting from certain events, actions or inactions that BellRing takes that could affect the intended tax-free treatment of the transactions as set forth in the Tax Matters Agreement, including causing any portion of the BellRing Distribution, the Debt-for-Debt Exchange or either or both of the Debt-for-Equity Exchanges to be taxable to us. BellRing's indemnification obligations to us are not limited by any maximum amount and such amounts could be substantial. If BellRing is required to indemnify us under the circumstances set forth in the Tax Matters Agreement, BellRing may be subject to substantial liabilities and there is no assurance that BellRing will be able to satisfy such indemnification obligations. Furthermore, pursuant to the Tax Matters Agreement, if and to the extent (i) the BellRing Distribution, the Debt-for-Debt Exchange or either of the Debt-for-Equity Exchanges do not qualify as tax-free transactions, (ii) such failure to qualify as tax-free transactions gives rise to adjustments to the tax basis of assets held by BellRing and its subsidiaries and (iii) BellRing is not required to indemnify us for any tax liabilities resulting from such failure to qualify as tax-free transactions pursuant to the Tax Matters Agreement, we will be entitled to periodic payments from BellRing equal to 85% of the tax savings arising from the aggregate increase to the tax basis of the assets held by BellRing and its subsidiaries resulting from such failure. Any failure by BellRing to satisfy these periodic payments, which could be substantial, could materially adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.