TOMI Environmental Solutions (TOMZ) Risk Factors

The decontamination and environmental infectious disease control industry is extremely competitive. The competition includes remediators and disinfection/decontamination companies such as Steris, Bioquell (Eco-lab) and Clorox, various ultraviolet companies and quad ammonia-chemical companies. These competitors may have longer operating histories, greater name recognition, larger installed customer bases, a greater ability to provide similar products and services at a lower cost and substantially greater financial and marketing resources than us to develop new products and commercialize existing products. We believe that the principal factors affecting competition in our markets include name recognition, customer familiarity with products, effective marketing, competitive pricing strategies and the ability to receive referrals based on client confidence in the service. There are no significant barriers of entry that could keep potential competitors from opening similar facilities. Our ability to compete successfully in the industry will depend, in large part, upon our ability to market and sell our indoor decontamination and infectious disease control products and services. We may not be able to compete successfully in the remediation industry. Further, if one or more competitors successfully develops a decontamination product that is more effective, better tolerated, results in a better customer experience, is easier to use or otherwise more attractive than our products, our ability to continue to commercialize our products could be significantly and adversely affected due to a lack of ability to compete, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our SteraMist family of products is currently our primary product offering, and we are completely dependent on its success. Successfully commercializing products such as ours is a complex and uncertain process. Our commercialization efforts will depend on the efforts of our management and sales team, our third-party manufacturers and suppliers and general economic conditions, among other factors, including the following: - the effectiveness of our marketing and sales efforts in the United States and internationally;- our third-party manufacturers and suppliers' ability to manufacture and supply the components of our SteraMist products in a timely manner, in accordance with our specifications, and in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, and to remain in good standing with regulatory agencies;- the availability, perceived advantages, relative cost, relative safety, and relative efficacy of alternative and competing disinfection products;- our ability to obtain, maintain, and enforce our intellectual property rights in and to our SteraMist products;- the emergence of competing technologies and other adverse market developments, and our need to enhance our SteraMist products and/or develop new products to maintain market share in response to such competing technologies or market developments;- our ability to raise additional capital on acceptable terms, or at all, if needed to support the commercialization of our SteraMist products; and - our ability to achieve and maintain compliance with all regulatory requirements applicable to our SteraMist products. We have hired and trained additional sales professionals to account for the increased demand for our products. Despite this growth in sales personnel, we expect that our additional sales force will require lead time in the field to grow their network of accounts and achieve the productivity levels we expect them to reach in any individual territory. Furthermore, the use of our products will often require or benefit from direct support from us. If our sales representatives do not achieve the productivity levels, we expect them to reach, our revenue will not grow at the rate we expect, and our financial performance will suffer.

Our sales to foreign entities are subject to far reaching and complex export control laws and regulations in the United States and elsewhere. Violations of those laws and regulations could have material negative consequences for us including large fines, criminal sanctions, prohibitions on participating in certain transactions and government contracts, sanctions on other companies if they continue to do business with us and adverse publicity.

We are subject to environmental laws and regulations affecting many aspects of our present and potential future operations, including a wide variety of EPA labeling and other state regulatory agency requirements. For example, under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, we are required to register with the EPA and certain state regulatory authorities as a seller of disinfectants, and we are subject to EPA labeling requirements for each use that SteraMist is intended to address. Compliance with these laws and regulations may result in increased costs and delays as a result of administrative proceedings and certain reporting obligations. Public officials and entities may seek injunctive relief or other remedies to enforce applicable environmental laws and regulations. If we are found to not have complied with these laws and are unable to sell out products, our business and financial results will be negatively impacted.

In the course of conducting our business, we must adequately address quality issues that may arise with our products, including defects in third-party components and inventory. We may not be able to eliminate or mitigate occurrences of these issues and associated liabilities. In addition, even in the absence of quality issues, we may be subject to claims and liability if the performance of products do not meet the expectations of our customers. If the quality of our products does not meet the expectations of customers, then our brand and reputation, and our ability to receive referral customer business, could be adversely affected.

We maintain, and have grown over the last year, significant international operations, including operations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. As a result, we are subject to a number of risks and complications associated with international manufacturing, sales, services, and other operations. These include: risks associated with currency exchange rate fluctuations; requirements or preferences for domestic products or solutions, which could reduce demand for our products; difficulties in enforcing agreements and collecting receivables through some foreign legal systems; unexpected legal or regulatory changes; enhanced credit risks in certain countries and emerging market regions; significant variations in tax rates among the countries in which we do business, and tax withholding obligations in respect of our earnings; exchange controls or other trade restrictions including, the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on our supply chain and the industries in which we operate; customs clearance and shipping delays; general economic and political conditions in countries where we operate or where end users of our products are situated, including the potential implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic; natural disasters, political and economic instability, including wars, terrorism and political unrest, outbreak of disease, travel, social distancing and quarantine policies, boycotts, curtailment of trade, and other business restrictions affecting our ability to manufacture or sell our products; difficulties associated with managing a large organization spread throughout various countries; difficulties in enforcing intellectual property rights or weaker intellectual property right protections in some countries; and difficulties associated with compliance with a variety of laws and regulations governing international trade.

If a pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease occurs in the United States or worldwide, our business may be adversely affected. In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was identified in Wuhan, China. Since then, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and the resulting disease, COVID-19, has spread to most countries, and has caused the worldwide COVID-19 Pandemic. While the demand for our products generated from the COVID-19 Pandemic has positively impacted our financial position, it has negatively impacted our operational condition in two divisions by forcing us to implement various policies for the safety of our employees, including "work from home" policies and office social distancing policies, which may lead to lower productivity of our employees and a decrease in the innovation and advancement of our products. Beyond our own policies, numerous state and local jurisdictions have previously imposed, and others in the future may impose, "shelter-in-place" orders, quarantines, executive orders and similar government orders and restrictions for their residents to control the spread of COVID-19, which negatively affects our operations and potentially the demand for our products and services. However, these "shelter-in-place" measures and challenges will likely continue for the duration of the pandemic, which is uncertain, and may continue to negatively impact our operations. Significant outbreaks of contagious diseases such as COVID-19, and other adverse public health developments, could have a material impact on our inventory position or inventory costs due to its impact of our third-party suppliers. Further, our efforts to maintain an adequate stock of all our product components may not be sufficient to avoid a disruption to our production capacity due to the current COVID-19 Pandemic or similar events that may occur in the future. Other disruptions or potential disruptions include restrictions on the ability of our sales representatives and other personnel to travel and access customers for training and case support; disruptions in our production schedule and ability to manufacture and assemble products; delays in actions of regulatory bodies; diversion of or limitations on employee resources that would otherwise be focused on the operations of our business, including because of sickness of employees or their families or the desire of employees to avoid contact with groups of people; business adjustments or disruptions of certain third parties, including suppliers; increase in bad debts due to an adverse impact of the pandemic on our clients' cash flows and resulting decrease in collectability of our account receivables; and additional government requirements or other incremental mitigation efforts that may further impact our or our suppliers' capacity to manufacture our products. While the potential economic impact brought by, and the duration of any pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease, including COVID-19, may be difficult to assess or predict, the widespread COVID-19 Pandemic could cause disruption of global financial markets, reducing our ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity. In addition, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of an infectious disease, including COVID-19, could materially affect our business for the same reasons.