Crown Holdings (CCK) Risk Analysis

The ongoing global outbreak of coronavirus (also known as COVID-19), which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020 and a national emergency by the President of the United States on March 13, 2020, has caused and is continuing to cause business slowdowns and shutdowns and turmoil in the financial markets both in the U.S. and abroad. The Company is closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on all aspects of its business and geographies, including how it has impacted and will impact the Company's employees, customers, suppliers and distribution channels. The pandemic, as well as the quarantines and other governmental and non-governmental restrictions which have been imposed throughout the world in an effort to contain or mitigate it, has created significant volatility, uncertainty and economic disruption which is expected to adversely affect the Company's business operations and may materially and adversely affect the Company's results of operations, cash flows and financial position or the Company's ability to execute its short- and long-term business strategies and initiatives. For example, governmental authorities in several regions (including Pennsylvania, where the Company's world headquarters are located) have ordered the cessation of all business activity which is deemed non-essential and there is a risk that these shutdown orders will be extended or expanded or that similar shutdown orders will be implemented in other regions; while many food and beverage products are deemed essential, several jurisdictions have implemented restrictions or prohibitions on the sale of alcoholic beverages which have reduced the demand for some of the Company's products. Likewise, the Company's Transit Packaging Division supplies a wide array of industrial markets which are being negatively affected by a decline in global economic activity. The magnitude of COVID-19's ultimate impact on the Company will depend on numerous evolving factors, future developments and cascading effects of the coronavirus pandemic that the Company is not able to predict, including: the severity of the outbreak and the international actions that are being taken to contain and treat it; the duration of the outbreak and the myriad of business restrictions being imposed as a result of it; governmental, business and other responses to the outbreak (including limitations on the Company's operations and/or mandates that the Company provide products or services); the extent and duration of the effect of the outbreak on consumer confidence and spending, customer demand and buying patterns; the promotion of "social distancing" and the adoption of shelter-in-place orders and restrictions on exports affecting customers' demand for the Company's products; the extent to which forced remote working arrangements reduce the Company's ability to effectively manage its global operations; the impact of the outbreak on the Company's supply chain (including reductions in supply that may result in an inability to meet customer demand); the impact of the outbreak on internal controls (including those over financial reporting); any impairment in value of the Company's tangible or intangible assets which could be recorded as a result of a weaker economic conditions; and the effect of the ongoing disruption in the capital markets on the Company's ability to access capital on favorable terms and continue to meet its liquidity needs. Moreover, employee absenteeism due to members of the Company's workforce being quarantined or exposed to COVID-19 may impact the Company's ability to meet staffing needs which, compounded with the effects of ongoing office and potential factory closures, disruptions to ports and other shipping infrastructure, border closures, and other travel or health-related restrictions, may in turn impair the Company in the manufacture, distribution and sale of its products. In addition, while the Company cannot predict the magnitude of the impact that COVID-19 will have on its customers and suppliers or their financial conditions, any material effect on the Company's customers or suppliers could adversely impact the Company. For example, certain of the Company's suppliers have informed the Company that the coronavirus outbreak and the resulting business restrictions may constrain supply of necessary materials and the Company may face difficulty collecting accounts receivable from any of its customers that may be negatively impacted by the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 may also exacerbate other risk factors discussed in Item 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, any of which could have a material effect on the Company. For example, significant volatility in the equity markets could have a negative impact on the market value of the Company's pension plan assets which may substantially increase the Company's future pension plan funding requirements and could have a negative impact on the Company's results of operations, pension plan funded status and future cash flows. The extent of the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's business is highly uncertain and difficult to predict, as information is rapidly evolving with respect to the duration and severity of the pandemic. At this point, the Company cannot reasonably estimate the duration and severity of the COVID-19 outbreak or its overall impact on the Company's business.