Coty (COTY) Risk Analysis

Our intellectual property is a valuable asset of our business. Although certain of the intellectual property we use is registered in the U.S. and in many of the foreign countries in which we operate, there can be no assurances with respect to the continuation of such intellectual property rights, including our ability to further register, use or defend key current or future trademarks. Further, applicable law may provide only limited and uncertain protection, particularly in emerging markets, such as China. In addition, advances in AI technology may generate intellectual property developments, which existing intellectual property laws may not adequately protect and which may also give rise to a proliferation of infringement which we may not be able to address effectively. Furthermore, we may not apply for, or be unable to obtain, intellectual property protection for certain aspects of our business. Third parties have in the past, and could in the future, bring infringement, invalidity, co-inventorship, re-examination, opposition or similar claims with respect to our current or future intellectual property. Any such claims, whether or not successful, could be costly to defend, may not be sufficiently covered by any indemnification provisions to which we are party, divert management's attention and resources, damage our reputation and brands, and substantially harm our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, as well as the trading price of our securities. Patent expirations may also affect our business. As patents expire, competitors may be able to legally produce and market products similar to the ones that were patented, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, as well as the trading price of our securities. In addition, third parties may distribute and sell counterfeit or other infringing versions of our products, which may be inferior or pose safety risks and could confuse consumers or customers, which could cause them to refrain from purchasing our brands in the future or otherwise damage our reputation. In recent years, there has been an increase in the availability of counterfeit goods, including fragrances, in various markets by street vendors and small retailers, as well as on the Internet. The presence of counterfeit versions of our products in the market and of prestige products in mass distribution channels, including grey market products, could also dilute the value of our brands, force us and our distributors to compete with heavily discounted products, cause us to be in breach of contract (including license agreements), impact our compliance with distribution and competition laws in jurisdictions including the E.U. and China, or otherwise have a negative impact on our reputation and business, prospects, financial condition or results of operations. We are engaged in efforts to rationalize our wholesale distribution channel and continue efforts to reduce the amount of product diversion to the value and mass channels; however, stopping or significantly reducing such commerce could result in a potential adverse impact to our sales and net revenues, including to those customers who are selling our products to unauthorized retailers, or an increase in returns over historical levels. To protect or enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, we may initiate litigation or other proceedings against third parties, such as infringement suits, opposition proceedings or interference proceedings. Any lawsuits or proceedings that we initiate could be expensive, take significant time and divert management's attention from other business concerns, adversely impact customer relations and we may not be successful. Litigation and other proceedings may also put our intellectual property at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. In addition, while we maintain a robust anti-counterfeiting and brand enforcement program, bringing numerous actions against infringers every year, such efforts may not be successful. The occurrence of any of these events may have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, as well as the trading price of our securities. In addition, many of our products bear, and the value of our brands is affected by, the trademarks and other intellectual property rights of our brand and joint venture partners and licensors. Our brand and joint venture partners' and licensors' ability to maintain and protect their trademark and other intellectual property rights is subject to risks similar to those described above with respect to our intellectual property. We do not control the protection of the trademarks and other intellectual property rights of our brand and joint venture partners and licensors and cannot ensure that our brand and joint venture partners and licensors will be able to secure or protect their trademarks and other intellectual property rights, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as the trading price of our securities.

We rely on information technology networks and systems, including the Internet, to process, transmit and store electronic and financial information, to manage a variety of business processes and activities, and to comply with regulatory, legal and tax requirements. We also increasingly depend on our information technology infrastructure for digital marketing activities, e-commerce and for electronic communications among our locations, personnel, customers and suppliers around the world, including as a result of remote working in connection with flexible working arrangements. These information technology systems, some of which are managed by third parties that we do not control, may be susceptible to damage, disruptions or shutdowns due to failures during the process of upgrading or replacing software, databases or components thereof, cutover activities in our restructuring and simplification initiatives, power outages, hardware failures, telecommunication failures, user errors, catastrophic events or other problems. In addition, our databases and systems and our third-party providers' databases and systems have been, and will likely continue to be, subject to advanced computer viruses or other malicious codes, ransomware, unauthorized access attempts, denial of service attacks, phishing, social engineering, hacking and other cyber attacks, the threat of which is increasing in frequency, intensity and duration. Such attacks have become increasingly difficult to detect, defend against or prevent and may originate from outside parties, hackers, criminal organizations or other threat actors, including nation states. As AI capabilities improve and gain widespread use, we may experience cyber attacks created using AI, which may be difficult to detect and mitigate against. These attacks could be designed with an AI tool to directly attack information systems with increased speed and/or efficiency than a human or create more effective phishing techniques. It is also possible for a threat to be introduced as a result of our customers and third-party providers using the output of an AI tool that includes a threat, such as introducing malicious code by incorporating AI generated source code. In addition, insider actors (malicious or otherwise) could cause technical disruptions and/or confidential data leakage. Our security efforts or the security efforts of our third-party providers may not be sufficient to prevent material breaches, operational incidents or other breakdowns to our or our third-party providers' information technology databases or systems. If our information technology systems otherwise suffer severe damage, disruption or shutdown and our business continuity plans do not effectively resolve the issues in a timely manner, our product sales, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected, and we could experience delays in reporting our financial results. If not managed and mitigated effectively, these risks could increase in the future as we expand our digital capabilities and e-commerce activities, including through the use of new digital applications and technologies. There are further risks associated with the information systems of our joint ventures and of the companies we acquire, both in terms of systems compatibility, process controls, level of security and functionality. It may cost us significant time, money and resources to address these risks and if our systems were to fail or we are unable to successfully expand the capacity of these systems, or we are unable to integrate new technologies into our existing systems, our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as the trading price of our securities, may be adversely affected.

We are starting to implement the use of AI solutions, including machine learning and generative AI tools that collect, aggregate, and analyze data to assist in the development of our products and in the use of internal tools that support our business. These applications may become increasingly important in our operations over time. This emerging technology presents a number of risks inherent in its use. AI algorithms trained with noisy data may create accuracy issues, unintended biases, and discriminatory outcomes that could harm our brand, reputation, business, or customers. Additionally, no assurance can be made that the usage of AI will assist us in being more efficient. Further, dependence on AI without adequate safeguards to make certain business decisions may introduce additional operational vulnerabilities by producing inaccurate outcomes, recommendations, or other suggestions based on flaws in the underlying data or other unintended results. Our competitors or other third parties may incorporate AI into their business, services, and products more rapidly or more successfully than us, which could hinder our ability to compete effectively and adversely affect our results of operations. Implementing the use of AI successfully, ethically and as intended, will require significant resources. In addition, the use of AI may increase cybersecurity and data privacy risks, such as intended, unintended, or inadvertent transmission of proprietary or sensitive information. The technologies underlying AI and their use cases are rapidly developing, and it is not possible to predict all of the legal, operational or technological risks related to the use of AI. While new AI initiatives, laws, and regulations are emerging and evolving, uncertainty will remain, and our obligation to comply with the evolving regulatory landscape could entail significant costs, negatively affect our business, or limit our ability to incorporate certain AI capabilities into our business.

Our business is subject to numerous laws, regulations and policies. Changes in the laws (both foreign and domestic), regulations and policies, including the interpretation or enforcement thereof, that affect, or will affect, our business or products, including those related to intellectual property, marketing, antitrust and competition, product liability, restrictions or requirements related to product content or formulation, labeling and packaging (including end-of-product-life responsibility), corruption, the environment or climate change (including increasing focus on the climate, water and waste impacts of operations and products), shifts in immigration and work permit policies, privacy, data protection, taxes, tariffs, trade and customs (including, among others, import and export license requirements, sanctions, boycotts, quotas, trade barriers, and other measures imposed by U.S. and foreign countries), restrictions on foreign investment, the outcome and expense of legal or regulatory proceedings, and any action we may take as a result, and changes in accounting standards, could adversely affect our financial results as well as the trading price of our securities. See "-We are subject to risks related to our international operations". In addition, increasing governmental and societal attention to environmental, social and governance matters, including expanding mandatory and voluntary reporting, diligence and disclosure on topics such as climate change, waste production, water usage, biodiversity, emerging technologies, human capital, labor, supply chain, and risk oversight, could expand the nature, scope and complexity of matters that we are required to control, assess and report. These and other rapidly changing laws, regulations, policies and related interpretations, as well as increased enforcement actions by various governmental and regulatory agencies, create challenges for us, including our compliance and ethics programs, may alter the environment in which we do business and may increase the ongoing costs of compliance, which could adversely impact our results of operations and cash flows. If we are unable to continue to meet these challenges and comply with all laws, regulations, policies and related interpretations, our reputation and our business results could be adversely impacted. We are also subject to legal proceedings and legal compliance risks in connection with legacy matters related to acquired companies that were previously outside our control. Such matters may result in our incurring unanticipated costs that may negatively impact the financial contributions of such acquisitions at least in the periods in which such liability is incurred or requires operational adjustments that affect our results of operations with respect to such investments. We may not have adequate or any insurance coverage for some of these legacy matters, including matters assumed in the acquisition of the P&G Beauty Business, the Hypermarcas Brands and the Burberry fragrance business, and the joint venture with Kylie Jenner. While we believe that we have adopted, and will adopt, appropriate risk management and compliance programs, the global nature of our operations and many laws and regulations to which we are subject mean that legal and compliance risks will continue to exist with respect to our business, and additional legal proceedings and other contingencies, the outcome of which cannot be predicted with certainty, will arise from time to time, which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as the trading price of our securities.

Significant consolidation in the retail industry has occurred during the last several years. The trend toward consolidation, particularly in developed markets such as the U.S. and Western Europe, has resulted in our becoming increasingly dependent on our relationships with, and the overall business health of, fewer key retailers that control an increasing percentage of retail locations, which trend may continue. For example, certain retailers account for over 10% of our net revenues in certain geographies, including the U.S. Our success is dependent on our ability to manage our retailer relationships, including offering trade terms on mutually acceptable terms. Furthermore, increased online competition and declining in-store traffic has resulted, and may continue to result, in brick-and-mortar retailers closing physical stores, which could negatively impact our distribution strategies and/or sales if such retailers decide to significantly reduce their inventory levels for our products or to designate more shelf space to our competitors. Additionally, these retailers periodically assess the allocation of shelf space and have elected (and could further elect) to reduce the shelf space allocated to our products. Some of our brands, including CoverGirl, have experienced shelf space losses in the past, and such declines may continue or resume. Further consolidation and store closures, or reduction in inventory levels of our products or shelf space devoted to our products, or the financial distress of a major retailer, could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, as well as the trading price of our securities. We generally do not have long-term sales contracts or other sales assurances with our retail customers. Consumer shopping preferences have also shifted, and may continue to shift in the future, to distribution channels other than traditional retail in which we have more limited experience, presence and development, such as direct-to-consumer sales and e-commerce. In particular, expansion of our direct-to-consumer business presents challenges for logistics and fulfillment as well as additional regulatory compliance. If we are not successful in our efforts to expand distribution channels, including growing our e-commerce activities, we will not be able to compete effectively. In addition, our entry into new categories and geographies has exposed, and may continue to expose, us to new distribution channels or risks about which we have less experience. Any change in our distribution channels, such as direct sales, could also expose us to disputes with distributors. If we are not successful in developing and utilizing these channels or other channels that future consumers may prefer, we may experience lower than expected revenues.

Our sales generally increase during our second fiscal quarter as a result of increased demand by retailers associated with the winter holiday season. Accordingly, our financial performance, sales, working capital requirements, cash flow and borrowings generally experience variability during the three to six months preceding and during the holiday period. As a result of this seasonality, our expenses, including working capital expenditures and advertising spend, are typically higher during the period before a high-demand season. Consequently, any substantial decrease in, or inaccurate forecasting with respect to, net revenues during such periods of high demand including as a result of decreased customer purchases or other changes in order patterns, increased product returns, production or distribution disruptions or other events (many of which are outside of our control), would prevent us from being able to recoup our earlier expenses and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as the trading price of our securities.