Logitech (LOGI) Risk Analysis

If we do not successfully coordinate the timely manufacturing and distribution of our products, if our manufacturers, distribution logistics providers or transport providers are not able to successfully and timely process our business or if we do not receive timely and accurate information from such providers, and especially if we expand into new product categories or our business grows in volume, we may have an insufficient supply of products to meet customer demand or experience a build-up in inventory. As a result, we could lose sales or incur additional costs which could adversely affect our financial performance. By locating our manufacturing in China and Southeast Asia, we are reliant on third parties to get our products to distributors around the world. Transportation costs, fuel costs, labor unrest, natural disasters, regional or global pandemics, military conflicts, and other adverse effects on our ability, timing and cost of delivering products can increase our inventory, decrease our margins, adversely affect our relationships with distributors and other customers and otherwise adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. A significant portion of our quarterly retail orders and product deliveries generally occur in the last weeks of the fiscal quarter. This places pressure on our supply chain and could adversely affect our revenues and profitability if we are unable to successfully fulfill customer orders.

We primarily sell our products to a variety of distributors, retailers, e-tailers and enterprise customers (together with our direct sales channel partners). We are dependent on those direct sales channel partners to distribute and sell our products to indirect sales channel partners and ultimately to consumers. The sales and business practices of all such sales channel partners, their compliance with laws and regulations, and their reputations - of which we may or may not be aware - may affect our business and our reputation. While our overall distribution relationships are diffuse, in fiscal years 2025 and 2024 our gross sales were concentrated with three customers - Amazon, Ingram Micro and TD Synnex - and their affiliated entities. We do not have long-term commitments with those customers. If online sales grow as a percentage of overall sales, we expect that our reliance on Amazon would increase. While we believe that we have good relationships with Amazon, Ingram Micro and TD Synnex, any adverse change in those relationships could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition. The impact of economic conditions, labor issues, natural disasters, regional or global pandemics, evolving consumer preferences, and purchasing patterns on our distribution partners, or competition between our sales channels, could result in sales channel disruption. Any loss of a major partner or distribution channel or other channel disruption could make us more dependent on alternate channels, increase pricing and promotional pressures from other partners and distribution channels, increase our marketing costs, or adversely impact buying and inventory patterns, payment terms or other contractual terms, sell-through or delivery of our products to consumers, our reputation and brand equity, or our market share. Our sales channel partners also sell products offered by our competitors and, in the case of retailer house brands, may also be our competitors. If product competitors offer our sales channel partners more favorable terms, have more products available to meet their needs, or utilize the leverage of broader product lines sold through the channel, or if our sales channel partners show preference for their own house brands, our sales channel partners may de-emphasize or decline to carry our products. In addition, certain of our sales channel partners could decide to de-emphasize the product categories that we offer in exchange for other product categories that they believe provide them with higher returns. If we are unable to maintain successful relationships with these sales channel partners or to maintain our distribution channels, our business will suffer. As we expand into new product categories and markets in pursuit of growth, we will have to build relationships with new channel partners and adapt to new distribution and marketing models. These new partners, practices and models may require significant management attention and operational resources and may affect our accounting, including revenue recognition, gross margins, and the ability to make comparisons from period to period. Certain product categories, such as Video Collaboration, also require that we further build and scale our own enterprise sales force. Several of our competitors already have large enterprise sales forces and experience and success with that sales model. If we are unable to build successful distribution channels, build and scale our own enterprise sales force, or successfully market our products in these new product categories, we may not be able to take advantage of the growth opportunities, and our business and our ability to grow our business could be adversely affected. We reserve for cooperative marketing arrangements, incentive programs and pricing programs with our sales channel partners. These reserves are based on judgments and estimates, using historical experience rates, inventory levels in distribution, current trends and other factors. There could be significant differences between the actual costs of such arrangements and programs and our estimates. We use sell-through data, which represents sales of our products by our direct retailer and e-tailer customers to consumers, and by our distributor customers to their customers, along with other metrics, to assess consumer demand for our products. Sell-through data is subject to limitations due to collection methods and the third-party nature of the data and thus may not be an accurate indicator of actual consumer demand for our products. The customers supplying sell-through data vary by geographic region and from period to period, but typically represent a majority of our retail sales. In addition, we rely on channel inventory data from our sales channel partners. If we do not receive this information on a timely basis, if this information is not accurate, or if we do not properly interpret this information, our results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

Concerns over climate change have resulted in increased regulatory requirements and reporting frameworks designed to reduce or mitigate the effects of climate change on the environment. However, the lack of harmonized regulatory requirements and reporting frameworks exposes companies to navigate myriad different requirements, which has led to challenges in ESG reporting. As a result, companies are required to develop an expanded set of metrics and measures, as well as data collection, controls, and reporting processes to meet regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations. Failure by us to promptly and accurately meet these expectations and requirements may expose us to reputational and brand damage, regulatory penalties and litigation among other things. Compliance with such requirements will also require additional expenditures by us or our suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We produce approximately 35% of our products at the facilities we own in China. The majority of our other production is performed by third-party contract manufacturers, including original design manufacturers in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Our manufacturing operations in China have been in the past and could in the future be adversely affected by global pandemics, changes in the interpretation and enforcement of legal standards, strains on China's available labor pool, changes in labor costs and other employment dynamics, high turnover among Chinese employees, infrastructure issues, import-export issues, cross-border intellectual property and technology restrictions, currency transfer restrictions, natural disasters, regional or global pandemics, conflicts or disagreements between China and Taiwan or China and the United States, labor unrest, and other trade customs and practices that are dissimilar to those in the United States and Europe. Interpretation and enforcement of China's laws and regulations continue to evolve, and we expect differences in interpretation and enforcement to continue in the foreseeable future. Our manufacturing operations at third-party contractors could be adversely affected by contractual disagreements, by labor unrest, by natural disasters, by regional or global pandemics, by wars and armed conflicts, by strains on local communications, trade, and other infrastructures, by competition for the available labor pool or manufacturing capacity, by increasing labor and other costs, and by other trade customs and practices that are dissimilar to those in the United States and Europe. Further, we have been exposed in the past and may in the future be exposed to fluctuations in the value of the local currency in the countries in which manufacturing occurs. Future appreciation of these local currencies could increase our component and other raw material costs. In addition, our labor costs could continue to rise as wage rates increase and the available labor pool declines. These conditions could adversely affect our financial results.

A significant portion of our business is conducted in currencies other than the U.S. Dollar. Therefore, we face exposure to movements in currency exchange rates. Our primary exposure to movements in currency exchange rates relates to non-U.S. Dollar-denominated sales and operating expenses worldwide. For fiscal year 2025, approximately 49% of our revenue was in non-U.S. denominated currencies. The weakening of currencies relative to the U.S. Dollar adversely affects the U.S. Dollar value of our non-U.S. Dollar-denominated sales and earnings. If we raise international pricing to compensate, it could potentially reduce demand for our products, adversely affecting our sales and potentially having an adverse impact on our market share. Margins on sales of our products in non-U.S. Dollar-denominated countries and on sales of products that include components obtained from suppliers in non-U.S. Dollar-denominated countries could be adversely affected by currency exchange rate fluctuations. In some circumstances, for competitive or other reasons, we may decide not to raise local prices to fully offset the U.S. Dollar's strengthening, which would adversely affect the U.S. Dollar value of our non-U.S. Dollar-denominated sales and earnings. Competitive conditions in the markets in which we operate may also limit our ability to increase prices in the event of fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Conversely, strengthening of currency rates may also increase our product component costs and other expenses denominated in those currencies, adversely affecting operating results. We further note that a larger portion of our sales than of our expenses are denominated in non-U.S. denominated currencies. We use derivative instruments to hedge certain exposures to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. The use of such hedging activities may not offset any, or more than a portion, of the adverse financial effects of unfavorable movements in currency exchange rates over the limited time the hedges are in place and do not protect us from long term shifts in currency exchange rates. As a result, fluctuations in currency exchange rates could affect and have in the past adversely affected our business, operating results and financial condition. Moreover, these exposures may change over time.

Our future success depends in part on our proprietary technology, technical know-how and other intellectual property. We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws, and confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions such as nondisclosure terms and licenses, to protect our intellectual property. We hold various United States patents and pending applications, together with corresponding patents and pending applications from other countries. It is possible that any patent owned by us will be invalidated, deemed unenforceable, circumvented or challenged, that the patent rights granted will not provide competitive advantages to us, or that any of our pending or future patent applications will not be granted, maintained or enforced. In addition, other intellectual property laws or our confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions may not adequately protect our intellectual property. Also, others may independently develop similar technology, duplicate our products, or design around our patents or other intellectual property rights. Unauthorized parties have copied and may in the future attempt to copy aspects of our products or to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Any of these events could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.