UPD Holding (UPDC) Risk Analysis

State licensure laws and many federal healthcare programs (where applicable) impose a number of obligations on healthcare providers undergoing a change of ownership or change of control transaction. These requirements may require new license applications as well as notices given a fixed number of days prior to the closing of affected transactions. These provisions require us to be proactive when considering both internal restructuring and acquisitions of other treatment companies. Failure to provide such notices or to submit required paperwork can adversely affect licensure on a going forward basis, can subject the parties to penalties and can adversely affect our ability to operate our facilities. Many third-party payor agreements, including government payor programs, also have change of ownership or change of control provisions. Such provisions generally include a prior notice provision as well as require the consent of the payor in order to continue the terms of the payor agreement. Abiding by the terms of such provisions may reopen pricing negotiations with third-party payors where the provider currently has favorable reimbursement terms as compared to the market. Failure to comply with the terms of such provisions can result in a breach of the underlying third-party payor agreement. As substance abuse treatment coverage and payment reform initiatives continue to expand, these types of provisions could have a significant impact on our ability to realize opportunities and could adversely affect our cash flows and profitability.

We are authorized to issue up to 200,000,000 shares of common stock and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock of which 194,982,479 shares of common stock are issued and outstanding and 100,000 shares of preferred stock are issued and outstanding. Our board of directors has the authority to cause us to issue additional shares of common stock and preferred stock, and to determine the rights, preferences, and privileges of shares of our preferred stock, without consent of our stockholders. Consequently, the stockholders may experience more dilution in their ownership of our stock in the future.

Our common stock is quoted on the OTC Pink Sheets stock market operated by the OTC Markets Group with the trading symbol "UPDC". Trading in stock quoted on OTC Pink Sheets is often characterized by wide fluctuations in trading prices, due to many factors that may have little to do with our operations or business prospects. This volatility could depress the market price of our common stock for reasons unrelated to operating performance. Moreover, trading of securities on OTC Pink Sheets is often more sporadic than the trading of securities listed on a stock exchange like the NASDAQ or the NYSE. Accordingly, stockholders may have difficulty reselling any of our shares.

Certain of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock are "restricted securities" within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. As restricted shares, these shares may be resold only pursuant to an effective registration statement or under the requirements of Rule 144 or other applicable exemptions from registration under the Securities Act and as required under applicable state securities laws.  Rule 144 provides in essence that an "affiliated" person, such as our management, who have held our restricted securities for a period of at least one year from the date of this Form 8-K filing, may, under certain conditions, sell every three months in brokerage transactions, a number of shares that does not exceed the greater of 1% of a company's outstanding shares of common stock.  There is no limit on the amount of restricted securities that may be sold by a non-affiliate after the restricted securities have been held by the owner for a period of one year from the date of this Form 8-K filing.  A sale under Rule 144 or under any other exemption from the Securities Act, if available, or pursuant to subsequent registrations of our shares of common stock, may have a depressive effect upon the price of our shares of common stock in any active market that may develop.

We believe that the market for penny stocks has suffered from patterns of fraud and abuse. Such patterns include: - Control of the market for the security by one or a few broker-dealers that are often related to the promoter or issuer;- Manipulation of prices through prearranged matching of purchases and sales and false and misleading press releases;- "Boiler room" practices involving high pressure sales tactics and unrealistic price projections by inexperienced salespersons;- Excessive and undisclosed bid-ask differentials and markups by selling broker-dealers; and - Wholesale dumping of the same securities by promoters and broker-dealers after prices have been manipulated to a desired level, along with the inevitable collapse of those prices with consequent investor losses. We believe that many of these abuses have occurred with respect to the promotion of low-priced stock companies that lacked experienced management, adequate financial resources, an adequate business plan and/or marketable and successful business or product.

A prolonged decline in the price of our common stock could result in a reduction in the liquidity of our common stock and a reduction in our ability to raise capital. Because we plan to acquire a significant portion of the funds we need in order to conduct our planned operations through the sale of equity securities, a decline in the price of our common stock could be detrimental to our liquidity and our operations because the decline may cause investors not to choose to invest in our stock. If we are unable to raise the funds we require for all our planned operations, we may be forced to reallocate funds from other planned uses and may suffer a significant negative effect on our business plan and operations, including our ability to develop new products and continue our current operations. As a result, our business may suffer, and not be successful and we may go out of business. We also might not be able to meet our financial obligations if we cannot raise enough funds through the sale of our equity securities and we may be forced to go out of business.

Our stock is a penny stock. The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has adopted Rule 15g-9 which generally defines "penny stock" to be any equity security that has a market price (as defined in Rule 15g-9) less than $5.00 per share or an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions. Our securities are covered by the penny stock rules, which impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell to persons other than established customers and "accredited investors". The term "accredited investor" refers generally to institutions with assets in excess of $5,000,000 or individuals with a net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or annual income exceeding $200,000 or $300,000 jointly with their spouse. The penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document in a form prepared by the SEC, which provides information about penny stocks and the nature and level of risks in the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction and monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer's account. The bid and offer quotations, and the broker-dealer and salesperson compensation information, must be given to the customer orally or in writing prior to effecting the transaction and must be given to the customer in writing before or with the customer's confirmation. In addition, the penny stock rules require that prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from these rules; the broker-dealer must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser's written agreement to the transaction. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in the secondary market for the stock that is subject to these penny stock rules. Consequently, these penny stock rules may affect the ability of broker-dealers to trade our securities. We believe that the penny stock rules discourage investor interest in and limit the marketability of our common stock.

In addition to the "penny stock" rules promulgated by the SEC, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") has adopted rules that require that in recommending an investment to a customer, a broker-dealer must have reasonable grounds for believing that the investment is suitable for that customer. Prior to recommending speculative low-priced securities to their non-institutional customers, broker-dealers must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the customer's financial status, tax status, investment objectives and other information. Under interpretations of these rules, FINRA believes that there is a high probability that speculative low-priced securities will not be suitable for at least some customers. FINRA requirements make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that their customers buy our common stock, which may limit your ability to buy and sell our stock.

We may incur significant costs associated with our public company reporting requirements, costs associated with newly applicable corporate governance requirements, including requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and other rules implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission. We expect all of these applicable rules and regulations to significantly increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time consuming and costly.  We also expect that these applicable rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage.  As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our Board of Directors or as executive officers.  We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these newly applicable rules, and we cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

As directed by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rules requiring each public company to include a report of management on the company's internal controls over financial reporting in its annual reports.  In addition, the independent registered public accounting firm auditing a company's financial statements must also attest to and report on management's assessment of the effectiveness of the company's internal controls over financial reporting as well as the operating effectiveness of the company's internal controls. While we expect to expend significant resources in developing the necessary documentation and testing procedures required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, there is a risk that we may not be able to comply timely with all of the requirements imposed by this rule.  In the event that we are unable to receive a positive attestation from our independent registered public accounting firm with respect to our internal controls, investors and others may lose confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and our stock price and ability to obtain equity or debt financing as needed could suffer. In addition, in the event that our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to rely on our internal controls in connection with its audit of our financial statements, and in the further event that it is unable to devise alternative procedures in order to satisfy itself as to the material accuracy of our financial statements and related disclosures, it is possible that we would be unable to file our Annual Report on Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which could also adversely affect the market price of our common stock and our ability to secure additional financing as needed.

Our articles of incorporation and applicable Nevada law provide for the indemnification of our directors, officers, employees, and agents, under certain circumstances, against attorney's fees and other expenses incurred by them in any litigation to which they become a party arising from their association with or activities on our behalf. We will also bear the expenses of such litigation for any of our directors, officers, employees, or agents, upon such person's written promise to repay us if it is ultimately determined that any such person shall not have been entitled to indemnification. This indemnification policy could result in substantial expenditures by us which we will be unable to recoup. We have been advised that, in the opinion of the SEC, indemnification for liabilities arising under federal securities laws is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933  (the "Securities Act") and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification for liabilities arising under federal securities laws, other than the payment by us of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding, is asserted by a director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, we will (unless in the opinion of our counsel, the matter has been settled by controlling precedent) submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction, the question whether indemnification by us is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue. The legal process relating to this matter if it were to occur is likely to be very costly and may result in us receiving negative publicity, either of which factors is likely to materially reduce the market and price for our shares, if such a market ever develop.