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Zepp Health (ZEPP) Risk Analysis
Risk Overview Q4, 2023
Source: the company's latest filing for the period ended Dec 31, 2023, filed Apr 23, 2024
Risk Change Over Time
- Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 1Our ability to utilize our net revenues effectively may be limited, and the value of your investment may be influenced, by governmental regulation of currency conversion.
The PRC government imposes regulations on the convertibility of the Renminbi into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of China. We receive the substantial majority of our revenues in Renminbi, U.S. dollars and Euros. In 2023, we received approximately half of our revenues in Renminbi. Under our current corporate structure, our Cayman Islands holding company primarily relies on dividend payments from our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange by complying with certain procedural requirements. Specifically, under the existing exchange regulations, without prior approval of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, cash generated from the operations of our PRC subsidiaries in China may be used to pay dividends to our company. However, approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities is required where Renminbi is to be converted into a foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. As a result, we need to obtain approval of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange to use cash generated from the operations of our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs to pay off their respective debt, if any, in a currency other than Renminbi owed to entities outside China, or to make other capital expenditure payments outside China in a currency other than Renminbi. The PRC government may at its discretion regulate access to foreign currencies for current account transactions in the future. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ADSs.
Risk Highlights Q4, 2023
Risk Word Cloud
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 72
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1Certain director may have conflicts of interest.
Our director, Mr. De Liu, is also a co-founder and a senior vice president of Xiaomi. Mr. Wang Wayne Huang, the chairman of our board of directors and our chief executive officer, also serves as the chairman of the board of directors of Jiangsu Yitong High-tech Co., Ltd., or Jiangsu Yitong, an affiliate of our company. Our director, Ms. Yunfen Lu, also serves as a director of Jiangsu Yitong. Such association may give rise to potential conflicts of interest, especially with regarding to our business cooperation with Xiaomi and Jiangsu Yitong. Directors of our company are required by law to act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best of our interests and to disclose any interest that they may have in any of our projects or opportunities. In addition, we have adopted a code of ethics and an audit committee charter. The code of ethics provides that an interested director needs to refrain from participating in any discussion among senior officers of our company relating to an interested business and may not be involved in any proposed transaction with such interested business. Furthermore, the audit committee charter provides that most related party transactions must be pre-approved by the audit committee, a majority of which consists of independent directors. Our audit committee charter, however, exempts the pre-approval requirement for related party transactions that are immaterial to us or not unusual by nature. In the event of such transactions with Xiaomi or Jiangsu Yitong, Mr. Liu and Ms. Lu will still be entitled to vote in our board meeting, and we cannot assure you that their decision will not be impacted by any potential conflict of interest arising from their respective relationship with Xiaomi and Jiangsu Yitong.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2We have granted, and may continue to grant, options and other types of awards under our share incentive plans, which may result in increased share-based compensation expenses.
We adopted a share incentive plan in 2015, 2018 and 2023, respectively, which we refer to as the 2015 Plan, the 2018 Plan and the 2023 Plan, respectively, in this annual report, for the purpose of granting share-based compensation awards to employees, directors and consultants to incentivize their performance and align their interests with ours. We recognize expenses in our consolidated statement of income in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Under our three share incentive plans, we are authorized to grant options and other types of awards. The maximum aggregate number of shares which may be issued pursuant to all awards under the 2015 Plan, the 2018 Plan and the 2023 Plan is 14,328,358, 23,899,017 and 10,322,520 Class A ordinary shares, respectively. As of March 31, 2024, awards to purchase 13,564,827 Class A ordinary shares under the 2015 Plan have been granted and outstanding, excluding awards that were forfeited or cancelled after the relevant grant dates. As of March 31, 2024, awards to purchase 23,312,826 Class A ordinary shares under the 2018 Plan have been granted and outstanding, excluding awards that were forfeited or cancelled after the relevant grant dates. As of March 31, 2024, awards to purchase 7,591,456 Class A ordinary shares under the 2023 Plan have been granted and outstanding, excluding awards that were forfeited or cancelled after the relevant grant dates. As of December 31, 2023, our unrecognized share-based compensation expenses amounted to RMB31.5 million (US$4.4 million). We believe the granting of share-based awards is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share-based compensation to employees in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations. Competition for highly skilled personnel is often intense and we may incur significant costs or not successful in attracting, integrating, or retaining qualified personnel to fulfill our current or future needs. We have, from time to time, experienced, and we expect to continue to experience, difficulty in hiring and retaining highly skilled employees with appropriate qualifications. In addition, if any of our senior management or key personnel joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may lose know-how, trade secrets, business partners and key personnel. Furthermore, perspective candidates and existing employees often consider the value of the equity awards they receive in connection with their employment. Thus, our ability to attract or retain highly skilled employees may be adversely affected by declines in the perceived value of our equity or equity awards. Furthermore, there are no assurances that the number of shares reserved for issuance under our share incentive plans will be sufficient to grant equity awards adequate to recruit new employees and to compensate existing employees.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3Any failure by the VIEs or their shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material and adverse effect on our business.
We refer to the shareholders of each of the VIEs as its nominee shareholders because although they remain the holders of equity interests on record in each of the VIEs, pursuant to the terms of the power of attorney, each such shareholder has irrevocably authorized our WFOE to exercise his, her or its rights as a shareholder of the VIE. However, if the VIEs or their shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we may have to incur substantial costs and expend additional resources to enforce such arrangements. We may also have to rely on legal remedies under PRC law, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming damages, which we cannot assure will be effective under PRC law. For example, if the shareholders of the VIEs refuse to transfer their equity interest in the VIEs to us or our designee if we exercise the purchase option pursuant to these contractual arrangements, or if they otherwise act in bad faith toward us, then we may have to take legal actions to compel them to perform their contractual obligations. All of the agreements under our contractual arrangements are governed by PRC law and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in China. Accordingly, these contracts would be interpreted in accordance with PRC law and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. The legal system in the PRC is not as developed as in some other jurisdictions, such as the United States. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. See "Item 3. Key Information-D. Risk Factors-Risks Related to Doing Business in China-As the case in many other civil law jurisdictions, there are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and enforcement of laws, rules and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate, and any lack of requisite approvals, licenses or permits applicable to our business may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations." Meanwhile, there are very few precedents as to whether contractual arrangements would be judged to form effective control over the VIEs through the contractual arrangements, or how contractual arrangements in the context of a variable interest entity should be interpreted or enforced by the PRC courts. Should legal actions become necessary, we cannot guarantee that the court will rule in favor of the enforceability of the variable interest entity contractual arrangements. In addition, under PRC law, rulings by arbitrators are final, parties cannot appeal the arbitration results in courts, and if the losing parties fail to carry out the arbitration awards within a prescribed time limit, the prevailing parties may only enforce the arbitration awards in PRC courts through arbitration award recognition proceedings, which would require additional expenses and delay. In the event we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, or if we suffer significant delays or other obstacles in the process of enforcing these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over the VIEs, and our ability to conduct our business may be negatively affected.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4The shareholders of the VIEs may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.
The shareholders of the VIEs may have potential conflicts of interest with us. These shareholders may breach, or cause the VIEs to breach, or refuse to renew, the existing contractual arrangements we have with them and the VIEs, which would have a material and adverse effect on our ability to effectively control the VIEs and receive economic benefits from them. For example, the shareholders may be able to cause our agreements with the VIEs to be performed in a manner adverse to us by, among other things, failing to remit payments due under the contractual arrangements to us on a timely basis. We cannot assure you that when conflicts of interest arise any or all of these shareholders will act in the best interests of our company or such conflicts will be resolved in our favor. Currently, we do not have any arrangements to address potential conflicts of interest between these shareholders and our company. If we cannot resolve any conflict of interest or dispute between us and these shareholders, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which could result in disruption of our business and subject us to substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5The PCAOB had historically been unable to inspect our auditor in relation to their audit work performed for our financial statements and the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of our auditor in the past has deprived our investors with the benefits of such inspections.
Our auditor, the independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included elsewhere in this annual report, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB, is subject to laws in the United States pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Our auditor is located in mainland China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB was historically unable to conduct inspections and investigations completely before 2022. As a result, we and investors in the ADSs were deprived of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China in the past has made it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our independent registered public accounting firm's audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to the PCAOB inspections. On December 15, 2022, the PCAOB issued a report that vacated its December 16, 2021 determination and removed mainland China and Hong Kong from the list of jurisdictions where it is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms. However, if the PCAOB determines in the future that it no longer has full access to inspect and investigate completely accounting firms in mainland China and Hong Kong, and we use an accounting firm headquartered in one of these jurisdictions to issue an audit report on our financial statements filed with the SEC, we and investors in our ADSs would be deprived of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections again, which could cause investors and potential investors in the ADSs to lose confidence in the reported financial information and the quality of our financial statements.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6Our dual-class voting structure will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.
We have a dual class ordinary share structure. Our ordinary shares are divided into Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Holders of Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B ordinary shares are entitled to ten votes per share. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by the holder thereof, while Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Upon any transfer of Class B ordinary shares by a holder thereof to any person or entity, such Class B ordinary shares shall be automatically and immediately converted into the equal number of Class A ordinary shares. As of February 29, 2024, holders of our Class B ordinary shares held an aggregate of 117,208,247 Class B ordinary shares, which represent 48.9% of the total outstanding shares and 90.5% of total voting power of our outstanding shares. Therefore, our Class B ordinary shareholders have decisive influence over matters requiring shareholders' approval, including election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or sale of our company or our assets. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions that holders of Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7Our Memorandum and Articles contain anti-takeover provisions that could have a material adverse effect on the rights of holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs.
Our Memorandum and Articles contain provisions to limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transaction. Our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our shareholders, to issue preferred shares in one or more series and to fix their designations, powers, preferences, privileges, and relative participating, optional or special rights and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our ordinary shares, in the form of ADS or otherwise. Preferred shares could be issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control of our company or make removal of management more difficult. If our board of directors decides to issue preferred shares, the price of our ADSs may fall and the voting and other rights of the holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 8Our directors, officers and principal shareholders collectively control a significant amount of our shares, and their interests may not align with the interests of our other shareholders.
As of February 29, 2024, our officers, directors and principal shareholders collectively held 94.3% of total voting power. This significant concentration of share ownership and voting power may adversely affect or reduce the trading price of our ADSs because investors often perceive a disadvantage in owning shares in a company with one or several controlling shareholders. Furthermore, our directors and officers, as a group, have the ability to significantly influence or control the outcome of all matters requiring shareholders' approvals, including electing directors and approving mergers or other business combination transactions. These actions may be taken even if they are opposed by our other shareholders. This concentration of share ownership and voting power may also discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 9You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our Memorandum and Articles, the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against our directors, actions by our minority shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands. In addition, with respect to Cayman Islands companies, plaintiffs may face special obstacles, including but not limited to those relating to jurisdiction and standing, in attempting to assert derivative claims in state or federal courts of the United States. Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like us have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records (other than copies of the memorandum and articles of association, the register of mortgages and charges and any special resolutions passed by our shareholders) or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Our directors have discretion under our Memorandum and Articles to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest. As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 10Certain judgments obtained against us by our shareholders may not be enforceable.
We are a Cayman Islands company and substantially all of our assets are located outside of the United States. Substantially all of our current operations are conducted in China. In addition, most of our current directors and officers are nationals and residents of countries other than the United States. Substantially all of the assets of these persons are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the United States in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the U.S. federal securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands and of China may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 11ADSs holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.
The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares provides that, subject to the depositary's right to require a claim to be submitted to arbitration, the federal or state courts in the City of New York have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine claims arising under the deposit agreement and in that regard, to the fullest extent permitted by law, ADS holders waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to our Class A shares, the ADSs or the deposit agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws. If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable U.S. state and federal law. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver in connection with claims arising under the U.S. federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court. However, we believe that a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement. In determining whether to enforce a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision, courts will generally consider whether a party knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived the right to a jury trial. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. It is advisable that you consult legal counsel regarding the jury waiver provision before investing in the ADSs. If you or any other holders or beneficial owners of ADSs bring a claim against us or the depositary in connection with matters arising under the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under U.S. federal securities laws, you or such other holder or beneficial owner may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us and/or the depositary. If a lawsuit is brought against us and/or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action. Nevertheless, if this jury trial waiver provision is not enforced, to the extent a court action proceeds, it would proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial. No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs serves as a waiver by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs or by us or the depositary of compliance with any substantive provision of the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 12The voting rights of holders of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement, and you may not be able to exercise your right to vote your Class A ordinary shares.
Holders of ADSs do not have the same rights as our registered shareholders. As a holder of our ADSs, you will not have any direct right to attend general meetings of our shareholders or to cast any votes at such meetings. You will only be able to exercise the voting rights which are carried by the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs indirectly by giving voting instructions to the depositary in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under the deposit agreement, you may vote only by giving voting instructions to the depositary. Upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try, as far as is practicable, to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs in accordance with your instructions. If we ask for your instructions, then upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with these instructions. If we do not instruct the depositary to ask for your instructions, the depositary may still vote in accordance with instructions you give, but it is not required to do so. You will not be able to directly exercise your right to vote with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares unless you withdraw the shares, and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient advance notice of the meeting to withdraw the shares underlying your ADSs and become the registered holder of such shares to allow you to attend the general meeting and to vote directly with respect to any specific matter or resolution to be considered and voted upon at the general meeting. In addition, under our amended and restated articles of association, for the purposes of determining those shareholders who are entitled to attend and vote at any general meeting, our directors may close our register of members and/or fix in advance a record date for such meeting, and such closure of our register of members or the setting of such a record date may prevent you from withdrawing the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs and becoming the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date, so that you would not be able to attend the general meeting or to vote directly. If we ask for your instructions, the depositary will notify you of the upcoming vote and will arrange to deliver our voting materials to you. We have agreed to give the depositary at least 30 days' prior notice of shareholder meetings. Nevertheless, we cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs. In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for their manner of carrying out your voting instructions. The deposit agreement provides that if the depositary does not timely receive voting instructions from the ADS holders and if voting is by poll, then such holder shall be deemed, and the depositary shall deem such holder, to have instructed the depositary to give a discretionary proxy to a person we designate to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying the relevant ADSs, with certain limited exceptions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to direct how the shares underlying your ADSs are voted and you may have no legal remedy if the shares underlying your ADSs are not voted as you requested.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 13The trading price of our ADSs has fluctuated and is likely to be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to investors.
Since we first listed our ADSs on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, on February 8, 2018, the trading prices of our ADSs have been and may continue to be subject to wide fluctuations. In 2023, the trading prices of our ADSs on NYSE have ranged from US$0.96 to US$2.19 per ADS. The trading price of our ADSs is likely to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, including the performance and fluctuation of the market prices of other companies with business operations located mainly in China that have listed their securities in the United States. In addition to market and industry factors, the price and trading volume for our ADSs may be highly volatile for factors specific to our own operations, including the following: - regulatory developments affecting us or our industry, customers or suppliers;- announcements of studies and reports relating to the quality of our product and service offerings or those of our competitors;- product upgrade and obsolescence, and our ability to manage product transitions;- changes in the economic performance or market valuations of other smart wearables companies;- actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations and changes or revisions of our expected results;- changes in financial estimates by securities research analysts;- conditions in the online retail market;- announcements by us or our competitors of new product and service offerings, acquisitions, strategic relationships, joint ventures, capital raisings or capital commitments;- developments in patents or other intellectual property rights and litigation;- additions to or departures of our senior management;- fluctuations of exchange rates among the RMB, the U.S. dollar and the Euro;- release or expiry of lock-up or other transfer restrictions on our outstanding shares or ADSs;- sales or perceived potential sales of additional ordinary shares or ADSs;- geopolitical tensions in Europe and other significant markets where we offer our products and services;- any actual or alleged illegal acts of our shareholders or management; and - proceedings instituted by the SEC against PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm. Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at which our ADSs will trade. In the past, shareholders of public companies have often brought securities class action suits against those companies following periods of instability in the market price of their securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management's attention and other resources from our business and operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit, which could harm our results of operations. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 14If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding our ADSs, the market price for our ADSs and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our ADSs will be influenced by research or reports that industry or securities analysts publish about our business. If one or more analysts who cover us downgrade our ADSs, the market price for our ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the market price or trading volume for our ADSs to decline.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 15You may experience dilution of your holdings due to the inability to participate in rights offerings.
We may, from time to time, distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire securities. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not distribute rights to holders of ADSs unless the distribution and sale of rights and the securities to which these rights relate are either exempt from registration under the Securities Act with respect to all holders of ADSs, or are registered under the provisions of the Securities Act. The depositary may, but is not required to, attempt to sell these undistributed rights to third parties, and may allow the rights to lapse. We may be unable to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act, and we are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to these rights or underlying securities or to endeavor to have a registration statement declared effective. Accordingly, holders of ADSs may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution of their holdings as a result.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 16As a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the NYSE corporate governance listing standards; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with the NYSE corporate governance listing standards.
As a Cayman Islands company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, we are subject to the NYSE corporate governance listing standards. However, the NYSE corporate governance listing standards permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the NYSE corporate governance listing standards. Pursuant to Sections 303A.01, 303A.04, 303A.05 and 303A.07 of the New York Stock Exchange Listed Company Manual, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange must have a majority of independent directors, a nominating and corporate governance committee composed entirely of independent directors and a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors. Section 302.00 of the New York Stock Exchange Listed Company Manual requires a listed company to hold an annual shareholders' meeting during each fiscal year. Section 303A.12(a) of the New York Stock Exchange Listed Company Manual requires that each listed company's chief executive officer must certify to the New York Stock Exchange each year that he or she is not aware of any violation by the listed company of NYSE corporate governance listing standards, qualifying the certification to the extent necessary. We currently follow our home country practice in lieu of these requirements. In addition, in January 2023, our board of directors approved the 2023 Share Incentive Plan. We followed our home country practice and our Memorandum and Articles, and did not convene a shareholder meeting to approve the 2023 Share Incentive Plan. We may also continue to rely on these and other exemptions available to foreign private issuers in the future, and to the extent that we choose to do so in the future, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they otherwise would under the NYSE corporate governance listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information, which would be made available to you, were you investing in a United States domestic issuer.
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