Interface Inc

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the following factors, in addition to the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the other documents incorporated herein by reference, before deciding whether to purchase or sell our common stocksecurities. Any or all of the following risk factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Risk Factors Related to our Business and Operations

We compete with a large number of manufacturers in the highly competitive floorcovering products market, and some of these competitors have greater financial resources than we do. We may face challenges competing on price, making investments in our business, or competing on product design or sustainability.

The floorcovering industry is highly competitive. Globally, we compete for sales of floorcovering products with other carpet manufacturers and manufacturers of other types of floorcovering. Although the industry has experienced significant consolidation, a large number of manufacturers remain in the industry. In prior years, some of oFrom time to time, our competitors were adding or modify manufacturing capacity into the industry thrthroughout the globe, which increaseds the amount or cost structure of supply in the market. Increased capacity at or manufacturing efficiencies at our competitors could result in pricing pressure on our products and less demand for our products, thus adversely affecting both revenues and profitability.

Some of our competitors, including a number of large diversified domestic and foreign companies who manufacture modular carpet and resilient flooring as one segment of their business, have greater financial resources than we do. Competing effectively may require us to make additional investments in our product development efforts, manufacturing facilities, distribution network, and sales and marketing activities.

In addition, we often compete on design preferences. Our customers design preferences may evolve or change before we adapt quickly enough to those changes or before we recognize those changes have happened in the marketplace. If this occurs, it could negatively affect our sales as our customers choose other product offerings that more closely align with their design preferences. Moreover, as our competitors improve the sustainability attributes of their products and operations, or if our competitors market the sustainability attributes of their products or operations more effectively than we do, it could negatively affect the degree to which we differentiate from our competitors on those attributes which could negatively affect our ability to compete and gain those sales as customers choose product offerings from our competitors instead of our product offerings. In situations such as these, we may be required by accounting rules to recognize a loss for the write-down of the value of our inventory due to its age or obsolescence.

Our earnings could be adversely affected by non-cash adjustments to goodwill, when a test of goodwill assets indicates a material impairment of those assets.

As prescribed by accounting standards governing goodwill and other intangible assets, we undertake an annual review of the goodwill asset balance reflected in our financial statements. Our review is conducted during the fourth quarter of the year, unless there has been a triggering event prescribed by applicable accounting rules that warrants an earlier interim testing for possible goodwill impairment. A future goodwill impairment test may result in a future non-cash adjustment, which could adversely affect our earnings for any such future period.

We In recent years, we recorded goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges of $36.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 and $121.3 million in the first quarter of 2020. . The 2022 impairment charge was primarily a result of macroeconomic conditions, such as inflation, rising interest rates and the weakening of the Euro against the U.S. dollar causing a negative impact to our revenue and operating income in our EMEA goodwill reporting unit. The 2020 impairment charge was primarily a result of the expected duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its anticipated negative impact to our revenue and operating income. Future impairment charges could result if these macroeconomic conditions or other negative market events or conditions continue to impact our operations.

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Our success depends significantly upon the efforts, abilities and continued service of our senior management executives, our principal design consultant and other key personnel (including experienced sales and manufacturing personnel), and our loss of any of them could affect us adversely.

We believe that our success depends to a significant extent upon the efforts and abilities of our senior management executives. In addition, we rely significantly on the leadership that David Oakey of David Oakey Designs provides to our internal design staff. Specifically, David Oakey Designs provides product design/production engineering services to us under an exclusive consulting contract that contains non-competition covenants. Our agreement with David Oakey Designs can be terminated by either party upon six months prior written notice to the other party. Our business also depends on the recruitment and retention of other key personnel, including experienced sales and manufacturing personnel.

The increasing demand for qualified personnel makes it more difficult for us to attract and retain employees with requisite skill sets, particularly employees with specialized technical and trade experience. In certain locations where we operate, the demand for labor has exceeded the supply of labor, resulting in higher costs. Despite our focused efforts to attract and retain employees, including by offering higher levels of compensation in certain instances, we experienced attrition rates within our hourly workforce in recent years, particularly in 2021, tthat exceeded historical levels and we incurred higher operating costs at certain of our facilities in the form of higher levels of overtime pay. The market for professional workers was, and remains, similarly challenging. Many of our professional workers continue to work part time or full time from home, initially as part of our COVID-19 protocols and more recently as part of our hybrid working arrangement policies.  As a result, we may experience higher levels of attrition within our professional workforce in the future.

We may lose the services of key personnel for a variety of reasons, including if our compensation programs become uncompetitive in the relevant markets for our employees and service providers, or if the Company undergoes significant disruptive change, including economic downturns. The loss of key personnel with a great deal of knowledge, training and experience particularly in the areas of sales, marketing, operations, product design and management could have an adverse impact on our business. We may not be able to easily replace such personnel, particularly if the underlying reasons for the loss make the Company relatively unattractive as an employer.

We continue to implement changes within our sales organization, including to the standardized processes and systems that our sales force uses to go to market, interact with customers, work with architects and the design community and, in general, operate day-to-day. We also continue to improve and change the technology tools that the sales force is required to use as part of their day-to-day jobs and monitor managerial positions that are designed to actively manage and coach the sales force. All of these changes are disruptive, which may create challenges for our sales force to adapt, particularly for long tenured employees. There are no guarantees that these efforts will increase sales or improve profitability of the business, or that they will not instead adversely disrupt the business, decrease sales, and decrease overall profitability.

Large increases in the cost of our raw materials, shipping costs, duties or tariffs could adversely affect us if we are unable to pass these cost increases through to our customers.

Petroleum-based products (including yarn) comprise the predominant portion of the cost of raw materials that we use in manufacturing carpet. Synthetic rubber uses petroleum-based products as feedstock as well. We also incur significant shipping and transport costs to move our products around the globe, and those costs have increased dramatically due to global supply chain, macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges. The possibility of government-imposed tariffs in locations where we operate could have an adverse impact on our business. While we attempt to match cost increases with corresponding price increases, continued ininflation and volatility in the cost of raw materials, transportation andforeign currency fluctuations, tariffs and potential retaliatory tariffs, transportation, shipping costs could continue to, and other costs could adversely affect our financial results if we are unable to pass through such cost increases to our customers.

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Unanticipated termination or interruption of any of our arrangements with our primary third-party suppliers of synthetic fiber or our primary third-party supplier for luxury vinyl tile (LVT) or other key raw materials could have a material adverse effect on us.

We depend on a small number of third-party suppliers of synthetic fiber and are largely dependent upon twoa primary suppliers for our LVT products. The unanticipated termination or interruption of any of our supply arrangements with our current suppliers of synthetic fiber (nylon), our primary suppliers of LVT, or other key raw material suppliers, including failure by any third-party supplier to meet our product specifications, could have a material adverse effect on us because we do not have the capability to manufacture our own fiber for use in our carpet products or our own LVT. Our suppliers may not be able to meet our demand for a variety of reasons, including our inability to forecast our future needs accurately or a shortfall in production by the supplier for reasons unrelated to us, such as work stoppages, acts of war, terrorism, pandemics, epidemics, fire, earthquake, energy shortages, flooding or other natural disasters. The primary manufacturing facility of our largestprimary supplier of LVT is located in South Korea. If any of our supply arrangements with our primary suppliers of synthetic fiber, our primary suppliers of LVT, or suppliers of other key raw materials are terminated or interrupted, we likely would incur increased manufacturing costs and experience delays in our manufacturing process (thus resulting in decreased sales and profitability) associated with shifting more of our synthetic fiber purchasing to another synthetic fiber supplier or developing new supply chain sources for LVT. A prolonged inability on our part to source synthetic fiber included in our products, LVT, or other key raw materials on a cost-effective basis could adversely impact our ability to deliver products on a timely basis, which could harm our sales and customer relationships.

The market price of our common stock has been volatile and the value of your investment may decline.

The market price of our common stock has been volatile in the past and may continue to be volatile going forward. Such volatility may cause precipitous drops in the price of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market and may cause your investment in our common stock to lose significant value. As a general matter, market price volatility has had a significant effect on the market values of securities issued by many companies for reasons unrelated to their operating performance. We cannot predict the market price for our common stock going forward.

Changes to our facilities, manufacturing processes, product construction, and product composition could disrupt our operations, increase our manufacturing costs, increase customer complaints, increase warranty claims, negatively affect our reputation, and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

From time to time, we make improvements and changes to our physical facilities, move operations to other sites, and change our manufacturing processes. In the first quarter of 2022, we permanently closed our carpet tile manufacturing facility in Thailand and transferred that production volume to other existing manufacturing operations in China and Australia.  Large scale changes or moves could disrupt our normal operations, leading to possible loss of productivity, which may adversely affect our results. We are also making significant investments and modifications to our manufacturing facilities, processes, product compositions, and product construction including but not limited to the production of our CQuest carpet tile backings. These changes can be disruptive. There is also no guarantee that our CQuest backings will perform as expected and will not increase warranty claims or customer complaints. These efforts may also not yield the financial returns and improvements in the business that we hope to achieve from them. While these changes are intended to yield stronger financial results, they could potentially impact our financial results in negative ways due to project delays, business disruption as new facilities and equipment come online, increased customer complaints, or increased warranty claims; all of which could negatively affect our operations, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business operations could suffer significant losses from natural disasters, acts of war, terrorism, catastrophes, fire, adverse weather conditions, pandemics, endemics, unstable geopolitical situations or other unexpected events.

While we manufacture our products in several facilities and maintain insurance covering our facilities, including business interruption insurance, our manufacturing facilities could be materially damaged by natural disasters, such as floods, storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes, whether or not as a result of climate change, or by fire or other unexpected events such as adverse weather conditions, acts of war, terrorism, protests, energy shortages and disruptions, pandemics or other public health crises or other disruptions to our facilities, supply chain or our customers facilities. We cohave experienced such losses in the past. We could incur uninsured losses and liabilities arising from such events, including damage to our reputation, and suffer material losses in operational capacity, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. These types of events could also affect our suppliers, installers, and customers, which could have a material adverse impact on our business.

The market price of our common stock has been volatile and the value of your investment may decline.

The market price of our common stock has been volatile in the past and may continue to be volatile going forward. Such volatility may cause precipitous drops in the price of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market and may cause your investment in our common stock to lose significant value. As a general matter, market price volatility has had a significant effect on the market values of securities issued by many companies for reasons unrelated to their operating performance. We cannot predict the market price for our common stock going forward.

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Disruptions to oSales of our principal products have been and may continue to be affected by adverse economic cycles, and effects in the new construction market and renovation market.

Sales of our principal products are related to the renovation and construction of commercial and institutional buildings. This activity is cyclical and has been affected by the strength of a countrys or regions general economy, prevailing interest rates and other factors, including increased office vacancies caused by lingering effects from the COVID-19 pandemic and hybrid work schedules, that lead to cost control measures or reduction in the use of space by businesses and other users of commercial or institutional space. In addition, the effects of cyclicality and other failures of information technology sysctors affecting the corporate office segment have traditionally tended to be more pronounced than the effects on other market segments. Historically, we have generated more sales in the corporate office market segment than in any other market segment. The effects of cyclicality and other factors on the new construction segment of the market have also tended in the past to be more pronounced than the effects on the renovation segment. These effects may recur and could be more pronounced if global economic conditions do not improve or are weakened by negative cycles or other factors.

Disruptions to or failures of information technology systems we use could adversely affect our business.

We rely heavily on information technology systemsboth software and computer hardwareto operate our business. Some of these systems are owned and operated by us, and some are owned or operated by third parties pursuant to leases, licenses or other contracts with those third parties. We rely on these systems to, among other things:

facilitate and plan the purchase, management and distribution of, and payment for, inventory and raw materials;

control our production processes;

manage and monitor our distribution network and logistics;

receive, process and ship orders;

manage billing, collections, cash applications, customer service, and payables;

manage financial reporting; and

manage payroll and human resources information.

The IT systems we use may be disrupted or fail for a number of reasons, including:

natural disasters, likesuch as fires;

power loss;

software bugs, hardware defects or human error; and

hacking, computer viruses, denial of service attacks, malware, ransomware, phishing scams, compromised or irretrievable backups or other cyber-attacks.

Any of these events which deny us use of vital IT systems may seriously disrupt our normal business operations. These disruptions may lead to production or shipping stoppages, which may in turn lead to material revenue loss and reputational harm.

Despite security designs and internal controls, the IT systems we use have in the past experienced, and may in the future become subject to, attempts by unauthorized third parties to access and exfiltrate confidential information, manipulate data or disrupt our operations. In November 2022, we discovered a cybersecurity attack, perpetrated by unauthorized third parties, affecting our IT systems (the Cyber Event). In response, we promptly shut down certain systems, including shipping, inventory management and production systems, and engaged forensic experts to evaluate the extent of the Cyber Event and its disruption to our operations. The investigation of the Cyber Event by our forensic experts was completed during fiscal year 2023.

In fiscal year 2022, in connection with the Cyber Event, our revenues were adversely affected by approximately $8 million due to lost sales. Additionally, we incurred Cyber Event costs of approximately $5 million in fiscal year 2022 primarily due to idle plant costs, direct labor costs during the period our manufacturing facilities were idle and third-party remediation costs. We have cyber insurance and anticipate that a portiduring 2024, we recovered $5.6 million of our financial losses related to the Cyber Event will ultimately be recovered by insurance.

Following the Cyber Event, we implemented measures to enhance our cybersecurity protections against, and reduce the potential of, any future cybersecurity attack. We expect to incur ongoing costs to enhance cybersecurity and plan to take further steps towith the goal of preventing unauthorized access to, or manipulation of, our systems and data.

However, there is no guarantee that these enhancements and steps will be adequate to mitigate future losses due to IT system disruptions, and we may incur significant expense in correcting and recovering from future disruptions.

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To the extent our IT systems store sensitive data, including data related to customers, employees or other parties, security breaches may expose us to fines and other liabilities, and reputational harm if such data is misappropriated. In addition, as cybercriminals continue to become more sophisticated and numerous, the costs to defend and insure against cyberattacks can be expected to rise.

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The impact of potential changes to environmental laws and regulations and industry standards regarding climate change and other sustainability matters could lead to unforeseen disruptions to our business operations.

Addressing the effects of climate change has taken on increased importance throughout the world. The continued efforts to combat climate change could include more restrictive federal, state, and foreign environmental laws and regulations, heightened industry standards, or other mitigation measures that may have a material adverse effect on our global operations. These initiatives could, for example, increase the cost of obtaining raw materials for production of our products, increase the cost of energy for our manufacturing processes, negatively impact our supply chain and capital expenditures, or increase our administrative costs.

In 2021, we established and publicly disclosed targets and other commitments related to certain sustainability matters, including a goal to reduce our CO2 emissions across our Company and supply chain by 2030. We also set a goal to become a carbon negative enterprise by 2040. If we are unable to meet these targets or commitments on our projected timelines or at all, or if they are perceived negatively, including the perception that they are not sufficiently robust or, conversely, are too costly, our reputation as well as our relationships with investors, customers and other stakeholders could be harmed, which could in turn adversely impact our business, results of operations and the trading price of our common stock.

Sales of our principal products have been and may continue to be affected by adverse economic cycles, and effects in the new construction market and renovation market.

Sales of our principal products are related to the renovation and construction of commercial and institutional buildings. This activity is cyclical and has been affected by the strength of a countrys or regions general economy, prevailing interest rates and other factors that lead to cost control measures or reduction in the use of space by businesses and other users of commercial or institutional space. In addition, the effects of cyclicality and other factors affecting the corporate office segment have traditionally tended to be more pronounced than the effects on other market segments. Historically, we have generated more sales in the corporate office segment than in any other segment. The effects of cyclicality and other factors on the new construction segment of the market have also tended in the past to be more pronounced than the effects on the renovation segment. These effects may recur and could be more pronounced if global economic conditions do not improve or are weakened by negative cycles or other factors.

Health crisis eventsHealth crisis events, such as epidemics or pandemics, have adversely impacted, and may continue to impact, the economy and disrupt our operations and supply chains, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Health crisis events, including epidemics or pandemics, such as COVID-19, have impacted areas where we operate and sell our products and could have additional impacts on economic growth, supply chains, and foreign currency exchange rates. Recently, prolonged government imposed COVID-19 restrictions in China and the slow post-COVID recovery in the country adversely impacted our sales in China during fiscal years 2022 and 2023. A public health emergency in the future could have a material adverse effect on our ability to operate, our results of operations, financial condition, and demand for our products.

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International Risk Factors

Our substantial international operations are subject to various political, economic and other uncertainties that could adversely affect our business results, including foreign currency fluctuations, restrictive taxation, custom duties, tariffs, border closings or other adverse government regulations.

We have substantial international operations and intend to continue to pursue and commit resources to growth opportunities beyond the United States. Outside of the United States, we maintain manufacturing facilities in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, China, Australia and Germany, in addition to product showrooms or design studios in England, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, India, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and elsewhere. In 2023,4 and 2023 approximately 43% and 46% of our net sales , respectively, and a significant portion of our production were outside the United States, primarily in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

International operations carry certain risks and associated costs, such as: the complexities and expense of administering a business abroad; complications in compliance with, and unexpected changes in, legal and regulatory restrictions or requirements; foreign laws, international import and export legislation; trading and investment policies; economic and political instability in the global markets; foreign currency fluctuations; exchange controls; increased nationalism and protectionism; crime and social instability; tariffs and other trade barriers; difficulties in collecting accounts receivable; potential adverse tax consequences and increasing tax complexity or changes in tax law associated with operating in multiple tax jurisdictions; uncertainties of laws and enforcement relating to intellectual property and privacy rights; difficulty in managing a geographically dispersed workforce in compliance with diverse local laws and customs, including health and safety regulations and wage and hour laws; potential governmental expropriation (especially in countries with undemocratic or authoritarian ruling parties); and other factors depending upon the jurisdiction involved. There can be no assurance that we will not experience these risks in the future.

In addition, due to our global operations, we are subject to many laws governing international relations and international operations, including laws that prohibit improper payments to government officials and commercial customers and that restrict where we can do business, what information or products we can import and export to and from certain countries and what information we can provide to a non-U.S. government. These laws include but are not limited to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, the Mexican National Anticorruption System (Sistema Nacional Anticorrupcin, or SNA), the U.S. Export Administration Act and U.S. and international economic sanctions and money laundering regulations. We have internal policies and procedures relating to compliance with such regulations; however, there is a risk that such policies and procedures will not always protect us from the improper acts of employees, agents, business partners or representatives, particularly in the case of recently acquired operations that may not have significant training in applicable compliance policies and procedures. Violations of these laws, which are complex, may result in criminal penalties, sanctions and/or fines that could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and reputation. In addition, we are subject to antitrust laws in various countries throughout the world. Changes in these laws or their interpretation, administration or enforcement may occur over time. Any such changes may limit our future acquisitions, divestitures or operations.

Finally, we may not be aware of all the factors that may affect our business in foreign jurisdictions. The risks outlined above, and others specific to certain jurisdictions that we may not be aware of, could adversely and materially affect our business and results.

The conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and in the Israel-Hamas war Middle East could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial position.

Given the nature of our business and our global operations, political, economic, and other conditions in foreign countries and regions, including geopolitical risks arising from the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas warMiddle East, may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial position.

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Historically, Russia was a key supplier of natural gas, oil, and other raw materials to European countries. We have substantial manufacturing operations in Europe (including Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom), and we have key suppliers in Europe, which rely upon natural gas, oil, and other raw materials to operate. Our sole rubber flooring plant is in Germany, and our primary European carpet tile plant is in the Netherlands. Any disruption in the supply of natural gas, oil, or other raw materials from Russia to Europe could adversely affect our ability to operate our business, our results of operations and our financial position, or adversely affect the ability of our key suppliers to meet our raw material requirements. In particular, the currently re reduced Russian exports of natural gas and oil to Europe may materially impede our European manufacturing operations and may result in higher energy costs to operate our facilities. Our customers businesses, results of operations and financial positions also could be adversely impacted by the conflict in Ukraine, which could reduce their spending on our products. While we permanently closed our operations in Russia in the third quarter of 2022, the effects of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on us as well as the global economy cannot be predicted.

The conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and in the Israel-Hamas warMiddle East are ongoing and the duration of the conflict and war are uncertain. We cannot predict the outcome of the conflict and war or the impact on the broader region, as the conflict and war and related government actions are evolving and are beyond our control. To the extent the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and in the Israel-Hamas warMiddle East adversely affects our business, the conflict and war may also have the effect of heightening other risks disclosed in our Annual Report, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Such risks include, but are not limited to, adverse effects on macroeconomic conditions, including inflation and creduced corporate and consumer spending; disruptions to our global technology infrastructure, including through cyberattack, ransom attack, or cyber-intrusion; adverse changes in international trade policies and relations; our ability to maintain or increase our prices, including fuel surcharges in response to rising fuel costs; further disruptions in global supply chains; terrorist activities targeting business infrastructure; our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations; and constraints, volatility, or disruption in the capital markets. Other potential consequences of the ongoing conflict and war include or may include government sanctions, embargoes, unstable energy markets, rtariff wars, regional instability, geopolitical shifts, potential retaliatory action by the governments involved in the conflict and war against companies or other countries, and increased tensions between the involved governments and the United States or other countries in which we operate.

Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates have had, and could continue to have, an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar have adversely affected our results of operations and financial position and could continue to do so. In recent periods, as the value of the U.S. dollar has strengthened in comparison to certain foreign currencies particularly in our EAAA segment and the impact of the Euro on our European operations our reported revenues have been negatively impacted. As approximately 463% of our revenue is denominated in foreign currencies, these exchange rate fluctuations have had, and could continue to have, a significant adverse impact on our financial results.

The uncertainty surrounding the ongoing implementation and effect of the U.K.s exit from the European Union, and related negative developments in the European Union, could adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

In 2016, voters in the U.K. approved an exit from the European Union via a referendum (commonly referred to as Brexit). The U.K. ceased to be a member of the European Union on January 31, 2020. In December 2020, the U.K. and the European Union agreed on a trade and cooperation agreement. Because the agreement merely sets forth a framework in many respects and will require complex additional bilateral negotiations between the U.K. and the European Union as both parties continue to work on the rules for implementation, significant political and economic uncertainty remains about how the precise terms of the relationship between the parties will differ from the terms before withdrawal. The uncertainty leading up to and following Brexit has had, and the ongoing implementation of Brexit may continue to have, a negative impact on our business and demand for our products in Europe, and particularly in the U.K. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in political institutions and regulatory agencies. Brexit could also have the effect of disrupting the free movement of goods, services, and people between the U.K., the European Union and elsewhere. In addition, Brexit has had a detrimental effect, and could have further detrimental effects, on the value of either or both of the Euro and the British Pound sterling, which could negatively impact our business (principally from the translation of sales and earnings in those foreign currencies into our reporting currency of U.S. dollars). Such a development could have other unpredictable adverse effects, including a material adverse effect on demand for office space and our flooring products in the U.K. and in Europe if the U.K. exit leads to economic difficulties in Europe.

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Risk Factors Related to our Indebtedness

We have a substantial amount of debt, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to meet our payment obligations under our debt.

We have a substantial amount of debt and debt service requirements. As of December 3129, 20234, we had approximately $421.7305.6 million of outstanding debt, and we had $298.499.3 million of undrawn borrowing capacity under our Syndicated Credit Facility.

This level of debt could have significant consequences on our future operations, including:

making it more difficult for us to meet our payment and other obligations under our outstanding debt;

resulting in an event of default if we fail to comply with the financial and other restrictive covenants contained in our debt agreements, which event of default could result in all of our debt becoming immediately due and payable;

reducing the availability of our cash flows to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or strategic investments and other general corporate purposes, and limiting our ability to obtain additional financing for these purposes;

subjecting us to the risk of increasing interest expense on variable rate indebtedness, including borrowings under our Syndicated Credit Facility;

limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, and increasing our vulnerability to, changes in our business, the industry in which we operate and the general economy;

placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt or are less leveraged;

limiting our ability to attract certain investors to purchase our common stock due to the amount of debt we have outstanding; and

limiting our ability to refinance our existing indebtedness as it matures.

limiting our ability to pay dividends or repurchase our shares.

In addition, borrowings under our Syndicated Credit Facility have variable interest rates, and therefore our interest expense will increase if the underlying market rates (upon which the variable interest rates are based) increase. For information regarding the current variable interest rates of these borrowings and the potential impact on our interest expense from hypothetical increases in short term interest rates, please see the discussion in Item 7A of this Report.

Any of the above-listed factors could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to meet our payment obligations under our debt.

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Servicing our debt requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our operations to pay our indebtedness.

Our ability to generate cash in order to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors beyond our control. In addition, our ability to borrow funds in the future to make payments on our debt will depend on the satisfaction of the covenants in our Syndicated Credit Facility and our other financing agreements, including the indenture governing the Senior Notes, and other agreements we may enter into in the future. Specifically, we will need to maintain certain financial ratios under our Syndicated Credit Facility. Our business may not continue to generate sufficient cash flow from operations in the future and future borrowings may not be available to us under our existing revolving credit facility or from other sources in an amount sufficient to service our indebtedness, including the Senior Notes, to make necessary capital expenditures or to fund our other liquidity needs. If we are unable to generate cash from our operations or through borrowings, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to make payments on our indebtedness or refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time, as well as the terms of our financing agreements, including the Syndicated Credit Facility, and the indenture governing the Senior Notes. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations. In addition, borrowings under our Syndicated Credit Facility have variable interest rates, and therefore our interest expense will increase if the underlying market rates (upon which the variable interest rates are based) increase.

We may incur substantial additional indebtedness, which could further exacerbate the risks associated with our substantial indebtedness.

Subject to the restrictions in our Syndicated Credit Facility and in the indenture governing our Senior Notes, we and our subsidiaries may be able to incur additional indebtedness in the future. Although our Syndicated Credit Facility and the indenture governing the Senior Notes contain restrictions on the incurrence of additional debt, these restrictions are subject to a number of significant qualifications and exceptions, including the ability, on a non-committed basis, for us to increase revolving commitments and/or term loans under our Syndicated Credit Facility, and debt incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. If new debt is added to our and our subsidiaries existing debt levels, the related risks we now face would increase.

Legal Risk Factors

We face risks associated with litigation and claims.

We have been, and may in the future become, party to lawsuits including, without limitation, actions and proceedings in the ordinary course of business, such as claims brought by our customers in connection with commercial disputes, employment claims made by our current or former employees, or claims relating to intellectual property matters or regulatory investigations and enforcement. Litigation might result in substantial costs and may divert managements attention and resources, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. An unfavorable judgment against us in any legal proceeding or claim could require us to pay monetary damages and, depending on the nature of the claim and proceeding, may harm our reputation. Insurance might not cover such claims, might not provide sufficient payments to cover all the costs to resolve one or more such claims, and might not continue to be available on terms acceptable to us. In addition, an unfavorable judgment in which the counterparty is awarded equitable relief, such as an injunction, could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Please refer to Item 3, Legal Proceedings, within this Report for additional information related to litigation and claims.