CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

This registrant is submitting this draft registration statement confidentially as an “emerging growth company” pursuant to Section 6(e)
of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

As confidentially submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 21, 2021.
This draft Amendment No. 1 to the registration statement has not been publicly filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and all information herein remains strictly confidential.

Registration No. 333-       ​

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

SNAP ONE HOLDINGS CORP.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

1800 Continental Boulevard, Suite 200
Charlotte, North Carolina 28273
(704) 927-7620

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

JD Ellis
Chief Legal Officer
11734 S Election Road
Draper, Utah 84020
(801) 523-3100

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

With copies to:

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:
As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box. ☐

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

​

(1)

Includes          shares that the underwriters have the option to purchase. See “Underwriting.”

​

(2)

Estimated solely for the purpose of computing the amount of the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

​

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. Neither we nor the selling stockholders may sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities, and neither we nor the selling stockholders are soliciting offers to buy the securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED            , 2021

Preliminary Prospectus

           SHARES

COMMON STOCK

This is Snap One Holdings Corp.’s initial public offering. We are selling          shares of our common stock and the selling stockholders are selling          shares of common stock. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.

We estimate the initial public offering price of our common stock to be between $        and $        per share. Prior to this offering, no public market existed for our common stock. We intend to apply to list our common stock on the [Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”)] [New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”)] under the symbol “DIFM.”

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined under the federal securities laws and, as such, have elected to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements. See “Prospectus Summary — Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company.” After the completion of this offering, certain investment funds advised by an affiliate of Hellman & Friedman LLC will continue to own a majority of the shares eligible to vote in the election of our directors. As a result, we will be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of [Nasdaq][NYSE]. See “Management — Controlled Company Exception” and “Principal and Selling Stockholders.”

Investing in the common stock involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 18 of this prospectus.

(1)

See “Underwriting” for a description of the compensation payable to the underwriters.

​

The underwriters may exercise their option to purchase up to an additional             shares from [us] [the selling stockholders], at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount, for 30 days after the date of this prospectus to cover over-allotments. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The shares will be ready for delivery on or about            , 2021.

BofA Securities BMO Capital Markets Raymond James Truist Securities William Blair​

The date of this prospectus is            , 2021.

 

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Through and including            , 2021 (the 25th day after the date of this prospectus), all dealers effecting transactions in these securities, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to a dealer’s obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as an underwriter and with respect to an unsold allotment or subscription.

We, the selling stockholders and the underwriters have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus, any amendment or supplement to this prospectus or any free writing prospectuses prepared by us or on our behalf. We, the selling stockholders and the underwriters take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This prospectus, any amendment or supplement to this prospectus or any applicable free writing prospectus is an offer to sell only the shares offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus, any amendment or supplement to this prospectus or any applicable free writing prospectus is current only as of its date, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus, any amendment or supplement to this prospectus or any applicable free writing prospectus or any sale of the shares. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since such date.

For investors outside the United States: We, the selling stockholders and the underwriters have not done anything that would permit a public offering of the shares of our common stock or possession or distribution of this prospectus, any amendment or supplement to this prospectus or any applicable free writing prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus, any amendment or supplement to this prospectus or any applicable free writing prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of common stock and the distribution of this prospectus, any amendment or supplement to this prospectus or any applicable free writing prospectus outside of the United States.

 

i

 

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus to the term:

•

“2017 Incentive Plan” means the Snap One Holdings Corp. 2017 Incentive Plan, an equity incentive plan that our board of directors has adopted, and that we expect our stockholders to approve, prior to the completion of this offering;

​

•

“2021 Incentive Plan” means the Snap One Holdings Corp. 2021 Incentive Plan, an equity incentive plan that our board of directors has adopted, and that we expect our stockholders to approve, prior to the completion of this offering;

​

•

“2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan” means the Snap One Holdings Corp. 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, an employee stock purchase plan that our board of directors has adopted, and that we expect our stockholders to approve, prior to the completion of this offering;

​

•

“Company” means Snap One Holdings Corp. and its consolidated subsidiaries;

​

•

“Credit Agreement” means that certain Credit Agreement, dated as of August 4, 2017 (as amended and supplemented by that certain Amendment Agreement, dated as of November 1, 2017, that certain Incremental Agreement No. 1, dated as of February 5, 2018, that certain Incremental Agreement No. 2, dated as of October 31, 2018, and that certain Incremental Agreement No. 3, dated as of August 1, 2019) by and among Wirepath LLC, as borrower, Crackle Purchaser LLC, as holdings, the lenders and letter of credit issuers from time to time as parties thereto, UBS AG, Stamford Branch, as the administrative agent, collateral agent and swingline lender, and the other parties thereto, consisting of a $265.0 million senior secured term loan (the “Initial Term Loan”), an additional $390.0 million senior secured term loan (the “Incremental Term Loan”) and a $60.0 million senior secured revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Credit Facility”);

​

•

“Credit Facilities” means the Revolving Credit Facility and the term loan facilities under the Credit Agreement;

​

•

“DGCL” means the Delaware General Corporation Law, as amended;

​

•

“Equity Conversion” means (i) the distribution by the Investor of shares of common stock of the Company held by the Investor to the holders of vested units of the Investor and (ii) the exchange of unvested Incentive Units for newly issued shares of restricted common stock of the Company, in each case, in accordance with the Partnership Agreement and in connection with this offering. Pursuant to the Partnership Agreement, the number of shares of (a) common stock to be distributed by the Investor to the holders of vested units of the Investor or (b) restricted common stock exchanged by the Company with holders of unvested Incentive Units will, in each case, be on the basis of a ratio that takes into account the applicable distribution threshold applicable to such units and the value of distributions that the holder thereof would have been entitled to receive had the Investor liquidated on the date of such distribution in accordance with the terms of the distribution provisions set forth in the Partnership Agreement based on a valuation of the Company using the initial public offering price per share of our common stock in this offering;

​

•

“Exchange Act” means the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended;

​

•

“FCPA” means the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act;

​

•

“GAAP” means U.S. generally accepted accounting principles;

​

•

“GDPR” means the European Union’s General Data Protection Directive;

​

•

“Hellman & Friedman” or “H&F” means those certain investment funds of Hellman & Friedman LLC and its affiliates;

​

•

“Investor” means Crackle Holdings, LP, an affiliate of H&F and the entity that, until the completion of this offering, will hold all of our outstanding equity;

​

•

“Incentive Units” means the Class B-1 Units and Class B-2 Units of the Investor;

​

•

“NOLs” means net operating losses;

​

 

ii

 

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

•

“NPS” means Net Promoter Score. NPS is calculated based on a single question: “How likely is it that you would recommend Snap One to a friend or colleague?” Integrators who respond with a 6 or below are Detractors, a score of 7 or 8 are called Passives, and a 9 or 10 are Promoters. NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters. For example, if 50% of respondents were Promoters and 10% were Detractors, NPS is a 40. NPS is a useful gauge of the loyalty of client relationships and can be compared across companies and industries. We use our NPS results to provide attention to Detractor customers and use those in the Promoter category as a predictive indicator of long-term customer relationships;

​

•

“Partnership Agreement” means the limited partnership agreement of the Investor;

​

•

“Securities Act” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended;

​

•

“SEC” means the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission;

​

•

“SOX” means the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended;

​

•

“TRA Participants” means certain pre-IPO owners that will participate in the tax receivable agreement;

​

•

“U.K. Bribery Act” means the U.K. Bribery Act 2010; and

​

•

“underwriters” means the firms listed in the first table under the caption “Underwriting.”

​

For ease of reference, we have repeated definitions for certain of these terms in other portions of the body of this prospectus. All such definitions conform to the definitions set forth above.

Numerical figures included in this prospectus have been subject to rounding adjustments. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in various tables may not be arithmetic aggregations of the figures that precede them.

Basis of Presentation

We operate on a 52-week or 53-week fiscal year ending on the last Friday of December each year. Our fiscal year is divided into four quarters of 13 weeks, each beginning on a Saturday and containing one 5-week period followed by two 4-week periods. When a 53-week fiscal year occurs, we report the additional week in the fourth fiscal quarter. References to fiscal year 2020 are to our 52-week fiscal year ended December 25, 2020 and references to fiscal year 2019 are to our 52-week fiscal year ended December 27, 2019.

Trademarks and Service Marks

The Snap One design logo, Snap One, Control4, OvrC, 4Sight, NEEO, Parasol, WattBox, Araknis Networks, Triad and our other registered or common law trademarks, service marks or trade names appearing in this prospectus are our property. Solely for convenience, our trademarks, tradenames and service marks referred to in this prospectus appear without the ®, TM and SM symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights to these trademarks, tradenames and service marks. This prospectus contains additional trademarks, tradenames and service marks of other companies that are the property of their respective owners. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trademarks, trade names or service marks to imply ownership of them, nor relationships with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other companies.

Market, Industry and Other Data

This prospectus contains statistical data that we obtained from industry publications and reports. These publications generally indicate that they have obtained their information from sources believed to be reliable. However, we have not independently verified any third-party information. In addition, some data and other information contained in this prospectus, such as certain market, ranking and industry data, including the size of certain markets and our size or position and the positions of our competitors within these markets, are also based on management’s estimates and calculations, which are derived from our review and

 

iii

 

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

interpretation of internal surveys and independent sources. While we believe such estimates and calculations are reliable, our internal data has not been verified by any independent source. In addition, assumptions and estimates of our and our industry’s future performance are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in “Risk Factors.” These and other factors could cause our future performance to differ materially from our assumptions and estimates. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This prospectus contains “non-GAAP financial measures” that are financial measures that either exclude or include amounts that are not excluded or included in the most directly comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Specifically, we make use of the non-GAAP financial measures Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, Contribution Margin and Free Cash Flow.

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Contribution Margin have been presented in this prospectus as supplemental measures of financial performance and Free Cash Flow has been presented as a supplemental measure of liquidity. These measures are not required by, or presented in accordance with, GAAP, but we present them because we believe these supplemental measures assist investors and analysts in comparing our operating performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis, such as Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Contribution Margin and by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. Management believes Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, Contribution Margin and Free Cash Flow are useful to investors in highlighting trends in our performance, while other measures can differ significantly depending on long-term strategic decisions regarding capital structure, the tax jurisdictions in which we operate, and capital investments. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, Contribution Margin and Free Cash Flow to supplement GAAP measures of performance in the evaluation of the effectiveness of our business strategies, to make budgeting decisions, to establish discretionary annual incentive compensation and to compare our performance against that of other peer companies using similar measures. Management may supplement GAAP results with non-GAAP financial measures to provide a more complete understanding of the factors and trends affecting the business, which GAAP results alone may not provide.

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, Contribution Margin and Free Cash Flow are not recognized terms under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net loss or income (loss) from operations as a measure of financial performance or cash provided by (used in) operating activities as a measure of liquidity or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP. Additionally, these measures are not intended to be a measure of free cash flow available for management’s discretionary use, as they do not consider certain cash requirements such as interest payments, tax payments and debt service requirements. The presentations of these measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Because not all companies use identical calculations, the presentations of these measures may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies and can differ significantly from company to company. For a discussion of the use of these measures and a reconciliation of the most directly comparable GAAP measures, see “Summary Consolidated Financial and Other Data.”

 

iv

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

1

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

2

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

3

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

4

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

5

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

6

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

7

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

8

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

9

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

10

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

11

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

​

​

Fiscal Quarter Ended

​

​

Fiscal Year Ended

​

​

​

​

March 26, 2021

​

​

March 27, 2020

​

​

December 25, 2020

​

​

December 27, 2019

​

​

​

​

(in thousands)

​

Statement of operations data:

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Net sales

​

​

​

$

220,468

​

​

​

​

$

172,611

​

​

​

​

$

814,113

​

​

​

​

$

590,842

​

​

Costs and expenses:

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Cost of sales, exclusive of depreciation and amortization

​

​

​

​

128,876

​

​

​

​

​

100,390

​

​

​

​

​

474,778

​

​

​

​

​

354,821

​

​

Selling, general and administrative expenses

​

​

​

​

75,357

​

​

​

​

​

67,386

​

​

​

​

​

267,240

​

​

​

​

​

209,986

​

​

Depreciation and amortization

​

​

​

​

13,712

​

​

​

​

​

14,483

​

​

​

​

​

57,972

​

​

​

​

​

39,657

​

​

Total costs and expenses

​

​

​

​

217.945

​

​

​

​

​

182,259

​

​

​

​

​

799,990

​

​

​

​

​

604,464

​

​

Income (loss) from operations

​

​

​

​

2,523

​

​

​

​

​

(9,648)

​

​

​

​

​

14,123

​

​

​

​

​

(13,622)

​

​

Other expenses (income):

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Interest expense

​

​

​

​

9,535

​

​

​

​

​

12,803

​

​

​

​

​

45,529

​

​

​

​

​

35,244

​

​

Other (income) expense

​

​

​

​

(213)

​

​

​

​

​

883

​

​

​

​

​

(1,827)

​

​

​

​

​

(1,048)

​

​

Total other expenses

​

​

​

​

9,322

​

​

​

​

​

13,686

​

​

​

​

​

43,702

​

​

​

​

​

34,196

​

​

Loss before income tax benefit

​

​

​

​

(6,799)

​

​

​

​

​

(23,334)

​

​

​

​

​

(29,579)

​

​

​

​

​

(47,818)

​

​

Income tax benefit

​

​

​

​

(763)

​

​

​

​

​

(4,316)

​

​

​

​

​

(4,351)

​

​

​

​

​

(13,357)

​

​

Net loss

​

​

​

​

(6,036)

​

​

​

​

​

(19,018)

​

​

​

​

​

(25,228)

​

​

​

​

​

(34,461)

​

​

Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest

​

​

​

​

(22)

​

​

​

​

​

(24)

​

​

​

​

​

(344)

​

​

​

​

​

(97)

​

​

Net loss attributable to Company

​

​

​

$

(6,014)

​

​

​

​

$

(18,994)

​

​

​

​

$

(24,884)

​

​

​

​

$

(34,364)

​

​

​

​

​

Fiscal Quarter Ended

​

​

Fiscal Year Ended

​

​

​

​

March 26, 2021

​

​

March 27, 2020

​

​

December 25, 2020

​

​

December 27, 2019

​

Per share data:

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Net loss per share, basic and diluted

​

​

​

$

(15.23)

​

​

​

​

$

(49.00)

​

​

​

​

$

(63.41)

​

​

​

​

$

(88.72)

​

​

Weighted average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted

​

​

​

​

394,778

​

​

​

​

​

387,601

​

​

​

​

​

392,431

​

​

​

​

​

387,353

​

​

Pro forma net loss per share, basic and diluted (unaudited)(i)

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Pro forma weighted average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted (unaudited)(i)

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

12

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

​

​

Fiscal Quarter Ended

​

​

Fiscal Year Ended

​

​

​

​

March 26, 2021

​

​

March 27, 2020

​

​

December 25, 2020

​

​

December 27, 2019

​

​

​

​

($ in thousands)

​

Cash flow data:

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Net cash provided by (used in):

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Operating activities

​

​

​

$

(23,867)

​

​

​

​

$

(13,675)

​

​

​

​

$

64,227

​

​

​

​

$

(4,099)

​

​

Investing activities

​

​

​

$

(2,479)

​

​

​

​

$

(2,383)

​

​

​

​

$

(9,566)

​

​

​

​

$

(588,602)

​

​

Financing activities

​

​

​

$

(2,146)

​

​

​

​

$

45,087

​

​

​

​

$

(10,863)

​

​

​

​

$

617,904

​

​

Non-GAAP metrics:

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Adjusted EBITDA(1)

​

​

​

$

23,342

​

​

​

​

$

13,062

​

​

​

​

$

94,458

​

​

​

​

$

64,946

​

​

Adjusted Net Income(1)

​

​

​

$

10,412

​

​

​

​

$

(737)

​

​

​

​

$

36,015

​

​

​

​

$

25,806

​

​

Contribution Margin(1)

​

​

​

​

41.5%

​

​

​

​

​

41.8%

​

​

​

​

​

41.7%

​

​

​

​

​

39.9%

​

​

Free Cash Flow(1)

​

​

​

$

(25,917)

​

​

​

​

$

(16,080)

​

​

​

​

$

53,982

​

​

​

​

$

(8,595)

​

​

​	​	​	As of March 26, 2021							​
​	​	​	Actual				​	​	As adjusted(2)	​
​	​	​	(in thousands)							​
Balance sheet data:	​	​	​	​	​	​	​	​	​	​
Cash and cash equivalents	​	​	​	$	48,943	​	​	​
Total assets	​	​	​	$	1,477,930	​	​	​
Total liabilities	​	​	​	$	865,219	​	​	​
Total stockholders’ equity	​	​	​	$	612,711	​	​	​

13

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

​

​

Fiscal Quarter Ended

​

​

Fiscal Year Ended

​

​

​

​

March 26, 2021

​

​

March 27, 2020

​

​

December 25, 2020

​

​

December 27, 2019

​

​

​

​

(in thousands)

​

Net loss

​

​

​

$

(6,036)

​

​

​

​

$

(19,018)

​

​

​

​

$

(25,228)

​

​

​

​

$

(34,461)

​

​

Interest expense

​

​

​

​

9,535

​

​

​

​

​

12,803

​

​

​

​

​

45,529

​

​

​

​

​

35,244

​

​

Income tax benefit

​

​

​

​

(763)

​

​

​

​

​

(4,316)

​

​

​

​

​

(4,351)

​

​

​

​

​

(13,357)

​

​

Depreciation and amortization

​

​

​

​

13,712

​

​

​

​

​

14,483

​

​

​

​

​

57,972

​

​

​

​

​

39,657

​

​

Other (income) expense

​

​

​

​

(213)

​

​

​

​

​

883

​

​

​

​

​

(1,827)

​

​

​

​

​

(1,048)

​

​

Equity-based compensation

​

​

​

​

1,060

​

​

​

​

​

1,362

​

​

​

​

​

4,284

​

​

​

​

​

3,673

​

​

Fair value adjustment to contingent value rights(a)

​

​

​

​

1,310

​

​

​

​

​

(300)

​

​

​

​

​

800

​

​

​

​

​

314

​

​

Acquisition- and integration-related costs(b)

​

​

​

​

14

​

​

​

​

​

3,478

​

​

​

​

​

5,341

​

​

​

​

​

20,179

​

​

Initial public offering costs(c)

​

​

​

​

1,711

​

​

​

​

​

—

​

​

​

​

​

542

​

​

​

​

​

—

​

​

Deferred revenue purchase accounting adjustment(d)

​

​

​

​

148

​

​

​

​

​

370

​

​

​

​

​

1,012

​

​

​

​

​

831

​

​

Deferred acquisitions payments(e)

​

​

​

​

2,152

​

​

​

​

​

3,302

​

​

​

​

​

9,649

​

​

​

​

​

13,615

​

​

Other(f)

​

​

​

​

712

​

​

​

​

​

15

​

​

​

​

​

735

​

​

​

​

​

299

​

​

Adjusted EBITDA

​

​

​

$

23,342

​

​

​

​

$

13,062

​

​

​

​

$

94,458

​

​

​

​

$

64,946

​

​

​

14

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

​

​

Fiscal Quarter Ended

​

​

Fiscal Year Ended

​

​

​

​

March 26, 2021

​

​

March 27, 2020

​

​

December 25, 2020

​

​

December 27, 2019

​

​

​

​

(in thousands)

​

Net loss

​

​

​

$

(6,036)

​

​

​

​

$

(19,018)

​

​

​

​

$

(25,228)

​

​

​

​

$

(34,461)

​

​

Depreciation and amortization

​

​

​

​

13,712

​

​

​

​

​

14,483

​

​

​

​

​

57,972

​

​

​

​

​

39,657

​

​

Foreign currency (gains) losses

​

​

​

​

(48)

​

​

​

​

​

1,142

​

​

​

​

​

(172)

​

​

​

​

​

(1,101)

​

​

(Gain) loss on sale of business

​

​

​

​

—

​

​

​

​

​

—

​

​

​

​

​

(979)

​

​

​

​

​

561

​

​

Equity-based compensation

​

​

​

​

1,060

​

​

​

​

​

1,362

​

​

​

​

​

4,284

​

​

​

​

​

3,673

​

​

Fair value adjustment to contingent value rights(a)

​

​

​

​

1,310

​

​

​

​

​

(300)

​

​

​

​

​

800

​

​

​

​

​

314

​

​

Acquisition and integration related costs(b)

​

​

​

​

14

​

​

​

​

​

3,478

​

​

​

​

​

5,341

​

​

​

​

​

20,179

​

​

Initial public offering costs(c)

​

​

​

​

1,711

​

​

​

​

​

—

​

​

​

​

​

542

​

​

​

​

​

—

​

​

Deferred revenue purchase accounting adjustment(d)

​

​

​

​

148

​

​

​

​

​

370

​

​

​

​

​

1,012

​

​

​

​

​

831

​

​

Deferred acquisition payments(e)​

​

​

​

​

2,152

​

​

​

​

​

3,302

​

​

​

​

​

9,649

​

​

​

​

​

13,615

​

​

Other(f)​

​

​

​

​

690

​

​

​

​

​

(62)

​

​

​

​

​

760

​

​

​

​

​

225

​

​

Income tax effect of adjustments(g)​

​

​

​

​

(4,301)

​

​

​

​

​

(5,494)

​

​

​

​

​

(17,966)

​

​

​

​

​

(17,687)

​

​

Adjusted Net Income

​

​

​

$

10,412

​

​

​

​

$

(737)

​

​

​

​

$

36,015

​

​

​

​

$

25,806

​

​

​

15

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

​

​

Fiscal Quarter Ended

​

​

Fiscal Year Ended

​

​

​

​

March 26, 2021

​

​

March 27, 2020

​

​

December 25, 2020

​

​

December 27, 2019

​

​

​

​

($ in thousands)

​

Net sales

​

​

​

$

220,468

​

​

​

​

$

172,611

​

​

​

​

$

814,113

​

​

​

​

$

590,842

​

​

Cost of sales, exclusive of depreciation and amortization(a)

​

​

​

​

128,876

​

​

​

​

​

100,390

​

​

​

​

​

474,778

​

​

​

​

​

354,821

​

​

Net sales less cost of sales, exclusive of depreciation and amortization

​

​

​

$

91,592

​

​

​

​

$

72,221

​

​

​

​

$

339,335

​

​

​

​

$

236,021

​

​

Contribution Margin

​

​

​

​

41.5%

​

​

​

​

​

41.8%

​

​

​

​

​

41.7%

​

​

​

​

​

39.9%

​

​

16

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

​

​

​

Fiscal Quarter Ended

​

​

Fiscal Year Ended

​

​

​

​

March 26, 2021

​

​

March 27, 2020

​

​

December 25, 2020

​

​

December 27, 2019

​

​

​

​

(in thousands)

​

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

​

​

​

$

(23,867)

​

​

​

​

$

(13,675)

​

​

​

​

$

64,227

​

​

​

​

$

(4,099)

​

​

Purchases of property and equipment

​

​

​

​

(2,050)

​

​

​

​

​

(2,405)

​

​

​

​

​

(10,245)

​

​

​

​

​

(4,496)

​

​

Free Cash Flow

​

​

​

$

(25,917)

​

​

​

​

$

(16,080)

​

​

​

​

$

53,982

​

​

​

​

$

(8,595)

​

​

17

 

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors together with other information in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before deciding whether to invest in shares of our common stock. The occurrence of any of the events described below could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In such an event, the trading price of our common stock may decline and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Our quarterly results of operations have fluctuated and may continue to fluctuate. As a result, we may fail to meet or exceed the expectations of investors or securities analysts, which could cause our stock price to decline.

Our quarterly net sales and results of operations have fluctuated and may continue to fluctuate as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. If our quarterly net sales or results of operations fall below the consensus expectations of investors or securities analysts in the future, the price of our common stock could decline, perhaps substantially.

Fluctuations in our results of operations may be due to a number of factors, including but not limited to:

•

Demand for and market acceptance of our solutions;

​

•

Our ability to continue to develop and maintain relationships with productive independent integrators and incentivize them to continue to market, sell, install and support our solutions;

​

•

The ability of our contract manufacturers to continue to manufacture high-quality products, and to supply sufficient products to meet our demands;

​

•

The timing and success of acquisitions, new product introductions or upgrades by us or by our competitors;

​

•

The strength of regional, national and global economies;

​

•

The strength of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies and the impact this has on integrator and distributor margins and their ability to competitively sell our solutions to end consumers;

​

•

The impact of harsh seasonal weather, natural disasters or manmade problems such as war or terrorism;

​

•

Changes in our business and pricing policies, or those of our competitors;

​

•

Competition, including entry into the industry by new competitors and new offerings by existing competitors;

​

•

Macroeconomic conditions adversely affecting integrators’ businesses;

​

•

The impact of seasonality on our business and/or the business of integrators;

​

•

A systemic impairment or failure of one or more of our solutions that erodes integrator and/or end consumer confidence;

​

•

Changes in applicable tax and tariff rates;

​

•

Political or regulatory changes in the markets in which we operate;

​

•

The cost and availability of component parts used in our solutions;

​

•

The cost and availability of third-party products that we distribute but do not manufacture;

​

•

Aggressive business tactics by our competitors, including: selling at a discount, offering products on a bundled basis at no charge, extensive marketing efforts and providing financing incentives;

​

 

18

 

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

•

The amount and timing of expenditures, including those related to expanding our operations, increasing research and development, introducing new solutions or costs related to disputes and litigation; and

​

•

Temporary discounts or permanent changes in the price or payment terms for our solutions.

​

Due to the foregoing factors and the other risks discussed herein, you should not rely on quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our results of operations as an indication of our future performance, nor should you consider any net sales growth or results of operations in any quarter to be indicative of our future performance.

If we are unable to manage our business growth and diverse and complex operations, our reputation in the market and our ability to generate net sales from new or existing integrators and end consumers may be harmed.

Because our operations are geographically diverse and complex, our personnel resources and infrastructure could become strained and our reputation in the market and our ability to successfully implement our business plan may be harmed. The growth in the size, complexity and diverse nature of our business and the expansion of our product lines and customer base, including through acquisitions, have placed increased demands on our management and operations, and further growth, if any, may place additional strains on our resources in the future. Our ability to effectively compete and to manage our plan to continue to expand our headcount and operations may depend on, among other things:

•

Maintaining institutional knowledge by retaining and expanding the core competencies critical to our operations in our senior management and key personnel;

​

•

Increasing the productivity of our existing employees and attracting new talent;

​

•

Maintaining existing productive relationships and developing new productive relationships with independent contract manufacturers, integrators, and third-party products suppliers;

​

•

Improving our operational, financial and management controls; and

​

•

Improving our information reporting systems and procedures.

​

If we do not manage the size, complexity and diverse nature of our business effectively, we could experience delayed product releases and longer response times by our integrators in assisting our end consumers in implementing our solutions, and could lack adequate resources to support our end consumers on an ongoing basis, any of which could harm our reputation in the market, our ability to successfully implement our business plan and our ability to generate net sales from new or existing end consumers.

The markets in which we participate are highly competitive and many companies, including large technology companies, retailers, electronics distributors, broadband and security service providers, as well as other managed service providers, are actively targeting our markets. Our failure to differentiate ourselves and compete successfully against these companies would make it difficult for us to add and retain end consumers, and our sales and profitability could be adversely affected.

The markets for our solutions are highly competitive and continually evolving. A number of technology companies, including industry leaders such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Honeywell, Lutron and Samsung, offer devices with capabilities similar to many of our products and services and are engaged in ongoing development efforts to address even broader segments of various markets, including our core professionally installed electronics markets. These large technology companies already have broad customer awareness and sell a variety of devices for home and business, and end consumers may choose their offerings instead of ours, even if we offer differentiating features such as broader interoperability or remote management and control services, as well as superior products and services. Additionally, these and other companies may further expand into our industry by developing additional solutions or by acquiring other providers. Similarly, many managed service providers, such as cable TV, telephone and security companies, are offering products and services that may compete directly with our solutions, including remote management, automation, and control features. For example, Vivint and ADT have made significant efforts to market smart home

 

19

 

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

services that incorporate these companies’ traditional security offerings. These managed service providers have the advantage of leveraging their existing customer base, network of installation and support technicians and name recognition to gain traction in our core markets. In addition, end consumers may prefer the monthly service fee with little to no upfront cost offered by some of these managed service providers over a larger upfront cost with little to no monthly service fees.

We expect competition from these large technology companies, retailers, managed service providers and other companies to increase in the future. This increased competition could result in pricing pressure, reduced sales, lower margins or the failure of our solutions to achieve or maintain broad market acceptance. To remain competitive and to maintain our position as a leading provider of professionally installed electronics solutions for connected homes and businesses, we will need to invest continuously in product development, marketing, integrator service and support, and product delivery infrastructure. We may not have sufficient resources to continue to make the investments in all of the areas needed to maintain our competitive position. In addition, many of our competitors have longer operating histories, greater name recognition, larger customer bases and significantly greater financial, technical, sales, marketing and other resources than us, which may provide them with an advantage in developing, marketing or servicing new solutions. Increased competition could reduce our market share, net sales and operating margins, increase our operating costs, harm our competitive position or otherwise harm our business and results of operations.

In addition, we believe it is likely that some of our existing competitors will consolidate or be acquired. Some of our competitors may enter into new alliances with each other or may establish or strengthen cooperative relationships with systems integrators, distributors, third-party consulting firms or other parties. Additional consolidations, acquisitions, alliances or cooperative relationships, or new product introductions by companies in our industry, could lead to pricing pressure, reduce our market share or result in a competitor with greater financial, technical, marketing, service and other resources than ours, all of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we are unable to develop new solutions, sell our solutions into new markets, or further penetrate our existing markets, our net sales may not grow as expected or they may decline.

Our ability to increase sales will depend in large part on our ability to enhance and improve our solutions, to introduce new solutions in a timely manner, to sell into new markets and to further penetrate our existing markets. The success of any enhancement or new product or solution depends on several factors, including the timely completion, introduction and market acceptance of enhanced or new solutions, the ability to attract, retain and effectively train product development, sales and marketing personnel (among others), the ability to retain and expand our offered third-party solutions, the ability to develop relationships with independent integrators and the effectiveness of our marketing programs. Any new product or solution we develop, distribute or acquire may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, and may not achieve the broad market acceptance necessary to generate significant net sales. Any new markets into which we attempt to sell our solutions, including new vertical markets, new local distribution locations, and new countries or regions, may not be receptive. Our ability to further penetrate our existing markets depends on the quality of our solutions and our ability to design our solutions to meet customer demand. Moreover, we are frequently required to enhance and update our solutions as a result of changing standards and technological developments, which makes it difficult to recover the cost of development and forces us to continually qualify new solutions with our end consumers and may render our solutions obsolete. In addition, we expect to derive an increasing portion of our net sales in the future from subscription-based services. This subscription model may give rise to risks that could harm our business. For example, we may be unable to predict subscription renewal or upgrade rates and the impact these rates may have on our future net sales and operating results. If we are unable to successfully develop, distribute, or acquire new solutions, enhance our existing solutions to meet customer requirements in a timely manner, sell solutions into new markets, or sell our solutions to additional end consumers in our existing markets, our net sales may not grow as expected or they may decline.

 

20

 

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

End consumers may choose to adopt products that provide discrete functionality or DIY solutions rather than adopt our professionally-installed solutions. If we are unable to increase market acceptance of the benefits of our professionally-installed solutions, our net sales may not continue to grow, or they may decline.

Many vendors have emerged, and may continue to emerge, to provide point products with advanced functionality for use in home and commercial applications, such as a thermostats, lighting, power distribution units, doorbell or surveillance systems that can be controlled by an application on a smartphone or control panel. We expect more and more consumer electronics and appliance products to be network-aware and connected — each very likely to have its own smart device (phone or tablet) application. In addition to point solutions, other such disruptive DIY solutions include networking, remote monitoring, and audio and audiovisual distribution products that do not require professional assistance to deploy. End consumers may be attracted to the relatively low costs and ease of installation of these DIY products and the ability to expand solutions over time with minimal upfront costs, despite the disadvantages of this approach. While we have built our solutions to be flexible and in many cases support third-party DIY products, the adoption of these products may reduce the revenue we receive for each installation. It is therefore important that we provide attractive top-quality solutions in many areas, such as networking, lighting, audio, video, thermostats, surveillance, security, power, and remote monitoring and management, and establish broad market awareness and acceptance of these solutions as well as the advantages of integrating them in a unified solution supported by a professional integrator. If a significant number of end consumers in our target markets choose to rely solely on the functionality included in DIY solutions rather than acquiring our unified solutions, then our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed, and we may not be able to achieve sustained growth or our business may decline.

We have relatively limited visibility regarding the end consumers that ultimately purchase our solutions, and we often rely on information from third-party distributors and integrators to help us manage our business. If we are unable to obtain timely or accurate information, our ability to quickly react to market changes and effectively manage our business may be harmed.

We sell our solutions through independent businesses, including integrators and distributors. These integrators and distributors work with end consumers to design, install, update and maintain their systems. While we are able to track orders from integrators and have access to certain information about the configurations of our systems they install that we receive through our platform such as OvrC and Control4, we also rely on these integrators to provide us with information about customer behavior, product and system feedback, customer demographics, buying patterns and information about our competitors. We use this channel sell through data, along with other metrics, to assess customer demand for our solutions, develop new solutions, adjust pricing and make other strategic business decisions. Our channel sell through data is subject to limitations due to collection methods and the third-party nature of the data and thus may not be complete or accurate. In addition, from time to time we collect information directly from end consumers through surveys that we conduct and other methods, but the end consumers who choose to participate self-select and vary by geographic region and from period to period, which may impact the usefulness of the results. Customer information is further limited in certain of our business models where a large portion of solutions we sell may not be installed with our platforms and thus further limit our visibility into end consumer behavior, including local distribution, and third-party products sales. If we do not receive customer information on a timely or accurate basis, or if we do not properly interpret this information, our ability to quickly react to market changes and effectively manage our business may be harmed.

In addition, because the production of certain of our products requires long lead times, we enter into agreements for the manufacture and purchase of certain of our products well in advance of the time in which those products will be sold. These contracts are based on our best estimates of our near-term product needs. If we underestimate customer demand, we may forego revenue opportunities, lose market share and damage our relationships. Conversely, if we overestimate customer demand, we may purchase more inventory than we are able to sell at any given time, or at all. If we fail to accurately estimate demand for our solutions, we could have excess or obsolete inventory, resulting in a decline in the value of our inventory, which would increase our costs of net sales and reduce our liquidity. Our failure to accurately manage inventory relative to demand would adversely affect our results of operations.

 

21

 

CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT REQUESTED PURSUANT TO 17 C.F.R. SECTION 200.83

Our strategy includes pursuing acquisitions and our potential inability to identify good opportunities and to successfully integrate newly-acquired technologies, assets, businesses, or personnel may harm our financial results.

We believe part of our growth will be driven by acquisitions of other companies or their technologies, assets and businesses, but we may not be able to acquire the targeted technologies, assets and businesses we identify as desirable for a price we consider to be reasonable or at all. For example, on February 26, 2021, we entered into an asset purchase agreement with HCA Distributing, LLC (“HCA Distributing”), a local distribution store. Under the asset purchase agreement, we agreed to pay a purchase price of $1,350,000 for substantially all of HCA Distributing's assets. Other recent acquisitions include Control4 and Custom Plus Distributing in 2019, and NEEO, MRI Premium Distributing Services, and Volutone in 2018. These acquisitions and any future acquisitions we evaluate and complete will give rise to risks, including:

•

Incurring higher than anticipated capital expenditures and operating expenses;

​

•

Failing to assimilate the operations and personnel, or failing to retain the key personnel of the acquired company or business;

​

•

Failing to integrate the acquired technologies, or incurring significant expense to integrate acquired technologies into our solutions;

​

•

Disrupting our ongoing business;

​

•

Dissipating or diverting our management resources;

​

•

Failing to maintain uniform standards, controls and policies;

​

•

Incurring significant accounting charges;

​

•

Impairing relationships with employees, integrators, distributors, partners or end consumers;

​

•

Finding that the acquired technology, assets or business does not further our business strategy, that we overpaid for the technology, assets or business, or that we may be required to write off acquired assets or investments partially or entirely;

​

•

Failing to realize the expected synergies of the transaction;

​

•

Being exposed to unforeseen liabilities and contingencies that were not identified and mitigated during diligence conducted prior to acquiring the company, including but not limited to the risk that the products or services of the acquired company violate third-party intellectual property rights or regulatory standards or contain other vulnerabilities;

​

•

Requiring us to raise debt or equity capital to finance the acquisition, which may not be available on advantageous terms;

​

•

To the extent that we pursue acquisitions in non-U.S. markets, becoming subject to new regulatory regimes in which we have limited experience; and

​

•

Being unable to generate sufficient net sales from acquisitions to offset the associated acquisition costs.

​

Fully integrating acquired technology, asset, business, or personnel into our operations may take a significant amount of time and resources.

Acquisitions could include significant goodwill and intangible assets. The amortization of such intangible assets would reduce our profitability and there may be future impairment charges that would reduce our stated earnings. We may incur significant costs in our efforts to engage in strategic transactions and these expenditures may not result in successful acquisitions.

In addition, we may pursue business opportunities that diverge from our current business model, including expanding our solutions into lines of business with which we have minimal experience, investing in new and unproven technologies, and expanding our existing sales channels or adding new sales channels.

 

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We can offer no assurance that any such new business opportunities will prove to be successful. Among other negative effects, our pursuit of such business opportunities could reduce operating margins and require more working capital, or may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Acquisitions also could impact our financial position and capital needs, or could cause fluctuations in our quarterly and annual results of operations. To the extent we do not successfully avoid or overcome the risks or problems related to any such acquisitions, our results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.

We have entered into several strategic arrangements and intend to pursue additional strategic opportunities in the future. If the intended benefits from our strategic relationships are not realized, our results of operations may be harmed.

We are working to develop relationships with strategic partners in order to increase awareness of our solutions and to attempt to reach markets that we cannot currently address in a cost effective manner. If these relationships do not develop in the manner we intend, our future growth could be impacted. Any loss of a major partner, distribution channel or other channel disruption could harm our results of operations and make us more dependent on alternate channels, damage our reputation, increase pricing and promotional pressures from other partners and distribution channels, increase our marketing costs, or harm buying and inventory patterns, payment terms or other contractual terms.

Growth of our business may depend on market awareness and a strong brand, and any failure to develop, broaden, protect and enhance market awareness of our solutions could hurt our ability to retain or attract integrators and/or end consumers.

Because of the competitive nature of the professionally installed electronics market, and other markets where we operate, we believe that building and maintaining market awareness, brand recognition and goodwill may be material to our success. Doing so will depend largely on our ability to continue to provide high-quality solutions, and we may not be able to do so effectively. We may choose to engage in broader marketing campaigns to further promote our brand, but this effort may not be successful. Our efforts in developing our brand may be affected by the marketing efforts of our competitors, negative publicity and social media commentary, and by our reliance on our independent integrators, distributors and strategic partners to install our solutions and promote our brand effectively. In addition, these marketing efforts may not yield the results we anticipate and may prove more expensive than we currently anticipate, and our net sales may not increase sufficiently to offset these higher expenses. If we are unable to maintain and increase positive awareness of our brand in a cost-effective manner, it may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We operate in an emerging and evolving market, which may develop more slowly or differently than we expect. If our core market does not grow as we expect, or if we cannot expand our solutions to meet the demands of this market, our net sales may suffer, and we may incur operating losses.

The market for professionally installed electronics is evolving, and it is uncertain whether our solutions will achieve and sustain high levels of demand and market acceptance. Some integrators and/or end consumers may be reluctant or unwilling to use our solutions for a number of reasons, including satisfaction with other solutions, concerns about cost, and lack of awareness of our solutions. Unified solutions such as ours have traditionally been luxury purchases for the high end of the residential market, and are also popular in commercial markets, and while our solutions target luxury residential and commercial markets, we also have solutions that target middle- and entry-level homeowners and those who live in or operate multi dwelling units. Our ability to expand the sales of our solutions to a broader customer base depends on several factors, including market awareness of our solutions, the timely completion, introduction and market acceptance of our solutions, our ability to discern and respond effectively to trends in end consumer preferences and changing technology, the ability to attract, retain and effectively train sales and marketing personnel, the effectiveness of our marketing programs, the ability to develop effective relationships with independent integrators and other strategic partners, the cost and functionality of our solutions and the success of our competitors. If we are unsuccessful in developing and marketing our home automation

 

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solutions to integrators and/or end consumers, or if these integrators and/or end consumers do not perceive or value the benefits of our solutions, the market for our solutions might not continue to develop or might develop more slowly than we expect, either of which would harm our net sales and growth prospects.

Downturns in general economic and market conditions, including but not limited to downturns in housing and commercial real estate markets and reductions in consumer spending, may reduce demand for our solutions, which could harm our net sales, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our net sales, results of operations and cash flows depend on the overall demand for our solutions and the willingness of our sales channel to invest in marketing our solutions, both of which can be significantly reduced in economic environments characterized by market and interest rate volatility, decreased consumer confidence, high unemployment, declines in residential remodeling and housing starts, decreased demand for commercial real estate and associated renovations, fluctuating exchange rates, and diminished growth expectations in the U.S. economy and abroad. During periods of weak or unstable economic and market conditions, providers of products and services that represent discretionary purchases, such as our home automation and audiovisual solutions, are typically disproportionately affected. In addition, during these periods, the number of independent integrators may decline, which may have a corresponding impact on our growth prospects. Moreover, many of our integrators are small and mid-size businesses and thus more likely to be negatively impacted by downturns in general economic and market conditions than larger businesses. For example, during challenging economic times, end consumers and integrators may face issues in gaining timely access to sufficient credit, which could impair their ability to make timely payments. There is also an increased risk during these periods that an increased percentage of our integrators will file for bankruptcy protection or otherwise become insolvent, which may harm our reputation, net sales, profitability and results of operations. We cannot predict the timing, strength, duration or impact on our business of any economic slowdown, instability or recovery, generally or within any particular geography or industry. For example, as domestic and international end consumers are released from quarantines and other restrictions related to COVID-19, the demand for our solutions may decrease despite positive macroeconomic trends. Any downturns in the general economic conditions of the geographies and industries in which we operate, or any other factors negatively impacting housing markets or consumer spending, may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We have credit exposure to our integrators.

Any adverse trends in our customers’ businesses could cause us to suffer credit losses. As is customary in our industry, we extend credit to our customers. A portion of our customers are small contractors with inconsistent cash flow. As such, they rely on us to provide their businesses with credit and to carry specified inventory to support their operations. We may be unable to collect on receivables if our customers experience decreases in demand for their products and services, do not manage their businesses adequately, or otherwise become less able to pay due to adverse economic conditions or refinancing events. While we evaluate our customers’ qualifications for credit and monitor our extensions of credit, these efforts cannot prevent all credit losses, and increased credit losses would negatively impact our performance and financial position. In addition, for financial reporting purposes, we establish reserves based on our historical experience of credit losses. To the extent that our credit losses exceed those reserves, our financial performance will be negatively impacted. If there is deterioration in the collectability of our receivables, or we fail to take other actions to adequately mitigate this credit risk, our earnings and cash flows could deteriorate. In addition, if we are unable or unwilling to extend credit to our customers, we may experience loss of certain contracts or business.

Extending credit to international customers involves additional risks. It is often more difficult to evaluate credit of a customer or obtain credit protections in our international operations. Also, credit cycles and collection periods are typically longer in our international operations. We are also subject to credit risk associated with customer concentration. If one or more of our largest international customers were to become bankrupt or insolvent, or otherwise were unable to pay for our solutions, we may incur significant write-offs of accounts that may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results

 

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of operations and cash flows. As a result of these factors and other challenges in extending credit to international customers, we generally face greater credit risk from sales internationally compared to domestic sales.

Our failure to raise additional capital or generate cash flows necessary to expand our operations, invest in new technologies and otherwise respond to business opportunities or unforeseen circumstances in the future could reduce our ability to compete successfully and harm our results of operations.

While we believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash requirements for at least the next 12 months, at some point we may need to raise additional funds, and we may not be able to obtain additional debt or equity financing on favorable terms, if at all. If we raise additional equity financing, our security holders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests and the value of shares of our common stock could decline. If we engage in debt financing, we may be required to accept terms that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness, force us to maintain specified liquidity or other ratios or restrict our ability to pay dividends or make acquisitions. If we need additional capital and cannot raise it on acceptable terms, we may not be able to, among other things:

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develop and enhance our solutions;

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continue to expand our research and development, sales and marketing organizations;

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hire, train and retain employees;

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respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated working capital requirements; or

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pursue acquisition opportunities.

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Our inability to do any of the foregoing could reduce our ability to compete successfully and harm our results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Products

If we are unable to adapt to technological change and implement technological and aesthetic enhancements to our solutions, this could impair our ability to remain competitive.

The market for professionally installed electronics is characterized by rapid technological change, frequent introductions of new solutions and evolving industry standards. However, product development often requires significant lead-time and upfront investment and our ability to attract new consumers and increase net sales from existing consumers will depend in significant part on our ability to accurately anticipate changes in industry standards and to continue to appropriately fund development or acquisition efforts to enhance existing solutions or introduce new solutions in a timely basis to keep pace with technological developments. This is true of all our solutions but is particularly important with respect to our user interface and other direct customer interface products including touch screens, remotes, keypads, and televisions. Similarly, if any of our competitors implement new technologies us, those competitors may be able to provide more effective or lower-cost products than ours, which could impact sales and decrease our market share. Any delay or failure in the introduction of new or enhanced solutions may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Product quality issues and a higher-than-expected number of warranty claims or returns could harm our business and operating results.

The products that we sell could contain defects in design or manufacture. Defects could also occur in the products or components that are supplied to us. There can be no assurance we will be able to detect and remedy all defects in the hardware and software we sell, which could result in product recalls, product redesign efforts, loss of net sales, reputational damage and significant warranty and other remediation expenses. Similar to other electronics, our products have a risk of overheating and fire in the course of usage or upon malfunction. We sell power distribution products that may allow damage to connected devices upon malfunction. We sell a range of racks, mounts, brackets, and other products that support large amounts

 

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of weight, over 2,000 pounds in some instances, which may fail to support weight upon malfunction. Any of the aforementioned defects could result in harm to property or in personal injury, which could subject us to liability. If we determine that a product does not meet product quality standards or may contain a defect, the launch of such product could be delayed until we remedy the quality issue or defect. The costs and loss of net sales associated with any protracted delay necessary to remedy a quality issue or defect in a new product could be substantial.

We provide warranties on our products ranging from one-year to lifetime. In certain countries we may lengthen product warranties due to various local laws and regulations. The occurrence of any material defects in our products could expose us to liability for damages and warranty claims in excess of our current reserves, and we could incur significant costs to correct any defects, warranty claims or other problems. In addition, if any of our product designs are defective or are alleged to be defective, we may be required to participate in a recall campaign. In part due to the terms of our warranty policy, any failure rate of our products that exceeds our expectations may result in unanticipated losses. Any negative publicity related to the perceived quality of our products could affect our brand image and decrease customer confidence and demand, which could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition. Further, accidental damage coverage and extended warranties are regulated in the United States at the state level and are treated differently within each state. Additionally, outside the United States, regulations for extended warranties and accidental damage vary from country to country. Changes in interpretation of the regulations concerning extended warranties and accidental damage coverage on a federal, state, local or international level may cause us to incur costs or have additional regulatory requirements to meet in the future in order to continue to offer our support services. Our failure to comply with past, present and future similar laws could result in reduced sales of our products, reputational damage, penalties and other sanctions, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In addition to failures due to product defects, because our solutions are installed by independent integrators, if integrators do not install or maintain our solutions correctly or if the underlying network or infrastructure in a home or business is not sufficiently robust, our solutions may not function properly. Our end consumers generally judge our performance through their interactions with our integrators and distributors, as well as their day-to-day interactions with the product and the mobile application. If the improper installation or maintenance of our solutions leads to service failures of a product or solution, we could experience harm to our branded reputation, claims by our end consumers, integrators, strategic partners or developers and we may incur increased expense to remedy the problem, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The performance of and demand for our solutions are impacted in part by factors not entirely within our control including compatibility and ease of integration with third-party products and services, as well as enabling technology, connectivity, software and intellectual property that we do not own or control.

Our solutions are designed to interoperate with a wide range of other third-party products, including products in the areas of audio, video, lighting, temperature, power, networking, and security, and we benefit from our relationships with partners that allow our platforms, including OvrC and Control4, to integrate with, and provide features such as control and remote management to, over 15,000 third-party devices and services. If we do not support the continued integration of our solutions with third-party products and applications, including new and additional products, demand for our solutions could decline and we could lose sales. In addition, companies that provide certain point solutions have eliminated or restricted, and may in the future eliminate or restrict, our ability to integrate with, control, remotely manage, and otherwise be compatible with these products. As a result, we may not be successful in making our solutions compatible with these third-party products and applications or lose functionality in existing systems to the extent that they depend on the ability to integrate with third-party products, which could reduce demand for our solutions. In addition, if prospective consumers require customized features or functions that we do not offer, then the market for our solutions may be harmed.

Our solutions are deployed in many different locations and user environments. The ability of our solutions to operate effectively can be negatively impacted by many different elements unrelated to our

 

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solutions including the performance of enabling technology, integration services, intellectual property that we do not own or control, and the performance of integrators. For example, a user’s experience may suffer from an incorrectly deployed network or other key infrastructure such as cabling or wires. Such perceptions, even if incorrect, could harm our business and reputation.

The prices and costs of the products we manufacture or purchase may be subject to large and significant price fluctuations. We might not be able to pass cost increases through to our end consumers, and we may experience losses in a rising price environment. In addition, we might have to lower our prices in a declining price environment, which could also lead to losses.

We purchase and sell a wide variety of products, the price and availability of which may fluctuate, and which may be subject to large and significant price increases. Our business is exposed to these fluctuations, as well as to fluctuations in our costs for transportation and distribution. Changes in prices for the products that we purchase affect our net sales and cost of goods sold, as well as our working capital requirements, levels of debt and financing costs. We might not always be able to reflect cost increases in our own pricing. Any inability to pass cost increases on to end consumers may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if market prices for the products we sell decline, we may realize reduced profitability levels from selling such products and lower revenues from sales of existing inventory stocks of such products.

Risks Related to Our Manufacturing and Supply Chain

We currently rely on contract manufacturers to manufacture our products and on component vendors to supply parts used in our products. We also distribute products manufactured by other companies. Any disruption in our supply chain, or our failure to successfully manage our relationships with our suppliers or logistics partners could harm our business.

Our reliance on contract manufacturers to produce many of our products reduces our control over the assembly process, exposing us to risks, including reduced control over quality assurance, production costs and product supply. These risks are heightened because a significant portion of our net sales comes from proprietary products. We rely on a limited number of contract manufacturers to manufacture most of our products and components, and in many cases one of these manufacturers is our only source for a particular product or product family. We also do business with a number of component vendors, and the parts they supply may not perform as expected. We also distribute products supplied by other companies. Most of our contract manufacturers and component vendors, and some of our distributed product suppliers, are located outside of the United States, and all of them may be subject to political, economic, social, regulatory and legal uncertainties that may harm our relationships with them. If we fail to manage our relationships with our suppliers or shipping partners effectively, or if our suppliers or logistics partners experience delays, disruptions, capacity constraints, shortage of raw materials or components, or quality control problems in their operations, our ability to ship products may be impaired and our competitive position and reputation could be harmed. In addition, any adverse change in our suppliers or logistics partners’ financial or business condition could disrupt our ability to supply quality products to our integrators and distributors. If we are required to change suppliers or logistics partners we may lose net sales, incur increased costs or damage our relationships, or we might be unable to find a new contract manufacturer, component vendor, or supplier of similar distributed products, on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, qualifying a new supplier could be an expensive and lengthy process. If we experience increased demand that our suppliers are unable to fulfill, or if they are unable to provide us with adequate supplies of high-quality products for any reason, we could experience a delay in our order fulfillment, and it may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Furthermore, we expect our suppliers, service providers and other business partners to comply with all legal requirements relating to health and safety, labor relations, the environment, supply chain ethics and transparency. If any of our suppliers engages in or is perceived to have engaged in ethics violations, we may be unable to continue our relationship with that supplier. If we are required to find alternative sources of

 

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supply, qualification of alternative suppliers and the establishment of reliable supplies could result in delays and a possible loss of sales, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to Our Distribution Channels

We rely on our independent integrators to sell our solutions, and if our integrators fail to perform and grow their businesses, our ability to sell and distribute our solutions will be limited, and our results of operations may be harmed.

Most of our net sales are generated through the sales of our solutions by our authorized integrators and other types of integrators, as well as distributors in certain markets. As of December 25, 2020, we had over 16,000 active integrators authorized to sell our solutions. Our integrators are independent businesses that voluntarily sell both our solutions and the products of other companies to end consumers. We provide our integrators with specific training programs to assist them in selling, installing and servicing our solutions. We have observed, and expect to continue to observe, high volatility in the monthly, quarterly and annual sales performance of individual integrators. Although we can make estimated forecasts of cumulative sales of large numbers of integrators, we cannot assure their accuracy collectively or individually. Accordingly, if our actual sales fall short of our expectations, we may not be able to reduce or slow our spending quickly enough to protect margins. We expect that our net sales, results of operations and cash flows may fluctuate significantly on a quarterly basis. Therefore, period-to-period comparisons of our net sales, results of operations and cash flows should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance.

Our independent integrators may be unsuccessful in marketing, selling, installing and supporting our solutions. If we are unable to provide high-quality products in a timely manner at competitive prices and to develop and maintain effective sales incentive programs for our integrators, we may not be able to incentivize them to sell our solutions. Our integrators may also market, sell and support products and services that are competitive with ours, and may devote more resources to the marketing, sales, and support of such competitive products. Our integrators may have incentives to promote our competitors’ products to the detriment of our own or may cease selling our solutions altogether. Our agreements with our integrators may generally be terminated without penalty for any reason by either party with advance notice. We cannot assure that we will retain agreements with these integrators, or that we will be able to secure additional or replacement integrators.

In addition, while we take certain steps to protect ourselves from liability for the actions of independent integrators, such as including contractual provisions limiting our liability with both end consumers and integrators, end consumers may seek recovery from us for damages caused by integrators in connection with product installations or servicing, or the failure of products to perform properly due to incorrect installations by integrators. In the event of litigation with respect to these matters, we cannot guarantee that our contractual protections will be enforced or that integrators will have the financial wherewithal or maintain insurance to meet their contractual obligations. Furthermore, integrators may initiate claims against us related to any failure or perceived failure to operate our business in accordance with our contracts and the law. Integrators may engage in wrongdoing, including unethical or illegal acts and may use our name and our brand in ways we do not authorize. Any such improper integrator behavior may harm our reputation or expose us to liability for their actions. If our sales partners engage in marketing practices that are not in compliance with local laws and regulations, we may be in breach of such laws and regulations, which may result in regulatory proceedings and potential penalties that could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, unauthorized activities in connection with sales efforts by our sales partners, including calling end consumers in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and fraudulent misrepresentations, could subject us to governmental investigations and class action lawsuits for, among others, false advertising and deceptive trade practice damage claims, against which we will be required to defend. Such defense efforts will be costly and time-consuming, and there can be no assurance that such defense efforts will be successful, all of which could have negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

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Moreover, in order to continue our growth and expand our business, it is important that we continue to attract and add new integrators and ensure that most of our existing relationships remain productive. We must also work to expand our network of integrators to ensure that we have sufficient geographic coverage and technical expertise to address new markets and technologies. If we are unable to attract, train, and retrain integrators, if we saturate the available integrator pool, or if market or other forces cause the available pool of integrators to decline, it may be increasingly difficult to grow our business. It is important that we enhance our integrator footprint by broadening the expertise of our integrators, providing tools and training that enable our integrators to be more effective, and expanding our line of solutions that our integrators offer. If we are unable to expand our network of independent integrators, or maintain the relationships with our existing integrators, our business could be harmed.

Finally, we are dependent on a finite number of integrators, many of which are small businesses, to meet demand for our solutions. If our and their operations, infrastructure and business processes fail to keep pace with our business and customer requirements, end consumers may experience disruptions in service or support or we may not scale the business efficiently, which could adversely affect our reputation and our net sales. There is no guarantee that we and our integrators will be able to continue to develop and expand our infrastructure and business processes at the pace necessary to scale the business, and our failure to do so may have an adverse effect on our business and brand identity.

Because we distribute a portion of our solutions through e-commerce platforms, our operations may be materially adversely affected by technological problems and failure to improve our platforms to meet customer needs.

A significant portion of our sales are transacted through e-commerce platforms including our          website. Our integrators rely upon these sales platforms to conduct vital business activities including purchasing products, obtaining technical support and training, and learning about new products and services. Any failure of these platforms to operate reliably and meet customer needs may impact our business performance. For example, technological failures, both caused by us and those outside of our control, may result in platform downtime, and result in lost sales and customer loyalty. Additionally, if we do not continue to improve our e-commerce platforms to meet customer needs, we may also lose sales and customer loyalty. As we continue to improve customer experience and engage in strategic acquisitions, we may consolidate e-commerce platforms. Such platform consolidation attempts present risks for both technological disruptions and failure to meet customer needs, which may adversely affect our operations.

Because we distribute a portion of our solutions through highly dispersed brick-and-mortar locations across the United States, our operations may be materially adversely affected by inconsistent practices, and the operating results of individual branches may vary.

We operate a portion of our product distribution business through a network of highly dispersed locations throughout the United States, supported by leadership located in central offices, with local branch management retaining responsibility for day-to-day operations and adherence to applicable local laws. Our operating structure could make it difficult for us to coordinate procedures across our operations in a timely manner or at all. We may have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified local personnel. In addition, our branches may require significant oversight and coordination from headquarters to support their growth. Inconsistent implementation of corporate strategy and policies at the local level could materially and adversely affect our overall profitability, prospects, business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. In addition, the operating results of an individual branch may differ from that of another branch for a variety of reasons, including market size, management practices, competitive landscape, regulatory requirements and local economic conditions. As a result, certain of our branches may experience higher or lower levels of growth than other branches.

Risks Related to Laws and Regulations

Failure to comply with laws and regulations could harm our business.

We conduct our business in the United States and in various other countries. We are subject to regulation by various federal, state, local and foreign governmental agencies, including, but not limited to,

 

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agencies and regulatory bodies or authorities responsible for monitoring and enforcing product safety and consumer protection laws, data privacy and security laws and regulations, employment and labor laws, workplace safety laws and regulations, environmental laws and regulations, antitrust laws, federal securities laws and tax laws and regulations.

Our global operations require us to import from and export to several countries, which increases the number of jurisdictions’ laws with which we must comply. We are also subject to anti-money laundering laws such as the USA PATRIOT Act and may be subject to similar laws in other jurisdictions. Our platforms and solutions are subject to various export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations, and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, in part because our software contains encryption technologies. Exports of our platforms and solutions must be made in compliance with these laws and regulations. We may also be subject to import/export laws and regulations in other jurisdictions in which we conduct business. If we fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we and certain of our employees could be subject to substantial civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export or import privileges; fines, which may be imposed on us and responsible employees or managers; and, in extreme cases, the incarceration of responsible employees or managers. As a result, our access to technologies needed to improve our platforms and solutions may be impaired and the demand for our platforms and solutions outside of the United States may be limited. Any penalties, costs and restrictions on export or import privileges could harm our results of operations. We maintain policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure compliance with applicable trade restrictions, including prohibiting the export, re-export or transfer of technology to companies on the Entity List maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, as well as prohibiting the sale of our products in certain countries. However, due to the size of our global operations, we cannot ensure that our policies and procedures, including related safeguards, will effectively prevent violations, including the unauthorized diversion of products to countries or persons that are the target of OFAC sanctions, the export, re-export or transfer of technology to companies on the Entity List, or other trade restrictions.

Moreover, if our service provider partners fail to obtain appropriate import, export or re-export licenses or authorizations, we may also be adversely affected through reputational harm and penalties. Obtaining the necessary authorizations, including any required license, for a particular sale may be time-consuming, is not guaranteed and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities. In addition, changes in our platforms or solutions or changes in applicable export or import laws and regulations may create delays in the introduction and sale of our platforms and solutions in international markets, prevent our service provider partners with international operations from deploying our platforms and solutions or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our platforms and solutions to certain countries, governments or persons altogether. Any change in export or import laws and regulations, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing laws and regulations, or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such laws and regulations, could also result in decreased use of our platforms and solutions, or in our decreased ability to export or sell our platforms and solutions to existing or potential service provider partners with international operations. Any decreased use of our platforms and solutions or limitations on our ability to export or sell our platforms and solutions would likely adversely affect our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

Furthermore, there is currently significant uncertainty about the future political relationship between the United States and various other countries, including China, the European Union, Canada, Vietnam and Mexico, with respect to trade policies, treaties, tariffs and customs duties, and taxes. In 2019, the U.S. administration imposed significant changes to U.S. trade policy with respect to China. Tariffs have subjected certain of our products manufactured overseas to additional import duties of up to 25%. The amount of the import tariff and the number of products subject to tariffs have changed numerous times based on action by the U.S. administration. We are addressing the risks related to these imposed and announced tariffs, which have affected, or have the potential to affect, at least some of our imports from China. Future changes to tariff rates could adversely affect our business, financial condition, cash flows, and results of operations.

Our integrators are required to abide by various national, state and local regulatory requirements, including obtaining certifications and licenses in order to install and maintain certain products and

 

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technologies. For example, certain lighting products may only be installed by certified electricians. Other products, such as certain low-voltage products, may not require certifications or licenses in certain jurisdictions. National, state, or local regulatory requirements may change and require our integrators to obtain additional licenses, permits, and certifications to install our products. Such regulatory changes may make it more difficult and expensive for our integrators to install our products and therefore make it more difficult for us to sell our products.

Changes in laws that apply to us could result in increased regulatory requirements and compliance costs or the inability to import or export products or components from or to certain markets, which could harm our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations. In certain jurisdictions, regulatory requirements may be more stringent than in the United States. Noncompliance with applicable regulations or requirements could subject us to whistleblower complaints, investigations, sanctions, settlements, mandatory product recalls, enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, fines, damages, civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension or debarment from contracting with certain governments or other end consumers, the loss of export privileges, multi-jurisdictional liability, reputational harm and other collateral consequences. If any governmental or other sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations could be materially harmed. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a materially significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and an increase in defense costs and other professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions could further harm our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), we are required to adhere to certain reporting and other requirements regarding the use of certain minerals and derivative metals (referred to as “conflict minerals,” regardless of their actual country of origin) in our products. Some of these metals are commonly used in electronic equipment and devices, including our products. These requirements require that we investigate, disclose and report whether or not any such metals in our products originated from the Democratic Republic of Congo or adjoining countries. We do not directly source any of our own raw conflict minerals; rather we have a complex supply chain, with numerous suppliers for the components and parts used in each of our products. As a result, we incur costs to comply with the diligence and disclosure requirements of Dodd-Frank Act. In addition, because our supply chain is so complex, we may not be able to sufficiently verify the origin of all relevant metals used in our products through the due diligence procedures that we implement. We may incur reputational damage if we determine that any of our products contain minerals or derivative metals that are not conflict free or if we are unable to sufficiently verify the source for all conflict minerals used in our products through the procedures we may implement. Furthermore, key components and parts that can be shown to be “conflict free” may not be available to us in sufficient quantity, or at all, or may only be available at significantly higher cost to us. If we are not able to meet customer requirements, end consumers may choose to disqualify us as a supplier. Any of these outcomes may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to Cybersecurity and Privacy

Failure to maintain the security of our information and technology networks, including information relating to our integrators, distributors, vendors, partners, consumers and employees, could adversely affect our business. In addition, if security breaches in connection with the delivery of our products and services allow unauthorized third parties to obtain control of or otherwise access consumers’ networks or appliances, our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.

The legal, regulatory and contractual environment surrounding information security, privacy and internet fraud is constantly evolving and companies that collect and retain information are under increasing attack by cyber-criminals around the world. We are dependent on information technology networks and systems, including the Internet, to process, transmit and store electronic information and, in the normal course of our business, we collect and retain certain information, including financial information and personally identifiable information, from and pertaining to our integrators, distributors, partners, consumers

 

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and employees. The protection of integrator, distributor, vendor, other partner, consumer and employee data is important to us, and we devote significant resources to addressing security vulnerabilities in our products and information technology systems, and regularly engage with security experts to conduct penetration testing to help us uncover vulnerabilities in our systems. However, the policies and security measures that we put in place could prove to be inadequate and cannot guarantee our systems will be secure, and our information technology infrastructure may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks, data security incidents or other vulnerabilities. Cyber-attacks are increasingly sophisticated, constantly evolving, and often go undetected until after an attack has been launched. We may fail to identify such new and complex methods of attack or fail to invest sufficient resources in security measures. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may also face increased cybersecurity risks due to our reliance on internet technology and the number of our employees who are working remotely, which may create additional opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities. We have previously and will continue to experience cyber-attacks, and we cannot be certain that advances in our cybersecurity capabilities or other developments will prevent compromises or breaches of the networks that access our products and services and the repositories where we store our data.

We have acquired companies over the years and may continue to do so in the future. While we make significant efforts to address any information technology security issues with respect to our acquisitions, we may still inherit such risks when we integrate the acquired products and systems.

In addition, consumers can use our tools for authorized, remote access to their systems, and certain of our employees and independent integrators can be provided authorized access to monitor and update certain of our products and services remotely. Security breaches by third parties or by, or originating from, one or more of our integrators or employees, that allow unauthorized access to or control over our consumers’ appliances or data through our products could harm our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.

It is difficult to determine what harm may result from any specific interruption or security breach. Any failure or perceived failure to maintain performance, reliability, security and availability of systems or the actual or potential theft, loss, unauthorized use of our products or associated confidential information, including personally identifiable data of an integrator, distributor, partner, end consumer and employee, could result in:

•

harm to our reputation or brand, which could lead some consumers to stop using certain of our products or services, reduce or delay future purchases of our products or services, use competing products or services, or materially and adversely affect the overall market perception of the security and reliability of our services and home automation products generally;

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•

individual and/or class action lawsuits, which could result in financial settlements or judgments against us and that would cause us to incur legal fees and costs;

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•

legal or regulatory enforcement action, which could result in fines and/or penalties and which would cause us to incur legal fees and costs; and/or

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•

additional costs associated with responding to the interruption or security breach, such as investigative and remediation costs, the costs of providing individuals and/or data owners with notice of the breach, legal fees, the costs of any additional fraud detection activities, or the costs of prolonged system disruptions or shutdowns.

​

Any of these actions may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Because we store, process and use data, some of which contains personal information, we are subject to complex and evolving federal, state and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection and other matters. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in investigations, claims, changes to our business practices, increased cost of operations and declines in user growth, retention or engagement, any of which could seriously harm our business.

Our products and services rely heavily on the collection and use of information, including personal information. Because we store, process and use data, some of which contains personal information, we are

 

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subject to complex and evolving federal, state and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy and data protection. Both in the United States and abroad, these laws and regulations are constantly evolving. In the United States in addition to certain regulations at the federal level, each state has its own statutory approach to privacy regulation, and recently states such as California have been very active in pursuing new regulations that are typically more restrictive than other jurisdictions. The application and interpretation of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate. Continually implementing up-to-date data security tools and procedures and maintaining privacy standards that comply with ever-changing privacy regulations in multiple jurisdictions is challenging. If we are found to have breached any consumer protection laws or regulations in any such market, we may be subject to enforcement actions that require us to change our business practices in a manner which may negatively impact our net sales, as well as expose ourselves to litigation, fines, civil and/or criminal penalties and adverse publicity that could cause our end consumers to lose trust in us, negatively impacting our reputation and business in a manner that harms our financial position.

In recent years, there has been an increase in attention to and regulation of data protection and data privacy across the globe, including the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”)’s increasingly active approach to enforcing data privacy in the United States, as well as the enactment of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which took effect in May 2018, the United Kingdom’s transposition of GDPR into its domestic laws following its withdrawal from the European Union, and the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which took effect in January 2020. In Europe, the GDPR introduced stringent requirements (which will continue to be interpreted through guidance and decisions over the coming years) and requires organizations to erase an individual’s information upon request and implement mandatory data breach notification requirements and includes strict protections on how data may be transferred outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”). Recent legal developments in Europe have created complexity and uncertainty regarding transfers of personal data from the EEA to the United States. For example, on July 16, 2020, the European Court of Justice struck down a permitted personal data transfer mechanism between the EEA and the United States, invalidating the use of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and further casting doubt on the use of another main transfer mechanism, the standard contractual clauses. While standard contractual clauses remain a valid mechanism to transfer data from the EEA to the United States, uncertainty remains as to what, if any, additional steps may be required to remain in compliant with the GDPR. GDPR imposes fines for violation of up to 20 million Euros or up to four percent of the annual global revenues, whichever is greater. Further, following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, and the end of the related transition period, as of January 1, 2021, companies may be subject to both GDPR and the United Kingdom GDPR (“UK GDPR”), which, together with the amended UK Data Protection Act 2018, retains the GDPR in UK national law. The UK GDPR mirrors the fines under the GDPR, i.e., fines up to the greater of 20 million Euros (£17.5 million) or four percent of global turnover. The relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union in relation to certain aspects of data protection law, including with respect to data transfers, remains unclear, and it is unknown how United Kingdom data protection laws and regulations will develop in the medium to longer term, and how data transfers to and from the United Kingdom will be regulated in the long term. Currently, the European Commission is considering whether to enable free transfer of personal data between the European Union and United Kingdom and published a draft adequacy decision to enable such transfers on February 19, 2021. If adopted, the decision will enable data transfers from European Union member states to the United Kingdom for a four-year period, subject to subsequent extensions. These changes may lead to additional costs and increase our overall risk exposure.

In the United States, CCPA requires companies that process personal information of California residents make new disclosures to consumers about their data collection, use and sharing practices, allows consumers to opt out of certain data sharing with third parties, and provides a new private cause of action for certain specified data breaches. CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, with enforcement actions coming from the California Attorney General. The effects of CCPA are potentially significant and may require us to modify our data collection or processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses to comply. Further, the California Privacy Rights Act, amending and expanding CCPA, was passed via ballot initiative during the November 2020 election, which will further strengthen privacy laws in California and create a new privacy regulatory agency in the state, which could result in greater numbers

 

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of enforcement actions and fines. Additionally, the FTC and many state attorneys general are interpreting federal and state consumer protection laws to impose standards for the online collection, use, dissemination and security of data. Each of these privacy, security and data protection laws and regulations could impose significant limitations, require changes to our business, or restrict our use or storage of personal information, which may increase our compliance expenses and make our business more costly or less efficient to conduct.

We publicly post our privacy policies and practices concerning our processing, use and disclosure of personal information. Our privacy policy and other statements we publish provide promises and assurances about privacy and security that could subject us to potential regulatory action or other liabilities if: (a) such statements are found to be deceptive or misrepresentative of our practices, (b) we fail to take adequate measures to ensure that we adhere to applicable regulations, or (c) our third-party data processors fail to adequately protect personal information that they process on our behalf. While we select our third-party data processors carefully, we do not control their actions. Any problems experienced by these third parties, including those resulting from breakdowns or other disruptions in the services provided by such parties or cyber-attacks and security breaches, could adversely affect our ability to service or otherwise conduct our business.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

If we fail to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights adequately, our business could be harmed.

We believe that proprietary technology is essential to establishing and maintaining our leadership position. We seek to protect our intellectual property through trade secrets, our confidentiality, non-compete, non-solicitation and nondisclosure agreements, and by registering numerous patents, trademarks, and domain names in various justifications, as well as using other measures, some of which may afford only limited protection. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright and other similar laws to protect our intellectual property. Our means of protecting our proprietary rights may not be adequate or our competitors may independently develop similar or superior technology, or design around our intellectual property.

In addition to patents, we rely on unpatented proprietary technology. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of our technology or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. It is possible that others will independently develop the same or similar technology or otherwise obtain access to our unpatented technology. To protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information, we require employees, consultants, and independent contractors to enter into confidentiality agreements. However, such agreements may not be enforceable in full or in part in all jurisdictions and regardless of enforceability, any breach of these agreements could have a negative effect on our business and our remedies may be limited. We cannot assure you that these agreements or other steps we take to protect or proprietary and confidential information, including our trade secrets, will provide meaningful protection for our confidential and proprietary information. If we are unable to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies, our business could be materially adversely affected.

We also rely on our trademarks, trade names, and brand names to distinguish our solutions from the products of our competitors and have registered or applied to register many of these trademarks in the United States and certain countries outside the United States. As we rely in part on brand names and trademark protection to enforce our intellectual property rights, efforts by third parties to limit use of our brand names or trademarks and barriers to the registration of brand names and trademarks in various countries may restrict our ability to promote and maintain a cohesive brand throughout our key markets. There can also be no assurance that pending or future U.S. or foreign trademark applications will be approved in a timely manner or at all, or that such registrations will effectively protect our brand names and trademarks. Third parties may also oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand, which could result in loss of brand recognition and would require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands.

 

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In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect our proprietary rights to as great an extent as the laws of the United States. Intellectual property protections may also be unavailable, limited or difficult to obtain and enforce in some countries, which could make it easier for competitors to capture market share. For example, many foreign countries limit the enforceability of patents against certain third parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, patents may provide limited or no benefit. Effective trade secret protection may also not be available in every country in which our products are available or where we have employees or independent contractors. In addition, any changes in, or unexpected interpretations of, the trade secret, intellectual property, or employment laws in any country in which we operate may compromise our ability to enforce our trade secret and other intellectual property rights.

To prevent substantial unauthorized use of our intellectual property rights, it may be necessary to prosecute actions for infringement and/or misappropriation of our proprietary rights against third parties. Any such action could result in significant costs and diversion of our resources and management’s attention, and we cannot assure that we will be successful in such action. Furthermore, many of our current and potential competitors have the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights (or to contest claims of infringement) than we do. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from knowingly or unknowingly infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property rights. If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights (including aspects of our software and platform protected other than by patent rights), we will find ourselves at a competitive disadvantage to others who need not incur the additional expense, time and effort required to create our platform and other innovative products that have enabled us to be successful to date.

An assertion by a third-party that we are infringing its intellectual property could, regardless of merit, subject us to costly and time-consuming litigation and could further lead to expensive licenses or significant liabilities in the event of an adverse judgment.

The industry in which we compete is characterized by the existence of a large number of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, and by frequent litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. There may be third-party intellectual property rights, including issued or pending patents, that cover significant aspects of our technologies or business methods. As we face increasing competition and our public profile increases, the possibility of intellectual property rights claims against us may also increase. We have been subject to intellectual property litigation in the past and we may be subject to similar litigation in the future. Given that some of our core product lines are, or integrate with, network aware products, the risk that our solutions may be subject to these allegations may be exacerbated because of the litigious environment for connectivity technologies. Further, we may face exposure to third-party intellectual property infringement, misappropriation, or violation actions if we engage software engineers or other personnel who were previously engaged by competitors or other third parties and those personnel inadvertently or deliberately incorporate proprietary technology of third parties into our products. A loss of key personnel or their work product in connection with such actions could hamper or prevent our ability to develop, market, and support potential products or enhancements, which could harm our business. Any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, could be very time-consuming and expensive to settle or litigate.

We are defendants in legal proceedings related to intellectual property rights from time to time, and in the past, we have entered into settlement agreements relating to contractual claims and alleged patent infringements, which have included future royalty payments on certain products, the payment of a lump sum amount for alleged past damages and/or the payment of a fixed amount in exchange for a covenant not to sue.

We might not prevail in any current or future intellectual property infringement litigation given the complex legal and technical issues and inherent uncertainties in such litigation. Defending such claims, regardless of their merit, could be time-consuming and distracting to management, result in costly litigation or settlement, cause development delays or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements. In addition, we currently have a limited portfolio of issued patents compared to some of our competitors, and

 

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therefore may not be able to effectively utilize our intellectual property portfolio to assert defenses or counterclaims, or negotiate cross-licenses in response to patent infringement claims or litigation brought against us by third parties. Further, litigation may involve patent holding companies or other adverse patent owners who have no relevant products or revenues and against which our potential patents provide no deterrence, and many other potential litigants have the capability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights and to defend claims that may be brought against them. If our solutions exceed the scope of in-bound licenses or violate any third-party proprietary rights, we could be required to withdraw those solutions from the market, re-develop those solutions or seek to obtain licenses from third parties, which might not be available on reasonable terms or at all. Any efforts to re-develop our solutions, obtain licenses from third parties on favorable terms or license a substitute technology might not be successful and, in any case, might substantially increase our costs and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we were compelled to withdraw any of our solutions from the market, it may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We have agreed to indemnify our independent integrators and other partners for certain intellectual property infringement claims regarding our products and other materials we provide to them. As a result, in the case of infringement claims against these partners, we could be required to indemnify them for losses resulting from such claims. We expect that some of our partners may seek indemnification from us in connection with infringement claims brought against them. We evaluate each such request on a case-by-case basis and we may not succeed in refuting any such claim we believe to be unjustified. If a partner elects to invest resources in enforcing a claim for indemnification against us that we believe is unjustified, we could incur significant costs in disputing it. If we do not succeed in disputing it, we could face substantial liability.

The use of open source software in our solutions may expose us to additional risks and harm our intellectual property.

Some of our solutions use or incorporate software that is subject to one or more open source licenses. If we combine or link our proprietary software with certain open source software and distribute or make available such software to third parties, we could, under the terms of the applicable open source licenses, be required to disclose part or all of the source code of our proprietary software publicly or to allow further modification and redistribution of such software on potentially unfavorable terms or at no cost. This could provide an advantage to our competitors or other entrants to the market, allow them to create similar products with lower development effort and time, and ultimately result in a loss of sales for us. We may also be required to spend time and effort to remediate such uses of open source software.

The terms of many open source licenses to which we are subject have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts, and accordingly there is a risk that those licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our solutions. In that event, we could be required to seek licenses from third parties in order to continue offering our solutions, to redevelop our solutions, to discontinue sales of our solutions or to release our proprietary software code under the terms of an open source license, any of which could harm our business. Enforcement activity for open-source licenses can also be unpredictable. From time to time, companies that use third-party open source software have also faced claims challenging the use of such open source software and their compliance with the terms of the applicable open source license. We may be subject to suits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software, or claiming non-compliance with the applicable open source licensing terms. Were it determined that our use was not in compliance with a particular license, we may be required to release our proprietary source code, defend claims, pay damages for breach of contract or copyright infringement, grant licenses to our patents, re-engineer our products, discontinue distribution in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished on a timely basis, or take other remedial action that may divert resources away from our product development efforts, any of which could negatively impact our business. Open source compliance problems can also result in damage to reputation and challenges in recruitment or retention of engineering personnel. Any related litigation could be costly for us to defend, have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our solutions.

 

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We rely on the availability of third-party licenses and our inability to maintain those licenses could harm our business and results of operations.

We rely on third-party licensed technology, which we have incorporated into our products. Some of our agreements with our licensors may be terminated by them for convenience, or otherwise provide for a limited term. In addition, we may need to seek additional licenses for existing or new products, which may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. The inability to obtain certain licenses or other rights, or to obtain those licenses or rights on favorable terms, or the need to engage in litigation regarding these matters, could result in our inability to include certain features in our products or delays in product releases, force us to acquire or develop alternative technology, which we may be unable to do in a commercially feasible manner or at all, and require us to use alternative technology of lower quality or performance standards. Any of the foregoing would disrupt the distribution and sale of our products and harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Any errors or defects in third-party software could also result in errors or a failure of products. Moreover, the inclusion in our products of intellectual property licensed from third parties on a nonexclusive basis could limit our ability to protect our proprietary rights in our products. We cannot be certain that our licensors do not or will not infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties or that our licensors have or will have sufficient rights to the licensed intellectual property in all jurisdictions in which we may sell our products, or that our remedies in the event of such infringement will be sufficient.

Risks Related to Our International Operations

We are subject to a number of risks associated with international sales and operations.

We have a limited history of marketing, selling, and supporting our products and services internationally. However, international net sales accounted for 11.6% of our total net sales for fiscal year 2020, and that percentage may grow in the future. As a result, we must hire and train experienced personnel to staff and manage our foreign operations. To the extent that we experience difficulties in recruiting, training, managing, and retaining international integrators, distributors, and international staff, and specifically staff related to sales management and sales personnel, we may experience difficulties in productivity in foreign markets.

If we are not able to increase the sales of our solutions to consumers located outside of North America, our results of operations or net sales growth may be harmed. In addition, in connection with our expansion into foreign markets, we are a receiver of currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Accordingly, changes in exchange rates, and in particular a strengthening of the U.S. dollar, will negatively affect our net sales as expressed in U.S. dollars. There is also a risk that we will have to adjust local currency product pricing due to competitive pressures when there has been significant volatility or changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

Conducting and launching operations on an international scale requires close coordination of activities across multiple jurisdictions and time zones and consumes significant management resources. Our limited experience in operating our business in certain countries outside of the United States increases the risk that our current and any future international expansion efforts will not be successful. Conducting international operations subjects us to risks that, generally, we do not face in the United States, including:

•

Fluctuations in currency exchange rates, including as a result of the United Kingdom’s (“U.K.”) withdrawal from the European Union (“E.U.”), commonly referred to as “Brexit”;

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Unexpected changes in foreign regulatory requirements;

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Longer accounts receivable payment cycles and difficulties in collecting accounts receivable;

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Difficulties in managing and staffing international operations, including differences in labor laws, which may result in higher personnel-related liabilities and expenses;

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•

Potentially adverse tax consequences, including the complexities of foreign value added tax systems and restrictions on the repatriation of earnings;

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•

Localization of our solutions and other materials, including translation into foreign languages and associated expenses;

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•

Localization of applicable agreements under applicable foreign law and differing legal standards and risks;

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The burdens of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws and different legal standards, including laws and regulations related to import/export, privacy, the transfer of personal information across borders, data security and limitations on liability;

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•

Increased financial accounting and reporting burdens and complexities;

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•

Political, social and economic instability abroad, terrorist attacks and security concerns in general, including crime and cyber security; and

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Reduced or varied protection for intellectual property rights in some countries.

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The impact of any one of these could harm our international business and, consequently, our results of operations generally. Moreover, operating in international markets also requires significant management attention and financial resources. We cannot be certain that the investment and additional resources required in establishing, acquiring or integrating operations and personnel in other countries will produce desired levels of net sales or profitability.

Due to the global nature of our business, we could be harmed by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act or similar anti-corruption laws in other jurisdictions in which we operate, or various international trade and export laws.

The global nature of our business creates various domestic and local regulatory challenges, including compliance with applicable anti-corruption laws and regulations. Where they apply, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), the U.K. Bribery Act 2010 (the “U.K. Bribery Act”), and similar anti-corruption laws in other jurisdictions generally prohibit companies and their directors, officers, employees and intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing an improper business advantage. The U.K. Bribery Act and other anti-corruption laws that could apply to our business also prohibit non-governmental “commercial” bribery and accepting bribes. In addition, U.S.-listed companies are required to maintain books records that accurately and fairly represent their transactions and to implement and enforce an adequate system of internal accounting controls.

Our global operations expose us to the risk of violating, or being accused of violating, anti-corruption laws and regulations. Our business requires us to import from and export to several countries, which exposes us to corruption risks, and we rely heavily on intermediaries to support our sales and marketing operations, including integrators and distributors, and we could potentially face liability if these intermediaries engage in misconduct related to our business. We also operate in areas of the world that have elevated corruption risks and, in certain circumstances, compliance with anti-corruption laws may conflict with local customs and practices. Although our policies and procedures prohibit bribery and we periodically train our employees and agents about these anti-corruption laws, we cannot assure compliance by our personnel or intermediaries with such anti-corruption laws, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our employees or other agents may engage in prohibited conduct and render us responsible under the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act or similar anti-corruption laws. If we are found to be in violation of the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act or other anti-corruption laws, this may expose us to reputational harm, investigation costs, or significant sanctions, including disgorgement of profits, injunctions and suspension or debarment from government contracts, criminal or civil penalties or other sanctions, which could harm our business.

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

Our substantial indebtedness could materially adversely affect our financial condition and our ability to operate our business, react to changes in the economy or industry or pay our debts and meet our obligations under our debt and could divert our cash flow from operations for debt payments.

We have substantial indebtedness under the term loan portion of our Credit Agreement. As of March 26, 2021, our total term loan borrowings under our Credit Agreement was $670.9 million. We plan

 

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to use a portion of the proceeds from this offering to repay indebtedness, and we will continue to have a significant amount of indebtedness following this offering. See “Use of Proceeds.” In addition, as of March 26, 2021, we had a $60 million revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Credit Facility”) under our Credit Agreement under which we had $55.1 million of availability after giving effect to outstanding letters of credit. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Capital Resources.” In addition, subject to restrictions in the agreements governing our Credit Facilities, we may incur additional debt.

Our substantial indebtedness could have negative consequences, including the following:

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it may be difficult for us to satisfy our obligations, including debt service requirements under our outstanding debt, resulting in possible defaults on and acceleration of such indebtedness;

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our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, debt service requirements, acquisitions or other general corporate purposes may be impaired;

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a substantial portion of cash flow from operations may be dedicated to the payment of principal and interest on our debt, therefore reducing our ability to use our cash flow to fund our operations, capital expenditures, future business opportunities, acquisitions and other purposes;

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•

we are more vulnerable to economic downturns and adverse industry conditions and our flexibility to plan for, or react to, changes in our business or industry is more limited;

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•

our ability to capitalize on business opportunities and to react to competitive pressures, as compared to our competitors, may be compromised due to our high level of debt; and

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our ability to borrow additional funds or to refinance debt may be limited.

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Furthermore, all of our debt under out Credit Agreement bears interest at variable rates based on LIBOR. If these rates were to increase significantly, our debt service obligations would increase even though the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash flows, including cash available for servicing our indebtedness, would correspondingly decrease. Accordingly, our ability to borrow additional funds may be reduced and risks related to our substantial indebtedness would intensify. Each quarter-point increase in the LIBOR would increase interest expense on our current variable rate debt by approximately $1.8 million during 2021.

On July 27, 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced that it intends to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. It is unclear if LIBOR will cease to exist at that time or if new methods of calculating LIBOR will be established such that it continues to exist after 2021. On November 30, 2020, the ICE Benchmark Administration (“IBA”), the administrator of LIBOR, with the support of the United States Federal Reserve and the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, announced plans to consult on ceasing publication of USD LIBOR on December 31, 2021 for only the one week and two month USD LIBOR tenors, and on June 30, 2023 for all other USD LIBOR tenors. While this announcement extends the transition period to June 2023, the United States Federal Reserve concurrently issued a statement advising banks to stop new USD LIBOR issuances by the end of 2021. In light of these recent announcements, the future of LIBOR at this time is uncertain and any changes in the methods by which LIBOR is determined or regulatory activity related to LIBOR’s phaseout could cause LIBOR to perform differently than in the past or cease to exist. Although regulators and the IBA have made clear that the recent announcements should not be read to say that LIBOR has ceased or will cease, in the event LIBOR does cease to exist, we may need to renegotiate our Credit Agreement and other related agreements, which may result in interest rates and/or payments that do not correlate over time with the interest rates and/or payments that would have been our obligations if LIBOR was available in its current form. Changes in the method of calculating LIBOR, or the replacement of LIBOR with an alternative rate or benchmark, may adversely affect interest rates and result in higher borrowing costs. This could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, cash flow and liquidity.

We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur substantial additional debt in the future. Although our Credit Agreement governing our Credit Facilities contains restrictions on the incurrence of additional debt,

 

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these restrictions are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions, and the debt incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. Additionally, we may successfully obtain waivers of these restrictions. These restrictions also do not prevent us from incurring obligations, such as trade payables, that do not constitute indebtedness as defined under our Credit Agreement. If we incur additional debt above the levels currently in effect, the risks associated with our leverage, including those described above, would increase.

Servicing our debt requires a significant amount of cash. Our ability to generate sufficient cash depends on numerous factors beyond our control, and we may be unable to generate sufficient cash flow to service our debt obligations.

Our business may not generate sufficient cash flow from operating activities to service our debt obligations. Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our debt and to fund planned capital expenditures depends on our ability to generate cash in the future. To some extent, this is subject to general and regional economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control.

If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow from operations to service our debt and meet our other commitments, we may need to refinance all or a portion of our debt, sell material assets or operations, delay capital expenditures or raise additional debt or equity capital. We may not be able to affect any of these actions on a timely basis, on commercially reasonable terms or at all, and these actions may not be sufficient to meet our capital requirements. In addition, the terms of our existing or future debt agreements may restrict us from pursuing any of these alternatives.

Restrictive covenants in our Credit Agreement governing our indebtedness may restrict our ability to pursue our business strategies, and failure to comply with any of these restrictions could result in acceleration of our debt.

The operating and financial restrictions and covenants in our Credit Agreement may materially adversely affect our ability to distribute monies to our stockholders, finance future operations or capital needs or engage in other business activities. Such agreements limit our ability, among other things, to:

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incur additional indebtedness and guarantee indebtedness;

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pay dividends on or make distributions in respect of our common stock or make other restricted payments;

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make loans and investments;

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sell or otherwise dispose of assets;

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incur liens;

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consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets;

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enter into agreements restricting our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends;

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enter into certain transactions with our affiliates; and

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designate our subsidiaries as unrestricted subsidiaries.

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In addition, the covenants in our Credit Agreement require us to maintain a specified first lien secured net leverage ratio when a certain percentage of our Revolving Credit Facility commitments are borrowed and outstanding as of the end of each fiscal quarter. The Revolving Credit Facility under our Credit Agreement is subject to a first lien secured net leverage ratio of 8.15 to 1:00, tested quarterly if, and only if, the aggregate principal amount from the revolving facility, letters of credit (to the extent not cash collateralized or backstopped or, in the aggregate, not in excess of the greater of $5.0 million and the stated face amount of letters of credit outstanding on the initial closing date of the Credit Agreement) and swingline loans

 

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outstanding and/or issued, as applicable, exceeds 35% of the total amount of the Revolving Credit Facility commitments. In certain circumstances, our ability to meet this financial covenant may be affected by events beyond our control.

A breach of the covenants under our Credit Agreement could result in a default or an event of default under the Credit Agreement. Such a default or event of default might allow the creditors to accelerate all amounts outstanding under our Credit Agreement and might result in the acceleration of any other debt or the termination of other third-party contracts to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies. In addition, an event of default under our Credit Agreement would permit the lenders to terminate all commitments to extend further credit to us. Furthermore, we have pledged a significant portion of our assets as collateral to secure our debt, and if we were unable to repay the amounts due and payable, those creditors could proceed against the collateral. In the event our lenders accelerate the repayment of our borrowings, we and our subsidiaries may not have sufficient assets to repay that indebtedness.

As a result of all of these restrictions, we and/or our subsidiaries, as applicable, may be:

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limited in how we conduct our business;

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unable to raise additional debt or equity financing to operate during general economic or business downturns; or

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unable to compete effectively or to take advantage of new business opportunities.

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These restrictions might hinder our ability to service our indebtedness or grow in accordance with our business strategy.

Furthermore, the terms of any future indebtedness we may incur could have further additional restrictive covenants. We may not be able to maintain compliance with these covenants in the future, and in the event that we are not able to maintain compliance, we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain waivers from the lenders or amend the covenants.

A downgrade in our credit ratings could increase our cost of funding and/or adversely affect our access to debt financing and working capital, as well as result in a loss of business and materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our credit ratings are important to our cost and availability of capital. The major rating agencies routinely evaluate our credit profile and assign credit ratings to us. This evaluation is based on a number of factors, which include financial strength, business and financial risk, as well as transparency with rating agencies and timeliness of financial reporting. The addition of further leverage to our capital structure could result in a downgrade to our credit ratings in the future. As such, failure to maintain our current credit rating could adversely affect our cost of funding and our liquidity by limiting the access to capital markets or the availability of funding potential lenders. In addition, we purchase material and services from some suppliers on extended terms based on our overall credit rating. Negative changes in our credit rating may impact suppliers’ willingness to extend terms and increase the cash requirements of the business.

Risks Related to Our Financial Statements

We may be subject to additional tax liabilities, which could materially adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

We are subject to income, sales, use, value added, tariffs and other taxes in the United States and other countries in which we conduct business, which laws and rates vary greatly by jurisdiction. Certain jurisdictions in which we do not collect sales, use, value added, tariffs or other taxes on our sales may assert that such taxes are applicable, which could result in tax assessments, penalties and interest, and we may be required to collect such taxes in the future. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes and evaluating our uncertain tax positions. These determinations are highly complex and require detailed analysis of the available information and applicable statutes and regulatory materials. In the ordinary course of our business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax

 

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determination is uncertain. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits and any related litigation could be different from our historical tax practices, provisions and accruals. If we receive an adverse ruling as a result of an audit, or we unilaterally determine that we have misinterpreted provisions of the tax regulations to which we are subject, our tax provision, results of operations or cash flows could be harmed. In addition, liabilities associated with taxes are often subject to an extended or indefinite statute of limitations period. Therefore, we may be subject to additional tax liability (including penalties and interest) for any particular year for extended periods of time depending on the specific statute of limitations in the relevant jurisdiction.

We have a recent history of losses and expect to incur increased operating costs in the future, and we may not achieve or sustain profitability or current revenue growth.

We have recorded net losses and negative cash flows from our operations in the past. We expect our operating expenses to increase in the future as we expand our operations and execute on our product roadmap and strategy. We also plan to make significant future expenditures related to the expansion of our business and our product offerings including investments in:

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research and development to continue to introduce innovative new products and enhance existing products;

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sales and marketing to expand our brand awareness, promote new products, increase our customer base and expand sales within our existing customer base; and

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legal, accounting, information technology and other administrative expenses to sustain our operations as a public company.

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If our net sales do not continue to grow to offset any increased expenses, we may continue to record net losses. We may incur significant losses in the future for a number of reasons, including without limitation the other risks and uncertainties described herein. Additionally, we may encounter unforeseen operating or legal expenses, difficulties, complications, delays in manufacturing and selling our products and other unknown factors that may result in losses in future periods. If these losses exceed our expectations or our net sales growth expectations are not met in future periods, our operating results could be adversely affected and our stock price could be harmed and we may need to establish a valuation allowance for our U.S. federal and state deferred tax assets again in the future and our stock price may fall.

We may be required to recognize an impairment of our goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets, which represent a significant portion of our total assets.

As of March 26, 2021, we had $559.7 million of goodwill and $606.2 million of unamortized identifiable intangible assets recorded on our balance sheet. We test such assets for impairment at least annually on the last day of the third quarter of each year or on an interim basis whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable. Impairment may result from, among other things, deterioration in performance, adverse market conditions, adverse changes in applicable laws or regulations, including changes that restrict the activities of or affect the solutions we offer, challenges to the validity of certain registered intellectual property, reduced sales of certain products or services incorporating registered intellectual property, increased attrition and a variety of other factors. The amount of any quantified impairment must be expensed immediately as a charge to results of operations. Depending on future circumstances, it is possible that we may never realize the full value of our intangible assets. An impairment of all or a part of our goodwill or other identifiable intangible assets may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Refer to “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations” and Note 7 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus for further discussion of our goodwill and other intangible assets.

Changes in accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”), or other standard-setting bodies may adversely affect trends and comparability of our financial results.

We are required to prepare our financial statements in accordance with GAAP, which is periodically revised and/or expanded. From time to time, we are required to adopt new or revised accounting standards

 

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issued by recognized authoritative bodies, including the FASB and the SEC. It is possible that future accounting standards we are required to adopt may require additional changes to the current accounting treatment that we apply to our financial statements and may result in significant changes to our results, disclosures and supporting reporting systems. Such changes could result in a material adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

Trends in research and development spending could adversely affect our growth potential, business, results of operations, financial condition and/or cash flows.

Our business operates in competitive markets characterized by changing consumer preferences and rapid technological innovation. We have made and expect to continue to make significant investments in research and development and related product opportunities. For fiscal year 2020, we invested $52 million in research and development activities. High levels of investment for research and development could harm our results of operations, especially if not offset by corresponding future net sales increases. We believe that we must continue to dedicate a significant amount of resources to our research and development efforts to maintain our competitive position. However, it is difficult to estimate when, if ever, we will generate significant net sales as a result of these investments which could adversely impact our operating results as well as our reputation.

We may be required to make payments under our contingent value rights agreement with certain former holders.

Subject to the terms and conditions of the Agreement and Plan of Merger dated June 19, 2017 (the “Merger Agreement”) by and among us, former holders of the Company (the “Former Holders”) and the other parties thereto, the Former Holders received non-transferable contingent value rights (“CVRs”), which collectively entitle the Former Holders to receive from us, in certain circumstances, aggregate payments in an aggregate of up to $25 million. Each CVR gives a Former Holder the ability to earn cash payments based on the return of the Investor original investment hitting stated thresholds in relation to the proceeds received from disposition of the Investor’s initial ownership units. The CVRs were issued at two thresholds. The first CVR is payable to the Former Holders when the Investor’s return on investment grows to between 2.25 and 2.5 times the Investor’s original investment. The second CVR is payable to the Former Holders when the Investor’s return on investment grows to between 2.5 and 2.67 times the Investor’s original investment. To the extent we are required to make a payment to the Former Holders under the Merger Agreement, our liquidity may be adversely affected. For additional information on our obligations under the Merger Agreement, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Contingent Valuation Rights (“CVRs”).”

Risks Related to This Offering and Our Common Stock

We are controlled by Hellman & Friedman, whose interests may be different from the interests of other holders of our securities.

Upon the completion of this offering, certain investment funds advised by an affiliate of Hellman & Friedman will own approximately            % of our outstanding common stock, or approximately            % if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, and will have the ability to nominate of the members of our board of directors. As a result, Hellman & Friedman is able to control actions to be taken by us, including future issuances of our common stock or other securities, the payment of dividends, if any, on our common stock, amendments to our organizational documents and the approval of significant corporate transactions, including mergers, sales of substantially all of our assets, distributions of our assets, the incurrence of indebtedness and any incurrence of liens on our assets.

The interests of Hellman & Friedman may be materially different than the interests of our other stakeholders. In addition, Hellman & Friedman may have an interest in pursuing acquisitions, divestitures and other transactions that, in their judgment, could enhance their investment, even though such transactions might involve risks to you. For example, Hellman & Friedman may cause us to take actions or pursue

 

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strategies that could impact our ability to make payments under our Credit Agreement or cause a change of control. In addition, to the extent permitted by our Credit Agreement, Hellman & Friedman may cause us to pay dividends rather than make capital expenditures or repay debt. Hellman & Friedman is in the business of making investments in companies and may from time to time acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that Hellman & Friedman, its affiliates and any director who is not employed by us (including any non-employee director who serves as one of our officers in both his director and officer capacities) or his or her affiliates will not have any duty to refrain from engaging, directly or indirectly, in the same business activities or similar business activities or lines of business in which we operate. Hellman & Friedman also may pursue acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business, and, as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us.

So long as Hellman & Friedman continue to own a significant amount of our outstanding common stock, even if such amount is less than 50%, they will continue to be able to strongly influence or effectively control our decisions and, so long as Hellman & Friedman continues to own shares of our outstanding common stock, they will have the ability to nominate individuals to our board of directors pursuant to a stockholders agreement to be entered into in connection with this offering. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions — Stockholders Agreement.” In addition, Hellman & Friedman will be able to determine the outcome of all matters requiring stockholder approval and will be able to cause or prevent a change of control of our company or a change in the composition of our board of directors and could preclude any unsolicited acquisition of our company. The concentration of ownership could deprive you of an opportunity to receive a premium for your shares of common stock as part of a sale of our company and ultimately might affect the market price of our common stock.

We will be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the [Nasdaq][NYSE] rules and the rules of the SEC. As a result, we will qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to stockholders of other companies.

After completion of this offering, Hellman & Friedman will continue to own a majority of our outstanding common stock. As a result, we will be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of [Nasdaq][NYSE]. Under these rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including:

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the requirement that a majority of our board of directors consist of “independent directors” as defined under the rules of the [Nasdaq][NYSE];

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the requirement that we have a compensation committee that is composed entirely of directors who meet the independence standards for compensation committee members with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities; and

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•

the requirement that our director nominations be made, or recommended to our full board of directors, by our independent directors or by a nominations committee that consists entirely of independent directors and that we adopt a written charter or board resolution addressing the nominations process.

​

Following this offering, we [do/do not] intend to utilize these exemptions. However, if we utilize any of these exemptions in the future, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of the [Nasdaq][NYSE].

No public market for our common stock currently exists, and an active public trading market may not develop or be sustained following this offering.

No public market for our common stock currently exists. An active public trading market may not develop following the completion of this offering or, if developed, may not be sustained. The lack of an active market may impair your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them or at a price that you consider reasonable. The lack of an active market may also reduce the fair value of your shares. An

 

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inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other companies or technologies by using our shares as consideration. We cannot predict the prices at which our common stock will trade. It is possible that in one or more future periods our results of operations may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors and, as a result of these and other factors, the price of our common stock may fall.

You will incur immediate dilution in the net tangible book value of the shares you purchase in this offering.

The initial public offering price of our common stock is higher than the net tangible book value per share of outstanding common stock prior to completion of this offering. Based on our net tangible book value as of December 25, 2020, upon the issuance and sale of       shares of common stock by us at an assumed initial public offering price of $            per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, if you purchase our common stock in this offering, you will suffer immediate dilution of approximately $            per share in net tangible book value. Dilution is the amount by which the offering price paid by purchasers of our common stock in this offering will exceed the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our common stock upon completion of this offering. A total of            and            shares of common stock have been reserved for future issuance under the 2017 Incentive Plan, 2021 Incentive Plan, and 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, respectively. You may experience additional dilution upon future equity issuances or the exercise of stock options to purchase common stock granted to our directors, officers and employees under our current and future stock incentive plans, including the 2017 Incentive Plan and 2021 Incentive Plan, as well as the 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan. See “Dilution.”

Our stock price may change significantly following this offering, and you may not be able to resell shares of our common stock at or above the price you paid or at all, and you could lose all or part of your investment as a result.

The trading price of our common stock is likely to be volatile. The stock market has experienced extreme volatility. This volatility often has been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. We and the underwriters have negotiated to determine the initial public offering price. You may not be able to resell your shares at or above the initial public offering price due to a number of factors such as those listed in other portions of this “Risk Factors” section and the following:

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actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly financial and operating results, including our Contribution Margin;

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introduction of new products, solutions or services by us or our competitors;

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our ability to integrate operations, technology, products and services;

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issuance of new or changed securities analysts’ reports or recommendations;

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sales, or anticipated sales, of large blocks of our stock;

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additions or departures of key personnel;

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changing economic conditions;

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industry developments; and

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any default on our indebtedness.

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These broad market and industry fluctuations may materially adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, price volatility may be greater if the public float and trading volume of our common stock are low.

In the past, following periods of market volatility, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation. If we were involved in securities litigation, it could have a substantial cost and divert resources and the attention of executive management from our business regardless of the outcome of such litigation.

 

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We will be required to pay the TRA Participants for net operating losses and certain other tax benefits that arose prior to or in connection with this offering, which amounts are expected to be material.

As described in “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions — Tax Receivable Agreement” in connection with this offering, we expect to be able to utilize certain net operating losses and certain other tax benefits that arose prior to or in connection with this offering and are therefore attributable to the TRA Participants. These tax benefits will reduce the amount of tax that we would otherwise be required to pay in the future.

We will enter into a tax receivable agreement with the TRA Participants that will provide for the payment by us to the TRA Participants of          % of the amount of cash savings, if any, in U.S. federal, state and local income tax that we actually realize, or are deemed to realize (calculated using certain assumptions), as a result of the utilization of such tax benefits subject to the tax receivable agreement, including tax benefits attributable to payments under the tax receivable agreement. The actual amount and utilization of the tax benefits subject to the tax receivable agreement, as well as the amount and timing of any payments under the tax receivable agreement, will vary depending upon a number of factors, including the amount, character and timing of our taxable income in the future. In addition, actual tax benefits realized by us may differ from the tax benefits calculated under the tax receivable agreement as a result of the use of certain assumptions in the tax receivable agreement, including the use of an assumed state and local income tax rate to calculate tax benefits. We expect that the payments that we may make under the tax receivable agreement will be material. The payments under the tax receivable agreement are not conditioned upon the continued ownership of us by the TRA Participants. With respect to certain pre-IPO owners that are not TRA Participants, we intend to make a cash distribution to the Investor, which will be used in part to pay such pre-IPO owners for current fair market value of the interests in the tax receivable such pre-IPO owners would have received had they participated in the tax receivable agreement.

In certain cases, payments under the tax receivable agreement may be accelerated and/or significantly exceed the actual cash savings we realize in respect of the tax benefits subject to the tax receivable agreement.

The tax receivable agreement provides that if we breach any of our material obligations under the tax receivable agreement, whether as a result of a failure to make any payment when due, failure to honor any other material obligation required thereunder or by operation of law as a result of the rejection of the tax receivable agreement in a case commenced under the federal bankruptcy laws or otherwise, upon the occurrence of certain bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings involving us, upon certain changes of control, or if, at any time, we elect an early termination of the tax receivable agreement, our obligations under the tax receivable agreement would be automatically accelerated and would be immediately due and payable, and such obligations would be calculated by reference to the value of all future payments that the TRA Participants would have been entitled to receive under the tax receivable agreement using certain assumptions, including that we will have sufficient taxable income to fully utilize the net operating losses, credits, and certain other tax benefits subject to the tax receivable agreement. Our ability to fully utilize the net operating losses, credits, and certain other tax benefits subject to the tax receivable agreement will depend upon a number of factors, including the amount, character and timing of our taxable income in the future. In periods prior to the occurrence of a change of control and absent circumstances requiring an early termination payment, we are only obligated to make payments under the tax receivable agreement as and when we realize cash tax savings from the tax benefits subject to the tax receivable agreement (calculated using certain assumptions contained therein). Accordingly, we will generally not be required (absent a change of control, material breach, or circumstances requiring an early termination payment) to make payments under the tax receivable agreement for a taxable year in which we do not have taxable income because no cash tax savings will have been realized. In addition, recipients of payments under the tax receivable agreement will not reimburse us for any payments previously made under the tax receivable agreement if the tax attributes or our utilization of tax attributes underlying the relevant tax receivable agreement payment are successfully challenged by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) (although any such detriment would be taken into account as an offset against future payments due to the relevant recipient under the tax receivable agreement). However, unutilized deductions that do not result in realized benefits in a given tax year as a result of insufficient taxable

 

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income may be applied to taxable income in future years and accordingly would impact the amount of cash tax savings in such future years and the amount of corresponding payments under the tax receivable agreement in such future years.

Accordingly, it is possible that the actual cash tax savings we realize may be significantly less than the corresponding tax receivable agreement payments. There may be a material negative effect on our liquidity if the payments under the tax receivable agreement exceed the actual cash tax savings that we realize in respect of the tax benefits subject to the tax receivable agreement. Based upon certain assumptions described in greater detail below under “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions — Tax Receivable Agreement,” we estimate that if we were to exercise our termination right immediately following this offering, the aggregate amount of these termination payments would be approximately $            million. The foregoing number is merely an estimate and the actual payments could differ materially. We may need to incur additional indebtedness to finance payments under the tax receivable agreement to the extent our cash resources are insufficient to meet our obligations under the tax receivable agreement as a result of timing discrepancies or otherwise, and these obligations could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing certain mergers, asset sales, other form of business combinations or other changes of control.

We are a holding company with no operations and rely on our operating subsidiaries to provide us with funds necessary to meet our financial obligations.

We are a holding company with no material direct operations. Our principal assets are the equity interests of Wirepath Home Systems, LLC (“Wirepath”) that we hold indirectly through our subsidiaries. Wirepath, together with its subsidiaries, owns substantially all of our operating assets. As a result, we are dependent on loans, dividends and other payments from our subsidiaries to generate the funds necessary to meet our financial obligations. Our subsidiaries are legally distinct from us and may be prohibited or restricted from paying dividends or otherwise making funds available to us, including restrictions under the covenants of the agreements governing our Credit Agreement. If we are unable to obtain funds from our subsidiaries, we may be unable to meet our financial obligations.

We currently do not intend to declare dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future and, as a result, your only opportunity to achieve a return on your investment is if the price of our common stock appreciates.

We currently do not expect to declare any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Instead, we anticipate that all of our earnings in the foreseeable future will be used to provide working capital, to support our operations and to finance the growth and development of our business. Any determination to declare or pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws and dependent upon a number of factors, including our earnings, capital requirements and overall financial condition. In addition, our ability to pay dividends on our common stock is currently limited by the covenants of our Credit Facilities and may be further restricted by the terms of any future debt or preferred securities. Accordingly, your only opportunity to achieve a return on your investment in our company may be if the market price of our common stock appreciates and you sell your shares at a profit. The market price for our common stock may never exceed, and may fall below, the price that you pay for such common stock.

Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by us or our existing stockholders in the public market following this offering could cause the market price for our common stock to decline.

After this offering, the sale of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could harm the prevailing market price of shares of our common stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.

Upon consummation of this offering, we will have a total of         shares of common stock outstanding. All shares sold in this offering will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any shares held by our affiliates, as that term is defined under Rule 144

 

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of the Securities Act (“Rule 144”), including our directors, executive officers and other affiliates, which may be sold only in compliance with the limitations described in “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.”

The            shares held by our directors, officers, employees and affiliates immediately following the consummation of this offering (or      if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares) will represent approximately       % of our total outstanding shares of common stock following this offering (or       % if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional       shares), based on the number of shares outstanding as of       , 2021. Such shares will be “restricted securities” within the meaning of Rule 144 and subject to certain restrictions on resale following the consummation of this offering. Restricted securities may be sold in the public market only if they are registered under the Securities Act or are sold pursuant to an exemption from registration such as Rule 144, as described in “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.”

In connection with this offering, we, our directors, executive officers and significant equityholders, have each agreed with the underwriters, subject to certain exceptions, not to dispose of or hedge any of our or their common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of common stock during the period from the date of this prospectus continuing through the date 180 days after the date of this prospectus, except with the prior written consent of certain representatives of the underwriters. All remaining holders of common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of common stock outstanding immediately prior to the consummation of this offering are subject to a market standoff agreement with us that restricts certain transfers of such securities for at least 180 days after the date of this prospectus. See “Underwriting” for a description of these lock-up agreements and market standoff agreements.

Upon the expiration of the contractual lock-up and market standoff agreements pertaining to this offering, an additional       shares will be eligible for sale in the public market (or       shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares), of which       are held by directors, executive officers and other affiliates and will be subject to volume, manner of sale and other limitations under Rule 144 (or       if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares), excluding, in each case, shares of restricted stock that are unvested as of the date of this prospectus. Following completion of this offering, shares covered by registration rights would represent approximately       % of our outstanding common stock (or       %, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares). Registration of any of these outstanding shares of common stock would result in such shares becoming freely tradable without compliance with Rule 144 upon effectiveness of the registration statement. See “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.”

As restrictions on resale end or if these stockholders exercise their registration rights, the market price of our shares of common stock could drop significantly if the holders of these shares sell them or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to raise additional funds through future offerings of our shares of common stock or other securities.

In addition, the shares of our common stock reserved for future issuance under the 2017 Incentive Plan, the 2021 Incentive Plan and the 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan will become eligible for sale in the public market once those shares are issued, subject to provisions relating to various vesting agreements, lock-up agreements and Rule 144, as applicable. A total of       and       shares of common stock have been reserved for future issuance under the 2021 Incentive Plan and the 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, respectively.

Provisions in our organizational documents and stockholders agreement could delay or prevent a change of control.

Certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and amended and restated stockholders agreement may have the effect of delaying or preventing a merger, acquisition, tender offer, takeover attempt or other change of control transaction that a stockholder might consider to be in its best interest, including attempts that might result in a premium over the market price of our common stock.

These provisions provide for, among other things:

 

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the division of our board of directors into three classes, as nearly equal in size as possible, with directors in each class serving three-year terms and with terms of the directors of only one class expiring in any given year;

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that at any time when Hellman & Friedman and certain of its affiliates beneficially own, in the aggregate, less than 40% in voting power of the stock of our company entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, directors may only be removed for cause, and only by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least two-thirds in voting power of all the then-outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote thereon, voting together as a single class;

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the ability of our board of directors to issue one or more series of preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could have the effect of impeding the success of an attempt to acquire us or otherwise effect a change of control;

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advance notice for nominations of directors by stockholders and for stockholders to include matters to be considered at stockholder meetings;

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the right of Hellman & Friedman and certain of its affiliates to nominate the majority of the members of our board of directors and the obligation of certain of our other pre-IPO stockholders to support such nominees;

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certain limitations on convening special stockholder meetings; and

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that certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may be amended only by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least two-thirds in voting power of all the then-outstanding shares of our stock entitled to vote thereon, voting together as a single class, if Hellman & Friedman certain of its affiliates beneficially own, in the aggregate, less than 40% in voting power of our stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors.

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These provisions could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire us, even if the third-party’s offer may be considered beneficial by many of our stockholders. As a result, our stockholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares. See “Description of Capital Stock.”

We are an “emerging growth company” and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of: the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue; the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; the issuance, in any three-year period, by us of more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities; or the last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted by SEC rules and plan to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other SEC-registered public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include not being required to comply with the requirement for an auditor attestation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”), not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, the information we provide stockholders will be different than the information that is available with respect to other public companies. In this prospectus, we have not included all of the executive compensation related information that would be required if we were not an emerging growth company. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions.

If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

 

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In addition, an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we will not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.

Our management team will be required to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy of our financial reports.

As a privately-held company, we were not required to evaluate our internal control over financial reporting in a manner that meets the standards of publicly traded companies required by Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404. As a public company, we will be required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in such internal control. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.

When evaluating our internal control over financial reporting, we have in the past and may in the future identify material weaknesses that we may not be able to remediate in time to meet the applicable deadline imposed upon us for compliance with the requirements of Section 404. If we identify any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting or are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or assert that our internal control over financial reporting is ineffective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, we could fail to meet our reporting obligations or be required to restate our financial statements for prior periods.

In addition, our internal control over financial reporting will not prevent or detect all errors and fraud. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected.

If there are material weaknesses or failures in our ability to meet any of the requirements related to the maintenance and reporting of our internal control, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and that could cause the price of our common stock to decline. In addition, we could become subject to investigations by the applicable stock exchange, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional management attention and which could adversely affect our reputation and business.

We have identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting and if our remediation of such material weakness is not effective, or if we fail to develop and maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal controls over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable laws and regulations could be impaired.

Recently, in connection with the preparation of our consolidated financial statements as of December 25, 2020 and for the year then ended, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal controls over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. We did not design or maintain an effective control environment over certain information technology (“IT”) general controls or information systems and applications that are relevant to the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. Specifically, we did not design and maintain (i) program change management controls to ensure that IT program and data changes affecting financial IT applications and underlying accounting records that are relevant to the preparation of our financial statements are identified, tested, authorized and implemented

 

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appropriately, and (ii) access controls to ensure access to programs and data is authorized and entitlements and privileges are recertified on a periodic basis to validate that only authorized individuals have access to the company’s data.

These IT deficiencies, when aggregated, could impact effective segregation of duties as well as the effectiveness of IT-dependent controls. None of the control deficiencies described above resulted in the identification of a material misstatement to our annual or interim consolidated financial statements. However, the deficiencies described above could result in a misstatement of one or more account balances or disclosures potentially leading to a material misstatement to our annual or interim consolidated financial statements which may not be prevented or timely detected and, accordingly, management determined that these control deficiencies constitute a material weakness.

To address this material weakness, we have hired personnel with public company experience and engaged an external advisor to assist with evaluating and documenting the design and operating effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting and assisting with the remediation of deficiencies, including implementing new controls and processes. We intend to continue to take steps to remediate the material weakness described above through additional measures that include hiring additional personnel with public company experience, and further evolving our accounting and business processes related to internal controls over financial reporting, including a plan for future system enhancements. We will not be able to fully remediate this material weakness until these steps have been completed and have been operating effectively for a sufficient period of time.

Furthermore, we cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, and actions we may take in the future, will be sufficient to remediate the control deficiencies that led to this material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting or that they will prevent or avoid potential future material weaknesses. Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. Further, weaknesses in our disclosure controls and internal controls over financial reporting may be discovered in the future. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our annual or interim financial statements.

Neither our management nor our independent registered public accounting firm has performed an evaluation of our internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with the SEC rules because no such evaluation has been required. Our independent registered public accounting firm is not expected to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting until at least the filing of our second Annual Report on Form 10-K following this offering. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal controls over financial reporting is documented, designed, or operating. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting also could adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations and annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports regarding the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting that we will eventually be required to include in our periodic reports that are filed with the SEC. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock. In addition, if we are unable to continue to meet these requirements, we may not be able to remain listed on the [Nasdaq][NYSE].

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide, subject to limited exceptions, that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and, to the extent enforceable, the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the sole and exclusive forums for certain stockholder litigation matters, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide, subject to limited exceptions, that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of

 

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Delaware shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any (i) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our company, (ii) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of our company to the Company or our stockholders, (iii) action asserting a claim against the Company or any director, officer or other employee of the Company arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, (the “DGCL”), or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or (iv) action asserting a claim against the Company or any director, officer or other employee of the Company governed by the internal affairs doctrine. These provisions shall not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction and our stockholders cannot waive compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, subject to and contingent upon a final adjudication in the State of Delaware of the enforceability of such exclusive forum provision. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated bylaws.

These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a different judicial forum, including one that it may find favorable or convenient for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers or other employees which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provisions that will be contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition. For example, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware recently determined that a provision stating that U.S. federal district courts are the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act is not enforceable. However, this decision may be reviewed and ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware.

Our board of directors will be authorized to issue and designate shares of our preferred stock in additional series without stockholder approval.

Our certificate of incorporation will authorize our board of directors, without the approval of our stockholders, to issue       shares of our preferred stock, subject to limitations prescribed by applicable law, rules and regulations and the provisions of our certificate of incorporation, as shares of preferred stock in series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each such series and to fix the designation, powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each such series and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof. The powers, preferences and rights of these additional series of preferred stock may be senior to or on parity with our common stock, which may reduce its value.

We may invest or spend the proceeds of this offering in ways with which you may not agree or in ways which may not yield a return.

A portion of the net proceeds from this offering may be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to acquire complementary businesses, products, services or technologies. Our management will have considerable discretion in the application of the net proceeds, and you will not have the opportunity, as part of your investment decision, to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately. The net proceeds may be invested with a view towards long-term benefits for our stockholders and this may not increase our operating results or market value. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively may adversely affect the return on your investment.

General Risks

Our business, results of operations and financial condition have been adversely affected and could in the future be adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy and global supply chains, and created significant disruption of global financial markets. Governments, public institutions and other

 

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organizations in many countries and localities where COVID-19 has been detected have taken certain emergency measures and may from time to time take additional emergency measures, to combat its spread, including imposing lockdowns, shelter-in-place orders, quarantines, restrictions on travel and gatherings and the extended shutdown of non-essential businesses that cannot be conducted remotely. These emergency measures remain in place to varying degrees. While the potential economic impact brought by, and the duration of, the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult to assess or predict, it has and may continue to:

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disrupt our hardware supply chain;

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disrupt our ability to conduct product development activities and other activities necessary to improve products and bring new products to market;

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disrupt and restrict our integrators’ ability to travel and to meet with residential and commercial end consumers who use our solutions;

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cause cancellations or postponement of certain events; and

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cause temporary closures of our facilities, including manufacturing centers and critical product distribution locations, or the facilities of our service providers or suppliers.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in significant disruption of global financial markets, which may reduce our ability to access capital and which could negatively affect our liquidity in the future. This economic and financial uncertainty may also negatively impact pricing for our platform or cause end consumers to reduce or postpone purchasing our solutions, which may, in turn, negatively affect our net sales, cash flows, results of operations and financial condition. The increased uncertainty and disruption to global markets may also negatively impact our growth opportunities whether organically or through acquisitions.

The uncertainty caused by and the unprecedented nature of the current COVID-19 pandemic make the potential impact of the pandemic difficult to predict and the extent to which it may negatively affect our industry, our supply of hardware products, our business operations or our operating results is uncertain. Weak global economic conditions, additional business disruptions or closures and spikes or surges in COVID-19 infection, also may exacerbate the impact of the pandemic. Further, we do not yet know the full effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our suppliers and service providers. However, if the economy fails to fully recover or there is another shutdown of non-essential businesses due to a resurgence of COVID-19, we anticipate that our net sales growth rate may be lower in future periods if some end consumers defer or cancel previously anticipated purchases, with a corresponding reduction in hardware net sales, or if demand for home-based solutions decreases as a result of the lifting of COVID-19 related restrictions.

The ultimate impact to our results will depend to a large extent on currently unknowable developments, including the length of time the disruption and uncertainty caused by COVID-19 will continue, which will, in turn, depend on, among other things, the actions taken by authorities and other entities to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, including the impact of any re-opening plans, additional closures and spikes or surges in COVID-19 infection, and individuals’ and companies’ risk tolerance regarding health matters going forward, all of which are beyond our control. These potential impacts, while uncertain, could harm our business and adversely affect our operating results. In addition, to the extent the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and results of operations, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks and uncertainties described in this “Risk Factors” section which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks associated with our labor force could have a significant adverse effect on our business.

We had approximately 1,302 employees as of March 26, 2021. Various national, federal and state labor laws govern our relationships with our employees and affect our operating costs. These laws include employee classifications as exempt or non-exempt, minimum wage requirements, unemployment tax rates, workers’ compensation rates, overtime, family leave, anti-discrimination laws, safety standards, payroll taxes, employment agreements, citizenship requirements and other wage and benefit requirements for employees classified as non-exempt. As our employees may be paid at rates that relate to the applicable minimum wage,

 

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further increases in the minimum wage could increase our labor costs. Employees may make claims against us under national, federal, or state laws, which could result in significant costs. Significant additional government regulations could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

None of our U.S. employees is currently covered by collective bargaining or other similar labor agreements. However, if a large number of our U.S. employees were to unionize, including in the wake of any future legislation that makes it easier for employees to unionize, our business could be negatively affected. Any inability by us to negotiate collective bargaining arrangements could cause strikes or other work stoppages, and new contracts could result in increased operating costs. If any such strikes or other work stoppages occur, or if other employees become represented by a union, we could experience a disruption of our operations and higher labor costs.

In addition, certain of our suppliers and logistics providers may have unionized work forces. Strikes, work stoppages or slowdowns could result in slowdowns or closures of facilities where the products that we sell are manufactured or could affect the ability of our suppliers to deliver such products to us. Any interruption in the production or delivery of these products could delay or reduce availability of these products and increase our costs.

Given the complex nature of the technology on which our business is based and the speed with which such technology advances, our future success is dependent, in large part, upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified executive, managerial, engineering, operations, and sales and marketing personnel. Competition for talented personnel is intense, and we cannot be certain that we can retain our executive, managerial, engineering, operations, and sales and marketing personnel, or that we can attract, assimilate or retain such personnel in the future. Our inability to attract and retain such personnel may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Increases in operating costs could adversely impact our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our financial performance is affected by the level of our operating expenses, such as wages and salaries, leases of distribution centers and sales and marketing offices, advertising and marketing, employee benefits, health care, insurance premiums, as well as various regulatory compliance costs, all of which may be subject to inflationary pressures. In particular, our financial performance is adversely affected by increases in these operating costs.

Our business is subject to the risks of earthquakes, hurricanes, fire, power outages, floods and other catastrophic events, and to interruption by man-made problems such as political unrest, information systems compromise, riots and terrorism.

A significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, hurricane, fire or a flood, or a significant power outage could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Natural disasters could affect our manufacturing vendors’ or logistics providers’ ability to perform services such as manufacturing products or assisting with shipments on a timely basis. In the event our manufacturing vendors’ information technology systems or manufacturing or logistics abilities are hindered by any of the events discussed above, shipments could be delayed or cancelled, adversely affecting product deliveries, net sales and profitability, integrator and customer satisfaction, and our competitive standing. Further, if a natural disaster occurs in a region from which we derive a significant portion of our net sales, such as metropolitan areas in North America, end consumers in those regions may delay or forego purchases of our solutions from integrators, which may harm our results of operations for a particular period. In addition, acts of terrorism, including cyber terrorism or crime, acts of war, financial crises, trade friction or geopolitical and social turmoil in those parts of the world that serve as markets for our solutions, could cause disruptions in our business or the business of our manufacturers, logistics providers, integrators or the economy as a whole. These uncertainties may cause our end consumers to reduce discretionary spending and make it difficult for us to accurately plan future business activities. Given our typical concentration of sales at the end of each month and quarter, any disruption in the business of our manufacturers, logistics providers, integrators, and end consumers that impacts sales at the end of our quarter could have a greater impact on our quarterly

 

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results. All of the aforementioned risks may be augmented if the disaster recovery plans for us and our suppliers and integrators prove to be inadequate. To the extent that any of the above results in delays or cancellations of orders, or delays in, or cancellations of the manufacture, deployment or shipment of our products, it may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We will incur increased costs as a result of operating as a publicly traded company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives.

As a publicly traded company, and particularly after we are no longer an emerging growth company, we will incur additional legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not previously incur. Although we are currently unable to estimate these costs with any degree of certainty, they may be material in amount. In addition, SOX, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the rules of the SEC, and the stock exchange on which our common shares are listed, have imposed various requirements on public companies. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives as well as investor relations. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to incur additional costs to maintain the same or similar coverage.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or publish negative reports about our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about our business. We do not have any control over these analysts, activist investors, or those who short our stock. If one or more of the foregoing analysts who cover us, activist investors, or those who short our stock downgrade our shares, change their opinion of our shares, or publish negative or false reports for their own purposes, our share price will likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish research or reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

Future acquisitions of technologies, assets or businesses that are paid for partially or entirely through the issuance of stock or stock rights could dilute the ownership of our existing stockholders.

We expect that the consideration we might pay for any future acquisitions of technologies, assets or businesses could include stock, rights to purchase stock, cash or some combination of the foregoing. If we issue stock or rights to purchase stock in connection with such future acquisitions, net income (loss) per share and then-existing holders of our common stock may experience dilution.

 

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements made in this prospectus that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements, and should be evaluated as such. Forward-looking statements include information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations, including descriptions of our business plan and strategies. These statements often include words such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “suggest,” “plan,” “believe,” “intend,” “project,” “forecast,” “estimates,” “targets,” “projections,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “may,” “might,” “will,” and other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are contained throughout this prospectus, including the sections entitled “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Capitalization,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business.”

We base these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, plans and assumptions, which we have made in light of our experience in the industry, as well as our perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances and at this time. As you read and consider this prospectus, you should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. The forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and therefore you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements or projections. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements and projections are based on reasonable assumptions at the time they are made, you should be aware that many factors could affect our actual financial results, and therefore actual results might differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements and projections. Factors that might materially affect such forward-looking statements include:

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Risks Related to Our Business and Industry;

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Risks Related to Our Products;

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Risks Related to Our Manufacturing and Supply Chain;

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Risks Related to Our Distribution Channels;

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Risks Related to Laws and Regulations;

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Risks Related to Cybersecurity and Privacy;

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Risks Related to Intellectual Property;

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Risks Related to Our International Operations;

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Risks Related to Our Indebtedness;

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Risks Related to Our Financial Statements;

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Risks Related to this Offering and Our Common Stock; and

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the other factors discussed under “Risk Factors.”

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The preceding list is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all of our forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of future performance, taking into account the information currently available to us. These statements are only predictions based upon our current expectations about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Other sections of this prospectus may include additional factors that could adversely impact our business and financial performance. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time and it is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. Before investing in our common stock, investors should be aware that the occurrence of the events

 

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described under the caption “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and future financial performance.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance and events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this prospectus to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds of approximately $     million from the sale of shares of our common stock in this offering, based on an assumed initial public offering price of $     per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, and after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. [If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, the net proceeds to us will be approximately $     million.]

We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock by the selling stockholders[, including from any exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares from the selling stockholders]. The selling stockholders will bear the underwriting commissions and discounts, if any, attributable to their sale of our common stock, and we will bear the remaining expenses.

We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay a portion of the term loan outstanding under our Credit Agreement totaling $     million, plus accrued interest thereon of approximately $     , and the remainder for general corporate purposes. To the extent we raise more proceeds in this offering than currently estimated, we will use such proceeds for general corporate purposes, which may include, among other things, further repayment of indebtedness. To the extent we raise less in this offering than currently estimated, we may, if necessary, reduce the amount of the indebtedness that will be repaid. For information about the applicable interest rates, maturity dates and use of proceeds of loans under our Credit Agreement, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Capital Resources — Credit Facilities.”

A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $     per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by $     million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the assumed underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase (decrease) of 100,000 shares from the expected number of shares to be sold by us in this offering, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) our net proceeds from this offering by $     million.

 

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We currently do not expect to declare any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Instead, we anticipate that all of our earnings in the foreseeable future will be used to provide working capital, to support our operations, to finance the growth and development of our business and to reduce our net debt. Any determination to declare dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws, and will be dependent on a number of factors, including our earnings, capital requirements and overall financial condition. If we elect to pay dividends in the future, we may reduce or discontinue entirely the payment of such dividends at any time.

Because we are a holding company, our ability to pay dividends depends on our receipt of cash dividends from our operating subsidiaries, which may further restrict our ability to pay dividends as a result of the laws of their jurisdiction of organization, agreements of our subsidiaries or covenants under any existing and future outstanding indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur.

 

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and capitalization as of March 26, 2021:

•

on an actual basis; and

​

•

on an as adjusted basis, further giving effect to (i) the sale by us of     shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $     per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us and (ii) the application of the net proceeds received by us from this offering to repay a portion of the term loan outstanding under our Credit Agreement, plus accrued interest thereon, and the remainder for general corporate purposes, as described in “Use of Proceeds.”

​

You should read this table together with “Use of Proceeds,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

(1)

Additional paid-in capital on as adjusted basis is reduced as a result of the recognition of the liability equal to the total estimated payments (approximately $     million as of March 26, 2021) to be made under the tax receivable agreement.

​

A $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $     per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, would increase or decrease, as

 

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applicable, on an as adjusted basis, additional paid-in capital, Company’s stockholders’ equity, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization by $     million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting assumed underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us and the application of the net proceeds thereof as described in “Use of Proceeds.” An increase or decrease of 100,000 shares in the number of shares sold in this offering by us would increase or decrease, as applicable, on an as adjusted basis, additional paid-in capital, Company’s stockholders’ equity, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization by $     million, assuming an initial public offering price of $     per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us and the application of the net proceeds thereof as described in “Use of Proceeds.”

The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding immediately after this offering is based on     shares outstanding as of        , 2020 (after giving effect to the     for 1 forward stock split effected on        , 2021) and:

•

assumes the issuance of     shares of restricted common stock to be issued to holders of unvested Incentive Units in connection with the Equity Conversion (which amount of shares is based upon an assumed initial public offering price of $     per share which is the midpoint of the range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus); and

​

•

does not reflect     shares of common stock available for future issuance under our 2021 Incentive Plan, including up to     shares underlying the restricted stock units we expect to award to certain employees in connection with this offering, or     shares of common stock available for future issuance under our 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

​

A $1.00 increase in the assumed initial public offering price referred to above shall modify the number of shares of restricted common stock to be received by the holders of Incentive Units in connection with the Equity Conversion resulting in an increase to the number of shares of common stock to be outstanding immediately after this offering by     shares.

A $1.00 decrease in the assumed initial public offering price referred to above shall modify the number of shares of restricted common stock to be received by the holders of Incentive Units in connection with the Equity Conversion resulting in a decrease to the number of shares of common stock to be outstanding immediately after this offering by     shares.

 

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DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock in this offering, your ownership interest in us will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share of our common stock and the net tangible book value per share of our common stock as adjusted to give effect to this offering and the Equity Conversion. Dilution results from the fact that the per share offering price of the common stock is substantially in excess of the book value per share attributable to the shares of common stock held by existing stockholders.

Our net tangible book deficit as of March 26, 2021 was approximately $    million or $    per share. We calculate net tangible book value per share by taking the amount of our total tangible assets, reduced by the amount of our total liabilities, and then dividing that amount by the total number of shares of common stock outstanding.

After giving effect to our sale of the shares in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $     per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us and after giving effect to the application of the net proceeds from this offering as described under “Use of Proceeds,” our net tangible book deficit as of March 26, 2021 as adjusted to give effect to this offering and the Equity Conversion would have been $      , or $      per share. This amount represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value of $     per share to existing stockholders and an immediate dilution in net tangible book value of $     per share to new investors purchasing shares in this offering at the initial public offering price.

The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis:

Dilution is determined by subtracting net tangible book value per share of common stock as adjusted to give effect to this offering and the Equity Conversion, from the initial public offering price per share of common stock.

Each $1.00 increase in the assumed initial public offering price of $       per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase our as adjusted net tangible book value by approximately $      million, or approximately $      per share, and the dilution per share to investors in this offering by approximately $      per share, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Conversely, each $1.00 decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $         per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would decrease our as adjusted net tangible book value by approximately $         million, or approximately $       per share, and the dilution per share to investors in this offering by approximately $       per share, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

We may also increase or decrease the number of shares we are offering. An increase of 100,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us would result in an as adjusted net tangible book value of approximately $       million, or approximately $       per share, and the dilution per share to investors in this offering would be approximately $       per share, assuming the assumed initial public offering price of $       per share remains the same and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Conversely, a decrease of 100,000 shares in the number of shares

 

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offered by us would result in an as adjusted net tangible book value of approximately $       million, or approximately $       per share, and the dilution per share to investors in this offering would be approximately $       per share, assuming the assumed initial public offering price of $       per share, remains the same and after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. The as adjusted pro forma information discussed above is illustrative only and will adjust based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering.

If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in full in this offering, the as adjusted net tangible book value after the offering would be $       per share, the increase in net tangible book deficit per share to our existing investors would be $       and the dilution in net tangible book value per share to new investors would be $       per share, in each case assuming an initial public offering price of $       per share, which is the midpoint of the range listed on the cover page of this prospectus.

The following table summarizes, on an as adjusted basis as of March 26, 2021, as described above, the differences between the number of shares purchased from us, the total consideration paid to us, and the average price per share paid by existing stockholders and by new investors. As the table shows, new investors purchasing shares in this offering will pay an average price per share substantially higher than our existing stockholders paid. The table below is based on     shares of common stock outstanding immediately after the Equity Conversion and the consummation of this offering and does not give effect to shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of outstanding options to purchase shares of our common stock outstanding as of         , 2021 or the shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under the 2021 Incentive Plan. A total of     shares of common stock have been reserved for future issuance under the 2021 Incentive Plan, and a total of     shares of common stock have been reserved for future issuance under the 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan. The table below is based on an assumed initial public offering price of $     per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, for shares purchased in this offering, assumes the issuance of     shares of restricted common stock to be issued to the holders of unvested Incentive Units in connection with the Equity Conversion and excludes underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us:

Sales of shares of our common stock by the selling stockholders in this offering will reduce the number of shares of common stock held by existing stockholders to     , or approximately     % of the total shares of common stock outstanding after the completion of this offering, and will increase the number of shares held by investors purchasing shares in this offering to     , or approximately     % of the total shares of common stock outstanding after the completion of this offering.

If the underwriters were to fully exercise the underwriters’ option to purchase     additional shares of our common stock from us [and the selling stockholders], the percentage of shares of our common stock held by existing stockholders would be approximately     % of the aggregate number of shares of common stock outstanding after this offering after giving effect to sales by the selling stockholders, and the percentage of shares of our common stock held by new investors would be     % of the aggregate number of shares of common stock outstanding after this offering after giving effect to sales by the selling stockholders.

Assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, remains the same, excluding assumed underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, a $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $     per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, would increase or decrease total consideration paid by new investors and total consideration paid by all stockholders by approximately $     million.

 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL
CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus. The statements in this discussion regarding industry outlook, our expectations regarding our future performance, liquidity and capital resources and all other non-historical statements in this discussion are forward-looking statements and are based on the beliefs of our management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, our management. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed in or implied by forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those discussed below and elsewhere in this prospectus, particularly in “Risk Factors” or in other sections of this prospectus.

We operate on a 52-week or 53-week fiscal year ending on the last Friday of December each year. Our fiscal year is divided into four quarters of 13 weeks, each beginning on a Saturday and containing one 5-week period followed by two 4-week periods. When a 53-week fiscal year occurs, we report the additional week in the fourth fiscal quarter. References to fiscal year 2020 are to our 52-week fiscal year ended December 25, 2020 and references to fiscal year 2019 are to our 52-week fiscal year ended December 27, 2019. The fiscal quarters ended March 26, 2021 and March 27, 2020 were both 13-week periods.

Overview

Snap One powers the connected home by enabling professional integrators to transform the spaces in which people live, work and play. The combination of our end-to-end product ecosystem and our technology-enabled workflow solutions, which we refer to as our “Only Here” strategy, delivers a compelling value proposition to our loyal and growing network of over 16,000 professional do-it-for-me (“DIFM”) integrators. We believe that Only Here can integrators access a leading, comprehensive suite of products and software solutions that enable a “one-stop shop” experience. Only Here can integrators support their customers via our industry-leading remote management software platform, which reaches over 375,000 homes and businesses as of March 26, 2021. Only Here can integrators enjoy the convenience of an e-commerce centric, omni-channel offering to support their workflow. Only Here can our third-party product partners efficiently access our expansive integrator network and connect with the broader Snap One product and software ecosystem. By partnering with Snap One, integrators can focus on their trade and leverage the tools and infrastructure that we deliver to build thriving and profitable businesses. We believe our Only Here value proposition becomes embedded into integrators’ workflow throughout the project lifecycle, creating re-occurring spending patterns that strengthen our integrator relationships and enhance our revenue visibility from our integrator base. Snap One was founded by integrators for integrators and we believe our Only Here experience makes us integrators’ partner of choice.

We derive the majority of our net sales from the sale of both proprietary and third-party products to DIFM integrators in home technology, security and commercial end markets. Our comprehensive suite of solutions allows integrators to find everything they need in one place and to deliver high-quality, reliable and configurable systems to end consumers. We also have two subscription-based services that we sell directly to homeowners. Parasol is enabled by our OvrC management software and is a subscription-based service that gives homeowners access to a continuous remote support service to proactively or reactively troubleshoot devices on their network. 4Sight, our remote system management software for end consumers, is enabled by our Control4 software and is a subscription sold to homeowners. While it accounts for a smaller share of our current net sales, we intend to continue to invest in the expansion of existing subscription-based services and the development of new ones.

We are vertically integrated with approximately 70% of net sales in fiscal year 2020 coming from our proprietary-branded, internally developed products that are only available to integrators directly from Snap One. These proprietary products are manufactured on an asset-light basis through our network of contract manufacturing and joint development suppliers located primarily in Asia and support our strong net sales of $814.1 million and Contribution Margin of 41.7%, in each case during fiscal year 2020. In addition, we are strategically expanding our third-party product offering to enhance the one-stop shop experience for

 

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integrators, driving customer stickiness and sales growth. Our third-party products have lower margins than our proprietary products and our future profitability may be affected by our sales mix over time.

Recent Developments

On May 4, 2021, we entered into a purchase agreement pursuant to which we will acquire ANLA, Inc. (“Access Networks”), an enterprise-grade networking solutions provider offering network design, configuration, monitoring and support services and products. We expect that the acquisition will enhance our networking solutions for residential and commercial networks. Under the purchase agreement, we agreed to a purchase price of $38.1 million, consisting of both cash and equity, plus contingent consideration of up to $2.0 million based upon the achievement of specified financial targets. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.

Key Factors Affecting Our Performance

Our historical financial performance has been primarily driven by the following factors, which we also expect to be the primary drivers of our financial performance in the future.

Grow Wallet Share with Integrators.   While our network of over 16,000 domestic DIFM integrators that we transact with is large, we believe we have a significant wallet share expansion opportunity with our existing integrator base. On average, we capture approximately $40,000 of annual spending from each of our domestic integrators, compared with Frost & Sullivan’s estimate of over $600,000 in average annual product spend for all domestic integrators. This suggests we have significant room to grow sales by increasing wallet share with existing integrators. Average wallet share with our integrators varies across DIFM markets, with particular strength in home technology and demonstrated success in commercial and security. In a survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan, integrators indicated that on average they purchase products from more than twelve sources, and approximately 20% of respondents indicated that Snap One was their most used source for installation equipment from March 2020 to March 2021 (more than twice the share of the next highest source). As we continue to expand our omni-channel coverage, extend our product suite, bolster our support services, and create deeper integration across our products, we believe we will be able to drive continued wallet share gains by making it compelling for integrators to use Snap One as their one-stop shop.

We believe our strong position with integrators is supported by our world class industry-leading NPS of 55 among domestic integrators who have purchased from Snap One between March 2020 and March  2021, as compared to competing brands’ average NPS of -2. In addition to a strong position with our integrators as evidenced by our NPS, approximately 75% of our net sales in fiscal year 2020 came from integrators who have been our customers for at least five years (as represented by integrators whose first purchase was made in fiscal year 2015 or prior).

Add New DIFM Integrators in Home Technology, Security, Commercial and Internationally.   We are a market leader in our core domestic home technology market and our product portfolio and integrator support is designed to expand into attractive adjacent markets. We are utilizing our scale to make strategic investments focused on growing our network of integrators across home technology and the attractive security and commercial markets, where we believe we have a significant opportunity for future penetration. Today, we believe we transact with over 20% of addressable domestic integrators across the home technology, security, and commercial markets. We believe our differentiated value proposition will continue to attract new integrators to the Snap One integrated platform.

We also believe there is a meaningful opportunity to capture market share in non-U.S. markets. We expanded internationally with our acquisition of Control4 Corporation (“Control4”) in August 2019, and international net sales accounted for 11.6% and 12.0% of our net sales in fiscal year 2020 and the fiscal quarter ended March 26, 2021. Our international growth strategy is focused on expanding primarily in selected principally English-speaking markets, which could include Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. We plan to grow in these markets by investing in sales resources, broadening our available product portfolio, and strengthening our direct-to-integrator sales approach.

 

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Continue to Invest in Our Integrated Platform.   Our end-to-end product and software ecosystem and technology-enabled workflow solutions create an integrated platform of leading offerings, which we believe drives significant value for our integrators and personalized, immersive experiences for end consumers. We have a proven track record of innovation through significant investments in research and development (“R&D”) to build and enhance our integrated platform over time. Our close relationship with our integrator base enables us to more effectively identify and enter attractive, high growth market segments and to continually enhance our products and software to deliver the best solutions for end consumers. We also leverage these relationships to introduce new and enhanced technology-enabled workflow solutions. These new and enhanced support services are designed to make it easier for our integrators to operate their businesses, creating a more efficient industry and stronger growth for Snap One.

Enhance Our Omni-Channel Strategy.   Our business model is built around an e-commerce centric, omni-channel go-to-market strategy. We provide a comprehensive e-commerce portal, which allows integrators to easily research products, design projects, receive training and certifications, order products, and solicit ongoing support. Our e-commerce portal is complemented by an extensive network of 26 local branches and seven distribution centers, as of March 26, 2021. For the twelve-month period ending March 26, 2021, we opened or acquired five net new local branches, and we expect to continue to expand our local branch presence in the future. The local branch presence is an important part of our strategy as it allows us to better serve integrators locally by providing same day product availability when necessary, creating a site for relationship building with our support team and for training and product demonstration sessions. We believe integrators value the relationships and support we can deliver at the local level, and this further increases their loyalty with our business across channels.

Execute Strategic Acquisitions.   In addition to our organic growth, we continue to grow our business through strategic acquisitions to better serve existing and new integrators, help broaden our product categories, and extend the geographic reach of our omni-channel capabilities. We have completed over ten acquisitions since 2015, representing an aggregate value of over $750.0 million, with the largest investment being the acquisition of Control4 in 2019.

On August 1, 2019, we completed our acquisition of Control4, a leading global provider of connected home solutions. This acquisition enabled Snap One to provide an end-to-end product offering and create a true one-stop shop for integrators. Additional benefits of the merger included increased innovation, simplified product integration, global distribution and leading customer service and support.

Our omni-channel strategy with a local branch presence enables us to capture additional spend with our existing integrators through new purchase occasions while also adding new integrators in local markets. In support of this strategy, we have completed four acquisitions of regional, value-added distribution businesses since 2018. These acquisitions have enabled us to complement our e-commerce portal with a geographically diversified footprint of local branches. We completed the acquisitions of Allnet, Inc. (“Allnet”) and Schireson Bros. Inc. dba Volutone Distributing Co. (“Volutone”) in 2018 to establish a presence in the Midwest and Southwest United States, respectively. In 2019, we completed the acquisitions of Marketing Representatives, Inc. (“MRI”) and Custom Plus Distributing, Inc. (“CPD”) to extend our coverage to the Northeastern and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States. We intend to continue to execute our local branch expansion strategy through a combination of organic openings and bolt-on acquisitions.

We will continue to pursue disciplined, accretive acquisitions that enhance our products, software and workflow solutions and expand into adjacent markets that allow us to serve our integrator base. Our network of third-party products as well as our close relationships with our integrators allow us to source a large pipeline of potential acquisition opportunities.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The connected home market has fared well throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as market data indicates that there has been an increase in the percentage of disposable income being spent on home-related goods and services as more of the working population has been staying at home. Furthermore, integration companies were deemed “essential workers” by the United States federal government, allowing a

 

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majority of integrators to remain open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, we have supported professional integrators with their challenges, including staff considerations and the dynamic of practicing social distancing with their customers, to allow them to continue to provide their customers the infrastructure and connectivity needed to create personalized experiences for individuals and families who are spending more time at home.

Following initial demand declines for our products and services in March and April 2020, sales recovered as professional integrators’ services became increasingly important for homeowners working and seeking entertainment from home. Our favorable liquidity position, disciplined supply chain execution and inventory availability drove strong performance during fiscal year 2020. This has resulted in accelerated growth in our business and reinforced our mission-criticality to our integrators. This macroeconomic trend is favorably impacting our business results to date, but the possible sustained spread or resurgence of the pandemic, and any government response thereto, increases the uncertainty regarding future economic conditions upon which our future business depends.

Key Metrics and Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Data

In addition to the measures presented in our consolidated financial statements, we use the following additional key business metrics to help us monitor the performance of our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business and assist us in making strategic decisions:

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net loss, plus interest expense, net, income tax benefit, depreciation and amortization, further adjusted to exclude equity-based compensation, acquisition- and integration- related costs and certain other non-recurring, non-core, infrequent or unusual charges as described below.

We define Adjusted Net Income as net loss plus depreciation and amortization further adjusted to exclude equity-based compensation, acquisition- and integration-related costs and certain non-recurring, non-core, infrequent or unusual charges, including the estimated tax impacts of these adjustments.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income are key measures used by management to understand and evaluate our financial performance, trends and generate future operating plans, make strategic decisions regarding the allocation of capital and analyze investments in initiatives that are focused on cultivating new markets for our products and services. We believe Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income are useful measurements for analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our markets as they help identify underlying trends that could otherwise be masked by certain expenses that we do not consider indicative of our ongoing performance.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income have limitations as analytical tools. These measures are not calculated in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income may not be comparable to similarly titled metrics of other companies due to differences among the methods of calculation.

The following table presents a reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented:

 

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