COO, §1A diff (2016 → 2017)

Item 1A. Risk Factors. Our business faces significant risks. These risks include those described below and may include additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial. Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks, and the trading prices of our common stock could decline by virtue of these risks. These risks should be read in conjunction with the other information in this report. Risks Relating to Our Business We operate in the highly competitive health care industry and there can be no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully. Each of our businesses operates within a highly competitive environment. In our soft contact lens business, CooperVision faces intense competition from competitors' products, in particular silicone hydrogel contact lenses, and may face increasing competition as other new products enter the market. Our largest competitors in the contact lens business, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. and Alcon (owned by Novartis AG) may have substantially greater financial resources, larger research and development budgets, larger sales forces, greater market penetration and/or larger manufacturing volumes than CooperVision. They offer competitive products and differentiated materials, plus a variety of other eye care products including lens care products and ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, which may give them a competitive advantage in marketing their lenses. The market for contact lenses is intensely competitive and is characterized by declining sales volumes for older product lines and growing demand for silicone hydrogel based products. Our ability to respond to these competitive pressures will depend on our ability to decrease our costs and maintain gross margins and operating results and to introduce new products successfully, on a timely basis in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific, and to achieve manufacturing efficiencies and sufficient manufacturing capacity and capabilities for such products. Any significant decrease in our costs per lens will depend, in part, on our ability to increase sales volume and production capabilities. Our failure to respond to competitive pressures in a timely manner could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. To a lesser extent, CooperVision also competes with manufacturers of eyeglasses and providers of other forms of vision correction including ophthalmic surgery. There can be no assurance that we will not encounter increased competition in the future, for example with increased product entries from Asia Pacific contact lens manufacturers, or that our competitors' newer contact lens products will not successfully erode CooperVision's contact lens business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The contact lens industry also continues to evolve with respect to the introduction of new distribution and fulfillment models and service technologies which may conflict with CooperVision’s strategy or interfere with its customers’ relationships and loyalty. For example, more contact lenses are being fulfilled directly to the consumer by manufacturers and wholesalers via online platforms, telemedicine is gaining popularity and more vision correction prescriptions are being provided through online refractive exams rather than in office by an eye care practitioner. CooperVision’s failure to adapt to the threats posed by these new and emerging distribution models and Internet driven services may have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES In the women's health care market, competitive factors include technological and scientific advances, product quality, price and effective communication of product information to physicians, hospitals and IVF clinics. CooperSurgical competes with a number of manufacturers in each of its niche areas, some of which have substantially greater financial and personnel resources and sell a much broader range of products, which may give them an advantage in marketing competitive products. Acquisitions that we have made and may make in the future involve numerous risks. We have a history of acquiring businesses and products that have significantly contributed to our growth in recent years. As part of our growth strategy, particularly at CooperSurgical and more recently at CooperVision, we intend to continue to consider acquiring complementary technologies, products and businesses. Future acquisitions could result in potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of debt and contingent liabilities and an increase in amortization and/or impairments of goodwill and other intangible assets, which could have a material adverse effect upon our business, financial condition and results of operations. CooperVision acquired Paragon Vision Sciences subsequent to fiscal 2017; Procornea and Grand Vista LLC in fiscal 2017; and Soflex in fiscal 2016. CooperSurgical acquired PARAGARD subsequent to fiscal 2017; Wallace in fiscal 2017; Reprogenetics UK, Recombine, K-Systems, Genesis Genetics, The Pipette Company, and Research Instruments in fiscal 2016; and Reprogenetics US in fiscal 2015. These acquisitions added operations to CooperVision and CooperSurgical, respectively, and expanded their international businesses. The acquisitions have, correspondingly, added risks we could face with respect to acquisitions and include: • failure to successfully obtain the anticipated revenues, margins and earnings benefits; • difficulties in, and expenses related to, the integration of the operations, technologies, products and personnel of the acquired company and establishment of appropriate accounting controls and reporting procedures and other regulatory compliance procedures, including but not limited to third party compliance and due diligence; • increased leverage and the risk of lack of access to available financing, including financing for the acquisition or refinancing of debt owed by us on a timely basis and on reasonable terms; • risks of entering markets in which we have no or limited prior experience; • potential loss of employees; • an inability to identify and consummate future acquisitions on favorable terms or at all; • diversion of management's attention away from other business concerns; • expenses of any undisclosed or potential liabilities, contingent liabilities or indemnification obligations of the acquired company; • expenses, including restructuring expenses, to shut-down our own locations or terminate our employees; • application of and compliance with new and unfamiliar regulatory frameworks such as pharmaceutical regulation applicable to our PARAGARD IUD; • Failure to successfully obtain or maintain reimbursements under the third party payor plans, including but not limited to governmental programs, due to complex reporting and payment obligations; • a dilution of earnings per share; and • risks inherent in accounting allocations and the risk that we are required to record significant adjustments to the preliminary fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed within the measurement period. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Product innovations are important in the industry in which we operate, and we face the risk of product obsolescence if we are unable to develop new products or gain regulatory approvals or if our competitors introduce new products. Product innovations are important in the contact lens market in which CooperVision competes and in the areas of the health care industry in which CooperSurgical competes. CooperSurgical has not allocated substantial resources to new product development, but rather it has historically purchased, leveraged or licensed the technology developments of others. CooperSurgical has recently invested in expanding the internal research and development function with the goal of organizational growth and to complement our acquisitions strategy. CooperVision invests in new product development, including the development of silicone hydrogel-based contact lenses. Research and development time commitments, higher feasibility risk with longer term projects, the cost of obtaining necessary regulatory approval and other costs related to product innovations can be substantial. There can be no assurance that we will successfully obtain necessary regulatory approvals or clearances for our new products or that our new products will successfully compete in the marketplace and, as a result, justify the expense involved in their development and regulatory approval. In addition, our competitors may have developed or may in the future develop new products or technologies, such as contact lenses with anti-microbial or anti-allergenic features, or “smart” contact lenses which incorporate electronics that could lead to the obsolescence of one or more of our products. Competitors may also introduce new uses for contact lenses, such as for drug delivery or the control of myopia. Failure to develop new product offerings and technological changes and to offer products that provide performance that is at least comparable to competing products could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. If our products are not accepted by the market, we will not be able to sustain or expand our business. Certain of our proposed products have not yet been clinically tested or commercially introduced, and we cannot assure that any of them, assuming they receive necessary regulatory approvals, will achieve market acceptance or generate operating profits. The development of a market for our products may be influenced by many factors, some of which are out of our control, including: • acceptance of our products by eye care and health care practitioners; • the cost competitiveness of our products; • consumer reluctance to try and use a new product; • regulatory and legislative requirements; • adequate coverage and reimbursement by third party payors; • the earlier release of competitive products, such as new silicone hydrogel products, into the market by our competitors; and • the emergence of newer and more competitive products. New medical and technological developments may reduce the need for our products. Technological developments in the eye care, family and women's health care, and diagnostics testing industries, such as new surgical procedures or medical devices, and genetic testing technology may limit demand for our products and services. Corneal refractive surgical procedures such as Lasik surgery and the development of new pharmaceutical products may decrease the demand for our optical products. If these new advances provide a practical alternative to traditional vision correction, the demand for contact lenses THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES and eyeglasses may materially decrease. We cannot assure that medical advances and technological developments will not have a material adverse effect on our businesses. Our substantial and expanding international operations are subject to uncertainties which could affect our operating results. A significant portion of our current operations are conducted and located outside the United States, and our growth strategy involves expanding our existing foreign operations and entering into new foreign jurisdictions. We have significant manufacturing and distribution sites in North America, Latin America and Europe. Over half of our net sales for the fiscal years ended October 31, 2017 and 2016, were derived from the sale of products outside the United States. We believe that sales outside the United States will continue to account for a material portion of our total net sales for the foreseeable future. International operations and business expansion plans are subject to numerous additional risks, including: • we may have difficulty enforcing intellectual property rights in some foreign countries; • we may have difficulty gaining market share in countries such as Japan and China because of regulatory restrictions and customer preferences; • we may find it difficult to grow in emerging markets such as China, India, Russia, Brazil and other developing nations due to, among other things, customer acceptance, undeveloped and/or unfamiliar distribution channels, regulatory restrictions and changes, and business knowledge of these new markets; • tax rates in some foreign countries may exceed those of the United States, and foreign earnings may be subject to withholding requirements or the imposition of tariffs, exchange controls or other restrictions; • we may find it difficult to comply with a variety of United States and foreign legal, compliance and regulatory requirements such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, the U.K. Bribery Act and international data security and privacy laws; • we may find it difficult to manage a large organization spread throughout various countries; • fluctuations in currency exchange rates could adversely affect our results; • foreign customers may have longer payment cycles than customers in the United States; • failure to comply with United States Department of Commerce and other nations' import-export controls may result in fines and/or penalties; • general economic and political conditions in the countries where we operate may have an adverse effect on our operations in those countries or not be favorable to our growth strategy; • foreign governments may adopt regulations or take other actions that would have a direct or indirect adverse impact on our business and market opportunities, including but not limited to increased enforcement of potentially conflicting and ambiguous anti-bribery laws; • we may have difficulty enforcing agreements and collecting receivables through some foreign legal systems; and • we may be subject to unforeseen economic or political events in certain countries that may have an impact on our customers' ability or preferences to buy our products. As we continue to expand our business globally, our success will depend, in large part, on our ability to anticipate and effectively manage these and other risks associated with our international operations. However, any of these factors could adversely affect our international operations and, consequently, our operating results. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Current market conditions and recessionary pressures in one or more of our markets could impact our ability to grow our business. Over the last few years in the United States and globally, market and economic conditions have been challenging with tighter credit conditions and slower economic growth. Foreign countries, in particular the Euro zone, have experienced recessionary pressures and face continued concerns about the systemic impacts of adverse economic conditions and geopolitical issues. Concerns about the Euro zone’s sovereign debt in recent years have caused uncertainty and disruption in the financial markets globally. While the global financial markets have showed general signs of improvement, uncertainty remains. Any negative impact on economic conditions and international markets, continued volatility or deterioration in the debt and equity capital markets, inflation, deflation or other adverse economic conditions may adversely affect our liquidity and financial condition, and the liquidity and financial condition of our customers. It may limit our ability, and the ability of our customers, to replace maturing liabilities and to access the capital markets to meet liquidity needs, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Global markets continued to face threats and uncertainty during fiscal 2017. Uncertain economic and financial market conditions may also adversely affect the financial condition of our customers, suppliers and other business partners. If our customers’ financial conditions are adversely affected, customers may reduce their purchases of our products or we may not be able to collect accounts receivable, each of which could have a material adverse impact on our business operations or financial results. The results of the United Kingdom’s referendum on withdrawal from the European Union may have a negative effect on global economic conditions, financial markets and our business. We are a multinational company headquartered in the United States with worldwide operations, with significant business operations in Europe, including in the United Kingdom. In June 2016, a majority of voters in the United Kingdom elected to withdraw from the European Union in a national referendum. The referendum was advisory, and the terms of any withdrawal are subject to a negotiation period that could last at least two years from March 29, 2017, the date the government of the United Kingdom formally initiated the withdrawal process. The pending withdrawal has created significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. This development has had and may continue to have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets. Given the lack of comparable precedent, it is unclear what implications the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union would have and how such withdrawal could affect or could have a material adverse effect on, our business, financial condition and operating results. We face risks associated with disruption of our manufacturing and distribution operations including possible failure to develop necessary manufacturing processes, or idle or excess capacity could adversely affect our profitability or competitive position. We manufacture a significant portion of the medical device products we sell. Any prolonged disruption in the operations of our existing manufacturing or distribution facilities, whether due to technical or labor difficulties, integration difficulties, destruction of or damage to any facility (as a result of natural disaster, use and storage of hazardous materials or other events), enforcement action by the FDA or other regulatory body if we are found to be in non-compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) or other reasons, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES In addition, materials such as silicone hydrogel require improvements to our manufacturing processes to make them cost effective. While we have improved our manufacturing capabilities for our silicone hydrogel products, our failure to continue to develop improvements to our manufacturing processes and reduce our cost of goods could significantly impact our ability to compete. Conversely, excess or idle capacity, which could result from acquisitions, inaccurate sales forecasting or unexpected manufacturing efficiencies, could significantly impact our profitability and near term financial condition. CooperVision manufactures molded contact lenses, which represent the majority of our contact lens revenues, primarily at our facilities in the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, Hungary, Costa Rica and the United States. CooperSurgical manufactures the majority of its products in Connecticut, Texas, and Denmark. In November 2017, CooperSurgical purchased a manufacturing facility in Costa Rica to consolidate a portion of global manufacturing. We manufacture certain products at only one manufacturing site for certain markets, and certain of our products are approved for manufacturing only at one site. Before we can use a second manufacturing site, we must obtain the approval of regulatory authorities, and because this process is expensive, we generally have not sought approvals needed to manufacture at an additional site. If there were any prolonged disruption in the operations of the approved facility, it could take a significant amount of time to validate a second site and replace lost product, which could result in lost customers and thereby reduce sales, profitability and market share. CooperVision distributes products out of the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium and various smaller international distribution facilities. CooperSurgical's products are primarily distributed out of its facilities in Connecticut, and Denmark. Any prolonged disruption in the operations of our existing distribution facilities, whether due to technical or labor difficulties, destruction of or damage to any facility (as a result of natural disaster, use and storage of hazardous materials or other events) or other reasons, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If our manufacturing operations fail to comply with applicable regulations, our manufacturing could be delayed or disrupted, our products could be subject to recall, and sales and profitability could suffer. Our manufacturing operations and processes are required to comply with numerous federal, state and foreign regulatory requirements, including the FDA's cGMP for medical devices, known as the QSR regulations, which govern the procedures related to the design, testing, production processes, controls, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, storage, importing, exporting and shipping of our products. We also are subject to state requirements and licenses applicable to manufacturers of medical devices. In addition, we must engage in extensive recordkeeping and reporting and must make available our manufacturing facilities and records for periodic unscheduled inspections by governmental agencies, including the FDA, state authorities and comparable agencies in other countries. Failure to comply with QSR requirements and other applicable regulatory requirements or to respond to any adverse inspectional observations or product safety issues could result in disruption of our operations and manufacturing delays in addition to, among other things, warning letters, significant fines, injunctions, suspension of approvals, seizures, recalls or import holds of products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions. As a result, any failure to comply with applicable requirements could adversely affect our product sales and profitability. We rely on independent suppliers for raw materials and we could experience inventory shortages if we were required to use an alternative supplier on short notice. We rely on independent suppliers for key raw materials, consisting largely of various chemicals and packaging materials. Raw materials used in our operations are generally available from more than one source. However, because some products require specialized manufacturing procedures, we could experience inventory shortages if we were required to use an alternative manufacturer on short notice. For example, some of the THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES primary material used to make our silicone hydrogel contact lens products, including MyDay, Biofinity, Avaira and clariti, are supplied by a sole supplier. We may suffer a disruption in the supply of our silicone hydrogel contact lens products if our suppliers, particularly those which are the sole source of any necessary material, fail to supply sufficient material on a timely basis or at all for any reason and/or we need to switch to an alternative supplier. A disruption in the supply of raw materials could disrupt production of our silicone hydrogel contact lens products, thereby adversely impacting our ability to market and sell such products and our ability to compete in this important segment of the contact lens market. If we fail to protect our intellectual property adequately, our business could suffer. We consider our intellectual property rights, including patents, trade secrets, trademarks and licensing agreements, to be an integral component of our business. We attempt to protect our intellectual property rights through a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, as well as licensing agreements and third-party nondisclosure and assignment agreements. Our failure to obtain or maintain adequate protection of our intellectual property rights for any reason could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We also may seek to enforce our intellectual property rights on others through litigation. Our claims, even if meritorious, may be found invalid or inapplicable to a party we believe infringes or has misappropriated our intellectual property rights. In addition, litigation can: • be expensive and time consuming to prosecute or defend; • result in a finding that we do not have certain intellectual property rights or that such rights lack sufficient scope or strength; • divert management's attention and resources; or • require us to license our intellectual property. We have applied for patent protection in the United States and other foreign jurisdictions relating to certain existing and proposed processes and products. We cannot assure that any of our patent applications will be approved. Patent applications in the United States and other foreign jurisdictions are maintained in secrecy for a period of time, which may last until patents are issued, and since publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature tends to lag behind actual discoveries by several months, we cannot be certain that we will be the first creator of inventions covered by any patent application we make or the first to file patent applications on such inventions. The patents we own could be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by others and may not be of sufficient scope or strength to provide us with any meaningful protection or commercial advantage. We also cannot assure that we will have adequate resources to enforce our patents. Both CooperVision and CooperSurgical also rely on proprietary technology which is unpatented. 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, advisors and collaborators to enter into confidentiality agreements and assignment agreements, which generally provide that inventions conceived by the party in the course of rendering services to us will be our exclusive property. However, we cannot assure that these confidentiality agreements will provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use, misappropriation or disclosure of such trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally obtained and is using our trade secrets is difficult, expensive and time consuming and the outcome is unpredictable. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES We rely on trademarks to establish a market identity for our products. To maintain the value of our trademarks, we might have to file lawsuits against third parties to prevent them from using trademarks confusingly similar to or dilutive of our registered or unregistered trademarks. We also might not obtain registrations for our pending or future trademark applications, and might have to defend our registered trademark and pending applications from challenge by third parties. Enforcing or defending our registered and unregistered trademarks might result in significant litigation costs and damages, including the inability to continue using certain trademarks. The laws of foreign countries in which we do business or contemplate doing business in the future may not recognize intellectual property rights or protect them to the same extent as do the laws of the United States. Adverse determinations in a judicial or administrative proceeding could prevent us from manufacturing and selling our products or prevent us from stopping others from manufacturing and selling competing products, and thereby have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our products or processes could be subject to claims of infringement of the intellectual property of others. Our competitors in both the United States and foreign countries, many of which have substantially greater resources and have made substantial investments in competing technologies, may have applied for or obtained, or may in the future apply for and obtain, patents that will prevent, limit or otherwise interfere with our ability to make and sell our existing and planned products. In the contact lens industry, CooperVision and its competitors all hold patents covering contact lens designs, business methods, processes and materials. Claims that our products, business methods or processes infringe upon the proprietary rights of others often are not asserted until after commencement of commercial sales of products incorporating our technology. Significant litigation regarding intellectual property rights exists in our industries. For example, CooperVision in the past faced significant patent litigation over its silicone hydrogel contact lens products. Third parties have made, and may make in the future, claims of infringement against us or our contract manufacturers in connection with the use of our technology. Any claims, even those without merit, could: • be expensive and time consuming to defend; • cause us to cease making, licensing or selling products that incorporate the challenged intellectual property; • require us to redesign or re-engineer our products, if feasible; • divert management's attention and resources; or • require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements in order to obtain the right to use a necessary product, component or process. We cannot be certain of the outcome of any litigation. Any royalty or licensing agreement, if required, may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. Our failure to obtain the necessary licenses or other rights could prevent the sale, manufacture, or distribution of some of our products and, therefore, could have a material adverse effect on our business. A successful claim of infringement against us or our contract manufacturers in connection with the use of our technology, in particular if we are unable to manufacture or sell any of our planned products in any major market, could adversely affect our business. We could experience losses from product liability claims or legal claims relating to our service offerings, including such claims and other losses resulting from sales of counterfeit and other infringing products. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES We face an inherent risk of exposure to product liability claims in the event that the use of our products results in personal injury. We also face the risk that defects in the design or manufacture of our products or sales of counterfeit or other infringing products might necessitate a product recall and other actions by manufacturers, distributors or retailers in order to safeguard the health of consumers and protect the integrity of the subject brand. Additionally, we face the inherent risk of exposure to legal claims, including negligence, relating to our provision of certain service offerings, including our genetic testing services and their accuracy. Consumers may halt or delay purchases of a product or service that is the subject of a claim or recall, or has been counterfeited. We handle some risk with third-party carrier policies that are subject to deductibles and limitations. There can be no assurance that we will not experience material losses due to product liability claims or recalls, legal claims relating to our service offerings, or a decline in sales resulting from sales of counterfeit or other infringing products, in the future. We face risks related to environmental matters. Our facilities are subject to a broad range of United States federal, state, local and foreign environmental laws and requirements, including those governing discharges to the air and water, the handling or disposal of solid and hazardous substances and wastes, remediation of contamination associated with the release of hazardous substances at our facilities and offsite disposal locations and occupational safety and health. We have made, and will continue to make, expenditures to comply with such laws and requirements. Future events, such as changes in existing laws and regulations, or the enforcement thereof, or the discovery of contamination at our facilities, may give rise to additional compliance or remediation costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Such laws and requirements are constantly changing, are different in every jurisdiction and can impose substantial fines and sanctions for violations. As a manufacturer of various products, we are exposed to some risk of claims with respect to environmental matters, and there can be no assurance that material costs or liabilities will not be incurred in connection with any such claims. Our indebtedness could adversely affect our financial health and prevent us from fulfilling our debt obligations. We have now and expect to continue to have a significant amount of indebtedness. Our indebtedness could: • increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions; • require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to payments on our indebtedness, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, research and development efforts and other general corporate purposes; • limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate; • place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt; • result in greater interest rate risk and volatility; • limit our ability to borrow additional funds; and • make it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to our debt, including our obligation to repay our credit facilities under certain circumstances, or refinance our indebtedness on favorable terms or at all. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Our credit facilities contain financial and other restrictive covenants that could limit our ability to engage in activities that may be in our long-term best interests. Our failure to comply with those covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of all of our debt, which could adversely affect our business, earnings and financial condition. We are vulnerable to interest rate risk with respect to our debt. We are subject to interest rate risk in connection with the issuance of variable and fixed-rate debt. In order to maintain a desired mix of fixed-rate and variable-rate debt, we may use interest rate swap agreements and exchange fixed and variable-rate interest payment obligations over the life of the arrangements, without exchange of the underlying principal amounts. We may not be successful in structuring such swap agreements to manage our risks effectively and, which could adversely affect our business, earnings and financial condition. Exchange rate fluctuations and our foreign currency hedges could adversely affect our financial results. As a result of our international operations, currency exchange rate fluctuations may affect our results of operations and financial position. Our most significant currency exposures are the British pound sterling, euro and Japanese yen. We are also exposed to the Danish krone, Swedish krona, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar among other currencies. We expect to generate an increasing portion of our revenue and incur a significant portion of our expenses in currencies other than U.S. dollars. To the extent we are unable to materially offset non-nonfunctional currency flows, exchange rate fluctuations could have a positive or negative impact on our financial condition and results of operations. Because our consolidated financial results are reported in U.S. dollars, if we generate sales or earnings in other currencies, the translation of those results into U.S. dollars can result in a significant increase or decrease in the amount of those sales or earnings and can make it more difficult for our shareholders to understand the relative strengths or weaknesses of the underlying business on a period-over-period comparative basis. Although from time to time we enter into foreign exchange agreements with financial institutions to reduce our net exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency values relative to our non-functional currency obligations or balances, these hedging transactions do not eliminate that risk entirely. Increases in our effective tax rates or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of income tax returns could adversely affect our results. Our future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being higher than anticipated in countries where we have higher statutory rates or lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory rates, by changes in valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, or by changes in tax laws or interpretations of those laws. We are also subject to the examination of our income tax returns by other tax authorities and the outcome of these examinations could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. The United Kingdom tax authorities (U.K. Tax Authorities) enacted a new Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) as of April 1, 2015 on profits of multinationals that they deemed artificially diverted from the United Kingdom. The tax rate is 25%. DPT is intended to apply in two situations; (a) where a foreign company has artificially avoided having a taxable presence in the United Kingdom and (b) where a group adopts a structure which lacks economic substance in order to divert profits from the United Kingdom. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES The U.K. Tax Authorities have begun an inquiry regarding the application of DPT to us for fiscal year 2015. We believe that the transactions in question were at arm’s length with no intention to divert profit from the United Kingdom and therefore are outside the intended reach of the DPT. On December 20, 2017, the U.K. Tax Authorities issued a DPT charging notice of approximately GBP 31 million with respect to the transfer out of the United Kingdom of certain intellectual property rights in connection with the 2014 acquisition of Sauflon Pharmaceutical Ltd. Although the taxes were paid on the transfer, the UK Tax Authorities are challenging the value assigned to such property. We intend to contest the charging notice vigorously. The process for resolving such a notice can be lengthy and could involve litigation. The company is cooperating with the Tax authorities to resolve this issue. The outcome of this matter cannot be predicted with certainty and may have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results. We operate globally and changes in tax laws could adversely affect our results. We operate globally and changes in tax laws could adversely affect our results. We have overseas manufacturing, administrative and sales offices and generate substantial revenues and profits in foreign jurisdictions. The international tax environment continues to change as a result of both coordinated actions by governments and unilateral measures designed by individual countries, both intended to tackle concerns over base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) and perceived international tax avoidance techniques. The recommendations of the BEPS Project led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are involved in much of the coordinated activity. Although the timing and methods of implementation vary, several jurisdictions have enacted legislation that is aligned with, and in some cases exceeds the scope of, the OECD's recommendations. In the U.S., a number of proposals for broad reform of the corporate tax system are under evaluation by various legislative and administrative bodies. It is not possible to accurately determine the overall impact of such proposals on our effective tax rate or balance sheet at this time. On December 22, 2017, the U.S. President signed the tax reform legislation into law. The impact of tax reform is still being evaluated by the Company and will be reflected in our fiscal first quarter of 2018. Changes in corporate tax rates, the taxation of foreign earnings and the deductibility of expenses could have a material impact on the recoverability of our deferred tax assets, could result in significant one-time charges in the period in which tax reform is enacted and could result in an increase of the company’s effective tax rate. Volatility in the securities markets, interest rates, and other factors could substantially increase our defined benefit pension costs. We sponsor a defined benefit pension plan for employees in the United States. This defined benefit pension plan is funded with trust assets invested in a diversified portfolio of securities and other investments. Changes in interest rates, mortality rates, early retirement rates, investment returns, discount rates and the market value of plan assets can affect the funded status of our defined benefit pension plan and cause volatility in the net periodic benefit cost and future funding requirements of the plan. A significant increase in our obligations or future funding requirements could have a negative impact on our results of operations and cash flows from operations. We manage our businesses utilizing complex integrated software and hardware information technology operating systems that are regularly maintained and upgraded; an interruption or disruption to these systems could disrupt our business or force us to expend excessive costs. We utilize complex integrated software and hardware operating systems, including enterprise resource planning and warehouse management systems, to support our business units and we have a continuous THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES improvement strategy in place to keep our systems and overarching technology stable and in line with business needs and growth. Regular upgrades of our computer hardware and software revisions are typical and expected. We employ controlled change management methodologies to plan, test and execute all such system upgrades and improvements, and we believe that we assign adequate staffing and other resources to projects to ensure successful implementation. However, we cannot assure that our systems will meet our future business needs or that upgrades will operate as designed. We cannot assure that there will not be associated excessive costs or disruptions in portions of our business in the course of our maintenance, support and/or upgrade of these systems. We are in the midst of a multiyear process of implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system at CooperVision. Implementing a new ERP system is not only costly but complex and difficult. Implementing a new ERP system can negatively affect not only financial accounting and reporting processes but also external commercial activities such as order receipt and product delivery. There can be no assurance that we will successfully implement our new ERP system or that we will avoid these and other negative impacts from our implementation efforts. We attempt to protect our computer and communications systems but may experience interruptions and breaches including computer viruses, malicious software, cyberattacks and "hacking,” that could impair our ability to conduct business and communicate internally and with our customers, or result in the theft of trade secrets or other misappropriation of assets, or otherwise compromise privacy of our sensitive information, or that of our customers or other business partners. If we do not retain our key personnel and attract and retain other highly skilled employees, our business could suffer. If we fail to recruit and retain the necessary personnel, our business and our ability to obtain new customers, develop new products and provide acceptable levels of customer service could suffer. The success of our business is heavily dependent on the leadership of our key management personnel. Our success also depends on our ability to recruit, retain and motivate highly skilled sales, marketing, engineering and scientific personnel. Competition for these persons in our industry is intense, and we may not be able to successfully recruit, train or retain qualified personnel. Provisions of our governing documents and Delaware law, may have anti-takeover effects. Certain provisions of our Second Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated By-laws may inhibit changes in control of the Company not approved by our Board of Directors. These provisions include advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and nominations. We also have the protections of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which could have anti-takeover effects. Our preferred stock purchase rights plan, commonly known as a “poison pill,” expired on October 29, 2017. Risks Relating to Government Regulation of Manufacture and Sale of Our Products and Services Our failure to comply with regulatory requirements or to receive regulatory clearance or approval for our products or operations could adversely affect our business. Our products and operations are subject to rigorous regulation by the FDA, and numerous other federal, state and foreign governmental authorities. In the United States, the FDA regulates virtually all aspects of a medical device's design, development, testing, manufacture, safety, labeling (including, for example, unique device identifier regulations), storage, recordkeeping, reporting, marketing, promotion, advertising and distribution, as well as product import and export. Our failure to comply with FDA regulations could lead to the imposition THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES of administrative or judicial sanctions, including injunctions, fines, warning letters, suspensions or the loss of regulatory approvals, product recalls, termination of distribution or product seizures. In the most egregious cases, criminal sanctions or closure of our manufacturing facilities are possible. Our medical devices require clearance or approval by the FDA before they can be commercially distributed in the United States and may require similar approvals by foreign regulatory agencies before distribution in foreign jurisdictions. Medical devices may only be marketed for the indications for which they are approved or cleared. The process of obtaining, renewing and maintaining regulatory clearances and approvals to market a medical device, particularly from the FDA, can be costly and time consuming. There can be no assurance that such clearances and approvals will be granted on a timely basis, if at all, and significant delays in the introduction of any new products or product enhancements may occur, which could adversely affect our competitive position and results of operations. In addition, the FDA and authorities in foreign jurisdictions may change their policies, adopt additional regulations or revise existing regulations, each of which could prevent or delay premarket approval or clearance of our products, increase the cost of compliance, impose additional regulatory requirements on us, or otherwise impact our ability to market our currently approved or cleared products. Modifications and enhancements to a medical device also require a new FDA clearance or approval if they could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness or would constitute a major change in its intended use, design or manufacture. The FDA requires every manufacturer to make this determination in the first instance, but the FDA may review any manufacturer's decision. We have made modifications and enhancements to our medical devices that we do not believe require a new clearance or application, but we cannot confirm that the FDA will agree with our decisions. If the FDA requires us to seek clearance or approval for a modification of a previously cleared product for which we have concluded that new clearances or approvals are unnecessary, we may be required to cease marketing or to recall the modified product until we obtain clearance or approval, and we may be subject to significant regulatory fines or penalties, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results and competitive position. We also cannot assure that we will be successful in obtaining clearances or approvals for our modifications, if required. Any failure to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize and generate revenue from our product candidates. If regulatory sanctions are applied or if regulatory approval is withdrawn, the value of our company and our operating results may be adversely affected. The FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. For example, in December 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act), was signed into law. The Cures Act, among other things, is intended to modernize the regulation of drugs and medical devices and spur innovation, but its ultimate implementation is unclear. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. We also cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States, such as new policies introduced by the Trump Administration, or abroad. Increased regulatory scrutiny of genetic testing may adversely affect our business through increased costs and risks associated with gaining marketing approvals and potential decreased demand for our genetic testing services. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES With our acquisition of Reprogenetics US in August 2015, Genesis Genetics in March 2016, Recombine in May 2016 and Reprogenetics UK in May 2016, we now offer certain genetic testing services to help identify the likelihood of pregnancy as well as identify possible disorders or diseases of a child prior to birth. Regulatory and legislative proposals addressing oversight of genetic testing have been introduced in the United States, and we expect that new proposals will be introduced from time to time both in the United States and in foreign countries in the future. Although the FDA has statutory authority to assure that medical devices, including IVDs, are safe and effective for their intended uses, the FDA has historically exercised its enforcement discretion and not enforced applicable provisions of the FDCA and regulations with respect to LDTs. We believe our tests fall within the definition of an LDT. As a result, we believe our tests are not currently subject to the FDA’s enforcement of its medical device regulations and the applicable FDCA provisions. However, our tests may in the future become subject to more onerous regulation by the FDA. Legislative proposals addressing the FDA’s oversight of LDTs have been introduced by Congress in the past and new legislative proposals may be introduced from time to time in the future. The likelihood that Congress will pass such legislation and the extent to which such legislation may affect the FDA’s ability to enforce its medical device regulations with respect to certain LDTs is difficult to predict at this time. If the FDA ultimately begins to enforce its medical device requirements with respect to LDTs, our genetic tests may be subject to additional regulatory requirements imposed by the FDA, the nature and extent of which would depend upon applicable final guidance or regulation by the FDA or instruction by Congress. If the FDA imposes significant changes to the regulation of LDTs it could reduce our revenue or increase our costs and adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations or financial condition. Any new FDA enforcement policies affecting LDTs or new legislation, regulations or guidance may result in increased regulatory burdens on our ability to continue marketing our products and to develop and introduce new products in the future, which could reduce our revenue or increase our costs and adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations or financial condition. If we fail to comply with applicable federal, state, local and foreign laboratory licensing requirements, we could lose the ability to perform our tests or experience disruptions to our business. We are subject to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), a federal law regulating clinical laboratories that perform testing on specimens derived from humans for the purpose of providing information for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of disease. Our clinical laboratory must be certified under CLIA in order for us to perform testing on human specimens. In addition, our proprietary tests must also be recognized as part of our accredited programs under CLIA so that we can offer them in our laboratory. CLIA is intended to ensure the quality and reliability of clinical laboratories in the United States by mandating specific standards in the areas of personnel qualifications, administration, and participation in proficiency testing, patient test management, quality control, quality assurance and inspections. The law also requires us to maintain a state laboratory license to conduct testing in that state. Our laboratories are located in the United States, and internationally in Canada and the United Kingdom, and we must maintain the requisite licenses in each jurisdiction. Development and marketing of our products are subject to strict governmental regulation by foreign regulatory agencies, and failure to receive, or delay in receiving, foreign qualifications could have a material adverse effect on our business. In many of the foreign countries in which we market our products, we are subject to regulations affecting, among other things, product standards, packaging requirements, labeling requirements, import restrictions, tariff regulations, the reporting of certain payments to health care practitioners in certain markets (for example, the French Sunshine Act of 2013), duties and tax requirements. Many of the regulations applicable to our devices and products in such countries are similar to those of the FDA. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES In many countries, the national health or social security organizations require our products to be qualified before they can be marketed with the benefit of reimbursement eligibility. To date, we have not experienced difficulty in complying with these regulations. However, our failure to receive, or delays in the receipt of, relevant foreign qualifications could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our products are subject to reporting requirements and recalls, even after receiving regulatory clearance or approval, which could harm our reputation, business and financial results. After a device is placed on the market, numerous regulatory requirements apply, including the FDA's QSR regulations, which require manufacturers to follow, among other things, design, testing, production, control, documentation and other quality assurance procedures during the manufacturing process; labeling regulations, which prohibit the promotion of products for unapproved or “off-label” uses and impose other restrictions on labeling; and medical device reporting regulations that require us to report to FDA or similar governmental bodies in other countries if our products may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or malfunction in a way that would be reasonably likely to contribute to death or serious injury if the malfunction were to recur. The FDA and similar governmental bodies in other countries have the authority to require the recall of our products in the event of material deficiencies or defects in design or manufacture or in the event that a product poses an unacceptable risk to health. Medical device manufacturers, such as CooperVision and CooperSurgical, may under their own initiative recall a product if a reasonable possibility of serious injury or any material deficiency in a device is found or withdraw a product to improve device performance or for other reasons. The FDA requires that certain classifications of recalls be reported to the FDA within 10 working days after the recall is initiated. Recalls of any of our products may divert managerial and financial resources and have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. A recall could harm our reputation with customers and consumers which could reduce the sales of our products. In addition, the FDA or other foreign governmental agencies may implement enforcement actions in connection with a recall which could impair our product offerings and be harmful to our business and financial results. Changes in legislation and government regulation of the health care industry both in the United States and internationally, as well as third-party payors' efforts to control the costs of health care could materially adversely affect our business. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) made extensive changes to the delivery of health care in the United States. Among the provisions of the ACA, of greatest importance to the medical device industry and pharmaceutical industry are the following: • Establishment of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in, and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research; • Reporting and disclosure requirements on medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers for certain payments or other “transfers of value” made to physicians and physicians family members, certain healthcare facilities, and any ownership and investment interests held by physicians and physician family members, and any payments or other “transfers of value” to such owners. Manufacturers are required to submit reports to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) by the 90th day of each calendar year; • Absent new legislation, a 2.3 percent excise tax, currently suspended, will be reinstated as of January 1, 2018, on any entity that manufactures or imports medical devices offered for sale in the United States, with limited exceptions, which exceptions include all contact lenses; THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES • Payment system reforms including a national pilot program on payment bundling to encourage hospitals, physicians and other providers to improve the coordination, quality and efficiency of certain health care services through bundled payment models; • Creation of the Independent Payment Advisory Board which has authority to recommend certain changes to reduce Medicare spending and those recommendations could have the effect of law even if Congress doesn't act on the recommendations; • Establishment of a Center for Medicare Innovation at CMS to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending; and • An increase in the statutory minimum rebates a manufacturer must pay under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to 23.1% and 13% of the average manufacturer price for most branded and generic drugs, respectively. These measures could result in decreased net revenues or increased expenses from our medical device products and decrease potential returns from our development efforts. There have been judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA, and we expect there will be additional challenges and amendments to the ACA in the future. Additionally, recent reform proposals have introduced greater uncertainty with respect to tax and trade policies, tariffs and government regulations affecting trade between the United States and other countries. Major developments in tax policy or trade relations could have a material effect on our balance sheet and results of operations. Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. The Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, created the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to recommend proposals in spending reductions to Congress. The Joint Select Committee did not achieve its targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, triggering the legislation’s automatic reductions to several government programs. These reductions include aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect on April 1, 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments, will remain in effect until 2025 unless additional action is taken by Congress. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals, imaging centers and cancer treatment centers. In addition, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, among other things, repealed the formula by which Medicare made annual payment adjustments to physicians and replaced the former formula with fixed annual updates and a new system of incentive payments scheduled to begin in 2019 that are based on various performance measures and physicians’ participation in alternative payment models such as accountable care organizations. We expect that additional state and federal health care reform measures will be adopted in the future, including those initiatives affecting coverage and reimbursement for our products, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for health care products and services, which could adversely affect the growth of the market for our products or demand for our products, or result in additional pricing pressures. Also, any adoption of health care reform proposals on a state-by-state basis could require us to develop state-specific marketing and sales approaches. We cannot predict the effect such reforms or the prospect of their enactment may have on our business. In addition, third-party payors, whether governmental or commercial, whether inside the United States or abroad, increasingly attempt to contain or reduce the costs of health care. These cost-control methods include prospective payment systems, capitated rates, group purchasing, redesign of benefits, requiring pre-authorizations or second opinions prior to certain medical procedures, encouragement of healthier lifestyles and exploration of more cost-effective methods of delivering health care. Although cost controls or other requirements imposed by third-party payors have not historically had a significant effect on contact lens THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES prices or distribution practices, this could change in the future and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may enroll as in-network providers and suppliers with certain payors. Although, becoming an in-network provider or enrolling as a supplier means that we have agreed with these payors to provide certain of our tests at negotiated rates, it does not obligate any physicians to order our tests or guarantee that we will receive reimbursement for our tests from these or any other payors at adequate levels. Thus, these payor relationships, or any similar relationships we may establish in the future, may not result in acceptable levels of reimbursement for our tests or meaningful increases in our physician customer base. We cannot predict whether, under what circumstances, or at what payment levels payors will cover and reimburse for our tests. If we fail to establish and maintain broad coverage and reimbursement for our tests, our ability to generate increased revenue and grow our test volume and customer base could be limited and our future prospects and our business could suffer. On April 5, 2017, the European Parliament passed the Medical Devices Regulation, which repeals and replaces the EU Medical Devices Directive. Unlike directives, which must be implemented into the national laws of the European Economic Area (EEA) member States, the regulations would be directly applicable (i.e., without the need for adoption of EEA member State laws implementing them) in all EEA member States and are intended to eliminate current differences in the regulation of medical devices among EEA member States. The Medical Devices Regulation, among other things, is intended to establish a uniform, transparent, predictable and sustainable regulatory framework across the EEA for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic devices and ensure a high level of safety and health while supporting innovation. The Medical Devices Regulation will, however, only become applicable three years after publication while the In-Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation will only become applicable five years after publication. Once applicable, the new regulations will among other things: • strengthen the rules on placing devices on the market and reinforce surveillance once they are available; • establish explicit provisions on manufacturers' responsibilities for the follow-up of the quality, performance and safety of devices placed on the market; • improve the traceability of medical devices throughout the supply chain to the end-user or patient through a unique identification number; • set up a central database to provide patients, healthcare professionals and the public with comprehensive information on products available in the EU; and • strengthen rules for the assessment of certain high-risk devices, such as implants, which may have to undergo an additional check by experts before they are placed on the market. These modifications may have an impact on the way we conduct our business in the EEA and an adverse impact on our overall business operations and financial results. The costs of complying with the requirements of federal and state laws pertaining to the privacy and security of health information and the potential liability associated with failure to do so could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES State and federal laws and regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) govern the collection, dissemination, use, privacy, confidentiality, security, availability and integrity of individually identifiable information, including protected health information (PHI). HIPAA establishes basic national privacy and security standards for protection of PHI by covered entities such as our genetics testing subsidiaries and the business associates with whom such entities contract for services, including another one of our subsidiaries, Eye Care Prime LLC, which offers value-added software solutions for eye care professionals. HIPAA requires both covered entities and business associates to develop and maintain policies and procedures for PHI that is used or disclosed, and to adopt administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect PHI. When we are acting as a business associate, our clients that are covered entities are mandated by HIPAA to enter into written agreements with us - known as business associate agreements - that require us to safeguard PHI in accordance with HIPAA. Our genetics testing subsidiaries are likewise required to enter into business associate agreements with any of their business associates. Mandatory penalties for HIPAA violations can be significant. A single breach incident can result in violations of multiple standards. If a person knowingly or intentionally obtains or discloses PHI in violation of HIPAA requirements, criminal penalties may also be imposed. We maintain safeguards that we believe are reasonable and appropriate to protect the privacy and security of PHI and other personally identifiable information consistent with applicable law and our contractual obligations; however, our systems may be vulnerable to physical break-ins, viruses, hackers, and other potential sources of security breaches. In addition, we may not be able to prevent incidences of inappropriate use or unauthorized access to PHI by our employees or contractors. Any such breaches could result in exposure to liability under federal and state laws and/or under our contractual arrangements and could adversely impact our business. We are also subject to laws and regulations in countries other than United States covering data privacy and the protection of health-related and other personal information. EU member states and other jurisdictions have adopted data protection laws and regulations, which impose significant compliance obligations. For example, the EU Data Protection Directive, as implemented into national laws by the EU member states, imposes strict obligations and restrictions on the processing of personal data. The new EU-wide General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force in May 2016 and will become applicable on May 25, 2018, replacing the current data protection laws of each EU member state. The GDPR will implement more stringent operational requirements for processors and controllers of personal data, including, for example, expanded disclosures about how personal information is to be used, limitations on retention of information, increased requirements pertaining to health data and pseudonymised (i.e., key-coded) data, mandatory data breach notification requirements and higher standards for data controllers to demonstrate that they have obtained valid consent for certain data processing activities. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with privacy or security laws, policies, legal obligations or industry standards or any security incident that results in the unauthorized release or transfer of personally identifiable information may result in governmental enforcement actions and investigations including by European Data Protection Authorities, fines and penalties (for example, of up to 20,000,000 Euros or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year (whichever is higher) under the GDPR and ePrivacy Regulation), litigation and/or adverse publicity, including by consumer advocacy groups, and could cause our customers to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and business. Such failures could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operations. If the third parties we work with violate applicable laws, contractual obligations or suffer a security breach, such violations may also put us in breach of our obligations under privacy laws and regulations and/or could in turn have a material adverse effect on our business. THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Laws pertaining to health care fraud and abuse could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may be subject to various federal, state and foreign laws pertaining to health care fraud and abuse, including anti-kickback laws, physician self-referral laws and false claims laws. Violations of these laws are punishable by criminal and civil sanctions, including, in some instances, exclusion from participation in federal and state health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration health programs and TRICARE. Similarly, if the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we do business are found to be non-compliant with applicable laws, they may be subject to sanctions, which could indirectly have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. While we believe that our operations are in material compliance with such laws, because of the complex and far-reaching nature of these laws, there can be no assurance that we would not be required to alter one or more of our practices to be in compliance with these laws. Massachusetts issued regulations governing the conduct of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers with respect to health care practitioners that sets forth what medical device manufacturers may and may not permissibly do with respect to providing meals, sponsoring continuing medical education and otherwise providing payments or items of economic benefit to health care practitioners located within the state. Additionally, the regulation requires medical device manufacturers to have in place robust fraud and abuse compliance programs. Other states (e.g., California, Vermont and Nevada) have adopted similar laws. These laws and regulations act to limit our marketing practices, require the dedication of resources to ensure compliance, and expose us to additional liabilities. In addition, the ACA, among other things, amended the intent requirement of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and certain criminal health care fraud statutes so that a person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation. The ACA also provides that the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of these statutes constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the civil False Claims Act or the civil monetary penalties statute. In addition, federal government price reporting laws, changed by the ACA to, among other things, increase the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by most manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and offer such rebates to additional populations, that require us to calculate and report complex pricing metrics to government programs, where such reported prices may be used in the calculation of reimbursement and/or discounts on our marketed drugs. Participation in these programs and compliance with the applicable requirements may subject us to potentially significant discounts on our products, increased infrastructure costs and potentially limit our ability to offer certain marketplace discounts. Any violations of these laws or regulations could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, changes in these laws, regulations, or administrative or judicial interpretations, may require us to further change our business practices or subject our existing business practices to legal challenges, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Ethical, legal and social concerns related to the use of genetic information could reduce demand for our tests. Genetic testing has raised ethical, legal and social issues regarding privacy and the appropriate uses of the resulting information. Government authorities could, for social or other purposes, limit or regulate the use of genetic information or genetic testing or prohibit testing for genetic predisposition to certain conditions, particularly for those that have no known cure. Similarly, these concerns may lead patients to refuse to use, or physicians to be reluctant to order, genetic tests even if permissible. These and other ethical, legal and THE COOPER COMPANIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES social concerns may limit market acceptance and adoption of our tests or reduce the potential markets for our tests, either of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Item 1B.