20 added · 32 removed between the two most recent 10-Ks. The risks a company starts — or stops — disclosing are often the story.
Newly disclosed
For example, the rapid evolution and increased adoption of AI technologies may intensify cybersecurity risks for us and our service providers, key suppliers, and customers.
Global trade policy continues to evolve and there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the duration of existing and newly announced tariffs, potential changes or pauses to such tariffs, tariff levels, and whether further additional tariffs or other retaliatory actions may be imposed, modified, or suspended, and the impacts of such actions on our business.
Bad actors use increasingly advanced methods, including AI-enabled social engineering and deepfakes, automated credential‑stuffing, and other techniques, to attempt to compromise systems and to steal or misuse personal information, confidential information and intellectual property.
The providers of these AI tools may not meet existing—or rapidly evolving—regulatory or industry standards concerning privacy, data protection, security and responsible AI, which could increase the risk of unauthorized disclosure or loss of confidential information or intellectual property, negatively affect the accuracy or availability of systems we use, or otherwise harm our reputation and the perceived effectiveness of our security measures.
Our vendors and other third‑party partners may incorporate AI tools into their offerings with or without disclosing this use to us.
However, technology is increasingly complex and cyber-attacks are increasingly sophisticated and frequent.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, the U.S. presidential administration announced its intention to invoke other methods to collect tariffs and announced new tariffs on imports from all countries, in addition to any existing non-IEEPA tariffs.
In addition, our information technology systems may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from circumstances beyond our control, including fire, natural disasters, systems failures, security breaches or intrusions (including theft of confidential data), and viruses.
While we have business continuity plans and other safeguards in place to mitigate the results of adverse public health developments in the countries where we operate, the business continuity plans and safeguards may not be effective to mitigate the results of epidemics, pandemics, or similar widespread health concerns.
Regulatory and Governmental Factors Government efforts to regulate the production and consumption of tobacco products could have a significant impact on the businesses of our leaf tobacco customers, which would, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
The FCTC, national governments, and regional blocs, such as the European Union, have discussed formulating strategies to place limitations on the level of nicotine allowed in tobacco and tobacco smoke and eliminate certain ingredients from the manufacturing process for tobacco products.
The failure of our information technology systems (including those managed or provided to us by third parties) to perform as we anticipate could disrupt our business and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
No longer disclosed
As a result of our failure to timely file our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, and the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 with the SEC, we are not currently eligible to use a Form S-3 registration statement.
Further, as a result of the late Form 10-Q filing for the quarter ended September 30, 2024 and the late Form 10-Q filing for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, we are also not currently a “well-known seasoned issuer,” as such term is used in the SEC’s regulations, which otherwise would allow us to, among other things, file automatically effective Form S-3 registration statements.
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2025.
Based on this assessment, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of March 31, 2025 as a result of certain deficiencies that were determined to constitute a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
While this material weakness did not result in a material misstatement of our consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, these control deficiencies had not been remediated as of March 31, 2025, and there is a reasonable possibility that they could have resulted in a material misstatement in our annual or interim consolidated financial statements that would not be prevented or detected.
Our eligibility to use a Form S-3 registration statement may not be restored until March 1, 2026, and then only if we have not had any other filing delinquency that would preclude Form S-3 eligibility and satisfies all other requirements for Form S-3 eligibility.
In early April 2025, actions were taken by the United States and certain other countries to delay the effective date of certain of these tariffs; however, as of the date of this Annual Report a number of new tariffs remain in place.
For those jurisdictions that have legislation with an effective enactment date of January 1, 2024, these rules apply beginning with the current fiscal reporting year.
The failure of our information technology systems (including those managed or provided to us by third parties) to perform as we anticipate could disrupt our business and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. 14 In addition, our information technology systems may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from circumstances beyond our control, including fire, natural disasters, systems failures, security breaches or intrusions (including theft of confidential data), and viruses.
While we have business continuity plans and other safeguards in place to mitigate the results of adverse public health developments in the countries where we operate, the business continuity plans and safeguards may not be effective to mitigate the results of epidemics, pandemics, or similar widespread health concerns. 15 Regulatory and Governmental Factors Government efforts to regulate the production and consumption of tobacco products could have a significant impact on the businesses of our leaf tobacco customers, which would, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
We have substantial capital investments in South America and Africa, and the performance of our operations in those regions can materially affect our earnings. 16 Our customers’ operations are subject to similar uncertainties and risks relating to the political stability of the foreign governments in the countries in which their operations are located.
Financial Factors We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting and, if we are not able to remediate the material weakness, or if we identify additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to design and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our results of operations, meet our reporting obligations or prevent misstatements due to fraud or error.