CARR 10-K diff: FY 2023-12-31 → FY 2024-12-31
Paragraph-level diff of Risk Factors (Item 1A) and Management's Discussion & Analysis (Item 7).
Item 1A · Risk Factors
+57 paragraphs −64 paragraphs ~57 changed
FY 2023-12-31 (earlier)
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
RISK FACTOR SUMMARY
Risks Related to Our Business
• Risks associated with our international operations could adversely affect our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
• We are party to joint ventures and other strategic relationships, which may not be successful and may expose us to unique risks and restrictions.• Risks associated with climate change, government, regulations and incentives associated with climate change and mitigation efforts could adversely affect our business.• Demand for our HVAC products and services is influenced by weather conditions and seasonality.• Our business and financial performance depend on continued and substantial investments in our information technology infrastructure, which may not yield anticipated benefits and which may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks.• Cybersecurity incidents could disrupt business operations, result in the loss of critical and confidential information, and adversely impact our reputation and results of operations.
• We engage in acquisitions and divestitures and may encounter difficulties integrating acquired businesses with, or disposing of businesses from, our current operations; therefore, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of these acquisitions and divestitures.• We have significant indebtedness, as well as unused borrowing capacity, and we may incur additional debt in the future. Servicing our indebtedness requires a significant amount of cash, and the terms of our current indebtedness, and the terms of any future indebtedness may restrict the activities of the company.• We depend on our intellectual property and have access to certain intellectual property and information of our customers and suppliers. Infringement of or the failure to protect that intellectual property could adversely affect our future growth and success.• We use a variety of raw materials, supplier-provided parts and third-party service providers in our business. The ability of suppliers to deliver parts, components and manufacturing equipment to our manufacturing facilities, and our ability to manufacture without disruption, could affect our business performance. Significant shortages, supplier capacity constraints or production disruptions, price increases or tariffs could increase our operating costs and adversely impact the competitive positions of our products.• We design, manufacture and service products that incorporate advanced technologies. The introduction of new products and technologies involves risks, and we may not realize the degree or timing of benefits initially anticipated.
• We operate in a competitive environment and our profitability and competitive position depend on our ability to accurately estimate the costs and timing of providing our products and services.
• Customers and others may take disruptive actions.
• Labor matters may impact our business.
• Our defined benefit pension plans are subject to financial market risks that could adversely affect our results.
• We may not realize expected benefits from our cost reduction and restructuring efforts, and our profitability or our business otherwise might be adversely affected.
• Failure to achieve and maintain a high level of product and service quality could damage our reputation with customers and negatively impact our results.
• We are subject to litigation, environmental and other legal and compliance risks.
• We are subject to risks arising from doing business with the U.S. government.
• We may recognize impairment charges for our goodwill and intangible assets.• Failure to maintain a satisfactory credit rating could adversely affect our liquidity, capital position, borrowing costs and access to the capital markets.
Risks Related to the Separation from UTC
• After the Separation and the Distribution, certain members of management, directors and shareowners own stock in UTC, Carrier and Otis and as a result may face actual or potential conflicts of interest.10
Table of Contents• In connection with the Separation into three independent public companies, each of UTC, Carrier and Otis has agreed to indemnify the other parties for certain liabilities. If we are required to pay UTC and/or Otis under these indemnities, our financial results could be negatively impacted. Also, the UTC or Otis indemnities may not be sufficient to hold us harmless from the full amount of liabilities for which UTC and Otis have been allocated responsibility, and UTC and/or Otis may not be able to satisfy their respective indemnification obligations in the future.
• In certain circumstances, we could be required to indemnify UTC for material taxes and other related amounts pursuant to indemnification obligations under the TMA.
• Potential liabilities may arise due to fraudulent transfer considerations, which would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
• The market price and trading volume of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.
• Shareowner's percentage of ownership in our common stock may be diluted in the future.
• Quarterly cash dividends may be discontinued or modified, are subject to a number of uncertainties and may affect the price of our common stock.
• Our amended and restated bylaws designate the courts within the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareowners, which could discourage lawsuits against Carrier and our directors and officers.
• Anti-takeover provisions could enable our Board of Directors to resist a takeover attempt by a third party and limit the power of our shareowners.
General Risks• Natural disasters, epidemics or other unexpected events (including those related to COVID-19) may disrupt our operations, adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition, and may not be fully covered by insurance.
• We may be affected by global economic, capital market and political conditions, and conditions in the construction, transportation and infrastructure industries in particular.
• Our business success depends on attracting and retaining qualified personnel.• Additional tax expense or additional tax exposures could affect our future profitability.
• Failure to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could materially and adversely affect us.
11
Table of Contents
RISK FACTORS
Our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows can be impacted by the factors set forth subsequently, any one of which could cause our actual results to vary materially from recent results or from our anticipated future results.
Risks Related to Our Business
Risks associated with our international operations could adversely affect our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.Approximately 48% of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023 are derived from international operations, including U.S. export sales. As a result, changes in local and regional economic conditions, including fluctuating exchange rates, may adversely affect demand for our products and the profits generated by our non-U.S. operations because a significant portion of our sales and expenses are denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars. While we attempt to manage our exchange rate risks, we are not completely insulated from that exposure. Exchange rates can be volatile and a substantial weakening of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar could reduce our operating margins in various locations outside of the U.S., which would adversely impact the comparability of our results from period to period.
Our international sales and operations are also subject to the risks associated with changes in local government regulations and policies regarding investments, employment, taxation, incentives, foreign exchange and capital controls and the repatriation of earnings. Moreover, government regulations and policies regarding international trade, such as import quotas, punitive taxes or tariffs or similar trade barriers, whether imposed by individual governments or regional trade blocs, can affect demand for our products and services, impact the competitive position of our products or services or encumber our ability to manufacture or sell or procure products in certain countries. The implementation of more restrictive trade policies by the U.S. or by other countries, such as China and Mexico, where we sell or produce our products and services or procure materials, including as a result of the ongoing trade conflict between the U.S. and China, could negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our international sales and operations are also sensitive to political and economic instability, changes in foreign national priorities and government budgets, and the risks associated with differing legal systems and customs in foreign countries.
We expect that sales to emerging markets will continue to account for a significant portion of our sales as developing nations around the world increase their demand for our products. In addition, as part of our globalization strategy, we have invested in certain countries, including Mexico, Brazil, China, India and countries in the Middle East. Emerging markets can present many risks, including cultural differences (such as employment and business practices), compliance risks, economic and government instability, exchange rate fluctuations and the imposition of foreign exchange and capital controls. While these factors and their impact are difficult to predict, any one or more of them could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.We are party to joint ventures and other strategic relationships, which may not be successful and may expose us to unique risks and restrictions.
Our business operations, particularly in our HVAC segment, depend on various strategic relationships, namely, joint ventures and non-wholly owned subsidiaries. We sell our products and services through certain key distributor, joint venture and similar relationships, including the Carrier Enterprise joint ventures with Watsco, Inc., AHI-Carrier FZC, a United Arab Emirates-based joint venture and various joint ventures with members of the Midea Group.
Some of our strategic relationships engage in manufacturing and/or product development. Loss of a key channel partner, or a significant downturn or deterioration in the business or financial condition of a key channel partner, joint venture or similar relationship, whether related to, among other things, a labor strike, diminished liquidity or credit unavailability, weak demand for products or delays in the launch of new products, could adversely affect our results of operations in a particular period or the value of our equity investment. If we are not successful in maintaining our strategic distribution relationships, our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be adversely affected.In addition, our ability to apply our internal controls and compliance policies to our minority-held joint ventures is limited and can expose us to additional financial and reputational risks. We seek to take proactive steps to mitigate these concerns, including through audits and similar reviews.12
Table of Contents
Joint ventures and strategic relationships inherently involve certain other risks. Whether or not we hold a majority interest or maintain operational control in such arrangements, our partners and similar business associates may, for example: (1) have economic or business interests or objectives that are inconsistent with or contrary to our own; (2) exercise veto or other rights, to the extent available, to block actions that we believe are in our or the joint venture’s best interests; (3) act contrary to our policies or objectives; or (4) be unable or unwilling to fulfill their obligations.
In addition, there can be no assurance that any particular joint venture or strategic relationship will continue to be beneficial to us in the long term. For example, some of our joint ventures or other strategic agreements prohibit us from competing in certain geographic markets or product and services channels, and these restrictions may apply to other products and services we develop or businesses we acquire in the future.Risks associated with climate change, government, regulations and incentives associated with climate change and mitigation efforts could adversely affect our business.
The effects of climate change, including increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions and water scarcity, create financial risks to our business. The potential impacts of climate change on our operations are highly uncertain and depend upon the unique geographic and environmental factors present; for example rising sea levels at certain of our facilities, changing storm patterns and intensities and changing temperature levels. The effects of climate change could disrupt our operations by impacting the availability and cost of materials and by increasing insurance and other operating costs. The effects of climate change also may impact our decisions to construct new facilities or maintain existing facilities in the areas most prone to physical risks, which could similarly increase our operating and material costs. We could also face indirect financial risks passed through the supply chain that could result in higher prices for our products and the resources needed to produce them. Potential adverse impacts from climate change may create health and safety issues for employees operating at our facilities and may lead to an inability to maintain standard operating hours.
There is a general consensus that greenhouse gas emissions are linked to climate change, and that these emissions must be reduced dramatically to avert its worst effects. Increased public awareness and concern about climate change will likely continue to: (1) generate more international, regional and/or national requirements to curtail the use of high global warming potential refrigerants (e.g. the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and the American Innovation and Manufacturing ("AIM") Act of 2020, which are essential to many of our products); (2) increase building energy and cold chain efficiency; (3) cause a shift away from the use of fossil fuels as an energy source, including natural gas prohibitions; and (4) lead to the adoption of additional rules and regulations surrounding public disclosures relating to greenhouse gas emissions, including those recently adopted in California and the European Union. In some instances, these requirements may render our existing technology, particularly some of our HVAC and refrigeration products, non-compliant or obsolete and we may be required to make increased capital expenditures to meet new regulations and standards, changing interpretations and stricter enforcement of current laws and regulations. Furthermore, our customers and the markets we serve may impose emissions or other environmental standards through regulation, market-based emissions policies or consumer preferences that we may not be able to timely meet due to our required level of capital investment and technology advancement. While we are committed to pursuing sustainable solutions for our products, there can be no assurance that our development efforts will be successful, that our products will be accepted by the market, that proposed regulations or deregulation will not have an adverse effect on our competitive position, or that economic returns will justify our investments in new product development.
The inconsistent international, regional and/or national requirements associated with climate change regulations, such as the U.S. re-entry into the Paris Climate Agreement, also create economic and regulatory uncertainty. There is also regulatory and budgetary uncertainty associated with government incentives, which, if discontinued or materially reduced, could adversely impact the demand for energy-efficient buildings and homes and could increase costs of compliance.
We have set environmental, social and governance goals to be achieved by 2030, which include investing over $2 billion to develop healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent buildings and cold chain solutions that incorporate sustainable design principles and reduce lifecycle impacts, reducing our customers' carbon footprint by more than 1 gigaton, achieving carbon neutral operations and reducing energy intensity by 10% across our operations. Although we intend to meet these goals, we may be required to expend significant resources to do so, which could increase our operational costs. Further, there can be no assurance of the extent to which any of our goals will be achieved, or that any future expenditures or investments we make in furtherance of achieving such goals will be available, effective, meet investor expectations or any binding or non-binding legal standards regarding sustainability performance. For example, to make substantial progress toward or to meet some of these goals, we may need to purchase or deploy a combination of renewable energy utility contracts, carbon credits or offsets, energy-efficient or low-emission products or operations, or carbon sequestration technologies, and there can be no assurance of the extent to which such contracts, credits, offsets, products, operations or technologies will be available or effective in reducing emissions or energy intensity. As global regulatory reporting obligations continue to emerge and evolve, we strive to align our13
Table of Contentsenvironmental, social and governance disclosures to global reporting requirements, standards, and best practices. To the extent that reporting gaps exist as reporting standards change over time, this could result in increased compliance costs and risks.
Moreover, we may determine that it is in the best interest of our company and our shareowners to prioritize other business, social, governance or sustainability investments over the achievement of our current goals based on economic, regulatory and social factors, business strategy or pressure from investors, activist groups or other stakeholders. If we are unable to make substantial progress toward or meet these goals, then we could incur adverse publicity and reaction from investors, activist groups or other stakeholders, which could adversely impact the perception of us and our products and services by current and potential customers, as well as investors, which could in turn adversely impact our results of operations.Demand for our HVAC products and services is influenced by weather conditions and seasonality.
Demand for our HVAC products and services, representing our largest segment by sales, is seasonal and affected by the weather. Cooler than normal summers depress sales of our replacement air conditioning products and services and warmer than normal winters have the same effect on our heating products. Historically, sales to residential HVAC customers tend to be higher in the second and third quarters of the year because, in the U.S. and other northern hemisphere regions, spring and summer are the peak seasons for sales of air conditioning systems and services. In these circumstances, the results of any quarterly period may not be indicative of expected results for a full year, and unusual weather patterns or events could positively or negatively affect our business and impact overall results of operations.Our business and financial performance depend on continued and substantial investments in our information technology infrastructure, which may not yield anticipated benefits and which may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
The efficient operation of our business requires continued and substantial investments in information technology ("IT") infrastructure systems. The failure to design, develop, maintain and implement IT technology infrastructure systems in an effective and timely manner or to maintain these systems could divert management’s attention and resources. Our information systems may also become obsolete because of inadequate investments, requiring an unplanned transition to a new platform that could be time consuming, costly, and damaging to our competitive position and could require additional management attention. Repeated or prolonged interruptions of service because of poor execution, inadequate investments or obsolescence could have a significant adverse impact on our reputation and our ability to sell products and services.
Cybersecurity incidents could disrupt business operations, result in the loss of critical and confidential information, and adversely impact our reputation and results of operations.
Our business has been and may again in the future be impacted by disruptions to our or third-party providers’ IT infrastructure, which have resulted and could in the future result from (among other causes) cyber-attacks, infrastructure failures or compromises to our physical security. Cyber-based risks are evolving and include attacks: (i) on our IT infrastructure; (ii) targeting the security, integrity and/or availability of hardware and software; (iii) exploiting weaknesses or vulnerabilities in our products, or capturing information installed, stored or transmitted in our products (including after the purchase of those products and when they are installed into, or into environments using, third-party products); and (iv) on facilities or similar infrastructure. Such attacks could disrupt our systems (or those of third parties) and business operations, impact the ability of our products to work as intended or result in the unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification or destruction of information in violation of applicable law and/or contractual obligations. We continue to make investments and adopt measures to enhance our protection, detection, response and recovery capabilities, and to mitigate potential risks to our technology, products, services, operations and confidential data. However, depending on the nature, sophistication and scope of cyber-attacks, it is possible that potential vulnerabilities could go undetected for an extended period. As a result, we could potentially experience: (i) production downtimes; (ii) operational delays or other detrimental impacts on our operations; (iii) destruction or corruption of our data (or data at or third-party providers); (iv) security breaches; (v) manipulation or improper use of our or third-party systems, networks or products; and (vi) financial losses from remedial actions, loss of business, liability, penalties, fines and/or damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. Due to the evolving nature of such risks, the impact of any potential incident cannot be predicted.
In addition, because of the global nature of our business, our internal systems and products must comply with applicable laws, regulations and standards in a number of jurisdictions, and government enforcement actions and violations of data privacy and cybersecurity laws could be costly or interrupt our business operations. Any disruption to our business arising from such issues,14
Table of Contentsor an increase in our costs to cover these issues that is greater than what we have anticipated, could have an adverse effect on our reputation, competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.These risks are heightened by the increasingly connected nature of our products and services as we continue to focus on providing digitally-enabled lifecycle solutions to our customers, including due to the use of third-party products to connect these products and services to the internet, which may be subject to additional vulnerabilities beyond our control.
We engage in acquisitions and divestitures and may encounter difficulties integrating acquired businesses with, or disposing of businesses from, our current operations; therefore, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of these acquisitions and divestitures.
We seek to grow through strategic acquisitions in addition to organic growth. In the past several years, we have acquired consolidated and minority-owned businesses in an effort to complement and expand our business, including the acquisition of the VCS Business, which we completed on January 2, 2024. We expect to continue such pursuits in the future. Our due diligence reviews may not identify all of the issues necessary to accurately estimate the cost and potential loss contingencies of a particular transaction, including potential exposure to regulatory sanctions resulting from an acquisition target’s historical activities.In connection with these acquisitions, we have in the past incurred, and expect to incur in the future, significant costs, including in connection with the integration of such businesses. For example, in connection with the integration of the VCS Business, we incurred transaction fees and costs related to formulating integration plans, we expect to incur a number of non-recurring costs associated with achieving cost synergies in connection with the acquisition, and the execution of our integration plans may lead to additional unanticipated costs, including costs related to employee retention, redeployment, relocation or severance fees, as well as costs necessary to maintain employee morale and to attract, motivate or retain management personnel and other key employees. Furthermore, integrating a business, including the VCS Business, may result in material challenges, including the diversion of management’s attention from ongoing business concerns; retaining key management and other employees; retaining or attracting business and operational relationships; managing the expenses and operational challenges of the integration process; consolidating corporate and administrative infrastructures; coordinating geographically separate organizations; loss of customers, distributors, suppliers, and other business partners of the acquired business; unanticipated issues in integrating information technology, communications, internal controls and other systems; as well as potential unknown liabilities and unforeseen expenses related to integration. We ultimately may not realize, and have sometimes not realized, the degree or timing of benefits or cost synergies we anticipate when we first enter into a transaction.
We also may incur - and have incurred - unanticipated costs or expenses, including asset impairment and other charges and expenses associated with litigation and other liabilities. In addition, in connection with certain acquisitions including the acquisition of the VCS Business, we have disclosed and may from time to time disclose, unaudited pro forma financial information. This pro forma financial information is presented for illustrative purposes only and is not necessarily indicative of what our actual financial position or results of operations would have been had the acquisition been completed on the dates indicated therein. Further, our actual results and financial position may differ materially and adversely from the unaudited pro forma financial information, including due to certain adjustments made by our management, and due to changes between preliminary estimates of the fair value of assets to be acquired and liabilities to be assumed, and the final acquisition accounting. Additionally, accounting requirements relating to business combinations, including the requirement to expense certain acquisition costs as incurred, may cause us to incur greater earnings volatility and generally lower earnings subsequent to periods in which we acquire new businesses. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
We also make strategic divestitures from time to time. On April 25, 2023, we announced plans to exit our Fire & Security and Commercial Refrigeration businesses over the course of 2024. On December 8, 2023, we announced entry into a definitive agreement to sell our global security business and on December 13, 2023, we announced the entry into a definitive agreement to sell our global commercial refrigeration business. These and other divestitures may result in continued financial exposure to the divested businesses, such as through guarantees, other financial arrangements, continued supply and services arrangements or through the retention of liabilities, such as for environmental and product liability claims. Under these arrangements, nonperformance by those divested businesses or claims against retained liabilities could result in the imposition of obligations that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
The success of future acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures will depend on the satisfaction of conditions precedent to such transactions, which will depend in part on the ability of the parties to secure any required regulatory approvals in a timely manner, among other things.15
Table of ContentsWe have significant indebtedness, as well as unused borrowing capacity, and we may incur additional debt in the future. Servicing our indebtedness requires a significant amount of cash, and the terms of our current indebtedness, and the terms of any future indebtedness may restrict the activities of the company.
As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately $14.3 billion in aggregate principal amount of outstanding indebtedness, including debt incurred to close the acquisition of the VCS Business on January 2, 2024. See Note 7 – Borrowings and Lines of Credit and Note 25 – Subsequent Events in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements and the section entitled "Liquidity and Financial Condition" in this Annual Report for additional information. Although not expected, we may also incur additional indebtedness in the future, including via issuance of commercial paper, under either our Revolving Credit Facility or under the Revolver.
Our debt obligations could potentially have important consequences to us and our debt and equity investors, including: (1) requiring a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations to make debt service payments or to refinance our indebtedness as it becomes due, making it more difficult for us to satisfy our other priorities and obligations; (2) resulting in higher interest expenses, (3) increasing the risk of a future credit ratings downgrade of our debt, which could increase future debt costs and limit the future availability of debt financing; (4) increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions; (5) reducing the cash flows available to fund capital expenditures and other corporate purposes and to grow our business; (6) limiting our flexibility in pursuing strategic opportunities or planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry; (7) placing us at a competitive disadvantage relative to our competitors that may not be as highly leveraged; and (8) limiting our ability to borrow additional funds as needed or take advantage of business opportunities as they arise, pay cash dividends or repurchase shares.Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive, regulatory factors, and other factors beyond our control. Our cash flow from operations in the future may be insufficient to service our indebtedness because of factors beyond our control, including if our actual cash requirements in the future are greater than expected. If we are unable to generate the necessary cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations.As described in Note 7 – Borrowings and Lines of Credit in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements and "Liquidity and Financial Condition," the agreements governing our indebtedness contain covenants restricting our financial flexibility in a number of ways, including, among other things, restrictions on our ability and the ability of certain of our subsidiaries to incur liens, to make certain fundamental changes and to enter into sale and leaseback transactions. In addition, some of the agreements governing our indebtedness require that we not exceed a maximum consolidated total leverage ratio and contain certain customary events of default, including related to changes of control. As of the date of this report, we were in compliance with the covenants under the agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness. Our ability to comply with such restrictions and covenants, some of which have already been amended as described above, may be affected by events beyond our control. If we breach any of these restrictions or covenants and do not obtain a waiver from the lenders or holders, as applicable, then, subject to the applicable cure periods and conditions, any outstanding indebtedness could be declared immediately due and payable.
Apart from these covenants, neither we nor any of our subsidiaries are restricted from incurring additional unsecured debt or liabilities, and to the extent that we incur additional indebtedness, the foregoing risks could increase.
We depend on our intellectual property and have access to certain intellectual property and information of our customers and suppliers. Infringement of or the failure to protect that intellectual property could adversely affect our future growth and success.Our intellectual property rights are important to our business and include numerous patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, proprietary technology, technical data, business processes and other confidential information. Although we consider our intellectual property rights in the aggregate to be valuable, we do not believe that our business is materially dependent on a single intellectual property right or any group of them. We nonetheless rely on a combination of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, nondisclosure agreements, customer and supplier agreements, license agreements, IT security systems, internal controls and compliance systems and other measures to protect our intellectual property. We also rely on nondisclosure
16
Table of Contents
agreements, IT security systems and other measures to protect certain customer and supplier information and intellectual property that we have in our possession or to which we have access. Our efforts to protect such intellectual property and proprietary information may not be sufficient, however.We cannot be sure that our pending patent applications will result in the issuance of patents, that patents issued to or licensed by us in the past or in the future will not be challenged or circumvented by competitors, or that these patents will be found to be valid or sufficiently broad to preclude our competitors from introducing technologies similar to those covered by our patents and patent applications.
In addition, we may be the target of competitor or other third-party patent enforcement actions seeking substantial monetary damages or seeking to prevent the sale and marketing of certain of our products. Our competitive position also may be adversely impacted by limitations on our ability to obtain possession, ownership or necessary licenses concerning data important to the development or sale of our products or service offerings, or by limitations on our ability to restrict the use by others of data related to our products or services. Any of these events or factors could subject us to judgments, penalties and significant litigation costs or temporarily or permanently disrupt our sales and marketing of the affected products or services and could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.We use a variety of raw materials, supplier-provided parts, and third-party service providers in our business. The ability of suppliers to deliver material parts, components and manufacturing equipment to our manufacturing facilities, and our ability to manufacture without disruption, could affect our business performance. Significant shortages, supplier capacity constraints or production disruptions, price increases, or tariffs could increase our operating costs and adversely impact the competitive positions of our products.
Our reliance on suppliers and commodity markets to secure components and raw materials (such as copper, aluminum and steel), and on service providers to deliver our products, exposes us to volatility in the prices and availability of these materials and services. We use a wide range of materials and components in the global production of our products, which come from numerous suppliers around the world. Because some key parts may be available only from a single supplier or a limited group of suppliers, we are subject to supply and pricing risk. In addition, certain proprietary component parts used in some of our products are provided by single-source unaffiliated third-party suppliers. We would be unable to obtain these proprietary components for an indeterminate period of time if these single-source suppliers were to cease or interrupt production or otherwise fail to supply these components to us, which could adversely affect our product sales and operating results. Our supply chain could be impacted by climate change through extreme weather events, resulting in delivery or production disruptions and increased material costs. In addition, other issues with suppliers (such as capacity constraints, quality issues, consolidations, closings or bankruptcies), price increases, raw material shortages, regulatory limitations, or the decreased availability of trucks and other delivery services could also have a material adverse effect on our ability to meet our commitments to customers or increase our operating costs. Periodic disruptions in our supply chains has resulted, and may continue to result, in sufficient inventory not being available in a timely manner or during the appropriate season as well as higher freight and other logistic costs, including increased carrier rates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We use various tactical and strategic actions to mitigate our raw material and supply chain risks and challenges, including consolidating commodity purchases, locking in prices of expected purchases of certain raw materials, dual sourcing, increasing regionalization, proactive engagement with suppliers and our workforce and dynamic management of freight costs and availability. However, these efforts may be unsuccessful or could cause us to pay higher prices for a commodity when compared with the market price at the time the commodity is actually purchased or delivered. Our suppliers could be subject to tariffs as well as climate change related regulations, compliance with which would increase our costs and the impacts of which are difficult to predict. We believe that our supply management and production practices appropriately balance the foreseeable risks and the costs of alternative practices. Nonetheless, these risks may have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
Our operations and those of our suppliers are subject to disruption for a variety of reasons, including COVID-19 or other health-related supplier plant shutdowns or slowdowns, transportation delays, work stoppages, labor relations, changes in laws or regulations, governmental regulatory and enforcement actions, intellectual property claims against suppliers, financial issues such as a supplier bankruptcy, IT failures and hazards such as fire, earthquakes, flooding or other natural disasters. Insurance for certain disruptions may not be available, affordable or adequate. The effects of climate change, including extreme weather events, long-term changes in temperature levels and water availability may exacerbate these risks. Such disruption has in the17
Table of Contentspast and could in the future interrupt our ability to manufacture certain products. Any significant disruption could have a material adverse impact on our competitive position.We design, manufacture and service products that incorporate advanced technologies. The introduction of new products and technologies involves risks, and we may not realize the degree or timing of benefits initially anticipated.Our future success depends on designing, developing, producing, selling and supporting innovative products that incorporate advanced technologies. The regulations applicable to our products, as well as our customers’ product and service needs, change from time to time. Moreover, regulatory changes, inclusive of those aimed at addressing climate change and its impacts, may render our products and technologies non-compliant and may subject us to operational, compliance and reputational risks. Our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of our technological advancements or product improvements – including those associated with regulatory changes – depends on a variety of factors, including: meeting development, production and regulatory approval schedules; meeting performance plans and expectations; the availability of raw materials and parts; our suppliers’ performance; the hiring, training and deployment of qualified personnel; achieving efficiencies; identifying emerging regulatory and technological trends; validating innovative technologies; the level of customer interest in new technologies and products; and the costs and customer acceptance of our new or improved products.Our products and services also may incorporate technologies developed or manufactured by third parties, which, when combined with our technology or products, creates additional risks and uncertainties. As a result, the performance and market acceptance of these third-party products and services could affect the level of customer interest and acceptance of our own products in the marketplace.Our research and development efforts, including those that advance environmental sustainability, may not culminate in new technologies or timely products, or may not meet the needs of our customers as effectively as competitive offerings. Our competitors may develop competing technologies that gain market acceptance before or instead of our products. In addition, we may not be successful in anticipating or reacting to changes in the regulatory environments in which our products are sold, and the markets for our products may not develop or grow as we anticipate.We operate in a competitive environment and our profitability and competitive position depend on our ability to accurately estimate the costs and timing of providing our products and services .
In certain of our businesses, our contracts are typically awarded on a competitive basis. Our bids are based upon, among other factors, the cost to timely provide the products and services. To generate an acceptable return, we must accurately estimate our costs and schedule. If we fail to do so, the profitability of contracts may be adversely affected – including because some of our contracts provide for liquidated damages if we do not perform on time – which could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
Customers and others may take disruptive actions.
From time to time customers and others may seek to become suppliers of products and services that compete with our own or pursue other strategies to disrupt our business model. For example, an affiliate of a customer in our transport refrigeration business produces refrigeration units for shipping containers that compete with our products, and another one of our transport refrigeration customers produces refrigeration units for truck trailers that compete with our refrigeration units. In addition, our customers or existing or future competitors may seek to introduce non-traditional business models or disruptive technologies and products in the industries in which we participate, resulting in increased competition and new dynamics in these industries.
Labor matters may impact our business.A significant portion of our employees are represented by labor unions or works councils in a number of countries under various collective bargaining agreements with varying durations and expiration dates. See the section entitled "Other Matters Relating to Our Business as a Whole - Human Capital Management." We may not be able to satisfactorily renegotiate these agreements before they expire. In addition, existing agreements may not prevent a strike or work stoppage, union and works council campaigns and other labor disputes. We may also be subject to general country strikes or work stoppages unrelated to our specific business or collective bargaining agreements. Additionally, a shortage in certain work forces, such as technicians, manufacturing workers or truck drivers, due to external forces such as geopolitical strife or pandemics, may impact our business by affecting the ability to produce, install, sell and deliver our products. Any such work stoppages (or potential work stoppages)
18Table of Contentsor labor shortages could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, productivity, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.Our defined benefit pension plans are subject to financial market risks that could adversely affect our results.
The performance of the financial markets and interest rates can impact our defined benefit pension plan expenses and funding obligations. Significant decreases in the discount rate or investment losses on plan assets may increase our funding obligations and adversely impact our financial results. See Note 10 – Employee Benefit Plans to the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional discussion on pension plans and related obligations and contingencies.
We may not realize expected benefits from our cost reduction and restructuring efforts, and our profitability or our business otherwise might be adversely affected.
In order to operate more efficiently and cost effectively, we have, and we may from time to time, adjust employment levels, optimize our footprint and/or implement other restructuring activities. These activities are complex and may involve or require significant changes to our operations. If we do not successfully manage these activities, expected efficiencies and benefits might be delayed or not realized. Risks associated with these actions and other workforce management issues include: unfavorable political responses and reputational harm; unforeseen delays in the implementation of the restructuring activities; additional costs; adverse effects on employee morale; the failure to meet operational targets due to the loss of employees or work stoppages; and difficulty managing our operations during or after facility consolidations, any of which may impair our ability to achieve anticipated cost reductions, harm our business or reputation, or have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
Failure to achieve and maintain a high level of product and service quality could damage our reputation with customers and negatively impact our results.Product and service quality issues could harm customer confidence in our company and our brands. If certain of our product and service offerings do not meet applicable safety standards – which has been the case – or our customers’ expectations regarding safety or quality, we can experience and have experienced previously, lost sales and increased costs and we can be exposed, and have previously been exposed, to legal, financial and reputational risks. Actual, potential or perceived product safety concerns could expose us to litigation as well as government enforcement actions, which has also occurred in certain instances. In addition, when our products fail to perform as expected, we have been, and may in the future be, exposed to warranty, product liability, personal injury and other claims.We maintain strict quality controls and procedures. However, we cannot be certain that these controls and procedures will reveal defects in our products or their raw materials, which may not become apparent until after the products have been placed in use in the market. Accordingly, there is a risk that products will have defects, which could require a product recall or field corrective action. Product recalls and field corrective actions can be expensive to implement and may damage our reputation, customer relationships and market share. We have conducted product recalls and field corrective actions in the past and may do so again in the future.
In many jurisdictions, product liability claims are not limited to any specified amount of recovery. If any such claims or contribution requests or requirements exceed our available insurance or if there is a product recall, there could be an adverse impact on our results of operations. In addition, a recall or claim could require us to review our entire product portfolio to assess whether similar issues are present in other products, which could result in a significant disruption to our business and which could have a further adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. There can be no assurance that we will not experience any material warranty or product liability claims in the future, that we will not incur significant costs to defend such claims or that we will have adequate reserves to cover any recall, repair and replacement costs.
We are subject to litigation, environmental and other legal and compliance risks.We are subject to a variety of litigation, legal and compliance risks including, without limitation, claims, lawsuits and/or regulatory enforcement actions relating to breach of contract, cybersecurity and data privacy, employment and labor, environmental and employee health and safety matters, global chemical compliance, intellectual property rights, personal injury, product safety and taxes as well as anti-corruption, competition and securities laws and other laws governing improper
19Table of Contentsbusiness practices. If found responsible in connection with such matters, we could be subject to significant fines, penalties, repayments and other damages (in certain cases, treble damages) and experience reputational harm.As a global business, we are subject to complex laws and regulations in the U.S. and other countries in which we operate. Those laws and regulations may be interpreted in different ways. They may also change from time to time, as may related interpretations and other guidance. Changes in laws or regulations could result in higher expenses. Uncertainty relating to laws or regulations may also affect how we operate, structure our investments and enforce our rights.Emerging global chemical use restrictions related to protection of human health and the environment as well as climate change directives may require additional investments in product designs, resulting in increased manufacturing and production costs as well as updates to product safety assessments. These restrictions may also increase our legal obligations regarding remediation of its current and legacy operational sites.At times, we are involved in disputes with private parties over environmental issues, including litigation over the allocation of cleanup costs, alleged personal injuries and property damage. Existing and future asbestos-related claims could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Personal injury lawsuits may involve individual and putative class actions alleging that contaminants originating from our current or former products or operating facilities caused or contributed to medical conditions. Property damage lawsuits may involve claims relating to environmental damage or diminution of real estate values. Even in litigation where we believe our liability is remote, there is a risk that a negative finding or decision could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition, in particular with respect to environmental claims in regions where we have, or previously had, significant operations or where certain of our products have been manufactured and used.The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") and other anti-corruption laws generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to government officials or other persons for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Certain of our or our channel partners' customer relationships are with governmental entities and are, therefore, subject to the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws. We are also subject to antitrust, anti-collusion and anti-money laundering laws in various jurisdictions throughout the world. Despite meaningful measures to ensure lawful conduct, which include training, audits and internal control policies and procedures, we may not always be able to prevent our employees, third-party agents or channel partners from violating the FCPA or anti-trust, anti-money laundering or other anti-corruption laws. As a result, we could be subject to criminal and civil penalties, as well as disgorgement. We could be required to make changes or enhancements to our compliance measures that could increase our costs, and we could be subject to other remedial actions.
Violations of the FCPA, antitrust, anti-money laundering or other anti-corruption or anti-collusion laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt our operations, cause reputational harm, involve significant management distraction and result in a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.We also must comply with various laws and regulations relating to the import and export of products, services and technology into and from the U.S. and other countries having jurisdiction over our operations. In the U.S., these laws include, amongst others, the Export Administration Regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce and embargoes and sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Restrictions on the export of our products, services or technologies could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
For a description of material legal proceedings and regulatory matters, see the section entitled "Legal Proceedings" and Note 23 – Commitments and Contingent Liabilities in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.
We are subject to risks arising from doing business with the U.S. government.As a supplier and service provider to the U.S. government, including as a subcontractor under prime contracts with the U.S. government, we are subject to certain heightened risks, such as those associated with the government’s rights to audit and conduct investigations and with its rights to terminate contracts for convenience or default. In light of the current U.S. government contracting environment, we are and will continue to be the subject of U.S. government investigations relating to our U.S. government contracts or subcontracts. Such investigations often take years to complete and could result in administrative, civil or criminal liabilities, including repayments, fines, treble and other damages, forfeitures, restitution or
20Table of Contentspenalties, or could lead to suspension or debarment of U.S. government contracting or of export privileges. For instance, if a business unit were charged with wrongdoing in connection with a U.S. government investigation (including fraud or violation of certain environmental or export laws), the U.S. government could suspend us from bidding on or receiving awards of new U.S. government contracts or subcontracts. If convicted or found liable, the U.S. government could fine and debar us from receiving new awards for a period generally not to exceed three years and could void any contracts found to be tainted by fraud. We also could suffer reputational harm if allegations of impropriety were made against us, even if such allegations are later determined to be unsubstantiated.We may recognize impairment charges for our goodwill and intangible assets.As of December 31, 2023, the net carrying value of our goodwill and intangible assets totaled $8.0 billion and $1.0 billion, respectively. Our intangible assets primarily consist of customer relationships, patents, service portfolios and trademarks. We periodically assess these assets to determine if they are impaired. Significant negative industry or economic trends, disruptions to our business, planned or unexpected significant changes in the use of the assets, and sustained market capitalization declines may result in the impairment of goodwill or intangible assets. Any charges relating to such impairments could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations in the period in which the impairment is recognized.Failure to maintain a satisfactory credit rating could adversely affect our liquidity, capital position, borrowing costs and access to the capital markets.We have been issued an investment grade credit rating by each of Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. ("Moody's"), Standard & Poor’s ("S&P") and Fitch Ratings Inc. ("Fitch Ratings"). Nonetheless, any future downgrades could increase our borrowing costs, reduce market capacity for our commercial paper or require the posting of collateral under our derivative contracts. There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain our credit ratings, and any additional actual or anticipated changes or downgrades, including any announcement that our ratings are under review for a downgrade, may have a negative impact on our liquidity, capital position and access to the capital markets. Additionally, our credit agreements generally provide for an increase in interest rates if the ratings for our debt are downgraded. This risk may be exacerbated by our recent and any future acquisitions, including as a result of additional indebtedness that we incurred in connection with our recent acquisition of the VCS Business.Risks Related to the Separation from UTC
After the Separation and the Distribution, certain members of management, directors and shareowners own stock in UTC, Carrier and Otis, and as a result may face actual or potential conflicts of interest.Following the Separation and the Distribution, certain members of management and the Board of Directors of each of UTC, Carrier and Otis own common stock in all three companies. This ownership overlap could create, or appear to create, potential conflicts of interest when the management and directors of one company face decisions that could have different implications for themselves and the other two companies. For example, potential conflicts of interest could arise in connection with the resolution of any dispute regarding the terms of the agreements governing the Separation and our relationship with UTC and Otis thereafter. These agreements include a separation and distribution agreement, the TMA, the employee matters agreement, the intellectual property agreement and any commercial agreements between the parties or their affiliates. Potential conflicts of interest may also arise out of any commercial arrangements that we or UTC may enter into in the future. See Note 1 – Description of the Business in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional information on these agreements.In connection with the Separation into three independent public companies, each of UTC, Carrier and Otis has agreed to indemnify the other parties for certain liabilities. If we are required to pay UTC and/or Otis under these indemnities, our financial results could be negatively impacted. Also, the UTC or Otis indemnities may not be sufficient to hold us harmless from the full amount of liabilities for which UTC and Otis have been allocated responsibility, and UTC and/or Otis may not be able to satisfy their respective indemnification obligations in the future.Pursuant to the separation and distribution agreement and certain other agreements among UTC, us and Otis, each party has agreed to indemnify the other parties for certain liabilities as discussed further in Note 1 – Description of the Business in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report. Indemnities that we may be required to provide UTC and/or Otis are not subject to any cap, may be significant and could negatively impact our business. Third parties could also seek to hold us responsible for any of the liabilities that UTC and/or Otis has agreed to retain. The indemnities from
21
Table of Contents
UTC and Otis for our benefit may not be sufficient to protect us against the full amount of such liabilities, and UTC and/or Otis may not be able to fully satisfy their respective indemnification obligations. Any amounts we are required to pay pursuant to such indemnification obligations and other liabilities could require us to divert cash that would otherwise have been used in furtherance of our operating business.Moreover, even if we ultimately succeed in recovering from UTC or Otis, as applicable, we may be temporarily required to bear these losses. Each of these risks could negatively affect our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.In certain circumstances, we could be required to indemnify UTC for material taxes and other related amounts pursuant to indemnification obligations under the TMA.Under the TMA, we are generally required to indemnify UTC and Otis for any taxes resulting from the Separation (and any related costs and other damages) to the extent such amounts resulted from: (1) an acquisition of all or a portion of the equity securities or assets of Carrier, whether by merger or otherwise (and regardless of whether we participated in or otherwise facilitated the acquisition), (2) other actions or failures to act by Carrier or (3) certain of Carrier’s representations, covenants or undertakings contained in any of the Separation-related agreements and documents or in any documents relating to the IRS ruling and/or the opinion of counsel being incorrect or violated. Further, under the TMA, we are generally required to indemnify UTC and Otis for a specified portion of any taxes (and any related costs and other damages) (a) arising as a result of the failure of the Distribution and certain related transactions to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free (including if the transactions were determined not to qualify for non-recognition of gain or loss under Section 355 and related provisions of the Code) or a failure of any internal separation transaction that is intended to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free to so qualify, in each case, to the extent such amounts did not result from a disqualifying action by, or acquisition of equity securities of, Carrier, Otis or UTC or (b) arising from an adjustment, pursuant to an audit or other tax proceeding, with respect to any separation transaction that is not intended to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free. Any such indemnity obligations could be material. See Note 1 – Description of the Business in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional information.Potential liabilities may arise due to fraudulent transfer considerations, which would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
In connection with the Separation (including the internal reorganization described previously), UTC completed several corporate reorganization transactions involving its subsidiaries which, along with the Distribution, may be subject to various fraudulent conveyance and transfer laws. If, under these laws, a court were to determine that, at the time of the Separation, any entity involved in these reorganization transactions or the Separation: (1) was insolvent, was rendered insolvent by reason of the Separation, or had remaining assets constituting unreasonably small capital, and (2) received less than fair consideration in exchange for the Distribution; or intended to incur, or believed it would incur, debts beyond its ability to pay these debts as they matured, then the court could void the Separation and the Distribution, in whole or in part, as a fraudulent conveyance or transfer. The court could then require our shareowners to return to UTC some or all of the shares of Carrier common stock issued in the Distribution, or require UTC or us, as the case may be, to fund liabilities of the other company for the benefit of creditors. The measure of insolvency will vary depending upon the jurisdiction and the applicable law. Generally, however, an entity would be considered insolvent if the fair value of its assets was less than the amount of its liabilities (including the probable amount of contingent liabilities), or if it incurred debt beyond its ability to repay the debt as it matures. No assurance can be given as to what standard a court would apply to determine insolvency or that a court would determine that we or any of our subsidiaries were solvent at the time of or after giving effect to the Distribution.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
The market price and trading volume of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.
The trading price of our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile and the trading volume in our common stock may fluctuate.The factors that could affect our common stock price include among others: (1) industry or general market conditions, including inflation and increasing cost of goods; (2) domestic and international economic factors unrelated to our performance; (3) our ability to execute our planned portfolio transformation transactions; (4) lawsuits, enforcement actions and other claims by third parties or governmental authorities; (5) changes in our customers’ preferences; (6) new regulatory pronouncements and changes in regulatory guidelines; (7) actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly operating results; (8) changes in securities
22Table of Contentsanalysts’ estimates of our financial performance or lack of research coverage and reports by industry analysts; (9) action by institutional shareowners or other large shareowners; (10) failure to meet any financial guidance given by us or any change in any financial guidance given by us, or changes by us in our financial guidance practices; (11) announcements by us of significant impairment charges; (12) speculation in the press or investment community; (13) investor perception of us and our industry; (14) changes in market valuations or earnings of similar companies; (15) announcements by us or our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, dispositions or strategic partnerships; (16) war or terrorist acts; (17) any future sales of our common stock or other securities; (18) additions or departures of key personnel; (19) failure to achieve any of our environmental, social or governance goals; and (20) other risk factors discussed in this "Risk Factors" section or in our other filings from time to time with the SEC.
The stock markets have experienced volatility in recent years that has been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, class action litigation has often been instituted against the affected company. Any litigation of this type brought against us could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.Shareowner's percentage of ownership in our common stock may be diluted in the future.The percentage ownership of shareowners in our common stock may be diluted because of equity issuances for acquisitions, capital market transactions or otherwise, including any equity awards that we grant to our directors, officers and employees. Our employees have, and will receive from us, stock-based awards that correspond to shares of our common stock. Such awards have had and will have a dilutive effect on our earnings per share, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Additionally, in connection with our acquisition of the VCS Business, we issued 58,608,959 shares of our common stock to Viessmann, with which we entered into an Investor Rights Agreement that provides for, among other things, customary resale, demand and piggyback registration rights. While the Investor Rights Agreement also provides that, for the time periods specified therein, Viessmann and its affiliates are subject to customary standstill, lockup and transfer restrictions , registration of the shares of common stock held by Viessmann will permit those shares to be sold into the public market, once eligible to be disposed of pursuant to the Investor Rights Agreement. See Note 14 – Stock-Based Compensation and Note 18 – Earnings Per Share in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional information.Quarterly cash dividends may be discontinued or modified, are subject to a number of uncertainties and may affect the price of our common stock.
Quarterly cash dividends are a component of our capital allocation strategy, which we fund with operating cash flows, borrowings and divestitures. However, we are not required to declare dividends. Dividends may be discontinued, accelerated, suspended or delayed at any time without prior notice. Even if not discontinued, the amount of such dividends may be changed, and the amount, timing and frequency of such dividends may vary from past practice or from our stated expectations. Decisions with respect to dividends are subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors and will be based on a variety of factors. Important factors that could cause us to discontinue, limit, suspend, increase or delay our quarterly cash dividends include market conditions, the price of our common stock, the nature and timing of other investment opportunities, changes in our business strategy, the terms of our financing arrangements, our outlook as to the ability to obtain financing at attractive rates, the impact on our credit ratings and the availability of domestic cash. The reduction or elimination of our cash dividend could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Our amended and restated bylaws designate the courts within the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareowners, which could discourage lawsuits against Carrier and our directors and officers.
Our amended and restated bylaws provide that unless our Board of Directors otherwise determines, the state courts within the State of Delaware (or, if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) will be the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of Carrier, any action asserting a claim for or based on a breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any current or former director or officer or other employee of Carrier to Carrier or to Carrier shareowners, including a claim alleging the aiding and abetting of such a breach of fiduciary duty, any action asserting a claim against Carrier or any current or former director or officer or other employee of Carrier arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws, any action asserting a claim relating to or involving Carrier governed by the internal affairs doctrine, or any action asserting an “internal corporate claim” as that term is defined in Section 115 of the DGCL.23
Table of ContentsTo the fullest extent permitted by law, this exclusive forum provision applies to state and federal law claims, including claims under the federal securities laws, including the Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("Securities Act"), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), although Carrier shareowners will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ organizational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with claims arising under federal securities laws or otherwise, a court could find the exclusive forum provision contained in the amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable.This exclusive forum provision may limit the ability of our shareowners to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such shareowners find favorable for disputes with Carrier or our directors or officers, which may discourage such lawsuits against Carrier and our directors and officers. Alternatively, if a court were to find this exclusive forum provision inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings described previously, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Anti-takeover provisions could enable our Board of Directors to resist a takeover attempt by a third party and limit the power of our shareowners.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain, and Delaware law contains, provisions that are intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making such practices or bids unacceptably expensive to the bidder and to encourage prospective acquirers to negotiate with our Board of Directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. These provisions include, among others: (1) the ability of our remaining directors to fill vacancies on our Board of Directors (except in an instance where a director is removed by shareowners and the resulting vacancy is filled by shareowners); (2) limitations on shareowners’ ability to call a special shareowner meeting; (3) rules regarding how shareowners may present proposals or nominate directors for election at shareowner meetings; and (4) the right of our Board of Directors to issue preferred stock without shareowner approval.
In addition, we are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL, which could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control that shareowners may favor. Section 203 provides that, subject to limited exceptions, persons that acquire, or are affiliated with persons that acquire, more than 15% of the outstanding voting stock of a Delaware corporation may not engage in a business combination with that corporation, including by merger, consolidation or acquisitions of additional shares, for a three-year period following the date on which that person or any of its affiliates becomes the holder of more than 15% of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock.
We believe these provisions will protect our shareowners from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with our Board of Directors and by providing our Board of Directors with more time to assess any acquisition proposal. These provisions are not intended to make us immune from takeovers; however, these provisions will apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some shareowners and could delay or prevent an acquisition that our Board of Directors determines is not in the best interests of Carrier and our shareowners. These provisions may also prevent or discourage attempts to remove and replace incumbent directors.
General RisksNatural disasters, epidemics or other unexpected events (including those related to COVID-19) may disrupt our operations, adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition and may not be fully covered by insurance.
The occurrence of one or more natural disasters, power outages or other unexpected events, including hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, floods and other forms of severe weather, health epidemics, pandemics (including COVID-19) or other contagious outbreaks, conflicts, wars or terrorist acts, in the U.S. or in other countries in which we or our suppliers or customers operate could adversely affect our operations and financial performance. Natural disasters, power outages or other unexpected events could damage or close one or more of our facilities or disrupt our operations temporarily or long-term, such as by causing business interruptions or by affecting the availability and/or cost of materials needed for manufacturing. In some cases, we have one factory that can manufacture a specific product or product line. As a result, damage to or the closure of a certain factory or factories may disrupt or prevent us from manufacturing certain products. Existing insurance arrangements may not cover all of the costs or lost cash flows that may arise from such events. The occurrence of any of these events could also increase our insurance and other operating costs or harm our sales.
24Table of ContentsWe may be affected by global economic, capital market and political conditions, and conditions in the construction, transportation and infrastructure industries in particular.
Our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition may be adversely affected by changes in global economic conditions and geopolitical risks and conditions, including credit market conditions, levels of consumer and business confidence, fluctuations in residential, commercial and industrial construction activity, pandemic health issues (including COVID-19 and its effects), natural disasters, commodity prices, energy costs, interest rate fluctuations, inflation, recession, foreign exchange rates, levels of government spending and deficits, trade policies (including tariffs, boycotts and sanctions), military conflicts, acts of terrorism, regulatory changes, actual or anticipated defaults on sovereign debt and other challenges that could affect the global economy.
These economic and political conditions affect our business in a number of ways. In March 2022, we suspended business operations in Russia by ceasing to pursue new business opportunities while continuing to fulfill existing contracts for equipment, service and parts, where possible, in a manner that fully complies with applicable sanctions and trade controls. Our sales, operations and supply chain in Russia and Ukraine are not material to Carrier. However, the military conflict between the two countries and attendant geopolitical environment may continue to negatively impact the global economy and major financial markets, and may result in additional increases in commodity prices and supply-chain disruptions, including shortages of materials, higher costs for fuel and freight and increased transportation delays. In addition, the extent to which COVID-19 will continue to impact the global economy remains uncertain. This military conflict, COVID-19, the potential for an increase of their impact on global or regional economies and the perception that such events may occur, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. Furthermore, the tightening of credit in the capital markets could adversely affect the ability of our customers, including individual end-customers and businesses, to obtain financing for significant purchases and operations, which could result in a decrease in or cancellation of orders for our products and services. Similarly, tightening credit may adversely affect our supply base and increase the potential for one or more of our suppliers to experience financial distress or bankruptcy. Additionally, because we have a number of factories and suppliers in foreign countries, the imposition of tariffs or additional sanctions or unusually restrictive border crossing rules could adversely affect our supply chain, operations and overall business.Our business and financial performance is also adversely affected by decreases in the general level of economic activity, such as decreases in business and consumer spending and construction (both residential and commercial as well as remodeling). In addition, our financial performance may be influenced by the production and utilization of transport equipment, including truck production cycles in North America and Europe.Our business success depends on attracting and retaining qualified personnel.
Our ability to sustain and grow our business requires us to hire, retain and develop a highly skilled and diverse management team and workforce. Failure to ensure that we have leadership with the necessary skill sets and experience could impede our ability to deliver our growth objectives, execute our strategic plan and effectively transition our leadership. This risk may be exacerbated as a result of our acquisitions, including our recent acquisition of the VCS Business, which is dependent on the experience and industry knowledge of its management personnel and other key employees to execute our business plans for the acquired business. Our success after completion of such acquisition will depend in part upon our ability to attract, motivate and retain key management personnel and other key employees within the acquired business, and current and prospective employees of the acquired business may experience uncertainty about their roles, which may have an adverse effect on the acquired business's ability to attract, motivate or retain management personnel and other key personnel.Additional tax expense or additional tax exposures could affect our future profitability.
We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and various international jurisdictions. Changes to tax laws and regulations as well as changes and conflicts in related interpretations or other tax guidance could materially impact our tax receivables and liabilities and our deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities. Additionally, in the ordinary course of business, we are subject to examinations by various tax authorities. Tax authorities in various jurisdictions could also launch new examinations and expand existing examinations. The global and diverse nature of our operations means that these risks will continue, and additional examinations, proceedings and contingencies will arise from time to time. Our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition may be affected by the outcome of examinations, proceedings and contingencies that cannot be predicted with certainty.25
Table of ContentsSee "Business Overview" and "Results of Operations—Income Taxes" under "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and Note 3 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Note 17 – Income Taxes in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for further discussion on income taxes and related contingencies.
Failure to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could materially and adversely affect us.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the "Sarbanes-Oxley Act") and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and are required to prepare our financial statements according to the rules and regulations required by the SEC. In addition, the Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports. Our failure to prepare and disclose this information in a timely manner or to otherwise comply with applicable law could subject us to penalties under federal securities laws, expose us to lawsuits and restrict our ability to access financing. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that, among other things, we establish and maintain effective internal controls and procedures for financial reporting and disclosure purposes. Internal control over financial reporting is complex and may change over time due to changes in our business or in applicable accounting rules. We cannot provide assurance that our internal controls over financial reporting will be effective in the future or that a material weakness will not be discovered with respect to a prior period for which we had previously believed that internal controls were effective. If we are not able to maintain or document effective internal controls over financial reporting, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be able to certify as to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting.
Matters affecting our internal controls may cause us to be unable to report our financial information on a timely basis, or may cause us to restate previously issued financial information, and thereby subject us to adverse regulatory consequences, including sanctions or investigations by the SEC, or violations of applicable stock exchange listing rules. There could also be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in our company and the reliability of our financial statements. Confidence in the reliability of our financial statements is also likely to suffer if we or our independent registered public accounting firm report a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting. This could have a material and adverse effect on us by, for example, leading to a decline in the share price of our common stock and impairing our ability to raise additional capital.
FY 2024-12-31 (later)
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
RISK FACTOR SUMMARY
Risks Related to Our Business
• Risks associated with our international operations could adversely affect our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
• We are party to joint ventures and other strategic relationships, which may not be successful and may expose us to unique risks and restrictions.• Risks associated with climate events, government regulations and incentives associated with climate events and mitigation efforts could adversely affect our business.• Demand for our HVAC products and services is influenced by weather conditions and seasonality.• Our business and financial performance depend on continued and substantial investments in our information and operational technology infrastructure, which may not yield anticipated benefits and which may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks.• Cybersecurity incidents could disrupt business operations, result in the loss of critical and confidential information, and adversely impact our reputation and results of operations.
• We engage in acquisitions and divestitures and may encounter difficulties integrating acquired businesses with, or disposing of businesses from, our current operations; therefore, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of these acquisitions and divestitures.• We incurred debt obligations, and we may incur additional debt in the future, which could adversely affect our business and profitability and our ability to meet other obligations.• We depend on our intellectual property and have access to certain intellectual property and information of our customers and suppliers. Infringement of or the failure to protect that intellectual property could adversely affect our future growth and success.• We use a variety of raw materials, supplier-provided parts, and third-party service providers in our business. The ability of suppliers to deliver materials, parts, components and manufacturing equipment to our manufacturing facilities, and our ability to manufacture without disruption, could affect our business performance. Significant shortages, supplier capacity constraints or production disruptions, price increases, duties, tariffs or other government actions could increase our operating costs, disrupt our operations and adversely impact the competitive positions of our products.• We design, manufacture and service products that incorporate advanced technologies. The introduction of new products and technologies involves risks, and we may not realize the degree or timing of benefits initially anticipated.
• We operate in a competitive environment and our profitability and competitive position depend on our ability to accurately estimate the costs and timing of providing our products and services.
• Customers and others may take disruptive actions.
• Labor matters may impact our business.
• Our defined benefit pension plans are subject to financial market risks that could adversely affect our results.
• We may not realize expected benefits from our cost reduction and restructuring efforts, and our profitability or our business otherwise might be adversely affected.
• Failure to achieve and maintain a high level of product and service quality could damage our reputation with customers and negatively impact our results.
• We are subject to litigation, environmental and other legal and compliance risks.
• We are subject to risks arising from doing business with the U.S. government.
• We may recognize impairment charges for our goodwill and intangible assets.10
Table of Contents• Failure to maintain a satisfactory credit rating could adversely affect our liquidity, capital position, borrowing costs and access to the capital markets.
Risks Related to the Separation from UTC
• After the Separation and the Distribution, certain members of management, directors and shareowners own stock in UTC, Carrier and Otis and as a result may face actual or potential conflicts of interest.• In connection with the Separation into three independent public companies, each of UTC, Carrier and Otis has agreed to indemnify the other parties for certain liabilities. If we are required to pay UTC and/or Otis under these indemnities, our financial results could be negatively impacted. Also, the UTC or Otis indemnities may not be sufficient to hold us harmless from the full amount of liabilities for which UTC and Otis have been allocated responsibility, and UTC and/or Otis may not be able to satisfy their respective indemnification obligations in the future.
• In certain circumstances, we could be required to indemnify UTC for material taxes and other related amounts pursuant to indemnification obligations under the TMA.
• Potential liabilities may arise due to fraudulent transfer considerations, which would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
• The market price and trading volume of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.
• Shareowner's percentage of ownership in our common stock may be diluted in the future.
• Quarterly cash dividends may be discontinued or modified, are subject to a number of uncertainties and may affect the price of our common stock.
• Our amended and restated bylaws designate the courts within the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareowners, which could discourage lawsuits against Carrier and our directors and officers.
• Anti-takeover provisions could enable our Board of Directors to resist a takeover attempt by a third party and limit the power of our shareowners.
General Risks• Natural disasters, epidemics or other unexpected events may disrupt our operations, adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition, and may not be fully covered by insurance.
• We may be affected by global economic, capital market and political conditions, and conditions in the energy, construction, transportation and infrastructure industries in particular. Uncertainty in U.S. trade policy, including uncertainty surrounding changes in tariffs, trade agreements or other trade restrictions imposed by the U.S. or other governments, as well as political conditions in and between the United States and foreign countries in which we operate, could significantly and adversely affect our business and financial results.
• Our business success depends on attracting and retaining key personnel and other talent throughout the Company.• Additional tax expense or additional tax exposures could affect our future profitability.
• Failure to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could materially and adversely affect us.
11
Table of Contents
RISK FACTORS
Our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows can be impacted by the factors set forth subsequently, any one of which could cause our actual results to vary materially from recent results or from our anticipated future results.
Risks Related to Our Business
Risks associated with our international operations could adversely affect our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.Approximately 50% of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2024, are derived from international operations, including U.S. export sales. As a result, changes in local and regional economic conditions, including fluctuating exchange rates, may adversely affect demand for our products and the profits generated by our non-U.S. operations because a significant portion of our sales and expenses are denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars. While we attempt to manage our exchange rate risks, we are not completely insulated from that exposure. Exchange rates can be volatile and a substantial weakening of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar could reduce our operating margins in various locations outside of the U.S., which would adversely impact the comparability of our results from period to period.
Our international sales and operations are also subject to the risks associated with changes in local government regulations and policies regarding investments, employment, taxation, incentives, foreign exchange and capital controls and the repatriation of earnings. Moreover, government regulations and policies regarding international trade, such as import quotas, punitive taxes or tariffs or similar trade barriers, whether imposed by individual governments or regional trade blocs, can affect demand for our products and services, impact the competitive position of our products or services or encumber our ability to manufacture or sell or procure products in certain countries. The implementation of more restrictive trade policies, including tariffs, by the U.S. or by other countries, such as China and Mexico, where we sell or produce our products and services or procure materials, including as a result of trade conflict between the U.S. and other countries, could negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our international sales and operations are also sensitive to political and economic instability, changes in foreign national priorities and government budgets, and the risks associated with differing legal systems and customs in foreign countries.
We expect that sales to emerging markets will continue to account for a significant portion of our sales as developing nations around the world increase their demand for our products. In addition, as part of our globalization strategy, we have invested in certain countries, including Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East. Emerging markets can present many risks, including cultural differences (such as employment and business practices), compliance risks, economic and government instability, exchange rate fluctuations and the imposition of foreign exchange and capital controls. While these factors and their impact are difficult to predict, any one or more of them could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.We are party to joint ventures and other strategic relationships, which may not be successful and may expose us to unique risks and restrictions.
Our business operations, particularly in our HVAC segment, depend on various strategic relationships, namely, joint ventures and non-wholly owned subsidiaries. We sell our products and services through certain key distributor, joint venture and similar relationships, including the Carrier Enterprise joint ventures with Watsco, Inc., AHI-Carrier FZC, a United Arab Emirates-based joint venture and various joint ventures with members of the Midea Group.
Some of our strategic relationships engage in manufacturing and/or product development. Loss of a key channel partner, or a significant downturn or deterioration in the business or financial condition of a key channel partner, joint venture or similar relationship, whether related to, among other things, a labor strike, diminished liquidity or credit unavailability, weak demand for products or delays in the launch of new products, could adversely affect our results of operations in a particular period or the value of our equity investment. If we are not successful in maintaining our strategic distribution relationships, our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be adversely affected.In addition, our ability to apply our internal controls and governance and compliance policies to our minority-held joint ventures is limited and can expose us to additional financial and reputational risks. We seek to take proactive steps to mitigate these concerns, including through audits and similar reviews.12
Table of Contents
Joint ventures and strategic relationships inherently involve certain other risks. Whether or not we hold a majority interest or maintain operational control in such arrangements, our partners and similar business associates may, for example: (1) have economic or business interests or objectives that are inconsistent with or contrary to our own; (2) exercise veto or other rights, to the extent available, to block actions that we believe are in our or the joint venture’s best interests; (3) act contrary to our policies or objectives; or (4) be unable or unwilling to fulfill their obligations.
In addition, there can be no assurance that any particular joint venture or strategic relationship will continue to be beneficial to us in the long term. For example, some of our joint ventures or other strategic agreements prohibit us from competing in certain geographic markets or product and services channels, and these restrictions may apply to other products and services we develop or businesses we acquire in the future.Risks associated with climate events, government regulations and incentives associated with climate events and mitigation efforts could adversely affect our business.
The effects of climate events, including increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions and water scarcity, create financial risks to our business. The potential impacts of climate events on our operations are highly uncertain and depend upon the unique geographic and environmental factors present; for example rising sea levels at certain of our facilities, changing storm patterns and intensities and changing temperature levels. The effects of climate events could disrupt our operations by impacting the availability and cost of materials and by increasing insurance and other operating costs. The effects of climate events also may impact our decisions to construct new facilities or maintain existing facilities in the areas most prone to physical risks, which could similarly increase our operating and material costs. We could also face indirect financial risks passed through the supply chain that could result in higher prices for our products and the resources needed to produce them. Potential adverse impacts from climate events may create health and safety issues for employees operating at our facilities and may lead to an inability to maintain standard operating hours.
There is a general consensus that greenhouse gas emissions are linked to climate events, and that these emissions must be reduced dramatically to avert its worst effects. Increased public awareness and concern about climate events may continue to: (1) generate more international, regional and/or national requirements to curtail the use of high global warming potential refrigerants (e.g., the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and the American Innovation and Manufacturing ("AIM") Act of 2020, which are essential to many of our products); (2) increase building energy and cold chain efficiency; (3) cause a shift away from the use of fossil fuels as an energy source, including natural gas prohibitions; and (4) lead to the adoption of additional rules and regulations surrounding public disclosures relating to greenhouse gas emissions, including those adopted in California and the European Union. In some instances, these requirements may render our existing technology, particularly some of our HVAC and refrigeration products, non-compliant or obsolete and we may be required to make increased capital expenditures to meet new regulations and standards, changing interpretations and stricter enforcement of current laws and regulations. Furthermore, our customers and the markets we serve may impose emissions or other environmental standards through regulation, market-based emissions policies or consumer preferences that we may not be able to timely meet due to our required level of capital investment and technology advancement. While we are committed to pursuing sustainable solutions for our products, there can be no assurance that our development efforts will be successful, that our products will be accepted by the market, that proposed regulations or deregulation will not have an adverse effect on our competitive position, or that economic returns will justify our investments in new product development.
At the same time, U.S. energy and climate policy may not align with the above trends. Inconsistent international, regional and/or national requirements associated with climate regulations, such as U.S. participation in the Paris Climate Agreement, also create economic and regulatory uncertainty. There is also regulatory and budgetary uncertainty associated with government incentives, which, if discontinued or materially reduced, could adversely impact the demand for energy-efficient buildings and homes and could increase costs of compliance. Further, the retraction of existing and implementation of new U.S. energy and/or climate policy and incentives could significantly and adversely impact our business, strategic direction and growth plans.13
Table of ContentsWe have set sustainability goals to be achieved by 2030, which include investing over $4 billion to develop intelligent climate and energy solutions that reduce environmental impacts, avoiding more than 1 gigaton of customer greenhouse gas emissions, achieving carbon neutral operations and reducing energy intensity by 10% across our operations. Although we intend to meet these goals, we may be required to expend significant resources to do so, which could increase our operational costs. Further, there can be no assurance of the extent to which any of our goals will be achieved, or that any future expenditures or investments we make in furtherance of achieving such goals will be available, effective, meet investor expectations or any binding or non-binding legal standards regarding sustainability performance. For example, to make substantial progress toward or to meet some of these goals, we may need to purchase or deploy a combination of renewable energy utility contracts, carbon credits or offsets, energy-efficient or low-emission products or operations, or carbon sequestration technologies, and there can be no assurance of the extent to which such contracts, credits, offsets, products, operations or technologies will be available or effective in reducing emissions or energy intensity. As global regulatory reporting obligations continue to emerge and evolve, we strive to align our sustainability disclosures to global reporting requirements, standards, and best practices. To the extent that reporting gaps exist as reporting standards change over time, this could result in increased compliance costs and risks.
Moreover, we may determine that it is in the best interest of our company and our shareowners to prioritize other business, social, governance or sustainability investments over the achievement of our current goals based on economic, regulatory and social factors, business strategy or pressure from investors, activist groups or other stakeholders. If we are unable to make substantial progress toward or meet these goals, then we could incur adverse publicity and reaction from investors, activist groups or other stakeholders, which could adversely impact the perception of us and our products and services by current and potential customers, as well as investors, which could in turn adversely impact our results of operations. Differing views of environmental, social and governance issues may also increase the risk that our goals or actions taken to meet our goals would be viewed unfavorably by investors, activist groups, current and potential customers, employees and other stakeholders.Demand for our HVAC products and services is influenced by weather conditions and seasonality.
Demand for our HVAC products and services, representing our largest segment by sales, is seasonal and affected by the weather. Cooler than normal summers depress sales of our replacement air conditioning products and services and warmer than normal winters have the same effect on our heating products. Historically, sales to residential HVAC customers tend to be higher in the second and third quarters of the year because, in the U.S. and other northern hemisphere regions, spring and summer are the peak seasons for sales of air conditioning systems and services. In these circumstances, the results of any quarterly period may not be indicative of expected results for a full year, and unusual weather patterns or events could positively or negatively affect our business and impact overall results of operations.Our business and financial performance depend on continued and substantial investments in our information and operational technology infrastructure, which may not yield anticipated benefits and which may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
The efficient operation of our business requires continued and substantial investments in information technology ("IT") and operational technology (“OT”, together, “Technology”) infrastructure systems. The failure to design, develop, maintain and implement Technology infrastructure systems in an effective and timely manner or to maintain these systems could divert management’s attention and resources. Our information systems may also become obsolete because of inadequate investments, requiring an unplanned transition to a new platform that could be time consuming, costly, and damaging to our competitive position and could require additional management attention. Repeated or prolonged interruptions of service because of poor execution, inadequate investments or obsolescence could have a significant adverse impact on our reputation and our ability to sell products and services.14
Table of ContentsCybersecurity incidents could disrupt business operations, result in the loss of critical and confidential information, and adversely impact our reputation and results of operations.
Our business has been and may again in the future be impacted by disruptions to our or third-party providers’ Technology infrastructure, which have resulted and could in the future result from (among other causes) cyber-attacks, infrastructure failures or compromises to our physical security. Cyber-based risks are evolving and include attacks: (i) on our Technology infrastructure; (ii) targeting the security, integrity and/or availability of hardware and software; (iii) exploiting weaknesses or vulnerabilities in our products, or capturing information installed, stored or transmitted in our products (including after the purchase of those products and when they are installed into, or into environments using, third-party products); and (iv) on facilities or similar infrastructure. Such attacks could disrupt our systems (or those of third parties) and business operations, impact the ability of our products to work as intended or result in the unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification or destruction of information in violation of applicable law and/or contractual obligations. We continue to make investments and adopt measures to enhance our protection, detection, response and recovery capabilities, and to mitigate potential risks to our technology, products, services, operations and confidential data. However, depending on the nature, sophistication and scope of cyber-attacks, it is possible that potential vulnerabilities could go undetected for an extended period. As a result, we could potentially experience: (i) production downtimes; (ii) operational delays or other detrimental impacts on our operations; (iii) destruction or corruption of our data (or data at or third-party providers); (iv) security breaches; (v) manipulation or improper use of our or third-party systems, networks or products; and (vi) financial losses from remedial actions, loss of business, liability, penalties, fines and/or damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. Due to the evolving nature of such risks, the impact of any potential incident cannot be predicted.
In addition, because of the global nature of our business, our internal systems and products must comply with applicable laws, regulations and standards in a number of jurisdictions, and government enforcement actions and violations of data privacy and cybersecurity laws could be costly or interrupt our business operations. Any disruption to our business arising from such issues, or an increase in our costs to cover these issues that is greater than what we have anticipated, could have an adverse effect on our reputation, competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.These risks are heightened by the increasingly connected nature of our products and services as we continue to focus on providing digitally-enabled lifecycle solutions to our customers, including due to the use of third-party products to connect these products and services to the internet, which may be subject to additional vulnerabilities beyond our control.
We engage in acquisitions and divestitures and may encounter difficulties integrating acquired businesses with, or disposing of businesses from, our current operations; therefore, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of these acquisitions and divestitures.
We seek to grow through strategic acquisitions in addition to organic growth. In the past several years, we have acquired consolidated and minority-owned businesses in an effort to complement and expand our business, including the acquisition of the VCS Business, which we completed on January 2, 2024. We expect to continue such pursuits in the future. Our due diligence reviews may not identify all of the issues necessary to accurately estimate the cost and potential loss contingencies of a particular transaction, including potential exposure to regulatory sanctions resulting from an acquisition target’s historical activities.In connection with these acquisitions, we have in the past incurred, and expect to incur in the future, significant costs, including in connection with the integration of such businesses. For example, in connection with the integration of the VCS Business, we incurred transaction fees and costs related to formulating integration plans and achieving cost synergies, and the execution of our integration plans may lead to additional unanticipated costs, including costs related to employee retention, redeployment, relocation or severance fees, as well as costs necessary to maintain employee morale and to attract, motivate or retain management personnel and other key employees. Furthermore, integrating a business, including the VCS Business, may result in material challenges, including the diversion of management’s attention from ongoing business concerns; retaining key management and other employees; retaining or attracting business and operational relationships; managing the expenses and operational challenges of the integration process; consolidating corporate and administrative infrastructures; coordinating geographically separate organizations; loss of customers, distributors, suppliers, and other business partners of the acquired business; unanticipated issues in integrating information technology, communications, internal controls and other systems; as well as potential unknown liabilities and unforeseen expenses related to integration. We ultimately may not realize, and have sometimes not realized, the degree or timing of benefits or cost synergies we anticipate when we first enter into a transaction.15
Table of ContentsWe also may incur - and have incurred - unanticipated costs or expenses, including asset impairment and other charges and expenses associated with litigation and other liabilities. In addition, in connection with certain acquisitions including the acquisition of the VCS Business, we have disclosed and may from time to time disclose, unaudited pro forma financial information. This pro forma financial information is presented for illustrative purposes only and is not necessarily indicative of what our actual financial position or results of operations would have been had the acquisition been completed on the dates indicated therein. Further, our actual results and financial position may differ materially and adversely from the unaudited pro forma financial information, including due to certain adjustments made by our management, and due to changes between preliminary estimates of the fair value of assets to be acquired and liabilities to be assumed, and the final acquisition accounting. Additionally, accounting requirements relating to business combinations, including the requirement to expense certain acquisition costs as incurred, may cause us to incur greater earnings volatility and generally lower earnings subsequent to periods in which we acquire new businesses. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
We also make strategic divestitures from time to time, including the dispositions during 2024 of Access Solutions, Industrial Fire, CCR and the CRF Business. These and other divestitures may result in continued financial exposure to the divested businesses, such as through guarantees, other financial arrangements, continued supply and services arrangements or through the retention of liabilities, such as for environmental and product liability claims. Under these arrangements, nonperformance by those divested businesses or claims against retained liabilities could result in the imposition of obligations that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
The success of future acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures will depend on the satisfaction of conditions precedent to such transactions, which will depend in part on the ability of the parties to secure any required regulatory approvals in a timely manner, among other things.
We incurred debt obligations, and we may incur additional debt in the future, which could adversely affect our business and profitability and our ability to meet other obligations.
As of December 31, 2024, we had approximately $12.3 billion in aggregate principal amount of outstanding indebtedness, including debt incurred to close the acquisition of the VCS Business on January 2, 2024. See Note 7 – Borrowings and Lines of Credit in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements and the section entitled "Liquidity and Financial Condition" in this Annual Report for additional information. We may also incur additional indebtedness in the future, including via issuance of commercial paper, under our Revolving Credit Facility.
Our debt obligations could potentially have important consequences to us and our debt and equity investors, including: (1) requiring a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations to make debt service payments or to refinance our indebtedness as it becomes due, making it more difficult for us to satisfy our other priorities and obligations; (2) increasing the risk of a future credit ratings downgrade of our debt, which could increase future debt costs and limit the future availability of debt financing; (3) increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions; (4) reducing the cash flows available to fund capital expenditures and other corporate purposes and to grow our business; (5) limiting our flexibility in pursuing strategic opportunities or planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry; (6) placing us at a competitive disadvantage relative to our competitors that may not be as highly leveraged; and (7) limiting our ability to borrow additional funds as needed or take advantage of business opportunities as they arise, pay cash dividends or repurchase shares.Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive, regulatory factors, and other factors beyond our control. Our cash flow from operations in the future may be insufficient to service our indebtedness because of factors beyond our control, including if our actual cash requirements in the future are greater than expected. If we are unable to generate the necessary cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations.16
Table of ContentsAs described in Note 7 – Borrowings and Lines of Credit in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements and "Liquidity and Financial Condition," the agreements governing our indebtedness contain covenants restricting our financial flexibility in a number of ways, including, among other things, restrictions on our ability and the ability of certain of our subsidiaries to incur liens, to make certain fundamental changes and to enter into sale and leaseback transactions. In addition, some of the agreements governing our indebtedness require that we not exceed a maximum consolidated total leverage ratio and contain certain customary events of default, including related to changes of control. As of the date of this report, we were in compliance with the covenants under the agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness. Our ability to comply with such restrictions and covenants, some of which have already been amended as described above, may be affected by events beyond our control. If we breach any of these restrictions or covenants and do not obtain a waiver from the lenders or holders, as applicable, then, subject to the applicable cure periods and conditions, any outstanding indebtedness could be declared immediately due and payable.
Apart from these covenants, neither we nor any of our subsidiaries are restricted from incurring additional unsecured debt or liabilities, and to the extent that we incur additional indebtedness, the foregoing risks could increase.
We depend on our intellectual property and have access to certain intellectual property and information of our customers and suppliers. Infringement of or the failure to protect that intellectual property could adversely affect our future growth and success.Our intellectual property rights are important to our business and include numerous patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, proprietary technology, technical data, business processes and other confidential information. Although we consider our intellectual property rights in the aggregate to be valuable, we do not believe that our business is materially dependent on a single intellectual property right or any group of them. We nonetheless rely on a combination of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, nondisclosure agreements, customer and supplier agreements, license agreements, Technology security systems, internal controls and compliance systems and other measures to protect our intellectual property. We also rely on nondisclosure agreements, Technology security systems and other measures to protect certain customer and supplier information and intellectual property that we have in our possession or to which we have access. Our efforts to protect such intellectual property and proprietary information may not be sufficient, however.We cannot be sure that our pending patent applications will result in the issuance of patents, that patents issued to or licensed by us in the past or in the future will not be challenged or circumvented by competitors, or that these patents will be found to be valid or sufficiently broad to preclude our competitors from introducing technologies similar to those covered by our patents and patent applications.
In addition, we may be the target of competitor or other third-party patent enforcement actions seeking substantial monetary damages or seeking to prevent the sale and marketing of certain of our products. Our competitive position also may be adversely impacted by limitations on our ability to obtain possession, ownership or necessary licenses concerning data important to the development or sale of our products or service offerings, or by limitations on our ability to restrict the use by others of data related to our products or services. Any of these events or factors could subject us to judgments, penalties and significant litigation costs or temporarily or permanently disrupt our sales and marketing of the affected products or services and could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.17
Table of ContentsWe use a variety of raw materials, supplier-provided parts, and third-party service providers in our business. The ability of suppliers to deliver materials, parts, components and manufacturing equipment to our manufacturing facilities, and our ability to manufacture without disruption, could affect our business performance. Significant shortages, supplier capacity constraints or production disruptions, price increases, duties, tariffs or other government actions could increase our operating costs, disrupt our operations and adversely impact the competitive positions of our products.
Our reliance on suppliers and commodity markets to secure components (such as motors and valves) and raw materials (such as copper, aluminum and steel), and on service providers to deliver our products, exposes us to volatility in the prices and availability of these materials and services. We use a wide range of materials and components in the global production of our products, which come from numerous suppliers around the world. Because some key parts may be available only from a single supplier or a limited group of suppliers, we are subject to supply and pricing risk. In addition, certain proprietary component parts used in some of our products are provided by single-source unaffiliated third-party suppliers. We would be unable to obtain these proprietary components for an indeterminate period of time if these single-source suppliers were to cease or interrupt production or otherwise fail to supply these components to us, which could adversely affect our product sales and operating results. Our supply chain could be impacted by climate events through extreme weather, resulting in delivery or production disruptions and increased material costs. In addition, other issues with suppliers (such as capacity constraints, quality issues, consolidations, closings or bankruptcies), price increases, raw material/component shortages, regulatory limitations, or the decreased availability of trucks and other delivery services could also have a material adverse effect on our ability to meet our commitments to customers or increase our operating costs. Periodic disruptions in our supply chains have resulted, and may continue to result, in sufficient inventory not being available in a timely manner or during the appropriate season as well as higher freight and other logistic costs, including increased carrier rates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We use various tactical and strategic actions to mitigate our raw material and supply chain risks and challenges, including consolidating commodity purchases, locking in prices of expected purchases of certain raw materials, dual sourcing, increasing regionalization, proactive engagement with suppliers and our workforce and dynamic management of freight costs and availability. However, these efforts may be unsuccessful or could cause us to pay higher prices for a commodity when compared with the market price at the time the commodity is actually purchased or delivered. For example, the availability and prices of raw materials and supplies may be impacted as a result of, among other things, the imposition of tariffs, duties and other potential changes in trade policies. Our suppliers could also be subject to regulations including climate related regulations, compliance with which would increase our costs and the impacts of which are difficult to predict. We believe that our supply management and production practices appropriately balance the foreseeable risks and the costs of alternative practices or other mitigation. Nonetheless, these risks may have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
Our operations and those of our suppliers are subject to disruption for a variety of reasons, including epidemics, pandemics, supplier plant shutdowns or slowdowns, transportation delays, work stoppages, labor relations, changes in laws or regulations, governmental regulatory and enforcement actions, intellectual property claims against suppliers, financial issues such as a supplier bankruptcy, Technology failures and hazards such as fire, earthquakes, flooding or other natural disasters. Insurance for certain disruptions may not be available, affordable or adequate. The effects of climate-related matters, including extreme weather events, long-term changes in temperature levels and water availability may exacerbate these risks. Such disruption has in the past and could in the future interrupt our ability to manufacture certain products. Any significant disruption could have a material adverse impact on our competitive position.
18
Table of ContentsWe design, manufacture and service products that incorporate advanced technologies. The introduction of new products and technologies involves risks, and we may not realize the degree or timing of benefits initially anticipated.Our future success depends on designing, developing, producing, selling and supporting innovative products that incorporate advanced technologies. The regulations and policies applicable to our products, as well as our customers’ product and service needs, change from time to time. Moreover, regulatory and policy changes, inclusive of those aimed at addressing energy infrastructure and incentives and climate events and its impacts, may render our products and technologies non-compliant or noncompetitive and may subject us to operational, compliance, business and reputational risks. Our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of our technological advancements or product improvements – including those associated with regulatory or policy changes – depends on a variety of factors, including: meeting development, production and regulatory approval schedules; meeting performance plans and expectations; the availability of raw materials and parts; our suppliers’ performance; the hiring, training and deployment of qualified personnel; achieving efficiencies; identifying emerging regulatory, policy and technological trends; validating innovative technologies; the level of customer interest in new technologies and products; and the costs and customer acceptance of our new or improved products.Our products and services also may incorporate technologies developed or manufactured by third parties, which, when combined with our technology or products, creates additional risks and uncertainties. As a result, the performance and market acceptance of these third-party products and services could affect the level of customer interest and acceptance of our own products in the marketplace.Our research and development efforts, including those that advance environmental sustainability, may not culminate in new technologies or timely products, or may not meet the needs of our customers as effectively as competitive offerings. Our competitors may develop competing technologies that gain market acceptance before or instead of our products. In addition, we may not be successful in anticipating or reacting to changes in the regulatory or policy environments in which our products are sold, and the markets for our products may not develop or grow as we anticipate.We operate in a competitive environment and our profitability and competitive position depend on our ability to accurately estimate the costs and timing of providing our products and services .
In certain of our businesses, our contracts are typically awarded on a competitive basis. Our bids are based upon, among other factors, the cost to timely provide the products and services. To generate an acceptable return, we must accurately estimate our costs and schedule. If we fail to do so, the profitability of contracts may be adversely affected – including because some of our contracts provide for liquidated damages if we do not perform on time – which could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
Customers and others may take disruptive actions.
From time to time customers and others may seek to become suppliers of products and services that compete with our own or pursue other strategies to disrupt our business model. For example, an affiliate of a customer in our transport refrigeration business produces refrigeration units for shipping containers that compete with our products, and another one of our transport refrigeration customers produces refrigeration units for truck trailers that compete with our refrigeration units. In addition, our customers or existing or future competitors may seek to introduce non-traditional business models or disruptive technologies and products in the industries in which we participate, resulting in increased competition and new dynamics in these industries.
Labor matters may impact our business.A significant portion of our employees are represented by labor unions or works councils in a number of countries under various collective bargaining agreements with varying durations and expiration dates. See the section entitled "Other Matters Relating to Our Business as a Whole - Human Capital Management." We may not be able to successfully renegotiate each of these agreements before they expire. In addition, existing agreements may not prevent a strike or work stoppage, union and works council campaigns and other labor disputes. We may also be subject to general national or sector-level strikes or work stoppages unrelated to our specific business or collective bargaining agreements, for example, those resulting from geopolitical instability or social unrest. Additionally, a shortage in certain work forces, such as technicians, manufacturing workers or truck drivers, due to external forces such as geopolitical strife or pandemics, may impact our business by affecting the ability to produce, install, sell and deliver our products. Any such work stoppages (or potential work stoppages) or labor shortages could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, productivity, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.
19Table of ContentsOur defined benefit pension plans are subject to financial market risks that could adversely affect our results.
The performance of the financial markets and interest rates can impact our defined benefit pension plan expenses and funding obligations. Significant decreases in the discount rate or investment losses on plan assets may increase our funding obligations and adversely impact our financial results. See Note 10 – Employee Benefit Plans to the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional discussion on pension plans and related obligations and contingencies.
We may not realize expected benefits from our cost reduction and restructuring efforts, and our profitability or our business otherwise might be adversely affected.
In order to operate more efficiently and cost effectively, we have, and we may from time to time, adjust employment levels, optimize our footprint and/or implement other restructuring activities. These activities are complex and may involve or require significant changes to our operations. If we do not successfully manage these activities, expected efficiencies and benefits might be delayed or not realized. Risks associated with these actions and other workforce management issues include: unfavorable political responses and reputational harm; unforeseen delays in the implementation of the restructuring activities; additional costs; adverse effects on employee morale; the failure to meet operational targets due to the loss of employees or work stoppages; and difficulty managing our operations during or after facility consolidations, any of which may impair our ability to achieve anticipated cost reductions, harm our business or reputation, or have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
Failure to achieve and maintain a high level of product and service quality could damage our reputation with customers and negatively impact our results.Product and service quality issues could harm customer confidence in our company and our brands. If certain of our product and service offerings do not meet applicable safety standards – which has been the case – or our customers’ expectations regarding safety or quality, we can experience, and have experienced previously, lost sales and increased costs and we can be exposed, and have previously been exposed, to legal, financial and reputational risks. Actual, potential or perceived product safety concerns could expose us to litigation as well as government enforcement actions, which has also occurred in certain instances. In addition, when our products fail to perform as expected, we have been, and may in the future be, exposed to warranty, product liability, personal injury and other claims.We maintain strict quality controls and procedures. However, we cannot be certain that these controls and procedures will reveal defects in our products or their raw materials, which may not become apparent until after the products have been placed in use in the market. Accordingly, there is a risk that products will have defects, which could require a product recall or field corrective action. Product recalls and field corrective actions can be expensive to implement and may damage our reputation, customer relationships and market share. We have conducted product recalls and field corrective actions in the past and may do so again in the future.
In many jurisdictions, product liability claims are not limited to any specified amount of recovery. If any such claims or contribution requests or requirements exceed our available insurance or if there is a product recall, there could be an adverse impact on our results of operations. In addition, a recall or claim could require us to review our entire product portfolio to assess whether similar issues are present in other products, which could result in a significant disruption to our business and which could have a further adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. There can be no assurance that we will not experience any material warranty or product liability claims in the future, that we will not incur significant costs to defend such claims or that we will have adequate reserves to cover any recall, repair and replacement costs.
We are subject to litigation, environmental and other legal and compliance risks.We are subject to a variety of litigation, legal and compliance risks including, without limitation, claims, lawsuits and/or regulatory enforcement actions relating to breach of contract, cybersecurity and data privacy, employment and labor, environmental and employee health and safety matters, global chemical compliance, intellectual property rights, personal injury, product safety and taxes as well as anti-corruption, competition and securities laws and other laws governing improper business practices. If found responsible in connection with such matters, we could be subject to significant fines, penalties, repayments and other damages (in certain cases, treble damages) and experience reputational harm.
20Table of ContentsAs a global business, we are subject to complex laws and regulations in the U.S. and other countries in which we operate. Those laws and regulations may be interpreted in different ways. They may also change from time to time, as may related interpretations and other guidance. Changes in laws or regulations could result in higher expenses. Uncertainty relating to laws or regulations may also affect how we operate, structure our investments and enforce our rights.Global chemical use restrictions related to protection of human health and the environment as well as climate event directives may require additional investments in product designs, resulting in increased manufacturing, production and sourcing costs as well as updates to product safety assessments. These restrictions may also increase our legal obligations regarding remediation of our current and legacy operational sites.At times, we are involved in disputes with private parties over environmental issues, including litigation over the allocation of cleanup costs, alleged personal injuries and property damage. Existing and future asbestos-related claims could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Personal injury lawsuits may involve individual and putative class actions alleging that contaminants originating from our current or former products or operating facilities caused or contributed to medical conditions. Property damage lawsuits may involve claims relating to environmental damage or diminution of real estate values. Even in litigation where we believe our liability is remote, there is a risk that a negative finding or decision could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition, in particular with respect to environmental claims in regions where we have, or previously had, significant operations or where certain of our products have been manufactured and used.We must comply with U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), antitrust, anti-money laundering, and other anti-corruption and anti-collusion laws. Despite meaningful measures to ensure lawful conduct, which include training, audits and internal control policies and procedures, violations or allegations of violations of such laws may occur, and could disrupt our operations, cause reputational harm, involve significant management distraction, subject us to criminal and civil penalties, as well as disgorgement, and result in a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. We could be required to make changes or enhancements to our compliance measures that could increase our costs, and we could be subject to other remedial actions.We also must comply with various laws and regulations relating to the import and export of products, services and technology into and from the U.S. and other countries having jurisdiction over our operations. In the U.S., these laws include, amongst others, the Export Administration Regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce and embargoes and sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Restrictions on the export of our products, services or technologies could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
For a description of material legal proceedings and regulatory matters, see the section entitled "Legal Proceedings" and Note 23 – Commitments and Contingent Liabilities in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.
We are subject to risks arising from doing business with the U.S. government.As a supplier and service provider to the U.S. government, including as a subcontractor under prime contracts with the U.S. government, we are subject to certain heightened risks, such as those associated with the government’s rights to audit and conduct investigations and with its rights to terminate contracts for convenience or default. In light of the current U.S. government contracting environment, we are and will continue to be the subject of U.S. government investigations relating to our U.S. government contracts or subcontracts. Such investigations often take years to complete and could result in administrative, civil or criminal liabilities, including repayments, fines, treble and other damages, forfeitures, restitution or penalties, or could lead to suspension or debarment of U.S. government contracting or of export privileges. For instance, if a business unit were charged with wrongdoing in connection with a U.S. government investigation (including fraud or violation of certain environmental or export laws), the U.S. government could suspend us from bidding on or receiving awards of new U.S. government contracts or subcontracts. If convicted or found liable, the U.S. government could fine and debar us from receiving new awards for a period generally not to exceed three years and could void any contracts found to be tainted by fraud. We also could suffer reputational harm if allegations of impropriety were made against us, even if such allegations are later determined to be unsubstantiated. There is also uncertainty in the current U.S. government contracting environment as to the extent of funding that may be available for future projects.
21Table of ContentsWe may recognize impairment charges for our goodwill and intangible assets.As of December 31, 2024, the net carrying value of our goodwill and intangible assets totaled $14.6 billion and $6.4 billion, respectively. Our intangible assets primarily consist of customer relationships, patents, service portfolios and trademarks. We periodically assess these assets to determine if they are impaired. Significant negative industry or economic trends, disruptions to our business, planned or unexpected significant changes in the use of the assets, and sustained market capitalization declines may result in the impairment of goodwill or intangible assets. Any charges relating to such impairments could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations in the period in which the impairment is recognized.Failure to maintain a satisfactory credit rating could adversely affect our liquidity, capital position, borrowing costs and access to the capital markets.We have been issued an investment grade credit rating by each of Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. ("Moody's"), Standard & Poor’s ("S&P") and Fitch Ratings Inc. ("Fitch Ratings"). Nonetheless, any future downgrades could increase our borrowing costs, reduce market capacity for our commercial paper or require the posting of collateral under our derivative contracts. There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain our credit ratings, and any additional actual or anticipated changes or downgrades, including any announcement that our ratings are under review for a downgrade, may have a negative impact on our liquidity, capital position and access to the capital markets. Additionally, our credit agreements generally provide for an increase in interest rates if the ratings for our debt are downgraded.Risks Related to the Separation from UTC
After the Separation and the Distribution, certain members of management, directors and shareowners own stock in UTC, Carrier and Otis, and as a result may face actual or potential conflicts of interest.Following the Separation and the Distribution, certain members of management and the Board of Directors of each of UTC, Carrier and Otis own common stock in all three companies. This ownership overlap could create, or appear to create, potential conflicts of interest when the management and directors of one company face decisions that could have different implications for themselves and the other two companies. These agreements include a separation and distribution agreement, the TMA, the employee matters agreement, the intellectual property agreement and any commercial agreements between the parties or their affiliates. Potential conflicts of interest may also arise out of any commercial arrangements that we or UTC may enter into in the future. See Note 1 – Description of the Business in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional information on these agreements.In connection with the Separation into three independent public companies, each of UTC, Carrier and Otis has agreed to indemnify the other parties for certain liabilities. If we are required to pay UTC and/or Otis under these indemnities, our financial results could be negatively impacted. Also, the UTC or Otis indemnities may not be sufficient to hold us harmless from the full amount of liabilities for which UTC and Otis have been allocated responsibility, and UTC and/or Otis may not be able to satisfy their respective indemnification obligations in the future.Pursuant to the separation and distribution agreement and certain other agreements among UTC, us and Otis, each party has agreed to indemnify the other parties for certain liabilities as discussed further in Note 1 – Description of the Business in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report. Indemnities that we may be required to provide UTC and/or Otis are not subject to any cap, may be significant and could negatively impact our business. Third parties could also seek to hold us responsible for any of the liabilities that UTC and/or Otis has agreed to retain. The indemnities from UTC and Otis for our benefit may not be sufficient to protect us against the full amount of such liabilities, and UTC and/or Otis may not be able to fully satisfy their respective indemnification obligations. Any amounts we are required to pay pursuant to such indemnification obligations and other liabilities could require us to divert cash that would otherwise have been used in furtherance of our operating business.Moreover, even if we ultimately succeed in recovering from UTC or Otis, as applicable, we may be temporarily required to bear these losses. Each of these risks could negatively affect our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.22
Table of ContentsIn certain circumstances, we could be required to indemnify UTC for material taxes and other related amounts pursuant to indemnification obligations under the TMA.Under the TMA, we are generally required to indemnify UTC and Otis for any taxes resulting from the Separation (and any related costs and other damages) to the extent such amounts resulted from: (1) an acquisition of all or a portion of the equity securities or assets of Carrier, whether by merger or otherwise (and regardless of whether we participated in or otherwise facilitated the acquisition), (2) other actions or failures to act by Carrier or (3) certain of Carrier’s representations, covenants or undertakings contained in any of the Separation-related agreements and documents or in any documents relating to the IRS ruling and/or the opinion of counsel being incorrect or violated. Further, under the TMA, we are generally required to indemnify UTC and Otis for a specified portion of any taxes (and any related costs and other damages) (a) arising as a result of the failure of the Distribution and certain related transactions to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free (including if the transactions were determined not to qualify for non-recognition of gain or loss under Section 355 and related provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) or a failure of any internal separation transaction that is intended to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free to so qualify, in each case, to the extent such amounts did not result from a disqualifying action by, or acquisition of equity securities of, Carrier, Otis or UTC or (b) arising from an adjustment, pursuant to an audit or other tax proceeding, with respect to any separation transaction that is not intended to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free. Any such indemnity obligations could be material. See Note 1 – Description of the Business in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional information.Potential liabilities may arise due to fraudulent transfer considerations, which would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
In connection with the Separation (including the internal reorganization described previously), UTC completed several corporate reorganization transactions involving its subsidiaries which, along with the Distribution, may be subject to various fraudulent conveyance and transfer laws. If, under these laws, a court were to determine that, at the time of the Separation, any entity involved in these reorganization transactions or the Separation: (1) was insolvent, was rendered insolvent by reason of the Separation, or had remaining assets constituting unreasonably small capital, and (2) received less than fair consideration in exchange for the Distribution; or intended to incur, or believed it would incur, debts beyond its ability to pay these debts as they matured, then the court could void the Separation and the Distribution, in whole or in part, as a fraudulent conveyance or transfer. The court could then require our shareowners to return to UTC some or all of the shares of Carrier common stock issued in the Distribution, or require UTC or us, as the case may be, to fund liabilities of the other company for the benefit of creditors. The measure of insolvency will vary depending upon the jurisdiction and the applicable law. Generally, however, an entity would be considered insolvent if the fair value of its assets was less than the amount of its liabilities (including the probable amount of contingent liabilities), or if it incurred debt beyond its ability to repay the debt as it matures. No assurance can be given as to what standard a court would apply to determine insolvency or that a court would determine that we or any of our subsidiaries were solvent at the time of or after giving effect to the Distribution.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
The market price and trading volume of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.
The trading price of our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile and the trading volume in our common stock may fluctuate.The factors that could affect our common stock price include among others: (1) industry or general market conditions, including inflation and increasing cost of goods; (2) domestic and international economic factors unrelated to our performance; (3) our ability to execute our planned strategies; (4) lawsuits, enforcement actions and other claims by third parties or governmental authorities; (5) changes in our customers’ preferences; (6) new regulatory pronouncements and changes in regulatory guidelines; (7) actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly operating results; (8) changes in securities analysts’ estimates of our financial performance or lack of research coverage and reports by industry analysts; (9) action by institutional shareowners or other large shareowners; (10) failure to meet any financial guidance given by us or any change in any financial guidance given by us, or changes by us in our financial guidance practices; (11) announcements by us of significant impairment charges; (12) speculation in the press or investment community; (13) investor perception of us and our industry; (14) changes in market valuations or earnings of similar companies; (15) announcements by us or our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, dispositions or strategic partnerships; (16) war or terrorist acts; (17) any future sales of our common stock or other securities; (18) additions or departures of key personnel; (19) failure to achieve any of our sustainability goals; and (20) other risk factors discussed in this "Risk Factors" section or in our other filings from time to time with the SEC.
23Table of ContentsStock markets experience volatility that can be unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, class action litigation has often been instituted against the affected company. Any litigation of this type brought against us could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.Shareowner's percentage of ownership in our common stock may be diluted in the future.The percentage ownership of shareowners in our common stock may be diluted because of equity issuances for acquisitions, capital market transactions or otherwise, including any equity awards that we grant to our directors, officers and employees. Our employees have, and will receive from us, stock-based awards that correspond to shares of our common stock. Such awards have had and will have a dilutive effect on our earnings per share, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Additionally, in connection with our acquisition of the VCS Business, we issued 58,608,959 shares of our common stock to Viessmann, with which we entered into an Investor Rights Agreement that provides for, among other things, customary resale, demand and piggyback registration rights. While the Investor Rights Agreement also provides that, for the time periods specified therein, Viessmann and its affiliates are subject to customary standstill, lockup and transfer restrictions, registration of the shares of common stock held by Viessmann will permit those shares to be sold into the public market, once eligible to be disposed of pursuant to the Investor Rights Agreement. See Note 14 – Stock-Based Compensation and Note 18 – Earnings Per Share in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional information.Quarterly cash dividends may be discontinued or modified, are subject to a number of uncertainties and may affect the price of our common stock.
Quarterly cash dividends are a component of our capital allocation strategy, which we fund with operating cash flows, borrowings and divestitures. However, we are not required to declare dividends. Dividends may be discontinued, accelerated, suspended or delayed at any time without prior notice. Even if not discontinued, the amount of such dividends may be changed, and the amount, timing and frequency of such dividends may vary from past practice or from our stated expectations. Decisions with respect to dividends are subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors and will be based on a variety of factors. Important factors that could cause us to discontinue, limit, suspend, increase or delay our quarterly cash dividends include market conditions, the price of our common stock, the nature and timing of other investment opportunities, changes in our business strategy, the terms of our financing arrangements, our outlook as to the ability to obtain financing at attractive rates, the impact on our credit ratings and the availability of domestic cash. The reduction or elimination of our cash dividend could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Our amended and restated bylaws designate the courts within the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareowners, which could discourage lawsuits against Carrier and our directors and officers.
Our amended and restated bylaws provide that unless our Board of Directors otherwise determines, the state courts within the State of Delaware (or, if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) will be the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of Carrier, any action asserting a claim for or based on a breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any current or former director or officer or other employee of Carrier to Carrier or to Carrier shareowners, including a claim alleging the aiding and abetting of such a breach of fiduciary duty, any action asserting a claim against Carrier or any current or former director or officer or other employee of Carrier arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws, any action asserting a claim relating to or involving Carrier governed by the internal affairs doctrine, or any action asserting an “internal corporate claim” as that term is defined in Section 115 of the DGCL.To the fullest extent permitted by law, this exclusive forum provision applies to state and federal law claims, including claims under the federal securities laws, including the Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("Securities Act"), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), although Carrier shareowners will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ organizational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with claims arising under federal securities laws or otherwise, a court could find the exclusive forum provision contained in the amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable.24
Table of ContentsThis exclusive forum provision may limit the ability of our shareowners to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such shareowners find favorable for disputes with Carrier or our directors or officers, which may discourage such lawsuits against Carrier and our directors and officers. Alternatively, if a court were to find this exclusive forum provision inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings described previously, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Anti-takeover provisions could enable our Board of Directors to resist a takeover attempt by a third party and limit the power of our shareowners.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain, and Delaware law contains, provisions that are intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making such practices or bids unacceptably expensive to the bidder and to encourage prospective acquirers to negotiate with our Board of Directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. These provisions include, among others: (1) the ability of our remaining directors to fill vacancies on our Board of Directors (except in an instance where a director is removed by shareowners and the resulting vacancy is filled by shareowners); (2) limitations on shareowners’ ability to call a special shareowner meeting; (3) rules regarding how shareowners may present proposals or nominate directors for election at shareowner meetings; and (4) the right of our Board of Directors to issue preferred stock without shareowner approval.
In addition, we are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL, which could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control that shareowners may favor. Section 203 provides that, subject to limited exceptions, persons that acquire, or are affiliated with persons that acquire, more than 15% of the outstanding voting stock of a Delaware corporation may not engage in a business combination with that corporation, including by merger, consolidation or acquisitions of additional shares, for a three-year period following the date on which that person or any of its affiliates becomes the holder of more than 15% of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock.
We believe these provisions will protect our shareowners from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with our Board of Directors and by providing our Board of Directors with more time to assess any acquisition proposal. These provisions are not intended to make us immune from takeovers; however, these provisions will apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some shareowners and could delay or prevent an acquisition that our Board of Directors determines is not in the best interests of Carrier and our shareowners. These provisions may also prevent or discourage attempts to remove and replace incumbent directors.
General RisksNatural disasters, epidemics or other unexpected events may disrupt our operations, adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition and may not be fully covered by insurance.
The occurrence of one or more natural disasters, power outages or other unexpected events, including hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, floods and other forms of severe weather, health epidemics, pandemics or other contagious outbreaks, conflicts, wars or terrorist acts, in the U.S. or in other countries in which we or our suppliers or customers operate have in the past and could in the future adversely affect our operations and financial performance. Natural disasters, power outages or other unexpected events could damage or close one or more of our facilities or disrupt our operations temporarily or long-term, such as by causing business interruptions or by affecting the availability and/or cost of materials needed for manufacturing. In some cases, we have one factory that can manufacture a specific product or product line. As a result, damage to or the closure of a certain factory or factories may disrupt or prevent us from manufacturing certain products. Existing insurance arrangements may not cover all of the costs or lost cash flows that may arise from such events. The occurrence of any of these events could also increase our insurance and other operating costs or harm our sales.
25Table of ContentsWe may be affected by global economic, capital market and political conditions, and conditions in the energy, construction, transportation and infrastructure industries in particular. Uncertainty in U.S. trade policy, including uncertainty surrounding changes in tariffs, trade agreements or other trade restrictions imposed by the U.S. or other governments, as well as political conditions in and between the U.S. and foreign countries in which we operate, could significantly and adversely affect our business and financial results.
Our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition have in the past been and in the future may be adversely affected by changes in global economic conditions and geopolitical risks and conditions, including climate and energy policies, regulatory changes, credit market conditions, levels of consumer and business confidence, fluctuations in residential, commercial and industrial construction activity, pandemic health issues, natural disasters, commodity prices, energy costs, interest rate fluctuations, inflation, recession, foreign exchange rates, levels of government spending and deficits, trade policies (including tariffs, boycotts and sanctions), military conflicts, acts of terrorism, government instability, actual or anticipated defaults on sovereign debt and other challenges that could affect the global economy. These economic and political conditions affect our business in a number of ways. For example, because we have a number of factories and suppliers in foreign countries, the imposition of tariffs or additional sanctions or unusually restrictive border crossing rules could adversely affect our supply chain, operations and overall business.
There are ongoing threats of war, terrorism or governmental instability in various countries and regions, including those where we do business. In March 2022, we suspended business operations in Russia by ceasing to pursue new business opportunities while continuing to fulfill existing contracts for equipment, service and parts, where possible, in a manner that fully complies with applicable sanctions and trade controls. Our sales, operations and supply chain in Russia and Ukraine are not material to Carrier. However, the military conflict between the two countries and attendant geopolitical environment may continue to negatively impact the global economy and major financial markets, and may result in additional increases in commodity prices and supply-chain disruptions, including shortages of materials, higher costs for fuel and freight and increased transportation delays. Uncertainty related to these global economic, capital market and political conditions and events, and the perception that such conditions and events may occur, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. Furthermore, the tightening of credit in the capital markets could adversely affect the ability of our customers, including individual end-customers and businesses, to obtain financing for significant purchases and operations, which could result in a decrease in or cancellation of orders for our products and services. Similarly, tightening credit may adversely affect our supply base and increase the potential for one or more of our suppliers to experience financial distress or bankruptcy.Our business and financial performance is also adversely affected by decreases in the general level of economic activity, such as decreases in business and consumer spending and construction (both residential and commercial as well as remodeling). In addition, our financial performance may be influenced by the production and utilization of transport equipment, including truck production cycles in North America and Europe.Our business success depends on attracting and retaining key personnel and other talent throughout the Company.
Our future success and ability to execute our strategic plan depends on our ability to hire, retain and develop a high performance, customer-centric executive management team and its ability to provide consistent leadership and direction. The failure to retain our executive officers and other key personnel could result in significant disruption and have a material adverse effect on our business operations and ability to deliver our growth objectives.
Our future success also depends on our ability to attract, retain and develop qualified personnel with the requisite technical expertise and understanding of our customers’ needs at all levels of the organization, including skilled labor. The availability of skilled labor needed for the design and production of our products and delivery of services is limited in a number of the locations in which we operate, and the competition for talent is robust. Difficulties attracting and retaining a qualified workforce could adversely impact our operations and overall business.
This risk may also be exacerbated as a result of acquisitions undertaken as part of our transformation, which are dependent on the continuity, experience and industry knowledge of management personnel and other key employees to execute our business plans for the acquired businesses. Our success after completion of any acquisition may depend in part upon our ability to attract, motivate and retain key management personnel and other key employees within the acquired business, and current and prospective employees of the acquired business may experience uncertainty about their roles, which may have an adverse effect on the acquired business's ability to attract, motivate or retain management personnel and other key personnel.
26
Table of ContentsAdditional tax expense or additional tax exposures could affect our future profitability.
We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and various international jurisdictions. Changes to tax laws and regulations as well as changes and conflicts in related interpretations or other tax guidance could materially impact our tax receivables and liabilities and our deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities. Additionally, in the ordinary course of business, we are subject to examinations by various tax authorities. Tax authorities in various jurisdictions could also launch new examinations and expand existing examinations. The global and diverse nature of our operations means that these risks will continue, and additional examinations, proceedings and contingencies will arise from time to time. Our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition may be affected by the outcome of examinations, proceedings and contingencies that cannot be predicted with certainty.See "Business Overview" and "Results of Operations—Income Taxes" under "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and Note 3 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Note 17 – Income Taxes in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for further discussion on income taxes and related contingencies.
Failure to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could materially and adversely affect us.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the "Sarbanes-Oxley Act") and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and are required to prepare our financial statements according to the rules and regulations required by the SEC. In addition, the Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports. Our failure to prepare and disclose this information in a timely manner or to otherwise comply with applicable law could subject us to penalties under federal securities laws, expose us to lawsuits and restrict our ability to access financing. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that, among other things, we establish and maintain effective internal controls and procedures for financial reporting and disclosure purposes. Internal control over financial reporting is complex and may change over time due to changes in our business or in applicable accounting rules. We cannot provide assurance that our internal controls over financial reporting will be effective in the future or that a material weakness will not be discovered with respect to a prior period for which we had previously believed that internal controls were effective. If we are not able to maintain or document effective internal controls over financial reporting, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be able to certify as to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting.
Matters affecting our internal controls may cause us to be unable to report our financial information on a timely basis, or may cause us to restate previously issued financial information, and thereby subject us to adverse regulatory consequences, including sanctions or investigations by the SEC, or violations of applicable stock exchange listing rules. There could also be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in our company and the reliability of our financial statements. Confidence in the reliability of our financial statements is also likely to suffer if we or our independent registered public accounting firm report a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting. This could have a material and adverse effect on us by, for example, leading to a decline in the share price of our common stock and impairing our ability to raise additional capital.
Item 7 · Management's Discussion & Analysis
+143 paragraphs −166 paragraphs ~143 changed
FY 2023-12-31 (earlier)
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
BUSINESS OVERVIEW
Business SummaryCarrier Global Corporation ("we" or "our") is a global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions with a focus on providing differentiated, digitally-enabled lifecycle solutions to our customers. Our portfolio includes industry-leading brands such as Carrier, Toshiba, Automated Logic, Carrier Transicold, Kidde, Edwards and LenelS2 that offer innovative heating, ventilating and air conditioning ("HVAC"), refrigeration, fire, security and building automation technologies to help make the world safer and more comfortable. We also provide a broad array of related building services, including audit, design, installation, system integration, repair, maintenance and monitoring. Our operations are classified into three segments: HVAC, Refrigeration and Fire & Security.
Our worldwide operations are affected by global and regional industrial, economic and political factors and trends. These include the mega-trends of urbanization, climate change and increasing requirements for food safety driven by the food needs of our growing global population and the rising standards of living in emerging markets. We believe that our business segments are well positioned to benefit from favorable secular trends, including these mega-trends and from the strength of our industry-leading brands and track record of innovation. In addition, we regularly review our end markets to proactively identify trends and adapt our strategies accordingly.
Our business is also affected by changes in the general level of economic activity, such as changes in business and consumer spending, construction and shipping activity as well as short-term economic factors such as currency fluctuations, commodity price volatility and supply disruptions. We continue to invest in our business, take pricing actions to mitigate supply chain and inflationary pressures, develop new products and services in order to remain competitive in our markets and use risk management strategies to mitigate various exposures. We believe that we have industry-leading global brands, which form the foundation of our business strategy. Coupled with our focus on growth, innovation and operational efficiency, we expect to drive long-term future growth and increased value for our shareowners.
32Table of ContentsSignificant EventsPlanned Portfolio Transformation
On April 25, 2023, we announced that we entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) to acquire the climate solutions business (the "VCS Business") of Viessmann Group GmbH & Co. KG (“Viessmann”), a privately-held company. The VCS Business develops intelligent, integrated and sustainable technologies, including heat pumps, boilers, photovoltaic systems, home battery storage and digital solutions, primarily for residential customers in Europe. The acquisition was completed on January 2, 2024 for total consideration of $14.2 billion.
On April 25, 2023, we announced plans to exit our Fire & Security and Commercial Refrigeration businesses over the course of 2024. On December 7, 2023, we entered into a stock purchase agreement to sell our Fire and Security Access Solutions business to Honeywell International Inc. for an enterprise value of approximately $4.95 billion. On December 12, 2023, we entered into a stock purchase agreement to sell our Commercial Refrigeration business ("CCR") to Haier Group Corporation for an enterprise value of approximately $775 million. Both transactions are expected to close 2024.Deconsolidation of Kidde-Fenwal, Inc.On May 14, 2023, Kidde-Fenwal, Inc. ("KFI"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of ours, filed a petition for voluntary reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ("Chapter 11") in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. KFI, an industrial fire detection and suppression business historically reported in our Fire & Security segment, has indicated that it intends to use the bankruptcy process to explore strategic alternatives, including the sale of KFI as a going concern. KFI has further stated that, during the Chapter 11 process, KFI expects that there will be no significant interruptions to its business operations. As of the petition date, KFI was deconsolidated and its respective assets and liabilities were derecognized from our Consolidated Financial Statements.
Acquisition of Toshiba Carrier Corporation
On February 6, 2022, we entered into a binding agreement to acquire a majority ownership interest in Toshiba Carrier Corporation ("TCC"), a variable refrigerant flow ("VRF") and light commercial HVAC joint venture between Carrier and Toshiba Corporation. TCC designs and manufactures flexible, energy-efficient and high-performance VRF and light commercial HVAC systems as well as commercial products, compressors and heat pumps. The acquisition included all of TCC's advanced research and development centers and global manufacturing operations, product pipeline and the long-term use of Toshiba's iconic brand. The acquisition was completed on August 1, 2022. As a result, the assets, liabilities and results of operations of TCC are consolidated in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements as of the date of acquisition and reported within our HVAC segment. Upon closing, Toshiba Corporation retained a 5% ownership interest in TCC.
Sale of Chubb Fire & Security Business
On July 26, 2021, we entered into a stock purchase agreement to sell our Chubb Fire & Security business ("Chubb") to APi Group Corporation ("APi"). Chubb, which was reported within our Fire & Security segment, delivered essential fire safety and security solutions from design and installation to monitoring, service and maintenance across more than 17 countries around the globe. On January 3, 2022, we completed the sale of Chubb (the "Chubb Sale") for net proceeds of $2.9 billion and recognized a gain on the sale of $1.1 billion during the year ended December 31, 2022.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
This discussion summarizes the significant factors affecting our consolidated results of operations, financial condition and liquidity for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared with December 31, 2022 . This discussion should be read in conjunction with Item 8, the Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report. A detailed discussion of the year ended December 31, 2022 compared with December 31, 2021 is not included herein and can be found in the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations section in the Company's 2022 Annual Report, filed with the SEC on February 7, 2023, under the heading "Results of Operations," which is incorporated herein by reference.
33Table of ContentsYear Ended December 31, 2023 Compared with Year Ended December 31, 2022
The results of TCC's operations are included in our consolidated results since the acquisition date of August 1, 2022. Prior to the acquisition, we previously accounted for our minority ownership in TCC under the equity method of accounting and recognized our portion of earnings within Equity method investment in net earnings as part of operating expenses. As a result, prior period results may not be comparable to the current period.The following represents our consolidated net sales and operating results:(In millions) 2023 2022 Period Change % Change
Net sales $ 22,098 $ 20,421 $ 1,677 8 %
Cost of products and services sold (15,715) (14,957) (758) 5 %
Gross margin 6,383 5,464 919 17 %
Operating expenses (4,087) (949) (3,138) 331 %
Operating profit 2,296 4,515 (2,219) (49) %
Non-operating income (expense), net (212) (223) 11 (5) %
Income from operations before income taxes 2,084 4,292 (2,208) (51) %
Income tax expense (644) (708) 64 (9) %
Net income from operations 1,440 3,584 (2,144) (60) %
Less: Non-controlling interest in subsidiaries' earnings from operations 91 50 41 82 %
Net income attributable to common shareowners $ 1,349 $ 3,534 $ (2,185) (62) %Net SalesFor the year ended December 31, 2023, Net sales was $22.1 billion, an 8% increase compared with the same period of 2022. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:
2023Organic / Operational 3 %Acquisitions and divestitures, net 5 %
Total % change 8 %
Organic sales for the year ended December 31, 2023 increased by 3% compared with the same period of 2022. The organic increase was primarily driven by our HVAC segment due to improved global end-markets in our Commercial HVAC business and pricing improvements in our North America residential and light commercial business. In addition, our Fire & Security segment benefited from price improvements and volume growth in each region. However, results in our Refrigeration segment decreased due to lower volumes in commercial refrigeration and container end-markets. Refer to "Segment Review" below for a discussion of Net sales by segment.
On August 1, 2022, we acquired a majority ownership interest in TCC, a VRF and light commercial HVAC joint venture between Carrier and Toshiba Corporation. The results of TCC have been included in our Consolidated Financial Statements since the date of acquisition. The transaction added 6% to Net sales during the year ended December 31, 2023 and is included in Acquisitions and divestitures, net.
As of May 14, 2023, we no longer controlled KFI as their activities are subject to review and oversight by the bankruptcy court. Therefore, KFI was deconsolidated and their respective assets and liabilities were derecognized from our Consolidated Financial Statements. The deconsolidation had a 1% impact on Net sales during the year ended December 31, 2023 and is included in Acquisitions and divestitures, net.
34Table of Contents
Gross MarginFor the year ended December 31, 2023, gross margin was $6.4 billion, a 17% increase compared with the same period of 2022. The components were as follows:
(In millions) 2023 2022
Net sales $ 22,098 $ 20,421
Cost of products and services sold (15,715) (14,957)
Gross margin $ 6,383 $ 5,464
Percentage of net sales 28.9 % 26.8 %
Gross margin increased by $919 million compared with the year ended December 31, 2022. A main driver of the increase related to ongoing customer demand, pricing improvements and our continued focus on productivity initiatives. In addition, operating results associated with TCC further benefited gross margin during the year. These amounts were partially offset by the higher cost of commodities and components used in our products and certain supply chain constraints. Although inflationary cost pressures have begun to moderate, they remain elevated and continue to impact the cost of products and services sold in each of our segments. Gross margin as a percentage of Net sales increased by 210 basis points compared with the same period of 2022.Operating ExpensesFor the year ended December 31, 2023, operating expenses, including Equity method investment net earnings , was $4.1 billion, a 331% increase compared with the same period of 2022. The components were as follows:For the Year Ended December 31,(In millions) 2023 2022
Selling, general and administrative $ (3,297) $ (2,512)
Research and development (617) (539)
Equity method investment net earnings 211 262
Other income (expense), net (384) 1,840
Operating expenses $ (4,087) $ (949)
Percentage of net sales 18.5 % 4.6 %
For the year ended December 31, 2023, Selling, general and administrative expenses were $3.3 billion, a 31% increase compared with the same period of 2022. The increase is primarily due to higher compensation, commissions and other employee-related costs during the current period. In addition, incremental selling, general and administrative expenses associated with TCC further contributed to the increase. The current year also included $220 million of acquisition and divestiture-related costs compared with $31 million during the year ended December 31, 2022.Research and development costs relate to new product development and new technology innovation. Due to the variable nature of program development schedules, year-over-year spending levels can fluctuate. In addition, we continue to invest to prepare for future energy efficiency and refrigerant regulation changes and in digital controls technologies.Investments over which we do not exercise control, but have significant influence, are accounted for using the equity method of accounting. For the year ended December 31, 2023, Equity method investment net earnings were $211 million, a 19% decrease compared with the same period of 2022. The decrease was primarily driven by the increase in our ownership interest in TCC on August 1, 2022. As a result, TCC is no longer accounted for under the equity method of accounting since the date of acquisition. The decrease was partially offset by a $16 million benefit recognized in connection with a favorable tax ruling at a minority owned joint venture. During the year ended December 31, 2022 , pre-acquisition equity earnings of TCC totaled $87 million which included a $27 million gain on the sale of two minority owned subsidiaries.
Other income (expense), net primarily includes the impact of gains and losses related to the sale of businesses or interests in our equity method investments, foreign currency gains and losses on transactions that are denominated in a currency other than an
35Table of Contentsentity's functional currency and hedging-related activities. In connection with the proposed acquisition of the VCS Business, we recognized a $96 million loss during the year ended December 31, 2023 on the mark-to-market valuation of our window forward contracts associated with the expected cash outflows of the Euro-denominated purchase price. In addition, we recognized a loss of $297 million on the deconsolidation of KFI due to its Chapter 11 filing.
In connection with the TCC acquisition, the carrying value of our previously held TCC equity investments were recognized at fair value at the date of acquisition. As a result, we recognized a $705 million non-cash gain associated with the increase in our ownership interest during the year ended December 31, 2022. In addition, we completed the Chubb Sale and recognized a net gain on the sale of $1.1 billion. Prior period results also included a $22 million charge resulting from a litigation matter and a $7 million gain on the sale of our interest in a cost method investment reported within our Refrigeration segment.Non-Operating Income (Expense), netFor the year ended December 31, 2023 , Non-operating income (expense), net was $212 million, a 5% decrease co mpared with the same period of 2022. The components were as follows:For the Year Ended December 31,(In millions) 2023 2022
Non-service pension benefit (expense) $ (1) $ (4)
Interest expense (362) (302)
Interest income 151 83
Interest (expense) income, net (211) (219)
Non-operating income (expense), net $ (212) $ (223)
Non-operating income (expense), net includes the results from activities other than normal business operations such as interest expense, interest income and the non-service components of pension and post-retirement obligations. Interest expense is affected by the amount of debt outstanding and the interest rates on that debt. For the year ended December 31, 2023, interest expense was $362 million, a 20% increase compared with the same period of 2022. In connection with the proposed acquisition of the VCS Business, we entered into several financing arrangements and capitalized $105 million of deferred financing costs during 2023. As a result, we amortized $55 million of deferred financing costs in Interest expense , of which $47 million related to our senior unsecured bridge term loan facility (the "Bridge Loan"). During the year ended December 31, 2022, we completed tender offers to repurchase approximately $1.15 billion aggregate principal of our 2.242% Notes due 2025 and 2.493% Notes due 2027. Upon settlement, we wrote off $5 million of unamortized deferred financing costs in Interest expense and recognized a net gain of $33 million in Interest income .Income Taxes2023 2022
Effective tax rate 30.9 % 16.5 %
The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 was higher than our statutory U.S. federal income tax rate. The increase was primarily driven by a net tax charge of $90 million relating to the re-organization and disentanglement of CCR and certain Fire & Security industrial businesses in advance of the planned divestitures and a deferred tax charge of $65 million related to basis differences in certain companies presented as held-for-sale. In addition, the effective tax rate was impacted by the recognition of a deferred tax liability for withholding tax of $33 million on repatriated foreign earnings, non-deductible divestiture-related costs and a non-deductible loss of $96 million on the mark-to-market valuation of the Company's window forward contracts associated with the expected cash outflows of the Euro-denominated purchase price of the VCS Business. The unfavorable impact of the above items is partially offset by a $53 million tax benefit recorded from the announced KFI bankruptcy and deconsolidation and $49 million of foreign tax credit generated and utilized in 2023.
The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2022 was lower than our statutory U.S. federal income tax rate. The decrease was driven by a lower effective tax rate on the $705 million non-cash gain resulting from the recognition of our
36Table of Contentspreviously held TCC equity investments at fair value upon acquisition of TCC, a lower effective tax rate on the $1.1 billion Chubb gain and $45 million of foreign tax credits generated and utilized in 2022.Segment ReviewWe conduct our operations through three reportable segments:• The HVAC segment provides products, controls, services and solutions to meet the heating, cooling and ventilation needs of residential and commercial customers while enhancing building performance, health, energy efficiency and sustainability.• The Refrigeration segment includes transport refrigeration and monitoring products, services and digital solutions for trucks, trailers, shipping containers, intermodal and rail, as well as commercial refrigeration products.
• The Fire & Security segment provides a wide range of residential, commercial and industrial technologies designed to help protect people and property.We determine our segments based on how our Chief Executive Officer, who is the Chief Operating Decision Maker (the "CODM"), allocates resources, assesses performance and makes operational decisions. The CODM allocates resources and evaluates the financial performance of each of our segments based on Net sales and Operating profit . Adjustments to reconcile segment reporting to the consolidated results are included in Note 21 - Segment Financial Data.Summary performance for each of our segments is as follows:
Net Sales Operating Profit Operating Margin(In millions) 2023 2022 2023 2022 2023 2022
HVAC $ 15,139 $ 13,408 $ 2,275 $ 2,610 15.0 % 19.5 %
Refrigeration 3,818 3,883 428 483 11.2 % 12.4 %
Fire & Security 3,633 3,570 209 1,630 5.8 % 45.7 %
Total segment $ 22,590 $ 20,861 $ 2,912 $ 4,723 12.9 % 22.6 %HVAC SegmentFor the year ended December 31, 2023, Net sales in our HVAC segment was $15.1 billion, a 13% increase compared with the same period of 2022. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:Net sales
Organic / Operational 5 %Foreign currency translation (1) %
Acquisitions and divestitures, net 9 %
Total % change 13 %
The organic increase in Net sales of 5% was driven by continued strong results in the segment. Increased sales in our Commercial HVAC business (up 12%) benefited from pricing improvements and ongoing customer demand in our end-markets. The business grew in all regions including Europe and Asia as current economic conditions and inflationary cost pressures improved compared with the prior year. Higher sales in our North America residential and light commercial business (up 1%) were primarily driven by pricing improvements and improved mix associated with regulatory changes effective as of the beginning of 2023. These amounts were partially offset by lower volume in North America residential end-markets. Results in our Global Comfort Solutions business (down 2%) were primarily driven by lower demand in certain European end- markets.
On August 1, 2022, we acquired a majority ownership interest in TCC, a VRF and light commercial HVAC joint venture between Carrier and Toshiba Corporation. The results of TCC have been included in our Consolidated Financial Statements since the date of acquisition. The transaction added 9% to Net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023 and is included in Acquisitions and divestitures, net.
37Table of ContentsFor the year ended December 31, 2023, Operating profit in our HVAC segment was $2.3 billion, a 13% decrease compared with the same period of 2022. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:Operating profitOrganic / Operational 12 %
Acquisitions and divestitures, net 6 %
Amortization of acquired intangibles (4) %
Restructuring (1) %
Other (26) %
Total % change (13) %
The operational profit increase of 12% was primarily attributable to pricing improvements and ongoing customer demand in certain end-markets compared with the prior year. These benefits more than offset the higher cost for commodities and components used in our products. Lower earnings from equity method investments impacted operational profit due to the increase in our ownership interest in TCC on August 1, 2022. As a result, TCC is no longer accounted for under the equity method of accounting since the date of acquisition. Inflationary cost pressures have begun to moderate but continue to impact our operating profit.
Acquisitions and divestitures, net primarily related to the results of operations associated with the acquisition of TCC. The transaction added 6% to Operating profit during the year ended December 31, 2023. In connection with the TCC acquisition, the carrying value of our previously held TCC equity investments were recognized at fair value at the date of acquisition. As a result, we recognized a $705 million non-cash gain associated with the increase in our ownership interest in Other.Refrigeration SegmentFor the year ended December 31, 2023, Net sales in our Refrigeration segment was $3.8 billion, a 2% decrease compared with the same period of 2022. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:Net salesOrganic / Operational (2) %
Foreign currency translation 1 %
Acquisitions and divestitures, net (1) %
Total % change (2) %
Organic Net sales decreased 2% compared to the prior year as the segment experienced challenges in certain end-markets during the year. Results for Commercial refrigeration decreased (down 14%) compared with the prior year, primarily driven by lower volumes in Europe as economic conditions and inflationary cost pressures impacted end-market demand. In addition, Asia results were impacted by reduced end-market demand in China. Transport refrigeration results increased (up 3%) compared to the prior year as pricing improvements and strong end-market demand in all regions were partially offset by continued weakness in container end-markets.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, Operating profit in our Refrigeration segment was $428 million, an 11% decrease compared with the same period of 2022. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:Operating profitOrganic / Operational (14) %
Foreign currency translation 1 %
Restructuring (3) %
Other 5 %
Total % change (11) %
38
Table of Contents
The decrease in operational profit of 14% was primarily driven by lower volume in certain end-markets compared with the prior year. In addition, the higher costs of commodities and components used in our products further impacted segment results. These amounts were partially offset by pricing improvements and favorable productivity initiatives. I nflationary cost pressures have begun to moderate but continue to impact our operating profit. Amounts reported in Other represent a $24 million gain on the sale of a business within Transport refrigeration.
Fire & Security Segment
For the year ended December 31, 2023, Net sales in our Fire & Security segment was $3.6 billion, a 2% increase compared with the same period of 2022. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:
Net sales
Organic / Operational 6 %
Foreign currency translation (1) %
KFI deconsolidation (3) %
Total % change 2 %
The organic increase in Net sales of 6% was primarily driven by pricing improvements and volume growth compared with the prior year. Sales grew in all three regions including strong commercial results in the Americas. Growth in Europe moderated as economic conditions and inflationary cost pressures impacted end-market demand. Results in Asia normalized after a strong COVID-19 related recovery. Global industrial sales benefited segment results due to pricing improvements and strong demand. The segment was impacted by ongoing supply chain constraints for certain components used in our products.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, Operating profit in our Fire & Security segment was $209 million, an 87% decrease compared with the same period of 2022. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:
Operating profitOrganic / Operational 2 %Acquisitions and divestitures, net (1) %
Restructuring (1) %
KFI deconsolidation (18) %
Chubb gain (68) %
Other (1) %
Total % change (87) %
The operational profit increase of 2% was primarily driven by pricing improvements, volume growth and lower freight and logistics costs compared to the prior year. These amounts were partially offset by the higher costs of commodities and components used in our products. In addition, higher inventory-related reserves resulting from supply chain challenges further impacted segment results. I nflationary cost pressures have moderated, but continue to impact our operating profit .
As of May 14, 2023, we no longer control KFI as their activities are subject to review and oversight by the bankruptcy court. Therefore, KFI was deconsolidated and their respective assets and liabilities were derecognized from our Consolidated Financial Statements. As a result, we recognized a loss on deconsolidation of $297 million during the year ended December 31, 2023. In addition, we incurred divestiture-related costs reported within Other. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, we completed the Chubb Sale and recognized a net gain on the sale of $1.1 billion
LIQUIDITY AND FINANCIAL CONDITION
We assess liquidity in terms of our ability to generate adequate amounts of cash necessary to fund our current and future cash requirements to support our business and strategic initiatives. In doing so, we review and analyze our cash on hand, working capital, debt service requirements and capital expenditures. We rely on operating cash flows as our primary source of liquidity. In addition, we have access to other sources of capital to finance our strategic initiatives and fund growth.39
Table of ContentsAs of December 31, 2023 , we had Cash and cash equivalents of $10.0 billion, of which approximately 48% was held by our foreign subsidiaries. We manage our worldwide cash requirements by reviewing available funds and the cost effectiveness with which we can access funds held by foreign subsidiaries. On occasion, we are required to maintain cash deposits in connection with contractual obligations related to acquisitions or divestitures or other legal obligations. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the amount of such restricted cash was $2 million and $7 million, respectively.We continue to actively manage and strengthen our business portfolio to meet the current and future needs of our customers. This is accomplished through research and development activities with a focus on new product development and new technology innovation as well as sustaining activities with a focus on improving existing products and reducing production costs. We also pursue potential acquisitions to complement existing products and services to enhance our product portfolio. In addition, we routinely conduct discussions, evaluate targets and enter into agreements regarding possible acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and equity investments to manage our business portfolio.We believe that our available cash and operating cash flows will be sufficient to meet our future operating cash needs. Our committed credit facilities and access to the debt and equity markets provide additional sources of short-term and long-term capital to fund current operations, debt maturities and future investment opportunities. Although we believe that the arrangements currently in place permit us to finance our operations on acceptable terms and conditions, our access to and the availability of financing on acceptable terms and conditions in the future will be impacted by many factors, including: (1) our credit ratings or absence of credit ratings; (2) the liquidity of the overall capital markets; (3) the state of the economy; and (4) the restrictions under our debt agreements. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all.The following table contains several key measures of our financial condition and liquidity:
As of December 31,(In millions) 2023 2022
Cash and cash equivalents $ 10,015 $ 3,520
Total debt $ 14,293 $ 8,842
Net debt (total debt less cash and cash equivalents) $ 4,278 $ 5,322
Total equity $ 9,005 $ 8,076
Total capitalization (total debt plus total equity) $ 23,298 $ 16,918
Net capitalization (total debt plus total equity less cash and cash equivalents) $ 13,283 $ 13,398
Total debt to total capitalization 61 % 52 %
Net debt to net capitalization 32 % 40 %
Acquisition of Viessmann
On April 25, 2023, we announced that we entered into an Agreement to acquire the VCS Business. Under the terms of the Agreement, 20% of the purchase price was to be paid in Carrier common stock, issued directly to Viessmann and subject to long-term lock-up provisions and 80% was to be paid in cash. Simultaneously, we entered into commitment letters with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., BofA Securities, Inc. and Bank of America, N.A. to provide a €8.2 billion Bridge Loan to fund a portion of the Euro-denominated purchase price.
On May 19, 2023, we entered into a 364-day, $500 million, senior unsecured revolving credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent and certain other lenders (the "Revolver"). In addition, we entered into a senior unsecured delayed draw term loan credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent and certain other lenders that permits aggregate borrowings of up to €2.3 billion (the "Delayed Draw Facility"). Upon entering into the Delayed Draw Facility, the aggregate principal amount of the Bridge Loan was reduced by €2.3 billion. In November 30, 2023, we issued $3.0 billion principal amount of USD-denominated notes ("USD Notes") and €2.35 billion principal amount of Euro-denominated notes ("Euro Notes"). Upon issuance, the aggregate principal amount of the Bridge Loan was reduced by €5.4 billion.
On January 2, 2024, we completed the acquisition of the VCS Business for $14.2 billion. The cash portion of the purchase price was funded through cash on hand, proceeds from the USD Notes and the Euro Notes and borrowings under the Delayed Draw Facility and a 60-day senior unsecured bridge term loan. In addition, proceeds from the Revolver became available upon closing.40
Table of ContentsBorrowings and Lines of CreditWe maintain a $2.0 billion unsecured, unsubordinated commercial paper program which we can use for general corporate purposes, including the funding of working capital and potential acquisitions. In addition, we maintain a $2.0 billion revolving credit agreement with various banks (the "Revolving Credit Facility") that matures in May 2028 which supports our commercial paper borrowing program and can be used for general corporate purposes. A ratings-based commitment fee is charged on unused commitments. As of December 31, 2023, we had no borrowings outstanding under our commercial paper program or our Revolving Credit Facility.
Our short-term obligations primarily consist of current maturities of long-term debt. Our long-term obligations primarily consist of long-term notes with maturity dates ranging between 2025 and 2054. Interest payments related to long-term Notes are expected to approximate $507 million per year, reflecting an approximate weighted-average interest rate of 3.8%. Any borrowings from the Revolving Credit Facility are subject to variable interest rates. See Note 7 - Borrowings and Lines of Credit in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the terms of our long-term debt obligations.Scheduled maturities of long-term debt, excluding amortization of discount, are as follows:
(In millions)2024 $ 51
2025 $ 3,053
2026 $ 4
2027 $ 1,245
2028 $ 832
Thereafter $ 9,191
The following table presents our credit ratings and outlook as of December 31, 2023:Rating Agency Long-term Rating (1)Short-term Rating Outlook (2)S&P
BBB A2 Positive
Moody'sBaa3 P3 Positive
Fitch Ratings BBB F3 Stable
(1) The long-term rating for S&P was affirmed on May 14, 2021, and for Moody's on March 30, 2022. Fitch's long-term rating was updated in December 2023.
(2) S&P revised its outlook to positive from stable in December 2023.
(3) Moody's Investors Service revised its outlook to positive from stable on February 28, 2023.Portfolio TransformationOn April 25, 2023, we announced plans to exit our Fire & Security and Commercial Refrigeration businesses over the course of 2024. On December 7, 2023, we entered into a stock purchase agreement to sell our Fire & Security Access Solutions business to Honeywell International Inc. for an enterprise value of approximately $4.95 billion. On December 12, 2023, we entered into a stock purchase agreement to sell CCR to Haier Group Corporation for an enterprise value of approximately $775 million. Both transactions are expected to close 2024.Share Repurchase ProgramWe may purchase our outstanding common stock from time to time subject to market conditions and at our discretion. Repurchases occur in the open market or through one or more other public or private transactions pursuant to plans complying with Rules 10b5-1 and 10b-18 under the Exchange Act. Since the initial authorization in February 2021, the Company's Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $4.1 billion of our outstanding common stock. As of December 31, 2023, the Company repurchased 43.5 million shares of common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $2.0 billion, which includes shares repurchased under an accelerated share repurchase agreement. As a result, the Company has approximately $2.1 billion remaining under the current authorization at December 31, 2023. Upon announcement of the proposed acquisition of the VCS
41
Table of Contents
Business, the Company temporarily paused its share repurchase program in order to advance its capital allocation strategy. As a result, there is no share repurchase activity to report for the fourth quarter of 2023.DividendsWe paid dividends on our common stock of $0.74 per share during the year ended December 31, 2023, totaling $620 million. On December 6, 2023, the Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.19 per share payable on February 9, 2024 to shareowners of record at the close of business on December 21, 2023.Discussion of Cash FlowsFor the Years Ended December 31,(In millions) 2023 2022
Cash provided by (used in):
Operating activities $ 2,607 $ 1,743
Investing activities (660) 1,745
Financing activities 4,612 (2,931)
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents 88 (56)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash $ 6,647 $ 501
Cash flows from operating activities primarily represent inflows and outflows associated with our operations. Primary activities include net income from operations adjusted for non-cash transactions, working capital changes and changes in other assets and liabilities. We define working capital as the assets and liabilities, other than cash, generated through our primary operating activities. The year-over-year increase in net cash provided by operating activities was primarily driven by a reduction in working capital balances. Improved inventory management and higher accounts payable balances more that offset an increase in our accounts receivable balances. In addition, Accounts payable and accrued liabilities included a $96 million mark-to-market valuation adjustment on our window forward contracts associated with the Euro-denominated purchase price of the VCS Business. Prior year working capital balances were higher due to higher safety stock and supply chain constraints.
Cash flows from investing activities primarily represent inflows and outflows associated with long-term assets. Primary activities include capital expenditures, acquisitions, divestitures and proceeds from the sale of fixed assets. During the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in investing activities was $660 million. The primary drivers of the outflow related to $469 million of capital expenditures and $134 million related to the deconsolidation of KFI. In addition, we settled working capital and other transaction-related items associated with the acquisition of TCC and invested in several businesses. These amounts totaled $84 million, net of cash acquired and were partially offset by the proceeds from the sale of a business during the period. During the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash provided by investing activities was $1.7 billion. The primary driver of the inflow related to the net proceeds from the Chubb Sale. This amount was partially offset by the acquisition of TCC and several other businesses and minority-owned businesses, which totaled $506 million, net of cash acquired and $353 million of capital expenditures.
Cash flows from financing activities primarily represent inflows and outflows associated with equity or borrowings. Primary activities include debt transactions, paying dividends to shareowners and the repurchase of our common stock. During the year ended December 31, 2023 net cash provided by financing activities was $4.6 billion. The primary driver of the inflow related to the issuance of the USD Notes and the Euro Notes. The inflow was partially offset by the payment of $620 million in dividends to our common shareowners and deferred financing costs. In addition, we paid $62 million to repurchase shares of our common stock. During the year ended December 31, 2022 net cash used in financing activities was $2.9 billion. The primary driver of the outflow related to the payment of $1.4 billion to repurchase shares of our common stock. In addition, we settled our tender offers for $1.15 billion and paid $509 million in dividends to our common shareowners.Summary of Other Sources and Uses of CashRapid changes in legislation, regulations and government policies, including with respect to regulations intended to combat climate change, affect our operations and business in the countries, regions and localities in which we operate and sell our products. We are committed to comply with these regulations and to environmental stewardship. As a result, we have set goals to invest over $2 billion by 2030 to develop healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent buildings and cold chain solutions that incorporate sustainable design principles and reduce lifecycle impacts. In addition, to reach our goal to achieve carbon
42
Table of Contents
neutrality in our operations by 2030, we expect to incur capital expenditures for climate-related projects including upgrading our facilities, equipment and controls to optimize energy efficiency, transition our energy consumption from a dependency on fossil fuels to renewable energy and expanding the electrification of our fleet vehicles. See section entitled Environmental Goals under the headings "Other Matters Relating to Our Business as a Whole" for additional information.We also have obligations related to environmental and asbestos matters, pension and post-retirement benefits and taxes. See Note 10 - Employee Benefit Plans, Note 17 - Income Taxes, and Note 23 - Commitments and Contingent Liabilities in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional information.CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES
Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with those accounting principles requires management to use judgement in making estimates and assumptions based on the relevant information available at the end of each period. These estimates and assumptions have a significant effect on reported amounts of assets, liabilities, sales and expenses as well as the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities because they result primarily from the need to make estimates and assumptions on matters that are inherently uncertain. Actual results could differ from management's estimates.Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets
In accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other ("ASC 350"), goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets are tested and reviewed annually for impairment or whenever there is a material change in events or circumstances that indicate that the fair value of the asset is more likely than not less than the carrying amount of the asset. We test our reporting units and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually as of the first day of our third quarter, or more frequently if events or circumstances occur.
ASC 350 provides entities with an option to perform a qualitative assessment (commonly referred to as “step zero”) to determine whether a quantitative analysis for impairment is necessary. In performing step zero for our impairment test, we are required to make assumptions and judgments, including but not limited to the following: the evaluation of macroeconomic conditions as related to our business, industry and market trends, and the overall future financial performance of our reporting units and future opportunities in the markets in which they operate. If impairment indicators are present after performing step zero, we would perform a quantitative impairment analysis to estimate fair value.For our 2023 goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets impairment tests, we elected to perform qualitative step zero assessments to determine if it was more likely than not that the fair values of our reporting units and indefinite-lived intangible assets were below carrying value. We considered macroeconomic factors including global economic growth, general macroeconomic trends for the markets in which our reporting units operate and where the intangible assets are utilized and the forecasted growth of the global industrial products industry. In addition to these macroeconomic factors, among other things, we considered the reporting units’ current results and forecasts, changes in the nature of each business, any significant legal, regulatory, contractual, political or other business climate factors, changes in the industry and competitive environment, changes in the composition or carrying amount of net assets and any intention to sell or dispose of a reporting unit or cease the use of any indefinite-lived intangible assets. Based upon our qualitative analysis, we determined that our goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets were not impaired.Revenue Recognition from Contracts with Customers
Revenue is recognized when control of a good or service promised in a contract (i.e., performance obligation) is transferred to a customer. Control is obtained when a customer has the ability to direct the use of and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from that good or service. A significant portion of our performance obligations are recognized at a point-in-time when control of the product transfers to the customer, which is generally the time of shipment. The remaining portion of our performance obligations are recognized over time as the customer simultaneously obtains control as we perform work under a contract, or if the product being produced for the customer has no alternative use and we have a contractual right to payment.A performance obligation is a distinct good, service or a bundle of goods and services promised in a contract. Some of our contracts with customers contain a single performance obligation, while others contain multiple performance obligations most commonly when a contract spans multiple phases of a product life-cycle such as production, installation, maintenance and
43
Table of Contents
support. We identify performance obligations at the inception of a contract and allocate the transaction price to each distinct performance obligation. Revenue is recognized when or as the performance obligation is satisfied. When there are multiple performance obligations within a contract, we allocate the transaction price to each performance obligation based on its relative stand-alone selling price.We primarily generate revenue from the sale of products to customers and recognize revenue at a point in time when control transfers to the customer. Transfer of control is generally based on the shipping terms of the contract. In addition, we recognize revenue on an over-time basis on installation and service contracts. For over-time performance obligations requiring the installation of equipment, revenue is recognized using costs incurred to date relative to total estimated costs at completion to measure progress. Incurred costs represent work performed, which correspond with and best depict transfer of control to the customer. Contract costs include direct costs such as labor, materials and subcontractors’ costs and, where applicable, indirect costs.
The transaction price allocated to performance obligations reflects our expectations about the consideration we will be entitled to receive from a customer. We include variable consideration in the estimated transaction price when there is a basis to reasonably estimate the amount and when it is probable that a significant reversal of revenue recognized would not occur when the uncertainty associated with variable consideration is subsequently resolved. In addition, we customarily offer our customers incentives to purchase products to ensure an adequate supply of our products in distribution channels. The principal incentive programs provide reimbursements to distributors for offering promotional pricing for products. We account for estimated incentive payments as a reduction in sales at the time a sale is recognized.
Income Taxes
We account for income taxes in accordance with ASC 740, Income Taxes ("ASC 740"). Deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on temporary differences between financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities, applying enacted tax rates expected to be in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. We recognize future tax benefits to the extent that realizing these benefits is considered in our judgment to be more likely than not. For those jurisdictions where the expiration date of tax carryforwards or the projected operating results indicate that realization is not likely, a valuation allowance is provided. We review the realizability of our deferred tax asset valuation allowances on a quarterly basis, or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that a review is required and will adjust our estimate if significant events so dictate. To the extent that the ultimate results differ from our original or adjusted estimates, the effect will be recorded in the provision for income taxes in the period that the matter is finally resolved.
In the ordinary course of business, there is inherent uncertainty in quantifying our income tax positions. We assess our income tax positions and record tax benefits for all years subject to examination based upon management’s evaluation of the facts, circumstances and information available at the reporting date. For those tax positions where it is more likely than not that a tax benefit will be sustained, we have recorded the largest amount of tax benefit with a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement with a taxing authority that has full knowledge of all relevant information. For those income tax positions where it is not more likely than not that a tax benefit will be sustained, no tax benefit has been recognized in the Consolidated Financial Statements.Employee Benefit Plans
We provide a range of benefit plans to eligible current and former employees. We account for our benefits plans in accordance with ASC 715, Compensation – Retirement Benefits ("ASC 715"), which requires balance sheet recognition of the overfunded or underfunded status of pension plans. The determination of the amounts associated with these benefits is performed by actuaries and dependent on various actuarial assumptions including discount rates, expected return on plan assets, compensation increases, mortality and health care cost trends. Actual results may differ from the actuarial assumptions and are generally recorded in Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and amortized into Net income from operations over future periods. We review our actuarial assumptions at each measurement date and make modifications to the assumptions based on current rates and trends, if appropriate.
A change in any of these assumptions would have an effect on net periodic pension and post-retirement benefit costs reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements. The following table summarizes the estimated sensitivity of our 2023 projected benefit obligation and net periodic pension (benefit) cost to a 25 basis point change in the discount rate:
44Table of Contents(In millions) Increase in Discount Rate of 25 bps Decrease in Discount Rate of 25 bps
Projected benefit obligation $ (14) $ 14
Net periodic pension (benefit) cost $ — $ —
Net periodic pension (benefit) cost is also sensitive to changes in the expected return on plan assets. An increase or decrease of 25 basis points in the expected return on plan assets would have decreased or increased 2023 pension expense by approximately $1 million.Contingent Liabilities
We are involved in various litigation, claims and administrative proceedings, including those related to environmental (including asbestos) and legal matters. In accordance with ASC 450, Contingencies ("ASC 450"), we record accruals for loss contingencies when it is probable that a liability will be incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. These accruals are generally based upon a range of possible outcomes. If no amount within the range is a better estimate than any other, we accrue the minimum amount. In addition, these estimates are reviewed periodically and adjusted to reflect additional information when it becomes available. We are unable to predict the final outcome of these matters based on the information currently available. However, we do not believe that the resolution of any of these matters will have a material adverse effect upon our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
As described in Note 23 – Commitments and Contingent Liabilities in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report, contractual, regulatory and other matters, including asbestos claims, may arise in the ordinary course of business that subject us to claims or litigation. We have recorded reserves in the consolidated financial statements related to these matters, which are developed using input derived from actuarial estimates and historical and anticipated experience depending on the nature of the reserve, and in certain instances in consultation with legal counsel, internal and external consultants and engineers. Subject to the uncertainties inherent in estimating future costs for these types of liabilities, we believe our estimated reserves are reasonable and do not believe the final determination of the liabilities with respect to these matters would have a material adverse effect upon our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. See the "Risk Factors" section in this Annual Report for additional information.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
See Note 3 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements and their effect on our financial statements.
FY 2024-12-31 (later)
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
BUSINESS OVERVIEW
Business SummaryCarrier Global Corporation ("we" or "our") is a global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions with a focus on providing differentiated, digitally-enabled lifecycle solutions to our customers. Our portfolio includes industry-leading brands such as Carrier, Viessmann, Toshiba, Automated Logic and Carrier Transicold that offer innovative heating, ventilating and air conditioning ("HVAC"), refrigeration and cold chain transportation solutions to help make the world safer and more comfortable. We also provide a broad array of related building services, including audit, design, installation, system integration, repair, maintenance and monitoring. Our operations are classified into two segments: HVAC and Refrigeration.
Through our performance-driven culture, we anticipate creating long-term shareowner value by investing strategically to strengthen our product position in homes, buildings and across the cold chain in order to drive profitable growth. We believe our business segments are well positioned to benefit from favorable secular trends, including the mega-trends of urbanization, population growth and demographic shifts, food security and safety, digitalization, global connectivity and energy efficiency. Coupled with our industry-leading brands and track record of innovation, we continue to provide market-leading solutions for our customers.
Our worldwide operations are affected by global and regional industrial, economic and political factors, trade policies and trends. They are also affected by changes in the general level of economic activity, such as changes in business and consumer spending, construction and shipping activity as well as short-term economic factors such as currency fluctuations, commodity price volatility and supply disruptions. We continue to invest in our business, take pricing actions to mitigate supply chain and inflationary pressures, develop new products and services in order to remain competitive in our markets and use risk management strategies to mitigate various exposures.
33Table of ContentsWe are actively monitoring recent trade policy and tariff announcements including the three executive orders issued by the President in February 2025 directing the United States to impose new tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China and the subsequent announcement that the Administration intended to pause tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a month. We are currently evaluating the potential impact of the announced tariffs on our business and financial condition and actions we may take to mitigate the impact. In addition, we are currently monitoring the potential impact, if any, of actions taken by these countries in response to the announced tariffs. There can be no assurance that the future imposition of any tariffs, changes thereto or potential actions taken by countries in response to the tariffs will not have a material adverse effect upon our results of operations, financial condition or liquidity in any period or that any actions we take to mitigate the impact of the tariffs will be effective.Significant EventsAcquisition of Viessmann Climate Solutions
On April 25, 2023, we announced that we entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) to acquire the climate solutions business (the "VCS Business") of Viessmann Group GmbH & Co. KG (“Viessmann”), a privately-held company. The VCS Business develops intelligent, integrated and sustainable technologies, including heat pumps, boilers, photovoltaic systems, home battery storage and digital solutions, primarily for residential customers in Europe. The acquisition was completed on January 2, 2024. As a result, the assets, liabilities and results of operations of the VCS Business are consolidated in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements as of the date of acquisition and reported within our HVAC segment.
Portfolio Transformation
On June 2, 2024, we completed the sale of our Access Solutions business ("Access Solutions") for cash proceeds of $5.0 billion. Access Solutions, historically reported in our Fire & Security segment, is a global supplier of physical security and digital access solutions supporting the hospitality, commercial, education and military markets. We recognized a net gain on the sale of $1.8 billion, which is included in Discontinued operations, net of tax on the accompanying Consolidated Statement of Operations during the year ended December 31, 2024.
On July 1, 2024, we completed the sale of our Industrial Fire business ("Industrial Fire") for cash proceeds of $1.4 billion. Industrial Fire, historically reported in our Fire & Security segment, is a leading manufacturer of a full spectrum of fire detection and suppression solutions and services in critical high-hazard environments, including oil and gas, power generation, marine and offshore facilities, automotive, data centers and aircraft hangars. We recognized a net gain on the sale of $319 million, which is included in Discontinued operations, net of tax on the accompanying Consolidated Statement of Operations during the year ended December 31, 2024.
On October 1, 2024, we completed the sale of our Commercial Refrigeration business ("CCR") for cash proceeds of $679 million. CCR, historically reported in our Refrigeration segment, is a global supplier of turnkey solutions for commercial refrigeration systems and services, with a primary focus on serving food retail customers, cold storage facilities and warehouses. We recognized a gross gain on the sale of $318 million, which is included in Other income (expense), net on the accompanying Consolidated Statement of Operations during the year ended December 31, 2024. The net proceeds received are subject to working capital and other adjustments provided in the stock purchase agreement.
On December 2, 2024, we completed the sale of our Commercial and Residential Fire business ("CRF Business") for cash proceeds of $2.9 billion. The CRF Business, historically reported in our Fire & Security segment, is a leading manufacturer of fire detection and alarm solutions for both commercial and residential applications. We recognized a net gain on the sale of $1.4 billion, which is included in Discontinued operations, net of tax on the accompanying Consolidated Statement of Operations during the year ended December 31, 2024. The net proceeds received are subject to working capital and other adjustments provided in the stock purchase agreement.Deconsolidation of Kidde-Fenwal, Inc.On May 14, 2023, Kidde-Fenwal, Inc. ("KFI"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of ours, filed a petition for voluntary reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ("Chapter 11") in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. KFI, an industrial fire detection and suppression business historically reported in our Fire & Security segment, filed a voluntary petition with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”) seeking relief under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. As of the petition date, KFI was deconsolidated and its respective assets and liabilities were derecognized from our Consolidated Financial Statements.
34Table of ContentsRESULTS OF OPERATIONS
This discussion summarizes the significant factors affecting our consolidated results of operations, financial condition and liquidity for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with December 31, 2023 . This discussion should be read in conjunction with Item 8, the Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report. A detailed discussion of the year ended December 31, 2023, compared with December 31, 2022, is not included herein and can be found in the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations section in the Company's 2023 Annual Report, filed with the SEC on February 6, 2024, under the heading "Results of Operations," which is incorporated herein by reference.
Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared with Year Ended December 31, 2023The following represents our consolidated net sales and operating results:(In millions) 2024 2023 Period Change % Change
Net sales $ 22,486 $ 18,951 $ 3,535 19 %
Cost of products and services sold (16,505) (13,789) (2,716) 20 %
Gross margin 5,981 5,162 819 16 %
Operating expenses (3,335) (3,002) (333) 11 %
Operating profit 2,646 2,160 486 23 %
Non-operating income (expense), net (372) (161) (211) 131 %
Earnings (loss) before income taxes 2,274 1,999 275 14 %
Income tax expense (1,062) (521) (541) 104 %
Earnings (loss) from continuing operations 1,212 1,478 (266) (18) %
Discontinued operations, net of income taxes 4,496 (38) 4,534 (11932) %
Net earnings (loss) 5,708 1,440 4,268 296 %
Less: Non-controlling interest in subsidiaries' earnings from operations 104 91 13 14 %
Net earnings (loss) attributable to common shareowners $ 5,604 $ 1,349 $ 4,255 315 %Net SalesFor the year ended December 31, 2024, Net sales was $22.5 billion, an 19% increase compared with the same period of 2023. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:
2024Organic / Operational 3 %Acquisitions and divestitures, net 16 %
Total % change 19 %
Organic sales for the year ended December 31, 2024, increased by 3% compared with the same period of 2023. The organic increase was primarily driven by our HVAC segment due to improved end-markets in the Americas, which more than offset reduced end-markets in EMEA and Asia. Results in our Refrigeration segment were down compared to the prior year as each of the segment's businesses experienced challenges in certain end-markets. Refer to "Segment Review" below for a discussion of Net sales by segment.
35Table of Contents
Gross MarginFor the year ended December 31, 2024, gross margin was $6.0 billion, a 16% increase compared with the same period of 2023. The components were as follows:
(In millions) 2024 2023
Net sales $ 22,486 $ 18,951
Cost of products and services sold (16,505) (13,789)
Gross margin $ 5,981 $ 5,162
Percentage of net sales 26.6 % 27.2 %
Gross margin increased by $819 million compared with the year ended December 31, 2023. The main driver of the increase related to ongoing customer demand, pricing improvements and our continued focus on productivity initiatives. Operating results associated with the VCS Business since the date of acquisition further benefited gross margin during the period. However, the results of the VCS Business included inventory step-up, backlog amortization and intangible asset amortization resulting from the recognition of acquired assets at fair value. These costs had a 260 basis point unfavorable impact on gross margin as a percentage of Net sales . As a result, gross margin as a percentage of Net sales decreased by 60 basis points compared with the same period of 2023.Operating ExpensesFor the year ended December 31, 2024, operating expenses, including Equity method investment net earnings , was $3.3 billion, a 11% increase compared with the same period of 2023. The components were as follows:For the Year Ended December 31,(In millions) 2024 2023
Selling, general and administrative $ (3,197) $ (2,607)
Research and development (686) (493)
Equity method investment net earnings 231 211
Other income (expense), net 317 (113)
Operating expenses $ (3,335) $ (3,002)
Percentage of net sales 14.8 % 15.8 %
For the year ended December 31, 2024, Selling, general and administrative expenses were $3.2 billion, a 23% increase compared with the same period of 2023. The increase is primarily due to incremental expenses associated with the VCS Business since the date of acquisition. In addition, higher compensation and other employee-related costs further contributed to the increase. The current year also included $95 million of acquisition and divestiture-related costs compared with $123 million during the year ended December 31, 2023.Research and development costs relate to new product development and new technology innovation. Due to the variable nature of program development schedules, year-over-year spending levels can fluctuate. In addition, we continue to invest to prepare for future energy efficiency and refrigerant regulation changes and in digital controls technologies.Investments over which we do not exercise control, but have significant influence, are accounted for using the equity method of accounting. For the year ended December 31, 2024, Equity method investment net earnings were $231 million, a 9% increase compared with the same period of 2023. The increase was primarily driven by higher earnings in HVAC joint ventures across all regions. The increase was partially offset by a $23 million charge associated with the devaluation of U.S. Dollar denominated balances at an HVAC equity investment in Egypt. In addition, prior year results include a $16 million benefit recognized in connection with a favorable tax ruling at a minority owned joint venture.
36Table of ContentsOther income (expense), net primarily includes the impact of gains and losses related to the sale of businesses or interests in our equity method investments, foreign currency gains and losses on transactions that are denominated in a currency other than an entity's functional currency and hedging-related activities. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we completed the sale of CCR and recognized a gain on the sale of $318 million. In addition, we recognized a $46 million gain associated with our share of United Technologies Corporation's conclusion of certain income tax matters from their 2017 and 2018 tax audit with the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). In connection with the acquisition of the VCS Business, we recognized an $86 million loss on the mark-to-market valuation of our window forward contracts associated with the expected cash outflows of the Euro-denominated purchase price.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, we recognized a $96 million loss on the mark-to-market valuation of our window forward contracts associated with the expected cash outflows of the Euro-denominated purchase price of the VCS Business. In addition, the carrying value of our previously held equity investments in Toshiba Carrier Corporation ("TCC") were recognized at fair value at the date of acquisition. As a result, we recognized an $8 million non-cash loss associated with the increase in our ownership interest.Non-Operating Income (Expense), netFor the year ended December 31, 2024 , Non-operating income (expense), net was $372 million, a 131% increase co mpared with the same period of 2023. The components were as follows:For the Year Ended December 31,(In millions) 2024 2023
Non-service pension benefit (expense) $ (1) $ (1)
Interest expense (580) (306)
Interest income 209 146
Interest (expense) income, net (371) (160)
Non-operating income (expense), net $ (372) $ (161)
Non-operating income (expense), net includes the results from activities other than normal business operations such as interest expense, interest income and the non-service components of pension and post-retirement obligations. Interest expense is affected by the amount of debt outstanding and the interest rates on that debt. For the year ended December 31, 2024, interest expense was $580 million, a 90% increase compared with the same period of 2023. During 2024, we redeemed $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of USD-denominated 5.80% notes due in 2025 and redeemed €750 million aggregate principal amount of 4.375% Euro-denominated notes due 2025 with the proceeds from the issuance of €750 million aggregate principal amount of 3.625% Euro-denominated notes due 2037. In addition, we completed tender offers to repurchase approximately $1.1 billion aggregate principal which included $125 million of notes due 2034, $350 million of notes due 2054, and approximately $600 million of notes due 2050. Combined, we incurred make-whole premiums of $14 million in Interest expense, wrote off $17 million of unamortized deferred financing costs in Interest expense and recognized a net gain of $97 million in Interest income . During 2023, we entered into several financing arrangements in connection with the acquisition of the VCS Business and capitalized $105 million of deferred financing costs. As a result, we amortized $55 million of deferred financing costs in Interest expense , of which $47 million related to our senior unsecured bridge term loan facility (the "Bridge Loan").Income Taxes2024 2023
Effective tax rate 46.7 % 26.1 %
The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2024, was higher than the statutory U.S. federal income tax rate. The increase was primarily driven by a net tax charge of $650 million related to a re-organization of the VCS Business and a non-deductible loss of $86 million on the mark-to-market valuation of our window forward contracts associated with the expected cash outflows of the Euro-denominated purchase price of the VCS Business, partially offset by the lower effective tax rate on the $318 million gain on the sale of CCR and $44 million of foreign tax credits generated and utilized in the current year.
37Table of ContentsThe effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2023, was higher than the statutory U.S. federal income tax rate. The increase was primarily driven by a net tax charge of $27 million relating to the re-organization and disentanglement of the CCR businesses in advance of the planned divestiture. In addition, the effective tax rate was impacted by the recognition of a deferred tax liability for withholding tax of $19 million on repatriated foreign earnings, non-deductible divestiture-related costs and a non-deductible loss of $96 million on the mark-to-market valuation of our window forward contracts associated with the expected cash outflows of the Euro-denominated purchase price of the VCS Business.Segment ReviewWe conduct our operations through two reportable segments:• The HVAC segment provides products, controls, services and solutions to meet the heating, cooling and ventilation needs of residential and commercial customers while enhancing building performance, health, energy efficiency and sustainability.• The Refrigeration segment includes transport refrigeration and monitoring products, services and digital solutions for trucks, trailers, shipping containers, intermodal and rail.We determine our segments based on how our Chief Executive Officer, who is the Chief Operating Decision Maker (the "CODM"), allocates resources, assesses performance and makes operational decisions. The CODM allocates resources and evaluates the financial performance of each of our segments based on Net sales and Operating profit . Adjustments to reconcile segment reporting to the consolidated results are included in Note 21 - Segment Financial Data.Due to the completion of our portfolio transformation activities in 2024, we anticipate changes to our management reporting structure and to the information provided to our CODM beginning in 2025. As a result, we are reassessing our reportable segment structure to align with any changes.Summary performance for each of our segments is as follows:
Net Sales Operating Profit Operating Margin(In millions) 2024 2023 2024 2023 2024 2023
HVAC $ 19,078 $ 15,139 $ 2,308 $ 2,275 12.1 % 15.0 %
Refrigeration 3,475 3,818 715 428 20.6 % 11.2 %
Total segment $ 22,553 $ 18,957 $ 3,023 $ 2,703 13.4 % 14.3 %HVAC SegmentFor the year ended December 31, 2024, Net sales in our HVAC segment was $19.1 billion, a 26% increase compared with the same period of 2023. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:Net sales
Organic / Operational 5 %Acquisitions and divestitures, net 21 %
Total % change 26 %
The organic increase in Net sales of 5% was driven by continued strong results in the segment. Growth in the Americas (up 9%) was primarily driven by our Commercial and Residential businesses which benefited from ongoing customer demand and pricing improvements. Moderate growth in our Light Commercial business was due to improved pricing compared with the prior year. EMEA (down 1%) continues to be impacted by reduced volumes in residential markets. The reduction was partially offset by ongoing customer demand and pricing improvements in our Commercial business. Results in Asia (down 2%) were impacted by lower demand in the region, primarily in China.
On January 2, 2024, we acquired the VCS Business, a leading manufacturer of high efficiency heating and renewable energy systems in Europe. The results of the VCS Business have been included in our Consolidated Financial Statements since the date of acquisition. The transaction added 21% to Net sales for the year ended December 31, 2024, and is included in Acquisitions and divestitures, net.
38Table of ContentsFor the year ended December 31, 2024, Operating profit in our HVAC segment was $2.3 billion, a 1% increase compared with the same period of 2023. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:Operating profitOrganic / Operational 23 %
Acquisitions and divestitures, net 3 %
Amortization of acquired intangibles (24) %
Restructuring (2) %
Other 1 %
Total % change 1 %
The operational profit increase of 23% was primarily attributable to ongoing customer demand and pricing improvements in certain end-markets compared with the prior year. In addition, favorable productivity initiatives further benefited the segment. These benefits more than offset volume reductions in certain end-markets. Higher earnings from equity method investments further benefited operational profit in the segment. The increase was partially offset by a $23 million charge associated with the devaluation of U.S. Dollar denominated balances at an HVAC equity investment in Egypt.Refrigeration SegmentFor the year ended December 31, 2024, Net sales in our Refrigeration segment was $3.5 billion, a 9% decrease compared with the same period of 2023. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:Net salesOrganic / Operational (1) %
Acquisitions and divestitures, net (8) %
Total % change (9) %
The organic decrease in Net sales of 1% was primarily driven by volume reductions within certain end-markets compared with the prior year. Transport results decreased (down 8%) compared to the prior year primarily due to lower end-market demand in North America. The reduction was partially offset by higher volumes in Asia and Europe. Results in the Container business (up 24%) was primarily driven by strong end-market demand and improved pricing.
On October 1, 2024, we divested CCR, a global supplier of turnkey solutions for commercial refrigeration systems and services. The results of CCR are excluded from our Consolidated Financial Statements subsequent to the divestiture date. The transaction reduced Net Sales by 8% for the year ended December 31, 2024, and is included in Acquisitions and divestitures, net.
For the year ended December 31, 2024, Operating profit in our Refrigeration segment was $715 million, a 67% increase compared with the same period of 2023. The components of the year-over-year change were as follows:Operating profitOrganic / Operational 2 %Foreign currency translation (1) %
Acquisitions and divestitures, net (4) %
Restructuring 3 %
CCR gain on sale 74 %
Other (7) %
Total % change 67 %39
Table of ContentsThe increase in operational profit of 2% was primarily driven by favorable productivity initiatives and price improvements compared with the prior year. In addition, volume growth in certain end-markets further benefited the segment. These amounts were partially offset by volume reductions in certain other end-markets. Amounts reported in Other represent $10 million of divestiture-related costs associated with the sale of CCR. In addition, the prior year includes a $24 million gain on the sale of a business within the Transport business.
LIQUIDITY AND FINANCIAL CONDITION
We assess liquidity in terms of our ability to generate adequate amounts of cash necessary to fund our current and future cash requirements to support our business and strategic initiatives. In doing so, we review and analyze our cash on hand, working capital, debt service requirements and capital expenditures. We rely on operating cash flows as our primary source of liquidity. In addition, we have access to other sources of capital to finance our strategic initiatives and fund growth.
As of December 31, 2024 , we had Cash and cash equivalents of $4.0 billion, of which approximately 44% was held by our foreign subsidiaries. We manage our worldwide cash requirements by reviewing available funds and the cost effectiveness with which we can access funds held by foreign subsidiaries. On occasion, we are required to maintain cash deposits in connection with contractual obligations related to acquisitions or divestitures or other legal obligations. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the amount of such restricted cash was $3 million and $1 million, respectively.We continue to actively manage and strengthen our business portfolio to meet the current and future needs of our customers. This is accomplished through research and development activities with a focus on new product development and new technology innovation as well as sustaining activities with a focus on improving existing products and reducing production costs. We also pursue potential acquisitions to complement existing products and services to enhance our product portfolio. In addition, we routinely conduct discussions, evaluate targets and enter into agreements regarding possible acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and equity investments to manage our business portfolio.We believe that our available cash and operating cash flows will be sufficient to meet our future operating cash needs. Our committed credit facilities and access to the debt and equity markets provide additional sources of short-term and long-term capital to fund current operations, debt maturities and future investment opportunities. Although we believe that the arrangements currently in place permit us to finance our operations on acceptable terms and conditions, our access to and the availability of financing on acceptable terms and conditions in the future will be impacted by many factors, including: (1) our credit ratings or absence of credit ratings; (2) the level of our existing indebtedness; (3) the restrictions under our debt agreements; (4) the liquidity of the overall capital markets and (5) the state of the economy. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all.The following table contains several key measures of our financial condition and liquidity:
As of December 31,(In millions) 2024 2023
Cash and cash equivalents $ 3,969 $ 9,852
Total debt $ 12,278 $ 14,293
Total equity $ 14,395 $ 9,005
Net debt (total debt less cash and cash equivalents) $ 8,309 $ 4,441
Total capitalization (total debt plus total equity) $ 26,673 $ 23,298
Net capitalization (total debt plus total equity less cash and cash equivalents) $ 22,704 $ 13,446
Total debt to total capitalization 46 % 61 %
Net debt to net capitalization 37 % 33 %40
Table of ContentsAcquisition of VCS Business
On April 25, 2023, we announced that we entered into an Agreement to acquire the VCS Business. Under the terms of the Agreement, 20% of the purchase price was to be paid in Carrier common stock, issued directly to Viessmann and subject to certain lock-up provisions and 80% was to be paid in cash. Simultaneously, we entered into commitment letters with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., BofA Securities, Inc. and Bank of America, N.A. to provide a €8.2 billion senior unsecured bridge term loan facility (the "Bridge Loan") to fund a portion of the Euro-denominated purchase price.
On May 19, 2023, we entered into a 364-day, $500 million, senior unsecured revolving credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent and certain other lenders (the "Revolver"). In addition, we entered into a senior unsecured delayed draw term loan credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent and certain other lenders that permits aggregate borrowings of up to €2.3 billion (the "Delayed Draw Facility"). Upon entering into the Delayed Draw Facility, the aggregate principal amount of the Bridge Loan was reduced by €2.3 billion. In November 2023, we issued $3.0 billion principal amount of USD-denominated notes ("USD Notes") and €2.35 billion principal amount of Euro-denominated notes ("Euro Notes"). Upon issuance, the aggregate principal amount of the Bridge Loan was reduced by €5.4 billion. On January 2, 2024, we entered into a 60-day senior unsecured term loan agreement consisting of a Euro-denominated tranche in an aggregate amount of €113 million and a USD-denominated tranche in an aggregate amount of $349 million (the “60-day Loan”). Upon entering into the 60-day Loan, we reduced the final portion of the Bridge Loan by €500 million and subsequently terminated the agreement.
On January 2, 2024, we completed the acquisition of the VCS Business for $14.2 billion. The cash portion of the purchase price was funded through cash on hand, proceeds from the USD Notes and the Euro Notes and borrowings under the Delayed Draw Facility and the 60-day Loan. Proceeds from the Revolver became available upon closing.
In March 2024, borrowings under the 60-day loan were repaid. In May 2024, the Revolver was terminated and refinanced in order to extend its maturity to May 2025 (the "364-day Revolver"). In June 2024, we redeemed our $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of 5.80% notes due in 2025 and repaid borrowings under the Delayed Draw Facility, which was subsequently terminated. In addition, we completed tender offers on certain tranches of our notes in August 2024 which included $125 million of notes due 2034, $350 million of notes due 2054 and approximately $600 million of notes due 2050. In November 2024, we issued €750 million aggregate principal amount of 3.625% notes due 2037 and used the proceeds to redeem €750 million aggregate principal amount of 4.375% notes due in 2025. In December 2024, we terminated the 364-day Revolver as part of a transaction to refinance and replace prior credit agreements.Borrowings and Lines of CreditWe maintain a $2.0 billion unsecured, unsubordinated commercial paper program which we can use for general corporate purposes, including the funding of working capital and potential acquisitions. In addition, we maintain a $2.5 billion revolving credit agreement with various banks (the "Revolving Credit Facility") that matures in December 2029 which supports our commercial paper borrowing program and can be used for general corporate purposes. A ratings-based commitment fee is charged on unused commitments. As of December 31, 2024, we had no borrowings outstanding under our commercial paper program or our Revolving Credit Facility.
Our short-term obligations primarily consist of current maturities of long-term debt. Our long-term obligations primarily consist of long-term notes with maturity dates ranging between 2025 and 2054. Interest payments related to long-term notes are expected to approximate $420 million per year, reflecting an approximate weighted-average interest rate of 3.5%. Any borrowings from the Revolving Credit Facility are subject to variable interest rates. See Note 7 - Borrowings and Lines of Credit in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the terms of our long-term debt obligations.
41
Table of ContentsScheduled maturities of long-term debt, excluding amortization of discount, are as follows:
(In millions)2025 $ 1,252
2026 $ 70
2027 $ 1,284
2028 $ 803
2029 $ 19
Thereafter $ 8,938
The following table presents our credit ratings and outlook as of December 31, 2024:Rating Agency Long-term Rating (1)Short-term Rating (2)
Outlook (2) (3)S&P
BBB A2 Positive
Moody'sBaa2 P2 Positive
Fitch Ratings BBB+ F1 Stable
(1) The long-term rating was upgraded by Moody's to Baa2 on May 13, 2024. Fitch's was updated to BBB+ on October 18, 2024.
(2) Fitch upgraded its short-term rating to F1 from F2 and revised its outlook to stable from positive on October 18, 2024.
(3) S&P revised its outlook to positive from stable in December 2023.Portfolio TransformationOn June 2, 2024, we completed the divestiture of Access Solutions for cash proceeds of $5.0 billion. On July 1, 2024, we completed the divestiture of Industrial Fire for cash proceeds of $1.4 billion. On October 1, 2024, we completed the divestiture of CCR for cash proceeds of $679 million, subject to customary working capital and other adjustments. On December 2, 2024, we completed the divestiture of the CRF Business for cash proceeds of $2.9 billion, subject to customary working capital and other adjustments. Consistent with our capital allocation strategy, the net proceeds will be used to fund repayment of debt, investments in organic and inorganic growth initiatives and capital returns to shareowners as well as for general corporate purposes.Share Repurchase ProgramWe may purchase our outstanding common stock from time to time subject to market conditions and at our discretion. Repurchases occur in the open market or through one or more other public or private transactions pursuant to plans complying with Rules 10b5-1 and 10b-18 under the Exchange Act. Since the initial authorization in February 2021, the Company's Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $7.1 billion of our outstanding common stock which includes a $3 billion increase approved in October 2024. As of December 31, 2024, the Company repurchased 70.1 million shares of common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $3.9 billion. As a result, the Company has approximately $3.2 billion remaining under the current authorization at December 31, 2024.DividendsWe paid dividends on our common stock of $0.76 per share during the year ended December 31, 2024, totaling $670 million. On December 6, 2024, the Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.225 per share payable on February 7, 2025, to shareowners of record at the close of business on December 20, 2024.
42
Table of ContentsDiscussion of Cash FlowsThe following table reflects the major categories of cash flows for the following periods:For the Years Ended December 31,(In millions) 2024 2023
Net cash provided by (used in):
Continuing operating activities $ 1,571 $ 2,252
Continuing investing activities (11,025) (504)
Continuing financing activities (4,611) 4,632
Cash flows from continuing operating activities primarily represent inflows and outflows associated with our continuing operations. Primary activities include net earnings from continuing operations adjusted for non-cash transactions, working capital changes and changes in other assets and liabilities. The year-over-year decrease in net cash provided by continuing operating activities was primarily driven by an increase in working capital balances compared with the prior period. Improved inventory levels and lower customer receivable balances were more than offset by lower accounts payable balances.
Cash flows from continuing investing activities primarily represent inflows and outflows associated with long-term assets. Primary activities include capital expenditures, acquisitions, divestitures and proceeds from the sale of fixed assets. During the year ended December 31, 2024, net cash used in continuing investing activities was $11.0 billion. The primary driver of the outflow related to the acquisition of the VCS Business, which totaled $10.8 billion, net of cash acquired. Additional investing outflows include $264 million related to settlement of derivatives and $519 million of capital expenditures. These outflows were partially offset by net proceeds of $634 million related to divestitures. During the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in continuing investing activities was $504 million. The primary driver of the outflow related to $439 million of capital expenditures. In addition, we settled working capital and other transaction-related items associated with the acquisition of Toshiba Carrier Corporation and invested in several businesses. These amounts totaled $84 million, net of cash acquired and were partially offset by the proceeds from the sale of a business during the period.
Cash flows from continuing financing activities primarily represent inflows and outflows associated with equity or borrowings. Primary activities include debt transactions, paying dividends to shareowners and the repurchase of our common stock. During the year ended December 31, 2024, net cash used in continuing financing activities was $4.6 billion. The primary driver of the outflow is due to repayments of long-term debt of $5.3 billion which includes prepayments of the Delayed Draw Facility, redemption of our 5.80% notes due in 2025 and 4.375% notes due in 2025 and tender offers of approximately $1.1 billion. In addition, we made payments totaling $1.9 billion to repurchase shares of our common stock and dividend payments of $670 million to our common shareowners. These outflows were partially offset by the proceeds of borrowings used to fund the cash portion of the acquisition of the VCS Business and the November 2024 issuance of our 3.625% notes due 2037. During the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash provided by continuing financing activities was $4.6 billion. The primary driver of the inflow related to the issuance of the USD Notes and the Euro Notes related to the acquisition of the VCS Business. The inflow was partially offset by the payment of $620 million in dividends to our common shareowners. In addition, we paid $62 million to repurchase shares of our common stock.Summary of Other Sources and Uses of CashRapid changes in legislation, regulations and government policies, including with respect to regulations intended to combat climate events, affect our operations and business in the countries, regions and localities in which we operate and sell our products. We are committed to comply with these regulations and to environmental stewardship. As a result, we have set goals to invest over $4 billion by 2030 to develop intelligent climate and energy solutions that reduce environmental impacts. In addition, to reach our goal to achieve carbon neutrality in our operations by 2030, we expect to incur capital expenditures for climate-related projects including upgrading our facilities, equipment and controls to optimize energy efficiency, transition our energy consumption from a dependency on fossil fuels to renewable energy and expanding the electrification of our fleet vehicles. See section entitled Environmental Goals under the headings "Other Matters Relating to Our Business as a Whole" for additional information.We also have obligations related to environmental and asbestos matters, pension and post-retirement benefits and taxes. See Note 10 - Employee Benefit Plans, Note 17 - Income Taxes, and Note 23 - Commitments and Contingent Liabilities in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional information.43
Table of ContentsCRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES
Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with those accounting principles requires management to use judgement in making estimates and assumptions based on the relevant information available at the end of each period. These estimates and assumptions have a significant effect on reported amounts of assets, liabilities, sales and expenses as well as the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities because they result primarily from the need to make estimates and assumptions on matters that are inherently uncertain. Actual results could differ from management's estimates.Business Combinations
In accordance with ASC 805, Business Combinations ("ASC 805"), acquisitions that meet the definition of a business are recorded using the acquisition method of accounting. We recognize and measure the identifiable assets acquired, liabilities assumed and any non-controlling interest as of the acquisition date at fair value. The valuation of intangible assets is determined by an income approach methodology, using assumptions such as projected future revenues, customer attrition rates, royalty rates, tax rates and discount rates. The excess, if any, of total consideration transferred in a business combination over the fair value of identifiable assets acquired, liabilities assumed and any non-controlling interest is recognized as goodwill. Costs incurred as a result of a business combination other than costs related to the issuance of debt or equity securities are recorded in the period the costs are incurred.Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets
In accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other ("ASC 350"), goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets are tested and reviewed annually for impairment or whenever there is a material change in events or circumstances that indicate that the fair value of the asset is more likely than not less than the carrying amount of the asset. We test our reporting units and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually as of the first day of our third quarter, or more frequently if events or circumstances occur.
ASC 350 provides entities with an option to perform a qualitative assessment (commonly referred to as “step zero”) to determine whether a quantitative analysis for impairment is necessary. In performing step zero for our impairment test, we are required to make assumptions and judgments, including but not limited to the following: the evaluation of macroeconomic conditions as related to our business, industry and market trends, and the overall future financial performance of our reporting units and future opportunities in the markets in which they operate. If impairment indicators are present after performing step zero, we would perform a quantitative impairment analysis to estimate fair value.For our 2024 goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets impairment tests, we elected to perform qualitative step zero assessments for all tests (except one) to determine if it was more likely than not that the fair values of our reporting units and indefinite-lived intangible assets were below carrying value. We considered macroeconomic factors including global economic growth, general macroeconomic trends for the markets in which our reporting units operate and where the intangible assets are utilized and the forecasted growth of the global industrial products industry. In addition to these macroeconomic factors, among other things, we considered the reporting units’ current results and forecasts, changes in the nature of each business, any significant legal, regulatory, contractual, political or other business climate factors, changes in the industry and competitive environment, changes in the composition or carrying amount of net assets and any intention to sell or dispose of a reporting unit or cease the use of any indefinite-lived intangible assets. Based upon our qualitative analysis, we determined that our goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets were not impaired.
For the remaining goodwill test, we elected to perform a quantitative test to determine if it was more likely than not that the fair value of our Refrigeration reporting unit was below carrying value. We utilized a discounted cash flow method under the income approach to estimate the fair value of the reporting unit. The approach relies on our estimates of future cash flows, long-term growth rates, discount rates and income tax rates and explicitly addressed factors such as timing, growth and margins with due consideration given to forecasting, market and geographic risk. The results did not indicate any goodwill impairment. A significant increase in the discount rate, decrease in the long-term growth rate or substantial reductions in our end markets and volume assumptions could have a negative impact on the estimated fair value of this reporting unit.
44
Table of ContentsRevenue Recognition from Contracts with Customers
Revenue is recognized when control of a good or service promised in a contract (i.e., performance obligation) is transferred to a customer. Control is obtained when a customer has the ability to direct the use of and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from that good or service. A significant portion of our performance obligations are recognized at a point-in-time when control of the product transfers to the customer, which is generally the time of shipment. The remaining portion of our performance obligations are recognized over time as the customer simultaneously obtains control as we perform work under a contract, or if the product being produced for the customer has no alternative use and we have a contractual right to payment.A performance obligation is a distinct good, service or a bundle of goods and services promised in a contract. Some of our contracts with customers contain a single performance obligation, while others contain multiple performance obligations most commonly when a contract spans multiple phases of a product life-cycle such as production, installation, maintenance and support. We identify performance obligations at the inception of a contract and allocate the transaction price to each distinct performance obligation. Revenue is recognized when or as the performance obligation is satisfied. When there are multiple performance obligations within a contract, we allocate the transaction price to each performance obligation based on its relative stand-alone selling price.We primarily generate revenue from the sale of products to customers and recognize revenue at a point in time when control transfers to the customer. Transfer of control is generally based on the shipping terms of the contract. In addition, we recognize revenue on an over-time basis on installation and service contracts. For over-time performance obligations requiring the installation of equipment, revenue is recognized using costs incurred to date relative to total estimated costs at completion to measure progress. Incurred costs represent work performed, which correspond with and best depict transfer of control to the customer. Contract costs include direct costs such as labor, materials and subcontractors’ costs and, where applicable, indirect costs.
The transaction price allocated to performance obligations reflects our expectations about the consideration we will be entitled to receive from a customer. We include variable consideration in the estimated transaction price when there is a basis to reasonably estimate the amount and when it is probable that a significant reversal of revenue recognized would not occur when the uncertainty associated with variable consideration is subsequently resolved. In addition, we customarily offer our customers incentives to purchase products to ensure an adequate supply of our products in distribution channels. The principal incentive programs provide reimbursements to distributors for offering promotional pricing for products. We account for estimated incentive payments as a reduction in sales at the time a sale is recognized.
Income Taxes
We account for income taxes in accordance with ASC 740, Income Taxes ("ASC 740"). Deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on temporary differences between financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities, applying enacted tax rates expected to be in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. We recognize future tax benefits to the extent that realizing these benefits is considered in our judgment to be more likely than not. For those jurisdictions where the expiration date of tax carryforwards or the projected operating results indicate that realization is not likely, a valuation allowance is provided. We review the realizability of our deferred tax asset valuation allowances on a quarterly basis, or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that a review is required and will adjust our estimate if significant events so dictate. To the extent that the ultimate results differ from our original or adjusted estimates, the effect will be recorded in the provision for income taxes in the period that the matter is finally resolved.
In the ordinary course of business, there is inherent uncertainty in quantifying our income tax positions. We assess our income tax positions and record tax benefits for all years subject to examination based upon management’s evaluation of the facts, circumstances and information available at the reporting date. For those tax positions where it is more likely than not that a tax benefit will be sustained, we have recorded the largest amount of tax benefit with a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement with a taxing authority that has full knowledge of all relevant information. For those income tax positions where it is not more likely than not that a tax benefit will be sustained, no tax benefit has been recognized in the Consolidated Financial Statements.45Table of ContentsContingent Liabilities
We are involved in various litigation, claims and administrative proceedings, including those related to environmental (including asbestos) and legal matters. In accordance with ASC 450, Contingencies ("ASC 450"), we record accruals for loss contingencies when it is probable that a liability will be incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. These accruals are generally based upon a range of possible outcomes. If no amount within the range is a better estimate than any other, we accrue the minimum amount. In addition, these estimates are reviewed periodically and adjusted to reflect additional information when it becomes available. We are unable to predict the final outcome of these matters based on the information currently available. However, we do not believe that the resolution of any of these matters will have a material adverse effect upon our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
As described in Note 23 – Commitments and Contingent Liabilities in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report, contractual, regulatory and other matters, including asbestos claims, may arise in the ordinary course of business that subject us to claims or litigation. We have recorded reserves in the consolidated financial statements related to these matters, which are developed using input derived from actuarial estimates and historical and anticipated experience depending on the nature of the reserve, and in certain instances in consultation with legal counsel, internal and external consultants and engineers. Subject to the uncertainties inherent in estimating future costs for these types of liabilities, we believe our estimated reserves are reasonable and do not believe the final determination of the liabilities with respect to these matters would have a material adverse effect upon our competitive position, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. See the "Risk Factors" section in this Annual Report for additional information.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
See Note 3 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in the accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements and their effect on our financial statements.