IMHC Imperalis Holding Corporation (PK)

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Stockholders should be aware of certain risks related to the ownership of shares of our common stock including those set forth below.

Risks Related to the Company and Financial Condition

We have a history of annual net losses which may continue and which may negatively impact our ability to achieve our business objectives.

As of December 31, 2022, we had cash of $0.1 million and working capital of $0.7 million. We have incurred recurring losses, anticipate continuing losses, and reported losses available to common stockholders for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 of $4.9 million and $1.8 million, respectively. In the past, we have financed our operations principally through investment by Ault, our current parent company. There can be no assurance that, even if our revenues increase, future operations will result in net income. Our failure to increase our revenues or improve our gross margins will harm our business. We may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis in the future. If our revenues grow more slowly than we anticipate, our gross margins fail to improve or our operating expenses exceed our expectations, our operating results will suffer. The prices we charge for our products may decrease, which would reduce our revenues and gross margins and harm our business. If we are unable to sell our products at acceptable prices relative to our costs, or if we fail to develop and introduce on a timely basis new products from which we can derive additional revenues, our financial results will suffer. These factors raise substantial doubt regarding the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for the 12 months following the issuance of these financial statements.

Our business model will continue to evolve as we focus on our EV charging operating segment, which will increase the complexity of our business.

Our business model has evolved in the past and will continue to do so as we focus on our EV charging operating segment. In prior years we have added additional types of services and product offerings and in some cases, we have modified or discontinued those services and product offerings. We intend to continue to try to offer additional types of products or services, including with respect to our EV charging products and services, and we do not know whether any of them will be successful. From time to time we have also modified aspects of our business model relating to our product mix. We do not know whether these or any other modifications will be successful. The additions and modifications to our business have increased the complexity of our business and placed significant strain on our management, personnel, operations, systems, technical performance, financial resources, and internal financial control and reporting functions. Future additions to or modifications of our business are likely to have similar effects. Further, any new business or website we launch that is not favorably received by the market could damage our reputation or our brand. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We will need, but may be unable to obtain, funding following the Distribution on satisfactory terms, which could dilute our stockholders and investors, or impose burdensome financial restrictions on our business.

We have relied upon cash from financing activities and in the future, we hope to rely on revenues generated from operations to fund all of the cash requirements of our activities. However, it is extremely unlikely that we will be able to generate any significant cash from our operating activities in the foreseeable future. Future financings may not be available on a timely basis, in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. Any debt financing or other financing of securities senior to our common stock will likely include financial and other covenants that will restrict our flexibility. Any failure to comply with these covenants may cause an event of default and acceleration of the obligation to pay the debt, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations and we could lose our existing sources of funding and impair our ability to secure new sources of funding. You should not assume that Ault will support us financially in the future. There can be no assurance that we will be able to generate any further investor interest in our securities or other types of funding, in which case you would likely lose the entirety of the value of our shares that will be distributed to you.

Our acquisition growth strategy is subject to a significant degree of risk.

Our growth strategy through acquisitions involves a significant degree of risk. Some of the companies that we have identified as acquisition targets may not have a developed business or are experiencing inefficiencies and incur losses. Therefore, we may lose our investment in the event that these companies’ businesses do not develop as planned or that they are unable to achieve the anticipated cost efficiencies or reduction of losses.

Further, in order to implement our growth plan, we have hired additional staff and consultants to review potential investments and implement our plan. As a result, we have substantially increased our infrastructure and costs. If we fail to quickly find new companies that provide revenue to offset our costs, we will continue to experience losses. No assurance can be given that our product development and investments will produce sufficient revenues to offset these increases in expenditures. 

If we make any acquisitions, they may disrupt or have a negative impact on our business.

Whenever we make acquisitions, we could have difficulty integrating the acquired companies’ personnel and operations with our own. In addition, the key personnel of the acquired business may not be willing to work for us. We cannot predict the effect expansion may have on our core business. Regardless of whether we are successful in making an acquisition, the negotiations could disrupt our ongoing business, distract our management and employees and increase our expenses. In addition to the risks described above, acquisitions are accompanied by several inherent risks, including, without limitation, the following:

Our business could be severely impaired if and to the extent that we are unsuccessful in addressing any of these risks or other problems encountered in connection with any acquisition, many of which cannot be presently identified. If we fail to satisfactorily address them, these risks and problems could disrupt our ongoing business, distract our management and employees, increase our expenses and adversely affect our results of operations.

Our business and operations are growing, and if we fail to effectively manage our growth, our business and operating results could be harmed.

We have experienced, and may continue to experience, growth in our operations. This has placed, and may continue to place, significant demands on our management, operational and financial infrastructure. If we do not manage our growth effectively, the quality of our products and services could suffer, which could negatively affect our operating results. To effectively manage our growth, we must continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls and reporting systems and procedures. These systems improvements may require significant capital expenditures and management resources. Failure to implement these improvements could hurt our ability to manage our growth and our financial position.

There is no assurance of successful expansion of operations.

Our significant increase in the scope and the scale of our operations, including the hiring of additional personnel, has resulted in significantly higher operating expenses. We anticipate that our operating expenses will continue to increase. Expansion of our operations may also make significant demands on our management, finances and other resources. Our ability to manage the anticipated future growth, should it occur, will depend upon a significant expansion of our accounting and other internal management systems and the implementation and subsequent improvement of a variety of systems, procedures and controls. We cannot assure that significant problems in these areas will not occur. Failure to expand these areas and implement and improve such systems, procedures and controls in an efficient manner at a pace consistent with our business could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot assure that attempts to expand our marketing, sales, manufacturing and customer support efforts will succeed or generate additional sales or profits in any future period. As a result of the expansion of our operations and the anticipated increase in our operating expenses, along with the difficulty in forecasting revenue levels, we expect to continue to experience significant fluctuations in its results of operations.

We may be unable to successfully expand our production capacity, which could result in material delays, quality issues, increased costs and loss of business opportunities, which may negatively impact our product margins and profitability.

Part of our future growth strategy is to increase our production capacity to meet increasing demand for our goods. Assuming we obtain sufficient funding to increase our production capacity, any projects to increase such capacity may not be constructed on the anticipated timetable or within budget. We may also experience quality control issues as we implement any production upgrades. Any material delay in completing these projects, or any substantial cost increases or quality issues in connection with these projects could materially delay our ability to bring our products to market and adversely affect our business, reduce our revenue, income and available cash, all of which could harm our financial condition.

If we fail to anticipate and adequately respond to rapid technological changes in our industry, including evolving industry-wide standards, in a timely and cost-effective manner, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

The markets in which we operate are characterized by technological changes. Such changes, including evolving industry standards, changes in customer requirements and new product introductions and enhancements, could render our products obsolete. Accordingly, we are required to constantly monitor and anticipate technological changes in our industry and develop new product offerings and technologies or adapt or modify our existing offerings and technologies to keep pace with technological advances in our industry and remain competitive.

Our ability to implement our business strategy and continue to grow our revenues will depend on a number of factors, including our continuing ability to:

We believe that, to remain competitive in the future, we will need to continue to invest significant financial resources in developing new offerings and technologies or to adapt or modify our existing offerings and technologies, including through internal product design and development, strategic acquisitions and joint ventures or other arrangements. However, these efforts may be more costly than we anticipate and there can be no assurance that they will be successful.

To the extent our customers adopt such new technology in place of our products, the sales of our products may be adversely affected. Such competition may also increase pricing pressure for our products and adversely affect the revenues from such products.

Our future success depends upon our ability to develop, and market differentiated, leading-edge power conversion products for larger customers as well as off-grid power generation and distribution technologies, potentially contributing to lengthy product development and sales cycles that may result in significant expenditures before revenues are generated.

The power system industry and the industries in which many of our customers operate are characterized by intense competition, rapid technological change, quickened product obsolescence, and price erosion for mature products, each of which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. The development of new, innovative products is often a complex, time-consuming and costly process involving significant investment in research and development, with no assurance of return on investment. Although we have introduced many products over recent years, there can be no assurance we will be able to continue to develop and introduce new and improved products and power system concepts in a timely or efficient manner. Similarly, there can be no assurance that recently introduced or to be developed products will achieve customer acceptance.

Our future success depends substantially upon customer acceptance of our innovative products and services. As we have been in the early stages of market penetration for our EVSE infrastructure and eMobility service, we have experienced lengthy periods during which we have focused our product development efforts on the specific requirements of a limited number of large customers, followed by further periods of delay before meaningful purchase orders are received. As a result, we may incur significant product development expenses, as well as significant sales and marketing expenses, before we generate the related revenues for these products.

We cannot offer any assurance that the markets we currently serve will grow in the future, our power products, including EVSE infrastructure and services, will meet respective market requirements, or we can maintain adequate gross margins or operating profits in these markets.

Our future results will depend on our ability to maintain and expand our existing sales channels and to build out our marketing, business development and sales functions.

To grow our business, we must add new customers for our products in addition to retaining and increasing sales to our current customers. Currently, we have a limited sales force focused on establishing relationships with customers that we expect to expand over time. We have historically relied on key executives to drive growth through return business with existing customers. Building out marketing, business development and sales functions in all operating subsidiaries is critical to drive significant growth in line with our strategic plans. We plan to contract for marketing services to improve our websites, manage public relations and optimize our social media presence. Failure to recruit and retain the business development and sales personnel to execute on outreach and capture of new business, or the failure of those new hires or marketing services to perform as expected, will limit our ability to achieve our growth targets.

The sale of our products is dependent upon our ability to satisfy the proprietary requirements of our customers.

We depend upon a relatively narrow range of products for the majority of our revenue. Our success in marketing our products is dependent upon their continued acceptance by our customers. In some cases, our customers require that our products meet their own proprietary requirements. If we are unable to satisfy such requirements, or forecast and adapt to changes in such requirements, our business could be materially harmed.

We depend upon a few major customers for a majority of our revenues, and the loss of any of these customers, or the substantial reduction in the quantity of products that they purchase from us, would significantly reduce our revenues.

We currently depend upon a few major OEMs and other customers for a significant portion of our revenues. Given the nascent stage of the industry, a limited number of contractual commercial customers and OEM partners currently account for a substantial portion of our income. Our operating projections are currently contingent on our performance under our commercial contracts with, medical and healthcare, defense and aerospace, and industrial and telecommunications customers. We expect that a majority of our sales outside of our new eMobility market may continue to come from a concentrated number of commercial customers and OEM partners. We expect a substantial portion of our revenues in the near future to be from our eMobility market and as a result, to be subject to any risks specific to those entities and the jurisdictions and markets in which they operate, including their ability to develop a portfolio of EV charging infrastructure models and attract customers for those models. We may be unable to accomplish our business plan to diversify and expand our customer and OEM partner base by attracting a broad array of customers and OEM partners, which could negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If our major OEM customers reduce or cancel their orders scaling back some of their activities, our revenues would be significantly reduced. Further, diversions in the capital spending of certain of these customers to new network elements have and could continue to lead to their reduced demand for our products, which could, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. If the financial condition of one or more of our major customers should deteriorate, or if they have difficulty acquiring investment capital due to any of these or other factors, a substantial decrease in our revenues would likely result. We are dependent on the electronic equipment industry, and accordingly will be affected by the impact on that industry of current economic conditions.

Substantially all of our existing customers are in the electronic equipment industry, and they manufacture products that are subject to rapid technological change, obsolescence, and large fluctuations in demand. This industry is further characterized by intense competition and volatility. The OEMs serving this industry are pressured for increased product performance and lower product prices. OEMs, in turn, make similar demands on their suppliers, such as us, for increased product performance and lower prices. Such demands may adversely affect our ability to successfully compete in certain markets or our ability to sustain our gross margins.

We anticipate growing international sales for a portion of our revenues, for which there can be no assurance.

Sales to customers outside of North America accounted for 20.3%, and 19.1% of revenues for the years ended December 31, 2022, and 2021, respectively, and we expect that international sales will represent an increasing portion of our total revenues. International sales are subject to the risks of international business operations as described above, as well as generally longer payment cycles, greater difficulty collecting accounts receivable and currency restrictions.

Our backlog is subject to reduction and cancellation and unavailability of raw materials used in our products, which could negatively impact our revenues and results of operations.

Backlog represents products or services that our customers have committed by contract to purchase from us. Many of the orders that comprise our backlog may be canceled by our customers, and we cannot be certain that the amount of our backlog does not exceed the level of orders that will ultimately be delivered. Moreover, cancellations of purchase orders or reductions of product quantities in existing contracts could substantially and materially reduce backlog and, consequently, future revenues. Our failure to replace orders for canceled backlog or replace decreased backlog could negatively impact our revenues and results of operations. Further, disruption in the supply chain of electronic components and material parts used as raw materials in our products may affect our ability to manufacture products which could substantially reduce backlog.

Although we depend on sales of our legacy products for a meaningful portion of our revenues, these products are mature, and their sales will decline.

A relatively large portion of our sales have historically been attributable to our legacy products. We expect that these products may continue to account for a meaningful percentage of our revenues for the foreseeable future. However, these sales are declining. Although we are unable to predict future prices for our legacy products, we expect that prices for these products will continue to be subject to significant downward pressure in certain markets for the reasons described above. Accordingly, our ability to maintain or increase revenues will be dependent on our ability to expand our customer base, increase unit sales volumes of these products and successfully, develop, introduce, and sell new products such as custom design and value-added products. We cannot assure you that we will be able to expand our customer base, increase unit sales volumes of existing products or develop, introduce and/or sell new products.

We are heavily dependent on our senior management, and a loss of a member of our senior management team could cause our stock price to suffer.

If we lose the services of Amos Kohn, our Chief Executive Officer, Marcus Charuvastra, our President and Chief Revenue Officer, Douglas Gintz, our Chief Technology Officer, and/or certain key employees, we may not be able to find appropriate replacements on a timely basis, and our business could be adversely affected. Our existing operations and continued future development depend to a significant extent upon the performance and active participation of these individuals and certain key employees. Although we have entered into employment agreements with Mr. Kohn and we may enter into employment agreements with Mr. Charuvastra and additional key employees in the future, we cannot guarantee that we will be successful in retaining the services of these individuals. If we were to lose any of these individuals, we may not be able to find appropriate replacements on a timely basis and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

If we are unable to identify, attract, train and retain qualified personnel, especially our design and technical personnel, our business and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected, and we may not be able to effectively execute our business strategy.

Our performance and future success largely depends on our continuing ability to identify, attract, train, retain and motivate qualified personnel, including our management, sales and marketing, finance and in particular our engineering, design and technical personnel. For example, we currently have a limited number of qualified personnel for the assembling and testing processes. We do not know whether we will be able to retain all these personnel as we continue to pursue our business strategy. Our engineering, design and technical personnel represent a significant asset. The competition for qualified personnel in our industry is intense and constrains our ability to attract qualified personnel. The loss of the services of one or more of our key employees, especially of our key engineering, design and technical personnel, or our inability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our technology is generally unpatented, and others may seek to copy it.

We operate in an industry in which the ability to compete depends on the development or acquisition of proprietary technologies that must be protected to preserve the exclusive use of such technologies. We devote substantial resources to establish and protect our proprietary rights. This protection, however, may not prevent competitors from independently developing products similar or superior to our products. We may be unable to protect our IP that competitors could restrict or replicate, of which may have a material adverse effect on our competitive position. In addition, the intellectual property laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as those of the United States.

We generally do not patent technology developed by us and we cannot be sure that others will not independently develop the same or similar technology or otherwise obtain access to our technology. To protect our rights in these areas, we require all employees, consultants and others who work for or with us to enter into confidentiality agreements. We cannot be sure, however, that these agreements will provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other information in the event of any unauthorized use, misappropriation or disclosure.

Failure of our information technology infrastructure to operate effectively could adversely affect our business.

We depend heavily on information technology infrastructure to achieve our business objectives. If a problem occurs that impairs this infrastructure, the resulting disruption could impede our ability to record or process orders, manufacture and ship in a timely manner, or otherwise carry on business in the normal course. Any such events could cause us to lose customers or revenue and could require us to incur significant expenses to remediate.

Our insurance coverage and indemnity may be insufficient to cover potential liabilities we may face due to the risks inherent in the products and services we provide.

We are exposed to liabilities that are unique to the products and services we provide. A significant portion of our business relates to designing, developing and manufacturing, components, integrated assemblies and subsystems for advanced defense, medical, transportation, industrial, technology and communications systems and products. New technologies associated with these systems and products may be untested or unproven. Components of certain defense systems and products we develop are inherently dangerous. Failures of satellites, missile systems, air traffic control systems, homeland security applications and aircraft have the potential to cause loss of life and extensive property damage. In most circumstances, we may receive indemnification from the government end users of our defense offerings in the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel. In addition, failures of products and systems that we manufacture or distribute for medical devices, transportation controls or industrial systems also have the potential to result in loss of life, personal injury and/or extensive property damage.

While we maintain insurance for certain risks, the amount of our insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover all claims or liabilities, and we may be forced to bear substantial costs from an accident or incident. It also is not possible for us to obtain insurance to protect against all operational risks and liabilities. Substantial claims resulting from an incident in excess of government indemnity and our insurance coverage would harm our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Moreover, any accident or incident for which we are liable, even if fully insured, could negatively affect our standing with our customers and the public, thereby making it more difficult for us to compete effectively, and could significantly impact the cost and availability of adequate insurance in the future.

Risks Related to Our EV Charging Business and the EV Charging Industry

We are dependent upon our and our contract manufacturers’ ability to timely procure electronic components.

Because of the global economy, many raw material vendors have reduced capacities, closed production lines and, in some cases, even discontinued their operations. As a result, there is a global shortage of certain electronic or mineral components, which may extend our production lead-time and our production costs. Some materials are no longer available to support some of our products, thereby requiring us to search for cross materials or, even worse, redesign some of our products to support currently available materials. Such redesign efforts may require certain regulatory and safety agency re-submittals, which may cause further production delays. While we have initiated actions that we believe will limit our exposure to such problems, the dynamic business conditions in many of our markets may challenge the solutions that have been put in place, and issues may recur in the future.

In addition, most of our products are manufactured, assembled and tested by third party subcontractors and contract manufacturers located in Asia, and particularly China. While we have had relationships with many of these third parties in the past, we cannot predict how or whether these relationships will continue in the future. In addition, changes in management, financial viability, manufacturing demand or capacity, or other factors, at these third parties could hurt our ability to manufacture our products.

We may not be able to procure necessary key components or raw materials, or we may purchase excess raw material inventory or unusable inventory, which increases the risk of reserve charges to reduce the value of any inventory deemed excess or obsolete, thereby reducing our profitability.

The power systems industry, and the electronics industry as a whole, can be subject to pronounced, lengthy business cycles and otherwise subject to sudden and sharp changes in demand. Our success is, in part, dependent on our ability to forecast and procure inventories of components and materials to match production schedules and customer delivery requirements. Many of our products require raw materials supplied by a limited number of vendors and, in some instances, a single vendor. During certain periods, key components or materials required to build our products may become unavailable in the timeframe required for us to meet our customers’ needs. Our inability to secure sufficient raw materials to manufacture products for our customers has reduced, in the past, our revenue and profitability and could do so again.

We may choose, and have chosen, to mitigate our inventory risks by increasing the levels of inventory for certain products, components and materials. Such increased inventory levels may increase the potential risk for excess or obsolete inventories, should our forecasts fail to materialize or if there are negative factors impacting our customers’ end markets, leading to order cancellation. If we identify excess inventory or determine certain inventory is obsolete (i.e., unusable), we likely will record additional inventory reserves (i.e., expenses representing the write-off of the excess or obsolete inventory), which could have an adverse effect on our gross margins and on our operating results.

We depend on international operators for a substantial portion of our components and products.

We purchase a substantial portion of our components from foreign manufacturers and have a substantial portion of our commercial products assembled, packaged and tested by subcontractors located outside the United States. These activities are subject to the uncertainties associated with international business operations, including trade barriers and other restrictions, changes in trade policies, governmental regulations, currency exchange fluctuations, reduced protection for intellectual property, war and other military activities, terrorism, changes in social, political, or economic conditions, and other disruptions or delays in production or shipments, any of which could have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and/or operating results.

Although no assurance can be given that future disruptions will not occur, to date, we have not experienced any disruptions due to our reliance on foreign manufacturers. In the future, if any one of our foreign manufacturers experiences an extensive disruption in the production of the products that we need, we will have to pursue alternative plans of production, such as finding an alternative manufacturer to produce those products affected by such disruption. Alternative manufacturers that produce the products that we need do exist. Nonetheless, having to locate an alternative supplier may cause a material disruption in our ability to produce and supply products to our customers. If we have to pursue alternative plans of production, it could have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results.

Potential tariffs or a global trade war could increase the cost of our products, which could adversely impact the competitiveness of our products and our financial results.

Since 2018, the United States has imposed tariffs on certain imports from China. If the U.S. administration imposes additional tariffs, or if additional tariffs or trade restrictions are implemented by the United States or other countries, the cost of our products manufactured in China and imported into the United States or other countries could increase, which in turn could adversely affect the demand for these products and have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. As of the date of this form 10-K, tariffs have not materially adversely affected the purchase price of our products manufactured in China and imported into the United States.

Changes to fuel economy standards may negatively impact the EV market and thus the demand for our products and services.

As regulatory initiatives have required an increase in the mileage capabilities of cars, consumption of renewable transportation fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, and consumer acceptance of EVs and other alternative vehicles has been increasing. If fuel efficiency of non-electric vehicles continues to rise, whether as the result of regulations or otherwise, and affordability of vehicles using renewable transportation fuels improves, the demand for electric and high energy vehicles could diminish. Regulatory bodies may also adopt rules that substantially favor certain alternatives to petroleum-based propulsion over others, which may not necessarily be EVs. This may impose additional obstacles to the purchase of EVs or the development of a more ubiquitous EV market. Finally, the current litigation between the state of California and the National Highway Transit Safety Administration could impact California’s ability to set fuel economy standards that encourage the adoption of EVs and are followed by many other states. If any of the above causes or contributes to consumers or businesses to no longer purchase EVs or purchase them at a lower rate, it would materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

The EV market currently benefits from the availability of rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives from governments, utilities and others to offset the purchase or operating cost of EVs and EV charging stations. The reduction, modification, or elimination of such benefits could cause reduced demand for EVs and EV charging stations, which would adversely affect our financial results.

The U.S. federal government, foreign governments and some state and local governments provide incentives to end users and purchasers of EVs and EV charging stations in the form of rebates, tax credits, and other financial incentives, such as payments for regulatory credits. The EV market relies on these governmental rebates, tax credits, and other financial incentives to lower the effective price of EVs and EV charging stations to customers. However, these incentives may expire on a particular date, end when the allocated funding is exhausted, or be reduced or terminated as a matter of regulatory or legislative policy. For example, on August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes thousands of dollars in tax credits and rebates for consumers who buy electric vehicles, install solar panels or make other energy-efficient upgrades to their homes. However, makers of EV’s may well increase their prices for such vehicles by an equal amount, thereby removing any benefit that a prospective customer may have been eligible to receive.

We also derive other revenue from regulatory credits. If government support of these credits declines, our ability to generate this other revenue in the future would be adversely affected. The availability of such credits may decline even with general governmental support of the transition to EV infrastructure. For example, in September 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-79-20 (the “EO”), announcing a target for all in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks to be zero-emission by 2035. On August 25, 2022, the California Air Resources Board issued the Advanced Clean Cars II, a rule that establishes a year-by-year roadmap so that by 2035 100% of new cars and light trucks sold in California will be zero-emission vehicles, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The regulation codifies the light-duty vehicle goals set out in the EO.

While the EO calls for the support of EV infrastructure, the form of this support is unclear. If California or other jurisdictions choose to adopt regulatory mandates instead of establishing or continuing green energy credit regimes for EV infrastructure, our revenue from these credits would be adversely impacted.

Our business is subject to risks associated with construction, cost overruns and delays, and other contingencies that may arise in the course of completing installations, and such risks may increase in the future as we expand the scope of such services with other parties.

We do not typically install charging stations at customer sites. These installations are often performed by our partners or electrical contractors with an existing relationship with the customer and/or knowledge of the site. The installation of charging stations at a particular site is generally subject to oversight and regulation in accordance with state and local laws and ordinances relating to building codes, safety, environmental protection and related matters, and frequently requires various local and other governmental approvals and permits that may vary by jurisdiction. In addition, building codes, accessibility requirements or regulations may hinder EV charger installation because they end up costing the developer or installer more in order to meet the code requirements. Meaningful delays or cost overruns may impact our recognition of revenue in certain cases and/or impact customer relationships, either of which could impact our business and profitability.

Further, we may install charging stations at customer sites or manage contractors, primarily as part of offering customers a turnkey solution. Working with contractors may require us to obtain licenses or require us or our customers to comply with additional rules, working conditions and other union requirements, which can add costs and complexity to an installation project. In addition, if these contractors are unable to provide timely, thorough and quality installation-related services, customers could fall behind their construction schedules leading to liability or cause customers to become dissatisfied with the solutions we offer, and our overall reputation would be harmed.

If we fail to offer high-quality support to charging station owners and drivers, our business and reputation will suffer.

Once a customer has installed our charging stations and subscribed to our services, station owners and drivers will rely on us to provide support services to resolve any issues that might arise in the future. Rapid and high-quality customer support is important so station owners can provide charging services and drivers can receive reliable charging for their EVs. The importance of high-quality customer support will increase as we seek to expand our business and pursue new customers and geographies. If we do not quickly resolve issues and provide effective support, our ability to retain customers or sell additional products and services to existing customers could suffer and our brand and reputation could be harmed.

We rely on charging station manufacturing and other partners, and a loss of any such partner or interruption in the partner’s production could have a material adverse effect on our business.

If we experience a significant increase in demand for our charging stations and services, or if we need to replace an existing supplier, it may not be possible to supplement or replace them on acceptable terms, which may undermine our ability to deliver products to customers in a timely manner. For example, it may take a significant amount of time to identify a manufacturer that has the capability and resources to build charging stations in sufficient volume. Identifying suitable suppliers and manufacturers could be an extensive process that requires us to become satisfied with their quality control, technical capabilities, responsiveness and service, financial stability, regulatory compliance, and labor and other ethical practices. Accordingly, a loss of any significant suppliers or manufacturers, or an interruption in their production, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Moreover, the bi-directional EV charging station market as a whole is relatively new and charging station manufacturers are even more limited and requirements are evolving. Though we work with multiple vendors, it is likely that at the time a new product is launched, and new requirements are rolled out, we may rely on a single vendor. Certifications might also be delayed, as tests are not always available at the time of commercial launch. Certain of these requirements might at times apply to technology inside the vehicles, in which case such risks could also be pushed on the vehicle OEMs. To the extent we rely on a single supplier, the risks to us would be intensified.

Our future results are dependent on our ability to establish, maintain and expand our manufacturers’ representative OEM relationships and our other relationships.

We market and sell our products through domestic and international OEM relationships and other distribution channels, such as manufacturers’ representatives and distributors. Our future results are dependent on our ability to establish, maintain and expand our relationships with OEMs as well as with manufacturers’ representatives and distributors to sell our products. If, however, the third parties with whom we have entered into such OEM and other arrangements should fail to meet their contractual obligations, cease doing, or reduce the amount of their, business with us or otherwise fail to meet their own performance objectives, customer demand for our products could be adversely affected, which would have an adverse effect on our revenues.

We rely on third-party vendors and subcontractors for supply of components, assemblies, and services and, therefore, cannot control the availability or quality of such components, assemblies, and services. Any interruptions in goods provided by these third parties may impair our ability to support our customers.

We depend on third-party vendors and subcontractors to supply components, assemblies and services used to manufacture our products, some of which are supplied by a single vendor. We have experienced shortages of certain semiconductor and electronic components and delays in service delivery, have incurred additional and unexpected costs to address the shortages and delays, and have experienced our own delays in production and shipping.

If suppliers or subcontractors cannot provide their products or services on time or to our specifications, we may not be able to meet the demand for our products and our delivery times may be negatively affected. In addition, we cannot directly control the quality of the products and services provided by third parties. In order to expand revenue, we likely will need to identify and qualify new suppliers and subcontractors to supplant or replace existing suppliers and subcontractors, which may be a time-consuming and expensive process. In addition, any qualification of new suppliers may require customers of our products utilizing products and services from new suppliers and service providers to undergo a re-qualification process. Such circumstances likely would lead to disruptions in our production, increased manufacturing costs, delays in shipping to our customers, and/or increases in prices paid to third parties for products and services.

We rely on a third-party partner to provide certain manufacturing steps associated with some of our proprietary processes to support our power products and solutions. This process, developed with the third-party partners, involves complex printed circuit board assembly, advanced environmental conditioning and accelerated testing performed on equipment developed by us or the third-party partners. An important, differentiating benefit of this proprietary process is that it does not generate problematic effluent, resulting in an environmentally safe approach to our products with minimal waste. We have entered into agreements with a third-party partner for production and transfer of technologies and process know-how, including the purchase of the enabling equipment developed by the third-party partner.

To date, we have successfully relied upon this third-party partner to perform these manufacturing steps, although we have experienced delivery delays associated with the third-party partner’s volume constraints. This experience caused us to accelerate our schedule for establishing our own high-volume capabilities in-house, modifying, in 2020, our construction plans to accommodate a dedicated, on-premises metal surface finishing facility. We expect to rely on our third-party partner for production requirements through the installation and qualification for production of our products. We also expect to rely on our third-party partner in the future for surge capacity requirements.

In the event one of our third-party vendors experiences a cybersecurity incident, we have taken steps to mitigate potential damages to our operations by diversifying our sources of supply to such an extent that we have the ability to move production of a product impacted by such cybersecurity incident to an alternative third-party vendor. Due to our diverse sources of supply, we do not believe that cybersecurity incidents at the third-party vendor level of our supply chain will have a material impact on our business. However, if our third-party partner experiences a cybersecurity incident, our operations related to manufacturing associated with some of our proprietary processes supporting our power products and solutions could be disrupted, or otherwise negatively affected. If we are unable to procure alternatives in a timely and efficient manner and on acceptable terms, or at all, third-party supply unavailability could result in customer dissatisfaction, regulatory scrutiny and damage to our reputation and brand, and other consequences that could adversely affect our business.

We are dependent on information technology in our operations and the failure of such technology may adversely affect our business. Potential security breaches of our information technology systems, including cyber-attacks, could lead to liability or could damage our reputation and financial results.

Although no assurance can be given that future disruptions will not occur, to date we have not experienced problems with the operations of our current technology systems or the technology systems of third parties on which we rely. In the future, we may experience such problems, as well as with the development and deployment of new information technology systems, which could adversely affect, or even temporarily disrupt, all or a portion of our operations until resolved. Inabilities and delays in implementing new systems can also affect our ability to realize projected or expected cost savings. Any systems failures could impede our ability to timely collect and report financial results in accordance with applicable laws.

Information technology system and/or network disruptions could harm the company’s operations. Failure to effectively prevent, detect and recover from security breaches, including cyber-attacks, could result in the misuse of company assets, unauthorized use or publication of our trade secrets and confidential business information, disruption to the company, diversion of management resources, regulatory inquiries, legal claims or proceedings, reputational damage, loss of sales, reduction in value of our investment in research and development, among other costs to the company. Although we have not experienced any attempts to gain unauthorized access to our information technology systems on which we maintain proprietary and confidential information, in the future, we may experience such attempts. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyber-attacks, or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as cyber-attacks have become more prevalent and harder to detect and fight against. Additionally, outside parties may attempt to access our confidential information through other means, for example by fraudulently inducing our employees to disclose confidential information. We actively seek to prevent and detect any unauthorized access. These threats are also continually evolving and, as a result, might become increasingly difficult to detect. In addition, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the increased prevalence of employees working from home may exacerbate any cybersecurity risks. Despite the implementation of network security measures and our efforts, it is possible that our information technology system could be penetrated by outside parties.

We face intense industry competition, price erosion and product obsolescence, which, in turn, could reduce our profitability.

We operate in an industry that is generally characterized by intense competition. We believe that the principal bases of competition in our markets are breadth of product line, quality of products, stability, reliability and reputation of the provider, along with cost. Quantity discounts, price erosion, and rapid product obsolescence due to technological improvements are therefore common in our industry as competitors strive to retain or expand market share. Product obsolescence can lead to increases in unsaleable inventory that may need to be written off and, therefore, could reduce our profitability. Similarly, price erosion can reduce our profitability by decreasing our revenues and our gross margins. In fact, we have seen price erosion over the last several years on most of the products we sell, and we expect additional price erosion in the future.

If we are unable to satisfy our customers’ specific product quality, certification or network requirements, our business could be disrupted, and our financial condition could be harmed.

Our customers demand that our products meet stringent quality, performance and reliability standards. We have, from time to time, experienced problems in satisfying such standards. Defects or failures have occurred in the past, and may in the future occur, relating to our product quality, performance and reliability. From time to time, our customers also require us to implement specific changes to our products to allow these products to operate within their specific network configurations. If we are unable to remedy these failures or defects or if we cannot effect such required product modifications, we could experience lost revenues, increased costs, including inventory write-offs, warranty expense and costs associated with customer support, delays in, or cancellations or rescheduling of, orders or shipments and product returns or discounts, any of which would harm our business.

Risks Related to Our Relationship with Ault

As long as Ault controls us, your ability to influence matters requiring stockholder approval will be limited.

After the Distribution, Ault will own approximately 379,000 shares of our common stock and 25,000 shares of our series A convertible redeemable preferred stock, representing approximately 69.8% of the combined voting power of our outstanding common stock. For so long as Ault beneficially owns shares of our common stock representing at least a majority of the votes entitled to be cast by the holders of outstanding common stock, and potentially even a number of beneficially owned shares that falls short of a majority, Ault will be able to elect all of the members of our board of directors. For so long as any of the shares of Series A Preferred Stock remains issued and outstanding, Ault will have the ability to appoint a majority of our board of directors.

In addition, until such time as Ault beneficially owns shares of our common stock representing less than a majority of the votes entitled to be cast by the holders of outstanding common stock, Ault will have the ability to take stockholder action without the vote of any other stockholder and without having to call a stockholder meeting, and stockholders will not be able to affect the outcome of any stockholder vote during this period. As a result, Ault will have the ability to control all matters affecting us, including:

It should be noted that Ault may not require beneficial ownership amounting to an outright majority to control or very strongly influence any of the above matters, in part because many stockholders would not attend, whether in person or not, any of our stockholder meetings(s). If Ault does not provide any requisite consent allowing us to conduct such activities when requested, we will not be able to conduct such activities and, as a result, our business and our operating results may be harmed. Ault’s voting control and its additional rights described above may discourage transactions involving a change of control of us, including transactions in which you as a holder of our common stock might otherwise receive a premium for your shares over the then-current market price. Ault is not prohibited from selling a controlling interest in us to a third party and may do so without your or our approval and without providing for a purchase of your shares of common stock. Accordingly, your shares of common stock may be worth less than they would be if Ault did not maintain voting control over us or have the additional rights described above.

Ault’s interests and objectives as a stockholder may not align with, or may even directly conflict with, your interests and objectives as a stockholder. For example, Ault may be more or less interested in us entering into a transaction or conducting an activity due to the impact such transaction or activity may have on Ault as a company, independent of us. In such instances, Ault may exercise its control over us in a way that is beneficial to Ault, and you will not be able to affect the outcome so long as Ault continues to hold a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote. Even if Ault were to reduce its ownership below a majority of the aggregate voting power of the common stock, it could still retain effective control of our company provided that it maintained a significant number of our outstanding common stock.

In the event Ault is acquired or otherwise undergoes a change of control, any acquirer or successor will be entitled to exercise the voting control and contractual rights of Ault and may do so in a manner that could vary significantly from what Ault would have done or not done.

Our historical financial information as a subsidiary of Ault may not be representative of our results as an independent public company.

The historical financial information we have included in this Annual Report does not necessarily reflect what our financial position, results of operations or cash flows would have been had we been an independent entity during the historical periods presented. The historical costs and expenses reflected in our consolidated financial statements include an allocation for certain corporate functions historically provided by Ault, including tax, accounting, treasury, legal, human resources, compliance, insurance, sales and marketing services. The historical financial information is not necessarily indicative of what our results of operations, financial position, cash flows or costs and expenses will be in the future. We have not made pro forma adjustments to reflect many significant changes that will occur in our cost structure, funding and operations as a result of our transition to becoming a public company, including changes in our employee base, potential increased costs associated with reduced economies of scale and increased costs associated with being a publicly traded, stand-alone company. For additional information, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our historical consolidated financial statements and notes thereto.

After the Distribution, we will be a much smaller company than Ault, which could result in increased costs because of a decrease in our purchasing power and difficulty maintaining existing customer relationships and obtaining new customers.

Prior to the Distribution, we were able to take advantage of Ault’s size and purchasing power in procuring goods, technology and services, including insurance, employee benefit support and audit and other professional services. While this may continue in some ways with Ault as a significant stockholder, we are a much smaller company than Ault, and we cannot assure you that once we become independent, we will have access to financial and other resources comparable to those available to us prior to the Distribution. As a stand-alone company, we may be unable to obtain office space, goods, technology and services at prices or on terms as favorable as those available to us prior to the Distribution, which could increase our costs and reduce our profitability. Likewise, we may find it more difficult to attract and retain high quality employees as a smaller company than we could as a wholly owned subsidiary of Ault, which could impact our results of operations. Our future success also depends on our ability to develop and maintain relationships with customers. Our reduced relationship with Ault and our smaller relative size after the Distribution may make it more difficult to develop and maintain relationships with customers, which could adversely affect our prospects.

Risks Relating to the Distribution and Ownership of Our Common stock

We may not achieve the benefits expected from the Distribution  and may be more susceptible to adverse events.

We expect that, as a company independent from Ault, we will be able to grow organically and through acquisitions. Nonetheless, we may not be able to achieve any of these benefits. Further, by separating from Ault, there is a risk that we may be more susceptible to adverse events than we would have otherwise experienced as a subsidiary of Ault. As a subsidiary of Ault, we enjoyed certain benefits, including economies of scope and scale in costs, employees and business relationships. These benefits may not be as readily achievable as a smaller, stand-alone company.

There is a limited public market for our common stock, and there may be a large number of sales after the Distribution.

Although our common stock has been publicly traded since 2007, due to the relatively few number of shares held in the “public float,” the relatively few number of stockholders and the infrequency of trading, there is currently only a limited trading market for our common stock and there can be no assurance as to the extent of the trading market that will develop following the Distribution.

Immediately after the Distribution, it is possible that there may be a larger number of sellers than purchasers of our common stock, as new stockholders may not be interested in owning an interest in our company attempt to sell their shares of our common stock. If such a situation exists, the price of our common stock would likely be adversely affected.

An active, liquid trading market for our common stock does not currently exist and may not develop after this report, and as a result, you may not be able to sell your common stock at or above the public offering price, or at all.

A relatively inactive trading market exists for our common stock on the Pink Open Market (Current Information). No assurance can be given as to the following:

If an active market does not develop for our common stock or is not maintained, the market price of our common stock may decline and you may not be able to sell your shares. The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations. Our financial performance, government regulatory action, tax laws, interest rates and market conditions in general could have a significant impact on the future market price of our common stock.

The price of our common stock may have little or no relationship to the historical bid prices of our common stock on the Pink Open Market (Current Information).

There has been no public market for our capital stock other than on the Pink Open Market (Current Information). Given the limited history of sales and the lack of publicly available information about our business, financing and financial results available, among other factors, this information may have little or no relation to broader market demand for our common stock and thus the price of our common stock. As a result, you should not rely on these historical sales prices as they may differ materially from subsequent prices of our common stock following the Distribution.

Future sales, or the perception of future sales, of a substantial amount of our shares of common stock could depress the trading price of our common stock.

If we or our stockholders sell substantial amounts of our shares of common stock in the public market following the Distribution or if the market perceives that these sales could occur, the market price of shares of our common stock could decline. These sales may make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-linked securities in the future at a time and price that we deem appropriate, or to use equity as consideration for future acquisitions.

As of the date of this filing, we have 750,000,000 shares of common stock and 50,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock authorized. As of March 30, 2023, we had 172,694,837 shares of common stock outstanding. Of these shares, 32,315,939 shares of common stock are currently held by unaffiliated stockholders. However, these figures do not take into account issuances of common stock that we may make between now and the Distribution Date, including those subject to conversion of Ault’s preferred stock, nor does it account for any other shares that may be issued, including but not limited to such shares awarded under a management incentive plan that we intend to establish before the Distribution.

The rights of the holders of common stock may be impaired by the potential issuance of preferred stock.

Our articles of incorporation give our board of directors the right to create new series of preferred stock. As a result, the board of directors may, without stockholder approval, issue preferred stock with voting, dividend, conversion, liquidation or other rights which could adversely affect the voting power and equity interest of the holders of common stock. Preferred stock, which could be issued with the right to more than one vote per share, could be utilized as a method of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change of control. The possible impact on takeover attempts could adversely affect the price of our common stock. Although we have no present intention to issue any shares of preferred stock in addition to those issued to Ault in the Acquisition, we may issue such shares in the future.

Because we do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock, you must rely on stock appreciation for any return on your investment.

We presently intend to retain any future earnings and do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. As a result, you must rely on stock appreciation and a liquid trading market for any return on your investment. If an active and liquid trading market does not develop, you may be unable to sell your shares of common stock at the time you would like to sell.

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company and may affect the trading price of our common stock.

Our corporate documents and Nevada law contain provisions that may enable our board of directors to resist a change in control of our company even if a change in control were to be considered favorable by you and other stockholders. These provisions authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that could be issued by our board of directors to help defend against a takeover attempt. Further, Nevada law prohibits large stockholders, in particular those owning 10% or more of our outstanding voting stock, from merging or consolidating with us except under certain circumstances. These provisions and other provisions under Nevada law could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of our company. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors of your choosing and cause us to take other corporate actions you desire.

The regulation of penny stocks by the SEC and FINRA may have an effect on the tradability of our securities.

Our shares of common stock are currently quoted on the Pink Open Market (Current Information). Our common stock is subject to a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that imposes special sales practice requirements upon broker-dealers who sell such securities to persons other than established customers or accredited investors. For purposes of the rule, the phrase “accredited investors” means, in general terms, institutions with assets in excess of $5,000,000, or individuals having a net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or having an annual income that exceeds $200,000 for the past two years (or that, when combined with a spouse’s income, exceeds $300,000).

For transactions covered by the rule, the broker-dealer must make a special suitability determination for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction prior to the sale. Consequently, the rule may affect the ability of broker-dealers to sell our securities and also may affect the ability of sellers to sell their securities in any market that might therefore develop.

In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted a number of rules to regulate “penny stocks.” Such rules include Rules 3a51-1, 15g-1, 15g-2, 15g-3, 15g-4, 15g-5, 15g-6, 15g-7, and 15g-9 under the Exchange Act. Because our securities constitute “penny stocks” within the meaning of the rules, the rules would apply to us and to our securities. The rules may further affect the ability of owners of our common stock to sell our securities in any market that might develop for them.

Stockholders should be aware that, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the market for penny stocks has suffered in recent years from patterns of fraud and abuse. Such patterns include (i) control of the market for the security by one or a few broker-dealers that are often related to the promoter or issuer; (ii) manipulation of prices through prearranged matching of purchases and sales and false and misleading press releases; (iii) “boiler room” practices involving high-pressure sales tactics and unrealistic price projections by inexperienced sales persons; (iv) excessive and undisclosed bid-ask differentials and markups by selling broker-dealers; and (v) the wholesale dumping of the same securities by promoters and broker-dealers after prices have been manipulated to a desired consequent investor losses. Our management is aware of the abuses that have occurred historically in the penny stock market. Although we do not expect to be in a position to dictate the behavior of the market or of broker-dealers who participate in the market, management will strive within the confines of practical limitations to prevent the described patterns from being established with respect to our securities.

The shares of our common stock may be thinly traded on the Pink Open Market, meaning that the number of persons interested in purchasing our shares of common stock at or near ask prices at any given time may be relatively small or non-existent. This situation is attributable to a number of factors, including the fact that we are a small company which is relatively unknown to stock analysts, stock brokers, institutional investors and others in the investment community that generate or influence sales volume, and that even if we came to the attention of such persons, they tend to be risk-averse and would be reluctant to follow an unproven, early stage company such as ours or purchase or recommend the purchase of our shares of common stock until such time as we became more seasoned and viable. As a consequence, there may be periods of several days or more when trading activity in our shares of common stock is minimal or non-existent, as compared to a seasoned issuer which has a large and steady volume of trading activity that will generally support continuous sales without an adverse effect on the price of our common stock.

Until September 6, 2022, we were a shell company and, as such, stockholders cannot rely on the provisions of Rule 144 for the resale of their shares until certain conditions are met.

We were a shell company as defined under Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 until the Acquisition. As securities issued by a former shell company, the securities issued by us can only be resold pursuant to an effective registration statement and not by utilizing the provisions of Rule 144 until certain conditions are met, including that: (i) we are subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, (ii) we have filed all required reports under the Exchange Act of the preceding 12 months and (iii) one year has elapsed since we filed “Form 10” information (e.g. audited financial statements, management information and compensation, stockholder information, etc.).

Thus, a stockholder of ours is not able to sell its shares until such time as a registration statement for those shares is filed or we have remained current on our Exchange Act filings for 12 months and we have filed the information as would be required by a “Form 10” filing.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our stock, the price of our common stock could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not currently have and may never obtain research coverage by industry or financial analysts. If no or few analysts commence coverage of us, the trading price of our common stock could decrease. Even if we do obtain analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our stock, the price of our common stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our common stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

Our charter provides for limitations of director liability and indemnification of directors, officers and employees.

Our articles of incorporation limit the liability of directors to the maximum extent permitted by Nevada law. Nevada law provides that directors of a corporation will not be personally liable for monetary damages for breach of their fiduciary duties as directors, except for liability for any:

These limitations of liability do not apply to liabilities arising under the federal or state securities laws and do not affect the availability of equitable remedies such as injunctive relief or rescission.

Our bylaws provide that we will indemnify our directors, officers and employees to the fullest extent permitted by law. Our bylaws also provide that we are obligated to advance expenses incurred by a director or officer in advance of the final disposition of any action or proceeding. We believe that these provisions are necessary to attract and retain qualified persons as directors and officers.

The limitation of liability in our articles of incorporation and bylaws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against directors for breach of their fiduciary duties. They may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though an action, if successful, might provide a benefit to us and our stockholders. Our results of operations and financial condition may be harmed to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions.

General Risk Factors

If we fail to establish and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to report our financial results accurately or prevent fraud. Any inability to report and file our financial results accurately and timely could harm our reputation and adversely impact the trading price of our common stock.

Effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, we may not be able to manage our business as effectively as we would if an effective control environment existed, and our business and reputation with investors may be harmed. As a result, our small size and any current internal control deficiencies may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and access to capital. We have carried out an evaluation under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the most recent period covered by this report. Based on the foregoing, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective at the reasonable assurance level due to the material weaknesses described below.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, within the meaning of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) Audit Standard No. 5, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Management has identified the following material weaknesses which have caused management to conclude that as of December 31, 2022, our internal control over financial reporting (“ICFR”) was not effective at the reasonable assurance level:

Management evaluated the impact of our failure to have segregation of duties, inadequacy in design of revenue recognition policies and procedures, failure to properly account for and provide adequate disclosures of complex financial instruments and deficiency in identification and a disclosure of related party transactions and concluded that the multiple control deficiencies that resulted represented material weaknesses. 

While management evaluates the effectiveness of our internal controls on a regular basis, these controls may not always be effective. There are inherent limitations on the effectiveness of internal controls, including collusion, management override, and failure in human judgment. In addition, control procedures are designed to reduce rather than eliminate business risks. In the event our Chief Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer, our certifying officers under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “SOX”), or our independent registered public accounting firm determines our internal controls over financial reporting are not effective as defined under Section 404 of SOX, we may be unable to produce reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, which could materially harm our business. In addition, we may be subject to sanctions or investigation by government authorities or self-regulatory organizations, such as the SEC or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”). Any such actions could affect investor perceptions of our company and result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline or limit our access to capital.

We have begun to implement the actions noted below (including appropriate staffing to execute such actions) in the following areas to strengthen our internal control over financial reporting in an effort to remediate the material weaknesses.

Inventory. We have enhanced the design of existing controls and implemented new controls over the accounting, processing and recording of inventory. Specifically, we have strengthened the design of the management review control over inventory-in-transit. We have implemented processes to ensure timely identification and evaluation of inventory cut-off, and we are requiring additional accountability from counterparties on the accuracy of incoming and outgoing shipment documentation. We have deployed information system enhancements and have made better use of current system capabilities in order to improve the accuracy of inventory cut-off, reporting and reconciliation. In addition, we have been creating an assembly bill of materials (“BOM”) in our business software to facilitate efficient and accurate manufacturing and provide proper recording of raw materials inventory. The BOM structure ultimately minimizes inventory inaccuracies and production delays, and we have been increasing cycle counting of inventory used in production to improve accuracy. Lastly, we have recently hired a material specialist whose responsibility is to maintain inventory records.

Revenue Recognition. We intend on enhancing the design of existing controls and implement new controls over the review of the application and recording of revenue for customer contracts under the guidance outlined in ASC 606. We also intend on implementing more thorough reviews of contracts by evaluating contractual terms and determining whether certain contracts should be consolidated, involve related parties and the proper timing of revenue recognition. These reviews will include more comprehensive contractual analysis from our legal team while ensuring qualified resources are involved and adequate oversight is performed during the internal technical accounting review process.

Accounts Receivable. We intend on enhancing the design of existing controls and implement new controls over the processing and review of accounts receivable billings. We plan to supplement our accounting staff with more experienced personnel. We will also evaluate information system capabilities in order to reduce the manual calculations within this business process.

Complex Financial Instruments. We will design and implement controls to properly identify and implement the proper accounting treatment and classifications of our complex financial instruments to ensure our equity accounting and treatment is in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. We intend to accomplish this by implementing more thorough reviews of certain details regarding all rights, penalties, record holders and negative covenants of the financial instruments in order to apply the correct accounting guidance (liabilities vs. equity vs. temporary equity).

While these actions and planned actions are subject to ongoing management evaluation and will require validation and testing of the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over a sustained period of financial reporting cycles, we are committed to the continuous improvement of our internal control over financial reporting. We will continue to diligently review our internal control over financial reporting.

Our operating results may vary from quarter to quarter.

Our operating results have in the past been subject to quarter-to-quarter fluctuations, and we expect that these fluctuations will continue, and may increase in magnitude, in future periods. Demand for our products is driven by many factors, including the availability of funding for our products in our customers’ capital budgets. There is a trend for some of our customers to place large orders near the end of a quarter or fiscal year, in part to spend remaining available capital budget funds. Seasonal fluctuations in customer demand for our products driven by budgetary and other concerns can create corresponding fluctuations in period-to-period revenues, and we therefore cannot assure you that our results in one period are necessarily indicative of our revenues in any future period. In addition, the number and timing of large individual sales and the ability to obtain acceptances of those sales, where applicable, have been difficult for us to predict, and large individual sales have, in some cases, occurred in quarters subsequent to those we anticipated, or have not occurred at all. The loss or deferral of one or more significant sales in a quarter could harm our operating results for such quarter. It is possible that, in some quarters, our operating results will be below the expectations of public market analysts or investors. In such events, or in the event adverse conditions prevail, the market price of our common stock may decline significantly.

Many of our competitors are larger and have greater financial and other resources than we do.

Our products compete and will compete with similar if not identical products produced by our competitors. These competitive products could be marketed by well-established, successful companies that possess greater financial, marketing, distribution personnel, and other resources than we do. Using said resources, these companies can implement extensive advertising and promotional campaigns, both generally and in response to specific marketing efforts by competitors. They can introduce new products to new markets more rapidly. In certain instances, competitors with greater financial resources may be able to enter a market in direct competition with us, offering attractive marketing tools to encourage the sale of products that compete with our products or present cost features that consumers may find attractive. 

Existing or new competitors may develop products or technologies that more effectively address the demands of our customers and markets with enhanced performance, features and functionality or lower cost. Larger competitors frequently seek to maintain market share and protect customer relationships through heavily discounted pricing, which we may not be able to match. If we fail to develop and commercialize leading-edge technologies and products that are cost effective and maintain high standards of quality and introduce them to the market on a timely basis, our competitive position and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Changes in the U.S. tax and other laws and regulations may adversely affect our business.

The U.S. government may revise tax laws, regulations or official interpretations in ways that could have a significant adverse effect on our business, including modifications that could reduce the profits that we can effectively realize, or that could require costly changes to those operations, or the way in which they are structured. For example, the effective tax rates for most U.S. companies reflect the fact that income earned and reinvested outside the U.S. is generally taxed at local rates, which may be much lower than U.S. tax rates. If we expand abroad and there are changes in tax laws, regulations or interpretations that significantly increase the tax rates on non-U.S. income, our effective tax rate could increase, and our profits could be reduced. If such increases resulted from our status as a U.S. company, those changes could place us at a disadvantage to our non-U.S. competitors if those competitors remain subject to lower local tax rates.

Our sales and profitability may be affected by changes in economic, business and industry conditions.

If the economic climate in the United States or abroad deteriorates, customers or potential customers could reduce or delay their technology investments. Reduced or delayed technology and entertainment investments could decrease our sales and profitability. In this environment, our customers may experience financial difficulty, cease operations and fail to budget or reduce budgets for the purchase of our products and professional services. This may lead to longer sales cycles, delays in purchase decisions, payment and collection, and can also result in downward price pressures, causing our sales and profitability to decline. In addition, general economic uncertainty and general declines in capital spending in the information technology sector make it difficult to predict changes in the purchasing requirements of our customers and the markets we serve. There are many other factors which could affect our business, including:

These trends and factors could adversely affect our business, profitability and financial condition and diminish our ability to achieve our strategic objectives.

Our limited ability to protect our proprietary information and technology may adversely affect our ability to compete, and our products could infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others, resulting in claims against us, the results of which could be costly.

Many of our products consist entirely or partly of proprietary technology owned by us. Although we seek to protect our technology through a combination of copyrights, trade secret laws and contractual obligations, these protections may not be sufficient to prevent the wrongful appropriation of our intellectual property, nor will they prevent our competitors from independently developing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our proprietary technology. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. In order to defend our proprietary rights in the technology utilized in our products from third party infringement, we may be required to institute legal proceedings, which would be costly and would divert our resources from the development of our business. If we are unable to successfully assert and defend our proprietary rights in the technology utilized in our products, our future results could be adversely affected.

Although we attempt to avoid infringing known proprietary rights of third parties in our product development efforts, we may become subject to legal proceedings and claims for alleged infringement from time to time in the ordinary course of business. Any claims relating to the infringement of third-party proprietary rights, even if not meritorious, could result in costly litigation, divert management’s attention and resources, require us to reengineer or cease sales of our products or require us to enter into royalty or license agreements which are not advantageous to us. In addition, parties making claims may be able to obtain an injunction, which could prevent us from selling our products in the United States or abroad.

If we ship products that contain defects, the market acceptance of our products and our reputation will be harmed and our customers could seek to recover their damages from us.

Our products are complex, and despite extensive testing, may contain defects or undetected errors or failures that may become apparent only after our products have been shipped to our customers and installed in their network or after product features or new versions are released. Any such defect, error or failure could result in failure of market acceptance of our products or damage to our reputation or relations with our customers, resulting in substantial costs for us and our customers, as well as the cancellation of orders, warranty costs and product returns. In addition, any defects, errors, misuse of our products or other potential problems within or out of our control that may arise from the use of our products could result in financial or other damages to our customers. Our customers could seek to have us pay for these losses. Although we maintain product liability insurance, it may not be adequate.

The elimination of monetary liability against our directors, officers and employees under law and the existence of indemnification rights for or obligations to our directors, officers and employees may result in substantial expenditures by us and may discourage lawsuits against our directors, officers and employees.

Our articles of incorporation contain a provision permitting us to eliminate the personal liability of our directors to us and our stockholders for damages for the breach of a fiduciary duty as a director or officer to the extent provided by Nevada law. We may also have contractual indemnification obligations under any future employment agreements with our officers. The foregoing indemnification obligations could result in us incurring substantial expenditures to cover the cost of settlement or damage awards against directors and officers, which we may be unable to recoup. These provisions and the resulting costs may also discourage us from bringing a lawsuit against directors and officers for breaches of their fiduciary duties and may similarly discourage the filing of derivative litigation by our stockholders against our directors and officers even though such actions, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. 

Failure to build our finance infrastructure and improve our accounting systems and controls could impair our ability to comply with the financial reporting and internal controls requirements for publicly traded companies.

As a public company, we will operate in an increasingly demanding regulatory environment, which requires us to comply with SOX, the rules and regulations of the SEC, expanded disclosure requirements, accelerated reporting requirements and more complex accounting rules. Company responsibilities required by SOX include establishing corporate oversight and adequate internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to produce reliable financial reports and are important to help prevent financial fraud. Commencing with our fiscal year ending 2024, we must perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal controls over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting in our Form 10-K filing for that year, as required by Section 404 of SOX. We have never been required to test our internal controls within a specified period and, as a result, we may experience difficulty in meeting these reporting requirements in a timely manner.

We anticipate that the process of building our accounting and financial functions and infrastructure will require significant additional professional fees, internal costs and management efforts. We expect that we will need to implement a new internal system to combine and streamline the management of our financial, accounting, human resources and other functions. However, such a system would likely require us to complete many processes and procedures for the effective use of the system or to run our business using the system, which may result in substantial costs. Any disruptions or difficulties in implementing or using such a system could adversely affect our controls and harm our business. Moreover, such disruption or difficulties could result in unanticipated costs and diversion of management attention. In addition, we may discover weaknesses in our system of internal financial and accounting controls and procedures that could result in a material misstatement of our financial statements. Our internal control over financial reporting will not prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected.

If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of SOX in a timely manner, or if we are unable to maintain proper and effective internal controls, we may not be able to produce timely and accurate financial statements. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our business and results of operations could be harmed, investors could lose confidence in our reported financial information and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities. 

The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have materially affected how we and our customers are operating our businesses, and the duration and extent to which this will impact our future results of operations and overall financial performance remains uncertain.

The Covid-19 pandemic has continued to affect many countries, upending entire supply chains of many important industries. In the attempt to control this pandemic, governments have imposed actions to assist limiting the spread of the disease, including orders to lockdowns, shelter-in-place, travel restrictions, and mandated business closures, have adversely affected workforces, organizations, customers, economies, and financial markets globally, leading to an economic downturn and increased market volatility. Our operations have been affected by a range of external factors related to the Covid-19 pandemic that are not within our control. The epidemic is having a very significant impact the electronics sector, with key manufacturers either completely closed following the orders issued by local governments or having to operate in an environment with inadequate numbers of staff at manufacturing units to maintain the security of their personnel. For example, many cities, counties, states and countries have imposed or may impose a wide range of restrictions on the physical movement of our employees, partners, and customers to limit the spread of Covid-19. The Covid-19 pandemic have a substantial impact on electronics manufactures. Many electronics manufactures are in dire need of electronics materials and materials required to support the manufacturing of products as well as staff to maintain core functions. The productivity of our employees and partners, a continued substantial impact on the attendance of our employees, or a continued and substantial impact on the ability of our customers to purchase our offerings, is likely to lead to our results of operations and overall financial performance may being harmed. The duration and extent of the impact from the Covid-19 pandemic depends on future developments that cannot be accurately predicted at this time, such as the severity and transmission rate of the virus, the extent and effectiveness of containment actions, the disruption caused by such actions, and the impact of these and other factors on our employees, customers, partners, vendors and the global economy. If we are not able to respond to and manage the impact of such events effectively, our business will be harmed. For more information with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on our business, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation – Impact of Coronavirus on Our Operations.”