UCLE US Nuclear Corporation (QB)

RISK FACTORS

An investment in the Shares of our Common Stock being offered for resale by the Selling Stockholders is highly speculative in nature, involves a high degree of risk, and is suitable only for persons who can afford to risk the loss of the entire amount invested. Before purchasing any of these securities, you should carefully consider the following factors relating to our business and prospects. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition or operating results could be materially adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our Common Stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. 

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Our business is intensely competitive and our revenues are unpredictable as a small company.

We compete with a formidable group of competitors in our business, many of which have greater resources and capabilities than our company. There are numerous companies that have established businesses and command larger market share such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Canberra Industries, and Mirion Technologies, Ludlum Measurements, Smiths Detection and Lab Impex Systems Ltd. Many of these companies have products and services that compete directly with ours and many of them are supported with larger marketing budgets and sales staff that can provide stronger sales coverage and support to customers than our capabilities. Furthermore, competitors may have technological advantages and may be able to implement new technologies more rapidly than our Company. Additionally, to the extent of our bookings, we cannot accurately predict to a large degree of certainty what annual revenues and income outlook may be. Due to our relatively small size, many factors may contribute to differences in the future and therefore cannot be assured in any manner. The market for nuclear radiation safety equipment is dependent upon a number of factors beyond the Company’s control, which cannot be accurately predicted. Some of these factors include pricing, competition from new entrants, newer technologies, market regulation and government policy, as well as overall market demand. Other factors include fossil fuel energy prices that may have an effect upon nuclear energy demand. Lower oil, natural gas, and coal prices may result in less favorable decisions to pursue nuclear energy as a source of energy.  

We rely heavily on our international customers for business and expect to continue to rely on international customers in the future.

Our international revenues were 29% of our total revenue as of 2021. We expect this to increase over time as we continue to field new orders inquires and engage new customers overseas. We believe that China, South Korea, Canada, and the Far East will likely be greater contributors to revenue within the next few years. While we maintain steady growth domestically, the international side of our business may be a larger component as nuclear technology and rapid development for clean energy grows abroad. There can be no assurances as to our growth projections and our risk profile as we depend upon increased foreign customers for business.

Government Regulation

Although the sales of our equipment are not generally regulated by any local or federal government agency, the nuclear power industry itself is highly regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”). As an independent agency of the United States government, the NRC is responsible for overseeing reactor safety, security, reactor licensing, renewal, radioactive material safety, and spent fuel disposal. The effects of the NRC’s policies therefore have an effect on our business. The impact of any negative decision in the nuclear power industry will ultimately affect us. We may also be affected by foreign government policy and regulation not covered by the NRC.

Nuclear Power, Fossil Fuel and Renewal Energy

While the nuclear power industry is a key component in the context of energy supply in the world today there are other competing energy sources that carry less potential risk hazards. Competing energy sources such as fossil fuels, solar, wind and water are strong threats to nuclear power. Each one has its benefits and conversely a negative side. The current landscape of nuclear power according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, states that as of 2022, there are 33 countries worldwide operating 440 nuclear reactors in operation in the world, with 55 new reactors under construction in 19 countries. Within the United States, there are about 100 nuclear power plants providing 20% of the country’s total electric energy generation. Additionally, 30 of the 50 US states generate electricity from nuclear power plants, Two states, Connecticut and New Jersey Vermont rely on nuclear power for 40 percent of their electricity, whereas South Carolina and Vermont rely on nuclear for 55% and 70% percent respectively. The United States produces more than 30% of the world’s gross nuclear-generated electricity with France at 14%, Japan 2%, Russia 8%, Germany 2.4%, South Korea 6%, Ukraine 3%, Canada 4%, Sweden 2%, Spain 2%, United Kingdom 2% China 14% India 2%.and the rest of the world at about 15%.

As of June 2022, there are 55 nuclear power reactors under construction, with growth continuing to increase steadily. Most new constructions are in the Asian region and Russia. Further, many plants are upgrading, which is creating significant additional capacity. In the US, many plants are having lifetime extensions due to engineering assessments and upgrades, which should continue to have increased capacity going forward. It is difficult to predict if these plans domestically and internationally will materialize or be postponed indefinitely if negative market forces develop.

Opponents to Nuclear Energy are formidable due to concerns over safety.

Maintaining the demand for our products and future growth in demand will depend in part upon continued acceptance of nuclear technology as a means of generating electricity. In many cases, countries have embraced nuclear technology because alternate means of energy have either been at a high cost with heavy pollution, or other means have not been practical. However, incidents involving nuclear energy production, such as overheating reactors, radiation leaks and reactor melt-downs, can cause a significant decrease in public acceptance of nuclear technology. Events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in Japan on March 11, 2011 may have adverse long term effects in some countries decision to either continue using nuclear power or suspend its nuclear power program. While the long term impact is unclear, several countries have suspended operations at existing nuclear power plants. Specifically, on May 30, 2011, Germany announced that in addition to the permanent closure of eight reactors, an additional six reactors will be taken off-line by 2021 and that all remaining reactors to be shut-down by 2022. Switzerland has made a policy decision to phase out of their 5 reactors by 2034. Italy, while not having any operating reactors, has implemented a moratorium on nuclear power. The ultimate results of these safety reviews and/or public resistance to nuclear technology may lead to suspension or cancellation of permitting and development activities, license extensions of existing nuclear facilities, and possibly even the closure of operating nuclear facilities by one or more countries. Lack of public acceptance of nuclear technology would adversely affect the demand for nuclear power and therefore demand for radiation detection equipment.

Continued growth of CANDU reactors and rapid development of next generation Molten Salt (MSR) and Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR).

The Company relies on continued growth and orders from CANDU reactors (Canada Deuterium Uranium), and rapid development of the next generation of nuclear reactors called Molten Salt Reactors, (MSR) and Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR), for its tritium-based equipment. MSR and LFTR are new types of reactors that utilize thorium as a fuel rather than traditional uranium or plutonium. Thorium is a more abundant element than uranium. Many countries with heavy energy needs such as China have begun to adopt MSR and LFTR programs. However, the numbers of these types of reactors are still small in numbers and there can be no assurances that they will ever reach large numbers capable of sustaining rapid growth and development for nuclear-radiation safety products such as our tritium equipment. If CANDU reactors experience adverse events such as long term inactivity due to political or environmental concerns, or economic issues, and if MSR and LFTR reactors fail to develop beyond its current growth forecasts worldwide, the Company will experience lower demand for its products which would have an adverse effect on the Company’s sales and profitability.

Failure to make accretive acquisitions and successfully integrate them could adversely affect our future financial results.

As part of our growth strategy, we plan to seek, when management deems advantageous to the Company, to acquire complementary (including competitive) businesses, facilities or technologies and enter into joint ventures. Our goal is to make such acquisitions, integrate these acquired assets into our operations and reduce operating expenses. The process of integrating these acquired assets into our operations may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures and may absorb significant management attention that would otherwise be available for the ongoing development of our business.  We cannot assure you that the anticipated benefits of any acquisitions will be realized. In addition, future acquisitions by us could result in potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of debt and contingent liabilities and amortization expenses related to goodwill and other intangible assets, any of which can materially and adversely affect our operating results and financial position.

Acquisitions also involve other risks, including entering geographic markets in which we have no or limited prior experience and the potential loss of key employees.

We have filed a provisional patent for our product based on our tritium products but hold no current patents on our products, and our business employs proprietary technology and information which may be difficult to protect and may infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties.

In general, we rely primarily on a combination of trade secrets, copyright and trademark laws, and confidentiality procedures to protect our technology. Due to the technological change that characterizes our business, we believe that the improvement of existing products, reliance upon trade secrets and unpatented proprietary know-how and the development of new products are generally as important as patent protection in establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage.

We have currently filed a provisional utility-type patent on our tritium products to protect our intellectual property, but currently rely on trade secrets, proprietary know-how and technology that we seek to protect, in part, by confidentiality agreements with prospective joint venture partners, employees and consultants. We cannot assure you that these agreements will not be breached, that we will have adequate remedies for any breach, or that our trade secrets and proprietary know-how will not otherwise become known or be independently discovered by others. We currently do not hold patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office on any of our products we manufacture. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to keep competitors from reverse engineering our products, maintain trade secrecy and operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of third parties. We cannot assure you that the patents of others will not have an adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business, that any of our trade secrets and applications will be protected, that we will develop additional proprietary technology that is defensible against theft or will provide us with competitive advantages or will not be challenged by third parties. Further, we cannot assure you that others will not independently develop similar or superior technologies, duplicate elements of our technology or design around it.

It is possible that we may need to acquire licenses to, or to contest the validity of, issued or pending patents or claims of third parties. We cannot assure you that any license acquired under such patents would be made available to us on acceptable terms, if at all, or that we would prevail in any such contest. In addition, we could incur substantial costs in defending ourselves in suits brought against us for alleged infringement of another party’s patents or in defending the validity or enforceability of any patents we may seek in the future, or in bringing patent infringement suits against other parties.

We have filed a trademark for the name US Nuclear Corp and our logo with United States Patent and Trademark Office as of January 31, 2013. On December 17, 2013, we were granted a registered trademark of the US Nuclear Corp name and logo from the United States Patent and Trademark Office and consider it important to the protection of our US Nuclear Corp brands. We have not been nor are we currently involved in or aware of any litigation regarding any of our intellectual property.

We are subject to the risk that certain key personnel, including key employees named below, on whom we depend, in part, for our operations, will cease to be involved with us. The loss of any these individuals would adversely affect our financial condition and the results of our operations.

We are dependent on the experience, knowledge, skill and expertise of our President and CEO Robert I. Goldstein. We are also in large part dependent on current CFO, Richard Laundry. The loss of any of the key personnel listed above could materially and adversely affect our future business efforts. Our success depends in substantial part upon the services, efforts and abilities of Robert I. Goldstein, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, due to his experience, history and knowledge of the nuclear radiation industry and his overall insight into our business direction. The loss or our failure to retain Mr. Goldstein, or to attract and retain additional qualified personnel, could adversely affect our operations. We do not currently carry key-man life insurance on Mr. Goldstein or any of our officers and have no present plans to obtain this insurance.  See “Management.”

The loss of any of our executive officers could adversely affect our business.

We depend to a large extent on the efforts and continued employment of our executive officers. Or executive officers are permitted to maintain employment at other companies, and their responsibilities at those employers could take precedence over their duties to us. As a result, the Company’s operations could suffer, though our executive officers believe that they are able to effectively serve the Company in their respective positions.

Competition from other radiation detection or related companies could result in a decrease our business and a decrease in our financial performance.

We operate in the highly competitive industry. Many of our current and potential competitors, including larger multinational companies, domestic manufacturing companies with multiple product lines in radiation detection products have existed longer and have larger customer bases, greater brand recognition and significantly greater financial, marketing, personnel, technical and other resources than US Nuclear Corp. In addition, many of these competitors may be able to devote significantly greater resources to:

The relative lack of public company experience of our management team may put us at a competitive disadvantage.

As a company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act, we are subject to reporting and other legal, accounting, corporate governance, and regulatory requirements imposed by the Exchange Act and rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. Our Chairman and CEO lacks public company experience which could impair our ability to comply with these legal, accounting, and regulatory requirements. Such responsibilities include complying with Federal securities laws and making required disclosures on a timely basis. Our senior management may not be able to implement and effect programs and policies in an effective and timely manner that adequately responds to such increased legal and regulatory compliance and reporting requirements. Our failure to do so could lead to the imposition of fines and penalties and further result in the deterioration of our business. 

Regulations, including those contained in and issued under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank”), increase the cost of doing business and may make it difficult for us to retain or attract qualified officers and directors, which could adversely affect the management of our business and our ability to obtain or retain listing of our Common Stock.

We are a public company. The current regulatory climate for public companies, even small and emerging growth companies such as ours, may make it difficult or prohibitively expensive to attract and retain qualified officers, directors and members of board committees required to provide for our effective management in compliance with the rules and regulations which govern publicly-held companies, including, but not limited to, certifications from executive officers and requirements for financial experts on boards of directors. The perceived increased personal risk associated with these recent changes may deter qualified individuals from accepting these roles. For example, the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has resulted in the issuance of a series of new rules and regulations and the strengthening of existing rules and regulations by the SEC.  Further, recent and proposed regulations under Dodd-Frank heighten the requirements for board or committee membership, particularly with respect to an individual’s independence from the corporation and level of experience in finance and accounting matters. We may have difficulty attracting and retaining directors with the requisite qualifications. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified officers and directors, the management of our business could be adversely affected.

Our internal controls over financial reporting may not be effective, and our independent auditors may not be able to certify as to their effectiveness, which could have a significant and adverse effect on our business.  

We are subject to various SEC reporting and other regulatory requirements. We have incurred and will continue to incur expenses and, to a lesser extent, diversion of our management’s time in our efforts to comply with SOX Section 404 regarding internal controls over financial reporting. Our management’s evaluation over our internal controls over financial reporting may determine that material weaknesses in our internal control exist. If, in the future, management identifies material weaknesses, or our external auditors are unable to attest that our management’s report is fairly stated or to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls, this could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports, have an adverse effect on our stock price, and subject us to sanctions or investigation by regulatory authorities. 

Limitations on director and officer liability and our indemnification of our officers and directors may discourage stockholders from bringing suit against a director. 

Our Certificate of Incorporation and By-Laws provide, with certain exceptions as permitted by Delaware corporation law, that a director or officer shall not be personally liable to us or our stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except for acts or omissions which involve intentional misconduct, fraud or knowing violation of law, or unlawful payments of dividends. These provisions may discourage stockholders from bringing suit against a director for breach of fiduciary duty and may reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation brought by stockholders on our behalf against a director. In addition, our Certificate of Incorporation and By-Laws provide for mandatory indemnification of directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by governing state law.  

We may incur a variety of costs to engage in future acquisitions of companies, products or technologies, to grow our business, to expand into new markets, or to provide new services.  As such, the anticipated benefits of those acquisitions may never be realized.

It is management’s intention to acquire other businesses to grow our customer base, to expand into new markets, and to provide new product lines. We may make acquisitions of, or significant investments in, complementary companies, products or technologies, although no additional material acquisitions or investments are currently pending. Acquisitions may be accompanied by risks such as: 

We must attract and retain skilled personnel.  If we are unable to hire and retain technical, sales and marketing, and operational employees, our business could be harmed.

Our revenues are generated by the sales of our radiation detection products from our direct sales, sales to catalogs, distributors and to a lesser extent, our website. Our ability to manage our growth will be particularly dependent on our ability to develop and retain an effective sales force and qualified technical and managerial personnel. We intend to hire additional employees, including engineers, sales and marketing employees and operational employees.  The competition for engineers, qualified sales, technical, and managerial personnel in the technology and manufacturing community, is intense, and we may not be able to hire and retain sufficient qualified personnel. In addition, we may not be able to maintain the quality of our operations, control our costs, maintain compliance with all applicable regulations, and expand our internal management, technical, information and accounting systems in order to support our desired growth, which could have an adverse impact on our operations.

Our failure to manage growth effectively could harm our ability to attract and retain key personnel and adversely impact our operating results.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to manage our expansion through acquisitions effectively. Our current and planned personnel, systems, procedures and controls may not be adequate to support and effectively manage our future operations, especially as we employ personnel in multiple geographic locations. We may not be able to hire, train, retain, motivate and manage required personnel, which may limit our growth, damage our reputation and negatively affect our financial performance and harm our business.

If we obtain financing, existing shareholder interests may be diluted.

If we raise additional funds by issuing equity or convertible debt securities, the percentage ownership of our shareholders will be diluted. In addition, any new securities could have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our common stock. Furthermore, we cannot assure you that additional financing will be available when and to the extent we require or that, if available, it will be on acceptable terms. 

Our President and Chief Executive Officer has not previously received an annual salary or other compensation.

Robert I. Goldstein, in his role as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors has not received an annual salary or other compensation from our company for his services. Mr. Goldstein has a current contract to secure his services as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors in the amount of $100,000 per year, payable at the end of each fiscal year and this agreement is still in force. The absence of his compensation in previous years should be taken into consideration when reviewing our historical financial statements in determining whether to invest in our Company. The impact of his compensation to our financial condition is unknown. We cannot make any assurances that his annual salary or other compensation will not create an adverse event on our financial condition. 

A large percentage of our business come from international operations and may affect financial results in U.S. dollar terms and could negatively impact our financial results.+

A large percentage of our revenues come from international operations. As of 2021, our revenues generated from international operations were 29% of total revenue. We expect this trend to continue into the near future and have no system in place to combat currency risk.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

Our stock price may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance, and the price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.

Once our shares begin trading, the market price for our common stock is likely to be volatile, in part because our shares have not been traded publicly. In addition, the market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to a number of factors, most of which we cannot control, including:

These and other factors may lower the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance.

The stock markets and trading facilities, including the OTC Bulletin Board, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities in many companies. In the past, stockholders of some companies have instituted securities class action litigation following periods of market volatility. If we were involved in securities litigation, we could incur substantial costs and our resources and the attention of management could be diverted from our business.

Our Common Stock is subject to risks arising from restrictions on reliance on Rule 144 by shell companies or former shell companies.

Under a regulation of the SEC known as “Rule 144,” a person who has beneficially owned restricted securities of an issuer and who is not an affiliate of that issuer may sell them without registration under the Securities Act provided that certain conditions have been met. One of these conditions is that such person has held the restricted securities for a prescribed period, which will be 6 months or 1 year, depending on various factors. The holding period for our common stock would be 1 year if our common stock could be sold under Rule 144. However, Rule 144 is unavailable for the resale of securities issued by an issuer that is a shell company (other than a business combination related shell company) or that has been at any time previously a shell company. The SEC defines a shell company as a company that has (a) no or nominal operations and (b) either (i) no or nominal assets, (ii) assets consisting solely of cash and cash equivalents; or (iii) assets consisting of any amount of cash and cash equivalents and nominal other assets. Until the merger, we were a shell company.

The SEC has provided an exception to this unavailability if and for as long as the following conditions are met:

As a result, although the registration statement on Form 10 originally filed with the SEC on February 14, 2012, intended to provide “Form 10 Information,” the original Form 10 stated only that the company was a blank-check shell, seeking a transaction with another entity. On October 14, 2013, the Company filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, frequently referred to as a “Super 8-K,” to provide additional information about the Company’s planned operations, contracts, shareholders, management, financial position, and other information constituting “Form 10 Information” under the SEC’s regulations. Because of the Company’s history as a shell company, stockholders who receive our restricted securities will be able to sell them pursuant to Rule 144 without registration for only as long as we continue to meet those requirements and are not a shell company. No assurance can be given that we will meet these requirements or that we will continue to do so, or that we will not again be a shell company. Furthermore, any non-registered securities we sell in the future or issue for acquisitions or to consultants or employees in consideration for services rendered, or for any other purpose will have limited or no liquidity until and unless such securities are registered with the SEC and/or until a year after we have complied with the requirements of Rule 144. As a result, it may be harder for us to fund our operations, to acquire assets and to pay our consultants with our securities instead of cash. Furthermore, it will be harder for us to raise funding through the sale of debt or equity securities unless we agree to register such securities with the SEC, which could cause us to expend additional resources in the future. In addition, if we are unable to attract additional capital, it could have an adverse impact on our ability to implement our business plan and sustain our operations. Our status as a former “shell company” could prevent us from raising additional funds, engaging consultants, and using our securities to pay for any acquisitions, which could cause the value of our securities, if any, to decline in value or become worthless.

Future sales of our Common Stock, or the perception in the public markets that these sales may occur, may depress our stock price.

Sales of substantial amounts of our Common Stock in the public market after this offering, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the price of our Common Stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional shares. Upon completion of this offering, we will have approximately 40,414,020 shares of Common Stock outstanding. Our shares of Common Stock offered in this offering will be freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act, except for any shares of our Common Stock that may be held or acquired by our directors, executive officers and other “affiliates,” as that term is defined in the Securities Act, which will be restricted securities under the Securities Act. Restricted securities may not be sold in the public market unless the sale is registered under the Securities Act or an exemption from registration is available.

In the future, we may also issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of shares of our Common Stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of our Common Stock. Any issuance of additional securities in connection with investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to you.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Common Stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not currently have and may never obtain research coverage by securities and industry analysts. If no securities or industry analysts commence coverage of our company, the trading price for our Common Stock could be negatively impacted. If we obtain securities or industry analyst coverage and if one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrades our Common Stock or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceased coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our Common Stock could decrease, which could cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.

Our internal controls over financial reporting may not be effective and our independent registered public accounting firm may not be able to certify as to their effectiveness, which could have a significant and adverse effect on our business and reputation.

As a public company, we are required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting under Section 302. In addition, at such time as we cease to be an “emerging growth company,” as more fully described in these Risk Factors, we will be required to comply with Section 404. At such time, we may identify material weaknesses that we may not be able to remediate in time to meet the applicable deadline imposed upon us for compliance with the requirements of Section 404. In addition, if we fail to achieve and maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, as such standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to ensure that we can conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404. We cannot be certain as to the timing of completion of our evaluation, testing and any remediation actions or the impact of the same on our operations. If we are not able to implement the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or with adequate compliance, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue an adverse opinion due to ineffective internal controls over financial reporting and we may be subject to sanctions or investigation by regulatory authorities, such as the SEC. As a result, there could be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements. In addition, we may be required to incur costs in improving our internal control system and the hiring of additional personnel. Any such action could negatively affect our results of operations and cash flows.

Our management and other affiliates have significant control of our Common Stock and could control our actions in a manner that conflicts with the interests of other stockholders.

After the offering, we anticipate that our executive officers, directors and their affiliated entities together will beneficially own approximately 26.8% of our Common Stock, representing approximately 26.8% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. As a result, these stockholders, acting together, will be able to exercise considerable influence over matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including the election of directors, and may not always act in the best interests of other stockholders. Such a concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in our control, including transactions in which our stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares over then current market prices.

We do not expect to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future.

The continued operation and growth of our business will require substantial cash. Accordingly, we do not anticipate that we will pay any cash dividends on shares of our Common Stock for the foreseeable future. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon our results of operations, financial condition, contractual restrictions relating to indebtedness we may incur, restrictions imposed by applicable law and other factors our Board of Directors deems relevant. Accordingly, if you purchase shares in this offering, realization of a gain on your investment will depend on the appreciation of the price of our Common Stock, which may never occur. Investors seeking cash dividends in the foreseeable future should not purchase our Common Stock.

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and Delaware law might discourage or delay acquisition attempts for us that you might consider favorable.

Our amended and restated Certificate of Incorporation and amended and restated By-Laws contain provisions that may make the acquisition of us more difficult without the approval of our Board of Directors. These provisions, among other things:

These anti-takeover provisions and other provisions under Delaware law may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions, could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change-in-control, even if doing so would benefit our stockholders. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors of your choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions you desire.