EXHIBIT 99.1
CERTAIN FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN CONNECTION
WITH FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
From time to time, TASER International, Inc. (TASER or the Company), through its management,
may make forward-looking public statements with respect to the Company regarding, among other
things, expected future revenues or earnings, projections, plans, future performance, product
development and commercialization, and other estimates relating to the Companys future operations.
Forward-looking statements may be included in reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), in press releases, other written statements, or in oral
statements. The words or phrases will likely result, are expected to, intends, is
anticipated, estimates, believes, projects or similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Exchange Act and Section 27A
of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, as enacted by the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. The Company cautions
investors not to place undue reliance on its forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
date on which they are made. TASERs actual results may differ materially from those described in
the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those listed below. The
Company disclaims any obligation subsequently to revise or update forward-looking statements to
reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of
anticipated or unanticipated events.
Pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
TASER hereby files the following cautionary statements identifying certain factors that could cause
its actual results to differ materially from those described in its forward-looking statements.
WE ARE MATERIALLY DEPENDENT ON ACCEPTANCE OF OUR PRODUCTS BY THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CORRECTIONS
MARKET, AND IF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CORRECTIONS AGENCIES DO NOT PURCHASE OUR PRODUCTS, OUR REVENUES
WILL BE ADVERSELY AFFECTED AND WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO EXPAND INTO OTHER MARKETS.
A substantial number of law enforcement and corrections agencies may not purchase our conducted
energy, non-lethal devices. In addition, if our products are not widely accepted by the law
enforcement and corrections market, we may not be able to expand sales of our products into other
markets. Law enforcement and corrections agencies may be influenced by claims or perceptions that
conducted energy weapons are unsafe or may be used in an abusive manner. In addition, earlier
generation conducted energy devices may have been perceived as ineffective. Sales of our products
to these agencies may also be delayed or limited by these claims or perceptions.
WE SUBSTANTIALLY DEPEND ON SALES OF THE TASER X26 PRODUCTS, AND IF THESE PRODUCTS ARE NOT WIDELY
ACCEPTED, OUR GROWTH PROSPECTS WILL BE DIMINISHED.
In 2003, 2004 and the nine months ended September 30, 2005, we derived our revenues predominantly
from sales of the TASER brand devices and related cartridges, and expect to depend on sales of
these products for the foreseeable future. A decrease in the prices of or demand for these
products, or their failure to achieve broad market acceptance, would significantly harm our growth
prospects, operating results and financial condition.
IF WE ARE UNABLE TO MANAGE ANY GROWTH IN OUR BUSINESS, OUR PROSPECTS MAY BE LIMITED AND OUR FUTURE
PROFITABILITY MAY BE ADVERSELY AFFECTED.
We intend to expand our sales and marketing programs and our manufacturing capacity as needed to
meet future demand. Any significant expansion may strain our managerial, financial and other
resources. If we are unable to manage our growth, our business, our operating results and financial
condition could be adversely affected. We will need to continually improve our operations,
financial and other internal systems to manage our growth effectively, and any failure to do so may
lead to inefficiencies and redundancies, and result in reduced growth prospects and profitability.
WE MAY FACE PERSONAL INJURY, WRONGFUL DEATH AND OTHER LIABILITY CLAIMS THAT HARM OUR REPUTATION AND
ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR SALES AND FINANCIAL CONDITION.
Our products are often used in aggressive confrontations that may result in serious, permanent
bodily injury or death to those involved. Our products may cause or be associated with these
injuries. A person injured in a confrontation or otherwise in connection with the use of our
products may bring legal action against us to recover damages on the basis of theories including
personal injury, wrongful death, negligent design, dangerous product or inadequate warning. We are
currently subject to a number of such lawsuits. We may also be subject to lawsuits involving
allegations of misuse of our products. If successful, personal injury, misuse and other claims
could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. Although we
carry product liability insurance, significant litigation could also result in a diversion of
managements attention and resources, negative publicity and an award of
monetary damages in excess of our insurance coverage. The outcome of any litigation is inherently
uncertain and there can be no assurance that our existing or any future litigation will not have a
material adverse effect on our revenues, our financial condition or financial results.
PENDING LITIGATION MAY SUBJECT US TO SIGNIFICANT LITIGATION COSTS, JUDGEMENTS IN EXCESS OF
INSURANCE COVERAGE, AND DIVERT MANAGEMENT ATTENTION FROM OUR BUSINESS.
We are involved in several litigation matters relating to our products or the use of such products,
as well as shareholder class actions and a formal inquiry by the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Such matters have resulted and are expected to continue to result in substantial costs
to the Company and a likely diversion of our managements attention, which could adversely affect
our business, financial condition or operating results.
OUR FUTURE SUCCESS IS DEPENDENT ON OUR ABILITY TO EXPAND SALES THROUGH DISTRIBUTORS AND OUR
INABILITY TO RECRUIT NEW DISTRIBUTORS WOULD NEGATIVELY AFFECT OUR SALES.
Our distribution strategy is to pursue sales through multiple channels with an emphasis on
independent distributors. Our inability to recruit and retain police equipment distributors who can
successfully sell our products would adversely affect our sales. In addition, our arrangements with
our distributors are generally short-term. If we do not competitively price our products, meet the
requirements of our distributors or end-users, provide adequate marketing support, or comply with
the terms of our distribution arrangements, our distributors may fail to aggressively market our
products or may terminate their relationships with us. These developments would likely have a
material adverse effect on our sales. Our reliance on the sales of our products by others also
makes it more difficult to predict our revenues, cash flow and operating results.
WE EXPEND SIGNIFICANT RESOURCES IN ANTICIPATION OF A SALE DUE TO OUR LENGTHY SALES CYCLE AND MAY
RECEIVE NO REVENUE IN RETURN.
Generally, law enforcement and corrections agencies consider a wide range of issues before
committing to purchase our products, including product benefits, training costs, the cost to use
our products in addition to or in place of other non-lethal products, budget constraints and
product reliability, safety and efficacy. The length of our sales cycle may range from a few weeks
to as long as several years. Adverse publicity surrounding our products or the safety of such
products has in the past and could in the future lengthen our sales cycle with customers. In
particular, our revenue has decreased for the nine months ended September 30, 2005 compared to the
nine months ended September 30, 2004 due to the adverse effect on customers and potential customers
of the negative publicity surrounding our products or use of our products. We may incur substantial
selling costs and expend significant effort in connection with the evaluation of our products by
potential customers before they place an order. If these potential customers do not purchase our
products, we will have expended significant resources and received no revenue in return.
MOST OF OUR END-USERS ARE SUBJECT TO BUDGETARY AND POLITICAL CONSTRAINTS THAT MAY DELAY OR PREVENT
SALES.
Most of our end-user customers are government agencies. These agencies often do not set their own
budgets and therefore have little control over the amount of money they can spend. In addition,
these agencies experience political pressure that may dictate the manner in which they spend money.
As a result, even if an agency wants to acquire our products, it may be unable to purchase them due
to budgetary or political constraints. Some government agency orders may also be canceled or
substantially delayed due to budgetary, political or other scheduling delays which frequently occur
in connection the acquisition of products by such agencies.
GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF OUR PRODUCTS MAY ADVERSELY AFFECT SALES.
Federal regulation of sales in the United States: Our devices are not firearms regulated by the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, but are consumer products regulated by the
United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. Although there are currently no federal laws
restricting sales of our devices in the United States, future federal regulation could adversely
affect sales of our products.
Federal regulation of international sales: Our devices are controlled as a crime control product
by the United States Department of Commerce, or DOC, for export directly from the United States.
Consequently, we must obtain an export license from the DOC for the export of our devices from the
United States other than to Canada. Our inability to obtain DOC export licenses on a timely basis
for sales of our devices to our international customers could significantly and adversely affect
our international sales.
State and local regulation: Our devices are controlled, restricted or their use prohibited by
several state and local governments. Our devices are banned from private citizen sale or use in
seven states: New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Michigan, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Hawaii.
Law enforcement use of our products is also prohibited in New Jersey and Rhode Island. Some
municipalities, including Omaha, Nebraska and Washington, D.C., also prohibit private citizen use
of our products. Other jurisdictions may ban or restrict the sale of our products and our product
sales may be significantly affected by additional state, county and city governmental regulation.
Foreign regulation. Certain foreign jurisdictions, including Japan, Australia, Italy and Hong Kong,
prohibit the sale of conducted energy devices, limiting our international sales opportunities.
IF WE ARE UNABLE TO PROTECT OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, WE MAY LOSE A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OR INCUR
SUBSTANTIAL LITIGATION COSTS TO PROTECT OUR RIGHTS.
Our future success depends in part upon our proprietary technology. Our protective measures,
including patents, trademarks and trade secret laws, may prove inadequate to protect our
proprietary rights. Our United States patent on the construction of the gas cylinder used to store
the compress nitrogen in our cartridges expires in 2015. Our patent on the process by which
compressed gases launch the probes in our cartridges expires in 2009. The scope of any patent to
which we have or may obtain rights may not prevent others from developing and selling competing
products. The validity and breadth of claims covered in technology patents involve complex legal
and factual questions, and the resolution of such claims may be highly uncertain, lengthy and
expensive. In addition, our patents may be held invalid upon challenge, or others may claim rights
in or ownership of our patents.
WE MAY BE SUBJECT TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT CLAIMS, WHICH WILL CAUSE US TO INCUR
LITIGATION COSTS AND DIVERT MANAGEMENT ATTENTION FROM OUR BUSINESS.
Any intellectual property infringement claims against us, with or without merit, could be costly
and time-consuming to defend and divert our managements attention from our business. If our
products were found to infringe a third partys proprietary rights, we could be required to enter
into royalty or licensing agreements in order to be able to sell our products. Royalty and
licensing agreements, if required, may not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all.
COMPETITION IN THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CORRECTIONS MARKET COULD REDUCE OUR SALES AND PREVENT US
FROM ACHIEVING PROFITABILITY.
The law enforcement and corrections market is highly competitive. We face competition from numerous
larger, better capitalized and more widely known companies that make other non-lethal devices and
products. Increased competition may result in greater pricing pressure, lower gross margins and
reduced sales. In this regard, two different competitors have announced plans to introduce new
products in 2005. We are unable to predict the impact such products will have on our sales or our
sales cycle, but existing or potential customers may choose to evaluate such products which could
lengthen our sales cycle and potentially reduce our future sales.
DEFECTS IN OUR PRODUCTS COULD REDUCE DEMAND FOR OUR PRODUCTS AND RESULT IN A LOSS OF SALES, DELAY
IN MARKET ACCEPTANCE AND INJURY TO OUR REPUTATION.
Complex components and assemblies used in our products may contain undetected defects that are
subsequently discovered at any point in the life of the product. In 2002, we recalled a series of
ADVANCED TASER devices due to a defective component. In connection with the recall, we incurred
expenses of approximately $25,000. Defects in our products may result in a loss of sales, delay in
market acceptance and injury to our reputation and increased warranty costs.
COMPONENT SHORTAGES COULD RESULT IN OUR INABILITY TO PRODUCE VOLUME TO ADEQUATELY MEET CUSTOMER
DEMAND. THIS COULD RESULT IN A LOSS OF SALES, DELAY IN DELIVERIES AND INJURY TO OUR REPUTATION.
Single source components used in the manufacture of our products may become unavailable or
discontinued. Delays caused by industry allocations, or obsolescence may take weeks or months to
resolve. In some cases, part obsolescence may require a product re-design to ensure quality
replacement circuits. These delays could cause significant delays in manufacturing and loss of
sales, leading to adverse effects significantly impacting our financial condition or results of
operations.
OUR DEPENDENCE ON THIRD PARTY SUPPLIERS FOR KEY COMPONENTS OF OUR DEVICES COULD DELAY SHIPMENT OF
OUR PRODUCTS AND REDUCE OUR SALES.
We depend on certain domestic and foreign suppliers for the delivery of components used in the
assembly of our products. Our reliance on third-party suppliers creates risks related to our
potential inability to obtain an adequate supply of components or subassemblies and reduced control
over pricing and timing of delivery of components and sub-assemblies. Specifically, we depend on
suppliers of sub-assemblies, machined parts, injection molded plastic parts, printed circuit
boards, custom wire fabrications and other miscellaneous customer parts for our products. We also
do not have long-term agreements with any of our suppliers. Any interruption of supply for any
material components of our products could significantly delay the shipment of our products and have
a material adverse effect on our revenues, profitability and financial condition.
OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN SUPPLIERS FOR KEY COMPONENTS OF OUR PRODUCTS COULD DELAY SHIPMENT OF OUR
FINISHED PRODUCTS AND REDUCE OUR SALES.
We depend on foreign suppliers for the delivery of certain components used in the assembly of our
products. Due to changes imposed
for imports of foreign products into the United States, as well as potential port closures and
delays created by terrorist threats, public health issues or national
disasters, we are exposed to
risk of delays caused by freight carriers or customs clearance issues for our imported parts.
Delays caused by our inability to obtain components for assembly could have a material adverse
effect on our revenues, profitability and financial condition.
OUR REVENUES AND OPERATING RESULTS MAY FLUCTUATE UNEXPECTEDLY FROM QUARTER TO QUARTER, WHICH MAY
CAUSE OUR STOCK PRICE TO DECLINE.
Our revenues and operating results have varied significantly in the past and may vary significantly
in the future due to various factors, including, but not limited to: market acceptance of our
products and services, the outcome of any existing or future litigation, adverse publicity
surrounding our products, the safety of our products, or the use of our products, increased raw material expenses, changes in our operating expenses, regulatory changes
that may affect the marketability of our products, and budgetary cycles of municipal, state and
federal law enforcement and corrections agencies. As a result of these other factors, we believe
that period- to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful in the short
term, and our performance in a particular period may not be indicative of our performance in any
future period.
THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT AND OTHER RECENT CHANGES IN SECURITIES LAWS AND REGULATIONS MAY INCREASE OUR
COSTS.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that became law in July 2002, as well as new rules subsequently
implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the NASDAQ Stock Market, have required,
and will require, changes to some of our accounting and corporate governance practices, including a
report on our internal controls as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. We
expect these new rules and regulations to increase our accounting, legal and other costs, and to
make some activities more difficult, time consuming and/or costly. In particular, complying with
the internal control requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 has resulted and will continue to
result in increased internal efforts, significantly higher fees from our independent accounting
firm and significantly higher fees from third party contractors. We also expect these new rules and
regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer
liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially
higher costs to obtain coverage. These new rules and regulations could also make it more difficult
for us to attract and retain qualified executive officers and qualified members of our board of
directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee.
WE MAY EXPERIENCE DIFFICULTIES AND INCREASED EXPENSES IN COMPLYING WITH SARBANES-OXLEY SECTION 404.
We are
required to evaluate our internal controls under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and
any adverse results from such evaluation could result in a loss of investor confidence in our
financial reports and have an adverse effect on our stock price. Pursuant to Section 404 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year
ending December 31, 2005, we will be required to furnish a report by our management on our internal
control over financial reporting. Such report will contain among other matters, an assessment of
the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of our fiscal
year, including a statement as to whether or not our internal control over financial reporting is
effective. This assessment must include disclosure of any material weaknesses in our internal
control over financial reporting identified by management. Such report must also contain a
statement that our independent registered public accounting firm has issued an attestation report
on managements assessment of such internal controls. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Auditing Standard No. 2 provides the professional standards and related performance guidance for
independent registered public accounting firms to attest to, and report on, managements assessment
of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting under Section 404.
We are still
performing the system and process documentation and evaluation needed to comply with Section 404,
which is both costly and challenging. During this process, if our management identifies one or more
material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert
such internal control is effective. As described below, during 2005, we identified
certain material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting.
With respect to such material weaknesses, we have undertaken remediation
efforts which are on-going with respect to the November 2005 and
December 2005 material
weaknesses and which have been completed with respect to the April 2005 material weakness.
If we are unable to assert that our internal control over
financial reporting is effective as of December 31, 2005 (or if our independent registered public
accounting firm is unable to attest that our managements report is fairly stated or they are
unable to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls), we could lose investor
confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which would have an adverse
effect on our stock price.
In November 2005, we concluded that our financial
statements at March 31, 2005 and June 30, 2005 and for the
periods then ended, included in our Form 10-Qs for the periods
ended March 31, 2005 and June 30, 2005, respectively,
should no longer be relied upon due to an error in those
financial statements which resulted from the incorrect accrual
of legal and other professional fees for those periods. As
a result of such error, we will be restating our financial
results and amending our Form 10-Qs for our first quarter
ended March 31, 2005 and our second quarter ended
June 30, 2005. With respect to this restatement, we
have determined that the error resulted from an
inadequate control over the accounting for our
legal and other professional fees and under standards
established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board constituted a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
In
response to the deficiencies which resulted in the
material weakness described above, our management took actions to
enhance the operation and effectiveness of our internal controls and
procedures to ensure that we properly account for our legal and
other professional fees in the appropriate financial reporting period.
These actions included reviewing each of the invoices submitted by firms that
provided legal and other professional services to us and contacting outside
legal and professional firms to obtain copies of any invoice which had not
been already paid to ensure that such amounts were recorded in the proper
financial reporting period. In addition, we are currently implementing additional
accounting controls such as setting up a special email account for legal bills,
preparing detailed analysis of legal and professional spending
which will be reviewed monthly, and sending out quarterly confirmations
to outside legal firms to confirm balances owed for billed and unbilled
services to help ensure that any such legal and other professional
fees incurred in the future are properly recorded in the appropriate
fiscal period. As of the date of the filing of this Form 10-Q,
certain of our remediation efforts were still being implemented.
In April 2005, subsequent to the issuance of our audited financial statements for the year ended
December 31, 2004 and the filing of our Annual Report on Form 10-KSB, we discovered an error in
that certain stock option grants were treated as incentive stock options when the grants should
have been classified as non-statutory stock options because of the annual limitation on incentive
stock options under applicable tax regulations. As a result of this error, we restated our
financial results for 2004 and filed an amendment to our Form 10-KSB.
With respect to the restatement of our financial results, we determined that the error resulted
from an inadequate control over the accounting of our stock option program, and under standards
established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, constituted a material weakness in
our internal control over financial reporting. In response to the deficiency which resulted in the
material weakness, our management took actions to enhance the operation and effectiveness of our
internal controls and procedures to ensure that we properly classify and account for stock options
as either incentive stock options or non-statutory stock options and that option exercises will
have the proper payroll taxes withheld based on the classification of the option.
In
December 2005, we also identified another material
weakness in that we do not have adequate resources in
accounting and financial statement preparation particularly with
respect to financial statement footnote preparation. In response to
the deficiency, we plan to engage additional resources to assist with
such activities. As of the date of the filing of this Form 10-Q,
our remediation efforts were still being implemented.
In connection with our on going Section 404 compliance efforts, we are also continuing to make improvements to
our systems, procedures and controls.
Upon completion of our 2004 audit, our independent registered public accounting firm made certain
recommendations to us related to our internal control and other accounting, administrative and
operating matters and we are also addressing these recommendations.
While we currently anticipate being able to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 in a timely
fashion, we cannot be certain as to the timing of completion of our evaluation, testing and any
required remediation. If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely
manner or if our independent registered public accounting firm is not able to complete the
procedures required by Auditing Standard No. 2 to support their attestation report, we could lose
investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which would have an
adverse effect on our stock price.
RECENT REGULATIONS RELATED TO EQUITY COMPENSATION WILL LIKELY RESULT IN SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER
EXPENSES AND COULD ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR ABILITY TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN KEY PERSONNEL.
Stock options are a fundamental component of our employee compensation packages. We believe that
stock options directly motivate
our employees to maximize long-term stockholder value and, through the use of vesting, encourage
employees to remain with us. On October 13, 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
concluded that Statement 123R, Share-Based Payment, which would require all companies to measure
compensation cost for all share-based payments (including employee stock options) at fair value.
This requirement will be effective for us beginning in the first quarter of 2006. Statement 123R
will negatively impact our earnings. Recording a charge for employee stock options under SFAS No.
123 (which reflects a similar but different charge than Statement 123R) would have decreased our
net income by $8.1 million in 2004 and $4.0 million in nine months ended September 30, 2005. In
addition, regulations implemented by The NASDAQ Stock Market requiring shareholder approval for all
stock option plans as well as regulations implemented by the NYSE prohibiting NYSE member
organizations from giving a proxy to vote on equity-compensation plans unless the beneficial owner
of the shares has given voting instructions could make it more difficult for us to grant options to
employees in the future. To the extent that new regulations make it more difficult or expensive to
grant options to employees, we may incur compensation costs, change our equity compensation
strategy or find it difficult to attract, retain and motivate employees, each of which could
materially and adversely affect our business.
FOREIGN CURRENCY FLUCTUATIONS MAY AFFECT OUR COMPETITIVENESS AND SALES IN FOREIGN MARKETS.
The relative change in currency values creates fluctuations in product pricing for potential
international customers. These changes in foreign end-user costs may result in lost orders and
reduce the competitiveness of our products in certain foreign markets. These changes may also
negatively affect the financial condition of some existing or potential foreign customers and
reduce or eliminate their future orders of our products.
USE OF ESTIMATES MAY CAUSE FINANCIAL RESULTS TO DIFFER
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted
in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported
amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date
of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting
period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
WE FACE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH RAPID TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND NEW COMPETING PRODUCTS.
The technology associated with non-lethal devices is receiving significant attention and is rapidly
evolving. While we have patent protection in key areas of electro-muscular disruption technology,
it is possible that new non-lethal technology may result in competing products that operate outside
our patents and could present significant competition for our products.
AS DEMAND FOR OUR PRODUCTS INCREASES, OUR FUTURE SUCCESS WILL BE DEPENDENT UPON OUR ABILITY TO RAMP
MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION CAPACITY WHICH WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED IN PART BY THE IMPLEMENTATION OF
CUSTOMIZED MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION EQUIPMENT.
Although our revenue decreased for the nine months ended September 30, 2005 compared to the nine
months ended September 30, 2004, we experienced significant revenue growth in 2003 and 2004. To the
extent demand for our products increases significantly in future periods, one of our key challenges
will be to ramp our production capacity to meet sales demand, while maintaining product quality.
Our primary strategies to accomplish this include increasing the physical size of our assembly
facilities, the hiring of additional production staff, and the implementation of customized
automation equipment. We have limited previous experience in implementing automation equipment, and
the investments made on this equipment may not yield the anticipated labor and material
efficiencies. Our inability to meet any future increase in sales demand or effectively manage our
expansion could have a material adverse affect our revenues, profitability and financial condition.
WE DEPEND ON OUR ABILITY TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN OUR KEY MANAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.
Our success depends upon the continued service of our key management personnel. Our success also
depends on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate qualified technical personnel.
Although we have employment agreements with certain of our officers, the employment of such persons
is at-will and either we or the employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time,
subject to the applicable terms of the employments agreements. The competition for our key
employees is intense. The loss of the service of one or more of our key personnel could harm our
business.
NOTIFICATION
OF POSSIBLE DELISTING
Due to
our inability to timely file our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended
September 30, 2005, we received notice that we were subject to
delisting from the NASDAQ National Market. Subsequent to the receipt
of such notice, we filed our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.
However, we have not received notification or confirmation that the filing of
our Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2005 terminated the
delisting procedure. If we were to be delisted from the NASDAQ
National Market, we may subsequently trade on the Bulletin Board, which could have a number of adverse
consequences, including, without limitation,
reduced price of our common stock and trading liquidity, reduced
access to capital markets, increased compliance costs, loss of
confidence by suppliers, customers and employees, loss of
institutional investor interest and fewer business development opportunities.