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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

Note 16. Commitments and Contingencies

Environmental remediation liabilities and asset retirement obligations

Commitments in respect of environmental remediation liabilities and asset retirement obligations are disclosed in Note 13 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Capital commitments

The estimated additional cost to complete work in progress at December 31, 2023 is $33.7 million (2022 – $37.7 million).

Internally developed software

The estimated additional cost to complete work in progress at December 31, 2023 is $8.9 million (2022 – $25.0 million).

Contingencies

Legal matters

We are involved from time to time in claims and legal proceedings that result from, and are incidental to, the conduct of our business including business and commercial litigation, employee and product liability claims.

 

As previously reported in the first quarter of 2023, we have lodged a civil and criminal legal claim and insurance claim related to a misappropriation of inventory in Brazil and as a consequence we have written-off $7.4 million of our inventory to cost of goods sold in our financial statements. In the second quarter of 2023, we have incurred additional charges of $8.0 million as we exited the Brazilian trading relationship associated with the inventory misappropriation. The costs incurred in the second quarter include $5.0 million to cost of goods sold and $3.0 million to selling, general and administration costs. A corresponding asset for the potential legal or insurance recoveries has not been recorded for the resulting financial losses arising from this matter.

 

In addition, unrelated to the Brazil matter, in the unlikely event there are an unexpectedly large number of individual claims or proceedings with an adverse resolution, this could in the aggregate have a material adverse effect on the results of operations for a particular year or quarter.

Guarantees

The Company and certain of the Company’s consolidated subsidiaries are contingently liable for certain obligations of affiliated companies primarily in the form of guarantees of debt and performance under contracts entered into as a normal business practice. This includes guarantees of non-U.S. excise taxes and customs duties. As at December 31, 2023, such guarantees which are not recognized as liabilities in the consolidated financial statements amounted to $6.2 million (December 31, 2022 – $7.0 million). The remaining terms of the fixed maturity guarantees vary from approximately 1 month to 9 years, with some further guarantees having no fixed expiry date.

Under the terms of the guarantee arrangements, generally the Company would be required to perform should the affiliated company fail to fulfill its obligations under the arrangements. In some cases, the guarantee arrangements have recourse provisions that would enable the Company to recover any payments made under the terms of the guarantees from securities held of the guaranteed parties’ assets.

The Company and its affiliates have numerous long-term sales and purchase commitments in their various business activities, which are expected to be fulfilled with no adverse consequences material to the Company.