Company: CRL
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001100682-25-000011
Chunk: 69

Company: CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 69
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 at some of our European facilities are represented by works councils, collective bargaining agreements, employee representative groups and/or unions, which is consistent with local customs for our industry. Our operations depend on the availability and relative costs of labor and maintaining good relations with employees, which includes supporting their overall wellbeing. If we fail to maintain good relations with our team members or with the labor organizations, we may experience labor strikes or work stoppages, which could adversely affect our financial results. 

We acknowledge a specific risk associated with periodic reductions in our workforce. As part of our strategic and operational management, we, from time to time, undertake workforce reductions to align with evolving business trends, market dynamics, or operational efficiency goals. Such actions result in incremental severance and benefits costs and replacing lost talent in the future may result in higher costs, all of which could adversely affect our financial results.

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CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES INTERNATIONAL, INC.

Financial and Accounting Risk Factors

Our debt level could adversely affect our business and growth prospects.

As of December 28, 2024, we had $2.2 billion of debt and finance leases (debt). Our debt could have significant adverse effects on our business, including making it more difficult for us to obtain additional financing on favorable terms; requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations to the repayment of debt and the interest on this debt; limiting our ability to capitalize on significant business opportunities; making us more vulnerable to rising interest rates, and reducing our flexibility to respond to changing business and economic conditions. Disruption in the financial market could also have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and liquidity. For additional information regarding our debt, please see Note 11. Debt and Other Financing Arrangements, included in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. 

Impairment of long-lived tangible assets and intangible assets (such as goodwill and other intangible assets) may adversely impact future results of operations.

We have intangible assets, including goodwill, on our balance sheet due to our acquisitions of businesses. The initial identification and valuation of these intangible assets and the determination of the estimated useful lives at the time of acquisition involve use of management judgments and estimates. These estimates are based on, among other factors, projections of cash flows that arise from identifiable intangible assets of acquired businesses and discount rates based on an analysis of our weighted average cost of capital, adjusted for specific risks associated with the assets. Disruptions in