Company: CRD-A
Filing Date: 2025-03-03
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-030894
Chunk: 26

Company: CRAWFORD & CO
Filing Date: 2025-03-03
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 26
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 making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us; reduce the liquidity, and thus the trading price, of our stock; or result in other actions that may be opposed by, or not be in the best interests of, the Company and our other shareholders.

COMPETITION AND EMPLOYEES

We operate in highly competitive markets and face intense competition from both established entities and new entrants into those markets. Potential consolidation in our industry can also create stronger competition. Our failure to compete effectively may adversely affect us.

Our ability to retain clients and maintain and increase case referrals is also dependent in part on our ability to continue to provide high-quality, competitively priced services and effective sales efforts.

The global claims management services market is highly competitive and comprised of a large number of companies that vary in size and that offer a varied scope of services. The demand from insurance companies and self-insured entities for services provided by independent claims service firms like us is largely dependent on industry-wide claims volumes, which are affected by, among other things, the insurance underwriting cycle, weather-related events, general economic activity, overall employment levels, and workplace injury rates. We are also impacted by decisions insurance companies and self-insured entities make with respect to the level of claims outsourced to independent claim service firms as opposed to those handled by their own in-house claims adjusters.

We also face competition from potential new entrants into the global claims management services market, in addition to traditional competitors. Potential consolidation in our industry can also create stronger competition. Our inability to react to such competition could negatively impact our volume of case referrals and results of operations.

12

We may not be able to recruit, train, and retain qualified personnel, including retaining enough qualified and experienced on-call claims adjusters, to respond to catastrophic events that may, singularly or in combination, significantly increase our clients' needs for claims adjusters.

Our catastrophe-related work and revenues can fluctuate dramatically based on the frequency and severity of natural and man-made disasters. When such events happen, our clients usually require a sudden and substantial increase in the need for catastrophic claims services, which can strain our capacity. Our internal resources are sometimes not sufficient to meet these sudden and substantial increases in demand. When these situations occur, we must retain outside adjusters (temporary employees and contractors) to increase our capacity. There can be no assurance that we will be able to retain such outside adjusters with the requisite qualifications, at the times needed or on terms that we believe are economically reasonable. Insurance companies and other loss