Company: ACCO
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-024931
Chunk: 104

Company: ACCO BRANDS Corp
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 104
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 rates. For additional information, see "Part II, Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk - Foreign Exchange Risk Management" of this report.

Challenges related to the highly competitive business environment in which we operate have, and are likely to continue to have, a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We operate in a highly competitive environment characterized by large, sophisticated customers, low barriers to entry for certain of our products, and competition from a wide range of products and services (including private label products and electronic and digital products and services that can replace or render certain of our products obsolete). We have seen, and expect to continue to see, increased competition from private label brands as well as increased price competition from branded competitors, especially in periods of economic uncertainty and weakness when customers and consumers turn to alternative or lower cost products and overall demand for our products is lower.

ACCO Brands competes with numerous branded consumer products manufacturers, as well as numerous private label suppliers and importers, including many of our customers who import their own private label products directly from foreign sources. Many of our competitors have strong, sought-after brands. Their ability to manufacture products locally at a lower cost or source them from other countries with lower production costs can give them a competitive advantage in terms of price under certain circumstances.

Our business has been, and we expect it will continue to be, affected by actions taken by our customers and competitors to compete more effectively. Such actions have, and in the future may, result in lost sales and lower margins, and adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our success depends on our ability to develop and market innovative products that meet consumer and other end-user demands, including price expectations, and to expand into new and adjacent product categories.

Our success depends on our ability to invest in innovation and product development and successfully anticipate, develop and market products that appeal to the changing needs and preferences of consumers and other end-users. Additionally, part of our strategy is to develop new, exciting and differentiated products which we believe help us to sustain category leading positions and drive significant long-term growth. There can be no assurance that we will make the right investment choices or be successful in developing innovative products. If we are unable to successfully increase sales and margins by expanding our product assortment, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

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Growth in emerging geographies may be difficult to achieve and exposes us to financial, operational, regulatory, compliance, and other