Estee Lauder 2013 Annual Report Download - page 138

136 THE EST{E LAUDER COMPANIES INC.
RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS
Refer to •Note 2 „ Summary of Signi“ cant Accounting
PoliciesŽ of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
for discussion regarding the impact of accounting stan-
dards that were recently issued but not yet effective, on
our consolidated financial statements.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
We and our representatives from time to time make writ-
ten or oral forward-looking statements, including state-
ments contained in this and other filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, in our press
releases and in our reports to stockholders. The words
and phrases “will likely result,” “expect,” “believe,”
“planned,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “anticipate,”
“estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “forecast” or similar
expressions are intended to identify “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include,
without limitation, our expectations regarding sales, earn-
ings or other future financial performance and liquidity,
product introductions, entry into new geographic regions,
information systems initiatives, new methods of sale, our
long-term strategy, restructuring and other charges and
resulting cost savings, and future operations or operating
results. Although we believe that our expectations are
based on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of
our knowledge of our business and operations, actual
results may differ materially from our expectations. Factors
that could cause actual results to differ from expectations
include, without limitation:
(1) increased competitive activity from companies in the
skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care businesses,
some of which have greater resources than we do;
(2) our ability to develop, produce and market new prod-
ucts on which future operating results may depend and to
successfully address challenges in our business;
(3) consolidations, restructurings, bankruptcies and reor-
ganizations in the retail industry causing a decrease in the
number of stores that sell our products, an increase in the
ownership concentration within the retail industry, owner-
ship of retailers by our competitors or ownership of com-
petitors by our customers that are retailers and our
inability to collect receivables;
(4) destocking and tighter working capital management
by retailers;
(5) the success, or changes in timing or scope, of new
product launches and the success, or changes in the
timing or the scope, of advertising, sampling and
merchandising programs;
(6) shifts in the preferences of consumers as to where
and how they shop for the types of products and services
we sell;
(7) social, political and economic risks to our foreign or
domestic manufacturing, distribution and retail opera-
tions, including changes in foreign investment and trade
policies and regulations of the host countries and of the
United States;
(8) changes in the laws, regulations and policies (includ-
ing the interpretations and enforcement thereof) that
affect, or will affect, our business, including those relating
to our products or distribution networks, changes in
accounting standards, tax laws and regulations, environ-
mental or climate change laws, regulations or accords,
trade rules and customs regulations, and the outcome
and expense of legal or regulatory proceedings, and any
action we may take as a result;
(9) foreign currency fluctuations affecting our results of
operations and the value of our foreign assets, the relative
prices at which we and our foreign competitors sell
products in the same markets and our operating and
manufacturing costs outside of the United States;
(10) changes in global or local conditions, including those
due to the volatility in the global credit and equity mar-
kets, natural or man-made disasters, real or perceived
epidemics, or energy costs, that could affect consumer
purchasing, the willingness or ability of consumers to
travel and/or purchase our products while traveling, the
financial strength of our customers, suppliers or other
contract counterparties, our operations, the cost and
availability of capital which we may need for new equip-
ment, facilities or acquisitions, the returns that we are able
to generate on our pension assets and the resulting
impact on funding obligations, the cost and availability of
raw materials and the assumptions underlying our critical
accounting estimates;
(11) shipment delays, commodity pricing, depletion of
inventory and increased production costs resulting from
disruptions of operations at any of the facilities that manu-
facture nearly all of our supply of a particular type of
product (i.e. focus factories) or at our distribution or
inventory centers, including disruptions that may be
caused by the implementation of SAP as part of our
Strategic Modernization Initiative or by restructurings;