Hasbro 2008 Annual Report Download - page 21

The license agreements we enter to obtain these rights usually require us to pay minimum royalty
guarantees that may be substantial, and in some cases may be greater than what we are ultimately able to
recoup from actual sales, which could result in write-offs of significant amounts which in turn would harm our
results of operations. At December 28, 2008, we had $71,000 of prepaid royalties, $44,300 of which are
included in prepaid expenses and other current assets and $26,700 of which are included in other assets. Under
the terms of existing contracts as of December 28, 2008, we may be required to pay future minimum
guaranteed royalties and other licensing fees totaling approximately $57,818. Acquiring or renewing licenses
may require the payment of minimum guaranteed royalties that we consider to be too high to be profitable,
which may result in losing licenses we currently hold when they become available for renewal, or missing
business opportunities for new licenses. Additionally, as a licensee of entertainment based properties we have
no guaranty that a particular property or brand will translate into successful toy or game products.
We anticipate that the shorter theatrical duration for movie releases will make it increasingly difficult for
us to profitably sell licensed products based on entertainment properties and may lead our customers to reduce
their demand for these products in order to minimize their inventory risk. Furthermore, there can be no
assurance that a successful brand will continue to be successful or maintain a high level of sales in the future,
as new entertainment properties and competitive products are continually being introduced to the market. In
the event that we are not able to acquire or maintain successful entertainment licenses on advantageous terms,
our revenues and profits may be harmed.
Our business is seasonal and therefore our annual operating results will depend, in large part, on our
sales during the relatively brief holiday shopping season. This seasonality is exacerbated as retailers
become more efficient in their control of inventory levels through quick response inventory management
techniques.
Sales of our family entertainment products at retail are extremely seasonal, with a majority of retail sales
occurring during the period from September through December in anticipation of the holiday season, including
Christmas. This seasonality has increased over time, as retailers become more efficient in their control of
inventory levels through quick response inventory management techniques. These customers are timing their
orders so that they are being filled by suppliers, such as us, closer to the time of purchase by consumers. For
toys, games and other family entertainment products which we produce, a majority of retail sales for the entire
year occur in the fourth quarter, close to the holiday season. As a consequence, the majority of our sales to
our customers occur in the period from September through December, as our customers do not want to
maintain large on-hand inventories throughout the year ahead of consumer demand. While these techniques
reduce a retailer’s investment in inventory, they increase pressure on suppliers like us to fill orders promptly
and thereby shift a significant portion of inventory risk and carrying costs to the supplier.
The limited inventory carried by retailers may also reduce or delay retail sales, resulting in lower
revenues for us. If we or our customers determine that one of our products is more popular at retail than was
originally anticipated, we may not have sufficient time to produce and ship enough additional product to fully
capture consumer interest in the product. Additionally, the logistics of supplying more and more product
within shorter time periods increases the risk that we will fail to achieve tight and compressed shipping
schedules, which also may reduce our sales and harm our financial performance. This seasonal pattern requires
significant use of working capital, mainly to manufacture or acquire inventory during the portion of the year
prior to the holiday season, and requires accurate forecasting of demand for products during the holiday season
in order to avoid losing potential sales of popular products or producing excess inventory of products that are
less popular with consumers. Our failure to accurately predict and respond to consumer demand, resulting in
our underproducing popular items and/or overproducing less popular items, would reduce our total sales and
harm our results of operations. In addition, as a result of the seasonal nature of our business, we would be
significantly and adversely affected, in a manner disproportionate to the impact on a company with sales
spread more evenly throughout the year, by unforeseen events, such as a terrorist attack or economic shock,
that harm the retail environment or consumer buying patterns during our key selling season, or by events, such
as strikes or port delays, that interfere with the shipment of goods, particularly from the Far East, during the
critical months leading up to the holiday purchasing season.
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