U-Haul 2006 Annual Report Download - page 94

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Control of AMERCO remains in the hands of a small contingent.
As of March 31, 2006, Edward J. Shoen, Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of AMERCO, James
P. Shoen, a director of AMERCO, and Mark V. Shoen, an executive officer of AMERCO, collectively are beneficial
owners of 8,967,632 shares (approximately 42.1%) of the outstanding common shares of AMERCO. Accordingly,
Edward J. Shoen, Mark V. Shoen and James P. Shoen will be in a position to continue to influence the election of
the members of the Board of Directors and approval of significant transactions. In addition, 2,031,070 shares
(approximately 9.5%) of the outstanding common shares of AMERCO are held by our Employee Savings and
Employee Stock Ownership Trust.
Our operations subject us to numerous environmental regulations and the possibility that environmental liability
in the future could adversely affect our operations.
Compliance with environmental requirements of federal, state and local governments significantly affects our
business. Among other things, these requirements regulate the discharge of materials into the water, air and land and
govern the use and disposal of hazardous substances. Under environmental laws or common law principles, we can
be held strictly liable for hazardous substances that are found on real property we have owned or operated. We are
aware of issues regarding hazardous substances on some of our real estate and we have put in place a remedial plan
at each site where we believe such a plan is necessary (see Note 17 of our Consolidated Financial Statements). We
regularly make capital and operating expenditures to stay in compliance with environmental laws. In particular, we
have managed a testing and removal program since 1988 for our underground storage tanks. Despite these
compliance efforts, risk of environmental liability is part of the nature of our business.
Environmental laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and could become more stringent in the
future. We cannot assure you that future compliance with these regulations, future environmental liabilities, the cost
of defending environmental claims, conducting any environmental remediation or generally resolving liabilities
caused by us or related third parties will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or
results of operations.
Our quarterly results of operations fluctuate due to seasonality and other factors associated with our industry.
Our business is seasonal and our results of operations and cash flows fluctuate significantly from quarter to
quarter. Historically, revenues have been stronger in the first and second fiscal quarters due to the overall increase in
moving activity during the spring and summer months. The fourth fiscal quarter is generally weakest, due to a
greater potential for adverse weather conditions and other factors that are not necessarily seasonal. As a result, our
operating results for a quarterly period are not necessarily indicative of operating results for an entire year.
We obtain our rental trucks from a limited number of manufacturers.
In the last ten years, we purchased most of our rental trucks from Ford Motor Company and General Motors
Corporation. Although we believe that we could obtain alternative sources of supply for our rental trucks,
termination of one or both of our relationships with these suppliers could have a material adverse effect on our
business, financial condition or results of operations for an indefinite period of time or we may not be able to obtain
rental trucks under similar terms, if at all.
Our property and casualty insurance business has suffered extensive losses.
Between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2004, RepWest, reported pretax losses totaling approximately $164.0
million. These losses are primarily attributable to business lines that were unprofitable as underwritten. To restore
profitability in RepWest, we have exited all non U-Haul related lines of business. RepWest’ s pretax earnings for
fiscal 2006 were $1.1 million primarily due to its exit from all non U-Haul lines of business. Although we believe
the terminated lines are adequately reserved, we cannot assure that there will not be future adverse loss
development.
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