UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
| ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the fiscal year ended December 31 , 2022
OR
| TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
Commission File Number: 001-35493
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| (State of incorporation) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | ||||
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) | ||||
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (212 ) 520-2300
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of Each Class | Trading Symbols | Name of Each Exchange on which Registered | ||||||
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
Common Units, no par value
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ¨ No ☒
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ¨
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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company," and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☐ | ☒ | ||||||||||||
| Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ||||||||||||
| Emerging growth company | ||||||||||||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
The aggregate market value of our common units held by non-affiliates of registrant as of June 30, 2022 totaled approximately $236.5 million based on the then-closing unit price.
On March 1, 2023, there were 21,549,492 common units outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the Company's definitive proxy statement for the 2023 Annual Meeting of Limited Partners are incorporated by reference into Part III of this annual report on Form 10-K.
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STEEL PARTNERS HOLDINGS L.P.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| PART I | ||||||||
| Item 1. | ||||||||
| Item 1A. | ||||||||
| Item 1B. | ||||||||
| Item 2. | ||||||||
| Item 3. | ||||||||
| Item 4. | ||||||||
| PART II | ||||||||
| Item 5. | ||||||||
| Item 6. | [Reserved] | |||||||
| Item 7. | ||||||||
| Item 7A. | ||||||||
| Item 8. | ||||||||
| Item 9. | ||||||||
| Item 9A. | ||||||||
| Item 9B. | ||||||||
| Item 9C. | ||||||||
| PART III | ||||||||
| Item 10. | ||||||||
| Item 11. | ||||||||
| Item 12. | ||||||||
| Item 13. | ||||||||
| Item 14. | ||||||||
| PART IV | ||||||||
| Item 15. | ||||||||
| Item 16. | ||||||||
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As used in this annual report on Form 10-K (this "Report" or this "Form 10-K"), unless the context otherwise requires, the terms "we," "us," "our," "SPLP" and the "Company" refer to Steel Partners Holdings L.P., a Delaware limited partnership.
All dollar amounts used in this Report are in thousands, except for common and preferred unit and per common and preferred unit data, unless otherwise indicated.
PART I
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND RISK FACTORS SUMMARY
This Report includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended ("Exchange Act"), including, in particular, forward-looking statements under the headings "Item 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Item 8 - Financial Statements and Supplementary Data." These statements appear in a number of places in this Report and include statements regarding the Company's intent, belief or current expectations with respect to (i) its financing plans, (ii) trends affecting its financial condition or results of operations, and (iii) the impact of competition. The words "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "estimate" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements; however, this Report also contains other forward-looking statements in addition to historical information.
Forward-looking statements are only predictions based upon the Company's current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements. Certain factors that might cause actual results to differ from our expectations include, but are not limited to:
Risks Related to Our Business
•disruptions to our business as a result of economic downturns;
•negative impact of inflation, raw material price increases and supply chain disruptions;
•significant volatility in prices of, and declines in demand for, crude oil;
•fluctuations in commodity prices;
•the negative impact of rising interest rates;
•the potential need for cash funding requirements due to our subsidiaries’ sponsorship of defined benefit pension plans;
•our ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations;
•increased and reduced demand for our services as a result of climate change legislation or regulations;
•our ability to comply with banking and other extensive regulations to which our businesses are subject;
•impacts to our liquidity or financial condition as a result of extensive legislative and regulatory requirements of our subsidiary, WebBank;
•our ability to meet our obligations under our senior credit facility through future cash flows as well as future financings, which may be impacted by credit market volatility;
•negative impacts to our business strategy to make acquisitions due to factors such as management diversion and increased costs and expenses;
•divestitures and contingent liabilities from divested businesses could adversely affect our business and financial results;
•losses sustained in our investment portfolio;
•our ability to adequately obtain or protect our intellectual property and licenses, or defend against third-party infringement claims;
•conducting business outside of the United States;
•global trade issues and changes in and uncertainties with trade policies;
•negative impacts to the cost or availability of the materials and products we use in our operations (for example, as a result of changes in U.S. trade policies);
•impacts to our profitability due to litigation or compliance failures;
•a significant disruption in, or breach in security of, our technology systems;
•increased liability, costs or limitations to our service offerings as a result of current and proposed laws and regulations regarding the protection of personal data;
•work stoppages and increased costs due to labor disputes or the unionization of our workforce and suppliers;
•challenges to WebBank's status as lender of the loans it offers and the ability of assignees to collect interest;
•WebBank’s ability to satisfy its capital requirements, including any that may arise from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC");
•WebBank's ability to maintain its lending programs through its relationships with marketing partners;
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•WebBank’s exposure to risks related to loans received under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), including litigation from its borrowers or others regarding the processing of loans or the possibility that the Small Business Administration ("SBA") may not fund some or all PPP loan guaranties;
•our subsidiaries’ ability to maintain its relationships and business with customers without long-term contracts;
•our ability to effectively remediate the identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting;
•adverse impacts of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows; and
•conflict in Ukraine and related volatility.
Risks Related to Our Structure
•the limited recourse that our unitholders have with respect to maintaining actions against our General Partner, our Board, our officers and our Manager (each as defined under Part I, Item 1, “Business”);
•limited voting rights of some unitholders under certain provisions of our Partnership Agreement (as defined under Part I, Item 1, “Business”) ;
•conflicts of interest with the minority shareholders of our businesses, which may impact our decisions and may not be in the best interests of our unitholders;
•potential conflicts of interest arising from certain interlocking relationships between us and certain affiliates of Warren G. Lichtenstein, our Executive Chairman, as well as from the business activities of members of our management team; and
•potential conflicts of interest arising from involvement in other business activities.
Risks Related to Our Manager
•our ability to successfully retain the services of Warren G. Lichtenstein, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Jack L. Howard, the President of our Manager, in running our businesses;
•uncertainty relating to the amount of the Management Fee (as defined in Part I, Item 1, “Business”) that will be paid or Class C partnership units that will be issued over time with any certainty; and
•potential adverse impacts from the limited liability and indemnification of our Manager under our Management Agreement, including the possibility that our Manager may take unnecessary risks for any indemnified actions.
Risks Related to our Common and Preferred Units
•declines in the prices of our common or preferred units as a result of our issuances of additional common or preferred units, or other series of units, in the future without the consent of unitholders and at a discount to the market price of such units; and
•our ability to maintain an active market for our common or preferred units as a result of transfer restrictions and other factors.
Risks Related to Taxation
•our common unitholders’ U.S. federal, state and other income tax obligations with respect to their share of our taxable income, regardless of whether they receive any cash distributions from us;
•our unitholders’ potential exposure to Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS") initiated tax adjustments for prior years on their personal tax returns;
•negative impacts to our future results of operations as a result of U.S. government tax reform;
•our inability to assure our tax treatment;
•our structure involves complex provisions of U.S. federal income tax law for which no clear precedent or authority may be available;
•adverse tax consequences that our tax-exempt investors may face from our owning common units;
•our subsidiaries’ ability to fully utilize their tax benefits, which could result in increased cash payments for taxes in future periods; and
•other factors described in the "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of this Report.
General Risk Factors
•loss of essential employees without timely replacement or substitution.
Any forward-looking statement made in this Report speaks only as of the date hereof, and investors should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Except as otherwise required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or any other reason.
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Item 1. Business
The Company
Steel Partners Holding L.P. (together with its subsidiaries, referred to herein as "SPLP") is a diversified global holding company that owns and operates businesses and has significant interests in various companies, including diversified industrial products, energy, banking, defense, supply chain management and logistics and youth sports. SPLP operates through the following segments: Diversified Industrial, Energy and Financial Services. Each of our companies has its own management team with significant experience in their industries. Corporate and Other consists of several consolidated subsidiaries, including, Steel Services Ltd. ("Steel Services"), which, through management services agreements, provides services to us and some of our companies, which include assignment of C-Level management personnel, legal, tax, accounting, treasury, consulting, auditing, administrative, compliance, environmental health and safety, human resources, marketing, investor relations, operating group management and other similar services. We work with our businesses to increase corporate value over the long term for all stakeholders by implementing our unique strategy discussed in more detail below.
SPLP is managed by SP General Services LLC (the "Manager"), pursuant to the terms of an amended and restated management agreement (the "Management Agreement") discussed in further detail in Note 20 – "Related Party Transactions" to the Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this Report. From its founding in 1990, the Manager and its affiliates have focused on increasing value for investors in the businesses it has managed. Our wholly-owned subsidiary, Steel Partners Holdings GP Inc. (the "General Partner"), is our general partner. The General Partner has a board of directors (the "Board of Directors"). Out of the seven members of the Board of Directors of the General Partner currently serving, two are appointed by our Manager, including Warren G. Lichtenstein, who is the Executive Chairman of our Manager and serves as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Products and Product Mix
Diversified Industrial Segment
The Diversified Industrial segment is comprised of manufacturers of engineered niche industrial products, with leading market positions in many of the markets they serve. The businesses in this segment distribute products to customers through their sales personnel, outside sales representatives and distributors in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and several other international markets. Below is additional information related to the businesses within the Diversified Industrial segment.
Joining Materials - The Joining Materials business primarily fabricates precious metals and their alloys into brazing alloys. Brazing alloys are used to join similar and dissimilar metals, as well as specialty metals and some ceramics, with strong, hermetic joints. The Joining Materials business offers these metal joining products in a wide variety of alloys, including gold, silver, palladium, copper, nickel, aluminum and tin. These brazing alloys are fabricated into a variety of engineered forms and are used in many industries, including electrical, appliance, transportation, construction and general industrial, where dissimilar material and metal joining applications are required. Operating income from precious metal products is principally derived from the "value-added" of processing and fabricating and not from the direct purchase and resale of precious metals. The Joining Materials business enters into commodity futures and forward contracts to mitigate the impact of price fluctuations on its precious and certain non-precious metal inventories that are not subject to fixed price contracts.
Tubing - The Tubing business manufactures a wide variety of stainless and low carbon steel tubing products. The Tubing business manufactures some of the world's longest continuous seamless stainless steel tubing coils, up to 6,000 feet, serving primarily the petrochemical and oil and gas infrastructure markets. We believe that the Tubing business is also a leading manufacturer of mechanical and fluid-carrying welded low carbon tubing used for diverse industries, including the automotive, heavy truck, heating, cooling and oil and gas markets. Products are delivered in continuous lengths from 2 inches to 30,000 feet in coil, cut or spool packaging styles.
Building Materials - The Building Materials business manufactures and supplies products primarily to the commercial construction and building industries. It manufactures fasteners, adhesives and fastening systems for the U.S. commercial low-slope roofing industry, which are sold to building and roofing material wholesalers, roofing contractors and private label roofing system manufacturers, and a line of engineered specialty fasteners for the building products industry for fastening applications in the remodeling and construction of homes, decking and landscaping.
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Performance Materials - The Performance Materials business manufactures woven substrates of fiberglass, quartz, carbon and aramid materials for specialty applications in a wide expanse of markets requiring highly engineered components. Its products are used in a wide range of advanced composite applications, such as commercial and military aerospace components, printed electronic circuit boards, automotive and industrial components, and substrates for commercial and military armor applications.
Electrical Products - The Electrical Products business designs, manufactures and markets power electronics, motion control, power protection, power quality electromagnetic equipment, and custom ball-screws, gears and gearboxes used in a variety of medical, commercial and military aerospace, computer, datacom, industrial, specialty LED lighting, test and measurement, and telecom applications. Its products are generally incorporated into larger systems to improve operating performance, safety, reliability and efficiency.
Kasco Blades and Route Repair Services ("Kasco") - The Kasco business provides meat-room blade products, repair services and distributed products for the meat and deli departments of supermarkets, restaurants, meat and fish processing plants, and for distributors of electrical saws and cutting equipment, principally in North America and Europe. The Kasco business also provides cutting blades for bakeries, in addition to wood cutting blade products for the pallet manufacturing, pallet recycler and portable saw mill industries in North America.
Metallized Films - The Metallized Films business includes Dunmore Corporation in the U.S. and Dunmore Europe GmbH in Germany (collectively, "Dunmore"), which manufacture and distribute coated, laminated and metallized films for engineered applications in the imaging, aerospace, insulation and solar photo-voltaic markets and also provide products for custom and special applications.
Energy Segment
The Energy segment provides drilling and production services to the oil and gas industry and owns a youth sports business. Below is additional information related to the consolidated businesses within the Energy segment.
Steel Energy - The Energy business provides completion, recompletion and production services to exploration and production companies in the oil and gas business. The services provided include well completion and recompletion, well maintenance and workover, flow testing, down hole pumping, plug and abandonment, well logging and perforating wireline services. The Energy segment primarily provides its services to customers' extraction and production operations in North Dakota and Montana in the Bakken basin, Colorado and Wyoming in the Niobrara basin, Texas in the Permian basin and New Mexico in the San Juan basin. It relies primarily on its local operations to sell and market its services.
Steel Sports - Steel Sports is a social impact company committed to creating a new standard in youth sports and coaching while forging the next generation of leaders. The organization strives to provide a first-class youth sports experience emphasizing positive experiences and instilling the core values of Teamwork, Respect, Integrity and Commitment.
Financial Services Segment
Through our subsidiary WebFinancial Holding Corporation, we own 100% of WebBank, which is an FDIC–insured state chartered industrial bank headquartered in Utah. WebBank is subject to comprehensive regulation, examination and supervision of the FDIC and the State of Utah Department of Financial Institutions ("UDFI"). WebBank is not considered a "bank" for Bank Holding Company Act purposes and, as such, SPLP is not regulated as a bank holding company. WebBank's deposits are insured by the FDIC up to maximum allowed by law. WebBank engages in a full range of banking activities including originating loans, issuing credit cards and taking deposits that are federally insured. WebBank originates and funds consumer and small business loans through lending programs with unaffiliated companies that market and service the programs ("Marketing Partners"), where the Marketing Partners subsequently purchase the loans (or interests in the loans) that are originated by WebBank. WebBank also has private-label financing programs that are branded for a specific retailer, manufacturer, dealer channel, proprietary network and bank card programs. WebBank participates in syndicated commercial and industrial as well as asset based credit facilities and asset based securitizations through relationships with other financial institutions. Through its subsidiary, National Partners PFco, LLC ("National Partners"), WebBank provides commercial premium finance solutions for national insurance brokerages, independent insurance agencies and insureds in key markets throughout the U.S. National Partners was acquired in April 2019.
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Corporate and Other
Corporate and Other consists of several consolidated subsidiaries, including Steel Services, as well as equity method and other investments, and cash and cash equivalents. Its income or loss includes certain unallocated general corporate expenses. Steel Services has management services agreements with certain of our consolidated subsidiaries and other related companies. For additional information on these service agreements see Note 20 - "Related Party Transactions" to the Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this Report.
Business Strategy
We are focused on reducing costs, including but not limited to our corporate overhead, and the sale of non-core assets. We expect the savings and proceeds will be used to pay down debt and repurchase our units. We continuously evaluate the retention and disposition of existing operations, as well as investigate possible strategic acquisitions. We continue to focus on simplifying our organizational structure and improving our free cash flow and our returns on invested capital.
We strive to enhance the business operations of our companies through balance sheet improvements, strategic allocation of capital, and operational and growth initiatives. We use a set of tools and processes called the Steel Business System to drive operational and commercial efficiencies across each of our businesses. The Steel Business System utilizes a strategy deployment process to execute strategic initiatives for each of our businesses to improve their performance, including objectives relating to manufacturing improvement, idea generation, product development, and global sourcing of materials and services. Our operational initiatives include creating efficiencies through consolidated purchasing and materials sourcing through shared purchasing programs and reducing costs for, and providing other benefits to, a number of our companies. We are focused on reducing corporate overhead of our companies by centralizing certain administrative and corporate services through Steel Services, which provides management, consulting and advisory services.
Raw Materials
The major commodities and raw materials used by the businesses within the Diversified Industrial segment are as follows:
The Joining Materials business uses precious metals such as silver, gold and palladium to produce certain of its products. These precious metals are generally obtained under a consignment arrangement with a financial institution. In addition to precious metals, the raw materials used in the Joining Materials, Tubing, Building Materials, Electrical Products and Kasco businesses consist principally of stainless, silicon and carbon steel, aluminum, copper, tin, nickel alloys, a variety of high-performance alloys, permanent magnets, electronic and electrical components, chemicals and various plastic compositions. The raw materials used in the operations of the Performance Materials business consist principally of fiberglass, quartz and aramid yarns. The raw materials used in the Metallized Films business consist principally of polyester scrim fabric, PET film, organic solvents, aluminum, resins, pigments and adhesives. Raw materials are generally purchased at open market prices from domestic and foreign suppliers. The Diversified Industrial segment businesses have not experienced any significant problem in obtaining the necessary quantities of raw materials. Prices and availability, particularly of raw materials purchased from foreign suppliers, are affected by world market conditions and government policies. The Company enters into commodity futures and forward contracts to mitigate the impact of price fluctuations on its precious and certain non-precious metal inventories that are not subject to fixed price contracts. The raw materials used by these businesses are generally readily available from more than one source.
The businesses in our Diversified Industrial segment also require significant amounts of electricity, oil and natural gas to operate their facilities, and they are subject to price changes in these commodities. A shortage of electricity, oil or natural gas, or a government allocation of supplies resulting in a general reduction in supplies, could increase costs of production and could cause some curtailment of production.
Intellectual Property
The Company's businesses depend in part on trademarks and patents that they own, or the licenses they hold to use others' brand names, proprietary technology and manufacturing techniques. In addition to trademark and patent protection, these businesses rely on copyrights, trade secrets, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect their intellectual property rights.
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Capital Investments
SPLP believes that in order to be and remain competitive, its businesses must continuously strive to increase revenue, improve productivity and product quality, and control and/or reduce manufacturing costs. Accordingly, SPLP expects to continue to make capital investments that reduce overall manufacturing costs, improve the quality of products produced and services provided and broaden the array of products offered to the industries it serves, as well as replace equipment as necessary to maintain compliance with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. SPLP's capital expenditures for 2022 and 2021 were $47,541 and $52,326, respectively. SPLP anticipates funding its capital expenditures in 2023 from funds generated by operations and borrowed funds. For more information, see Part II, Item 7, “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources” of this Report.
Employees
As of December 31, 2022, the Company employed approximately 4,100 employees worldwide. Of these employees, 312 were covered by collective bargaining agreements, all in the Diversified Industrial segment. The Energy segment also hires additional full-time and part-time employees during peak seasonal periods.
Human Capital Management
Human capital management is a key driver of the Company's success. The Company's core values are Teamwork, Respect, Integrity and Commitment. By embracing its core values, the Company strives to create an environment where its employees can all be productive, innovative and true to themselves. Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics establishes the baseline requirements of our integrity and compliance program and aims to promote an environment where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.
The following programs are crucial to support and work to improve the Company's workplace environment:
•Steel Grow Program: The Company began the Steel Grow initiative (1) to formalize employee development throughout Steel Partners with the goal of identifying its high performing employees and (2) to recruit, retain and reward the best talent available for the Company, in each case, without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability, marital status, pregnancy (including unlawful discrimination on the basis of a legally protected pregnancy/maternity leave), veteran status, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law. Management is committed to promoting from within when the opportunity is right for the employee and the Company, and in 2022 we promoted over 400 employees, a 15% increase over 2021.
•Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program: The Company continued conducting a comprehensive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion survey in the U.S. for a second year and oversaw a comprehensive global rollout. Guided by our core values, the Company is committed to creating a company where our employees are included and respected, and where we support each other in reaching our full potential individually and as a company. In 2022, the Company launched a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council comprised of representatives across all locations. Each operating company's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team has an executive sponsor, team lead and trainer/communicator. The objective of this council is to support the operating companies as they establish local goals and build an inclusive workplace environment in which employees of all backgrounds and demographic characteristics can work together.
•Steel Wellness Council: Our Steel Wellness Council, with representatives from all our businesses, focuses on sharing best practices that maximize the overall wellness of employees, empowering them to help create positive change in communities where we work and live. Our initiatives include mental, physical and financial wellbeing along with healthcare education and community support. Community support includes using our coaching system to enhance the education of our employees who coach and lead children in our communities.
•Steel Environmental Health and Safety Council: The Steel Environmental Health and Safety Council is comprised of the health and safety teams at the Company's affiliate companies and representatives from the legal and human resources departments who are dedicated to the safety of our employees.
Employee Health, Safety and Well-Being
The Company continues to take actions to ensure the health and safety of its employees and their families, customers, suppliers and the greater communities where the Company operates. Many of our office workers continue to telecommute;
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however, where our essential workers continue at our facilities, the Company has established a number of safety protocols, including face coverings, barriers and physical distance requirements, along with enhanced cleaning, temperature checks, work zones and quarantines as situations require.
Competition
There are many companies, larger and smaller, domestic and foreign, which manufacture products or provide services of the type offered by our businesses. Some of these competitors have financial resources greater than our subsidiaries. Some of these competitors enjoy certain other competitive advantages, including greater name recognition, technical, marketing and other resources, a larger installed base of customers and well-established relationships with current and potential customers.
Competition in the Diversified Industrial segment is based on quality, technology, performance, service, reputation, price, and in some industries, new product introduction.
The Energy business operates in a highly competitive industry that is influenced by price, capacity, reputation and experience. In times of high demand, capacity, reputation and experience are major competitive forces. In times of low demand, service providers will compete on price to attract customers. In addition, the Energy business needs to maintain a safe work environment and a well-trained workforce to remain competitive. Energy services are affected by seasonal factors, such as inclement weather, fewer daylight hours and holidays during the winter months. Heavy snow, ice, wind or rain can make it difficult to operate and to move equipment between work sites, which can reduce its ability to provide services and generate revenues. These seasonal factors affect competitors as well. Because they have conducted business together over several years, the members of our local operations have established strong working relationships with certain of their clients. These strong client relationships provide a better understanding of region-specific issues and enable us to better address customer needs.
The market for Steel Sports' baseball facility services and soccer camps and leagues is very fragmented, and its competitors are primarily small local or regional operations.
The market for banking and related financial services is highly competitive. WebBank competes with other providers of financial services, including a broad range of banks and other nontraditional lending and banking companies that offer financial services. Some of our competitors are larger and may have more financial resources, while some of our competitors enjoy fewer regulatory constraints and may have lower cost structures. The financial services industry has become more competitive as technology advances have lowered barriers to entry, enabling more companies, including nonbank companies, to provide financial services.
Governmental Regulation
As a public company with several subsidiaries based in the United States and abroad, we are subject to many U.S. federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations. These requirements, which differ among jurisdictions, include, but are not limited to, those related to environmental protection and management, labor, employment, worker health and safety, import and export, customs and tariffs, cybersecurity, intellectual property, privacy and protection of user data. In addition, WebBank is subject to regulatory capital requirements administered by the FDIC and legal requirements in connection with the consumer and business lending programs that it originates.
These laws and regulations are constantly evolving and may be interpreted, applied, created or amended in a manner that could harm our businesses. Historically, the cost of compliance with these requirements have not had a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. We believe that we are in compliance in all material respects with all such laws and regulations and that we have obtained all material licenses and permits that are required for the operation of our businesses. For more information regarding regulatory risks, see the information in Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors - Risks Related to our Business" and "Risks Related to Taxation," and Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources - Environmental Liabilities" of this Report.
Other Information
The amounts of revenue, earnings before interest and taxes, and identifiable assets attributable to the aforementioned business segments and additional information regarding SPLP's investments are included in Note 21 - "Segment Information" and Note 10 - "Investments" to the Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this Report.
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Our common units are quoted on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "SPLP." Our business address is 590 Madison Avenue, 32nd Floor, New York, New York 10022, and our telephone number is (212) 520-2300. Our website is www.steelpartners.com. We use our website as a channel of distribution of company information. The information we post through this channel may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should monitor this channel, in addition to following our press releases, filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), and public conference calls and webcasts. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, the website is not part of this Report. Annual reports on Form 10-K (including this Report), quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports, are available to you free of charge through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after those materials have been electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Our businesses are subject to a number of risks. You should carefully consider the following risk factors, together with all of the other information included or incorporated by reference in this Report, before you decide whether to purchase our common or preferred units. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the general or specific risks that may affect us. It should be recognized that other risks may be significant, presently or in the future, and the risks set forth below may affect us to a greater extent than indicated. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our common and preferred units could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Related to Our Business
Economic downturns in various sectors could disrupt and materially harm our businesses.
Negative trends in the general economy, including rising interest rates and commodity prices, could cause a downturn in the markets for our products and services. A significant portion of our revenues in the Diversified Industrial segment are received from customers in transportation, oil and gas exploration and construction-related industries, which have experienced significant financial downturns in the past. These industries are cyclical, and demand for their products tends to fluctuate due to changes in national and global economic conditions, availability of credit and other factors. A worsening of customer demand in these industries would adversely affect our profitability, operating results, cash flows and could lead to further impairments. In our Energy segment, the level of oil and natural gas exploration and production activity in the United States is affected by the price of oil. Reduced discovery rates of new oil and natural gas reserves, or a decrease in the development rate of reserves in our market areas, weakness in oil and natural gas prices, or our customers’ perceptions that oil and natural gas prices will decrease in the future, could result in a reduction in the utilization of our equipment and result in lower revenues or rates for the services of our Energy segment. Our customers’ willingness to undertake these activities depends largely upon prevailing industry conditions that are influenced by many factors over which we have no control. Our Financial Services segment could be impacted by tightening of the credit markets and other general economic declines that could result in a decrease in lending and demand for consumer loans. We may also experience a slowdown if some customers experience difficulty in obtaining adequate financing due to tightness in the credit markets. Furthermore, the financial stability of our customers or suppliers may be compromised, which could result in additional bad debts for us or non-performance by suppliers. Our assets may also be impaired or subject to write-down or write-off as a result of these conditions. There could also be adverse impacts to several of our businesses due to overall negative economic conditions, changes in gross domestic product growth, financial and credit market fluctuations or the unavailability of credit, or geopolitical challenges, including global security concerns and the possibility of retaliatory action by various actions in response to Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine. These adverse effects would likely be exacerbated if global economic conditions worsen, resulting in wide-ranging, adverse and prolonged effects on general business conditions, and materially and adversely affect our operations, financial results and liquidity.
We may be negatively impacted by inflation, raw material price increases and supply chain disruptions.
Inflation could continue to increase our costs of labor and other costs related to our business, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows. Current and future inflationary effects may be driven by, among other things, supply chain disruptions, governmental stimulus or fiscal policies, and geopolitical instability, including the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The cost of raw materials is a key element in the cost of our products, particularly in our Diversified Industrial segment. Prices for raw materials necessary for production have fluctuated significantly in the past and we experienced and could continue to experience upward pricing pressure on raw materials such as steel, resins and chemicals. Price increases have had and could continue to have an adverse effect on our results of operations and operating margins. Disruptions to the supply chain resulting from shortages of raw materials and components have had and could continue to have an adverse effect on our ability to meet commitments to customers. Continuing increases in inflation
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increased and could continue to increase our costs of labor and other costs related to our business, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows. Inflation has also resulted in higher interest rates in the U.S., which could increase our cost of debt borrowing in the future.
Significant volatility in prices of, and declines in customer demand for, crude oil due to factors beyond our control have materially and adversely affected our diversified industrial and energy business segments, and any prolonged instability in the oil industry could negatively impact our business, operations and financial condition.
Certain of our operating companies, particularly those in our Diversified Industrial and Energy segments, are highly dependent on customer demand for, and the availability of, crude oil and natural gas. For example, our portfolio of quality energy segment companies provide a multitude of oilfield services and oil and gas equipment rentals, operate numerous oil rigs and perform well servicing and workover services. The oil and gas industry has historically experienced periodic downturns, which have been characterized by diminished demand for our products and services and downward pressure on the prices that we are able to charge. Sustained market uncertainty can also result in lower demand and pricing for our products and services.
Customer demand is generally dependent on our customers’ views of future demand for oil and gas and future oil and gas prices, as well as our customers’ ability to access capital. Since the first quarter of 2020, crude oil prices, as well as supply and demand for oil and natural gas, have fluctuated significantly as a result of national and international economic and political conditions, such as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. In particular, the announcement of price reductions and production increases by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its broader partners, including Russia and their allies (“OPEC+”) in March 2020 resulted in reduced a sharp decline in oil commodity prices. In October 2022, due to uncertainty in the global economy and oil market outlook, OPEC+ announced it would decrease oil production by 2 million barrels a day, the largest cut since the COVID-19 pandemic began. As a result, the market and our businesses currently continue to experience demand loss, as well as volatility in oil prices, which have recently risen significantly after remaining depressed due to an oil oversupply and lack of available storage capacity. Additionally, oil prices are particularly sensitive to actual and perceived threats to global political stability, including conflicts in oil and gas producing regions, and changes in production from OPEC+ member states. Demand for our services and products may be sensitive to the level of exploration, development and production activity of, and the corresponding capital spending by, oil and natural gas companies. For instance, continuing tensions and instability resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine have increased and could continue to increase volatility in global oil and gas prices, which may adversely affect our profitability of our Diversified Industrial and Energy segments.
In addition, the market prices and demand for oil and natural gas are impacted by governmental regulations and the level of oil and natural gas production in the United States and non-OPEC+ countries, as well as the oil and gas industry’s view of future oil and gas prices, which generally determine the level of capital spending for the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas reserves. These and other changes in the oil and natural gas industry have had, and are likely to continue to have for the foreseeable future, a significant adverse impact on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Due to numerous uncertainties surrounding the resolutions by OPEC+ with respect to oil production discussions, we cannot predict when oil prices, inventory and demand will improve or stabilize.
Our results of operations are affected by fluctuations in commodity prices.
In the normal course of business, our operations, particularly those of our Diversified Industrial segment, require the purchase and use of commodities used as raw materials, such as precious metals, steel products and certain non-ferrous metals. The availability of, and prices for, these raw materials expose our businesses to market risk and volatility as a result of, among other factors: worldwide economic conditions; speculative actions; world supply and demand balances; inventory levels; availability of substitute metals; the U.S. dollar exchange rate; production costs of U.S. and foreign competitors; and anticipated or perceived shortages. In particular, in recent years we have experienced significant fluctuations in precious metal prices, including gold and silver, which has impacted our ability to find suitable sources for use in our manufacturing and maintain adequate inventory levels. Increases in the costs of these commodities and the costs of energy, transportation and other necessary services may adversely affect our profit margins if we are unable to pass along any higher costs in the form of price increases or otherwise achieve cost efficiencies such as in manufacturing and distribution.
We seek multiple sources of supply for each of our major raw materials in order to avoid significant dependence on any one or a few suppliers. However, the supply of such materials have been and are likely to continue to be disrupted by higher commodity prices, which increase our costs of production and can result in tighter supplies. Moreover, to the extent customers delay or decrease purchases of our products as a result of raw material cost increases or we are otherwise unable pass cost increases on to our customers, our results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely effected. In addition, raw material price fluctuations impact the value of our commodity inventories, in particular, our precious metal
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inventory. Adjustments to our inventory carrying values could have a negative impact on our profitability and cash flows. Additionally, commodity prices may also fall rapidly from time to time. If commodity prices significantly decline for a sustained period of time, the net realizable value of our existing inventories could be reduced or we could be required to take impairment charges on our inventories, which could adversely affect our results of operations. For more information, see Part II, Item 7A, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk – Risks Relating to Commodity Prices.”
Rising interest rates may negatively impact our investments and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Changes in interest rates could have an adverse impact on our business by increasing the cost of borrowing, affecting our interest costs (including with respect to our senior credit agreement, which is comprised primarily of variable rate options), and our ability to make new investments on favorable terms or at all. The Federal Reserve Board significantly increased the federal funds rate in 2022 and has indicated that further rate increases may be announced in the short-term to combat rising inflation in the United States. Such rate increases have corresponding impact to our costs of borrowing and may have an adverse impact on our ability to raise funds through the offering of our securities or through the issuance of debt due to higher debt capital costs, diminished credit availability, and less favorable equity markets. Any significant additional federal fund rate increases may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. More generally, interest rate fluctuations and changes in credit spreads on floating rate loans may have a negative impact on our investments and investment opportunities and, accordingly, may have a material adverse effect on our rate of return on invested capital, our net investment income, our net asset value and the market price of our securities. In addition, an increase in interest rates may make it difficult or impossible to make payments on outstanding indebtedness. Any increase in interest rates could have a negative effect on our net interest costs and investments, which could negatively impact our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
As more fully described in Part II, Item 7A, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk,” WebBank derives a portion of its income from the excess of interest collected over interest paid. The rates of interest WebBank earns on assets and pays on liabilities generally are established contractually for a period of time. Market interest rates change over time. Accordingly, WebBank’s results of operations, like those of most financial institutions, are impacted by changes in interest rates and the interest rate sensitivity of its assets and liabilities. WebBank monitors and measures its exposure to changes in interest rates in order to comply with applicable government regulations and to limit the risk that changing interest rates could have a negative impact on its results of operations. There can be no assurance, however, that, in the event of adverse changes in interest rates, WebBank’s efforts to limit interest rate risk will be successful.
Certain of the Company’s subsidiaries sponsor defined benefit pension plans, which could subject the Company to substantial cash funding requirements in the future.
The Company’s ongoing operating cash flow requirements include arranging for the funding of the minimum requirements of its subsidiaries’ defined benefit pension plans. The Company is generally jointly and severally liable for such subsidiaries’ underfunded pension liabilities. The performance of the financial markets and interest rates (given the mix of investment assets in the plan), as well as healthcare trends and associated mortality rates, impact our defined benefit pension plan expense and funding obligations. Significant changes in these factors, including adverse changes in discount rates, investment losses on plan assets and increases in participant life expectancy, may increase our funding obligations and adversely impact our financial condition. Required future contributions are estimated based upon assumptions such as discount rates on future obligations, assumed rates of return on plan assets and legislative changes. Actual future pension costs and required funding obligations will be affected by changes in the factors and assumptions described in the previous sentences, as well as other changes such as any plan termination or other acceleration events. For more information, see Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources” of this Report.
We are subject to risks associated with environmental, health and safety matters.
We (including our businesses) are subject to U.S. federal, state, local and foreign environmental, health and safety (“EHS”) laws and regulations in connection with our ongoing and former operations. These requirements include, but are not limited to regulations related to: the development, manufacture, shipping and use of the products produced by our businesses; the handling, storage, transportation, discharge, recycling, treatment and disposal of raw materials and/or hazardous materials, by-products or wastes used in such products or in production; and the operation of facilities and the use of real property. Compliance with these and other EHS requirements may require us to engage in environmental remediation activities of property currently or previously owned by us or our subsidiaries, retrofit existing facilities with additional pollution-control equipment,
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undertake new measures in connection with the management of hazardous materials, by-products and wastes or to take other steps to ensure compliance with various legal and regulatory agencies and entities, all of which could require our subsidiaries to incur substantial costs.
Many of the customers in our Energy segment use hydraulic fracturing services, which is the process of creating or expanding cracks, or fractures, in formations underground where water, sand and other additives are pumped under high pressure into the formation. Although our Energy segment is not a provider of hydraulic fracturing services, many of its services complement the hydraulic fracturing process. Fracturing regulations vary widely because they are regulated at the state level. States continue to evaluate fracturing activities and their impact on the environment. Legislation for broader federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing operations and the reporting and public disclosure of chemicals used in the fracturing process could be enacted. Additionally, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) has asserted federal regulatory authority over certain hydraulic fracturing activities involving diesel fuel under the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act. Our Energy segment’s customers’ operations could be adversely affected if additional regulation or permitting requirements were to be required for hydraulic fracturing activities, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.
Although our subsidiaries maintain environmental insurance coverage, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover the financial, legal, business or reputational losses that may result from litigation, regulatory actions, proceedings or investigations as a result of non-compliance or violations of EHS requirements, as well as any other EHS-related matters. A failure or inability by us or any of our subsidiaries to comply with existing or future EHS regulations could therefore require us to incur substantial costs, including cleanup costs, fines or sanctions, and subject us to third-party claims for property damage or personal injury. Any material violations of these laws can lead to significant remediation requirements and administrative oversight, substantial liability, revocations of discharge permits, fines or penalties, and any new laws, regulations and enforcement policies could become more stringent and significantly increase our compliance costs or limit our future business opportunities, negatively impacting our financial condition, business and results of operations.
In addition to EHS legal and regulatory requirements, growing stakeholder engagement with respect to sustainability matters could cause our subsidiaries to alter their manufacturing processes or business operations, which could require them to incur substantial expense. Any failure to comply with stakeholder requests, in particular, the ability to meet customer requirements or sustainability targets, could adversely impact the demand of our businesses’ products and subject us and our subsidiaries to significant costs and liabilities and reputational risks, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. For more information on regulations relating to GHG emissions, see “The risks associated with climate change, including our ability to comply with legislation or regulations restricting emissions of greenhouse gases, could result in increased costs and reduced demand for our services in our Energy segment.”
The risks associated with climate change, including our ability to comply with legislation or regulations restricting emissions of greenhouse gases, could result in increased costs and reduced demand for our services in our Energy segment.
The risks that climate change poses through chronic environmental changes and acute, weather-related events continues to attract considerable public and scientific attention in the United States and abroad. Governmental bodies at international, national, regional, state and local levels are taking actions to monitor, limit, restrict and/or eliminate emissions of greenhouse gases (“GHG”). In addition, companies and their stakeholders, including shareholders and non-governmental organizations, are seeking ways to reduce GHG emissions through private ordering. Any such regulation of GHG emissions, or climate impacts generally, could adversely affect our Energy business’s operations, as well as the operations of its customers, as a result of their links to the production and processing of fossil fuels and GHG emissions. Although we are not a fossil fuel producer, our Energy segment directly services companies involved in the production and processing of fossil fuels.
In the United States, no comprehensive climate change legislation has been implemented federally. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) has adopted rules that, among other things, establish construction and operating permit reviews for GHG emissions from certain large stationary sources, require the monitoring and reporting of GHG emissions from certain petroleum and natural gas system sources, implement standards directing the reduction of methane from certain facilities in the oil and gas sector, and, together with the U.S. Department of Transportation, implement GHG emissions limits on vehicles manufactured for domestic operations. Additionally, various states have adopted or are considering adopting legislation and regulation focused on GHG cap-and-trade programs, carbon taxes, reporting and tracking programs and emissions limits. Additionally, the Biden administration continued to highlight its nascent climate agenda, which includes targets of a (i) carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and (ii) net-zero (i.e., carbon reduction is equal to or greater than carbon emissions) economy by 2050. A social and climate bill aimed at achieving certain of these goals is currently undergoing revision and reconsideration at the congressional level, but if passed, would expand spending and incentives to reduce corporate levels of fossil energy production. President Biden has also announced the United States’ Nationally Determined Contribution (the
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“NDC”) under the Paris Agreement at his summit on climate change on April 22, 2021, which focuses on achieving, by 2030, a 50% to 52% reduction from 2005 levels in economy-wide net GHG pollution. In addition, the SEC proposed rules in March 2022 that would require public companies to include extensive climate-related disclosures in their SEC filings. Among other things, the proposed SEC rules, if adopted as written, would mandate disclosures on (i) GHG emissions, including Scope 3 emissions if material or part of a company's emissions goal, (ii) financial impact and expenditure metrics relating to severe weather and climate change and (iii) a company's use of scenario analysis and climate targets. Although the SEC has not finalized these rules, we would expect to incur substantial additional compliance costs to the extent these or similar rules are adopted. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”), which was signed into law in August 2022, directs nearly $400 billion of federal spending to be used toward reducing carbon emissions and funding clean energy over the next 10 years and is designed to encourage private investment in clean energy, transport and manufacturing. In addition, fossil fuel producers face increasing litigation risks from local governments and financial risks from liquidity sources that have become more attentive to sustainability, such as shareholders who may shift their investments into other sectors and institutional lenders who may decrease to funding fossil fuel companies.
These changes in the investing and financing markets, and cost increases or demand volatility in connection with the adoption and implementation of new or more stringent GHG-related legislation or regulation on the oil and gas sector, could in turn reduce demand for our Energy business’s well servicing, workover and other services. Additionally, measures taken with respect to GHG emissions, whether through governmental mandates or private ordering, could increase costs in our Energy segment businesses in the form of taxes or emission allowances, facilities improvements, and energy costs, which would increase our operating expenses through higher utility, transportation, and more expensive materials. Political, litigation and financial risks could also result in the oil and gas customers of our Energy business restricting or cancelling production activities, incurring liability in connection with climate-related changes or impairing their ability to continue operating economically, which could also decrease demand for that business’s services.
We could incur significant costs, as a result of complying with or failing to comply with other extensive regulations, including banking regulations, to which our businesses are subject.
We and our businesses are subject to extensive regulation by U.S. and non-U.S. governmental and self-regulatory entities at the federal, state and local levels, including laws related to anti-corruption, privacy matters, banking, health and safety, import laws and export control and economic sanctions, and the sale of products and services to government entities.
In addition, the consumer and business lending programs offered by WebBank are subject to extensive legal requirements at the federal and state levels, described in more detail below. If WebBank or its programs do not comply with these laws, it may be subject to claims for damages, fines, penalties or other relief, and may face regulatory examination and enforcement action, and some violations could result in an underlying loan being found invalid or unenforceable, or subject to payment defenses.
As discussed above, our businesses must comply with substantial additional regulations. Failure to comply with these or any other regulations could result in civil and criminal, monetary and non-monetary penalties, disruptions to our business, limitations on our ability to manufacture, import, export and sell products and services, disbarment from selling to certain federal agencies, damage to our reputation and loss of customers and could cause us to incur significant legal and investigatory fees. Compliance with these and other regulations may also require us to incur significant expenses. The products and operations of our businesses are also often subject to the rules of industrial standards bodies such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and failure to comply with these rules could result in withdrawal of certifications needed to sell our products and services and otherwise adversely impact our financial condition.
WebBank operates in a highly regulated environment, and its lending programs are subject to extensive federal and state regulation. Ongoing legislative and regulatory actions may significantly affect our liquidity or financial condition.
The consumer and business lending programs offered by WebBank are subject to extensive legal requirements at the federal and state levels. Among the laws that may be applicable to some or all of the programs offered by WebBank are:
•the Federal Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z promulgated thereunder, which require certain disclosures to borrowers regarding the terms of their loans;
•the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act"), the Federal Trade Commission Act and state laws that prohibit unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices;
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•the Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B promulgated thereunder, which prohibit discrimination in the extension of credit on the basis of age, race, color, sex, religion, marital status, national origin, receipt of public assistance or the exercise of any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act;
•the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which governs the use of credit reports and the reporting of information to credit bureaus, and imposes restrictions on the marketing of credit products through prescreened solicitations based on credit report information;
•the Electronic Fund Transaction Act and Regulation E promulgated thereunder, which requires certain disclosures and imposes certain requirements on banks that provide electronic transfers of funds for consumers;
•the Service Members Civil Relief Act and the Military Lending Act, which impose rate limitations and other requirements in connection with the credit obligations of active duty military personnel and certain of their dependents;
•federal and state laws relating to privacy and the safeguarding of personally identifiable consumer information and data breach notification;
•the Bank Secrecy Act, which relates to compliance with anti-money laundering, customer due diligence and record-keeping policies and procedures; and
•laws governing the permissibility of the interest rates and fees that are charged to borrowers.
The Dodd-Frank Act, which was signed into law in 2010, is intended primarily to overhaul the financial regulatory framework and impacts all financial institutions, including WebBank. The Dodd-Frank Act, among other things, established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") and Financial Stability Oversight Council, consolidated certain federal bank regulators and imposed increased corporate governance and executive compensation requirements. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which was signed into law in May 2018, amended the Dodd-Frank Act in some respects, but many of the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act remain in effect. The extent and complexity of this regulatory framework and other regulations has increased WebBank’s regulatory compliance burden and therefore has increased its regulatory risk.
If WebBank or its programs do not comply with these laws, it may be subject to claims for damages, fines, penalties or other relief, and may face regulatory scrutiny. In addition, some violations could result in an underlying loan being found invalid or unenforceable, or subject to payment defenses. Any of these violations could result in the imposition of liability on WebBank, although WebBank may have indemnification rights for certain claims. In addition, there could be limitations on WebBank’s ongoing or future business.
WebBank offers lending programs through relationships with Marketing Partners. WebBank and its Marketing Partners are subject to supervision by the FDIC and the UDFI. The authority of the FDIC and the UDFI includes the ability to examine WebBank, the Marketing Partners and the programs. The FDIC and UDFI also may bring enforcement actions against WebBank and its Marketing Partners if they detect any violations of law. These enforcement actions could result in monetary liability on WebBank, increased compliance obligations or limitations on its ongoing and future business.
Other regulators, including the CFPB, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") and state regulators and attorneys-general, may bring investigations and enforcement actions against WebBank's Marketing Partners. In 2018, the FTC brought such an enforcement action against one of WebBank's Marketing Partners. That matter was settled in 2021, with the Marketing Partner agreeing to certain changes in its practices and to pay $18,000, of which $17,600 was ultimately paid in customer refunds. In 2019, the FTC reached a settlement with another WebBank Marketing Partner, in which the Marketing Partner agreed to change certain practices and to pay $3,850 to the FTC as equitable monetary relief. These actions against Marketing Partners may increase WebBank’s own regulators’ scrutiny of WebBank’s business and could result in an increased risk of investigations or claims being brought against WebBank.
The U.S. Congress and state legislatures and federal and state regulatory authorities continually review banking laws, regulations and policies for possible changes. In October 2021 a new Director took office at the CFPB, and he has announced new priorities that include some of the financial products and services offered by WebBank. The CFPB may revise or enact new regulatory requirements or revise or adopt new regulatory interpretations that could affect WebBank, its Marketing Partners and programs. A new chairman has also taken office at the FDIC, and he has adopted a different set of priorities than under the prior agency leadership, which could result in increased scrutiny on WebBank’s business. The Biden administration may make other agency changes that could also affect WebBank. The FDIC has adopted a final rule codifying its practices for supervising certain industrial banks and their parent companies. Although the rule does not directly apply to us or to WebBank at this time, the potential impact that the rule may have on our business, financial condition or results of operations in the future remains uncertain. We cannot predict whether additional legislation or regulations will be enacted and, if enacted, the effect that it would have on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
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Future cash flows from operations or through financings may not be sufficient to enable the Company to meet its obligations under its senior credit facility, and this would likely have a material adverse effect on its businesses, financial condition and results of operations, and credit market volatility may affect our ability to refinance our existing debt, borrow funds under our existing lines of credit or incur additional debt.
As of December 31, 2022, the Company had $410,700 available under its senior credit facility and $178,650 of outstanding indebtedness under its senior credit facility. There can be no assurances that the Company or its subsidiaries will continue to have access to their lines of credit if their financial performance does not satisfy the financial covenants set forth in the applicable financing agreements. If the Company or its subsidiaries do not meet certain of its financial covenants, and if they are unable to secure necessary waivers or other amendments from the respective lenders on terms acceptable to management, their ability to access available lines of credit could be limited, their debt obligations could be accelerated by the respective lenders and liquidity could be adversely affected.
If the Company’s or its subsidiaries’ cash needs are significantly greater than anticipated or they do not materially meet their business plans, or there are unanticipated downturns in the markets for the Company’s and its subsidiaries’ products and services, the Company or its subsidiaries may be required to seek additional or alternative financing sources. Future disruption and volatility in credit market conditions could have a material adverse impact on the Company’s ability or that of its subsidiaries to refinance debt when it comes due on terms similar to our current credit facilities, or to draw upon existing lines of credit or incur additional debt if needed. There can be no assurance therefore that any such financing will be available or available on acceptable terms. The inability to generate sufficient cash flows from operations or through financings could impair the Company’s or its subsidiaries’ liquidity and would likely have a material adverse effect on their businesses, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business strategy includes acquisitions, and acquisitions entail numerous risks, including the risk of management diversion and increased costs and expenses, all of which could negatively affect the Company’s profitability.
Our business strategy includes, among other things, strategic acquisitions, as well as potential opportunistic acquisitions and strategic actions with respect to our existing investments, such as restructurings, strategic partnerships and collaborations and activist activity. This overall acquisition and investment strategy entails several risks, including the diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns, the incurrence of substantial legal and other advisory fees (including, in the case of activist activity, proxy solicitation fees) and the potential need to finance such acquisitions with additional equity and/or debt. Additionally, to the extent that we are already invested in the entities that are the subject of our acquisitions and other activities, our actions may be temporarily disruptive to the value of the investments, which could adversely affect our financial condition.
In addition, once completed, acquisitions may entail further risks, including: unanticipated costs and liabilities of the acquired businesses, including environmental liabilities, that could materially adversely affect our results of operations; increased regulatory compliance relating to the acquired business; difficulties in assimilating acquired businesses, their personnel and their financial reporting systems, which would prevent the expected benefits from the transaction from being realized within the anticipated timeframe; negative effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers; and loss of key employees of the acquired businesses. In addition, any future acquisitions could result in the incurrence of additional debt and related interest expense, contingent liabilities and amortization expense related to intangible assets, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows, or the issuance of additional equity, which could dilute our unitholders’ interests.
There can be no assurance that we will be able to negotiate any pending acquisition successfully, receive the required approvals for any acquisition or otherwise conclude any acquisition successfully, or that any acquisition will achieve the anticipated synergies or other positive results. Overall, if our acquisition strategy is not successful or if acquisitions are not well integrated into our existing operations, the Company’s profitability, business and financial condition could be negatively affected.
Divestitures and contingent liabilities from divested businesses could adversely affect our business and financial results.
We continually evaluate the performance and strategic fit of all of our businesses and may sell businesses or product lines. Divestitures involve risks, including difficulties in the separation of operations, services, products and personnel, the diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns, the disruption of our business, the potential loss of key employees and the retention of uncertain contingent liabilities, including environmental liabilities, related to the divested
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business. When we decide to sell assets or a business, we may encounter difficulty in finding buyers or alternative exit strategies on acceptable terms in a timely manner, which could delay the achievement of our strategic objectives. We may also dispose of a business at a price or on terms that are less desirable than we had anticipated, which could result in significant asset impairment charges, including those related to goodwill and other intangible assets, that could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, we may experience greater dis-synergies than expected, the impact of the divestiture on our revenue growth may be larger than projected, and some divestitures may be dilutive to earnings. There can be no assurance whether the strategic benefits and expected financial impact of any divestiture will be achieved. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in managing these or any other significant risks that we encounter in divesting a business or product line, and any divestiture we undertake could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We may sustain losses in our investment portfolio, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.
A portion of our assets consists of equity securities which are adjusted to fair value each period, as well as other investments. An adverse change in economic conditions or setbacks to such companies, their operations or business models may result in a decline in the value of these investments. Such declines in value are principally recognized in net income or loss in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Any adverse changes in the financial markets and declines in value of our investments may result in additional losses and could have an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.
If our businesses are unable to adequately obtain or protect the intellectual property and licenses upon which they rely, or other third parties claim that our businesses have infringed upon or otherwise violated their intellectual property, we could face material adverse effects to our financial condition, businesses and results of operations.
The success of each of our businesses depends in part on the trademarks and patents that they own, or their licenses to use others’, brand names, proprietary technology and manufacturing techniques. In addition to trademark and patent protection, these businesses rely on copyrights, trade secrets, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect their intellectual property rights. The steps they have taken to protect their intellectual property rights may not prevent third parties, including our competitors, from using their intellectual property without their authorization or independently developing substantially similar intellectual property. Infringement or misappropriation of our businesses’ intellectual property rights, such as the unauthorized manufacture or sale of materials, could result in uncompensated lost market and revenue opportunities. Despite these steps to monitor and detect unauthorized use of our businesses’ intellectual property by third parties, any such unauthorized use could reduce or eliminate any competitive advantage our businesses have developed, cause them to lose sales or otherwise harm their business. The businesses’ ability to enforce their intellectual property rights is subject to litigation risks, as well as uncertainty as to the protection and enforceability of those rights in some countries. If the businesses seek to enforce their intellectual property rights, it may be subject to claims that those rights are invalid or unenforceable, and others may seek counterclaims against the businesses, which could have a negative impact on their business. If the businesses are unable to enforce and protect intellectual property rights, or if they are circumvented, rendered obsolete or invalidated by the rapid pace of technological change, or stolen or misappropriated by employees or third parties, it could have an adverse impact on their competitive position and business.
Third parties may also assert claims that the products, solutions and services of our businesses’ infringe upon the rights of others. Whether or not meritorious, defense of these claims can be expensive and time-consuming to defend and resolve, and may divert the efforts and attention of management and personnel. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not effectively protect our businesses’ intellectual property rights. In such cases, the unauthorized use of proprietary information and intellectual property may be made more difficult, time-consuming and costly and could subject our businesses to significant liability for damages and invalidate their property rights. If our businesses face claims based on the theft or unauthorized use or disclosure of third-party trade secrets and other confidential business information, defense against such claims could result in significant expenses and harm our competitive position, all of which could have a significant adverse impact on our business and results of operations.
We conduct business outside of the United States, which may expose us to additional risks not typically associated with companies that operate solely in the United States.
We conduct business and have operations or own interests in securities of companies with operations outside the United States. These operations have additional risks, including risks relating to currency exchange, changes in tariffs, less developed or efficient financial markets than in the United States, absence of uniform accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, differences in the legal and regulatory environment, different publicly available information in respect of companies in non-U.S.
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markets, economic and political risks, public health crises (such as the ongoing coronavirus outbreak) and possible imposition of non-U.S. taxes. There can be no assurance that adverse developments with respect to such risks will not adversely affect our assets that are held in certain countries or the returns from these assets.
We also face several risks inherent in conducting business internationally, including compliance with international and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our international operations. These laws and regulations include data privacy requirements, labor relations laws, tax laws, anti-competition regulations, import and trade restrictions, U.S. laws such as export control laws and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and similar laws in other countries which also prohibit corrupt payments to governmental officials or certain payments or remunerations to customers. Given the high level of complexity of these laws, there is a risk that some provisions may be inadvertently breached. Also, we may be held liable for actions taken by our local partners. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines and penalties, criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees, administrative remedies and prohibitions on the conduct of our business. Any such violations could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products and services in one or more countries.
Global trade issues and changes in and uncertainties with respect to trade policies, trade sanctions, tariffs and international trade disputes, may significantly increase the costs or limit supplies of materials and products used in our operations.
We import raw materials and products used in our operations from jurisdictions outside of the United States. There is inherent risk, based on the complex relationships among the United States and the countries in which we conduct our business, that political, diplomatic, and national security factors can lead to global trade issues and changes in trade policies and export regulations. Trade restrictions, including withdrawal from or modification of existing trade agreements, negotiation of new trade agreements, non-tariff trade barriers, local content requirements, and imposition of new or retaliatory tariffs against certain countries or covering certain products, including developments in U.S.-China trade relations and sanctions against Russia, could limit our ability to Import certain raw materials and products used in our operations. Policies impacting exchange rates and commodity prices or those limiting the export or import of commodities could have a material adverse effect on the international flow of commodities, which may result in a corresponding negative effect on our operations.
These trade conflicts and related escalating governmental actions that result in additional tariffs, duties and/or trade restrictions could increase our operating costs, cause disruptions or shortages in our supply chains and/or negatively impact the United States, regional or local economies, and, individually or in the aggregate, materially and adversely affect our business and our consolidated financial results.
Litigation or compliance failures could adversely affect our profitability.
The nature of our businesses and our investment strategies expose us to various litigation matters. We contest these matters vigorously and make insurance claims where appropriate. However, litigation is inherently costly and unpredictable, making it difficult to accurately estimate the outcome of any litigation. These lawsuits may include claims for compensatory damages, punitive and consequential damages and/or injunctive relief. The defense of these lawsuits may divert our management’s attention, we may incur significant expenses in defending these lawsuits, and we may be required to pay damage awards or settlements or become subject to equitable remedies that could adversely affect our operations and financial condition. Moreover, any insurance or indemnification rights that we may have may be insufficient or unavailable to protect us against such losses or result in significantly higher premiums in the future. In addition, developments in legal proceedings in any given period may require us to adjust the loss contingency estimates that we have recorded in our consolidated financial statements, record estimates or reserves for liabilities or assets previously not susceptible of reasonable estimates or pay cash settlements or judgments. Any of these developments could adversely affect our financial condition in any particular period. Although we make accruals as we believe warranted, the amounts that we accrue could vary significantly from any amounts we actually pay due to the inherent uncertainties in the estimation process. For more information, see Part I, Item 3, “Legal Proceedings”.
A significant disruption in, or breach in security of, our technology systems could adversely affect our business.
We rely on information and operational technology systems in the conduct of our business to process, transmit and store electronic information, to manufacture our products and to manage or support a variety of critical business processes and activities. In some cases, we may rely upon third-party providers of hosting, support and other services to meet our information technology requirements. Our information and operational technology systems are subject to disruption, damage or failure from a variety of sources, including, without limitation, computer viruses, security breaches, cyber-attacks, ransomware attacks, natural disasters and defects in design. We may also face increased cybersecurity risks associated with an extensive workforce now working remotely, as remote working environments have become less secure and more susceptible to hacking attacks,
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including phishing and social engineering attempts. Cybersecurity incidents in particular are evolving and include, but are not limited to, use of malicious software, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data or control of automated production systems, and other security breaches that could lead to disruptions in systems, unauthorized release of confidential or otherwise protected information and the corruption of data. We have implemented various measures to manage and mitigate risks related to technology systems and network disruption. We maintain an information security program that includes cybersecurity awareness training for employees, consistent infrastructure security practices across user account access, endpoint protection, email and perimeter security, as well as continuous monitoring and logging of network activity and tracking for rapid incident response. We believe that these preventative actions provide us and our businesses with adequate measures of protection against security breaches and work to reduce technology disruptions and cybersecurity risks. However, given the unpredictability of the timing, nature and scope of technology security incidents and disruptions, our businesses have been, and could potentially be, subject to production downtimes, operational delays, the compromising of confidential or otherwise protected information, destruction or corruption of data, security breaches, theft, other manipulation or improper use of our systems and networks or financial losses from remedial actions, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, financial condition, reputation or results of operations. We have experienced, and could experience in the future, actual or attempted cyber-attacks of our information technology systems or networks, yet none of these actual or attempted cyber-attacks has had a material effect on our operations or financial condition. Further, any failure by our hosting and support partners or other third-party service providers in the performance of their services could materially harm our business.
A breach of our information technology systems could also result in the misappropriation of intellectual property, business plans or trade secrets. Any failure of our systems or those of our third-party service providers could result in unauthorized access or acquisition of such proprietary information, and any actual or perceived security breach could cause significant damage to our reputation and adversely impact our relationships with our customers. Additionally, while our security systems are designed to maintain the physical security of our facilities and information systems, accidental or willful security breaches or other unauthorized access by third parties to our facilities or our information systems could lead to misappropriation of proprietary and confidential information.
If any person, including any of our employees or those with whom we share such information, negligently disregards or intentionally breaches our established controls with respect to our client, customer or employee data, or otherwise mismanages or misappropriates that data, we could be subject to significant monetary damages, litigation, regulatory enforcement actions, fines and/or criminal prosecution in one or more jurisdictions.
We take cybersecurity seriously and devote significant resources and tools to protect our systems, products and data, prevent unwanted intrusions and disclosures and provide periodic training to our employees, in compliance with applicable U.S. federal and state laws and non-U.S. laws and regulations addressing cybersecurity. However, these security and compliance efforts are costly to implement and may not be successful. As cyber threats are continually evolving, our controls and procedures may become inadequate and we may be required to devote additional resources to modifying or enhancing our systems in the future. There can be no assurance that we will be able to prevent, detect and adequately address or mitigate such cyber-attacks or security breaches. We may also be required to expend resources to remediate cyber-related incidents or to enhance and strengthen our cybersecurity. Based on our cybersecurity program, we do not maintain dedicated cybersecurity insurance. Any such breach could have a material adverse effect on our operations and our reputation and could cause irreparable damage to us or our systems, regardless of whether we or our third-party providers are able to adequately recover critical systems following a systems failure.
Current and proposed laws and regulations regarding the protection of personal data could result in increased risks of liability or increased cost to us or could limit our service offerings.
Some of our businesses collect and store personal data and any security breaches of our systems could result in the misappropriation or unauthorized disclosure of personal data belonging to us or to our employees, partners, customers or suppliers. The regulatory environment surrounding information security and privacy is increasingly demanding. We are subject to numerous U.S. federal and state laws and non-U.S. laws and regulations governing the privacy, security and protection of personal and confidential information of our customers and employees. In particular, the European Union ("E.U.") has adopted the General Data Protection Regulation, (the “GDPR”), which contains numerous requirements for processing personal data of, and honoring the exercise of GDPR specific rights by, E.U.-based data subjects and provides for penalties up to the greater of €20,000 or 4% of worldwide gross revenue for violation. We are subject to the GDPR with respect to our E.U. operations and employees. Privacy laws such as the GDPR and similar laws and regulations are increasing in complexity and number, change frequently and sometimes conflict. In particular, as the E.U. member states reframe their national legislation to harmonize with the GDPR, we will need to monitor compliance with each relevant E.U. member states’ laws and regulations, including where permitted derogations from the GDPR are introduced. In addition, in 2018 California enacted a comprehensive data privacy law
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that granted new rights to California residents; that law was subsequently amended by a ballot initiative in 2020. Other states have also adopted comprehensive data privacy laws. Additional laws may be enacted in other states or at the U.S. federal level. The GDPR, any resultant changes in E.U. member states’ national laws and regulations, and existing or new U.S. federal or state data privacy laws and regulations may increase our compliance obligations and may necessitate the review and implementation of policies and processes relating to our collection, security and use of data.
This increase in compliance obligations could also lead to an increase in compliance costs which may have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Moreover, failure to comply with these data protection and privacy regulations and rules in various jurisdictions, or to resolve any serious privacy or security complaints, could subject us to regulatory sanctions, criminal prosecution or civil liability. Additionally, if we violate applicable laws, regulations or duties relating to the use, privacy or security of personal data, we could be subject to civil liability or criminal prosecution, be forced to alter our business practices and suffer reputational harm.
Labor disputes, as well as the continued or further unionization of our workforce and at our suppliers, could increase our costs and cause work stoppages that may have an adverse effect on the Company’s business.
Some of our businesses are party to collective bargaining agreements with various labor unions in the United States and internationally. For more information, see Part I, Item 1, “Business – Employees”. We may be subject to, among other things, strikes, work stoppages or work slowdowns as a result of disputes under these collective bargaining agreements and labor contracts or our potential inability to negotiate acceptable contracts with these unions. If the unionized workers in the United States or internationally were to engage in a strike, work stoppage or other slowdown, if other employees were to become unionized or if the terms and conditions in future labor agreements were renegotiated, our businesses could experience a significant disruption in their operations, which could cause them to be unable to deliver products to customers on a timely basis. Such disruptions could also result in loss of business and higher ongoing labor costs.
Additionally, we believe some of our direct and indirect suppliers have unionized workforces. Strikes, work stoppages or slowdowns experienced by suppliers could result in slowdowns or closures of facilities where components of our products are manufactured or delivered. Any interruption in the production or delivery of these components could reduce sales, increase costs and have a material adverse effect on us.
WebBank’s status as lender of the loans it offers, and the ability of assignees to collect interest, may be challenged, and these challenges could negatively impact WebBank’s ongoing and future business.
WebBank’s business includes lending programs with Marketing Partners, where the Marketing Partners provide origination servicing for the loans and subsequently purchase the loans (or interests in the loans) that are originated by WebBank. There have been litigation and regulatory actions which have challenged lending arrangements where a bank has made a loan and then sold and assigned it to an entity that is engaged in assisting with the origination and servicing of the loan. Some of these cases have alleged that the marketing and servicing entity should be viewed as the “true creditor” of the loans originated through the lending program, and the bank should be disregarded. If this type of challenge is successful, state law interest rate limitations and other requirements that apply to non-bank lenders would then be applicable, instead of the federal interest rate laws that govern bank lenders. Other cases have relied on the claim that even if a bank originated a loan based on the federal interest rate laws, an assignee of a bank is not permitted to rely on the federal law and is instead subject to state law limitations. Certain of these challenges have been brought or threatened in programs involving WebBank. In 2021, Congress enacted a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act that was signed by the president that had the effect of repealing a regulation adopted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. That regulation had provided clarity on the question of when a bank is the lender of a loan and, although not directly applicable to WebBank, may have provided support for the manner in which WebBank conducts its lending business. Because of the repeal, these arguments will not be available in the event of a future challenge. Additional cases or regulatory actions of this type, if successfully brought against WebBank or its Marketing Partners or others, could negatively impact WebBank's ongoing and future business.
In addition, several states have adopted laws that purport to identify which entity is the lender of a loan. For example, in 2021, Maine adopted a law that, among other things, may deem an entity to be the lender of a loan if it (a) holds, acquires or maintains the “predominant economic interest in the loan,” (b) markets, arranges or facilitates the loan and holds the right to purchase the loan or interest in the loan, or (c) based on the totality of the circumstances, appears to be the lender, and the transaction is structured to evade certain state statutory requirements. WebBank continues to structure its programs, and to exercise control over these programs, to address these risks, although there can be no assurance that additional cases or regulatory actions will not be brought in the future.
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WebBank is subject to capital requirements, and SPLP could be called upon by the FDIC to infuse additional capital into WebBank to the extent that WebBank fails to satisfy its capital requirements.
In July 2013, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC issued rules that implemented the Basel III changes to the international regulatory capital framework and revised the U.S. risk-based and leverage capital requirements for U.S. banking organizations in order to strengthen identified areas of weakness in capital rules and to address relevant provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.
FDIC regulations implementing the Basel III Accord modified WebBank’s minimum capital requirements by defining what constitutes capital for regulatory capital purposes and adding a 4.5% Common Equity Tier 1 ratio and increased the Tier 1 capital ratio requirement from 4% to 6%. FDIC regulations also require WebBank to comply with a total capital ratio of 8% and a leverage ratio of 4%. Additionally, WebBank is expected to maintain a Capital Conservation Buffer (composed solely of common equity Tier 1 capital) equal to 2.5% above the new regulatory minimum capital requirements. The Capital Conservation Buffer is on top of the minimum risk-weighted capital ratios and had the effect of increasing those ratios by 2.5% each. A failure of WebBank to maintain the aggregate minimum capital required by the Capital Conservation Buffer will impair its ability to make certain distributions (including dividends and stock repurchases) and discretionary bonus payments to executive officers. A failure of WebBank to maintain capital as required by the FDIC’s minimum capital requirements would subject WebBank to the FDIC’s prompt corrective action regime, which may further impair WebBank’s ability to make payments or distributions and may require a capital restoration plan or other corrective regulatory measures.
The Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC have continued to amend regulations implementing Basel III in the United States in certain respects and are expected to make further amendments to these regulatory capital rules. The Company currently cannot predict the specific impact and long-term effects that Basel III and its implementation in the U.S. will have on WebBank and the banking industry more generally. Furthermore, the Dodd-Frank Act codified a longstanding policy that all companies that directly or indirectly control an FDIC-insured bank are required to serve as a source of financial strength for such institution. As a result, SPLP could be called upon by the FDIC to infuse additional capital into WebBank to the extent that WebBank fails to satisfy its capital requirements, including at times that SPLP might not otherwise be inclined to provide it and even if doing so may adversely affect SPLP’s ability to meet its other obligations, which include limitations on capital contributions to WebBank specified in the Company’s senior credit facility.
WebBank's lending programs depend on relationships with Marketing Partners.
WebBank offers its lending programs with Marketing Partners. For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the two highest grossing contractual lending programs combined accounted for approximately 18% and 7%, respectively, of WebBank’s total net revenue. If its Marketing Partners do not provide origination services or other services to WebBank, or provide those services in a faulty manner, that may negatively impact WebBank’s ongoing and future business. In addition, if the Marketing Partners or other third parties do not purchase the loans (or interests in loans) that are originated by WebBank, then WebBank may need to retain those loans (or interests in loans), which may negatively impact its ongoing and future business. Marketing Partners are also required to indemnify WebBank for certain liabilities that may arise from the lending programs. If Marketing Partners are unable or unwilling to satisfy their indemnification obligations, then WebBank would face increased risk from liability for claims made in private litigation or regulatory enforcement actions. Additionally, Marketing Partners may rely on outside sources of capital to meet their obligations. Market conditions and other factors may affect the availability of capital for Marketing Partners. The availability of capital may affect the volume of loans that can be originated through WebBank’s lending programs. In recent periods, the availability of capital has been more limited for several of WebBank’s Marketing Partners, resulting in a decrease in loan volume and a negative impact on WebBank’s business.
WebBank is subject to risks of litigation from its borrowers or others regarding the processing of loans for the Paycheck Protection Program and risks that the Small Business Administration may not fund some or all Paycheck Protection Program loan guaranties.
The CARES Act included a $349,000,000 loan program administered through the SBA referred to as the Paycheck Protection Program. The PPP had subsequently been expanded and extended under additional legislation. Under the PPP, small businesses and other entities and individuals could apply for loans from existing SBA lenders and other approved regulated lenders. WebBank participated as a lender in the PPP. Because of the short timeframe between the passing of the CARES Act and the opening of the PPP, there was some ambiguity in the laws, rules and guidance regarding the operation of the PPP along with the continually evolving nature of the SBA rules, interpretations and guidelines concerning this program, which exposes WebBank to risks relating to noncompliance with the PPP. Since the launch of the PPP, several banks have been subject to litigation regarding the process and procedures that such banks used in processing applications for the PPP. As such, WebBank
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may be exposed to the risk of litigation, from both borrowers and non-borrowers that approached WebBank regarding PPP loans, regarding its process and procedures used in processing applications for the PPP. WebBank may also be subject to investigations or enforcement actions by state and federal authorities, including the SBA. If any such litigation or government action is brought against WebBank and is not resolved in a manner favorable to WebBank, it may result in significant financial liability or adversely affect its reputation. In addition, litigation and government actions can be costly, regardless of outcome. Any financial liability, litigation costs or reputational damage caused by PPP-related litigation or government actions could have a material adverse impact on WebBank’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
WebBank also has credit risk on PPP loans if a determination is made by the SBA that there is a deficiency in the manner in which the loan was originated, underwritten, certified by the borrower, funded, or serviced by WebBank or its third-party servicers, such as an issue with the eligibility of a borrower to receive a PPP loan, which may or may not be related to the ambiguity in the laws, rules and guidance regarding the operation of the PPP. In the event of a loss resulting from a default on a PPP loan and a determination by the SBA that there was a deficiency in the manner in which the PPP loan was originated, certified by the borrower, funded, or serviced by WebBank or its third-party services, the SBA may deny its liability under the guaranty, reduce the amount of the guaranty, or, if it has already paid under the guaranty, seek recovery of any loss related to the deficiency from WebBank.
Our subsidiaries do not have long-term contracts with all of their customers, and the loss of customers with which we do not have long-term contracts could materially adversely affect our financial condition, business and results of operations.
Our businesses are based primarily upon individual orders, sales and service agreements with customers and not long-term contracts. As such, these customers could cease buying products or using our services at any time, for any reason, and with little or no notice, and we will have no recourse in the event a customer no longer wants to purchase products from us or use our services. If a significant number of our customers reduce or elect not to purchase products or use our services, or we have to make price concessions in order to retain certain customers, it could materially adversely affect our financial condition, business and results of operations. In the event of termination, our subsidiaries’ contracts sometimes provide for fees for winding down the products or services, but these fees may not be sufficient for us to maintain the revenues associated with the canceled contract or to compensate for the losses incurred in finding replacement sources of revenue.
Failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in material misstatements in our financial statements, and a failure to meet its reporting and financial obligations, each of which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
We are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements for external purposes in accordance with current accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”). Under the direction of our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, in 2020, our management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting and identified control deficiencies that constituted material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. This led management to conclude that our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting were not effective as of December 31, 2020 and again as of December 31, 2021. These material weaknesses resulted in revisions to our consolidated financial statements for the 2019 and interim 2020 periods.
As discussed in Part II, Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures,” the Company developed and implemented a remediation plan designed to address these material weaknesses, and our management has re-evaluated its assessment of the effectiveness of its disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, concluding that they were effective as of December 31, 2022. However, the use of such remediation measures may not be sufficient going forward, and any failure to maintain effective internal control could lead us to conclude that we have one or more material weaknesses in the future. Failure to maintain effective internal control or further revisions of our prior financial statements, among other things, could cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our common and preferred units and limit our ability to raise capital, may cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may require us to incur additional costs to improve our internal control system. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud and errors in our financial statements, our reputation and operating results could also be materially adversely affected. In addition, we could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC and other regulatory authorities or private litigation, which could require additional financial and management resources. For more information, including on our remediation plan, see Part II, Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures.”
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Epidemics, pandemics, outbreaks of disease and other adverse public health developments, including COVID-19, previously had, and may in the future have, an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Epidemics, pandemics, outbreaks of novel diseases and other adverse public health developments in countries and states where we operate may arise at any time. Such developments, including the COVID-19 pandemic, have had, and in the future may have, an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. These effects include a potentially negative impact on our business activity and limited availability and productivity among our workforce and suppliers. In particular, reduced customer demand for our businesses’ products, disruption in or closures of our manufacturing operations or those of our customers and suppliers, delays and disruption in the supply chain, limited productivity and efficiency of our personnel, availability of qualified personnel and increased cybersecurity risks associated with remote working environments, could increase our costs for raw materials and commodity costs, limit our ability to meet customer demand or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Precautionary measures that we may take in the future intended to limit the impact of any epidemic, pandemic, disease outbreak or other public health development, may result in additional costs. In addition, such epidemics, pandemics, disease outbreaks or other public health developments may adversely affect economies and financial markets throughout the world, such as the effect that COVID-19 has had on world economies and financial markets, which may affect our ability to obtain additional financing for our businesses and demand for our products and services. The extent to which COVID-19 or other pandemics will impact our business and our financial results in the future will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. Such developments may include ongoing spread of the virus, disease severity, outbreak duration, extent of any reoccurrence of the coronavirus or any evolutions or mutations of the virus, and availability, administration and effectiveness of vaccines and development of therapeutic treatments that can restore consumer and business economic confidence. As a result, we cannot predict at this time the full extent to which COVID-19 may continue to impact adversely our business, results of operations and financial condition, and in particular, the disruption to the supply and manufacturing of, and demand for, our businesses' products, which will depend on such future developments.
The conflict in Ukraine and related price volatility and geopolitical instability could negatively impact our business.
In late February 2022, Russia launched significant military action against Ukraine. The conflict has caused, and could intensify, volatility in crude oil and natural gas, and the extent and duration of the military action, sanctions and resulting market disruptions could be significant and could potentially have a substantial negative impact on the global economy and/or our business for an unknown period of time. There is evidence that the increase in crude oil prices during the first half of calendar year 2022 was partially due to the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on the global commodity and financial markets, and in response to economic and trade sanctions that certain countries have imposed on Russia. Any such volatility and disruptions may also magnify the impact of other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section.
Risks Related to Our Structure
The unitholders have limited recourse to maintain actions against the General Partner, the Board of Directors, our officers and the Manager.
The Limited Partnership Agreement of SPLP, or the “Partnership Agreement,” contains broad indemnification and exculpation provisions that limit the right of a unitholder to maintain an action against the General Partner, the Board of Directors, our officers and the Manager, or to recover losses or costs incurred due to action or inaction by these parties which have a negative effect on the Company.
Our Partnership Agreement contains certain provisions that may limit the voting rights of some unitholders.
Our Partnership Agreement contains specific provisions that are intended to comply with regulatory limitations on the ownership of our securities as a result of our ownership of WebBank. Under the Partnership Agreement, a person or group that acquires beneficial ownership of 10% or more of the common units without the prior approval of the Board of Directors may lose voting rights with respect to all of its common units in excess of 9.9%.
We may have conflicts of interest with the minority shareholders of our businesses and decisions may need to be made by disinterested directors, without the participation of directors or officers associated with the Manager and the Company. These decisions may be different from the decisions we would make and may or may not be in the best interests of our unitholders.
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Because we own less than 100% of certain affiliates, and we may engage in transactions with these affiliates from time to time, the boards of directors and officers of those businesses, including directors and officers associated with our Manager and the Company, have fiduciary duties to their respective shareholders. As a result, they may make decisions that are in the best interests of their shareholders generally but which are not necessarily in the best interest of our unitholders. In dealings with us, the directors and officers of our businesses may have conflicts of interest and decisions may have to be made without their participation. Such decisions may be different from the decisions we would make and may not be in the best interests of our common and preferred unitholders, which may have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
There are certain interlocking relationships among us and certain affiliates of Warren G. Lichtenstein, our Executive Chairman, which may present potential conflicts of interest.
Warren G. Lichtenstein, our Executive Chairman and a substantial unitholder, is the Chief Executive Officer of our Manager. As of December 31, 2022, Mr. Lichtenstein directly owned approximately 3.0% of our outstanding common units. In addition, affiliates of our Manager, including Mr. Lichtenstein, beneficially own approximately 75.2% of our outstanding common units, although Mr. Lichtenstein disclaims beneficial ownership of any common units not directly held by him. We have entered into transactions and/or agreements with these entities. There can be no assurance that such entities will not have interests in conflict with our own, or that Mr. Lichtenstein will not have interests different than those of our unitholders.
Certain members of our management team may be involved in other business activities that may involve conflicts of interest, possibly diverting their attention from the Company’s operations.
Certain individual members of our management team, including Warren G. Lichtenstein, our Executive Chairman, and Jack L. Howard, our President, may from time to time be involved in the management of other businesses, including those owned or controlled by our Manager and its affiliates. Accordingly, these individuals may focus a portion of their time and attention on managing these other businesses. Conflicts may arise in the future between our interests and the interests of the other entities and business activities in which such individuals are involved.
Risks Related to Our Manager
We depend on Warren G. Lichtenstein, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Manager, and Jack L. Howard, the President of the Manager, in running our businesses. The loss of their services could have a material adverse effect on our business, results and financial condition.
Our success depends on the efforts, skills, reputation and business contacts of Warren G. Lichtenstein, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Manager and Jack L. Howard, the President of the Manager. While the key members of the Manager have worked for the Manager and its affiliates for many years, our Manager does not have any employment agreements with any of the key members of its management team, and their continued service is not guaranteed. The loss of the services of Mr. Lichtenstein or Mr. Howard could have a material adverse effect on our asset values, revenues, net income and cash flows and could harm our ability to maintain or grow our existing operations or pursue additional opportunities in the future.
We cannot determine the amount of the Management Fee that will be paid or Class C partnership units that will be issued over time with any certainty.
The Manager is entitled to receive a fee (the “Management Fee”) at an annual rate of 1.5% of total partners’ capital. Our total partners’ capital will be impacted by the performance of our businesses and other businesses we may acquire in the future, as well as the issuance of additional common or preferred units. Changes in our total partners’ capital and in the resulting Management Fee could be significant, resulting in a material adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, if our performance declines, assuming our total partners’ capital remains the same, the Management Fee will increase as a percentage of our income. In addition, SPH SPV-I LLC, an affiliate of the Manager, holds incentive units which entitle the holder generally to share in 15% of the increase in the equity value of the Company, as calculated for the twenty trading days prior to each year end. The incentive units’ share of such appreciation is reflected by classifying a portion of the incentive units as Class C units of the Company. Any issuance of such Class C units will result in dilution to existing limited partners’ holdings in the Company. As of the annual measurement date on December 31, 2022, 200,253 incentive units vested. The incentive units are expected to be issued in the first quarter of our fiscal year ending December 31, 2023.
Our Manager’s liability is limited under the Management Agreement, and we have agreed to indemnify our Manager against certain liabilities. Such indemnification may incentivize our Manager to take unnecessary risks with respect to actions for which it will be indemnified.
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Under the Management Agreement, our Manager, its members, officers, employees, affiliates, agents and legal representatives are not liable for, and we have agreed to indemnify such persons from, any loss or expense, including without limitations, any judgment, settlement, reasonable attorneys’ fees and other costs and expenses incurred in connection with the defense of any actual or threatened proceeding, other than losses resulting from willful misconduct or gross negligence in the performance of such indemnified person’s obligations and duties. Such indemnification may incentivize our Manager to take unnecessary risks with respect to actions for which it will be indemnified.
Risks Related to our Common and Preferred Units
We may issue additional common or preferred units, or other series of units, in the future without the consent of unitholders and at a discount to the market price of such units. In particular, sales of significant amounts of the common or preferred units may cause the respective prices of the units to decline.
Under the terms of the Partnership Agreement, additional common or preferred units, or additional series of units, may be issued without the consent of unitholders at a discount to the market price. In addition, other classes of securities may be issued with rights that are senior to or which otherwise have preferential rights to the rights of the common and preferred units. Sales of significant amounts of the common or preferred units in the public market or the perception that such sales of significant amounts may occur could adversely affect their respective market prices. Moreover, the perceived risk of any potential dilution could cause common or preferred unitholders to attempt to sell their units and investors to “short” the common or preferred units, a practice in which an investor sells units that he or she does not own at prevailing market prices, hoping to purchase units later at a lower price to cover the sale. Any event that would cause the number of common or preferred units being offered for sale to increase would likely cause the respective units’ market price to further decline. These sales might also make it more difficult for us to sell additional common or preferred units in the future at a time and price that we deem appropriate.
Transfer restrictions contained in the Company’s Partnership Agreement and other factors could hinder the development of an active market for our common or preferred units.
There can be no assurance as to the volume of our common or preferred units or the degree of price volatility for our common and preferred units traded on the New York Stock Exchange. There are transfer restrictions contained in the Company's Partnership Agreement to help protect the tax benefits of the net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards of certain of the Company’s corporate subsidiaries and other portfolio companies, and such transfer restrictions could hinder development of an active market for our common and preferred units. Unless renewed, the transfer restrictions will expire on June 1, 2025.
Risks Related to Taxation
All statutory references in this section are to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the “Code.”
Our common unitholders may be subject to U.S. federal, state and other income tax on their share of our taxable income, regardless of whether they receive any cash distributions from us.
The Company operates, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as a partnership and not as a publicly traded partnership taxable as a corporation. Our common unitholders will be subject to U.S. federal, state, local and possibly, in some cases, foreign income tax on their allocable share of our taxable income, whether or not they receive cash distributions from us. Any future determination to declare distributions on the Company’s common units will remain at the discretion of the Board of Directors of the General Partner and is separately determined regardless of the allocation of taxable income. Accordingly, our common unitholders may be required to make tax payments in connection with their ownership of common units that exceed their cash distributions in any given year.
Items of income, gain, loss and deduction with respect to the units could be reallocated if the IRS does not accept the assumptions or conventions used by the Company in allocating such items.
U.S. federal income tax rules applicable to partnerships are complex and often difficult to apply to publicly traded partnerships. The Company will apply certain assumptions and conventions in an attempt to comply with applicable rules and to report items of income, gain, loss and deduction to unitholders in a manner that reflects the unitholders’ beneficial interest in such tax items, but these assumptions and conventions may not be in compliance with all aspects of the applicable tax requirements. It is possible that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) will successfully assert that the conventions and assumptions used by the Company do not satisfy the technical requirements of the Code or the Federal Tax Regulations codified
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under 26 C.F.R., referred to herein as the Treasury Regulations, and could require that items of income, gain, loss and deduction be adjusted or reallocated in a manner that adversely affects one or more unitholders.
For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, the Company is subject to partnership audit rules enacted as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the “Centralized Partnership Audit Regime”). Under the Centralized Partnership Audit Regime, any IRS audit of the Company would be conducted at the Company level, and if the IRS determines an adjustment is warranted, the default rule is that the Company would pay an “imputed underpayment” including interest and penalties, if applicable, resulting from such adjustment. The Company may instead elect to make a ”push-out” election, in which case the partners for the year that is under audit would be required to take into account the adjustment on their own personal income tax returns.
Changes in tax rates, laws or regulations, including U.S. government tax reform, could have a negative impact on the results of future operations.
The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to taxation in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. Changes in various tax laws can and do occur. For example, on December 22, 2017, the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”) was enacted. The TCJA made substantial changes to the Internal Revenue Code, some of which could have an adverse effect on our business. Among other things, the TCJA (i) reduces the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% beginning in 2018, (ii) limits annual deductions for interest net expense to no more than 30% of our “adjusted taxable income,” plus 100% of our business interest income for the year and (iii) permits a taxpayer to offset only 80% (rather than 100%) of its taxable income with any U.S. NOLs generated for taxable years beginning after 2017. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has broad authority to issue regulations and interpretative guidance that may significantly impact how we will apply the law and impact our results of operations in the period issued. Although Treasury Regulations and other guidance have been issued to provide clarification, the interpretation of certain aspects of the TCJA remains unclear. It is expected, however, that additional Treasury Regulations and other guidance will be issued to provide more clarification on certain provisions, although the timing of such guidance is, in many cases, not yet known. In addition, on August 16, 2022, the U.S. enacted the IRA, which among other provisions, imposes a 15% minimum tax on the adjusted financial statement income of certain large corporations and a 1% excise tax on corporate stock repurchases by U.S. publicly traded corporations and certain U.S. subsidiaries of non-U.S. publicly traded corporations, as well as significant enhancements of U.S. tax incentives relating to climate and energy investments. Although no material impact is currently expected, the full effect of the TCJA and the Inflation Reduction Act to an investment in the Company, and on operations of the Company and its subsidiaries, is uncertain, and the IRA may impact the Company’s financial results beginning in fiscal 2023.
Additionally, longstanding international tax norms that determine each country’s jurisdiction to tax cross-border international trade are subject to potential evolution. In connection with the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Integrated Framework provided by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (the “OECD”), the OECD recently reached agreement to align countries on a minimum corporate tax rate and an expansion of the taxing rights of market countries, and therefore, determination of multi-jurisdictional taxation rights and the rate of tax applicable to certain types of income may be subject to potential change. There can be no assurance that future changes to the U.S. federal, state and local and foreign tax laws will not be proposed or enacted that could materially or adversely impact our business or financial results. If and when any or all of these changes are put into effect, they could result in tax increases where we do business both in and outside of the United States, and could have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations.
Our tax treatment depends on our status as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and is not assured. If we are taxed as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, it could adversely impact our results of operations.
A partnership generally is not a taxable entity under U.S. federal income tax law, and distributions by a partnership to a partner are generally not taxable to the partnership or the partner unless the amount of money distributed to such partner exceeds the partner’s adjusted basis in its partnership interest. Section 7704 generally provides that publicly traded partnerships are taxed as corporations. However, an exception, referred to as the “Qualifying Income Exception,” exists with respect to publicly traded partnerships of which 90 percent or more of the gross income of such partnership for every taxable year consists of “qualifying income” as defined in the Code. We expect that we will meet the Qualifying Income Exception for our current taxable year and the foreseeable future. However, there can be no assurance that the IRS will not disagree with the positions we take or that there will not be changes in our business or to U.S. federal income tax laws that could cause us to be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes or otherwise subject us to U.S. federal income taxation as an entity.
If we were taxed as a corporation, among other things, (i) our net income would be taxed at corporate income tax rates, which is currently 21%, and would likely pay state income tax at varying rates, thereby substantially reducing our profitability,
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(ii) no income, gains, losses or deductions would flow through to our unitholders and (iii) distributions to our common unitholders generally would constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles) and would be taxable as such. Because a tax would be imposed upon us as a corporation, our cash available for distribution to a unitholder would be substantially reduced. Therefore, treatment of us as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes would result in a material reduction in the anticipated cash flow and after-tax return to a unitholder, likely causing a substantial reduction in the value of our units.
Our structure involves complex provisions of U.S. federal income tax law for which no clear precedent or authority may be available.
The U.S. federal income tax treatment of our common unitholders depends in some instances on interpretations of complex provisions of U.S. federal income tax law for which no clear precedent or authority may be available. Our Partnership Agreement permits our General Partner to modify it from time to time, including the allocation of items of income, gain, loss and deduction (including unrealized gain and unrealized loss to the extent allowable under U.S. federal income tax law), without the consent of our unitholders, to address certain changes in U.S. federal income tax regulations, legislation or interpretation or to preserve the uniformity of our common units. In some circumstances, such revisions could have a material adverse impact on some or all common unitholders. In addition, we formed a subsidiary partnership, to which we contributed certain of our assets (the “Subsidiary Partnership”). To preserve the uniformity of common units, we (but not the Subsidiary Partnership) made an election permitted under Section 754, and we will adopt the remedial allocation method under Section 704(c) with respect to items of income, gain, loss and deduction attributable to assets contributed to us (which we will contribute to the Subsidiary Partnership), to account for any difference between the tax basis and fair market value of such assets at the time of contribution, or attributable to the “book-up” or “book-down” of our assets prior to their contribution to the Subsidiary Partnership, or while they were held by the Subsidiary Partnership, to account for the difference between the tax basis and fair market value of such assets at the time of a mark-to-market event. We intend generally to make allocations under Section 704(c) to our common unitholders in accordance with their respective percentage interests. However, built-in gain or built-in loss in existence and allocable to the assets we contributed to the Subsidiary Partnership, when recognized, will be allocated to our common unitholders as of the contribution date. We intend to prepare our tax returns on the basis that buyers of common units from such unitholders will not inherit such unitholders’ built-in gains or built-in losses as of that date as a result of the election under Section 754. However, it is not clear whether this position will be upheld if challenged by the IRS. While we believe it represents the right result, there is no law directly on point.
Tax-exempt entities and non-U.S. persons face unique tax issues from owning common units that may result in adverse tax consequences to them.
A holder of common units that is a tax-exempt organization may be subject to U.S. federal income taxation to the extent that its allocable share of our income consists of unrelated business taxable income (“UBTI”). A tax-exempt partner of a partnership may be treated as earning UBTI if the partnership regularly engages in a trade or business that is unrelated to the exempt function of the tax-exempt partner, if the partnership derives income from debt-financed property (as we may borrow money) or if the tax-exempt organization’s partnership interest itself is debt-financed. Further, with respect to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, a tax-exempt entity with more than one unrelated trade or business (including by attribution from investment in a partnership such as ours that is engaged in one or more unrelated trade or business) may be required to compute the unrelated business taxable income of such tax-exempt entity separately with respect to each such trade or business (including for purposes of determining any net operating loss deduction). As a result, it may not be possible for tax-exempt entities to utilize losses from an investment in our partnership to offset unrelated business taxable income from another unrelated trade or business or vice versa.
If we were engaged in a U.S. trade or business, distributions to non-U.S. persons generally will be reduced by withholding taxes at the highest applicable effective tax rate, and non-U.S. persons generally will be required to file U.S. federal tax returns and pay tax on their share of our taxable income. Gain recognized from a sale or other disposition of our common units by a non-U.S. person may be subject to federal income tax as income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. Moreover, the transferee of our units (or the transferee's broker, if applicable) is generally required to withhold 10% of the amount realized by the transferor unless the transferor certifies that it is not a non-U.S. person. Recent final Treasury Regulations provide for the application of this withholding rule to open market transfers of interests in publicly traded partnerships beginning on January 1, 2023. Under these regulations, the “amount realized” for purposes of this withholding is the gross proceeds paid or credited upon the transfer.
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Our subsidiaries may not be able to fully utilize their tax benefits, which could result in increased cash payments for taxes in future periods.
The past operations of certain of our subsidiaries and portfolio companies have generated significant NOLs and other tax benefits. NOLs may be carried forward to offset federal and state taxable income in future years and reduce the amount of cash paid for income taxes otherwise payable on such taxable income, subject to certain limitations and adjustments. If fully utilized, our subsidiaries’ NOLs and other carryforwards could provide them with significant tax savings in future periods. Their ability to utilize these tax benefits in future years will depend upon their ability to generate sufficient taxable income and to comply with the rules relating to the preservation and use of NOLs, as well as potential future changes in tax laws. The potential benefit of the NOLs and other carryforwards may be limited or permanently lost as a result of the following:
•the inability to generate sufficient taxable income in future years to use such benefits before they expire as NOLs generated for taxable years beginning on or before December 31, 2017 have a limited carryforward period;
•a change in control of our subsidiaries that would trigger limitations on the amount of taxable income in future years that may be offset by NOLs and other carryforwards that existed prior to the change in control; and
•examinations and audits by the IRS and other taxing authorities that could reduce the amount of NOLs and other credit carryforwards that are available for future years.
Certain of our subsidiaries maintain valuation allowances against their NOLs and other carryforwards due to uncertainty regarding their ability to generate sufficient taxable income in future periods. Their inability to utilize the NOLs and other carryforwards could result in increased cash payments for taxes in future periods.
General Risk Factors
Loss of essential employees could have a significant negative impact on our business.
Our success is largely dependent on the skills, experience and efforts of our management and other employees. The loss of the services of one or more members of our senior management or of numerous employees with essential skills could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In particular, we rely on an adequate supply of skilled employees at our businesses. Trained and experienced personnel in our businesses’ industries are in high demand. We cannot predict whether we will be able to attract, motivate and maintain an adequate skilled workforce necessary to operate our existing and future businesses efficiently, or that labor expenses will not increase as a result of a shortage in the supply of skilled personnel and inflationary pressures on wages thereby adversely impacting our financial performance. While our businesses generally operate with high employee turnover, any material increases in employee turnover rates or any widespread employee dissatisfaction could also have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Properties
At December 31, 2022, we operated in 56 locations consisting of manufacturing facilities, warehouses, offices, sales, service and laboratory spaces throughout the United States and internationally. Of these, we owned 26 locations consisting of approximately 2.2 million square feet and leased space at 30 locations consisting of approximately 1.4 million square feet.
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A summary of square footage by reportable segment at December 31, 2022, is presented below.
| Reportable Segment | Leased | Owned | Total | |||||||||||||||||
| (Square feet in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Diversified Industrial | 1,264 | 2,122 | 3,386 | |||||||||||||||||
| Energy | 59 | 120 | 179 | |||||||||||||||||
| Financial Services | 40 | — | 40 | |||||||||||||||||
| Corporate and Other | 16 | 19 | 35 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total | 1,379 | 2,261 | 3,640 | |||||||||||||||||
Our reportable segments have major operations at the following locations:
•Diversified Industrial - Camden, Delaware; Brewster, New York; Bristol, Pennsylvania; Addison and Glendale Heights, Illinois; Evansville, Indiana; Agawam, Massachusetts; Rockford, Minnesota; Statesville, North Carolina; Anderson, South Carolina; Cudahy, Muskego and Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin; Warwick, Rhode Island; Matamoros, Mexicali and Tecate, Mexico; Welham Green and Blackwood, United Kingdom; Freiburg, Germany; Riberac, France; and Suzhou, China.
•Energy - The Energy business owns office space in Arnegard and Williston, North Dakota; Farmington, New Mexico; and Andrews, Texas; and leases office space in Johnstown, Colorado and Midland, Texas. Steel Sports has a lease for approximately 27 acres of land in Yaphank, New York for its baseball service operations and office space in Bridgewater, New Jersey; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
•Financial Services - WebBank leases office space headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and additional office space in Summit, New Jersey; Denver, Colorado; and Miami, Florida.
Additionally, our corporate staff occupies office space in New York, New York; Hermosa Beach, California; and Miami, Florida. Management believes all of our properties have been well maintained, are in good condition and are adequate and suitable for our business as presently conducted.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
In the ordinary course of our business, the Company is subject to periodic lawsuits, investigations, claims and proceedings, including, but not limited to, contractual disputes, employment, environmental, health and safety matters, claims associated with our historical acquisitions and divestitures, and other legal proceedings. For more information on material legal proceedings which are ongoing or recently resolved, see "Litigation Matters" in Note 19 - "Commitments and Contingencies" to the Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Report. For an additional discussion of certain risks associated with legal proceedings, see also Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors" of this Report.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Market Information
As of December 31, 2022, we had 21,605,093 common units issued and outstanding. Our common units, no par value, are quoted on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "SPLP."
Holders
As of December 31, 2022, there were approximately 124 unitholders of record, including Cede & Co., the nominee of the Depository Trust Company. The number of record holders may not be representative of the number of beneficial owners of our common stock, whose shares are held in street name by banks, brokers and other nominees.
Equity Performance Graph
Consistent with the rules applicable to "Smaller Reporting Companies," we have elected scaled disclosure reporting, and therefore have omitted information required by this Item.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None. As of December 31, 2022, 200,253 incentive units vested under the incentive unit agreement with SPH SPV-I LLC. For more information, see Note 15 - "Capital and Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss" to the Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this Report. The incentive units will be issued following the completion of internal approvals. The Company intends to report the issuance of the incentive units, as required by SEC rules, on a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The Board of Directors has approved the repurchase of up to an aggregate of 7,770,240 of the Company's common units (the "Repurchase Program"). The Repurchase Program, which was announced on December 7, 2016, supersedes and cancels, to the extent any amounts remain available, all previously approved repurchase programs. Any purchases made under the Repurchase Program will be made from time to time on the open market at prevailing market prices or in negotiated transactions off the market, in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. In connection with the Repurchase Program, the Company may enter into a stock purchase plan. The Repurchase Program has no termination date. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company purchased 1,093,747 common units for an aggregate purchase price of $44,973. From the inception of the Repurchase Program until December 31, 2022 the Company had purchased 7,345,992 common units for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $144,358. As of December 31, 2022, there remained 424,248 units that may yet be purchased under the Repurchase Program.
The following table provides information about our repurchases of common units during the quarter ended December 31, 2022. During that period, we did not act in concert with any affiliate or any other person to acquire any of our common stock and, accordingly, we do not believe that purchases by any such affiliate or other person (if any) are reportable in the following table.
| Period | Total number of units purchased | Average price paid per unit | Total number of units purchased as part of publicly announced plans or programs | Maximum number (or approximate dollar value) of units that may yet be purchased under the plans or programs | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| October 1-31, 2022 | 33,093 | $ | 40.75 | 33,093 | 479,469 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| November 1-30, 2022 | 6,614 | $ | 41.70 | 6,614 | 472,855 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| December 1-31, 2022 | 48,607 | $ | 41.75 | 48,607 | 424,248 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 88,314 | 88,314 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Item 6. [Reserved]
Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
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The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto that are available elsewhere in this Report. The following is a discussion and analysis of SPLP's consolidated results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below and elsewhere in this Report, particularly in Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors". All monetary amounts used in this discussion are in thousands, except common and preferred units, per common and preferred unit, and per share data.
Business Segments
SPLP operates through the following segments: Diversified Industrial, Energy and Financial Services, which are managed separately and offer different products and services. Corporate and Other consists of several consolidated subsidiaries, including Steel Services, equity method and other investments, and cash and cash equivalents. Its income or loss includes certain unallocated general corporate expenses. For a more complete description of the Company's segments, see Part I, Item 1, "Business - Products and Product Mix" found elsewhere in this Report.
Significant Developments
Following is a summary of significant developments that have impacted the Company in 2022 and early 2023. For additional discussion of these matters, please see the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Report.
Investments
Following is a summary of the recent events involving the Company's investments:
•Steel Connect – As of December 31, 2022, we owned approximately 30.0%, and, when combined with our affiliates, 35.0%, of the outstanding common stock (and assuming conversion of the Steel Connect Convertible Note and shares of preferred stock as of December 31, 2022, 49.9%, and, when combined with our affiliates, approximately 53.5%, of the outstanding shares of Steel Connect's common stock). On June 12, 2022, Steel Connect, the Company and SP Merger Sub, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company ("Merger Sub"), entered into an agreement and plan of merger (the "Merger Agreement"), pursuant to which Merger Sub would merge with and into Steel Connect (the "Merger"), with Steel Connect surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. On November 15, 2022, the Company terminated the merger agreement with Steel Connect after the merger was not approved by a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock not owned, directly or indirectly, by Steel Partners.
•Aerojet – As of December 31, 2022, the Company owned 4.5% of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. ("Aerojet") common stock with a fair value of $201,278. In December 2022, L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (“L3Harris”) entered into a merger agreement, with Aerojet, in which Aerojet agreed to be acquired by L3Harris. Pursuant to the terms of the merger, each issued and outstanding share of Aerojet common stock will be canceled and converted into the right to receive $58.00 in cash, without interest, plus, if the closing occurs after September 17, 2023, $0.0025 for each calendar day elapsed after such date to and including the closing date. The deal is expected to close in 2023, subject to required regulatory approvals and clearances and other customary closing conditions, and there can be no assurance the transaction will close within the expected timeframe or at all.
Acquisitions and Divestiture
•SL Power Sale – In April 2022, the Company completed the sale of SL Power Electronics Corporation for a sale price of $144,500 which resulted in a pre-tax gain of $86,507.
•Security Premium Finance Acquisition – In August 2022, WebBank, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, National Partners PFco ("National Partners") completed the acquisition of Security Premium Finance ("SPF") for a purchase price of $47,280, SPF provides insurance premium financing services for commercial and consumer clients to purchase property and casualty insurance products in Florida. This acquisition provides National Partners with diversification, geographic market opportunities and a competitive advantage in the industry.
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•PCS Mosaic Co-Invest L.P. Investment – In April 2022, the Company acquired a noncontrolling interest in PCS-Mosaic Co-Invest L.P. ("PCS-Mosaic"), a private investment fund for a purchase price of approximately $23,600. The fund is primarily invested in specialized software development and training services.
Common Unit Repurchase Program
•During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company purchased 1,093,747 common units for an aggregate purchase price of $44,973. From the inception of the Repurchase Program until December 31, 2022 the Company had purchased 7,345,992 common units for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $144,358. As of December 31, 2022, there remained 424,248 units that may yet be purchased under the Repurchase Program.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 1,695,441 | $ | 1,524,896 | |||||||
| Cost of goods sold | 1,096,936 | 1,004,093 | |||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative expenses | 383,377 | 304,013 | |||||||||
| Asset impairment charges | 3,162 | — | |||||||||
| Interest expense | 20,649 | 22,250 | |||||||||
| Gains from sales of businesses | (85,683) | (8,096) | |||||||||
| Realized and unrealized (gains) losses on securities, net | (34,791) | 24,044 | |||||||||
| All other income, net * | 36,293 | (22,273) | |||||||||
| Total costs and expenses | 1,419,943 | 1,324,031 | |||||||||
| Income before income taxes and equity method investments | 275,498 | 200,865 | |||||||||
| Income tax provision | 73,944 | 84,089 | |||||||||
| Income of associated companies, net of taxes | (4,611) | (15,664) | |||||||||
| Net income from continuing operations | 206,165 | 132,440 | |||||||||
| Net gain from discontinued operations, net of taxes | — | 138 | |||||||||
| Net income | 206,165 | 132,578 | |||||||||
| Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in consolidated entities (continuing operations) | (193) | (1,170) | |||||||||
| Net income attributable to common unitholders | $ | 205,972 | $ | 131,408 | |||||||
* includes finance interest, provision for loan losses, and other income from the consolidated statements of operations | |||||||||||
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We utilize certain non-GAAP financial measurements as defined by the SEC, which include "Adjusted EBITDA" for the Company as well as each our segments. The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income or loss from continuing operations before the effects of income or loss from investments in associated companies and other investments held at fair value, interest expense, taxes, depreciation and amortization, non-cash pension expense or income, and realized and unrealized gains or losses on investments, and excludes certain non-recurring and non-cash items (whether for the Company or applicable segment). The Company is presenting these non-GAAP financial measurements because it believes that they provide useful information to investors about the Company's business and its financial condition. The Company believes Adjusted EBITDA measures for the Company as well as each of our segments are useful to investors because they are used by the Company's Board of Directors and management to evaluate its ongoing business, including in internal management reporting, budgeting and forecasting processes, in comparing operating results across the business, as an internal profitability measure, as a component in evaluating the ability and the desirability of making capital expenditures and significant acquisitions, and as an element in determining executive compensation.
However, Adjusted EBITDA (whether for the Company or each of our segments) is not a measure of financial performance under U.S. GAAP, and the items excluded from this measure are significant components in understanding and assessing financial performance. Therefore, Adjusted EBITDA (whether for the Company or each of our segments) should not be considered a substitute for net income or loss. Because Adjusted EBITDA (whether for the Company or each of our segments) is calculated before recurring cash charges, including realized losses on investments, interest expense, and taxes, and is not adjusted for capital expenditures or other recurring cash requirements of the business, it should not be considered as a
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measure of discretionary cash available to invest in the growth of the business. There are a number of material limitations to the use of Adjusted EBITDA (whether for the Company or each of our segments) as an analytical tool, including the following:
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the Company's tax provision or the cash requirements to pay its taxes;
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect income or loss from the Company's investments in associated companies and other investments held at fair value;
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the Company's interest expense;
•Although depreciation and amortization are non-cash expenses in the period recorded, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the cash requirements for such replacement;
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the Company's net realized and unrealized gains and losses on its investments;
•Adjusted EBITDA does not include non-cash charges for pension expense and equity-based compensation;
•Adjusted EBITDA does not include amounts related to noncontrolling interests in consolidated entities;
•Adjusted EBITDA does not include certain other non-recurring and non-cash items; and
•Adjusted EBITDA does not include the Company's discontinued operations.
The following table reconciles net income from continuing operations to Adjusted EBITDA:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||||
| Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation | |||||||||||
| Net income from continuing operations | $ | 206,165 | $ | 132,440 | |||||||
| Income tax provision | 73,944 | 84,089 | |||||||||
| Income from continuing operations before income taxes | 280,109 | 216,529 | |||||||||
| Add (Deduct): | |||||||||||
| Income of associated companies, net of taxes | (4,611) | (15,664) | |||||||||
| Realized and unrealized (gains) losses on securities, net | (34,791) | 24,044 | |||||||||
| Interest expense | 20,649 | 22,250 | |||||||||
| Depreciation | 38,394 | 42,055 | |||||||||
| Amortization | 15,361 | 18,466 | |||||||||
| Non-cash asset impairment charges | 3,162 | — | |||||||||
| Non-cash pension income | (7,042) | (3,972) | |||||||||
| Non-cash equity-based compensation | 1,280 | 1,462 | |||||||||
| Gains from sales of businesses | (85,683) | (8,096) | |||||||||
| Other items, net * | 1,606 | (37,241) | |||||||||
| Adjusted EBITDA | $ | 228,434 | $ | 259,833 | |||||||
*Other items, net for the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily includes (1) a $19,740 one-time dividend from Aerojet; (2) a gain of $8,827 from a recent litigation settlement; (3) and a pre-tax gain of $6,646 on the sale of an idle facility in the Joining Materials business. | |||||||||||
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||||
| Segment Adjusted EBITDA | |||||||||||
| Diversified Industrial | $ | 153,120 | $ | 153,791 | |||||||
| Energy | 23,905 | 25,615 | |||||||||
| Financial Services | 63,499 | 80,618 | |||||||||
| Corporate and Other | (12,090) | (191) | |||||||||
| Total | $ | 228,434 | $ | 259,833 | |||||||
Revenue
Revenue in the year ended December 31, 2022 increased $170,545, or 11.2%, as compared to 2021, as a result of higher sales across all the reportable segments despite the divestiture of the SL Power Electronics Corporation ("SLPE") business in April 2022.
Cost of Goods Sold
Cost of goods sold in the year ended December 31, 2022 increased $92,843, or 9.2%, as compared to 2021, primarily driven by higher sales discussed above, as well as higher material and labor costs in the Diversified Industrial and Energy segments, partially offset by the impact of the SLPE divestiture.
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Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses ("SG&A") in 2022 increased $79,364, or 26.1%, as compared to 2021. The increase was primarily due to: (1) approximately $58,100 higher expenses from the Financial Service segment driven by higher credit performance fees due to higher credit risk transfer ("CRT") balances and higher personnel costs, and (2) approximately $37,300 higher Corporate expenses due to higher legal and professional fees, as well as higher personnel costs in 2022, partially offset by a gain as a result of a litigation settlement of $8,827 in 2021. These increases were partially offset by approximately $11,400 lower expenses from the Diversified Industrial segment, primarily due to the impact of SLPE divestiture.
Asset Impairment Charges
The Company recorded asset impairment charges of $3,162 in 2022 primarily related to the implementation costs of an ERP project associated with the Kasco business from the Diversified Industrial segment. There were no impairment charges in 2021.
Interest Expense
Interest expense for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 was $20,649 and $22,250, respectively. The lower interest expense in 2022 was primarily due to lower average debt levels, partially offset by higher average interest rates.
Gains from Sales of Businesses
The Company recorded a pre-tax gain of $85,683 for the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily related to the divestiture of the SLPE business from the Diversified Industrial segment. The sales price of SLPE was $144,500, subject to working capital adjustments. The Company recorded a pre-tax gain of $8,096 for the year ended December 31, 2021 related to the divestiture of the Edge business from the Diversified Industrial segment.
Realized and Unrealized (Gains) Losses on Securities, Net
Realized and unrealized gains on securities, net for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $34,791, as compared to losses of $24,044 for the year ended December 31, 2021. The changes in realized and unrealized gains and losses on securities, net over the respective periods are primarily due to mark-to-market adjustments on the Company's portfolio of securities, which are required to be recorded in earnings under U.S. GAAP.
All Other (Income) Expense, Net
All other expense, net totaled $36,293 for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to income of $22,273 for the year ended December 31, 2021. All other expense for the year ended December 31, 2022 was primarily due to net provisions for loan losses and finance interest related to the Financial Services segment. All other income, net for the year ended December 31, 2021 was primarily due to a $19,740 one-time dividend from Aerojet and a pre-tax gain of $6,646 on the sale of an idle facility in the Joining Materials business.
Income Taxes
As a limited partnership, we are generally not responsible for federal and state income taxes, and our profits and losses are passed directly to our limited partners for inclusion in their respective income tax returns. The Company's tax provision represents the income tax expense or benefit of its consolidated corporate subsidiaries. For the year ended December 31, 2022, a tax provision of $73,944 was recorded, as compared to $84,089 in 2021. The Company's effective tax rate was 26.8% and 41.9% for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The lower effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2022 is primarily due to a decrease in U.S. tax expense related to unrealized gains on investment from related parties, which are eliminated for financial statement purposes.
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Income of Associated Companies, Net of Taxes
The Company recorded gains from associated companies, net of taxes, of $4,611 in 2022, as compared to gains, net of taxes of $15,664 in 2021. For the details of each of these investments and the related mark-to-market adjustments in both periods, see Note 10 - "Investments" to the Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this Report.
Net Gain (Loss) from Discontinued Operations
The Company recorded net losses of $138 from discontinued operations, net of taxes in 2021, related to the Company's API entities which were part of the Diversified Industrial segment.
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA for the Company was $228,434 in 2022, as compared to $259,833 in 2021. Adjusted EBITDA for the Company as a percentage of sales was 13.5% in 2022, as compared to 17.0% in 2021. Adjusted EBITDA for the Company decreased by $31,399 primarily due to decreases in the Financial Service segment due to higher loan loss provisions driven by reductions in 2021 as the economic environment continued to improve following the initial impact of COVID-19 and increased Q&E in 2022 driven by macro-economic concerns related to high inflation and recessionary pressure as well as higher HTM balances, higher credit performance fees as a result of higher credit risk transfer balances, and higher personnel costs and in the Corporate driven by higher legal and other professional fees, and higher personnel costs, partially offset by strong revenue impact from the Diversified Industrial and Energy segments, primarily due to favorable pricing.
Segment Analysis
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||||
| Revenue: | |||||||||||
| Diversified Industrial | $ | 1,285,666 | $ | 1,207,183 | |||||||
| Energy | 181,811 | 164,028 | |||||||||
| Financial Services | 227,964 | 153,685 | |||||||||
| Total | $ | 1,695,441 | $ | 1,524,896 | |||||||
| Segment income before interest expense and income taxes: | |||||||||||
| Diversified Industrial | $ | 200,629 | $ | 123,329 | |||||||
| Energy | 13,608 | 14,982 | |||||||||
| Financial Services | 63,477 | 79,165 | |||||||||
| Corporate and Other | 23,044 | 21,303 | |||||||||
| Income before interest expense and income taxes | 300,758 | 238,779 | |||||||||
| Interest expense | 20,649 | 22,250 | |||||||||
| Income tax provision | 73,944 | 84,089 | |||||||||
| Net income from continuing operations | $ | 206,165 | $ | 132,440 | |||||||
| Segment depreciation and amortization: | |||||||||||
| Diversified Industrial | $ | 41,805 | $ | 47,568 | |||||||
| Energy | 10,546 | 12,212 | |||||||||
| Financial Services | 750 | 485 | |||||||||
| Corporate and Other | 654 | 256 | |||||||||
| Total depreciation and amortization | $ | 53,755 | $ | 60,521 | |||||||
| Income of associated companies, net of taxes: | |||||||||||
| Corporate and other | $ | (4,611) | $ | (15,664) | |||||||
| Total | $ | (4,611) | $ | (15,664) | |||||||
Diversified Industrial
Net sales in 2022 increased by $78,483, or 6.5%, as compared to 2021. The increase was primarily due to: (1) $59,593 higher sales for the Building Materials business unit, primarily stemming from the impact of favorable pricing, and, to a lesser extent increased demand for its roofing products, (2) $19,361 higher sales for the Performance Materials business unit, primarily stemming from favorable product mix and pricing, and (3) $16,160 higher sales from the Tubing business unit primarily stemming from favorable pricing and growth from the aerospace & defense and energy sectors. These increases were partially
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offset by: (1) $46,600 decrease in sales due to the sale of SL Power and (2) $13,462 decrease for the Joining Materials business unit, which was primarily driven by lower average precious metal prices in 2022, as compared to 2021.
Segment operating income in 2022 increased by $77,300, or 62.7%, as compared to 2021. Higher operating income for the 2022 period was primarily driven by a pre-tax gain of $86,507 related to the divestiture of the SLPE business. Operating income for the 2021 period included a $8,096 pre-tax gain on the sale of OMG’s Edge business and a $6,646 pre-tax gain on the sale of an idle facility in the Joining Materials business.
Segment Adjusted EBITDA in 2022 decreased by $671, or 0.4%, as compared to 2021. The decrease in Adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to higher allocated corporate costs from Steel Services and the impact of the SLPE divestiture in April 2022, largely offset by favorable operating results from the majority of our businesses.
Energy
In 2022, net revenue increased $17,783, or 10.8%, as compared to 2021. The increase in net revenue was primarily due to higher service volume and favorable pricing driven by higher demand and from the energy sector as a result of higher energy prices.
Segment operating income decreased $1,374, or 9.2% in 2022, as compared to 2021. The decrease of operating income was primarily due to higher allocated corporate costs from Steel Services and higher materials and labor costs, partially offset by higher net revenue driven by higher service volume and favorable pricing.
Segment Adjusted EBITDA in 2022 decreased by $1,710, or 6.7%, as compared to 2021. The decrease was primarily due to higher allocated corporate costs from Steel Services and higher materials and labor costs, partially offset by higher net revenue driven by higher service volume and favorable pricing.
Financial Services
Revenue in 2022 increased $74,279, or 48.3%, as compared to 2021. The increase was primarily due to increased interest income on higher credit risk transfer balances, asset based lending and held for sale balances. These increases were partially offset by lower non-interest income due to fewer warrant sales as compared to 2021.
Segment operating income in 2022 decreased $15,688, or 19.8%, as compared to 2021. The decrease was primarily due to higher SG&A costs, higher provision of loan losses and higher finance interest expense, partially offset by increased revenue impact. The increase in SG&A costs was driven by higher credit performance fee due to higher credit risk transfer balances as well as higher personnel costs. The provision for loan losses increased $23,054, which was primarily driven by reductions for the year of 2021 as the economic environment continued to improve following the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased qualitative and environmental adjustments in 2022 driven by macro-economic concerns related to high inflation. The higher finance interest expense of $9,214 was due to an increase in deposits and higher rates, partially offset by decrease in PPPLF borrowings driven by lower PPP balances.
Segment Adjusted EBITDA in 2022 decreased $17,119, or 21.2%, as compared to the same period of 2021. The decrease was primarily due to higher SG&A costs, higher loan loss provision driven by reductions in 2021 as the economic environment continued to improve following the initial impact of COVID-19 and increased Q&E in 2022 driven by macro-economic concerns related to high inflation and recessionary pressure as well as higher HTM balances, and finance interest expense as mentioned above, partially offset by the impact of higher revenue.
Net Interest Income, Margin and Interest Rate Spreads
Net interest income is the difference between interest earned on interest-earning assets and interest incurred on interest-bearing liabilities. By its nature, net interest income is especially vulnerable to changes in the mix and amounts of interest- earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. In addition, changes in the interest rates and yields associated with these assets and liabilities can significantly impact net interest income. The following table summarizes the average balances, the amount of interest earned or incurred and the applicable yields for interest-earning assets and the costs of interest-bearing liabilities that generate net interest income. For purposes of calculating the yields in these schedules, the average loan balances also include the principal amounts of nonaccrual and restructured loans. However, interest received on nonaccrual loans is included in income only to the extent that cash payments have been received and not applied to principal reductions. In addition, interest on restructured loans is generally accrued at reduced rates.
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| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Average | Interest | Average | Interest | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Outstanding | Earned/ | Yield/ | Outstanding | Earned/ | Yield/ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Balance | Paid | Rate | Balance | Paid | Rate | ||||||||||||||||||
| Interest-earning assets: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loans receivable | $ | 1,097,173 | $ | 164,212 | 15.0 | % | $ | 563,718 | $ | 76,935 | 13.7 | % | |||||||||||
| PPP loans | 159,262 | 3,170 | 2.0 | % | 1,580,037 | 23,102 | 1.5 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Held-to-maturity securities | 141,230 | 252 | 0.2 | % | 18,826 | 445 | 2.4 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Available-for-sale investments | 2,670 | 165 | 6.2 | % | 2,071 | 47 | 2.3 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Federal funds sold | 2,241 | 25 | 1.1 | % | 2,211 | 1 | 0.1 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Interest-bearing deposits | 221,650 | 3,025 | 1.4 | % | 194,040 | 214 | 0.1 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Total interest-earning assets | 1,624,226 | 170,849 | 10.5 | % | 2,360,903 | 100,744 | 4.3 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Non interest-earning assets | 35,925 | 41,896 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Total assets | $ | 1,660,151 | $ | 2,402,799 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Interest-bearing liabilities: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Savings accounts | $ | 257,548 | 3,852 | 1.5 | % | $ | 184,332 | 573 | 0.3 | % | |||||||||||||
| Time deposits | 919,453 | 12,558 | 1.4 | % | 321,563 | 1,419 | 0.4 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Other borrowings | $ | 141,939 | 497 | 0.4 | % | $ | 1,630,472 | 5,701 | 0.4 | % | |||||||||||||
| Total interest-bearing liabilities | 1,318,940 | 16,907 | 1.3 | % | 2,136,367 | 7,693 | 0.4 | % | |||||||||||||||
| Non interest-bearing liabilities | 54,854 | 33,618 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Total liabilities | 1,373,794 | 2,169,985 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Shareholder's equity | 286,357 | 232,814 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Total liabilities and shareholder's equity | $ | 1,660,151 | $ | 2,402,799 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net interest income | $ | 153,942 | $ | 93,051 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Spread on average interest-bearing funds | 9.2 | % | 3.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net interest margin | 9.5 | % | 3.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
| Return on assets | 3.0 | % | 2.5 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
| Return on equity | 17.3 | % | 26.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
| Equity to assets | 17.2 | % | 9.7 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
| Equity to assets (excluding PPP loans) | 19.1 | % | 28.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
WebBank has several lending arrangements with companies where it originates credit card and other loans for consumers and small businesses. These loans are classified as held for sale and are typically sold after origination.
The following table presents the effects of changing rates and volumes on WebBank's net interest income for the periods indicated. The rate column shows the effects attributable to changes in rate (changes in rate multiplied by prior volume). The volume column shows the effects attributable to changes in volume (changes in volume multiplied by prior rate). The total column represents the sum of the prior columns. For purposes of this table, changes attributable to both rate and volume, which cannot be segregated, have been allocated proportionately, based on the changes due to rate and the changes due to volume.
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| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 vs 2021 | 2021 vs 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Increase/(Decrease) | Increase/(Decrease) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Due to Volume | Due to Rate | Total | Due to Volume | Due to Rate | Total | ||||||||||||||||||
| Interest earning assets: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loans receivable | $ | 79,189 | $ | 8,088 | $ | 87,277 | $ | (1,835) | $ | (2,660) | $ | (4,495) | |||||||||||
| PPP loans | (33,325) | 13,393 | (19,932) | 2,775 | 5,385 | 8,160 | |||||||||||||||||
| Held-to-maturity securities | (224) | 31 | (193) | (41) | (150) | (191) | |||||||||||||||||
| Available-for-sale investments | 17 | 101 | 118 | (3) | 4 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| Federal funds sold | — | 24 | 24 | (23) | (16) | (39) | |||||||||||||||||
| Interest-bearing deposits | 35 | 2,776 | 2,811 | 377 | (592) | (215) | |||||||||||||||||
| Total earning assets | 45,692 | 24,413 | 70,105 | 1,250 | 1,971 | 3,221 | |||||||||||||||||
| Savings accounts | 309 | 2,970 | 3,279 | (191) | (711) | (902) | |||||||||||||||||
| Time deposits | 5,238 | 5,901 | 11,139 | (116) | (3,955) | (4,071) | |||||||||||||||||
| Other borrowings | (5,209) | 5 | (5,204) | 951 | (17) | 934 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total funds | 338 | 8,876 | 9,214 | 644 | (4,683) | (4,039) | |||||||||||||||||
| Net variance | $ | 45,354 | $ | 15,537 | $ | 60,891 | $ | 606 | $ | 6,654 | $ | 7,260 | |||||||||||
Corporate and Other
Operating income was $23,044 in 2022, as compared to $21,303 in 2021. The fluctuations were primarily due to changes in investment gains and losses from both marketable securities and associated companies. Higher service fee income was partially offset by higher legal and professional fees and higher personnel costs in 2022. Income from 2021 included a $19,740 one-time dividend from Aerojet and a gain of $8,827 related to an insurance settlement.
For additional information on the Company's investments, see Note 2 - "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies" and Note 10 - "Investments" to the Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this Report.
Balance Sheet Analysis
Loan Portfolio
As of December 31, 2022, net loans receivable accounted for 79% of WebBank's total assets, as compared to 71% at the end of 2021. The following table presents WebBank's loans outstanding by type of loan as of December 31, 2022 and the four other most recent year-ends.
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amount | % | Amount | % | Amount | % | Amount | % | Amount | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Real estate loans: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial - owner occupied | $ | 80 | — | % | $ | 92 | — | % | $ | 209 | — | % | $ | 230 | — | % | $ | 252 | 0.1 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial - other | 907 | 0.1 | % | 571 | 0.1 | % | 463 | — | % | 429 | 0.1 | % | 380 | 0.1 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total real estate loans | 987 | 0.1 | % | 663 | 0.1 | % | 672 | — | % | 659 | 0.1 | % | 632 | 0.2 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial and industrial | 857,817 | 54.1 | % | 779,536 | 73.9 | % | 2,279,672 | 90.6 | % | 251,349 | 32.2 | % | 146,758 | 28.0 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consumer loans | 123,204 | 7.8 | % | 76,067 | 7.2 | % | 147,652 | 5.9 | % | 302,714 | 38.7 | % | 188,391 | 35.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loans held for sale | 602,675 | 38.0 | % | 198,632 | 18.8 | % | 88,171 | 3.5 | % | 226,532 | 29.0 | % | 188,143 | 35.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total loans | 1,584,683 | 100.0 | % | 1,054,898 | 100.0 | % | 2,516,167 | 100.0 | % | 781,254 | 100.0 | % | 523,924 | 100.0 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Less: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deferred fees and discounts | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allowance for loan losses | (29,690) | (13,925) | (27,059) | (36,682) | (17,659) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total loans receivable, net | $ | 1,554,993 | $ | 1,040,973 | $ | 2,489,108 | $ | 744,572 | $ | 506,265 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The following table includes a maturity profile for the loans that were outstanding as of December 31, 2022:
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| Due During Years Ending December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||