59 |
P a g e
TRINIDAD CEMENT LIMITED
SECTION 8: RISK FACTORS
(Continued)
Governmental regulations, including environmental regulations, may result in increases in the
Company’s operating costs and capital expenditures and decreases in its earnings.
A wide range of local laws and regulations apply to the Company’s operations, land usage; street and
highway usage; noise levels; and health, safety and environmental matters. In many instances the Company
must have various certificates, permits or licenses in order to conduct its business. The Company’s failure
to maintain required certificates, permits or licenses or to comply with applicable governmental
requirements could result in substantial fines or possible revocation of its authority to conduct some of its
operations.
Governmental requirements that impact the Company’s operations include those relating to air quality,
solid and hazardous waste management and cleanup and water quality. These requirements are complex
and subject to change. The Company’s compliance with amended, new or more stringent requirements,
stricter interpretations of existing requirements, or the future discovery of environmental conditions may
require the Company to make unanticipated material expenditures.
Additionally, due to the industrial nature of the Company’s operations, emissions, spills, releases,
discharges, and/or deposits may occur. The Company has systems in place to address these events, if they
occur, that the Company believes enables it to meet the requirements of the appropriate regulatory
agencies. However, these events may still result in the Company facing regulatory actions and/or civil
liability. While the Company believes it has all material licenses and permits, or they are in the process of
being renewed, and operates in material compliance with these licenses and permits, there may be
circumstances in which the Company does not, thereby giving rise to the possibility of fines and penalties,
and/or other regulatory actions and civil liability.
The Company may incur material costs and losses as a result of claims that the Company’s products do
not meet regulatory requirements or contractual specifications.
The Company’s operations involve providing products that must meet building code or other regulatory
requirements and contractual specifications for durability, stress-level capacity, weight-bearing capacity
and other characteristics. If the Company fails or is unable to provide products meeting these requirements
and specifications, material claims may arise against the Company and its reputation could be damaged. In
the past, the Company has had significant claims of this kind asserted against it that have been resolved and
the Company expects that in the future there could be additional claims of this kind asserted against the
Company. If a significant product-related claim or other claims are resolved against the Company in the
future, such resolution may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition,
results of operations, liquidity and cash flows.
The Company is subject to litigation proceedings that could harm its business if an unfavorable ruling
were to occur.
From time to time the Company is and may become involved in litigation and other legal proceedings
relating to claims arising from the Company’s operations in the normal course of business. The Company
is currently subject to a number of significant legal proceedings including, but not limited to, those relating
to the matters discussed under “Section 9.3: Material Litigation.” The Company cannot ensure that these or
other legal proceedings will not materially affect the Company’s ability to conduct its business in the
manner that the Company expects or otherwise adversely affect the Company should an unfavorable ruling
occur.
