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PART I
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains 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. Actual results could differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. The reader may find discussions containing such forward-looking statements in the material set forth under “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations” as well as elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain factors that might cause such a difference are discussed in this annual report on Form 10-K, including in the section entitled “Risk Factors.”
When used in this report, the terms “Mercury,” “we,” “our,” “us,” and “the Company” refer to Mercury Systems, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, except where the context otherwise requires or as otherwise indicated.
Effective July 1, 2019, the Company's fiscal year has changed to the 52-week or 53-week period ending on the Friday closest to the last day in June. All references to fiscal 2021 are to the 52-week period from July 4, 2020 to July 2, 2021. All references to fiscal 2020 are to the 53-week period from July 1, 2019 to July 3, 2020. All references to fiscal 2019 are to the 52-week period from and July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. There have been no reclassifications of prior comparable periods due to this change.
ITEM 1.BUSINESS
Our Company
Mercury Systems, Inc. is a leading technology company serving the aerospace and defense industry, positioned at the intersection of high-tech and defense. Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, we deliver products and solutions that enable a broad range of aerospace and defense programs, optimized for mission success in some of the most challenging and demanding environments. We envision, create and deliver innovative technology solutions that are open, purpose-built and uncompromised to meet our customers’ most-pressing high-tech needs, including those specific to the defense community.
As a leading manufacturer of essential components, products, modules and subsystems, we sell to defense prime contractors, the U.S. government and original equipment manufacturers (“OEM”) commercial aerospace companies. Mercury has built a trusted, contemporary portfolio of proven product solutions purpose-built for aerospace and defense that it believes meets and exceeds the performance needs of our defense and commercial customers. Customers add their own applications and algorithms to our specialized, secure and innovative products and pre-integrated solutions. This allows them to complete their full system by integrating with their platform, the sensor technology and, in some cases, the processing from Mercury. Our products and solutions are deployed in more than 300 programs with over 25 different defense prime contractors and commercial aviation customers.
Mercury’s transformational business model accelerates the process of making new technology profoundly more accessible to our customers by bridging the gap between commercial technology and aerospace and defense applications. Our long-standing deep relationships with leading high-tech companies, coupled with our high level of research and development (“R&D”) investments and industry-leading trusted and secure design and manufacturing capabilities, are the foundational tenets of this highly successful model. We are leading the development and adaptation of commercial technology for aerospace and defense solutions. From chip-scale to system scale and from radio frequency (“RF”) to digital, we make mission-critical technologies safe, secure, affordable and relevant for our customers.
Our capabilities, technology and R&D investment strategy combine to differentiate Mercury in our industry. Our technologies and capabilities include secure embedded processing modules and subsystems, mission computers, secure and rugged rack-mount servers, safety-critical avionics, components, multi-function assemblies, subsystems and custom microelectronics. We maintain our technological edge by investing in critical capabilities and intellectual property (“IP” or “building blocks”) in processing and RF, leveraging open standards and open architectures to adapt quickly those building blocks into solutions for highly data-intensive applications, including emerging needs in areas such as artificial intelligence (“AI”).
Our mission critical solutions are deployed by our customers for a variety of applications including command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (“C4ISR”), electronic intelligence, avionics, electro-optical/infrared (“EO/IR”), electronic warfare, weapons and missile defense, hypersonics and radar.
Our consolidated revenues, acquired revenues, net income, diluted earnings per share (“EPS”), adjusted earnings per share (“adjusted EPS”) and adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2021 were $924.0 million, $88.4 million, $62.0 million, $1.12, $2.42 and $201.9 million, respectively. Our consolidated revenues, acquired revenues, net income, EPS, adjusted EPS and adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2020 were $796.6 million, $0.9 million, $85.7 million, $1.56, $2.30 and $176.2 million, respectively. See the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section of this annual report for a reconciliation of our acquired revenues, adjusted EPS and adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.
1MPACT
On August 3, 2021, Mercury announced a companywide effort, called 1MPACT, to lay the foundation for the next phase of the Company’s value creation at scale. The goal of 1MPACT is to achieve Mercury’s full growth, margin expansion and adjusted EBITDA potential over the next five years. Since fiscal year 2014, Mercury has completed 13 acquisitions, deploying $1.2 billion of capital and, as a result, dramatically scaled and transformed the business. Over this time, the Company has extracted substantial revenue and cost synergies from each of these individual acquisitions. Now, as Mercury approaches the milestone of $1 billion of revenue, management believes there is significant opportunity to realize further scale through consolidating and streamlining the Company’s organizational structure which will improve visibility, speed of decision making and accountability. 1MPACT will be led by a new Chief Transformation Officer, and will focus on six major areas: organization efficiency and scalability; procurement and supply chain; facilities optimization; R&D investment; capital and asset efficiency; and scalable common processes and systems.
Our Business Strategy
Mercury’s business strategy is based on a differentiated market position: we make trusted, secure, mission critical technologies profoundly more accessible to the aerospace and defense industry. We leverage cutting edge commercial technology innovations to develop complex, secure and reliable product solutions and subsystems, purpose built for aerospace and defense. We create leading-edge technologies customized for aerospace and defense applications, through above average industry investment on a percentage basis in R&D. Our strategy is built to meet the aerospace and defense market’s need for speed.
Our strategies for growth are as follows:
1.Invest to grow organically: Mercury invests in our people, processes, systems and trusted manufacturing assets to support continued organic growth.
2.Expand capabilities, market access and penetration through mergers & acquisitions (“M&A”): We supplement our organic growth by expanding capabilities, market access and penetration through a disciplined M&A process and full acquisition integration to drive cost and revenue synergies.
3.Invest in trusted, secure Innovation that Matters®: Mercury develops leading edge technologies, customized for aerospace and defense applications, through above-average industry investment on a percentage basis in R&D. Recently our investments have been centered on trusted, secure Innovation that Matters®.
4.Continuously improve operational capability and scalability: We drive transformational and sustainable business improvement and value creation across the enterprise.
5.Attract and retain the right talent: We strive to continuously improve operational capability and scalability by attracting, retaining and engaging the right talent and supporting and promoting our culture and values.
Our strategies are built around our key strengths as a leading technology company serving the aerospace and defense industry. Our strategies include innovation and investment in scaling existing capabilities, as well as augmenting our capabilities through an acquisition strategy designed to focus on adjacent technologies. We believe our investment in R&D is more than double that of our competitors on a percentage basis. Our consistent strategies allow us to assist our customers, mostly defense prime contractors, to reduce program cost, minimize technical risk, stay on schedule and on budget, and ensure trust and security in the supply chain. As a result we have successfully penetrated strategic programs including Aegis, Patriot, Lower Tier Air & Missile Defense Sensor ("LTAMDS"), Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (“SEWIP”), Gorgon Stare, Predator, F-35, Reaper, F-16 SABR, E2-D Hawkeye, Paveway, Filthy Buzzard, PGK, P-8, Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suite (“AIDEWS”), Common Display System (“CDS”) and WIN-T.
We are committed to continued investment and innovation in advanced new products and solutions development to maintain our competitive advantage, including in the fields of RF, analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion, advanced multi- and many-core sensor processing systems including graphics processing units (“GPUs”), safety-critical design and engineering, processing for AI, embedded security, digital storage, and digital radio frequency memory (“DRFM”) solutions, software defined communications capabilities, and advanced security technologies and capabilities. Concurrently, we leverage our engineering and development capabilities, including systems integration, to accelerate our strategy to become a commercial outsourcing partner to the large defense prime contractors as they seek the more rapid design, development and delivery of affordable, commercially-developed, open architecture solutions within the markets we serve. We invest in scalable manufacturing operations in the U.S. to enable rapid, cost-effective deployment of our microelectronics and secure processing solutions to our customers.
Our commercial business model positions us to be compensated for non-recurring engineering which supplements our own internal R&D investment. We typically team concurrently with multiple defense prime contractors as they pursue new
business with solutions they develop and market to the government, and engage with our customers early in the design cycle. Our engagement model can lead to long-term production revenue that continues after the initial services are delivered.
We intend to add capabilities, through both M&A and investment in organic growth, both horizontally – in adjacent markets – and vertically – adding more content. For example:
•First, transition to pre-integrated subsystems: Mercury has expanded capabilities, particularly in integrated subsystems related to defense threats and increased system complexity, which in turn has driven greater outsourcing to us from our prime defense contractor and OEM customers.
•Second, expansion into new submarkets: Within the major markets Mercury serves we have moved, for example, into electronic warfare, weapons systems, acoustics submarkets and C4I.
•Third, vertical expansion: As we continue to add content, we seek to apply technology to all computers on aerospace and defense platforms that require trusted, safe and secure processing.
•Fourth, microelectronics: Our investment domestically in next-generation chiplet technology, from chip-scale to system scale.
Since July 2015, we have added substantial capabilities to our technology portfolio including: embedded security, with the acquisitions of Lewis Innovative Technologies Inc. (“LIT”), custom microelectronics, RF and microwave solutions, and embedded security, with the carve-out acquisition from Microsemi Corporation (the “Carve-Out Business”), The Athena Group, Inc. (“Athena”), Delta Microwave, LLC (“Delta”), Syntonic Microwave LLC (“Syntonic”), and Pentek Technologies, LLC and Pentek Systems, Inc. (collectively, "Pentek"); mission computing, safety-critical avionics and platform management, and large area display technology with the CES Creative Electronic Systems, S.A. (“CES”), Richland Technologies, L.L.C. (“RTL”), GECO Avionics, LLC (“GECO”), American Panel Corporation (“APC”) and Physical Optics Corporation ("POC") acquisitions; and rugged servers, computers and storage systems with the acquisitions of Themis Computer (“Themis”) and Germane Systems, LC (“Germane”).
We believe we have built the most trusted, proven, contemporary portfolio of solutions and sub-systems that are purpose-built to meet or exceed our customers’ most pressing high-tech needs. We are investing in six highly differentiated capabilities embedded into our pre-integrated subsystem solutions and products.
•Silicon. We adapt commercial Silicon Valley technology specifically for the aerospace and defense industry bringing cutting-edge commercial silicon technology to the Department of Defense (“DoD”) and our commercial customers, across platforms and programs, fast and affordably, from chip-scale to systems.
•Speed. We believe we have the highest performance and densest processing solutions available onboard military platforms. We also have some of the highest performing broadband RF capability targeting electronic warfare applications.
•SWaP. We have some of the best size, weight, power and cooling capabilities that ensure that our technology is able to run at the highest performance as well as the advanced ruggedization that is required to ensure that these technologies are able to operate consistently and effectively in the harsh environments in which they are required to operate.
•Software. We have some of the most advanced open middleware and software that allows customers to port their applications on top of open mission systems architecture.
•Security. We have industry-leading embedded security capabilities. We design, market and sell products intended to protect electronic systems that are critical to national security.
•Safety. We design safety-certifiable processing systems up to the highest design assurance levels. Our products are certifiable to the highest levels of software critically recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”), European Union Aviation Safety Agency (“EASA”), Transport Canada and Joint Aviation Authorities (“JAA”).
Our Solutions and Products
We deliver technology at the intersection of the high-tech and defense industries. The Mercury difference is driven by three key factors we promise to deliver to all of our customers: Trusted, Secure and Performance.
•Trusted: A trusted partner to aerospace and defense, delivering the most advanced and secure solutions to address accelerating global security challenges.
•Secure: Advanced embedded security capabilities – built-in, not bolted on – delivering uncompromised solutions in the face of growing cyber threats, and manufactured in Mercury facilities with superior ratings in industrial security.
•High Performance: Solutions that are among the highest performing available and optimized to meet the most rigorous demands of defense and commercial customers.
We offer a broad family of products designed to meet the full range of requirements in compute-intensive, signal processing, image processing and command and control applications. To maintain a competitive advantage, we seek to leverage
technology investments across multiple product lines and product solutions. Examples of hardware products include small, custom microelectronics, embedded sensor processing subsystems, RF and microwave components, modules, and subsystems, rugged servers, and avionics mission computers.
Our products are typically compute-intensive and require extremely high bandwidth and high throughput. These systems often must also meet significant SWaP constraints for use in aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (“UAVs”), ships and other platforms and be ruggedized for use in harsh environments. They are primarily used in both commercial aerospace applications, such as communications and ground radar air traffic control, as well as advanced defense and intelligence applications, including space-time adaptive processing, synthetic aperture radar, airborne early warning, command, control, communication and information systems, mission planning, image intelligence and signal intelligence systems. Our products transform the massive streams of digital data created in these applications into usable information in real time. The systems can scale from a few processors to thousands of processors.
We group our products into the following categories:
•Components. Components include technology elements typically performing a single, discrete technological function, which when physically combined with other components may be used to create a module or subassembly. Examples include but are not limited to power amplifiers and limiters, switches, oscillators, filters, equalizers, digital and analog converters, chips, MMICs (monolithic microwave integrated circuits), and memory and storage devices.
•Modules and Subassemblies. Modules and subassemblies include combinations of multiple functional technology elements and/or components that work together to perform multiple functions but are typically resident on or within a single board or housing. Modules and subassemblies may in turn be combined to form an integrated subsystem. Examples of modules and subassemblies include but are not limited to embedded processing modules, embedded processing boards, switch fabric boards, digital receiver boards, graphics and video processing and Ethernet and input/output boards, multi-chip modules, integrated radio frequency and microwave multi-function assemblies, tuners and transceivers.
•Integrated Subsystems. Integrated subsystems include multiple modules and/or subassemblies combined with a backplane or similar functional element and software to enable a solution. These are typically but not always integrated within a chassis and with cooling, power and other elements to address various requirements and are also often combined with additional technologies for interaction with other parts of a complete system or platform. Integrated subsystems also include spare and replacement modules and subassemblies sold as part of the same program for use in or with integrated subsystems sold by us.
By providing pre-integrated subsystems to our customers, we enable them to rapidly and cost-effectively port and adapt their applications to changing threats. This approach also saves our customers valuable time and expense, as their initial costs to integrate modules and components typically far exceed the costs of the individual product procurement. This benefit continues over time because we are continually investing R&D into our products. This allows us to provide our customers the latest technologies in our pre-integrated subsystems faster than they can typically do it themselves. We believe this is a better business and technology model to operate within, as it continues to provide value and benefits to us and our customers over time.
To address the current challenges facing the warfighter, our government and defense prime contractors, we have developed a new product architecture that supports a more dynamic, iterative, spiral development process by leveraging open architecture standards and leading-edge commercial technologies and products. Our open architecture is carried throughout our entire embedded computing product line from the very small form-factor subsystems to the high-end, where ultimate processing power and reliability is of paramount importance to the mission. Our commercially-developed product capabilities cover the entire intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (“ISR”) spectrum from acquisition and digitization of the signal, to processing of the signal, through the exploitation and dissemination of the information. We work continuously to improve our hardware technology with an eye toward optimization of SWaP demands.
Mercury partners with global tech leaders to align technology roadmaps and deliver cutting-edge computing in scalable, field-deployable form factors that are fully configurable to each unique workload. We use the latest Intel® server-class processing products, Xilinx Field Programmable Gate Arrays (“FPGA”), as well as NVIDIA GPU products in our embedded high-performance processing technologies. While this multi-computing and embedded processing technology is one of our core skills, the SWaP constraints that are encountered in connection with the high-performance embedded processing applications create unique challenges. For example, to deal with the heat build-up involved in small subsystems, we introduced a key technology called Air Flow-By™ that enables previously unattainable levels of processing power within a small footprint by effectively removing heat so the server-class processors can perform at maximum designed power limits. In rugged environments where air is limited, such as high-altitude operations, our Liquid-Flow-By™ technology has been successfully customer tested allowing maximum server-class processor performance. These innovative cooling techniques allow full performance server-class processing in rugged environments enabling new and advanced modes of operation that enhance the multi-intelligence, situational awareness and electronic warfare capabilities in military platforms.
Embedded systems security has become a requirement for new and emerging military programs, and our security solutions are a critical differentiator from our traditional competition. Our security solutions, combined with our next-generation secure Intel® server-class product line, together with increasingly frequent mandates from the government to secure electronic systems for domestic and foreign military sales, position us well to capitalize on DoD program protection security requirements. Finally, our built-in security framework creates higher product differentiation, and drives greater program velocity, while lowering risk.
Open Standards Support
Mercury has a long history of driving modular open systems architectures and has remained committed to creating, advancing, and adopting open standards for all our products, from our smallest components and connectors to our largest, high-performance, integrated multi-computer systems. With thirty-five years of technology leadership within the high-performance embedded computing industry, we have pioneered or contributed to the development of many of the defense industry’s current and emerging open standards, including standards such as RACEway, RapidIO, VXS, VPX, REDI and notably OpenVPX. These open standards allow system integrators to benefit from the interoperability of modules produced by multiple vendors. We also continue to be influential in the industry-standards organizations associated with our market segments. As a member of the VMEbus International Trade Association (“VITA”), the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (“SOSA”) initiative, the Future Airborne Capability Environment (“FACE”) consortium, and the Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/EW Interoperability (“VICTORY”) consortium, among other standards bodies, Mercury is helping to guide the aerospace and defense industry toward greater openness and vendor interoperability, consistent with the DoD’s focus on using modular open systems architectures (“MOSA”) in major programs.
Our software is based on open standards and includes heterogeneous processor support with extensive highly-optimized math libraries, multi-computing switch fabric support, net-centric and system management enabling services, extended operating system services, board support packages and development tools. This software platform delivers on the performance required for highly tuned real-time operation with the flexibility of open standards that are an essential ingredient of technology insertion and software life-cycle support.
As the U.S. government mandates more outsourcing and open standards, a major shift is occurring within the defense prime contractor community towards procurement of integrated subsystems that enable quick application level porting through standards-based methodologies. We believe that our core expertise in this area is well aligned to capitalize on this trend. By leveraging our open architecture and high-performance modular product set, we provide defense prime contractors with rapid deployment and quick reaction capabilities through our professional services and systems integration offerings. This results in less risk for the defense prime contractors, shortened development cycles, quicker solution deployment and reduced life-cycle costs.
Commitment to Deliver Uncompromised
For Mercury, this means ensuring our products and solutions have not been and cannot be tampered with, and that what we deliver to our customers is not compromised at any point during the development lifecycle, from procurement to manufacturing. Our holistic approach to deliver uncompromised includes:
•vigorously mitigating potential insider threats;
•proactively protecting our IT infrastructure with strong cybersecurity defenses;
•effectively managing and assessing our suppliers’ controls; and
•judiciously controlling design information through the entire development process.
We are investing in digital transformation, insider trust, cybersecurity, supply chain management and trusted microelectronics, all integral to our commitment to being a leader in delivering uncompromised solutions to our customers.
Recent Acquisitions
Since 2011 we have successfully acquired 16 businesses, successfully completing integration of the earlier acquired businesses with the integration of the more recent acquisitions progressing well. The 13 acquisitions completed since July 1, 2015 are shown below.
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Name of Acquired Entities
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Date of Acquisition
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Lewis Innovative Technologies, Inc.
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December 16, 2015
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Microsemi Carve-Out Business
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May 2, 2016
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CES Creative Electronic Systems S.A.
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November 3, 2016
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Delta Microwave, LLC
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April 3, 2017
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Richland Technologies L.L.C.
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July 3, 2017
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Themis Computer
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February 1, 2018
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Germane Systems, LC
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July 31, 2018
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GECO Avionics, LLC
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January 29, 2019
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The Athena Group, Inc.
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April 18, 2019
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Syntonic Microwave LLC
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April 18, 2019
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American Panel Corporation
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September 23, 2019
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Physical Optics Corporation
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December 30, 2020
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Pentek
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May 27, 2021
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Our Market Opportunity
Our market opportunity is defined by the growing demand for domestically designed and manufactured secure sensor and safety-critical mission processing capabilities for critical aerospace, defense and intelligence applications. Our primary market positioning is centered on making commercially available technologies profoundly more accessible to the aerospace and defense sector, specifically C4I systems, sensor processing and electronic warfare systems; and commercial markets, which include commercial aerospace communications and other commercial computing applications. We believe we are well-positioned in growing sustainable market segments of the aerospace and defense sector that rely on advanced technologies to improve warfighter capability and provide enhanced force protection capabilities. The acquisitions of the Carve-Out Business, Delta, Syntonic and Pentek further improved our ability to compete successfully in these market segments by allowing us to offer an even more comprehensive set of closely related capabilities. The CES, RTL, GECO, APC, and POC acquisitions provided us new capabilities that substantially expanded our addressable market into defense platform management, mission computing and commercial aerospace markets that are aligned to our existing market focus. The additions of Themis and Germane provided us with new capabilities and positioned us with a significant footprint within the C2I rugged server business. Our organic investments as well as the acquisitions of LIT, the Carve-Out Business, and Athena added to our portfolio of embedded security products that can be leveraged across our business. Finally, our CES addition, due to its location in Geneva, is helping to open more opportunities in international markets.
We believe there are a number of evolving trends that are reshaping our target markets and accordingly provide us with attractive growth opportunities. These trends include:
•The aerospace and defense electronics market is expected to grow in 2021 and beyond. According to Renaissance Strategic Advisors (“RSA”), as of August 2021, the global aerospace and defense electronics market is estimated to be $129 billion in 2021, growing to $148 billion by 2025. Within this global market, RSA estimates that the U.S. defense electronics market will be approximately $72 billion in 2021, growing to $78 billion in 2025. The aerospace and defense electronics marketplace consists of two primary subsegments: (i) C4I and (ii) sensor and effector mission systems. C4I encompasses platform and mission management, which include avionics and vetronics, C2I, which includes command and control and intelligence, and dedicated communications processing. Sensor and effector mission systems are primarily different types of sensor modalities such as electronic warfare, radar, EO/IR, and acoustics as well as weapons systems such as missiles and munitions. Within the global Tier 2 C4I market in which we participate, RSA estimates the market for 2021 to be $6.7 billion for platform and mission management, $8.3 billion for C2I, and $8.9 billion for dedicated communications. RSA estimates the compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) from 2021-2025 for these markets to be 6.6% for platform and mission management, 3.8% for C2I, and 3.3% for dedicated communications. Within the global Tier 2 sensor and effector mission systems market in which we participate, RSA estimates the market for 2021 to be $5.7 billion for electronic warfare, $5.8 billion for radar, $2.0 billion for EO/IR, $1.2 billion for acoustics, and $3.4 billion for weapons systems. RSA estimates the 2021-2025
CAGR for these markets to be 3.1% for electronic warfare, 2.9% for radar, 4.0% for EO/IR, 4.4% for acoustics, and 3.3% for weapons systems. Within the context of the overall U.S. defense budget and spending for defense electronics specifically, we believe the C4ISR, electronic warfare, guided missiles and precision munitions, and ballistic missile defense market segments have a high priority for future DoD spending. We continue to build on our strengths in the design and development of performance optimized electronic subsystems for these markets, and often team with multiple defense prime contractors as they bid for projects, thereby increasing our chance of a successful outcome. We expect to continue our above industry-average growth.
•The rapidly expanding demand for tactical ISR is leading to significant growth in sensor data being generated, leading to even greater demand for the capability of our products to securely store and process data onboard platforms. An increase in the prevalence and resolution of ISR sensors is generating significant growth in the associated data that needs to be stored and turned into information for the warfighter in a timely manner. In addition, several factors are driving the defense and intelligence industries to demand greater capability to collect, store, and process data onboard the aircraft, UAVs, ships and other vehicles, which we refer to collectively as platforms. These factors include the limited communications bandwidth of existing platforms, the need for platforms that can operate more autonomously and possibly in denied communications environments, the need for platforms with increased persistence to enable them to remain in or fly above the battlefield for extended periods, and the need for greater onboard processing capabilities. In addition, the advent of sophisticated AI algorithms is beginning to revolutionize the ability of sensor processing systems to intelligently and efficiently process and act upon these large data sets. Standard computing architectures and computing platforms currently do not offer the level of performance needed to optimize existing AI algorithms, creating an additional opportunity for advanced processing capabilities onboard the platform.
•Rogue nations’ missile programs and threats from peer nations are causing greater investment in advanced new radar, electronic warfare and ballistic missile defense capabilities. There are a number of new and emerging threats, such as peer nations developing stealth technologies, including stealth aircraft, new anti-ship ballistic missiles and a variety of other advanced missile capabilities. Additionally, U.S. armed forces require enhanced signals intelligence and jamming capabilities. In response to these emerging threats, we have participated in key DoD programs, including Aegis, Patriot, SEWIP, LTAMDS, F-22 Raptor, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and upgrade programs for the F-15, F-16, V-22 and F/A-18.
•The long-term DoD budget pressure is pushing more dollars toward upgrades of the electronic subsystems on existing platforms, which may increase demand for our products. The DoD is moving from major new weapons systems developments to upgrades of the electronic subsystems on existing platforms. These upgrades are expected to include more sensors, signal processing, ISR algorithms, multi-intelligence fusion and exploitation, computing and communications. We believe that upgrades to provide new urgent war fighting capability, driven by combatant commanders, are occurring more rapidly than traditional defense prime contractors can easily react to. We believe these trends will cause defense prime contractors to increasingly seek out our high-performance, cost-effective open architecture products.
•Defense procurement reform is causing the defense prime contractors to outsource more work to commercial companies and we believe that prime contractor outsourcing is our largest secular growth opportunity. RSA estimates that in 2021 the U.S. defense Tier 2 embedded computing and RF market addressable by suppliers such as Mercury is approximately $24 billion. RSA estimates that the U.S. defense prime contractors currently outsource only a small percentage of their work. On a global basis the Tier 2 embedded computing and RF market in 2021 is estimated by RSA to be $42 billion. The U.S. government is intensely focused on making systems more affordable and shortening their development time. In addition, the U.S. government is challenging defense prime contractors to leverage commercial technology wherever possible. This trend, along with a scarcity of technical and engineering talent in the market, is causing defense prime contractors to outsource to companies like Mercury, which we believe is our largest secular growth opportunity. As a merchant supplier of commercial technologies to the defense industry, we believe our products and subsystem solutions are often more affordable than solutions with the same functionality developed by a defense prime contractor. In addition, we believe our size, scale, and stability in addition to the investments we have made in our domestic manufacturing capabilities and infrastructure, make us a more reliable and attractive outsourcing partner for our customers relative to smaller sub-scale providers. These factors are providing incentives for defense prime contractors to outsource more work to subcontractors with significant expertise and cost-effective technology capabilities and solutions, and we have transformed our business model over the last several years to address these long-term outsourcing trends and other needs.
•DoD security and program protection requirements are creating new opportunities for domestic sourcing and our advanced secure processing capabilities. The U.S. government is focused on ensuring that the U.S. military protects its defense electronic systems and the information held within them from nefarious activities such as tampering, reverse engineering and other forms of advanced attacks, including cyber. The requirement to add security comes at a time when the commercial technology world continues to offshore more of the design, development, manufacturing
and support of such capabilities, making it more difficult to protect against embedded vulnerabilities, tampering, reverse engineering and other undesired activities. The DoD has a mandate to ensure both the provenance and integrity of the technology and its associated supply chain. These factors have created a unique opportunity for us to expand beyond sensor processing into the provision of technologies ranging from advanced secure processing subsystems to miniaturized custom microelectronics devices and capabilities for other on board critical computing applications designed, developed, manufactured and supported in the U.S.A. In addition, advanced systems sold to foreign military buyers also require protection so that the technologies, techniques and data associated with them do not become more widely available, which further enhances our market opportunity.
•Mercury is well-positioned to help address the need for DoD to access the latest commercial silicon, combined with the desire to ensure a trusted domestic supply of silicon technologies. In June 2020, DoD elevated microelectronics to its number one technology priority. This decision was based primarily on the proliferation and advances in commercial silicon but also the realization that DoD needs to be able to access these technologies in a trusted, secure and domestic manner. We believe Mercury is the leading provider of commercially-developed silicon purpose-built for the specific requirements of aerospace & defense. This capability began with our 2016 acquisition of the Carve-Out Business, which included capabilities in trusted and secure microelectronics. Since the acquisition, we have made additional investments in security and advanced packaging, most notably our announced $15 million capital investment in fiscal year 2020 to expand our trusted custom microelectronics business in Phoenix, Arizona, to bring cutting-edge commercial silicon to the DoD. This initiative is specifically intended to bridge DoD technologies from monolithic ASIC designs, which are purpose-built for DoD but are deployed on legacy silicon designs, to heterogeneous “chiplet” architectures, which leverage best-of-breed silicon from commercial providers and packages the silicon for defense-specific applications, including the ability to embed security into the device itself.
Our Competitive Strengths
We believe the following competitive strengths will allow us to take advantage of the evolving trends in our industry and successfully pursue our business strategy:
•Subsystem Solutions Provider for the C4ISR and Electronic Warfare Markets. Through our commercially developed, specialized processing subsystem solutions, we address the challenges associated with the collection and processing of massive, continuous streams of data and dramatically shorten the time that it takes to give information to U.S. armed forces at the tactical edge. Our solutions are specifically designed for flexibility and interoperability, allowing our products to be easily integrated into larger system-level solutions. Our ability to integrate subsystem-level capabilities allows us to provide solutions that most effectively address the mission-critical challenges within the C4ISR market, including multi-intelligence data fusion and AI processing onboard the platform. We leverage our deep expertise in embedded multicomputing, embedded sensor processing, with the addition of our RF microwave and millimeter subsystems and components, along with strategic investments in research and development to provide solutions across the sensor processing chain.
•Diverse Mix of Stable, Growth Programs Aligned with DoD Funding Priorities. Our products and solutions have been deployed on more than 300 different programs and over 25 different defense prime contractors. We serve high priority markets for the DoD and foreign militaries, such as UAVs, ballistic missile defense, guided missiles and precision munitions, airborne reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and have secured positions on mission-critical programs including Aegis, Predator and Reaper UAVs, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, LTAMDS, Patriot missile, SEWIP and Paveway. In addition, we consistently leverage our technology and capabilities across multiple programs, providing significant operating leverage and cost savings. Our recent acquisitions allow us to participate in a broader array of programs, many with key strategic customers of ours.
•We are a leading technology company serving the aerospace and defense industry. We have a portfolio of Open Standards Architecture (“OSA”) technology building blocks across the entire sensor processing chain. We offer embedded secure processing capabilities with advanced packaging and cooling technologies that ruggedize commercial technologies while allowing them to stay cool for reliable operation. These capabilities allow us to help our customers meet the demanding SWaP requirements of today’s defense platforms. Our pre-integrated subsystems improve affordability by substantially reducing customer system integration costs and time-to-market for our solutions. System integration costs are one of the more substantial costs our customers bear in developing and deploying technologies in defense programs and platforms. Our pre-integrated solutions approach allows for more rapid and affordable modernization of existing platforms and faster deployment of new platforms.
Our strengths in this area include our position as an early and leading advocate for OSA in defense, offering Intel® server class processing form factors across 3/6U OpenVPX, ATCA and rack-mount architectures, and high density, secure solutions across multiple hardware architectures to seamlessly scale to meet our customers’ SWaP requirements. In addition, we have a 30-year legacy of system management and system integration expertise that allows us to reduce technical risk, while
improving affordability and interoperability. Our system integration expertise is a cornerstone in helping us support our customers in deploying pre-integrated, OSA subsystems.
As more commercial technology companies move the design, development, manufacturing and support of their technologies offshore, the DoD is looking to domestic technology providers to develop a sustainable, U.S.-based trusted supply chain. Over several years we have been building out our capacity for domestic manufacturing through our Advanced Microelectronics Centers (“AMCs”). These facilities provide significant scale and capacity for our defense prime customers, who have been increasingly willing to outsource to partners with the scale needed to meet large program production requirements. In addition, our Phoenix, Arizona AMC is a Defense Microelectronics Activity (“DMEA”)-certified, trusted manufacturing facility, which represents a significant competitive advantage. Our Phoenix AMC also includes a surface mount technology manufacturing capability which we refer to as our U.S. Manufacturing Operations (“USMO”).
•We provide advanced, integrated security features for our products and subsystems, addressing an increasingly prevalent requirement for DoD program security. We offer secure processing expertise that is built-in to our pre-integrated subsystems. By doing this we are able to provide secure building blocks that allow our customers to also incorporate their own security capabilities. This assists our customers in ensuring program protection as they deploy critical platforms and programs, all in support of DoD missions. The acquisition of the Carve-Out Business brought us new security technologies and also allowed us to provide enhanced security capabilities in areas such as memory and storage devices. Our acquisitions of the Carve-Out Business, LIT and Athena also added to our portfolio of sophisticated firmware and software specifically designed to secure microelectronic devices that can be leveraged across our product portfolio.
•We are pioneering a next generation business model. The DoD and the defense industrial base is currently undergoing a major transformation. Domestic political and budget uncertainty, geopolitical instability and evolving global threats have become constants. The defense budget remains under pressure and R&D and technology spending are often in budgetary competition with the increasing costs of military personnel requirements, health care costs and other important elements within the DoD and the Federal budget generally. Finally, defense acquisition reform calls for the continued drive for innovation and competition within the defense industrial base, while also driving down acquisition costs. Our approach is built around a few key pillars:
•We continue to leverage our expertise in building pre-integrated subsystems in support of critical defense programs, driving out procurement costs by lowering integration expenses of our customers.
•We have been a pioneer in driving OSA for both embedded computing and RF.
•The DoD has asked defense industry participants to invest their own resources into R&D. This approach is a pillar of our business model.
•Security and program protection are now critical considerations for both program modernizations as well as for new program deployment. We are now in our fourth generation of building secure embedded processing solutions.
We have a next generation business model built to meet the emerging needs of the DoD.
•Value-Added Subsystem Solution Provider for Defense Prime Contractors. Because of the DoD’s continuing shift toward a firm fixed price contract procurement model, an increasingly uncertain budgetary and procurement environment, and increased budget pressures from both the U.S. and allied governments, defense prime contractors are accelerating their move toward outsourcing opportunities to help mitigate the increased program and financial risk. Our differentiated secure sensor and safety-critical processing solutions offer meaningful capabilities upgrades for our customers and enable the rapid, cost-effective deployment of systems to the end customer. We believe our open architecture subsystems offer differentiated sensor processing and data analytics capabilities that cannot be easily replicated. Our solutions minimize program risk, maximize application portability, and accelerate customers’ time to market, all within a fixed-pricing contracting environment.
•Delivery of Platform-Ready Solutions for Classified Programs. We believe our integration work through our Cypress, California facility provides us with critical insights as we implement and incorporate key classified government intellectual property, including critical intelligence and signal processing algorithms, into advanced systems. This integration work provides us the opportunity to combine directly and integrate our technology building blocks along with our intellectual property into our existing embedded processing products and solutions, enabling us to deliver more affordable, platform-ready integrated ISR subsystems that leverage our OSA and address key government technology and procurement concerns. Our operations in this environment also help us identify emerging needs and opportunities to influence our future product development, so that critical future needs can be met in a timely manner with commercially-developed products and solutions.
•We have invested in advanced, domestic design and manufacturing capabilities. Over the past several years we have prioritized investments to build our internal capabilities and capacity for defense electronics design and manufacturing in the U.S. These investments include the consolidation of a number of sub-scale microelectronics manufacturing facilities into our modern AMCs as well as the establishment of our USMO in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition to the consolidation of facilities into scalable engineering and manufacturing centers of excellence, we have made the necessary investments to outfit these facilities with modern, scalable and redundant tools and equipment to promote quality, efficiency, throughput and redundancy. In addition we invested in our information technology (“IT”) infrastructure and business systems to meet Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (“DFARS”) requirements for cybersecurity. These investments taken together are intended to demonstrate our commitment to meeting DoD expectations for a trusted and secure defense industrial base. Our AMCs in Hudson, New Hampshire, West Caldwell, New Jersey, Oxnard, California, Huntsville, Alabama and Phoenix, Arizona are strategically located near key customers and are purpose-built for the design, build and test of RF components and subsystems in support of a variety of key customer programs. Our USMO is built around scalable, repeatable, secure, affordable and predictable manufacturing. The USMO is a DMEA certified secure trusted site, certified to AS9100 quality standards and it utilizes Lean Six Sigma methodologies throughout manufacturing. The USMO is designed for efficient manufacturing, enabling our customers to access the best proven technology and high performing, secure processing solutions. This allows for the most repeatable product performance, while optimizing affordability and production responsiveness.
•Long-Standing Industry Relationships. We have established long-standing relationships with defense prime contractors, the U.S. government and other key organizations in the defense industry over our 30 years in the defense electronics industry. Our customers include Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, General Atomics, General Dynamics, L3Harris Technologies, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Raytheon Technologies. Over this period, we have become recognized for our ability to develop new technologies and meet stringent program requirements. We believe we are well-positioned to maintain these high-level customer engagements and enhance them through the additional relationships that our recently acquired businesses have with many of the same customers.
•Proven Management Team. Our senior management team has developed a long-term compelling strategy for the aerospace and defense markets. Our senior management team has a history of identifying and evaluating successful business acquisition opportunities, performing in-depth due diligence, negotiating with owners and management, structuring, financing and closing transactions and then integrating the acquired business resulting in the creation of synergies and enhanced overall returns. Having completed these critical steps with a senior management team with significant experience in growing, scaling and acquiring businesses, we believe that we have demonstrated our operational capabilities and we are well-positioned to continue growing and scaling our business.
•Leading M&A Origination and Execution Capability. We have a strong track-record of identifying and executing strategic acquisitions. Since July 1, 2015 we have acquired 13 businesses, which are strategically aligned with Mercury, successfully completing integration of the earlier acquired businesses with the integration of the more recent acquisitions progressing well. We have established an internal team that brings decades of experience across more than 100 transactions. We have developed internal processes to identify and source strategic acquisitions on a proprietary basis and negotiated directly with owners on a number of acquisitions. In addition, we have developed relationships with a number of investment banks and other sell-side advisors, as well as a reputation as a preferred acquirer, which allow us access to targeted or widely-marketed M&A processes. Our internal capabilities include financial, legal and other transaction diligence, deal valuation and deal negotiations. Where appropriate, we leverage third party advisors to supplement our internal diligence. We have a proven ability to execute numerous transactions simultaneously effectively and efficiently.
•Proven M&A Integration Capability. We have developed the internal processes and capability to integrate acquired businesses to deliver value through revenue and cost synergies. We leverage our common cultures and values as well as common processes, business systems, tools, channels and manufacturing infrastructure to accelerate growth and improve profitability in our acquired businesses.
Competition
We operate in a highly competitive marketplace characterized by rapidly changing technology, frequent product performance improvements, increasing speed of deployment to align with warfighters’ needs and evolving industry standards and requirements coming from our customers or the DoD. Competition typically occurs at the design stage of a prospective customer’s product, where the customer evaluates alternative technologies and design approaches. We work with defense prime contractors as well as directly with the DoD. We help drive subsystem development and deployment in both classified and unclassified environments.
The principal competitive factors in our market are price/performance value proposition, available new products at the time of design win engagement, services and systems integration capability, effective marketing and sales efforts and reputation in the market. Our competitive strengths include rapid, innovative engineering in both hardware and software products, subsystem design expertise, advanced packaging capability to deliver the most optimized SWaP solution possible, our ability to respond rapidly to varied customer requirements and a track record of successfully supporting many high profile programs in the defense market. There are competitors in the different market segments and application types in which we participate. Some of these competitors are larger and have greater resources than us. Some of these competitors compete against us at purely a component or board-level, others at a subsystem level. We also compete with in-house design teams at our customers. The DoD as well as the defense prime contractors are pushing for more outsourcing of subsystem designs to mitigate risk and to enable concurrent design of the platform which ultimately leads to faster time to deployment. We have aligned our strategy to capitalize on that trend and are leveraging our long standing subsystem expertise to provide this value to our customers.
Research and Product Development
Our R&D efforts are focused on developing new products and subsystems as well as enhancing existing hardware and software products in mission, signal and image processing. Our R&D goal is to fully exploit and maintain our technological lead in the high-performance, real-time sensor processing industry and in mission computing, platform management and other safety-critical applications. Expenditures for research and development amounted to $113.5 million, $98.5 million and $68.9 million in fiscal years 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As of July 2, 2021, we had 791 employees, including hardware and software architects and design engineers, primarily engaged in engineering and research and product development activities. These individuals, in conjunction with our sales team, also devote a portion of their time to assisting customers in utilizing our products, developing new uses for these products and anticipating customer requirements for new products.
Manufacturing
The majority of our sales are produced in AS9100 quality system-certified facilities. The current scope of delivered hardware products includes commercial and industrial class printed circuit board assemblies (modules), complex chassis subsystems, rugged display system and servers and RF and microwave components and subsystems.
Our Phoenix, Arizona AMC manufactures our custom microelectronics products in an AS9100 quality system-certified facility. Our Phoenix, Arizona facility also contains our USMO, which is an IPC1791 and DMEA-certified trusted manufacturing facility and is primarily focused on advanced secure system-on-chip design, assembly, packaging and test. Our Oxnard, California facility manufactures radio frequency and microwave products in an AS9100 quality system-certified facility. Our Cypress, California, West Lafayette, Indiana, Huntsville, Alabama and Mesa, Arizona facilities are AS9100 quality systems-certified facilities as well. Our Fremont, California and Alpharetta, Georgia facilities are ISO 9001:2015 quality systems-certified. Our Chantilly, Virginia facility is an IPC1791 and AS9100 quality systems-certified facility. Our Andover, Massachusetts and Hudson, New Hampshire facilities design and assemble our processing products and are AS9100 quality systems-certified facilities. Our Andover, Massachusetts facility is also a DMEA-certified trusted design facility and is primarily focused on advanced security features for the processing product line. Our Hudson, New Hampshire facility is also IPC1791 certified. Our Geneva, Switzerland facility, the headquarters of Mercury's European operations, provides electronic design and manufacturing, maintenance and support services and is AS9001 and EASA Part 145 quality systems-certified. Our Silchester, England facility provides engineering, development and integration services and is AS9100 quality systems-certified.
We rely on both vertical integration and subcontracting to contract manufacturers to meet our manufacturing needs. Our USMO and Geneva facilities have the manufacturing capabilities to complete the assembly and testing for certain of our embedded multi-computing products. We subcontract as needed a portion of the assembly and testing for our other embedded multi-computing products to contract manufacturers in the U.S. to build to our specifications. Our printed circuit board assemblies and chassis subsystems' manufacturing operations also consist of materials planning and procurement, final assembly and test and logistics (inventory and traffic management). Our vertically integrated subsystem product solutions rely on strong relationships with strategic suppliers to ensure on-time delivery and high quality products. We manage supplier performance and capability through quality audits and stringent source, incoming and/or first article inspection processes. We have a comprehensive quality and process control plan for each of our products, which include an effective supply chain management program and the use of automated inspection and test equipment to assure the quality and reliability of our products. We perform most post sales service obligations (both warranty and other lifecycle support) in-house through a dedicated service and repair operation. We periodically review our contract manufacturing capabilities to ensure we are optimized for the right mix of quality, affordability, performance and on-time delivery.
Our AMC in Phoenix, Arizona is built around scalable, repeatable, secure, affordable, and predictable manufacturing. The high mix, low volume and high complexity/density nature of our products require speed and seamless interaction with all internal functions (as opposed to with an external contract manufacturer) which is a key value proposition of the USMO. The USMO is also designed for efficient showcasing to customers who at any point wish to access the best proven technology and
high performing, secure electronics and processing manufacturing solutions within a broader product company such as Mercury. Proximity and interaction with our internal engineering organization is a significant benefit. This allows for the most repeatable product performance, while optimizing affordability and production responsiveness. The Phoenix AMC also provides manufacturing and assembly for SWaP-optimized multi-chip modules and system-in-package devices. We combine surface-mount, flip chip, die attach, wire bond and rugged 3D packaging on the same devices to provide a swap-optimized solution for our customers.
The Hudson, New Hampshire, West Caldwell, New Jersey, and Oxnard, California facilities are specifically aimed at providing scalable manufacturing within our critical businesses. We leverage best practices in design, development, manufacturing and materials handling at these production and subsystems integration facilities. These facilities include the design, build and test of both RF and microwave components and subsystems in support of a variety of key customer programs. Our Alpharetta, Georgia facility offers active matrix liquid crystal display systems which enhances the highly sophisticated man/machine interface. Our recent acquisition of POC in Torrance, CA is an AS9100 facility that offers Avionics Safety-Certifiable subsystems.
Although we generally use standard parts and components for our products, certain components, including custom designed ASICs, static random access memory, FPGAs, microprocessors and other third-party chassis peripherals (single board computers, power supplies, blowers, etc.), are currently available only from a single source or from limited sources. Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we launched efforts to increase our spend under long-term procurement agreements. This has proven very beneficial during the severe supply constraints we have faced, which have driven significant price increases across the industry. We have generally been able to obtain adequate supplies of components in a timely manner from current vendors or, when necessary to meet production needs, from alternate vendors. We believe that, in most cases, alternate vendors can be identified if current vendors are unable to fulfill needs.
We also design, develop and manufacture DRFM units for a variety of modern electronic warfare applications, as well as radar environment simulation and test systems for defense and intelligence applications. We develop high performance signals intelligence payloads and EO/IR technologies for small UAV platforms as well as powerful onboard UAV processor systems for real-time wide area motion imagery.
Intellectual Property and Proprietary Rights
As of July 2, 2021, we held 90 patents of varying duration issued in the United States. We file U.S. patent applications and, where appropriate, foreign patent applications. We also file continuations to cover both new and improved designs and products. At present, we have several U.S. and foreign patent applications in process.
We also rely on a combination of trade secret, copyright and trademark laws, as well as contractual agreements, to safeguard our proprietary rights in technology and products. In seeking to limit access to sensitive information to the greatest practical extent, we routinely enter into confidentiality and assignment of invention agreements with each of our employees and consultants and nondisclosure agreements with our key customers and vendors.
Mercury Systems, Innovation that Matters, Armor, ASSURE-Stor, EchoCore, Echotek, Ensemble, MultiCore Plus, NanoATR, NanoPAK, NanoSWITCH, PowerBlock, PowerStream, RACE, RACE Series, Race++ Series, Themis, TRRUST-Stor, and TRRUST-Purge are registered trademarks; and Air Flow-By, BuiltSAFE, BuiltSECURE, CANGuard, CodeSEAL, EnforcIT-S, EnsembleSeries, EnterpriseSeries, Liquid Flow-By, OpenRFM, POET, SecureBootFPGA, SpectrumSeries, and WhiteboxCRYPTO are trademarks of Mercury Systems, Inc. OpenVPX is a trademark of the VMEbus International Trade Association. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders, and are hereby acknowledged.
Backlog
As of July 2, 2021, we had a backlog of orders aggregating approximately $909.6 million, of which $530.0 million is expected to be delivered within the next twelve months. As of July 3, 2020, backlog was approximately $831.1 million. We include in our backlog customer orders for products and services for which we have accepted signed purchase orders, as long as that order is scheduled to ship or invoice in whole, or in part, within the next 24 months. Orders included in backlog may be canceled or rescheduled by customers, although the customer may incur cancellation penalties depending on the timing of the cancellation. A variety of conditions, both specific to the individual customer and generally affecting the customer’s industry, may cause customers to cancel, reduce or delay orders that were previously made or anticipated. We cannot assure the timely replacement of canceled, delayed or reduced orders.
Employees
At July 2, 2021, we employed a total of 2,384 people excluding contractors, including 791 in research and development, 135 in sales and marketing, 891 in manufacturing and customer support and 567 in general and administrative functions. We have 141 employees located in Europe, six located in Canada, and one located in Japan, and 2,236 located in the United States. We do not have any employees represented by a labor organization, and we believe that our relations with our employees are good. We also use contractors on an as-needed basis.
Human Capital
At Mercury, our people are at the center of everything we do in driving Innovation That Matters® for our customers. We recognize that Mercury will succeed only if our employees are engaged, given an opportunity to develop and provided with a safe workplace that values diverse perspectives. Our Board of Directors provides oversight of our people practices, including regularly reviewing workforce metrics, including the metrics described below. Additional data related to these metrics can be found on our website at www.mrcy.com under the Company – Environmental, Social and Governance tab (our “Website”).
•Employee Overview: As of July 2, 2021, we had 2,384 employees around the globe. Our primary operations are in the U.S. with 2,175 employees and we operate offices in 11 states. Mercury also has operations in Europe, Asia and Canada. No employees are covered by any collective bargaining or similar agreements.
•Culture and Employee Engagement: We believe our workplace culture drives engagement that turns ideas into action, delivering trusted and secure solutions at the speed of innovation. Our investment in our employees extends to our workplaces. Over the last fiscal year, Mercury’s Phoenix, Arizona, facility, our largest manufacturing facility, was recognized as Medium Manufacturer of the Year by the Arizona Manufacturers Council for its accomplishments in championing innovation, excellence, sustainability and leadership in the manufacturing sector. We also encourage employees to give back to our communities. During the pandemic, Mercury and its employees contributed over $100,000 to a fund used to thank healthcare workers in our communities with gift cards. The Boston Globe also ranked Mercury for 2020 one of the Top Places to Work in Massachusetts, where we are headquartered with over 300 employees as of July 2, 2021.
Mercury regularly seeks employee input through engagement surveys, the results of which drive meaningful and timely action, as appropriate, from our leadership team. Participation in our most recent employee engagement survey in April 2021 remained strong at 85%.
•Training and Development: Life-long learning is encouraged at Mercury through our offering of LinkedIn Learning, tuition reimbursement and other employee development opportunities. We are deeply invested in building the next generation of engineers and scientists, with our internship and co-op programs, as well as through our new partnership with Udacity which fosters upskilling in the areas of AI, machine learning and data science. Mercury also has formal leadership development programs for high-potential employees: Leadership Edge (director and above); Mercury Managers Matter (for manger-level employees); and Managing at Mercury (supervisors, team leaders and new managers).
•Pay and Benefits: The Company seeks competitiveness and fairness in total compensation with reference to peer comparisons and internal equity. Mercury also offers a variety of well-being programs to support our employees and their families with healthy living. These programs include paid time off, paid parental leave, health insurance coverage, company contributions to retirement savings and employee assistance and work-life programs. In addition, Mercury offers employees less traditional benefits to support employee well-being such as access to fitness and meditation apps, as well as an online platform through which employees participate in health living challenges and earn financial rewards.
•Health and Safety: On our Website, we disclose quality and safety information, including OSHA injury data. Over the last fiscal year, Mercury expended $9.9 million for COVID testing, sick pay and other efforts to keep our employees and their families, as well as our facilities, safe during the global pandemic. Mercury also established a $1 million relief fund, which was fully utilized, for employees to access during the pandemic for family needs (e.g., acquiring personal protective equipment) and hardships. Our CEO was also recognized by Glassdoor as the top rated CEO in the U.S. for his leadership during the pandemic.
•Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Our Website discloses detailed workplace data surrounding our gender diversity, racial/ethnic diversity and turnover data. As of July 2, 2021, women and racially/ethnically diverse employees represented 30% and 42%, respectively, of Mercury’s workforce. Development of a diverse talent pipeline is a
business imperative at Mercury and critical to our ability to drive innovation and improve long-term results. We have established relationships with job networks and educational institutions to proactively attract a diverse pool of talent. Our employees are afforded opportunities to cultivate diversity, equity and inclusion both within Mercury and our industry. For example, Mercury sponsors, and our leaders participate in, the annual Simmons Women’s Leadership Conference which has the goal of preparing the next generation of female leaders and furthering equality in the workplace. Mercury has also conducted gender pay equity assessments and made adjustments to women’s pay levels, as appropriate, as a result of such assessments.
Customers
Lockheed Martin Corporation and Raytheon Technologies comprised an aggregate of 34%, 32% and 37% of our revenues in each of the fiscal years 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The United States Navy comprised 12% of our revenues in fiscal year 2021. While sales to each of these customers comprise 10% or more of our annual revenue, the sales to these customers are spread across multiple programs and platforms. For the fiscal years ended 2021, 2020 and 2019, we had no single program that represented 10% or more of our revenues.
Corporate Headquarters and Incorporation
Our corporate headquarters is located in Andover, Massachusetts. Mercury Systems, Inc. was incorporated in Massachusetts in 1981.
Financial Information about Geographic Scope
Information about revenue we receive within and outside the U.S. can be found in Note Q - Operating Segment, Geographic Information and Significant Customers - to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
WEBSITE
We maintain a website at www.mrcy.com. We make available on our website, free of charge, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K, including exhibits and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended, as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Our code of business conduct and ethics is also available on our website. We intend to disclose any future amendments to, or waivers from, our code of business conduct and ethics within four business days of the waiver or amendment through a website posting or by filing a current report on Form 8-K with the SEC. Information contained on our website does not constitute part of this report. Our reports filed with, or furnished to, the SEC are also available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Investors and others should note that we announce material financial information using our website (www.mrcy.com), SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls, webcasts, and social media, including Twitter (twitter.com/mrcy and twitter.com/mrcy_CEO) and LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/company/mercury-systems). Therefore, we encourage investors and others interested in Mercury to review the information we post on the social media and other communication channels listed on our website.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS:
Risks Related to Business Operations and Our Industry
We depend heavily on defense electronics programs that incorporate our products and services, which may be only partially funded and are subject to potential termination and reductions and delays in government spending.
Sales of our products and services, primarily as a subcontractor or team member with defense prime contractors, and in some cases directly, to the U.S. government and its agencies, as well as foreign governments and agencies, accounted for approximately 98% of our total net revenues in fiscal 2021 and 95% in each of fiscal 2020 and 2019. Our products and services are incorporated into many different domestic and international defense programs. Over the lifetime of a defense program, the award of many different individual contracts and subcontracts may impact our products’ requirements. The funding of U.S. government programs is subject to Congressional appropriations. Although multiple-year contracts may be planned in connection with major procurements, Congress generally appropriates funds on a fiscal year basis even though a program may continue for many years. Consequently, programs are often only partially funded initially, and additional funds are committed only as Congress makes further appropriations and prime contracts receive such funding. The reduction or delay in funding or termination of a government program in which we are involved could result in a loss of or delay in receiving anticipated future revenues attributable to that program and contracts or orders received. The U.S. government could reduce or terminate a prime contract under which we are a subcontractor or team member irrespective of the quality of our products or services. The termination of a program or the reduction in or failure to commit additional funds to a program in which we are involved could
negatively impact our revenues and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. The U.S. defense budget frequently operates under a continuing budget resolution, which increases revenue uncertainty and volatility. For fiscal 2022 and beyond, the potential for gridlock in Congress, a continuing budget resolution, budget sequestration, a U.S. government shutdown, or the crowding out of defense funding due to historically high budget deficits or changes in national spending priorities toward non-defense budget items could adversely impact our revenues and increase uncertainty in our business and financial planning.
Economic conditions could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
The world’s financial markets have, at times, experienced turmoil which could have material adverse impacts on our financial condition or our ability to achieve targeted results of operations due to:
•reduced and delayed demand for our products;
•increased risk of order cancellations or delays;
•downward pressure on the prices of our products;
•greater difficulty in collecting accounts receivable; and
•risks to our liquidity, including the possibility that we might not have access to our cash and short-term investments or to our line of credit when needed.
Further, the funding of the defense programs that incorporate our products and services is subject to the overall U.S. government budget and appropriation decisions and processes, which are driven by numerous factors beyond our control, including geo-political, macroeconomic, public health, and political conditions. We are unable to predict the likely duration and severity of adverse economic conditions in the United States and other countries, but the longer the duration or the greater the severity, the greater the risks we face in operating our business.
The loss of one or more of our largest customers, programs, or applications could adversely affect our results of operations.
We are dependent on a small number of customers for a large portion of our revenues. A significant decrease in the sales to or loss of any of our major customers would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In fiscal 2021, Raytheon Technologies accounted for 19% of our total net revenues, Lockheed Martin Corporation accounted for 15% of our total net revenues, and the US Navy accounted for 12% of our total net revenues. In fiscal 2020, both Lockheed Martin Corporation and Raytheon Technologies accounted for 16% of our total net revenues. In fiscal 2019, Raytheon Technologies accounted for 20% of our total net revenues and Lockheed Martin Corporation accounted for 17% of our total net revenues. Customers in the defense market generally purchase our products in connection with government programs that have a limited duration, leading to fluctuating sales to any particular customer in this market from year to year. In addition, our revenues are largely dependent upon the ability of customers to develop and sell products that incorporate our products. No assurance can be given that our customers will not experience financial, technical or other difficulties that could adversely affect their operations and, in turn, our results of operations. Additionally, on a limited number of programs the customer has co-manufacturing rights which could lead to a shift of production on such a program away from us which in turn could lead to lower revenues.
Going forward, we believe the SEWIP, Filthy Buzzard, F-35 and LTAMDS programs as well as a classified radar program could be a large portion of our future revenues in the coming years, and the loss or cancellation of these programs could adversely affect our future results. Further, new programs may yield lower margins than legacy programs, which could result in an overall reduction in gross margins.
If we are unable to respond adequately to our competition or to changing technology, we may lose existing customers and fail to win future business opportunities. The emergence of commodity-type products as acceptable substitutes for certain of our products may cause customers to delay purchases or seek alternative solutions.
The markets for our products are highly competitive and are characterized by rapidly changing technology, frequent product performance improvements, and evolving industry standards. Competitors may be able to offer more attractive pricing, develop products with performance features that are superior to our products, or offer higher quality or superior on time delivery, resulting in reduced demand for our products. We may be unable to keep pace with competitors’ marketing and the lack of visibility in the marketplace may negatively impact design wins, bookings, and revenues. Customers may also decide to reduce costs and accept the least costly technically acceptable alternative to our products or services. In addition, customers may decide to insource products that they have outsourced to us. Due to the rapidly changing nature of technology, we may not become aware in advance of the emergence of new competitors into our markets. The emergence of new competitors into markets targeted by us could result in the loss of existing customers and may have a negative impact on our ability to win future business opportunities. Perceptions of Mercury as a high-cost provider could cause us to lose existing customers or fail to win new business. Further, our lack of strong engagements with important government-funded laboratories (e.g. DARPA, MIT Lincoln Labs, MITRE) may inhibit our ability to become subsystem solution design partners with our defense prime customers.
Our products are often designed for operating under physical constraints such as limited space, weight, and electrical power. Furthermore, these products are often designed to be “rugged,” that is, to withstand enhanced environmental stress such as extended temperature range, shock, vibration, and exposure to sand or salt spray. Historically these requirements have often precluded the use of less expensive, readily available commodity-type systems typically found in more benign non-military settings. With continued microprocessor evolution, low-end systems could become adequate to meet the requirements of an increased number of the lesser-demanding applications within our target markets. Commercial server manufacturers and other low-end single-board computer, or new competitors, may attempt to penetrate the high-performance market for defense electronics systems. Factors that may increase the acceptability of commodity-type products in some defense platforms that we serve include improvements in the physical properties and durability of such alternative products, combined with the relaxation of physical and ruggedness requirements by the military due to either a reevaluation of those requirements or the installation of products in a more highly environmentally isolated setting. These developments could negatively impact our revenues and have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.
Competition from existing or new companies could cause us to experience downward pressure on prices, fewer customer orders, reduced margins, the inability to take advantage of new business opportunities, and the loss of market share.
We compete in highly competitive industries, and our customers generally extend the competitive pressures they face throughout their respective supply chains. Additionally, our markets are facing increasing industry consolidation, resulting in larger competitors who have more market share putting more downward pressure on prices and offering a more robust portfolio of products and services. We are subject to competition based upon product design, performance, pricing, quality, on time delivery, and support services. Our product performance, engineering expertise, and product quality have been important factors in our growth. While we try to maintain competitive pricing on those products that are directly comparable to products manufactured by others, in many instances our products will conform to more exacting specifications and carry a higher price than analogous products. Many of our customers and potential customers have the capacity to design and internally manufacture products that are similar to our products. We face competition from research and product development groups and the manufacturing operations of current and potential customers, who continually evaluate the benefits of internal research, product development, and manufacturing versus outsourcing. Our defense prime contractor customers could decide to pursue one or more of our product development areas as a core competency and insource that technology development and production rather than purchase that capability from us as a supplier. This competition could result in fewer customer orders and a loss of market share.
We may be unable to obtain critical components from suppliers, which could disrupt or delay our ability to deliver products to our customers.
Several components used in our products are currently obtained from sole-source suppliers. We are dependent on key vendors such as Xilinx, Inc., Intel Corporation and Microsemi for Field Programmable Gate Arrays (“FPGA”), on NXP Semiconductor for Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (“ASICs”), Intel Corporation and NXP Semiconductor for processors, Micron Technology, Inc. for specific memory products and in general any sole-source microelectronics suppliers. Generally, suppliers may terminate their contracts with us without cause upon 30 days’ notice and may cease offering their products upon 180 days’ notice. If any of our sole-source suppliers limits or reduces the sale of these components, we may be unable to fulfill customer orders in a timely manner or at all. If these or other component suppliers, some of which are small companies, experienced financial difficulties or other problems that prevented them from supplying us with the necessary components on a timely basis, we could experience a loss of revenues due to our inability to fulfill orders. These sole-source and other suppliers are each subject to quality and performance issues, materials shortages, excess demand, reduction in capacity and other factors that may disrupt the flow of goods to us or to our customers, which would adversely affect our business and customer relationships. There can be no assurance that these suppliers will continue to meet our requirements. If supply arrangements are interrupted, we may not be able to find another supplier on a timely or satisfactory basis. We may incur significant set-up costs and delays in manufacturing should it become necessary to replace any key vendors due to work stoppages, shipping delays, financial difficulties, natural or manmade disasters or other factors. In addition, our industry, along with many others, is facing a significant shortage of semiconductors. We are experiencing various levels of semiconductor impact. A shortage of semiconductors or other key components can cause a significant disruption to our production schedule.
We may not be able to effectively manage our relationships with contract manufacturers.
We may not be able to effectively manage our relationship with contract manufacturers, and the contract manufacturers may not meet future requirements for timely delivery. We rely on contract manufacturers to build hardware sub-assemblies for certain of our products in accordance with our specifications. During the normal course of business, we may provide demand forecasts to contract manufacturers several months prior to scheduled delivery of our products to customers. If we overestimate requirements, the contract manufacturers may assess cancellation penalties or we may be left with excess inventory, which may negatively impact our earnings. If we underestimate requirements, the contract manufacturers may have inadequate inventory, which could interrupt manufacturing of our products and result in delays in shipment to customers and revenue recognition. Contract manufacturers also build products for other companies, and they may not have sufficient quantities of inventory available or sufficient internal resources to fill our orders on a timely basis or at all.
In addition, there have been a number of major acquisitions within the contract manufacturing industry in recent years. Future acquisitions could potentially have an adverse effect on our working relationships with contract manufacturers. Moreover, we currently rely primarily on two contract manufacturers, Benchmark Electronics, Inc. and Omega Electronics Manufacturing Services. The failure of these contract manufacturers to fill our orders on a timely basis or in accordance with our customers’ specifications could result in a loss of revenues and damage to our reputation.
We are exposed to risks associated with international operations and markets.
We market and sell products in international markets, have sales offices and subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Japan, and France and we have manufacturing and/or engineering facilities and subsidiaries in Switzerland, Spain and Canada. Revenues from international operations accounted for 5%, 7%, and 8%, of our total net revenues in fiscal 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. We also ship directly from our U.S. operations to international customers. There are inherent risks in transacting business internationally, including:
•changes in applicable laws and regulatory requirements;
•export and import restrictions, including export controls relating to technology and sanctioned parties;
•tariffs and other trade barriers;
•less favorable intellectual property laws;
•difficulties in staffing and managing foreign operations;
•longer payment cycles;
•problems in collecting accounts receivable;
•adverse economic conditions in foreign markets;
•political instability;
•fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which may lead to lower operating margins, or may cause us to raise prices which could result in reduced revenues;
•expatriation controls; and
•potential adverse tax consequences.
There can be no assurance that one or more of these factors will not have a material adverse effect on our future international activities and, consequently, on our business and results of operations.
We have a pension plan (the “Plan”) for Swiss employees, mandated by Swiss law. Since participants of the Plan are entitled to a defined rate of interest on contributions made, the Plan meets the criteria for a defined benefit plan under U.S. GAAP. The Plan, an independent pension fund, is part of a multi-employer plan with unrestricted joint liability for all participating companies and the economic interest in the Plan’s overfunding or underfunding is allocated to each participating company based on an allocation key determined by the Plan. U.S. GAAP requires an employer to recognize the funded status of the defined benefit plan on the balance sheet, which we have presented in other long-term liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheets at July 2, 2021. The funded status may vary from year to year due to changes in the fair value of the Plan’s assets and variations on the underlying assumptions in the Plan and we may have to record an increased liability as a result of fluctuations in the value of the Plan’s assets. As of July 2, 2021, we had a liability of $9.8 million in Other non-current liabilities representing the net under-funded status of the Plan.
In addition, we must comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or the FCPA, and the anti-corruption laws of the countries in which we operate. Those laws generally prohibit the giving of anything of value to win business. The FCPA also generally requires companies to maintain adequate record-keeping and internal accounting practices to accurately reflect the transactions of the company and prohibits U.S. companies and their intermediaries from making corrupt payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business or otherwise obtaining favorable treatment. Under these anti-corruption laws, U.S. companies may be held liable for actions taken by strategic or local partners or representatives. If we or our intermediaries fail to comply with the requirements of international applicable anti-corruption laws, governmental authorities in the United States or the countries in which we operate could seek to impose civil and criminal penalties, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial conditions and cash flows.
If we are unable to respond to technological developments and changing customer needs on a timely and cost-effective basis, our results of operations may be adversely affected.
Our future success will depend in part on our ability to enhance current products and to develop new products on a timely and cost-effective basis to respond to technological developments and changing customer needs. Defense customers demand frequent technological improvements as a means of gaining military advantage. Military planners have historically funded significantly more design projects than actual deployments of new equipment, and those systems that are deployed tend to contain the components of the subcontractors selected to participate in the design process. In order to participate in the design of new defense electronics systems, we must demonstrate the ability to deliver superior technological performance on a timely and cost-effective basis. There can be no assurance that we will secure an adequate number of design wins in the future, that the equipment in which our products are intended to function will eventually be deployed in the field, or that our products will be included in such equipment if it eventually is deployed.
The design-in process is typically lengthy and expensive, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to continue to meet the product specifications of customers in a timely and adequate manner. In addition, any failure to anticipate or respond adequately to changes in technology, customer preferences, and future order demands, or any significant delay in product developments, product introductions, or order volume, could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations, including the risk of inventory obsolescence. Because of the complexity of our products, we have experienced delays from time to time in completing products on a timely basis.
Our need for continued or increased investment in R&D may increase expenses and reduce our profitability.
Our business is characterized by the need for continued investment in R&D. If we fail to invest sufficiently in R&D, our products could become less attractive to potential customers and our business and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected. As a result of the need to maintain or increase spending levels in this area and the difficulty in reducing costs associated with R&D, our operating results could be materially harmed if our R&D efforts fail to result in new products or if revenues fall below expectations. As a result of our commitment to invest in R&D, spending levels of R&D expenses as a percentage of revenues may fluctuate in the future. In addition, defense prime contractors could increase their requirement for subcontractors, like us, to increase their share in the R&D costs for new programs and design wins.
Our results of operations are subject to fluctuation from period to period and may not be an accurate indication of future performance.
While our revenues are generated through the sale of products and services across more than 300 programs with no single program contributing more than 10% of our annual revenues, we have experienced fluctuations in operating results due to shifts in timing or quantities across certain of our larger programs. Customers specify delivery date requirements that coincide with their need for our products and services on the programs in which we participate. Because these customers may use our products and services in connection with a variety of defense programs or other projects with different sizes and durations, a customer’s orders for one quarter generally do not indicate a trend for future orders by that customer or on that program. As such, we cannot always accurately plan our manufacturing, inventory, and working capital requirements. As a result, if orders and shipments differ from what we predict, we may incur additional expenses and build excess inventory, which may require additional reserves and allowances and reduce our working capital and operational flexibility. Any significant change in our customers’ purchasing patterns could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and reported earnings per share for a particular quarter. Results of operations in any period should not be considered indicative of the results to be expected for any future period.
High quarterly book-ship ratios pressure our inventory and cash flow management, necessitating increased inventory balances to ensure quarterly revenue attainment. Increased inventory balances tie up additional capital, limiting our operational flexibility. Some of our customers may have become conditioned to wait until the end of a quarter to place orders in the expectation of receiving a discount. Customers conditioned to seek quarter-end discounts increase risk and uncertainty in our financial forecasting and decrease our margins and profitability.
Our quarterly results may be subject to fluctuations resulting from other factors, including:
•delays in completion of internal product development projects;
•delays in shipping hardware and software;
•delays in acceptance testing by customers;
•a change in the mix of products sold;
•changes in customer or program order patterns;
•production delays due to quality problems;
•inability to scale quick reaction capability products due to low product volume;
•shortages and costs of components;
•delays due to the implementation of new tariffs or other trade barriers;
•the timing of product line transitions;
•declines in quarterly revenues from previous generations of products following announcement of replacement products containing more advanced technology; and
•changes in estimates of completion on fixed price engagements.
In addition, from time to time, we have entered into contracts, referred to as development contracts, to engineer a specific solution based on modifications to standard products. Gross margins from development contract revenues are typically lower than gross margins from standard product revenues. We intend to continue to enter into development contracts and anticipate that the gross margins associated with development contract revenues will continue to be lower than gross margins from standard product sales.
Another factor contributing to fluctuations in our quarterly results is the fixed nature of expenditures on personnel, facilities, and marketing programs. Expense levels for these programs are based, in significant part, on expectations of future revenues. If actual quarterly revenues are below management’s expectations, our results of operations could be adversely affected.
Further, the preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could differ from those estimates, and changes in estimates in subsequent periods could cause our results of operations to fluctuate.
We rely on the significant experience and specialized expertise of our senior management, engineering, and operational staff and must retain and attract qualified and highly skilled personnel to grow our business successfully.
Our performance is substantially dependent on the continued services and performance of our senior management and our highly qualified team of engineers and operational staff, many of whom have numerous years of experience, specialized expertise in our industry, and security clearances required for certain defense projects. If we are not successful in hiring and retaining such employees, we may not be able to extend or maintain our engineering and operational expertise, and our future product development efforts could be adversely affected. Competition for hiring these employees is intense, especially individuals with specialized skills and security clearances required for our business, and we may be unable to hire and retain enough staff to implement our growth strategy. Like our defense prime contractor customers, we face the potential for knowledge drain due to the impending retirement of the older members of our engineering and operations workforce in the coming years.
If we experience a disaster or other business continuity problem, we may not be able to recover successfully, which could cause material financial loss, loss of human capital, regulatory actions, reputational harm, or legal liability.
If we experience a local or regional disaster or other business continuity problem, such as an earthquake, terrorist attack, pandemic or other natural or man-made disaster, our continued success will depend, in part, on the availability of our personnel, our facilities, and the proper functioning of our network, telecommunication, and other business systems and operations. As we grow our operations, the potential for natural or man-made disasters, political, economic, or infrastructure instabilities, or other country- or region-specific business continuity risks increases.
Risks Related to Our Growth Strategy, Our 1MPACT Value Creation Plan, and M&A
Implementation of our growth strategy and 1MPACT value creation plan may not be successful, which could affect our ability to increase revenues and profits.
Our growth strategy includes developing new products, adding new customers and programs within our existing markets, and entering new markets both domestically and internationally, developing our manufacturing capabilities, as well as identifying and integrating acquisitions and achieving revenue and cost synergies and economies of scale. Our ability to compete in new markets will depend upon a number of factors including, among others:
•our ability to create demand for products in new markets;
•our ability to respond to changes in our customers’ businesses by updating existing products and introducing, in a timely fashion, new products which meet the needs of our customers;
•our ability to increase our market visibility and penetration with prime defense contractors, government agencies, and government funded laboratories;
•the quality of our new products;
•our ability to respond rapidly to technological changes;
•our ability to increase our in-house manufacturing capacity and utilization as well as our ability to deliver on schedule and on budget; and
•our ability to successfully integrate acquisitions and achieve revenue and cost synergies and economies of scale.
The failure to do any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, we may face competition in these new markets from various companies that may have substantially greater research and development resources, marketing and financial resources, manufacturing capability, and/or customer support organizations.
Our 1MPACT value creation plan is designed to enable us to achieve our full growth and value creation potential, both organically and through M&A, to position us to scale beyond our cumulative acquisitions over recent years. 1MPACT includes streamlining procurement and our supply chain, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of R&D and manufacturing operations, and further scaling through common processes and systems. Our ability to enhance value through 1MPACT is subject to risks including: anticipated benefits not being realized or not at the levels anticipated; that implementation will be materially delayed or will be more difficult than expected; challenges of hiring and retaining key employees to drive the value creation plan; and initiatives being more expensive to complete than anticipated, including as a result of unexpected factors or events. In addition, there is a risk that 1MPACT will divert management’s attention from ongoing organic business operations and M&A opportunities.
Acquisitions may adversely affect our financial condition.
As part of our strategy for growth, we expect to continue to explore acquisitions or strategic alliances, which ultimately may not be completed or be beneficial to us. While we expect our acquisitions to result in synergies and other financial and operational benefits, we may be unable to realize these synergies or other benefits in the timeframe that we expect or at all. The integration process may be complex, costly, and time consuming. Acquisitions may pose risks to our business, including:
•problems and increased costs in connection with the integration of the personnel, operations, technologies, or products of the acquired businesses;
•layering of integration activity due to multiple overlapping acquisitions;
•unanticipated issues, expenses, charges, or liabilities related to the acquisitions;
•failure to implement our business plan for the combined business or to achieve anticipated increases in revenues and profitability;
•diversion of management’s attention from our organic business;
•adverse effects on business relationships with suppliers and customers, including the failure to retain key customers;
•acquired assets becoming impaired as a result of technical advancements or worse-than-expected performance by the acquired company;
•failure to rationalize supply chain, manufacturing capacity, locations, logistics, and operating models to achieve anticipated economies of scale, or disruptions to supply chain, manufacturing, or product design operations during the combination of facilities;
•failure to rationalize business, information, and communication systems and to expand the IT infrastructure and security protocols throughout the enterprise;
•volatility associated with accounting for earn-outs in a given transaction;
•entering markets in which we have no, or limited, prior experience;
•environmental liabilities at current or previous sites of the acquired business;
•poor compliance programs pre-acquisition at acquired companies, which may lead to liabilities for violations, or impact the business acquired when placed under our compliance programs;
•unanticipated changes in applicable laws or regulations;
•potential loss of key employees;
•the impact of any assume legal proceedings; and
•adverse effects on our internal control over financial reporting before the acquiree's complete integration into our control environment.
In addition, in connection with any acquisitions or investments we could:
•issue stock that would dilute our existing shareholders’ ownership percentages;
•incur debt and assume liabilities;
•obtain financing on unfavorable terms, or not be able to obtain financing on any terms at all;
•incur amortization expenses related to acquired intangible assets or incur large and immediate write-offs;
•incur large expenditures related to office closures of the acquired companies, including costs relating to the termination of employees and facility and leasehold improvement charges resulting from our having to vacate the acquired companies’ premises; and
•reduce the cash that would otherwise be available to fund operations or for other purposes.
We may not be able to maintain the levels of revenue, earnings, or operating efficiency that we and our prior acquisitions had achieved or might achieve separately. You should not place undue reliance on any anticipated synergies. In addition, our competitors could try to emulate our acquisition strategy, leading to greater competition for acquisition targets which could lead to larger competitors if they succeed in emulating our strategy,
We may incur substantial indebtedness.
On September 28, 2018, we amended our existing revolving credit facility (“the Revolver”) to increase and extend the borrowing capacity to a $750.0 million, 5-year revolving credit line, with the maturity extended to September 28, 2023. As of July 2, 2021, we had $200.0 million of outstanding borrowings on the Revolver. The Revolver accrues interest, at our option, at floating rates tied to LIBOR or the prime rate plus an applicable percentage. The applicable percentage is set at LIBOR plus 1.25% and is established pursuant to a pricing grid based on our total net leverage ratio. We may be exposed to the impact of interest rate changes primarily through our borrowing activities. Subject to the limits contained in the Revolver, we may incur substantial additional debt from time to time to finance working capital, capital expenditures, investments or acquisitions, or for other purposes. If we do so, the risks related to our debt could intensify. Specifically, our debt could have important consequences to our investors, including the following:
•making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations under our debt instruments, including, without limitation, the Revolver; and if we fail to comply with these requirements, an event of default could result;
•limiting our ability to obtain additional financing to fund future working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, or other general corporate requirements;
•requiring a substantial portion of our cash flows to be dedicated to debt service payments instead of other purposes, thereby reducing the amount of cash flows available for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, and other general corporate purposes;
•increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;
•exposing us to the risk of increased interest rates as certain of our borrowings may have variable interest rates, which could increase the cost of servicing our financial instruments and could materially reduce our profitability and cash flows;
•limiting our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in the industry in which we compete;
•placing us at a disadvantage compared to other, less leveraged competitors; and
•increasing our cost of borrowing.
In addition, the Revolver contains restrictive covenants that may limit our ability to engage in activities that are in our long term best interest. Our failure to comply with those covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of all our debt. And, if we were unable to repay the amounts due and payable, the lenders under the Revolver could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure that indebtedness.
Increases in interest rates would increase the cost of servicing our financial instruments with exposure to interest rate risk and could materially reduce our profitability and cash flows. Assuming that we had $100.0 million of floating rate debt outstanding, our annual interest expense would change by approximately $1.0 million for each 100 basis point increase in interest rates. We may also incur costs related to interest rate hedges, including the termination of any such hedges,
We have a significant amount of goodwill and intangible assets on our consolidated financial statements that are subject to impairment based upon future adverse changes in our business or prospects.
At July 2, 2021, the carrying values of goodwill and identifiable intangible assets on our balance sheet were $804.9 million and $307.6 million, respectively. We evaluate indefinite lived intangible assets and goodwill for impairment annually in the fourth quarter, or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the asset might be impaired. Indefinite lived intangible assets are impaired and goodwill impairment is indicated when their book value exceeds fair value. We also review finite-lived intangible assets and long-lived assets when indications of potential impairment exist, such as a significant reduction in undiscounted cash flows associated with the assets. Should the fair value of our long-lived assets decline because of reduced operating performance, market declines, or other indicators of impairment, a charge to operations for impairment may be necessary. The value of goodwill and intangible assets from the allocation of purchase price from our acquisitions will be derived from our business operating plans and is susceptible to an adverse change in demand, input costs or general changes in our business or industry and could require an impairment charge in the future.
Risks Related to Legal, Regulatory and Compliance Matters
We face risks and uncertainties associated with defense-related contracts
Whether our contracts are directly with the U.S. government, a foreign government, or one of their respective agencies, or indirectly as a subcontractor or team member, our contracts and subcontracts are subject to special risks. For example:
•Our contracts with the U.S. and foreign governments and their defense prime contractors and subcontractors are subject to termination either upon default by us or at the convenience of the government or contractor if, among other reasons, the program itself has been terminated. Termination for convenience provisions generally only entitle us to recover costs incurred, settlement expenses, and profit on work completed prior to termination.
•Because we contract to supply goods and services to the U.S. and foreign governments and their prime and subcontractors, we compete for contracts in a competitive bidding process. We may not be awarded the contract if the pricing or product offering is not competitive, either at our level or the prime or subcontractor level. In the event we are awarded a contract, we are subject to protests by losing bidders of contract awards that can result in the reopening of the bidding process and changes in governmental policies or regulations and other political factors. We may be subject to multiple rebid requirements over the life of a defense program in order to continue to participate in such program, which can result in the loss of the program or significantly reduce our revenue or margin. Requirements for more frequent technology refreshes on defense programs may lead to increased costs and lower long-term revenues.
•Consolidation among defense industry contractors has resulted in a few large contractors with increased bargaining power relative to us.
•Our customers include U.S. government contractors who must comply with and are affected by laws and regulations relating to the formation, administration, and performance of U.S. government contracts. When we contract with the U.S. government, we must comply with these laws and regulations. A violation of these laws and regulations could result in the imposition of fines and penalties to us or our customers or the termination of our or their contracts with the U.S. government. As a result, there could be a delay in our receipt of orders from our customers, a termination of such orders, or a termination of contracts between us and the U.S. government.
•We sell certain products and services to U.S. and international defense contractors or directly to the U.S. government on a commercial item basis, eliminating the requirement to disclose and certify cost data. To the extent that there are interpretations or changes in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (“FAR”) regarding the qualifications necessary to sell commercial items, there could be a material impact on our business and operating results. For example, there have been legislative proposals to narrow the definition of a “commercial item” (as defined in the FAR) or to require cost and pricing data on commercial items that could limit or adversely impact our ability to contract under commercial item terms. Changes could be accelerated due to changes in our mix of business, in Federal regulations, or in the interpretation of Federal regulations, which may subject us to increased oversight by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (“DCAA”) for certain of our products or services. Such changes could also trigger contract coverage under the Cost Accounting Standards (“CAS”), further impacting our commercial operating model and requiring compliance with a defined set of business systems criteria. Failure to comply with applicable CAS requirements could adversely impact our ability to win future CAS-type contracts.
•We are subject to the Department of Defense Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”) in connection with our defense work for the U.S. government and defense prime contractors. Amendments to the CMMC may increase our costs or delay the award of contracts if we are unable to certify that we satisfy such cybersecurity requirements at our Company level and into our supply chain.
•The U.S. government or a defense prime contractor customer could require us to relinquish data rights to a product in connection with performing work on a defense contract, which could lead to a loss of valuable technology and intellectual property in order to participate in a government program.
•The U.S. government or a defense prime contractor customer could require us to enter into cost reimbursable contracts that could offset our cost efficiency initiatives.
•We anticipate that sales to our U.S. prime defense contractor customers as part of foreign military sales (“FMS”) programs will be an increasing part of our business going forward. These FMS sales combine several different types of risks and uncertainties highlighted above, including risks related to government contracts, risks related to defense contracts, timing and budgeting of foreign governments, and approval from the U.S. and foreign governments related to the programs, all of which may be impacted by macroeconomic and geopolitical factors outside of our control.
•We must comply with security requirements pursuant to the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, or NISPOM, and other U.S. government security protocols when accessing sensitive information. Most of our facilities maintain a facility security clearance and many of our employees maintain a personal security clearance to access sensitive information necessary to the performance of our work on certain U.S. government contracts and subcontracts. Failure to comply with the NISPOM or other security requirements may subject us to civil or criminal penalties, loss of access to sensitive information, loss of a U.S. government contract or subcontract, or potentially debarment as a government contractor.
•We may need to invest additional capital to build out higher level security infrastructure at certain of our facilities to capture new design wins on defense programs with higher level security requirements. In addition, we may need to invest in additional secure laboratory space to integrate efficiently subsystem level solutions and maintain quality assurance on current and future programs.
If we are unable to continue to obtain U.S. government authorization regarding the export of our products, or if current or future export laws limit or otherwise restrict our business, we could be prohibited from shipping our products to certain countries, which would harm our ability to generate revenue.
We must comply with U.S. laws regulating the export of our products and technology. In addition, we are required to obtain a license from the U.S. government to export certain of our products and technical data as well as to provide technical services to foreign persons related to such products and technical data. We cannot be sure of our ability to obtain any licenses required to export our products or to receive authorization from the U.S. government for international sales or domestic sales to foreign persons including transfers of technical data or the provision of technical services. Likewise, our international operations are subject to the export laws of the countries in which they conduct business. Moreover, the export regimes and the governing policies applicable to our business are subject to change. If we cannot obtain required government approvals under applicable regulations in a timely manner or at all, we could be delayed or prevented from selling our products in certain jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business and financial results. For example, If the US government continues to expand the scope of regulations intended to address civil-military fusion in China, certain commercial technologies which have historically been exportable to Hong Kong and China may be prohibited.
Our income tax provision and other tax liabilities may be insufficient if taxing authorities are successful in asserting tax positions that are contrary to our position. Increases in tax rates could impact our financial performance.
From time to time, we are audited by various Federal, state, local, and foreign authorities regarding income tax matters. Significant judgment is required to determine our provision for income taxes and our liabilities for other taxes. Although we believe our approach to determining the appropriate tax treatment is supportable and in accordance with relevant authoritative guidance it is possible that the final tax authority will take a tax position that is materially different than that which is reflected in our income tax provision. Such differences could have an adverse effect on our income tax provision or benefit, in the reporting period in which such determination is made and, consequently, on our results of operations, financial position, and/or cash flows for such period. Further, future increases in tax rates may adversely affect our financial results.
Our products are complex, and undetected defects may increase our costs, harm our reputation with customers or lead to costly litigation.
Our products are extremely complex and must operate successfully with complex products of our customers and their other vendors. Our products may contain undetected errors when first introduced or as we introduce product upgrades. The pressures we face to be the first to market new products or functionality and the elapsed time before our products are integrated into our customer's systems increases the possibility that we will offer products in which we or our customers later discover problems. We have experienced new product and product upgrade errors in the past and expect similar problems in the future. These problems may cause us to incur significant warranty costs and costs to support our service contracts and divert the attention of personnel from our product development efforts. Also, hostile third parties or nation states may try to install malicious code or devices into our products or software. Undetected errors may adversely affect our product’s ease of use and may create customer satisfaction issues. If we are unable to repair these problems in a timely manner, we may experience a loss of or delay in revenue and significant damage to our reputation and business prospects. Many of our customers rely upon our products for mission-critical applications. Because of this reliance, errors, defects, or other performance problems in our products could result in significant financial and other damage to our customers. Our customers could attempt to recover those losses by pursuing products liability claims against us which, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time-consuming and costly to defend and could adversely affect our reputation.
Risks Related to Information Technology and Intellectual Property
We may need to invest in new information technology systems and infrastructure to scale our operations.
We may need to adopt new information technology systems and infrastructure to scale our business and obtain the synergies from prior and future acquisitions as well as organic growth. Our information technology and business systems and infrastructure could create product development or production work stoppages, unnecessarily increase our inventory, negatively impact product delivery times and quality, and increase our compliance costs. In addition, an inability to maximize the utility and benefit of our current information technology and business tools could impact our ability to meet cost reduction and planned efficiency and operational improvement goals.
If we suffer ransomware breaches, data breaches, or phishing diversions involving the designs, schematics, or source code for our products or other sensitive information, our business and financial results could be adversely affected.
Our business is subject to heightened risks of cyber intrusion as nation-state hackers seek access to technology used in U.S. defense programs and criminal enterprise hackers, which may or may not be affiliated with foreign governments, use ransomware attacks to disable critical infrastructure and extort companies for ransom payments. We are also targeted by spear phishing attacks in which an email directed at a specific individual or department is disguised to appear to be from a trusted source to obtain sensitive information. Like all DoD contractors that process, store, or transmit controlled unclassified information, we must meet minimum security standards or risk losing our DoD contracts. A breach, whether physical, electronic or otherwise, of the systems on which this sensitive data is stored could lead to damage or piracy of our products or to the shutdown of business systems. If we experience a data security breach from an external source or from an insider threat, we may have a loss in sales or increased costs arising from the restoration or implementation of additional security measures, either of which could adversely affect our business and financial results. Other potential costs could include damage to our reputation, loss of brand value, incident response costs, loss of stock market value, regulatory inquiries, litigation, and management distraction. A security breach that involves classified information could subject us to civil or criminal penalties, loss of a government contract, loss of access to classified information, or debarment as a government contractor. Similarly, a breach that involves loss of customer-provided data could subject us to loss of a customer, loss of a contract, litigation costs and legal damages, and reputational harm.
We may be unsuccessful in protecting our intellectual property rights which could result in the loss of a competitive advantage.
Our ability to compete effectively against other companies in our industry depends, in part, on our ability to protect our current and future proprietary technology under patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, and unfair competition laws. We cannot assure you that our means of protecting our proprietary rights in the United States or abroad will be adequate, or that others will not develop technologies similar or superior to our technology or design around our proprietary rights. In addition, we may incur substantial costs in attempting to protect our proprietary rights.
Also, despite the steps taken by us to protect our proprietary rights, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy or reverse-engineer aspects of our products, develop similar technology independently, or otherwise obtain and use information from our supply chain that we regard as proprietary and we may be unable to successfully identify or prosecute unauthorized uses of our technology. Further, with respect to our issued patents and patent applications, we cannot assure you that any patents from any pending patent applications (or from any future patent applications) will be issued, that the scope of any patent protection will exclude competitors or provide competitive advantages to us, that any of our patents will be held valid if subsequently challenged or that others will not claim rights in or ownership of the patents (and patent applications) and other proprietary rights held by us.
If we become subject to intellectual property infringement claims, we could incur significant expenses and could be prevented from selling specific products.
We may become subject to claims that we infringe the intellectual property rights of others. We cannot assure you that, if made, these claims will not be successful. Any claim of infringement could cause us to incur substantial costs defending against the claim even if the claim is invalid and could distract management from other business. Any judgment against us could require substantial payment in damages and could also include an injunction or other court order that could prevent us from offering certain products.
Risks Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic
We face various risks related to health pandemics such as COVID-19.
We face adverse effects related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including disruptions in our supply chain, limitations on our operations, and increased costs for health and safety measures. We expect the COVID-19 pandemic to adversely affect our operations and financial position if significant portions of our workforce are unable to work effectively due to illness, quarantines, government actions, facility closures, or other restrictions. To-date, our operations and production activities in the U.S. and globally have remained operational during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our facilities are considered essential activities and have been exempt from closure directives. However, our manufacturing sites are subject to various local and national directives curtailing operations, requiring work from home and social distancing which otherwise could impact the efficiency of our operations. Such directives could change at any time. We continue to monitor the situation, assessing possible implications on our operations, supply chain, liquidity, and cash flow, and will continue taking actions to mitigate adverse consequences.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
The trading price of our common stock may continue to be volatile, which may adversely affect our business, and investors in our common stock may experience substantial losses.
Our stock price, like that of other technology and aerospace and defense companies, can be volatile. The stock market in general and technology companies in particular may continue to experience volatility. The stock prices for companies in the aerospace and defense industry may continue to remain volatile given uncertainty and timing of funding for defense programs. This volatility may or may not be related to our operating performance. Our operating results, from time to time, may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors, which could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock. Market rumors or the dissemination of false or misleading information may impact our stock price. When the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock will sometimes file securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock. If any shareholders were to file a lawsuit, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit. Also, the lawsuit could divert the time and attention of management.
The market price of our common stock may decline because of our M&A activity.
The market price of our common stock may decline as a result of our merger and acquisition activity if, among other things, we are unable to achieve the expected growth in revenue and earnings, or if the operational cost savings estimates in connection with the integration of acquired businesses are not realized. The market price of our common stock also may decline if we do not achieve the perceived benefits of the acquisitions as rapidly or to the extent anticipated by financial or industry
analysts or if the effect of the acquisitions on our financial results is not consistent with the expectations of financial or industry analysts.
We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock and we do not anticipate paying any dividends in the foreseeable future.
We have not declared or paid cash dividends on any of our classes of capital stock to date and we currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business and for future mergers and acquisitions. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be the sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.
We may need additional capital and may not be able to raise funds on acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, any funding through the sale of additional common stock or other equity securities could result in additional dilution to our stockholders and any funding through indebtedness could restrict our operations.
We may require additional cash resources to finance our continued growth or other future developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. The amount and timing of such additional financing needs will vary principally depending on the timing of new product and service launches, investments, and/or acquisitions, and the amount of cash flow from our operations. If our resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or debt securities or obtain a larger credit facility. The sale of additional equity securities or securities convertible into our common shares could result in additional dilution to our stockholders. The incurrence of additional indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. We cannot assure you that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. If we fail to raise additional funds, we may need to sell debt or additional equity securities or to reduce our growth to a level that can be supported by our cash flow.
Provisions in our organizational documents and Massachusetts law and other actions we have taken could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us.
Provisions of our articles of organization and by-laws could have the effect of discouraging a third party from making a proposal to acquire us and could prevent certain changes in control, even if some shareholders might consider the proposal to be in their best interest. These provisions include a classified board of directors, advance notice to our board of directors of shareholder proposals and director nominations, and limitations on the ability of shareholders to remove directors and to call shareholder meetings. In addition, we may issue shares of any class or series of preferred stock in the future without shareholder approval upon such terms as our board of directors may determine. The rights of holders of common stock will be subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of any such class or series of preferred stock that may be issued.
We also are subject to the Massachusetts General Laws which, subject to certain exceptions, prohibit a Massachusetts corporation from engaging in a broad range of business combinations with any “interested shareholder” for a period of three years following the date that such shareholder becomes an interested shareholder. The Massachusetts Business Corporation Act permits directors to look beyond the interests of shareholders and consider other constituencies in discharging their duties. In determining what the director of a Massachusetts corporation reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation, a director may consider the interests of the corporation's employees, suppliers, creditors, and customers, the economy of the state, the region, and the nation, community and societal considerations, and the long-term and short-term interests of the corporation and its shareholders, including the possibility that these interests may be best served by the continued independence of the corporation.
ITEM 1B.UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
ITEM 2.PROPERTIES
The following table sets forth our significant properties as of July 2, 2021:
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Location
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Size in
Sq. Feet
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Commitment
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Andover, MA
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145,262
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Leased, expiring 2032
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Phoenix, AZ
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125,756
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Leased, expiring 2031
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Hudson, NH
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121,553
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Leased, expiring 2030
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Torrance, CA
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85,125
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Leased, expiring 2029
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Oxnard, CA
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72,673
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Leased, expiring 2025
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Fremont, CA
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53,713
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Leased, expiring 2023
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Torrance, CA
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49,250
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Leased, expiring 2025
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Cypress, CA
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42,770
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Leased, expiring 2028
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Upper Saddle River, NJ
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36,223
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Leased, expiring 2029
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Torrance, CA
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36,220
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Leased, expiring 2025
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Alpharetta, GA
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35,005
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Leased, expiring 2028
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Mesa, AZ
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34,320
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Leased, expiring 2022
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Chantilly, VA
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32,789
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Leased, expiring 2025
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Geneva, CH
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27,287
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Leased, expiring 2027
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We actively manage our facilities and are in pursuit of lease extensions or alternative locations for facilities with expiration dates in 2021 and 2022. In addition, we lease a number of smaller offices around the world primarily for sales. See Note B and Note J to the consolidated financial statements for more information regarding our obligations under leases.
ITEM 3.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
We are subject to litigation, claims, investigations, and audits arising from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. Although legal proceedings are inherently unpredictable, we believe that we have valid defenses with respect to those matters currently pending against us and intend to defend our self vigorously. The outcome of these matters, individually and in the aggregate, is not expected to have a material impact on our cash flows, results of operations, or financial position.
On June 23, 2021, Embedded Reps of America, LLC (“ERA”), a former sales representative, and James Mazzola, a principal of ERA, filed for binding arbitration related to the termination of ERA’s sales representative agreement raising multiple claims that aggregate to approximately $9 million in direct damages, with treble damages requested on a number of those claims. ERA was a sales representative of Themis when Themis was acquired by Mercury. The sales representative agreement provided for termination by either party upon 30 days written notice with ERA entitled to commissions for orders obtained by ERA product shipment occurring prior to termination. We responded to the complaint on July 28, 2021. We believe the claims in the complaint are without merit and we intend to defend ourselves vigorously.
ITEM 4.MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not Applicable.
ITEM 4.1.INFORMATION ABOUT OUR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Our executive officers are appointed to office by the Board of Directors at the first board meeting following the Annual Meeting of Shareholders or at other board meetings as appropriate, and hold office until the first board meeting following the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders and until a successor is chosen, subject to prior death, resignation or removal. Mr. Perry was appointed as an executive officer as of August 3, 2021. Mr. Thibaud, our Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer (COO), is retiring as COO effective as of August 26, 2021. Information regarding our executive officers as of the date of filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K is presented below.
Mark Aslett, age 53, joined Mercury in 2007 and has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board since 2007. Prior to joining Mercury, he was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Enterasys Networks from 2003 to 2006, and held various positions with Marconi plc and its affiliated companies, including Executive Vice President of Marketing, Vice President of Portfolio Management, and President of Marconi Communications- North America, from 1998 to 2002. Mr. Aslett has also held positions at GEC Plessey Telecommunications, as well as other telecommunications-related technology firms.
Christopher C. Cambria, age 63, joined Mercury in 2016 as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary and was appointed Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary in 2017. Prior to joining Mercury, he was Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. from 2012 to 2016 and Vice President, General Counsel from 2011 to 2012. He was with L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. from 1997 through 2009 serving as Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel, Mergers and Acquisitions from 2006 to 2009, Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel from 2001 to 2006, and Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary from 1997 to 2001. Prior to L-3, Mr. Cambria was an Associate with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
Brian E. Perry, age 54, joined Mercury in 2008 and has served as our Executive Vice President, President, Processing division since August 2021. He served as Senior Vice President of our Processing division starting in July 2020. Prior to that, he was President of our Mercury Defense Systems business unit starting in 2014 and Vice President and General Manager of our Services and Systems Integration group from 2011 to 2014. Prior to joining Mercury, Mr. Perry was the General Manager for Suntron Corporation’s Northeast Express and served in various roles with Lockheed Martin and General Electric Aircraft Engines.
Michael D. Ruppert, age 47, joined Mercury in 2014 as Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development and in 2017 was named Executive Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development. In 2018, Mr. Ruppert was appointed the Company’s Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Prior to joining Mercury, from 2013 to 2014, Mr. Ruppert was Co-Founder and Managing Partner of RS Partners, LLC, a boutique advisory firm focused on the aerospace & defense industries. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director at UBS Investment Bank where he led the defense investment banking practice from 2011 to 2013. Mr. Ruppert also held positions in the investment banking divisions at Lazard Freres & Co from 2008 to 2011 and at Lehman Brothers from 2000 to 2008.
Didier M.C. Thibaud, age 60, joined Mercury in 1995, and has served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer since 2016. He served as the President of our Mercury Commercial Electronics business unit from 2012 to 2016 and the President of our Advanced Computing Solutions business unit from 2007 to 2012. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President, Defense & Commercial Businesses from 2005 to 2007 and Vice President and General Manager, Imaging and Visualization Solutions Group, from 2000 to 2005 and served in various capacities in sales and marketing from 1995 to 2000.