ITEM 1A. Risk Factors

An investment in our common stock involves a very high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risks, as well as the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, before making an investment in us. If any of these risks, or other events that we do not currently anticipate or that we currently deem immaterial, actually occur, our business, results of operations or financial condition may be materially adversely affected. In such an event, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you could lose part or all of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business

We have recently incurred substantial losses and we may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability in the future.

We incurred net losses from continuing operations of $15.9 million and $13.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Although we are pursuing plans to improve our financial results, such plans contemplate significant changes to our existing operations and activities. Failure to successfully manage such changes may result in continued substantial net losses and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects and financial condition.

We continue to explore options for reorganizing of our encapsulant business to better align with customer geography, to reduce the cash burn related to unprofitable locations and to convert assets to cash for potential redeployment into more profitable endeavors, and possible business opportunities in potentially more profitable parts of the solar supply chain, as well as other strategic alternatives. We cannot assure that we will be able to successfully pursue any such potential transactions. If we are successful in pursuing any such transactions we may be required to expend significant funds, incur additional debt or other obligations or issue additional securities, any of which could significantly dilute our current stockholders and may negatively affect our operating results and financial condition. We cannot assure that any such strategic transactions, or any financing in connection therewith, would be available on favorable terms, if at all, or that we will realize any anticipated benefits from any such transactions that we complete. In the event that we are not successful in restructuring our encapsulant business or pursuing opportunities in the downstream solar market or other strategic transactions, we also intend to consider alternatives, including without limitation, the acquisition of another business, the divestiture of all or certain of our assets, joint ventures and other transactions outside the ordinary course of business.

If we are not successful in executing on our strategic plans to reorganize our encapsulant business and achieve profitability, we may decide to wind down or cease any or all of our operations.

In addition, any further wind-down or dissolution of us may be a lengthy and complex process, yield unexpected results and delay any potential distributions to our stockholders. Such process may also require the further expenditure of our resources, such as legal, accounting and other professional fees and expenses and other related charges, which would decrease the amount of assets available for distributions to our stockholders.

We have a limited amount of cash, a limited factoring arrangement and may not be able to obtain credit.

As of the date of this report, we had no credit facilities other than a limited factoring arrangement in Spain. Until we return to profitability, it is not likely that we will be able to obtain debt or other financing on reasonable terms, or at all. Furthermore, tight credit in the solar manufacturing industry may delay or prevent our customers from securing funding adequate to operate their businesses and purchase our products and could lead to an increase in our bad debt levels.

As of December 31, 2016, our principal source of liquidity was $12.4 million of cash and $3.4 million of Chinese bank acceptance notes. Our principal needs for liquidity have been, and for the foreseeable future will continue to be, for working capital and capital investments. Payment terms are currently longer in China than in many other locations, which results in delayed cash receipts from certain of our customers. If we are unable to collect our receivables, fail to receive payment in a timely fashion, or have limited access to the $2.1 million of cash and $3.4 million of bank acceptance notes located in China, our financial condition and results of operations may be negatively affected .

We currently rely on a single product line for nearly all of our net sales.

In 2016 and 2015, we derived substantially all of our net sales from solar encapsulant products. For our business to succeed, we will have to achieve broader market acceptance of our products or enter a new business activity or sector. As a result, factors adversely affecting the demand for our solar encapsulants, such as competition, pricing or technological change, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our encapsulant business is dependent upon securing net sales to new customers, growing net sales to existing key customers and increasing our market share.

We estimate that our global market share has declined significantly from approximately 30% in 2010 to 2% in 2016. The future success of our encapsulant business depends on our ability to secure net sales to new customers, to grow net sales to existing key customers and to increase our global market share. Over the last few years, we believe our European and North American customers have lost market share to Asian module manufacturers, primarily from China, who continue to penetrate the global solar market. In order to be successful in the encapsulant business, we believe that we will need to significantly increase our net sales. Our failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is dependent on a limited number of customers, which may cause significant fluctuations or result in declines in our net sales.

The solar module industry is relatively concentrated, and we expect this concentration to increase with consolidation. As a result, we sell substantially all of our encapsulants to a limited number of solar module manufacturers. We expect that our results of operations will, for the foreseeable future, continue to depend on the sale of encapsulants to a relatively small number of customers. Global Wedge, Inc. and Heckert Solar, each accounted for at least 10% of our net sales, and in the aggregate accounted for approximately 33% of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2016. ReneSola and Global Wedge, Inc., each accounted for at least 10% of our net sales, and in the aggregate accounted for approximately 28% of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2015. Our top five customers accounted for approximately 51% and 49% of our net sales in 2016 and 2015, respectively. Furthermore, participants in the solar industry, including our customers, are experiencing pressure to reduce their costs. Since we are part of the overall supply chain to our customers, any cost pressures experienced by them may affect our business and results of operations. Our customers may not continue to generate net sales for us. Conversely, we may be unable to meet the production demands of our customers or maintain these customer relationships. Any one of the following events may cause material fluctuations or declines in our net sales and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations:

We currently outsource the manufacture of a portion of our encapsulants, and our future success may be dependent on the timeliness and effectiveness of the efforts of these third parties.

We currently engage third-party manufacturers to supply certain of our proprietary products to us in China, and we are working to qualify a tolling partner in India to launch commercial scale production of our products within India during the second quarter of 2017. If problems develop in our relationship with these manufacturers, or if they fail to perform as expected, it could lead to product defects, manufacturing and shipping delays, significant cost increases, changes in our strategies, and even failure of our initiatives, each of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Technological changes in the solar energy industry or our failure to develop and introduce or integrate new technologies could render our encapsulants uncompetitive or obsolete, which would adversely affect our business.

The solar energy market is very competitive, rapidly evolving and characterized by continuous improvements in solar modules to increase efficiency and power output and improve aesthetics. This requires us and our customers to invest significant financial resources to develop new products and solar module technology to enhance existing modules to keep pace with evolving industry standards and changing customer requirements and to compete effectively in the future. During the past few years, we engaged in significant cost-reduction actions, including substantial reductions to our research and development and engineering personnel. The reduction of these resources may limit our ability to introduce new products or manufacturing improvements and may put us at a competitive disadvantage, which could negatively impact our ability to increase or maintain our market share and generate net sales, and negatively impact our financial condition, prospects and results of operations. Consequently, our competitors may develop encapsulant products and technologies that perform better or are more cost-effective than our products. This could cause our encapsulants to become uncompetitive or obsolete, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Product development activities are inherently uncertain, and we could encounter difficulties and increased costs in commercializing new technologies. As a result, our product development expenditures may not produce corresponding benefits.

Moreover, we produce a component utilized in the manufacture of solar modules. New or existing solar technologies that do not require encapsulants as we produce them, or at all, may emerge and/or gain market share. Recently, competitors have introduced new encapsulant products to the market based upon POE. We believe that certain of our former customers are now using POE encapsulant for their modules. Although we have been pursuing the development of POE products, such products are not yet in regular commercial production and it is uncertain as to when or if we will manufacture and sell such products on a regular basis. In the event that solar module manufacturers switch to POE encapsulant products from EVA encapsulants and we do not offer a competitive POE product, such switch could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Also, manufacturing methods may emerge that could be more advanced or efficient than our current manufacturing capability. Such manufacturing methods could result in competitive products that are more effective and/or are less expensive to produce, resulting in decreased demand for our encapsulants or render them obsolete, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We face competition in our business from other companies producing encapsulants for solar modules.

The market for encapsulants is highly competitive and continually evolving. We compete with a number of encapsulant manufacturers, many of which are large, global companies with substantially more financial, manufacturing and logistical resources and strong customer relationships. If we fail to attract and retain customers for our current and future products, we will be unable to increase our net sales and market share. Our primary encapsulant competitors include Bridgestone Corporation, Hangzhou First PV Material Co., Ltd., Mitsui Chemicals Group, Inc. and SK Chemical Ltd. We also face competition from suppliers of non-EVA encapsulants including 3M Company, Dow Chemical Corporation, Dow Corning Corporation, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., and DuPont. We also expect to compete with new entrants to the encapsulant market, including those that may offer more advanced technological solutions or complementary products such as backsheet that possess advanced or more efficient manufacturing capabilities or that have greater financial resources than we do. Some solar module manufacturers have encapsulant production capabilities of their own and this trend may broaden with market consolidation. Further, as the China solar market matures, we expect additional encapsulant providers from China and the greater Asian markets to compete with us. Our competitors may develop and produce or may be currently producing encapsulants that offer advantages over our products. A widespread adoption of any of these technologies could result in a rapid decline in our position in the encapsulant market and adversely affect our net sales and margins.

Excess capacity currently exists throughout the solar supply chain leading to substantial solar module price declines, which has caused cost to become the predominant factor in the encapsulant procurement process.

Significant excess capacity currently exists and may exist again in the future throughout the solar supply chain resulting in a further decrease in selling prices of solar modules. Due to many module manufacturers not producing at full capacity as well as being impacted by pricing pressure, our encapsulants’ value proposition has been reduced in the current excess capacity environment. Our customers and potential customers have been increasingly focused on the purchase price of encapsulants. In light of recent declines in our global market share, it is a priority to increase our market share through net sales to existing and new customers, however, we cannot assure that we will be able to do so. In order to remain competitive, we expect to be subject to continuing downward pricing pressures that may negatively impact our net sales and net earnings. In addition, our competitors may reduce the price of their products, which may force us to further reduce the price of our encapsulant products to retain net sales.

If demand for solar energy in general and solar modules in particular does not continue to develop or takes longer to develop than we anticipate, net sales in our business may continue to stagnate or decline, which would negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our encapsulants are used in the production of solar modules; therefore our financial condition and results of operations and future growth are tied to a significant extent to the overall demand for solar energy and solar modules. The solar energy market is at a relatively early stage of development and the extent to which solar modules will be widely adopted is uncertain. Many factors may affect the viability and widespread adoption of solar energy technology and demand for solar modules, and in turn, our encapsulants, including:

If demand for solar energy and solar modules fails to develop sufficiently along our expectations, demand for our customers’ products as well as demand for our encapsulants could decrease, and we may not be able to grow our business or net sales and our financial condition and results of operations may be negatively impacted.

Our operations and assets in China and India are subject to significant political and economic uncertainties.

For as long as we continue to manufacture our products in China within our own leased manufacturing plant (which we expect to wind down substantially by the end of the first quarter of 2017), and also engage third-party manufacturers located in China and India to toll for us, we are exposed to certain risks. If the manufacture of our products in China or India is disrupted, our overall capacity could be significantly reduced and net sales and/or profitability could be negatively impacted. Furthermore, changes in Chinese or Indian laws and regulations, or their interpretation, or the imposition of confiscatory taxation, restrictions on currency conversion and repatriation, imports and sources of supply, devaluations of currency or the nationalization or other expropriation of private enterprises could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may have limited legal recourse under the laws of China if disputes arise under our agreements with third parties.

The Chinese government has enacted certain laws and regulations dealing with matters such as corporate organization and governance, foreign investment, commerce, taxation and trade. However, their experience in implementing, interpreting and enforcing these laws and regulations is limited, and our ability to enforce commercial claims or to resolve commercial disputes is unpredictable. If our tolling arrangements or other future arrangements are unsuccessful or other adverse circumstances arise from these arrangements, we face the risk that our third-party manufacturers may dishonor our purchase orders or unwritten arrangements. Similarly, if our product sale arrangements with customers are unsuccessful or other adverse circumstances arise from these arrangements, we face the risk that our customers may not honor their obligation to pay us for purchased products. Further, if disputes arise under our agreements with any other parties doing business in China, including Zhenfa, we face the risk that such party may breach any such agreement or otherwise engage in conduct relating to their relationship with us that could otherwise give rise to liability under U.S. law. The resolution of these matters may be subject to the exercise of considerable discretion by agencies of the Chinese government, and forces unrelated to the legal merits of a particular matter or dispute may influence their determination. Any rights we may have to specific performance, or to seek an injunction under Chinese law, in either of these cases, may be limited, and without a means of recourse by virtue of the Chinese legal system, we may be unable to prevent these situations from occurring. The occurrence of any such events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our potential inability to adequately protect our intellectual property during the outsource manufacturing of our products in China or India could negatively impact our performance.

In connection with our tolling manufacturing arrangements, we rely on third-party manufacturers to implement customary manufacturer safeguards onsite, such as the use of confidentiality agreements with employees, to protect our proprietary information and technologies during the manufacturing process. However, these safeguards may not effectively prevent unauthorized use of such information and technical knowhow, or prevent the manufacturers from retaining them. Although the courts in China are increasing and broadening their protection of intellectual property rights, the legal regime governing intellectual property rights in China is relatively immature and it is often difficult to create and enforce intellectual property rights or protect trade secrets there. We face risks that our proprietary information may not be afforded the same protection in China or India as it is in countries with well-developed intellectual property laws, and local laws may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights in China and India, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position. In the event that the third-party tolling manufacturers of our proprietary products misappropriate our intellectual property, our business, prospects and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

A significant reduction or elimination of government subsidies and economic incentives or a change in government policies that promote the use of solar energy could have a material adverse effect on our business and prospects.

Demand for our encapsulants depends on the continued adoption of solar energy and the resultant demand for solar modules. Demand for our products depends, in large part, on government incentives aimed to promote greater use of solar energy. In many countries in which solar modules are sold, solar energy would not be commercially viable without government incentives. This is because the cost of generating electricity from solar energy may exceed the cost of generating electricity from conventional energy sources in some regions of the world and because the capital investment associated with deploying solar modules may have a long payback period or be difficult to finance, making conventional sources available on the grid without capital investment a more widely accessible option.

The scope of government incentives for solar energy depends, to a large extent, on political and policy developments relating to environmental and energy concerns in a given country that are subject to change, which could lead to a significant reduction in, or a discontinuation of, the support for renewable energy in such country. Federal, state and local governmental bodies in many of our customers’ target markets, including Germany, Italy, Spain, the United States, China, France, Japan and South Korea, have provided subsidies and economic incentives in the form of feed-in tariffs, rebates, tax credits and other incentives to end users, distributors, system integrators and manufacturers of solar energy products to promote the use of solar energy and to reduce dependency on other forms of energy. In many cases, the costs of these government subsidy programs are passed on to electricity consumers in the applicable regions. These government economic incentives could be reduced or eliminated earlier than anticipated. For example, in Germany, which was a large solar PV installation market, the government enacted legislation that reduced feed-in tariffs beginning June 30, 2010. In early 2011, the German government enacted further legislation that accelerated the annual year-end feed-in tariff reduction to July 1, 2011 for roof-top systems and September 1, 2011 for ground-mount projects. In 2012, the German government enacted additional legislation that reduced feed-in tariffs by between 20% and 30% depending on the size of the solar energy system. Additional negative changes to solar incentives in 2013 continued to affect the solar markets throughout the European Union. Similarly, in September 2008, the Spanish Parliament decreased the feed-in tariff for solar energy by approximately 27% and capped its subsidized PV installations at 500 MW for 2009. This event drove an over-supply of solar module inventory in the supply chain during the first half of 2009 and was one of the main drivers behind our sales volume decline in 2009 compared to 2008. In addition, numerous other countries have recently reduced solar incentives. A change in government incentives similar to these may result in the pull-in of demand from solar module manufacturers due to increased end-user demand being driven by the incentive to purchase a solar system prior to the enactment of the decreased feed-in tariff incentives.

It is our belief that most if not all government solar incentive programs are designed to increase the use of solar energy and are subject to periodic adjustment in light of the rate of installations resulting from the incentive and the economics of solar energy resulting from the price of the installed systems combined with the incentives. As has often happened over the past several years, the rate of incentivized installations has outpaced estimates and the price of solar panels and systems has fallen faster than anticipated. When combined, these dynamics result in a situation where the incentive is more generous than is necessary to drive more installations, and the incentive is subsequently reduced in light of these economics. Adjustments in these incentive programs, which may range from a minor adjustment to a complete shutdown, or in some cases even retroactive action, have resulted in the formation of boom-and-bust cycles within the solar industry.

Some European governments have recently experienced sovereign debt issues and a risk exists that some of these governments will continue to reduce current subsidies provided for PV installations in conjunction with generally tighter fiscal policies.

Policies relative to solar in China, while generally very supportive, have shifted focus and scope with some regularity over the past few years and may change with little notice again in the future. China is currently the world’s largest consumption market for solar panel installations as well as production. The strength or weakness of China’s economy may cause their domestic solar policy to shift in a positive or negative manner.

In the United States, recent solar installation growth has been driven by Renewable Portfolio Standards, regulatory mandates to increase production of energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and other alternatives to fossil and nuclear electricity generation, and a 30% federal energy Investment Tax Credit (the “ITC”) for both residential and commercial solar installation through December 31, 2019. The ITC ratchets down to 26% for 2020, 22% for 2021 and 10% for 2022 and later. The ITC also includes a “commence construction” clause that allows system owners to claim the associated tax credit provided construction began within the period and is finished before 2024.

Electric utility companies, or generators of electricity from fossil fuels or other energy sources, could also lobby for changes to the relevant legislation in their markets to protect their revenue streams. Reduced growth in or the reduction, elimination or expiration of government subsidies and economic incentives for solar energy, especially those in our customers’ target markets, could cause our net sales to decline and negatively impact our business.

Our financial results may be adversely affected by rising commodity costs.

We are dependent upon certain raw materials, particularly resin, for the manufacture of our encapsulants. EVA resin comprises approximately 49% of our cost of sales. We do not believe that EVA resin can be effectively hedged with derivatives in the commodity markets. The prices for resin remained fairly constant in 2016 versus 2015 and declined in 2015 over 2014. However, they have been volatile in the past and if raw material prices increase, our gross margins and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Deterioration of our customers’ financial profile may cause additional credit risk on our accounts receivable.

A significant portion of our outstanding accounts receivable is derived from sales to a limited number of customers. The accounts receivable from our top five customers represented 27% and 39% of our accounts receivable balance as of December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively. The accounts receivable due from our largest customer was 7% of our accounts receivable balance as of December 31, 2016. During the past several years, many solar module manufacturers became insolvent and the number of days outstanding on accounts receivable has increased significantly industry-wide. For example, in 2016, we recorded bad debt expense of approximately $1.2 million for China Sunergy Co Ltd. (“CSUN”). We have won a judgement against CSUN in a China first instance court and are awaiting enforcement from the second instance court, though we cannot assure you that we will be successful in obtaining such enforcement. Moreover, many solar manufacturing companies continue to face significant liquidity and capital expenditure requirements, and as a result, our customers may have trouble making payments owed to us. In addition, payment terms are currently longer in China than in many other locations. We are attempting to obtain bank acceptance notes from financial institutions with respect to the accounts receivable from certain of our customers, however, if we are unable to collect our accounts receivable or obtain bank acceptance notes, or fail to receive payment of accounts receivable in a timely fashion, our financial condition and results of operations may be negatively affected.

If we are unable to attract, train and retain key personnel, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Our future success depends, to a significant extent, on our ability to attract, train and retain management, operations and technical personnel. This may be particularly difficult in light of our financial performance and our delisting from the New York Stock Exchange in September 2015. In addition, we have substantially reduced our headcount during the past few years, which limits the resources available to successfully manage and grow our business. The loss of the services of any member of our senior management team or the inability to hire or retain experienced management personnel could adversely affect our ability to execute our business plan and harm our operating results.

In periods of cost reduction, there is a risk that employees may voluntarily leave us to pursue other career opportunities. There is substantial competition for qualified technical personnel for our business, and as a result, we may be unable to continue to attract or retain qualified technical personnel necessary for the development of our business or recruit suitable replacement personnel. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified employees, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Our dependence on a limited number of suppliers for raw materials for our encapsulants and other significant materials used in our process could prevent us from timely delivery of encapsulants to our customers in the required quantities, which could result in order cancellations and decreased net sales.

We purchase resin, the main component used in our manufacturing process, from a limited number of third-party suppliers. If we fail to develop or maintain our relationships with these suppliers or with our other suppliers, or if the suppliers’ facilities are affected by events beyond our control, we may be unable to manufacture our encapsulants or our encapsulants may be available only for customers in lesser quantities, at a higher cost or after a long delay. If we do not increase our sales volumes, which drive our demand for our suppliers’ product, we may not procure at volumes sufficient to maintain favorable supplier relationships, which could lead to higher costs, lower quality and lack of availability of raw materials. We may be unable to pass along any price increases relating to materials costs to our customers, in which case our gross margins could be adversely affected. In addition, we do not maintain long-term supply contracts with our suppliers. Our inventory of raw materials, including back-up supplies of resin, may not be sufficient in the event of a supply disruption. The failure of a supplier to provide materials and components, or a supplier’s failure to provide materials that meet our quality, quantity and cost requirements in a timely manner, could impair our ability to manufacture our products to specifications, particularly if we are unable to obtain these materials and components from alternative sources on a timely basis or on commercially reasonable terms. If we are forced to change suppliers, our customers may require us to undertake testing to ensure that our encapsulants meet their specifications.

Problems with product quality or product performance, including defects, could result in a decrease in customers and net sales, unexpected expenses and loss of market share.

Our encapsulants are complex and must meet stringent quality requirements. Products as complex as our encapsulants may contain undetected defects, especially when first introduced. For example, our encapsulants may contain defects that are not detected until after they are shipped or are installed because we cannot test for all possible scenarios that may arise in our customers’ manufacturing processes. These defects could cause us to incur significant costs, including costs to service or replace products, divert the attention of our engineering personnel from product development efforts and significantly affect our customer relationships and business reputation. If we deliver products with defects or if there is a perception that our products contain errors or defects, our credibility and the market acceptance and sales of our encapsulants could materially decline. In addition, we could be subject to product liability claims and could experience increased costs and expenses related to significant product liability claims or other legal judgments against us, or a widespread product recall by us or a solar module manufacturer.

We provide a short-term warranty that we have manufactured our products to our specifications. On limited occasions, we incur costs to service our products in connection with specific product performance matters that do not meet our manufacturing specifications. Also, in isolated occasions, we have offered limited short-term performance warranties relating to our encapsulants not causing module power loss. This type of arrangement may increase in 2016. If we were to ever receive a warranty claim for such matter, we would assess the need for a warranty accrual at that time.

The manufacturing process for our encapsulants is complex. Minor deviations in the manufacturing process can cause substantial decreases in yield and, in some cases, cause production to be suspended. We have from time to time experienced lower-than-anticipated manufacturing yields. This typically occurs during the production of new encapsulants or during the installation and start-up of new process technologies or equipment. If we do not achieve planned yields, our cost of sales could increase, and product availability could decrease resulting in lower net sales than expected.

Changes to existing regulations and capacity in the utility sector and the solar energy industry may present technical, regulatory and economic barriers to the purchase and use of solar modules, which in turn may significantly reduce demand for our products.

The market for power generation products is heavily influenced by government regulations and policies concerning the electric utility industry, as well as the internal policies of electric utility companies. These regulations and policies often relate to electricity pricing and technical interconnection of end-user-owned power generation. In a number of countries, these regulations and policies are being modified and may continue to be modified. End users’ purchases of alternative energy sources, including solar modules, could be deterred by these regulations and policies. For example, utility companies sometimes charge fees to larger, industrial customers for disconnecting from the electricity transmission grid or relying on the electricity transmission grid for back-up purposes. Such fees could increase the costs of using solar modules, which may lead to reduced demand for solar modules and, in turn, our encapsulants.

We anticipate that solar modules and their installation will continue to be subject to oversight and regulation in accordance with national and local ordinances relating to building codes, safety, environmental protection, utility interconnection, metering and related matters in various countries. New or revised government regulations or utility policies pertaining to solar modules may result in significant additional expenses to our customers, and their distributors and end users, which could cause a significant reduction in demand for solar modules and, in turn, our encapsulants.

The adoption of solar energy in most parts of the world will be dependent on the capacity of applicable electricity transmission grids to instantaneously accept and distribute the increased volume of electricity to end-users. For example, some countries may implement curtailment policies which would limit solar electricity purchases based on transmission congestion or lack of incremental demand in excess of baseload supply, which may be cheaper for utilities to produce and much more difficult to modulate. The lack of available capacity on the transmission grid could substantially impact the adoption of solar energy, which could cause a significant reduction in demand for solar modules and, in turn, our encapsulants.

We typically rely upon trade secrets and contractual restrictions, rather than patents, to protect our proprietary rights. Failure to protect our intellectual property rights may undermine our competitive position and protecting our rights or defending against third-party allegations of infringement may be costly.

Protection of proprietary processes, methods, documentation and other technology is critical to our business. Failure to protect, monitor and control the use of our intellectual property rights could cause us to lose our ability to compete and to incur significant expenses. We typically rely on trade secrets, trademarks and contractual restrictions to protect our intellectual property rights. However, the measures we take to protect our trade secrets and other intellectual property rights may be insufficient. While we enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees and third parties to protect our intellectual property rights, such confidentiality provisions related to our trade secrets could be breached and may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets. Also, others may independently develop technologies or products that are similar or identical to ours. In such case, our trade secrets would not prevent third parties from competing with us.

Third parties or employees may infringe or misappropriate our proprietary technologies or other intellectual property rights, which could harm our business and operating results. Policing unauthorized use of intellectual property rights can be difficult and expensive, and adequate remedies may not be available.

The sales cycle for our encapsulants can be lengthy and may result in uncertainty and delays in generating net sales.

The integration and testing of our encapsulants with prospective customers’ solar modules or enhancements to existing customers’ solar modules requires a substantial amount of time and resources. A customer may need up to one year and in some cases even longer, to test, evaluate and adopt our encapsulants and qualify a new solar module before ordering our encapsulants. Our customers then need additional time to begin volume production of solar modules that incorporate our encapsulants. As a result, the complete sales cycle for our business can be lengthy. We may experience a significant delay between the time we increase our expenditures for product development, sales and marketing efforts and raw materials inventory and the time we generate net sales, if any, from these expenditures.

As a supplier to solar module manufacturers, disruptions in any other component of the supply chain to solar module manufacturers may adversely affect our customers and consequently limit the growth of our business and net sales.

We supply a component to solar module manufacturers. If there are disruptions in any other area of the supply chain for solar module manufacturers, it could affect the overall demand for our encapsulants, which in turn would adversely affect our net sales.

We generally operate on a purchase order basis with our customers, and their ability to cancel, reduce, or postpone orders could reduce our net sales and increase our costs.

Net sales to our customers are typically made through non-exclusive, short-term purchase order arrangements that specify prices and delivery parameters. The timing of placing these orders and the amounts of these orders are at our customers’ discretion. Customers may cancel, reduce or postpone purchase orders with us prior to production on relatively short notice. If customers cancel, reduce or postpone existing orders or fail to make anticipated orders, it could result in the delay or loss of anticipated net sales, which could lead to excess raw materials inventory and unabsorbed overhead costs. Because our encapsulants have a limited shelf life from the time they are produced until they are incorporated into a solar module, we may be required to sell any excess inventory at a reduced price, or we may not be able to sell it at all and incur an inventory write-off, which could reduce our net sales and increase our costs.

Our substantial international operations and shift of business focus to emerging markets subject us to a number of risks.

Of our total net sales, approximately 100% were generated from outside the United States in each of the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015. Our international operations are subject to a number of risks that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flow, including:

Our China operations are subject to national, regional and local regulation. The regulatory environment in China is evolving, and officials in the Chinese government exercise broad discretion in deciding how to interpret and apply regulations. It is possible that the Chinese government’s current or future interpretation and application of existing or new regulations will negatively impact our China operations, result in regulatory investigations or lead to fines or penalties. Our planned operations in India will require us to comply with local laws and regulatory requirements, which are complex and of which may not always be aware, and may expose us to foreign currency exchange rate risk. Our planned Indian operations may also subject us to trade restrictions, reduced or inadequate protection for intellectual property rights, security breaches and other factors that may adversely affect our business. Negative developments in any of these areas could increase our costs of operations or otherwise harm our business.

We may be subject to claims that we have infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated the patent or other intellectual property rights of a third party. The outcome of any such claims is uncertain and any unfavorable result could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to claims by third parties that we have infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated their intellectual property rights. These claims may be costly to defend, and we may ultimately be unsuccessful. An adverse determination in any such litigation could subject us to significant liability to third parties (potentially including treble damages), require us to seek licenses from third parties (which may not be available on reasonable terms, or at all), make substantial one-time or ongoing royalty payments, redesign our products or subject us to temporary or permanent injunctions prohibiting the manufacture and sale of our products, the use of our technologies or the conduct of our business. Protracted litigation could also result in our customers or potential customers deferring or limiting their purchase or use of our products until resolution of such litigation. In addition, we may have no insurance coverage in connection with such litigation and may have to bear all costs arising from any such litigation to the extent we are unable to recover them from other parties. Any of these outcomes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business could be adversely affected by seasonal trends, incentive policy changes and construction cycles.

We may be subject to industry-specific seasonal fluctuations in the future, particularly in climates that experience colder weather during the winter months. There are various reasons for periodic fluctuations, mostly related to economic incentives and weather patterns. A change in government incentives may result in the pull-in of demand from solar module manufacturers due to increased end-user demand driven by the incentive to purchase a solar system prior to the enactment of the decreased feed-in tariff. As a result, we may see atypical net sales during one reporting period as compared to another. In addition, our Spanish operation tends to have lower net sales during the third quarter of the year due to the European summer vacation, which occurs in August. Our net sales are also typically lower in December, as module manufacturers often defer purchases of our encapsulants to the next calendar year due to reduced consumption during the holiday period and the desire to reduce year-end inventory. Solar module customers will sometimes make purchasing decisions toward the end of the year in order to take advantage of tax credits or for budgetary reasons. In addition, construction activity is typically slower in colder months, especially in light of dangerous or difficult conditions brought about by ice and snow and frozen ground. Finally, due to the rapid emergence of Chinese module manufacturers and the resulting global market share they possess, Chinese New Year can impact the production schedules of our Chinese customers, which could impact demand for our encapsulants during the first quarter of the year. Accordingly, our business and results of operations could be affected by similar fluctuations in the future.

Fluctuations in exchange rates could have an adverse effect on our results of operations, even if our underlying business results improve or remain steady.

Our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, and we are exposed to foreign exchange rate risk because a significant portion of our net sales and costs are currently denominated in foreign currencies, primarily Euros and Chinese renminbi, which we convert to U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes. We currently do not engage in any hedging activities with respect to currency fluctuations. Changes in exchange rates on the translation of the earnings in foreign currencies into U.S. dollars are directly reflected in our financial results. To the extent the value of the U.S. dollar increases against these foreign currencies, it will negatively impact our net sales, even if our results of operations have improved or remained steady. While the currency of our net sales and costs is generally matched, to the extent our costs and net sales are not denominated in the same currency for a particular location, we could experience further exposure to foreign currency fluctuations. We cannot predict the impact of future exchange rate fluctuations on our results of operations and may incur net foreign currency losses in the future.

We are a holding company with no business operations of our own and depend on our subsidiaries for cash.

We are a holding company with no significant business operations of our own. Our operations are conducted through our subsidiaries. Dividends from, and cash generated by, our subsidiaries are our principal sources of cash to repay any future indebtedness, fund operations and pay any stockholder dividends. Accordingly, our ability to repay any indebtedness, fund operations and pay any dividends to our stockholders is dependent on the earnings and the distributions of funds from our subsidiaries.

Compliance with environmental and health and safety regulations can be expensive, and noncompliance with these regulations may result in adverse publicity, potentially significant liabilities, monetary damages and fines.

We are required to comply with federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations regarding protection of the environment and health and safety. If more stringent laws and regulations are adopted in the future, the costs of compliance with these new laws and regulations could be substantial. If we do not comply with such present or future laws and regulations or related permits, we may be required to pay substantial fines, suspend production or cease operations. We use, generate and discharge hazardous substances, chemicals and wastes in our product development and manufacturing activities. In addition, some of our facilities are located on properties with a history of use involving hazardous substances, chemicals and wastes and may be contaminated. We have performed environmental investigations and remediation activities at our 10 Water Street, Enfield, Connecticut and our former (sold in 2014) 18 Craftsman Road, East Windsor, Connecticut locations. During our investigations, each site was found to contain the presence of various contaminants. Any failure by us to control the use of, to remediate the presence of, or to restrict adequately the discharge of, such substances, chemicals or wastes could subject us to potentially significant liabilities, clean-up costs, monetary damages, fines or suspensions in our business operations. See Item 1,-Business,-Environmental Regulation. We cannot assure that we will not discover further environmental contamination or that we would not be required to incur significant expenditures for environmental remediation in the future.

We may undertake acquisitions, investments, joint ventures or other strategic alliances, which may have a material adverse effect on our ability to manage our business, and such undertakings may be unsuccessful.

Acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances may expose us to new operational, regulatory, market and geographic risks as well as risks associated with additional capital requirements.

These risks include, among other things:

Any of these events could disrupt our ability to manage our business, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Such risks could also result in our failure to derive the intended benefits of the acquisitions, strategic investments, joint ventures or strategic alliances, and we may be unable to recover our investment in such initiatives.

Unanticipated changes in our tax provisions, the adoption of a new U.S. tax legislation, or exposure to additional income tax liabilities could affect our financial results.

We are subject to income taxes in the United States and the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate. Our tax liabilities are affected by the amounts we charge for intercompany transactions. We are subject to potential tax examinations in these various jurisdictions. Tax authorities may disagree with our intercompany charges, cross-jurisdictional transfer pricing or other tax positions and assess additional taxes. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these examinations in order to determine the appropriateness of our tax provision in accordance with ASC 740, Income Taxes. However, there can be no assurance that we will accurately predict the outcomes of these potential examinations, and the amounts ultimately paid upon resolution of examinations could be materially different from the amounts previously included in our income tax expense and therefore, could have a material impact on our tax provision, net earnings, and cash flows. In addition, our future effective tax rate could be adversely affected by changes to our operating structure, changes in the mix of earnings, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in tax laws, and the discovery of new information in the course of our tax return preparation process.

We have received financial incentives from government bodies in certain foreign jurisdictions that are based on the maintenance of various requirements. If such requirements are not maintained, we may lose the financial incentives, which could negatively impact our results of operations and financial condition.

We have received financial incentives from government entities in certain foreign jurisdictions based on the maintenance of various requirements. For example, our Spanish subsidiary has received grants for production equipment that require us to maintain a specific level of employment and use of assets.

If we do not satisfy these requirements in the future, we may not qualify for future incentives or may be required to refund a portion of previously granted incentives, which could negatively impact our results of operations and financial condition.

The acquisition of control of us by Zhenfa, a Chinese company, may expose us to greater regulatory scrutiny.

At various times during recent years, the governments of the United States and China have had disagreements over political and economic issues. Controversies may arise in the future between these two countries. Any political or trade controversies between the United States and China could adversely affect our ability to successfully conduct our business in China, the market price of our common stock and our ability to access the capital markets in the United States. Also, as a result of recent controversies involving Chinese controlled companies, it is possible that such companies have come under increased scrutiny in the United States and other countries. If we become subject to enhanced regulatory review and oversight, responding to such review and oversight may be expensive and time consuming and may have a material adverse effect on our operations, even if we otherwise have complied with all legal and regulatory requirements.

A lawsuit has been filed against us, which, if not resolved in a manner favorable to us, could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operation.

In October 2016, a complaint was filed by Solaria Energia y Medio Ambiente S.A. (“Solaria”) against us and our Spanish subsidiary, Specialized Technology Resources España S.A. (“STR Spain”), in the Court of the First Instance No. 8 in Oviedo, Spain, relating to a product quality claim in connection with a non-encapsulant product that STR Spain purchased from a vendor in 2005 and 2006 and resold to Solaria. Solaria is seeking approximately €3.3 million, plus interest, in damages.

While we believe we have meritorious defenses against the claim, if such claim is not resolved in a manner favorable to us it may result in significant financial liability, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Certain of our directors and officers may be located outside of the United States.

Certain of our directors and officers are not United States citizens or may reside outside of the United States. It may not be possible for our stockholders to effect service of process upon such directors and officers within the United States, to bring action against such directors or officers or to enforce against such directors or officers court judgments based on the civil liabilities provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States. Further, it is unclear if extradition treaties now in effect between the United States and China (and, for that matter, any other country that one of our directors or officers may be a citizen of or reside in) would permit effective enforcement of criminal penalties against our directors outside of the United States under the United States Federal securities laws or otherwise.

Risks Related to Owning Our Common Stock

We currently have fewer than 300 stockholders of record and, therefore, are eligible to terminate the registration of our common stock under the Exchange Act.

As a public company with fewer than 300 stockholders of record, we currently register our shares of common stock under the Exchange Act, on a voluntary basis. Section 12(g)(4) of the Exchange Act allows for the registration of any class of securities to be terminated 90 days after a company files a certification with the SEC that the number of holders of record of such class of security is fewer than 300 persons. Upon the effectiveness of the termination of registration under Section 12, we would not be required to comply with certain disclosure requirements under the Exchange Act, including, but not limited to, proxy statement filings and filings by insiders to disclose the acquisition and disposition of our securities. In addition, upon the filing of the certification with the SEC, our obligation to file annual, quarterly and current reports under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act would be immediately suspended. If we cease filing periodic and current reports for any reason, investors would have limited access to information about our business, which may reduce the value of our common stock and also affect your ability to sell our common stock.

Our common stock was suspended from the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") on September 29, 2015 (and subsequently delisted) and we began trading on the OTC Marketplace on September 30, 2015. Delisting from the NYSE could limit the liquidity of our common stock, and hinder our ability to raise additional capital as well as having other negative results.

Our common stock was suspended from the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") on September 29, 2015 (and subsequently delisted) due to our failure to satisfy the NYSE's continued listing criteria. Our common stock currently trades on the OTCQX Marketplace under the symbol “STRI," which is a less prestigious and less active marketplace. Accordingly, liquidity in the trading of our common stock could be limited, which could limit the ability of our stockholders to sell our common stock in the secondary market.

On December 1, 2016, we were notified by the OTCQX that the Company did not meet the OTCQX Requirements for Continued Qualification found in Section 3.2 of the OTCQX Rules for U.S. Companies due to the Company failing to maintain a market capitalization of at least $5.0 million for at least one of every 30 consecutive calendar days. The OTCQX has granted us a 60 day extension beginning on January 3, 2017 with a re-evaluation on or after February 28, 2017. Following that re-evaluation, if our market capitalization has not returned to at least $5.0 million, our stock will move to trading on the OTCQB market. As of the date hereof, our stock continues to trade on the OTCQX.

Additionally, trading on an over-the-counter quotation system could adversely affect our ability to raise additional financing through public or private sales of equity securities and could also have other negative results, including the loss of institutional investor interest and fewer business development opportunities.

Our common stock is classified as a “penny stock” and trading of our shares may be restricted by the SEC’s penny stock regulations.

Rules 15g-1 through 15g-9 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), impose sales practice and disclosure requirements on certain brokers-dealers who engage in transactions involving a “penny stock.” The SEC has adopted regulations which generally define “penny stock” to be any equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share or an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, other than securities registered on certain national securities exchanges, provided that current price and volume information with respect to transactions in such securities is provided by the exchange or system. Our common stock is covered by the penny stock rules, which impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell to persons other than established customers and “accredited investors.” The penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document in a form prepared by the SEC which provides information about penny stocks and the nature and level of risks in the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction, and monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account. In addition, the penny stock rules require that, prior to a transaction in a penny stock that is not otherwise exempt, the broker-dealer must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in the secondary market for stock that is subject to these penny stock rules. Consequently, these penny stock rules may affect the ability of broker-dealers to trade our securities. We believe that the penny stock rules may discourage investor interest in and limit the marketability of our common shares.

We expect that our stock price may continue to fluctuate significantly, which could cause the value of your investment to decline, and you may not be able to sell your shares at or above your purchase price.

Over the past few years the market prices of many companies in the solar industry have been extremely volatile. This market volatility, as well as general economic, market or political conditions, could reduce the market price of our common stock regardless of our operating performance. The trading price of our common stock is likely to continue to be volatile and subject to wide price fluctuations in response to various factors, including:

These and other factors may cause the market price and demand for our common stock to fluctuate substantially, which may limit or prevent investors from readily selling their shares of common stock and may otherwise negatively affect the liquidity of our common stock. In addition, in the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have sometimes instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock or have become activist stockholders. If any of our stockholders brings a lawsuit against us, or becomes active with demands, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit and responding to various requests. These events clearly could also divert the time and attention of our management from our business, which could significantly harm our profitability and reputation.

As a public company, we are subject to financial and other reporting and corporate governance requirements that may be difficult for us to satisfy.

We are required to file with the SEC annual and quarterly information and other reports that are specified in Section 13 of the Exchange Act. We are required to ensure that we have the ability to prepare financial statements that are fully compliant with all SEC reporting requirements on a timely basis. We are also subject to other reporting and corporate governance requirements and certain provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the regulations promulgated thereunder, which impose significant compliance obligations upon us. If we fail to maintain the requirements with respect to our internal accounting and audit functions, our ability to report our operating results on a timely and accurate basis could be negatively affected.

We have implemented the standards required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Section 404”), and failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 could have a material adverse effect on us.

We have documented and tested our internal control procedures to satisfy the requirements of Section 404, which requires an annual management assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting, we may be unable to report our financial information on a timely basis and may suffer adverse regulatory consequences or violations of applicable stock exchange listing rules. There could also be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in us and the reliability of our financial statements.

If a substantial number of shares are sold in a short period of time, the market price of our common stock could decline.

If our stockholders sell substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decrease significantly. The perception in the public market that such stockholders might sell shares of common stock could also depress the market price of our common stock. As of February 28, 2017, we had 19,307,482 shares of our common stock outstanding, some of which are owned by our directors, executive officers and affiliates. Subject to vesting requirements, these shares are eligible for sale in the public market. A decline in the price of shares of our common stock might impede our ability to raise capital through the issuance of additional shares of our common stock or other equity securities.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, if they adversely change their recommendations regarding our stock or if our results of operations do not meet their expectations, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock may be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of these analysts fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline. Moreover, if one or more analysts downgrade our stock, or if our results of operations do not meet their expectations, our stock price could decline.

Some provisions of Delaware law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may deter third parties from acquiring us and diminish the value of our common stock.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide for, among other things:

These provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change of control of us that is in the best interest of our minority stockholders. Even in the absence of a takeover attempt, the existence of these provisions may adversely affect the prevailing market price of our common stock if they are viewed as discouraging future takeover attempts.

Zhenfa beneficially owns a controlling interest in our common stock and controls our Board of Directors. As a result, it is able to exert significant influence over us, and Zhenfa's interests may conflict with the interests of our other stockholders.

As a result of the Transaction with Zhenfa U.S., Zhenfa controls 48% of the voting power of our common stock as of December 31, 2016 and is able to, subject to certain conditions set forth in the Purchase Agreement, control or exert substantial influence over us, including the election of our directors and most matters requiring board or stockholder approval, including business strategies, mergers, business combinations, acquisitions or dispositions of significant assets, issuances of common stock, incurrence of debt or other financing and the payment of dividends. The controlling stockholder may have the effect of making it difficult for a third party to seek, or may discourage or delay a third party from seeking, to acquire a majority of our outstanding common stock, which could adversely affect the market price of our stock. Zhenfa maintains separate business operations from us. As a result, Zhenfa's interests may not always be consistent with the interests of our other stockholders. To the extent that conflicts of interest may arise among us, Zhenfa and its affiliates, those conflicts may be resolved in a manner adverse to our other stockholders.