ITEM 3: KEY INFORMATION

Selected Historical Consolidated Financial Data

The following selected financial data as of and for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are included elsewhere in this annual report. The selected financial data as of and for the years ended December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this annual report. Our audited consolidated financial statements included in this annual report have been prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board and have been audited by KPMG Accountants N.V., an independent registered public accounting firm.

You should read the selected financial data in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes and Item 5 “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report. Our historical results do not necessarily indicate our expected results for any future periods.

Notes:

Exchange Rate Information

We publish our financial statements in euros. The conversion of euros into U.S. dollars in this annual report is solely for the convenience of readers. The exchange rates of euros into U.S. dollars are based on the noon buying rate in The City of New York for cable transfers of euros as certified for customs purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from euros to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to euros in this annual report were made at a rate of €1.00 to U.S. $1.1456, the noon buying rate in effect as of December 31, 2018. We make no representation that any euro or U.S. dollar amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars or euros, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all.

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Risk Factors

In addition to the other information contained in this annual report on Form 20-F, you should carefully consider the following risk factors. If any of the possible events described below occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects could be materially and adversely affected. The risks and uncertainties below are those known to us and that we currently believe may materially affect us.

Risks Related to our Business

We cannot easily reduce our operating expenses in the short term, which could have a material adverse effect on our business in the event of a slowdown in demand for our services or a decrease in revenue for any reason.

Our operating expenses primarily consist of personnel, power and property costs. Personnel and property costs cannot be easily reduced in the short term. Therefore, we are unlikely to be able to reduce significantly our expenses in response to a slowdown in demand for our services or any decrease in revenue. The terms of our leases with landlords for facilities that serve as data centers are typically for a minimum period of 10 to 15 years (excluding our extension options) and do not provide us with an early termination right, while our colocation contracts with customers are initially typically for only three to five years. As of December 31, 2018, 41% of our Monthly recurring revenue was generated by contracts with terms of one year or less remaining. Our personnel costs are fixed due to our contracts with our employees having set notice periods and local law limitations in relation to the termination of employment contracts. In respect of our power costs, there is a minimum level of power required to keep our data centers running irrespective of the number of customers using them so our power costs may exceed the amount of revenue derived from power. We could have higher than expected levels of unused capacity in our data centers if, among other things:

If we have higher than expected levels of unused space at a data center at any given time, we may be required to operate a data center at a loss for a period of time. If we have higher than expected levels of unused capacity in our data centers and we are unable to reduce our expenses accordingly, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially adversely affected.

Our inability to utilize the capacity of newly planned or acquired data centers and data center expansions in line with our business plan would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Historically, we have made significant investments in our property, plant and equipment and intangible assets in order to expand our data center footprint and total Equipped space as we have grown our business. In the year ended December 31, 2018 we invested €451.2 million in both property, plant and equipment (€439.8 million) and intangible assets (€11.4 million). In the year ended December 31, 2017 we invested €256.0 million in both property, plant and equipment (€247.2 million) and intangible assets (€8.8 million, excluding acquisition goodwill). Investments in property, plant and equipment includes expansion, upgrade, maintenance and general administrative IT equipment. Investments in intangible assets include power grid rights and software development.

We expect to continue to invest as we expand our data center footprint and increase our Equipped space based on demand in our target markets. Our total annual investment in property, plant and equipment includes maintenance and replacement capital expenditures. Although in any one year the amount of maintenance and other capital expenditures may vary, we expect that such capital expenditures will be between 4% and 6% of total revenue in the long term.

We currently hold title to the AMS3, AMS6, AMS9, AMS11, BRU1, CPH2, DUB3, FRA8, FRA10, FRA11, FRA13, FRA14, MRS1, PAR3, PAR5, and VIE properties, freehold land for AMS10, CPH3, FRA15, MAD3 and ZUR2, and additional properties for future sites. We exercised certain purchase options and agreed to purchase the PAR7 freehold land, on which we own the PAR7 data center and the AMS7 freehold land and properties. The PAR7 land and the AMS7 land and properties were until December 31, 2018 reported as financial leases. In accordance with IFRS 16, which went into effect on January 1, 2019, both PAR7 and AMS7 are now and will continue to be reported as leases until the acquisitions are completed. See Note 3 “Significant accounting policies — New standards and interpretations not yet adopted” of our 2018 consolidated financial statements for more details about IFRS 16.

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We also lease space for data centers and typically begin construction before entering into contractual agreements with customers to utilize our data centers under construction. In some cases, we enter into lease agreements for data centers or begin expansions at our

existing data centers without any pre-existing customer commitments to use the additional space that will be created. If we open or acquire a new data center or complete an expansion at an existing data center, we will be required to pay substantial up-front and ongoing costs associated with that data center, including leasehold improvements, basic overhead costs and rental payments, regardless of whether or not we have any agreements with customers to utilize those data centers.

As a result of our expansion plans, we will incur capital expenditures, and as a result, an increase in other operating expenses, which will negatively impact our cash flow, and depreciation that together will negatively impact our profitability unless and until these new and expanded data centers generate enough revenue to exceed their operating costs and related capital expenditures.

There can be no guarantee that we will be able to sustain or increase our profitability if our planned expansion is not successful or if there is not sufficient customer demand in the future to realize expected returns on these investments. Any such development would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we are unable to expand our existing data centers or locate and secure suitable sites for additional data centers on commercially acceptable terms, our ability to grow our business may be limited.

Our ability to meet the growing needs of our existing customers and to attract new customers depends on our ability to add capacity by expanding existing data centers or by locating and securing suitable sites for additional data centers that meet our specifications, such as proximity to numerous network service providers, access to a significant supply of electrical power and the ability to sustain heavy floor loading. We have reached high utilization levels at some of our data centers and therefore any increase in these locations would need to be accomplished through the lease of additional property that satisfies our requirements. Property meeting our specifications may be scarce in our target markets. If we are unable to identify and enter into leases on commercially acceptable terms on a timely basis for any reason including due to competition from other companies seeking similar sites who may have greater financial resources than us, or if we are unable to expand our space in our current data centers, our rate of growth may be substantially impaired.

Our capital expenditures, together with ongoing operating expenses and obligations to service our debt, will be a drain on our cash flow and may decrease our cash balances. The capital markets in the recent past have been and may again become limited for external financing opportunities. Additional debt or equity financing may not be available when needed or, if available, may not be available on satisfactory terms. Our inability to obtain needed debt and/or equity financing or to generate sufficient cash from operations may require us to prioritize projects or curtail capital expenditures which could adversely affect our results of operations.

Failure to renew or maintain real estate leases for our existing data centers on commercially acceptable terms, or at all, could harm our business.

For the leased properties on which our data centers are located, we generally enter into leases for initial minimum periods of 10 to 15 years (excluding renewal options). Including renewal options, the lease properties are generally secured for terms of 20 to 25 years. The majority of our leases are subject to an annual inflation-linked increase in rent and, on renewal (or earlier in some cases), the rent we pay may be reset to the current market rate. There is, therefore, a risk that there will be significant rent increases when the rent is reviewed.

Our leases in France, Ireland and the United Kingdom do not contain contractual options to renew or extend those leases, and we have exhausted or may in the future exhaust such options in other leases. With respect to our operating leases in France, certain landlords may terminate our operating leases following the expiration of the original lease period (being 12 years from the commencement date), and the other leases in France may be terminated by the landlords at the end of each three-year period upon six months prior notice in the event the respective landlord wishes to carry out construction works to the building. The non-renewal of leases for our existing data center locations, or the renewal of such leases on less favorable terms, is a potentially significant risk to our ongoing operations. We would incur significant costs if we were forced to vacate one of our data centers due to the high costs of relocating our own and our customers’ equipment, installing the necessary infrastructure in a new data center and, as required by most of our leases, reinstating the vacated data center to its original state. In addition, if we were forced to vacate a data center, we could lose customers that chose our services based on location. If we fail to renew any of our leases, or the renewal of any of our leases is on less favorable terms and we fail to increase revenues sufficiently to offset the higher rental costs, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Our leases may obligate us to make payments beyond our use of the property.

Our leases generally do not give us the right to terminate without penalty. Accordingly, we may incur costs under leases for data center space that is not or no longer is Revenue generating space. Some of our leases do not give us the right to sublet, and even if we have that right, we may not be able to sublet the space on favorable terms or at all. We have incurred moderate costs in relation to such onerous lease contracts in recent years.

We may experience unforeseen delays and expenses when fitting out and upgrading data centers, and the costs could be greater than anticipated.

As we attempt to grow our business, substantial management effort and financial resources are employed by us in fitting out new, and upgrading existing, data centers. In addition, we periodically upgrade and replace certain equipment at our data centers. We may experience unforeseen delays and expenses in connection with a particular client project or data center build-out. In addition, unexpected technological changes could affect customer requirements and we may not have built such requirements into our data centers and may not have budgeted for the financial resources necessary to build out or redesign the space to meet such new requirements. Furthermore, the redesign of existing space is difficult to implement in practice as it normally requires moving existing customers. Although we have budgeted for expected build-out and equipment expenses, additional expenses in the event of unforeseen delays, cost overruns, unanticipated expenses, regulatory changes, unexpected technological changes and increases in the price of equipment may negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

No assurance can be given that we will complete the build-out of new data centers or expansions of existing data centers within the proposed timeframe and cost parameters or at all. Any such failure could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may incur non-cash impairment charges to our assets, in particular to our property, plant and equipment, which could result in a reduction to our earnings.

In accordance with IFRS, we periodically monitor the remaining net book values of our investments, intangible assets and our property, plant and equipment (based on cash generating units) for indications of a material change in balance sheet carrying value, particularly indications of any impairments. It is possible that one or more data centers could begin to under-perform relative to our expectations due to changes in customer requirements or regulatory changes affecting the efficient operation of our data centers which may then also result in a non-cash impairment charge. In addition, capitalized data center development costs may also be subject to impairment due to events or changes in circumstances, such as changing market conditions or any changes in key assumptions, which result in delaying or terminating a data center development project giving rise to a non-cash impairment charge.

We face significant competition and we may not be able to compete successfully against current and future competitors.

Our market is highly competitive. Most companies operate their own data centers and in many cases continue to invest in data center capacity, although there is a trend towards outsourcing. We compete against other carrier and cloud-neutral colocation data center service providers, such as Equinix and Telehouse. We also compete with other types of data centers, including carrier-operated colocation, wholesale and IT outsourcers and managed services provider data centers. The cost, operational risk and inconvenience involved in relocating a customer’s networking and computing equipment to another data center are significant and have the effect of protecting a competitor’s data center from significant levels of customer churn.

Further, the growth of the European data center market has encouraged new, larger companies to consider entering the market, in particular those from the United States who are active in this sector. This growth and other factors have also led to increasing alliances and consolidation. For example, as a result of the acquisition of Zenium by CyrusOne in 2018, we may be subject to increased competition and face a shift in the competitive landscape. In addition, many of these companies may have significantly greater financial, marketing and other resources than we do. Some of our competitors may be willing to, and due to greater financial resources, may be better able to adopt aggressive pricing policies, including the provision of discounted data center services as an encouragement for customers to utilize their other services. Certain of our competitors may also provide our target customers with additional benefits, including bundled communications services, and may do so in a manner that is more attractive to potential customers than obtaining space in our data centers.

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In addition, corporations that have already invested substantial resources in in-house data center operations may be reluctant to outsource these services to a third-party, or may choose to acquire space within a wholesale provider’s data center, which would allow them to manage the equipment themselves. If existing customers were to conclude that they could provide the same service in-house at a lower cost, with greater reliability, with increased security or for other reasons, they might move such services in-house and we would lose customers and business.

We may also see increased competition for data center space and customers from wholesale data center providers, such as large real estate companies. Rather than leasing available space to large single tenants, real estate companies, including certain of our landlords, may decide to convert the space instead to smaller square meter units designed for multitenant colocation use. In addition to the risk of losing customers to wholesale data center providers, this could also reduce the amount of space available to us for expansion in the future. As a result of such competition, we could suffer from downward pricing pressure and the loss of customers (and potential customers), which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our services may have a long sales cycle that may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A customer’s decision to take space in one of our data centers typically involves a significant commitment of resources by us and by potential customers, who often require internal approvals. In addition, some customers will be reluctant to commit to locating in our data centers until they are confident that the data center has adequate available carrier connections and network density. As a result, we may have a long sales cycle lasting anywhere from three months for smaller customers to periods in excess of one year for some of our larger customers. Furthermore, we may expend significant time and resources in pursuing a particular sale or customer that does not result in revenue.

Global or regional economic downturns or delayed economic recovery in the regions in which we operate may further impact this long sales cycle by making it extremely difficult for customers to accurately forecast and plan future business activities. This could cause customers to slow spending, or delay decision-making, on our services, which would delay and lengthen our sales cycle.

Delays due to the length of our sales cycle may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is dependent on the adequate supply of electrical power and could be harmed by prolonged electrical power outages or increases in the cost of power.

The operation of each of our data centers requires an extremely large amount of power and we are among the largest power consumers in certain cities in which we operate data centers. We cannot be certain that there will be adequate power in all of the locations in which we operate, or intend to open additional data centers. We attempt to limit exposure to system downtime caused by power outages by using back-up generators and uninterrupted power supply systems; however, we may not be able to limit our exposure entirely even with these protections in place. We also cannot guarantee that the generators will always provide sufficient power or restore power in time to avoid loss of or damage to our customers’ and our equipment. Any loss of services or damage to equipment resulting from a temporary loss of or reduction in power at any of our data centers could harm our customers, reduce customers’ confidence in our services, impair our ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers, and result in us incurring financial obligations to our customers as they might be eligible for service credits pursuant to their service level agreements with us. Our customers may also seek damages from us.

In addition, we are susceptible to fluctuations in power costs in all of the locations in which we operate. Clients have two options with respect to power usage. They can either (i) pay in advance for power usage in “plugs” (typically included in the total cabinet price), which are contractually defined amounts of power per month, for which the customer must pay in full, regardless of how much power is actually used; or (ii) pay for their actual power usage in arrears on a metered basis. While we are contractually able to recover power cost increases from our customers, some portion of the increased costs may not be recovered or recovered in a delayed fashion based on commercial reasons and as a result, may have a negative impact on our results of operations.

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Although we have not experienced any power outages that have had a material impact on our financial condition in the past, power outages or increases in the cost of power to us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A general lack of electrical power resources sufficient to meet our customers’ demands may impair our ability to utilize fully the available space at our existing data centers or our plans to open new data centers.

In each of our markets, we rely on third parties to provide a sufficient amount of power for current and future customers. Power and cooling requirements are generally growing on a per customer basis. Some of our customers are increasing and may continue to increase their use of high-density electrical power equipment, such as blade servers, which can significantly increase the demand for power per customer and cooling requirements for our data centers. Future demand for electrical power and cooling may exceed the designed electrical power and cooling infrastructure in our data centers. As the electrical power infrastructure is typically one of the most important limiting factors in our data centers, our ability to utilize available space fully may be limited. This, as well as any inability to secure sufficient power resources from third-party providers, could have a negative impact on the effective available capacity of a given data center and limit our ability to grow our business.

The ability to increase the power capacity or power infrastructure of a data center, should we decide to, is dependent on several factors including, but not limited to, the local utility’s ability and willingness to provide additional power, the length of time required to provide that power and/or whether it is feasible to upgrade the electrical infrastructure and cooling systems of a data center to deliver additional power to customers.

The availability of sufficient power may also pose a risk to the successful development of future data centers. In cities where we intend to open new data centers, we may face delays in obtaining sufficient power to operate our data centers. Our ability to secure adequate power sources will depend on several factors, including whether the local power supply is at or close to its limit, whether new connections for our data center would require the local power company to install a new substation or feeder and whether new connections for our data center would increase the overall risks of blackouts or power outages in a given geographic area.

If we are unable to utilize fully the physical space available within our data centers or successfully develop additional data centers or expand existing data centers due to restrictions on available electrical power or cooling, we may be unable to accept new customers or increase the services provided to existing customers, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

A significant percentage of our Monthly recurring revenue is generated by contracts with terms of one year or less remaining. If those contracts are not renewed, or if their pricing terms are negotiated downwards, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially adversely affected.

The majority of our initial customer contracts are entered into on a fixed term basis for periods from three to five years, which, unless terminated in advance, are automatically renewed for subsequent one-year periods. See Item 4 “Information on the Company—Customer Contracts”. As of December 31, 2018, 41% of our Monthly recurring revenue was generated by contracts with terms of one year or less remaining. Consequently, a large part of our customer base could either terminate their contracts with us at relatively short notice, or seek to re-negotiate the pricing of such contracts downwards, which, if either were to occur, would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our inability to use all or part of our net deferred tax assets could cause us to pay taxes at an earlier date and in greater amounts than expected.

As of December 31, 2018, we had €4.9 million of recognized net deferred tax assets and no unrecognized net deferred tax assets. We cannot assure you that we will generate sufficient profit in the relevant jurisdictions to utilize these deferred tax assets fully or that the tax loss availability will not expire before we have been able to fully utilize them. In addition, applicable law could change in one or more jurisdictions in which we have deferred tax assets, rendering such assets unusable. Either such event would cause us to pay taxes in greater amounts than would otherwise occur, which may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

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Our operating results have fluctuated in the past and may fluctuate in the future, which may make it difficult to evaluate our business and prospects.

Our operating results have fluctuated in the past and may continue to fluctuate in the future, due to a variety of factors, which include:

Any of the foregoing factors, or other factors discussed elsewhere in this annual report, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Although we have experienced growth in revenues during the past three financial years, this growth rate is not necessarily indicative of future operating results. In addition, a relatively large portion of our expenses cannot be reduced in the short-term, particularly personnel and property costs and part of our power costs, which means that our results of operations are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in revenues. As such, comparisons to prior reporting periods should not be relied upon as indications of our future performance. In addition, our operating results in one or more future periods may fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors. If this happens, the market price of our ordinary shares may decline significantly.

We are dependent on third-party suppliers for equipment, technology and other services.

We contract with third parties for the supply of equipment (including generators, UPS systems and cabinet equipment) on which we are dependent to operate our business. Poor performance by, or any inability of, our suppliers to provide necessary equipment, products, services and maintenance could have a negative effect on our reputation and harm our business.

We depend on the ongoing service of our personnel and executive committee and may not be able to attract, train and retain a sufficient number of qualified personnel to maintain and grow our business.

Our success depends upon our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly-skilled employees, including the data center personnel who are integral to the establishment and running of our data centers, as well as sales and marketing personnel who play a large role in attracting and retaining customers. Due to several factors, including the rapid growth of the Internet, there is aggressive competition for experienced data center employees. We compete intensely with other companies to recruit and hire from this limited pool. In addition, the training of new employees requires a large amount of our time and resources. If we cannot attract, train and retain qualified personnel, we may be unable to expand our business in line with our strategy, compete for new customers or retain existing customers, which could cause our business, financial condition and results of operations to suffer.

Our future performance also depends to a significant degree upon the continued contributions of our executive committee. The loss of any member of our executive committee could significantly harm us. To the extent that the services of members of our executive committee would be unavailable to us for any reason, we would be required to hire other personnel to manage and operate our Company. There can be no assurance that we would be able to locate or employ such personnel on acceptable terms or on a timely basis.

Our failure to maintain competitive compensation packages, including equity incentives, may be disruptive to our business. If one or more of our key personnel resigns from our Company to join or form a competitor, the loss of such personnel and any resulting loss of existing or potential customers to any such competitor could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, we may be unable to prevent the unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical knowledge, practices or procedures by departed personnel.

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Disruptions to our physical infrastructure could lead to significant costs, reduce our revenues and harm our business reputation and financial results.

Our business depends on providing customers with highly reliable and secure services. A number of factors may disrupt our ability to provide services to our customers, including:

The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Disruptions at one or more of our data centers, whether or not within our control, could result in service interruptions or significant equipment damage, leading to significant costs and revenue reductions. See “Risks Related to our Industry—Terrorist activity throughout the world and military action to counter terrorism could adversely impact our business”.

Our insurance may not be adequate to cover all losses.

The insurance we maintain covers material damage to property, business interruption and third-party liability. This insurance contains limitations on the total coverage for damage due to catastrophic events, such as flooding or terrorism. In addition, there is an overall cap on our general insurance coverage per data center in any one year. There is, therefore, a risk that if one or more data centers were damaged, the total amount of the loss would not be recoverable by us.

Also, our insurance policies include customary exclusions, deductibles and other conditions that could limit our ability to recover losses. In addition, some of our policies are subject to limitations involving co-payments and policy limits that may not be sufficient to cover losses. If we experience a loss that is uninsured or that exceeds policy limits, or if customers consider that there is a significant risk that such an event will occur, this may negatively affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our failure to meet the performance standards under our service level agreements may subject us to liability to our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition or results of operations.

We have service level agreements with substantially all of our customers in which we provide various guarantees regarding our level of service. Our inability to provide services consistent with these guarantees may lead to large losses for our customers, who consequently may be entitled to service credits for their accounts or to terminate their relationship with us. We have issued service credits to customers in the past due to our failure to meet service level commitments and we may do so in the future. We cannot be sure that our customers will accept these service credits as compensation in the future. Our failure or inability to meet a customer’s expectations or any deficiency in the services we provide to customers could result in a claim against us for substantial damages. Provisions contained in our agreements with customers attempting to limit damages, including provisions to limit liability for damages, may not be enforceable in all instances or may otherwise fail to protect us for liability damages.

We could be subject to costs, as well as claims, litigation or other potential liability, in connection with risks associated with the security of our data centers and our information technology systems. We may also be subject to information technology systems failures, network disruptions and breaches of data security, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and material adverse impact on our business.

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One of our key service offerings is our high level of physical premises security. Many of our customers entrust their key strategic IT services and applications to us due, in part, to the level of security we offer. If anyone is able to breach our security, they could physically damage our and our customers’ equipment and/or misappropriate either our proprietary information or the information of our customers or cause interruptions or malfunctions in our operations.

There can be no assurance that the security of any of our data centers will not be breached or the equipment and information of our customers put at risk. Any security breach could have a serious effect on our reputation and could prevent new customers from choosing our services and lead to customers terminating their contracts early and seeking to recover losses suffered, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may incur significant additional costs to protect against physical premises security breaches or to alleviate problems caused by such breaches.

In addition, we can provide no assurance that our IT systems are fully protected against third-party intrusions, viruses, hacker attacks, information or data theft or other similar threats. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyber-attack or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, has risen as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. For example, in December 2015, we became aware that we suffered a breach in our IT security. This resulted in a temporary and localized compromise of the credentials to our customer relationship management (“CRM”) system which allowed unauthorized access to some customer and prospective customer contact details. No financial, personal or other sensitive customer data was accessed, or is stored within this system. This incident only affected our CRM system and did not impact or involve any of the data centers or services that we provide. Upon learning of this incident, we collaborated with our CRM supplier and have worked closely with our security team to ensure that all CRM information is secure. However, any third-party intrusions, viruses, hacker attacks, information or data theft or similar threats against us and our IT systems may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We face risks relating to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.

Our reporting currency for purposes of our financial statements is the euro. We also, however, earn revenues and incur operating costs in non-euro denominated currencies, such as British pounds, Swiss francs, Danish kroner, Swedish kronor and U.S. dollars. We recognize foreign currency gains or losses arising from our operations in the period incurred. As a result, currency fluctuations between the euro and the non-euro currencies in which we do business will cause us to incur foreign currency translation gains and losses. We cannot predict the effects of exchange rate fluctuations upon our future operating results because of the number of currencies involved, the variability of currency exposure and the potential volatility of currency exchange rates. We do not currently engage in foreign exchange hedging transactions to manage the risk of our foreign currency exposure.

The lingering effects of the European debt crisis or any future slowdown in global economies may have an impact on our business and financial condition in ways that we cannot currently predict.

Any delays in the recovery of the global financial markets from the European debt crisis or future global or regional economic instability could have an adverse effect on our business and our financial condition. If the ongoing recovery stalls or if market conditions weaken or become more unstable, some of our customers may have difficulty paying us and we may experience increased churn in our customer base. Our sales cycle could also lengthen as customers slow spending, or delay decision-making, on our services, which could adversely affect our revenue growth. Finally, we could also experience pricing pressure as a result of economic conditions if our competitors lower prices and attempt to lure away our customers.

Additionally, our ability to access the capital markets may be severely restricted at a time when we would like, or need, to do so, which could have an impact on our ability to pursue additional expansion opportunities and maintain our desired level of revenue growth in the future.

Political uncertainty may impact economic conditions which could adversely affect our liquidity and financial condition.

General economic conditions and the cost and availability of capital may be adversely affected in some or all of the metropolitan areas in which we provide our services. Political uncertainty in the U.S. and in Europe may adversely affect our ability, and the ability of our customers, to replace or renew maturing liabilities on a timely basis, access capital markets to meet liquidity and capital expenditure requirements and may result in adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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In addition, we cannot assure you that long-term disruptions in the global economy and tighter credit conditions among, and potential failures or nationalizations of, third-party financial institutions as a result of such disruptions will not have an adverse effect on our lenders and our financial condition and results of operations. If the global economy and financial markets deteriorate or continue to face uncertainty, our business, results of operation, cash flows and financial condition could be adversely affected.

If we do not have sufficient cash flow to continue or expand our operations and are unable to borrow additional funds, access our existing lines of credit or raise equity or debt capital, we may need to curtail our development activity and/or to find alternative ways to increase our liquidity. Such alternatives may include, without limitation, disposing of one or more of our properties possibly on disadvantageous terms or entering into or renewing leases on less favorable terms than we otherwise would.

The United Kingdom invoking the process to withdraw from the European Union could have a negative effect on global economic conditions, financial markets and our business, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

We operate data centers across a number of markets in the European Union, including the United Kingdom. On March 29, 2017, the British Prime Minister delivered a notice to the European Council pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union to initiate the formal process of withdrawal from the European Union. The Article 50 notice started a two-year period for the United Kingdom to negotiate the terms of its exit from the European Union, although this period can be extended with the unanimous agreement of the European Council. Although negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union began in June 2017, as of the date of this annual report, the final withdrawal agreement has not been agreed and ratified by the United Kingdom and the European Union Member States. Moreover, uncertainty was exacerbated by the lack of a decisive majority following the general elections in the United Kingdom in June 2017, the failure of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons to accept a draft withdrawal agreement in January and March 2019 and the extension of the negotiation period until October 31, 2019. Until the United Kingdom officially exits the European Union, the laws and regulations of the European Union will continue to apply, and changes to the application of these laws and regulations are likely to occur during negotiations.

This development has had, and may continue to have, a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets and could significantly reduce global market liquidity and restrict the ability of key market participants to operate in certain financial markets. Asset valuations, currency exchange rates, and credit ratings may be especially subject to increased market volatility. Lack of clarity about future laws and regulations as the United Kingdom determines which European Union laws to replace or replicate upon withdrawal could depress economic activity and restrict our access to capital in the United Kingdom. If the United Kingdom and the European Union are unable to negotiate acceptable withdrawal terms, barrier-free access between the United Kingdom and other European Union member states could be diminished or eliminated. This may impact our ability to freely move staff and equipment, and it may impact the cost associated with cross-border business, for example, by the re-introduction of import duties. Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Acquisitions, business combinations and other transactions present many risks, and we may not realize the financial or strategic goals that were contemplated at the time of any transaction and such transactions may alter our financial or strategic goals.

We have evaluated, and expect to continue to evaluate, potential strategic combinations and acquisitions and other transactions. We may enter into transactions like these at any time, or discussions concerning such transactions, which may include combinations with other companies or businesses, acquisitions of us by third parties, including potential strategic and financial acquirers, and acquisitions by us of businesses, products, services or technologies that we believe to be complementary. These potential transactions expose us to several potential risks, including:

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We may pay for future acquisitions by using our existing cash resources (which may limit other potential uses of our cash), incurring additional debt (which may increase our interest expense, leverage and debt service requirements) and/or issuing shares (which may dilute our existing stockholders and have a negative effect on our earnings per share). The occurrence of any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

We focus on the development of communities of interest within customer industry segments and the attraction of magnetic customers. Our failure to attract, grow and retain these communities of interest could harm our business and operating results.

Our ability to maximize revenue growth depends on our ability to develop and grow communities of interest within our target customer industry segments such as Connectivity Providers, Platform Providers and Enterprises. Within each community, there are certain customers, which we consider to be magnetic customers as we believe they make it attractive to other customers to be in our data centers. Our ability to attract magnetic customers to our data centers will depend on a variety of factors, including the presence of multiple carriers, the mix of our offerings, the overall mix of customers, the presence of other magnetic customers, the data center’s operating reliability and security and our ability to effectively market our offerings. We may not be able to attract magnetic customers and therefore may be unsuccessful in the development of our communities of interest. This may hinder the development, growth and retention of customer communities of interest and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Consolidation may have a negative impact on our business model.

If customers combine businesses, they may require less colocation space, which could lead to churn in our customer base. Competitors in some of our markets may also consolidate, which can make it more difficult for us to compete. Consolidation of our customers and/or our competitors may present a risk to our business model and have a negative impact on our revenues.

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Our operations are highly dependent on the proper functioning of our information technology systems. We routinely upgrade our information technology systems. The failure or unavailability of such systems during or after an upgrade process could result in the loss of existing or potential customers and harm our reputation, business and operating results.

We rely heavily on our information technology and back office systems to conduct our business, including for purposes of providing customer fee quotes and maintaining accurate customer service and billings records. Difficulties with our systems may interrupt our ability to accept and deliver customer orders and impact our overall financial operations, including our accounts payable, accounts receivables, general ledger, close processes, internal financial controls, and our ability to otherwise run and track our business. We may need to expend significant attention, time and resources to correct problems or find alternative sources for performing these functions. As a result of any significant investments in ongoing upgrades or any future upgrades or modifications, we may be unable to devote adequate financial and other resources to remedy any such delay or technical difficulty in an efficient manner.

Any disruption to our information technology and back office systems, whether caused by upgrade projects or otherwise, may adversely affect our business and operating results.

Substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our financial condition and our ability to operate our business, and we may not be able to generate sufficient cash flows to meet our debt service obligations.

We have a significant amount of debt and may incur additional debt to support our growth. As of December 31, 2018, our total indebtedness was approximately €1,290.1 million, our stockholders’ equity was €633.4 million, and our cash and cash equivalents totaled €186.1 million. Our substantial amount of debt could have important consequences. For example, it could:

The occurrence of any of the foregoing factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We require a significant amount of cash to service our debt, which may limit available cash to fund working capital and capital expenditures. Our ability to generate sufficient cash depends on many factors beyond our control.

Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our debt, and to fund working capital and capital expenditures, will depend on our future operating performance and ability to generate sufficient cash. This depends, to some extent, on general economic, financial, competitive, market, legislative, regulatory and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, as well as the other factors discussed in these “Risk Factors”.

We cannot assure you that our business will generate sufficient cash flows from operations or that future debt and equity financing will be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to pay our debts when due, including our outstanding Senior Notes, and future borrowings under our Revolving Facility, or to fund our other liquidity needs. See Item 5 “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects”.

If our future cash flows from operations and other capital resources (including future borrowings under our Revolving Facility) are insufficient to pay our obligations as they mature or to fund our liquidity needs, we may be forced to:

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We cannot assure you that we would be able to accomplish any of these alternatives on a timely basis or on satisfactory terms, if at all. In addition, the terms of our debt, including the Revolving Facility and the Senior Notes, limit, and any future debt may limit, our ability to pursue any of these alternatives.

We may need to refinance our outstanding debt.

We may need to refinance a portion of our outstanding debt as it matures, such as mortgages with quarterly repayment schedules and the Senior Notes. Furthermore, if prevailing interest rates or other factors at the time of refinancing result in higher interest rates upon refinancing, then the interest expense relating to that refinanced indebtedness would increase. These risks could materially adversely affect our financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

If we increase our indebtedness by borrowing under the Revolving Facility or incur other new indebtedness, the risks described above would increase.

We are subject to restrictive debt covenants, which limit our operating flexibility.

Our Revolving Facility and the Indenture (as defined herein) governing the Senior Notes contain covenants which impose significant restrictions on the way we and our subsidiaries operate, including but not limited to (as applicable), restrictions on the ability to:

These covenants could limit our ability to finance our future operations and capital needs and our ability to pursue acquisitions and other business activities that may be in our interest.

Our Revolving Facility Agreement (as defined below) requires us to maintain a specified financial ratio (subject to the aggregate base currency amount of the outstanding loans (excluding any non-cash ancillary outstandings and any non-cash utilizations exceeding 35% of the total commitments thereunder on the applicable quarter date (the “Test Condition”)). The restrictive covenants in our Revolving Facility Agreement and Indenture governing the Senior Notes are subject to customary exceptions including, in relation to the incurrence of certain additional debt, a consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio (calculated as a ratio of Adjusted EBITDA to consolidated interest expense) of at least 2.00 to 1.00 on a pro forma basis for the four full fiscal quarters (taken as one period) for which financial statements are available immediately preceding the incurrence of such debt.

Our ability to meet this and other covenants may be affected by events beyond our control and, as a result, we cannot assure you that we will be able to meet or satisfy such covenants. In the event of a default under the Revolving Facility Agreement, the lenders could terminate their commitments and declare all amounts owed to them to be due and payable. Borrowings under other debt instruments that contain cross acceleration or cross default provisions, including the Senior Notes, may as a result also be accelerated and become due and payable. We may be unable to pay these debts in such circumstances or to the extent we pay such debts, we may not have sufficient cash to fund our working capital expenditure needs.

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Risks Related to our Industry

The European data center industry has suffered from over-capacity in the past, and a substantial increase in the supply of new data center capacity and/or a general decrease in demand for data center services could have an adverse impact on industry pricing and profit margins.

The European data center industry has previously suffered from overcapacity. For example, certain Internet-based customers have previously contracted to use more space than necessary to meet their needs and in the periods following adverse market conditions, the number of Internet-related business failures increased significantly, resulting in high levels of customer churn due to the termination or non-renewal of contracts.

A substantial increase in the supply of new data center capacity in the European data center market and/or a general decrease in demand, or in the rate of increase in demand, for data center services could have an adverse impact on industry pricing and profit margins. If there is insufficient customer demand for data center services, our business, financial condition and operating results would be adversely affected.

If we do not keep pace with technological changes, evolving industry standards and customer requirements, our competitive position will suffer.

The Internet and telecommunications industries are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and changing customer needs. Accordingly, our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to meet the challenge of these changes. Among the most important challenges that we may face are the need to:

All of these challenges must be met in a timely and cost-effective manner. Some of our competitors may have greater financial resources, which would allow them to react better or more quickly to changes than we may be able to. We may not effectively meet these challenges as rapidly as our competitors or at all and our failure to do so could harm our business.

Terrorist activity throughout the world and military action to counter terrorism could adversely impact our business.

Due to the high volume of important data that passes through data centers, there is a real risk that terrorists seeking to damage financial and technological infrastructure view data centers generally, and those in concentrated areas specifically, as potential targets. These factors may increase our costs due to the need to provide enhanced security, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations if we are unable to pass such costs on to our customers. These circumstances may also adversely affect the ability of companies, including us, to raise capital. We may not have adequate property and liability insurance to cover terrorist attacks.

In addition, we depend heavily on the physical infrastructure (particularly as it relates to power) that exists in the markets in which we operate. Any damage to such infrastructure, particularly in the major European markets such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Paris, where we derive a substantial amount of our revenue and which are likely to be more prone to terrorist activities, may materially and adversely affect our business.

Our carrier neutral business model depends on the presence of numerous telecommunications carrier networks in our data centers.

The presence of diverse telecommunications carriers’ fiber networks in our data centers is critical to our ability to retain and attract new customers. We are not a telecommunications carrier and as such we rely on third parties to provide our non-carrier customers with carrier services. We cannot assure you that the carriers operating within our data centers will not cease to do so. For example, as a result of strategic decisions or consolidations, some carriers may decide to downsize or terminate connectivity within our data centers, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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We may be subject to reputational damage and legal action in connection with the information disseminated by our customers.

We may face potential direct and indirect liability for claims of defamation, negligence, copyright, patent or trademark infringement and other claims, as well as reputational damage, based on the nature and content of the materials disseminated from our data centers, including on the grounds of allegations of the illegality of certain activities carried out by customers through their equipment located in our data centers. For example, lawsuits may be brought against us claiming that content distributed by our customers may be regulated or banned. Our general liability insurance may not cover any such claim or may not be adequate to protect us against all liability that may be imposed. In addition, on a limited number of occasions in the past, businesses, organizations and individuals have sent unsolicited commercial emails (“spam”), which may be viewed as offensive by recipients, from servers hosted at our data centers to a number of people, typically to advertise products or services. We have in the past received, and may in the future receive, letters from recipients of information transmitted by our customers objecting to spam. Although our contracts with our customers prohibit them from spamming, there can be no assurance that customers will not engage in this practice, which could subject us to claims for damages, damage our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Regulation

Laws and government regulations governing Internet-related services, related communication services and information technology and electronic commerce, across the European countries in which we operate, continue to evolve and, depending on the evolution of such regulations, may adversely affect our business.

Laws and governmental regulations governing Internet-related services, related communications services and information technology and electronic commerce continue to evolve. This is true across the various European countries in which we operate. In particular, the laws regarding privacy and those regarding gambling and other activities that certain countries deem illegal are continuing to evolve.

Changes in laws or regulations (or the interpretation of such laws or regulations) or national or EU policy affecting our activities and/or those of our customers and competitors, including regulation of prices and interconnection arrangements, regulation of access arrangements to types of infrastructure, regulation of privacy requirements through the protection of personal data and regulation of activity considered illegal through rules affecting data center and managed service providers could materially adversely affect our results by decreasing revenue, increasing costs or impairing our ability to offer services.

We and the industry in which we operate are subject to environmental and health and safety laws and regulations and may be subject to more stringent efficiency, environmental and health and safety laws and regulations in the future, including with respect to energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

We are subject to various environmental and health and safety laws and regulations, including those relating to the generation, storage, handling and disposal of hazardous substances and technological equipment, the maintenance of warehouse facilities and the generation and use of electricity. Certain of these laws and regulations are capable of imposing liability for the entire cost of the investigation and remediation of contaminated sites or buildings containing hazardous materials such as asbestos, without regard to fault or the lawfulness of the activity causing the contamination, on current and former owners and occupiers of real property and persons who have disposed of or released hazardous substances at any location. Compliance with these laws and regulations could impose substantial ongoing compliance costs and operating restrictions on us.

Hazardous substances or regulated materials of which we are not aware may be present at data centers leased and operated by us. If any such contaminants are discovered at our data centers, we may be responsible under applicable laws, regulations or leases for any required removal or clean-up or other action at substantial cost.

Our facilities contain tanks and other containers for the storage of diesel fuel and significant quantities of lead acid batteries to provide back-up power. We cannot guarantee that our environmental compliance program will be able to prevent leaks or spills in these or other technical installations.

In addition, due to our high levels of energy consumption, we may incur substantial costs purchasing allowances under the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme and/or in connection with upgrading our data centers to improve the energy efficiency of our operations. This could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Non-compliance with, or liabilities under, existing or future environmental or health and safety laws and regulations, including failure to hold requisite permits, or the adoption of more stringent requirements in the future, could result in fines, penalties, third-party claims and other costs that could have a material adverse effect on us.

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Our data centers may also be adversely affected by any future application of additional regulation relating to energy usage, for example, seeking to reduce the power consumption of companies and fees or levies related thereto.

Changes in Dutch or foreign tax laws and regulations, or interpretations thereof may adversely affect our financial position.

We are a Dutch company with European subsidiaries and are subject to income tax in The Netherlands and foreign income tax in the countries we conduct operations, including The Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide tax liabilities and obligations. Although we believe that we have adequately assessed and accounted for our potential tax liabilities, and that our tax estimates including our transfer pricing estimates are reasonable, there can be no certainty that additional taxes will not be due upon an audit of our tax returns or as a result of changes to applicable tax laws and interpretations thereof. In addition, several of the governments in which we conduct operations, including The Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK, are actively considering changes to their respective taxation regimes, which may impact the recognition and taxation of worldwide income. The nature and timing of any amendments to tax laws of the jurisdictions in which we operate and the impact on our future tax liabilities cannot be predicted with any certainty, however any such amendments or changes could materially and adversely impact our results of operations and financial position including cash flows.

Laws and government regulations governing the licenses or permits we need across the European countries in which we operate may change, which can adversely affect our business.

We operate data centers and other facilities in 11 countries and as a result of our international operations, we are subject to risks related to the differing legal, political, social and regulatory requirements and economic conditions of many jurisdictions. General economic, political, or social conditions in the countries in which we operate could have an adverse effect on our revenues from operations in those countries. In addition, we may be unable to obtain, renew or retain licenses or permits for our operations, data centers and other facilities for legal, environmental or regulatory reasons. For example, on October 15, 2015, a French administrative court ruled that local authorities failed to perform a sufficiently extensive study of the potential noise impact that operating the PAR7 data center could have on local residents and annulled the permit we had previously received on December 13, 2013. We appealed this ruling and submitted an application for a new permit. We obtained a new permit for our PAR7 data center from the Seine-St-Denis authorities in October 2016. Our inability to obtain, renew or retain licenses or permits for our operations, data centers and other facilities may adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial conditions or cash flows.

Risks Related to Our Ordinary Shares

The market price for our ordinary shares may continue to be volatile.

From January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2018, the closing sale price of our common stock on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) ranged from $51.22 to $68.75 per share. The market price for our shares is likely to be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors including, but not limited to, the following:

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In addition, the securities market has from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also have a material adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares.

A substantial portion of our total outstanding ordinary shares may be sold into the market at any time. Such future sales or issuances, or perceived future sales or issuances, could adversely affect the price of our shares.

If our existing shareholders sell, or are perceived as intending to sell, substantial amounts of our ordinary shares, including those issued pursuant to employee incentive schemes, the market price of our ordinary shares could be adversely impacted. Such sales, or perceived potential sales, by our existing shareholders might make it more difficult for us to issue new equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price we deem appropriate. The ordinary shares offered in our initial public offering were eligible for immediate resale in the public market without restrictions. Shares previously held by our existing shareholders may also be sold in the public market in the future if registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), or if such shares qualify for an exemption from registration, including by reason of Rules 144 or 701 under the Securities Act. Additionally, we intend to register all of our ordinary shares that we may issue under our employee stock ownership plans. Once we register those shares, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, unless pursuant to their terms these stock awards have transfer restrictions attached to them.

You may not be able to exercise pre-emptive rights.

Prior to December 29, 2016, and pursuant to our articles of association, our Board of Directors (as defined herein), for a period of 18 months that lasted until December 29, 2016, had the power to (a) limit or exclude pre-emptive rights in respect of any issue and/or (b) grant rights to subscribe for ordinary shares. As of June 29, 2018, our Board of Directors, for a period of 18 months, from June 29, 2018 onwards, has the power to grant rights to subscribe for (i) up to 2,441,601 ordinary shares for the purpose of our employee incentive schemes and (ii) shares representing up to 10% of our issued share capital for general corporate purposes. To the extent any such shares are granted, they will not include pre-emptive rights for the benefit of shareholders. As a result, we may issue additional shares while excluding any pre-emptive rights. If we issue additional shares without pre-emptive rights, your ownership interests in our Company would be diluted and this in turn could have a material adverse effect on the price of our shares.

We may need additional capital and may sell additional ordinary shares or other equity securities or incur indebtedness, which could result in additional dilution to our shareholders or increase our debt service obligations.

We believe that our current cash and anticipated cash flow from operations will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for the foreseeable future. We may, however, require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If these resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or debt securities or utilize our existing Revolving Facility or obtain a new credit facility. The sale of additional equity securities could result in additional dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would limit our ability to pay dividends or require us to seek consents for the payment of dividends, increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions, limit our ability to pursue our business strategies, require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to service our debt, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow to fund capital expenditure, working capital requirements and other general corporate needs, and limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and our industry. We cannot assure you that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

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We have never paid, do not currently intend to pay and may not be able to pay any dividends on our ordinary shares.

We have never declared or paid any dividends on our ordinary shares and currently do not plan to declare dividends on our ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. If we were to choose to declare dividends in the future, the payment of cash dividends on our shares may be restricted under the terms of the agreements governing our indebtedness. In addition, because we are a holding company, our ability to pay cash dividends on our ordinary shares may be limited by restrictions on our ability to obtain sufficient funds through dividends from subsidiaries, including restrictions under the terms of the agreements governing our and our subsidiaries’ indebtedness. In that regard, our wholly-owned subsidiaries are limited in their ability to pay dividends or otherwise make distributions to us. Under Dutch law, we may only pay dividends out of profits as shown in our adopted statutory annual accounts. We will only be able to declare and pay dividends to the extent our equity exceeds the sum of the paid and called up portion of our ordinary share capital and the reserves that must be maintained in accordance with provisions of Dutch law and our articles of association. Our Board of Directors will have the discretion to determine to what extent profits shall be retained by way of a reserve. Appropriation and distribution of dividends will be subject to the approval of our general meeting of shareholders. Our Board of Directors, in determining to what extent profits shall be retained by way of a reserve, will consider our ability to declare and pay dividends in light of our future operations and earnings, capital expenditure requirements, general financial conditions, legal and contractual restrictions and other factors that it may deem relevant.

Your rights and responsibilities as a shareholder will be governed by Dutch law and will differ in some respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders under U.S. law, and your shareholder rights under Dutch law may not be as clearly established as shareholder rights are established under the laws of some U.S. jurisdictions.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our articles of association and by the laws governing companies incorporated in The Netherlands. The rights of our shareholders and the responsibilities of members of our Board of Directors under Dutch law may not be as clearly established as under the laws of some U.S. jurisdictions. In the performance of its duties, our Board of Directors will be required by Dutch law to consider the interests of our Company, our shareholders, our employees and other stakeholders in all cases with reasonableness and fairness. It is possible that some of these parties will have interests that are different from, or in addition to, your interests as a shareholder. We anticipate that all of our shareholder meetings will take place in The Netherlands.

In addition, the rights of holders of ordinary shares and many of the rights of shareholders as they relate to, for example, the exercise of shareholder rights, are governed by Dutch law and our articles of association and differ from the rights of shareholders under U.S. law. For example, Dutch law does not grant appraisal rights to a company’s shareholders who wish to challenge the consideration to be paid upon a merger or consolidation of the company. See Item 10 “Additional Information—General—Articles of Association and Dutch Law”.

The provisions of Dutch corporate law and our articles of association have the effect of concentrating control over certain corporate decisions and transactions in the hands of our Board of Directors. As a result, holders of our shares may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions by members of our Board of Directors than if we were incorporated in the United States. See Item 10 “Additional Information—General—Articles of Association and Dutch Law”.

We are a foreign private issuer and, as a result, and as permitted by the listing requirements of the NYSE, we may rely on certain home country governance practices rather than the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE.

Many of the corporate governance rules of the NYSE do not apply to us as a “foreign private issuer”; however, Rule 303A.11 requires foreign private issuers to describe significant differences between their corporate governance standards and the corporate governance standards applicable to U.S. companies listed on the NYSE. While we believe that our corporate governance practices are similar in many respects to those of U.S. NYSE-listed companies and provide investors with protections that are comparable in many respects to those established by the NYSE rules, there have in the past been certain differences.

Because of the exemptions available to us as a foreign private issuer, we cannot assure you that we will comply with all of the NYSE corporate governance rules in the future. As a result, you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are not foreign private issuers. For an overview of our corporate governance principles, see Item 16G “Corporate Governance”.

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You may be unable to enforce judgments obtained in U.S. courts against us.

We are incorporated under the laws of The Netherlands, and all or a substantial portion of our assets are located outside of the United States and certain of our directors and officers and certain other persons named in this annual report are, and will continue to be, non-residents of the United States. As a result, although we have appointed an agent for service of process in the United States, it may be difficult or impossible for United States investors to effect service of process within the United States upon us or our non-U.S. resident directors and officers or to enforce in the United States any judgment against us or them including for civil liabilities under the United States securities laws. Any judgment obtained in any United States federal or state court against us may, therefore, have to be enforced in the courts of The Netherlands, or such other foreign jurisdiction, as applicable. Because there is no treaty or other applicable convention between the United States and The Netherlands with respect to legal judgments, a judgment rendered by any United States federal or state court will not be enforced by the courts of The Netherlands unless the underlying claim is relitigated before a Dutch court. Under current practice, however, a Dutch court will generally grant the same judgment without a review of the merits of the underlying claim (i) if that judgment resulted from legal proceedings compatible with Dutch notions of due process, (ii) if that judgment does not contravene public policy of The Netherlands and (iii) if the jurisdiction of the United States federal or state court has been based on grounds that are internationally acceptable. Investors should not assume, however, that the courts of The Netherlands, or such other foreign jurisdiction, would enforce judgments of United States courts obtained against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the United States securities laws or that such courts would enforce, in original actions, liabilities against us predicated solely upon such laws.

We incur increased costs as a result of being a public company.

As a listed public company, we incur additional legal, accounting, insurance and other expenses than we would have incurred as a private company. We incur costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and related rules implemented by the SEC and the NYSE have imposed increased regulation and required enhanced corporate governance practices for public companies. Our efforts to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards in this regard are likely to result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue generating activities to compliance activities. We also expect these new rules and regulations to make it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage.

Any failure or weakness in our internal controls could materially and adversely affect our financial condition, results of operation and our stock price.

As described in Item 15 “Controls and Procedures,” upon an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our internal control over financial reporting conducted as of December 31, 2018, we concluded that there was a material weakness such that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2018. We also in the past identified a material weakness such that our internal control over financial reporting as of the December 31, 2017 was not effective. However, the previous material weakness was remediated as of December 31, 2018.

Although we have been actively engaged in the development and implementation of remediation plans to address the material weakness as of December 31, 2018 and continually review and evaluate our internal control systems to allow management to report on the sufficiency of our internal control over financial reporting, we cannot assure you that we will not discover one or more additional weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Any such weakness or failure to remediate any existing or future weakness could materially and adversely affect our business and operating results as well as our ability to accurately report our financial condition and results of operations in a timely manner. Furthermore, the price of our stock may be adversely affected by related negative market reactions to any such weakness.

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