Item 1A. Risk Factors

RISK FACTORS

Our business is subject to various risks and uncertainties. Investors should read carefully the following factors as well as the cautionary statements referred to in ‘‘Forward-Looking Statements’’ herein. If any of the risks and uncertainties described below or elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K actually occur, the Company's business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Risks Related to Our Business and Products

Historically, we have generated annual losses from operations and we may need additional funding in the future .

Historically, on an annual basis, we have not generated sufficient revenues from operations to self-fund our capital and operating requirements. For the year ended 2018, we had a net loss of $17.3 million and our accumulated deficit as of December 31, 2018 was $124.0 million. If we are not able to generate sufficient income and cash flows from operations to fund our operations and growth plans, we may seek additional capital from equity and debt placements or corporate arrangements. Additional capital may not be available on terms favorable to us, or at all. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our shareholders may experience dilution. Debt financing, if available, may involve restrictive covenants or security interests in our assets. If we raise additional funds through collaboration arrangements with third parties, it may be necessary to relinquish some rights to technologies or products. If we are unable to raise adequate funds or generate them from operations, we may have to delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate some or all of our growth plans or liquidate some or all of our assets.

There is no assurance we will achieve or sustain profitability .

For the year ended December 31, 2018, we had a net loss of $17.3 million. There is no assurance that we will achieve or sustain profitability. If we fail to achieve or sustain profitability, the price of our common stock could fall and our ability to raise additional capital could be adversely affected.

We have expanded our business activities and these activities may not be successful and may divert our resources from our existing business activities .

Our historical business was a commoditized power and electromechanical parts distribution business. In recent years, we have focused our business on the acquisition, development and commercialization of new and innovative technologies/products. We may not be successful in acquiring technologies that are commercially viable. We may fail to successfully develop or commercialize technologies that we acquire. Research, development and commercialization of such acquired technologies may disproportionately divert our resources from our other business activities.

If our manufacturers or our suppliers are unable to provide an adequate supply of products, our growth could be limited and our business could be harmed .

We rely on third parties to supply components for and to manufacture our products. In order to grow our business to achieve profitability, we may need our manufacturers and suppliers to increase, or scale up, production and supply by a significant factor over current levels. There are technical challenges to scaling up capacity that may require the investment of substantial additional funds by our manufacturers or suppliers and hiring and retaining additional management and technical personnel who have the necessary experience. If our manufacturers and suppliers are unable to do so, we may not be able to meet the requirements to grow our business to anticipated levels. We also may represent only a small portion of our supplier’s or manufacturer’s business, and if they become capacity constrained, they may choose to allocate their available resources to other customers that represent a larger portion of their business.

Our global operations are subject to increased risks, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition .

Our ability to manage our business and conduct our operations internationally requires considerable management attention and resources and is subject to a number of risks, including the following:

In addition, compliance with complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our international operations increases our cost of doing business in international venues and could expose us or our employees to fines and penalties. These numerous and sometimes conflicting laws and regulations include import and export requirements, content requirements, trade restrictions, tax laws, sanctions, internal and disclosure control rules, data privacy requirements, labor relations laws, U.S. laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to governmental officials. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, civil and criminal penalties against us, our officers or our employees, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and damage to our reputation. Any such violations could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products and services in one or more countries and could also materially damage our reputation, our brand, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees, our business and our operating results.

Our revenues depend on key customers and suppliers .

The Company’s major product lines in 2018, 2017 and 2016 were power and electromechanical products, natural gas infrastructure and high-tech solutions.

During 2018, over 36% of revenues were derived from two customers, Digi-Key Electronics at 24% and Future Electronics at 12%. During 2017, over 36% of revenues were derived from two customers, Digi-Key Electronics at 26% and Future Electronics at 10%. During 2016, over 19% of revenues were derived from one customer, Digi-Key Electronics.

At December 31, 2018, of the gross trade accounts receivable totaling approximately $14.6 million, there were no individual customers greater than 10% of total trade accounts receivable. At December 31, 2017, of the gross trade accounts receivable totaling approximately $11.0 million, approximately 21% was due from two customers: GL Industrial Services UK Ltd. at 11% and Digi-Key Electronics at 10%.

During 2018, the Company did not have any supplier concentrations that provided over 10% our our inventory purchases. During 2017, the Company had one supplier concentration of 12% related to inventory product received.

With the United Kingdom operations of Orbital, the Company also has foreign revenue and trade accounts receivable concentrations in the United Kingdom of 16% and 29%, respectively as of and for the year ended December 31, 2018 and 17% and 28%, respectively as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017. Additionally, at December 31, 2017 the Company had accounts receivable concentrations of 11% in Canada.

There is no assurance that we will continue to maintain all of our existing key customers in the future. Should we, for any reason, discontinue our business relationship with any one of these key customers, the impact to our revenue stream would be substantial. For additional information on our concentrations, see Note 15 – Concentrations.

We rely on third-party distributors to generate a substantial part of our revenue and, if we fail to expand and manage our distribution channels, our revenues could decline and our growth prospects could suffer .

We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from sales of our power and electromechanical component products through distributors and we expect that sales through these distributors will represent a substantial portion of our revenues for the foreseeable future. Our ability to expand our distribution channels, including for Energy segment technologies and Power and Electromechanical segment products, depends in part on our ability to educate our distributors about our products, which are complex. Many of our distributors have established relationships with our competitors. If our distributors choose to place greater emphasis on products and services of their own or those offered by our competitors, our ability to grow our business and sell our products may be adversely affected. If our distributors do not effectively market and sell our products, or if they fail to meet the needs of our customers, then our ability to grow our business and sell our products may be adversely affected. The loss of one or more of our larger distributors, which may cease marketing our products with limited or no notice and our possible inability to replace them, could adversely affect our sales. Our failure to recruit additional distributors or any reduction or delay in their sales of our products or conflicts between distributor sales and our direct sales and marketing activities could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

We are a relatively small specialty component and solutions business and face formidable competition .

We are a relatively small company with limited capitalization in comparison to many of our international competitors in each of our business segments. Because of our size and capitalization, we believe that we have not yet established sufficient market awareness in our segments that is essential to our continued growth and success in all of our markets. We face formidable competition in every aspect of our business from other companies, many of whom have greater name recognition, more resources and broader product offerings than ours.

We also expect competition to intensify in the future. For example, the market for our power and electromechanical components and our inferential natural gas monitoring device, the GasPT, is emerging and is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, frequent new product introductions and shortening product life cycles. Our future success in keeping pace with technological developments and achieving product acceptance depends upon our ability to enhance our current products and to continue to develop and introduce new product offerings and enhanced performance features and functionality on a timely basis at competitive prices. Our inability, for technological or other reasons, to enhance, develop, introduce or deliver compelling products in a timely manner, or at all, in response to changing market conditions, technologies or customer expectations, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and growth prospects. Our ability to compete successfully will depend in large measure on our ability to maintain a technically skilled development and engineering staff and to adapt to technological changes and advances in the industry, including providing for the continued compatibility of our products with evolving industry standards and protocols in a competitive environment.

Acquisitions could result in operating difficulties, dilution and other harmful consequences .

We continue our process of integrating acquisitions into our own business model and we expect to continue to evaluate and enter into discussions regarding a wide array of potential strategic transactions. These transactions could be material to our financial condition and results of operations. The process of integrating an acquired company, business or technologies may create unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. The areas where we face risks include:

Our failure to address these risks or other problems encountered in connection with our past or future acquisitions could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions, incur unanticipated liabilities and harm our business generally. For example, a majority of Orbital-UK’s revenues for each of its last two fiscal years has come from a few customers. If we fail to continue to do business with Orbital-UK’s primary customers at substantially similar or greater levels than recent historical levels, our financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects would be significantly harmed.

Future acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of our equity securities, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or amortization expenses, write-offs of goodwill, or reductions to our tangible net worth any of which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Also, the anticipated benefit of many of our acquisitions may not materialize.

We will need to grow our organization and we may encounter difficulties in managing this growth .

As of December 31, 2018, CUI Global, Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries, had 357 full-time employees. We expect to experience growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations as we follow our growth strategy. To manage our anticipated future growth, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities and continue to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Also, our management may need to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from our day-to-day activities and devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities. Due to our limited resources, we may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel, which may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, give rise to operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. The physical expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of new products. If our management is unable to effectively manage our expected growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate or increase our revenue could be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize new products and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth.

Our operating results will vary over time and such fluctuations could cause the market price of our common stock to decline .

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. Because revenues for any future period are not predictable with any significant degree of certainty, you should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance. If our revenues or operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts or below any estimates we may provide to the market, the price of our common shares would likely decline substantially. Factors that could cause our operating results and stock price to fluctuate include, among other things:

Our operating expenses will increase as we make further expenditures to enhance and expand our operations in order to support additional growth in our business and national stock market reporting and compliance obligations .

In the future, we expect our operations and marketing investments to increase substantially to support our anticipated growth and as a result of our listing on the NASDAQ Stock Market. We have made significant investments in using more professional services and expanding our operations outside the United States. We may make additional investments in personnel and continue to expand our operations to support anticipated growth in our business. In addition, we may determine the need in the future to build a direct sales force to market and sell our products or provide additional resources or cooperative funds to our distributors. Such changes to our existing sales model would likely result in higher selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of our revenues. We expect such increased investments could adversely affect operating income in the short term while providing long-term benefit.

Our business depends on a strong brand and failing to maintain and enhance our brand would hurt our ability to expand our base of distributors, customers and end-users .

We believe that we have not yet established sufficient market awareness in our various markets. Market awareness of our capabilities and products is essential to our continued growth and our success in all of our markets. We expect the brand identity that we have developed through CUI, GasPT, Orbital Gas Systems, ICE, and AMT to significantly contribute to the success of our business. Maintaining and enhancing these brands is critical to expanding our base of distributors, customers and end-users. If we fail to maintain and enhance our brands, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business, operating results and financial condition will be materially and adversely affected. Maintaining and enhancing our brands will depend largely on our ability to be a technology leader and continue to provide high-quality products, which we may not do successfully.

New entrants and the introduction of other distribution models in our markets may harm our competitive position .

The markets for development, distribution and sale of our products are rapidly evolving. New entrants seeking to gain market share by introducing new technology and new products may make it more difficult for us to sell our products and could create increased pricing pressure, reduced profit margins, increased sales and marketing expenses or the loss of market share or expected market share, any of which may significantly harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Adverse conditions in the global economy and disruption of financial markets may significantly restrict our ability to generate revenues or obtain debt or equity financing .

The global economy continues to experience volatility and uncertainty and governments in many countries continue to evaluate and implement spending cuts designed to reduce budget deficits. These conditions and deficit reduction measures could reduce demand for our products and services, including through reduced government infrastructure projects, which would significantly jeopardize our ability to achieve our sales targets. These conditions could also affect our potential strategic partners, which in turn, could make it more difficult to execute a strategic collaboration. Moreover, volatility and disruption of financial markets could limit our customers’ ability to obtain adequate financing or credit to purchase and pay for our products and services in a timely manner, or to maintain operations and result in a decrease in sales volume. General concerns about the fundamental soundness of domestic and international economies may also cause customers to reduce purchases. Changes in governmental banking, monetary and fiscal policies to restore liquidity and increase credit availability may not be effective. Economic conditions and market turbulence may also impact our suppliers’ ability to supply sufficient quantities of product components in a timely manner, which could impair our ability to fulfill sales orders. It is difficult to determine the extent of the economic and financial market problems and the many ways in which they may affect our suppliers, customers, investors and business in general. Continuation or further deterioration of these financial and macroeconomic conditions could significantly harm sales, profitability and results of operations.

Two of our subsidiaries and certain suppliers are located in areas subject to natural disasters or other events that could stop us from having our products made or shipped or could result in a substantial delay in our production or development activities .

We have sales, development and manufacturing resources in Japan and in Houston, Texas. The risk of earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons and other natural disasters in these geographic areas is significant due to the proximity of major earthquake fault lines in Japan and the proximity of both of these subsidiaries to the coast. Despite precautions taken by us and our third-party providers, a natural disaster or other unanticipated problems, at our location in Japan, Texas or at third-party providers could cause interruptions in the products that we provide. Any disruption resulting from these events could cause significant delays in shipments of our products until we are able to shift our manufacturing, assembly or testing from the affected contractor(s) to another third-party vendor. We cannot assure you that alternative capacity could be obtained on favorable terms, if at all.

Defects in our products could harm our reputation and business .

Our products are complex and have contained and may contain undetected defects or errors, especially when first introduced or when new versions are released. Defects in our products may lead to product returns and require us to implement design changes or updates.

Any defects or errors in our products, or the perception of such defects or errors, could result in:

We and our contract manufacturers purchase some components, subassemblies and products from a limited number of suppliers. The loss of any of these suppliers may substantially disrupt our ability to obtain orders and fulfill sales as we design and qualify new components .

We rely on third-party components and technology to build and operate our products and we rely on our contract manufacturers to obtain the components, subassemblies and products necessary for the manufacture of our products. Shortages in components that we use in our products are possible and our ability to predict the availability of such components is limited. If shortages occur in the future, as they have in the past, our business, operating results and financial condition would be materially adversely affected. Unpredictable price increases of such components due to market demand may occur. While components and supplies are generally available from a variety of sources, we and our contract manufacturers currently depend on a single or limited number of suppliers for several components for our products. If our suppliers of these components or technology were to enter into exclusive relationships with other providers or were to discontinue providing such components and technology to us and we were unable to replace them cost effectively, or at all, our ability to provide our products would be impaired. Therefore, we may be unable to meet customer demand for our products, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

We depend on key personnel and will need to recruit new personnel as our business grows .

As a small company, our future success depends in a large part upon the continued service of key members of our senior management team who are critical to the overall management of CUI Global and our subsidiary companies, as well as the development of our technologies, our business culture and our strategic direction. The loss of any of our management or key personnel could seriously harm our business and we do not maintain any key-person life insurance policies on the lives of these critical individuals.

If we are successful in expanding our product and customer base, we will need to add additional key personnel as our business continues to grow. If we cannot attract and retain enough qualified and skilled staff, the growth of the business may be limited. Our ability to provide services to customers and expand our business depends, in part, on our ability to attract and retain staff with professional experiences that are relevant to technology development and other functions the Company performs. Competition for personnel with these skills is intense. We may not be able to recruit or retain the caliber of staff required to carry out essential functions at the pace necessary to sustain or expand our business.

We believe our future success will depend in part on the following:

Our insurance policies may not cover all operating risks and a casualty loss beyond the limits of our coverage could adversely impact our business.

Our business is subject to operating hazards and risks relating to handling, storing, transporting and use of the products we sell. We maintain insurance policies in amounts and with coverage and deductibles that we believe are reasonable and prudent. Nevertheless, our insurance coverage may not be adequate to protect us from all liabilities and expenses that may arise from claims for personal injury or death or property damage arising in the ordinary course of business, and our current levels of insurance may not be maintained or available in the future at economical prices. If a significant liability claim is brought against us that is not adequately covered by insurance, we may have to pay the claim with our own funds, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

Expanding and evolving data privacy laws and regulations could impact our business and expose us to increased liability.

The General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") became effective in the European Union in May 2018, imposes significant new requirements on how we collect, process and transfer personal data, as well as significant financial penalties for non-compliance. Global privacy legislation, enforcement, and policy activity in this area are rapidly expanding and creating a complex regulatory compliance environment. Costs to comply with and implement these privacy-related and data protection measures could be significant. In addition, even our inadvertent failure to comply with federal, state, or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or others. Any inability to adequately address privacy concerns, even if unfounded, or to comply with the more complex privacy or data protection laws, regulations and privacy standards, could lead to significant financial penalties, which may result in a material and adverse effect on our results of operations.

We are subject to taxation in multiple jurisdictions. As a result, any adverse development in the tax laws of any of these jurisdictions or any disagreement with our tax positions could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial condition or results of operations. In addition, our annual effective income tax rate can change materially as a result of changes in our mix of U.S. and foreign earnings and other factors, including changes in tax laws and changes made by regulatory authorities.

We are subject to taxation in, and to the tax laws and regulations of, multiple jurisdictions as a result of the global scope of our operations and our corporate and financing structure. We are also subject to transfer pricing laws with respect to our intercompany transactions. Adverse developments in these laws or regulations, or any change in position regarding the application, administration or interpretation thereof, in any applicable jurisdiction, could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial condition or results of our operations. In addition, the tax authorities in any applicable jurisdiction, including the United States, may disagree with the positions we have taken or intend to take regarding the tax treatment or characterization of any of our transactions. If any applicable tax authorities, including U.S. tax authorities, were to successfully challenge the tax treatment or characterization of any of our transactions, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial condition or consolidated results of our operations.

Our overall effective income tax rate is equal to our total tax expense as a percentage of total earnings before tax. However, income tax expense and benefits are not recognized on a global basis but rather on a jurisdictional or legal entity basis. Losses in one jurisdiction may not be used to offset profits in other jurisdictions and may cause an increase in our tax rate. Changes in statutory tax rates and laws, as well as ongoing audits by domestic and international authorities, could affect the amount of income taxes and other taxes paid by us. Also, changes in the mix of earnings (or losses) between jurisdictions and assumptions used in the calculation of income taxes, among other factors, could have a significant effect on our overall effective income tax rate.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property and Technology

If we fail to protect our intellectual property rights adequately, our ability to compete effectively or to defend ourselves from litigation could be impaired .

We rely primarily on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements and other methods, to protect our proprietary technologies and know-how. Given the costs of obtaining patent protection, we may choose not to protect certain innovations that later turn out to be important. Furthermore, there is always the possibility, despite our efforts, that the scope of the protection gained will be insufficient or that an issued patent may be deemed invalid or unenforceable. We license a significant amount of our underlying intellectual property from third parties, i.e., AMT Encoder technology, Digital Point of Load technology, ICE technology, GasPT technology and VE Technology . The loss of our rights as a licensee under any of these or future technology licensing arrangements, or the exclusivity provisions of these agreements, could have a material adverse impact upon our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.

Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly. Unauthorized use of our intellectual property may occur in the future without our knowledge. The steps we have taken may not prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property. Further, we may not be able to detect unauthorized use of, or take appropriate steps to enforce our intellectual property rights. Our competitors may also independently develop similar technology. Our failure to effectively protect our intellectual property could reduce the value of our technology in licensing arrangements or in cross-licensing negotiations and could impair our ability to compete. Any failure by us to meaningfully protect our intellectual property could result in competitors offering products that incorporate our most technologically advanced features, which could seriously reduce demand for our products.

In the future we may need to initiate infringement claims or litigation. Litigation, whether we are a plaintiff or a defendant, can be expensive and time-consuming and may divert the efforts of our technical staff and managerial personnel, which could result in lower revenues and higher expenses, whether or not such litigation results in a determination favorable to us.

Confidentiality agreements with employees and others may not adequately prevent disclosure of our trade secrets and other proprietary information .

We have devoted substantial resources to the development of our proprietary technology and trade secrets. In order to protect our proprietary technology and trade secrets, we rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our key employees, licensees, independent contractors and other advisors. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of our trade secrets and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of our trade secrets. We may have difficulty enforcing our rights to our proprietary technology and trade secrets, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, others may independently discover trade secrets and proprietary information and in such cases we could not assert any trade secret rights against such parties. Costly and time consuming litigation could be necessary to determine and enforce the scope of our proprietary rights and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.

If a third party asserts that we are infringing on its intellectual property, whether successful or not, it could subject us to costly and time-consuming litigation and our business may be adversely affected .

The technology industry is characterized by the existence of a large number of patents, trademarks and copyrights and by frequent litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. Third parties may assert patent and other intellectual property infringement claims against us or the parties from whom we license our technological rights in the form of lawsuits, letters or other forms of communication. These claims, whether or not successful, could:

As a result, any third-party intellectual property claims against us could increase our expenses and adversely affect our business. Even if we have not infringed any third parties’ intellectual property rights, we cannot be sure our legal defenses will be successful and even if we are successful in defending against such claims, our legal defense could require significant financial resources and management time. Finally, if a third party successfully asserts a claim that our products infringe its proprietary rights, royalty or licensing agreements might not be available on terms we find acceptable or at all and we may be required to pay significant monetary damages to such third party.

If our contract manufacturers do not respect our intellectual property and trade secrets, our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected .

Because most of our contract manufacturers operate outside the United States, where prosecution of intellectual property infringement and trade secret theft is more difficult than in the United States, certain of our contract manufacturers, their affiliates, their other customers or their suppliers may attempt to use our intellectual property and trade secrets to manufacture our products for themselves or others without our knowledge. Although we attempt to enter into agreements with our manufacturers to preclude them from using our intellectual property and trade secrets, we may be unsuccessful in monitoring and enforcing our intellectual property rights. Although we take steps to stop counterfeits, we may not be successful and customers who purchase these counterfeit goods may have a bad experience and our brand may be harmed. If such an impermissible use of our intellectual property or trade secrets were to occur, our ability to sell our products at competitive prices and to be the sole provider of our products may be adversely affected and our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

Cyber risk and the failure to maintain the integrity of our operational or security systems or infrastructure, or those of third parties with which we do business, could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to an increasing number of various types of information technology vulnerabilities, threats and targeted computer crimes which pose a risk to the security of our systems and networks and the confidentiality, availability and integrity of our data. Disruptions or failures in the physical infrastructure or operating systems that support our businesses and customers, or cyber-attacks or security breaches of our networks or systems, could result in the loss of customers and business opportunities, legal liability, regulatory fines, penalties or intervention, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensatory costs, and additional compliance costs, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. While we attempt to mitigate these risks, our systems, networks, products, solutions and services remain potentially vulnerable to advanced and persistent threats. Despite our efforts, our facilities and systems and those of our customers and third-party service providers may be vulnerable to security breaches, theft, misplaced or lost data, programming and/or human errors that could lead to the compromising of sensitive, confidential or personal data or information, improper use of our systems, software solutions or networks, unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification or destruction of information, defective products, production downtimes and operational disruptions, which in turn could adversely affect our consolidated financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

Our common stock price may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses for individual shareholders .

The market price for the Company’s common stock is volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors, including the following, some of which are beyond our control, which means our market price could be depressed and could impair our ability to raise capital:

These factors may materially and adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our performance. In addition, the stock market in general and the market for technology companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry factors may seriously harm the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. Additionally, because the trading volume of our stock is not large, there can be a disparity between the bid and the asked price that may not be indicative of the stock’s true value.

Offers or availability for sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock may cause the price of our common stock to decline .

Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public market could harm the market price of our common stock and make it more difficult for us to raise funds through future offerings of common stock.

We have never paid dividends on our common stock and do not expect to pay any in the foreseeable future .

Potential purchasers should not expect to receive a return on their investment in the form of dividends on our common stock. The Company has never paid cash dividends on its common stock and the Company does not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future.

We currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Our payment of any future dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors after taking into account various factors, including but not limited to our financial condition, operating results, cash needs, growth plans and the terms of any credit agreements that we may be a party to at the time. Our ability to pay dividends may be further restricted by the terms of any of our future debt or preferred securities. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their own common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize their investment. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase shares of our stock.

There is a limited public trading market for our common stock so you may not be able to resell your stock and may not be able to turn your investment into cash .

Our common stock is currently traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the trading symbol ‘‘CUI.’’ Our shares of common stock are thinly traded. Due to the illiquidity, the market price may not accurately reflect our relative value. There can be no assurance that there will be an active market for our shares of common stock either now or in the future. Because our common stock is thinly traded, a large block of shares traded can lead to a dramatic fluctuation in the share price and investors may not be able to liquidate their investment in us at all or at a price that reflects the value of the business.

Risks Relating to Shareholder Rights

Our board of directors has the authority, without shareholder approval, to issue preferred stock with terms that may not be beneficial to existing common shareholders and with the ability to adversely affect shareholder voting power and perpetuate their control.

Although we do not have any preferred stock outstanding presently, our Articles of Incorporation allow us to issue shares of preferred stock without any vote or further action by our shareholders. Our board of directors has the authority to issue preferred stock without further shareholder approval, as well as the authority to fix and determine the relative rights and preferences of preferred stock. As a result, our board of directors could authorize the issuance of a series of preferred stock that would grant to holders the preferred right to our assets upon liquidation, the right to receive dividend payments before dividends are distributed to the holders of common stock or other preferred shareholders and the right to the redemption of the shares, together with a premium, prior to the redemption of our common stock.

Preferred stock could be used to dilute a potential hostile acquirer. Accordingly, any future issuance of preferred stock or any rights to purchase preferred shares may have the effect of making it more difficult for a third party to acquire control of us. This may delay, defer or prevent a change of control or an unsolicited acquisition proposal. The issuance of preferred stock also could decrease the amount of earnings attributable to and assets available for distribution to, the holders of our common stock and could adversely affect the rights and powers, including voting rights, of the holders of our common stock and preferred stock.

Our Articles of Incorporation limits director liability, thereby making it difficult to bring any action against them for breach of fiduciary duty .

CUI Global, Inc. is a Colorado corporation. As permitted by Colorado law, the Company’s Articles of Incorporation limits the liability of directors to CUI Global, Inc. or its shareholders for monetary damages for breach of a director’s fiduciary duty, with certain exceptions. These provisions may discourage shareholders from bringing suit against a director for breach of fiduciary duty and may reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation brought by shareholders on behalf of the Company against a director.

Our charter documents and note outstanding to IED, Inc. may inhibit a takeover that shareholders consider favorable .

Provisions of our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws may delay or discourage transactions involving an actual or potential change in control of the Company, including transactions in which shareholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares, or transactions that our shareholders might otherwise deem to be in their best interests. These provisions:

CUI Global issued a note to IED, Inc. in connection with our acquisition of CUI Inc. The note provides that, for so long as any obligations are outstanding under the note, IED will have a right to match any bona fide offer from a third party to acquire CUI Inc. by any means. This matching right could discourage third parties from making an offer to acquire us, which would involve indirectly acquiring CUI Inc., or from acquiring CUI Inc. directly, in a transaction our shareholders might find advantageous because any such offer could be matched by IED and result in the third party utilizing time and resources to formulate an offer without being able to complete a transaction.

Risks Related to Acquisitions

A significant portion of our total assets for acquisitions consists of goodwill, which is subject to periodic impairment analysis, and a significant impairment determination in any future period could have an adverse effect on our results of operations even without a significant loss of revenue or increase in cash expenses attributable to such period.

As of December 31, 2018, we have goodwill totaling approximately $13.1 million associated with the Company's acquisitions. We are required to evaluate this goodwill for impairment based on the fair value of the operating business units to which this goodwill relates, at least once a year. This estimated fair value could change if we are unable to achieve operating results at the levels that have been forecasted, the market valuation of those business units decreases based on transactions involving similar companies, or there is a permanent, negative change in the market demand for the services offered by the business units. These changes could result in an impairment of the existing goodwill balance that could require a material non-cash charge to our results of operations. See Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Indefinite-Lived Intangibles and Goodwill Assets for more information on the Company’s goodwill impairment testing and the $4.3 million impairment taken against goodwill and other intangible assets in 2018 and the $3.2 million impairment taken against goodwill and other intangibles in 2017.

Our operating results may be affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which may affect our operating results in U.S. dollar terms .

A portion of our revenue arises from our international operations and we anticipate that, as we grow, our revenues from international operations will increase. Revenues generated and expenses incurred by our international operations are often denominated in foreign currencies. As a result, our consolidated U.S. dollar financial statements are subject to fluctuations due to changes in exchange rates as revenues and expenses of our international operations are translated from local currencies into U.S. dollars. In addition, our financial results are subject to changes in exchange rates that impact the settlement of transactions. The Company does not currently undertake any hedges to protect against adverse foreign currency exposure.

The United Kingdom’s proposed withdrawal from the European Union could have an adverse effect on our business and financial results.

On June 23, 2016, a referendum was held in the United Kingdom to determine whether the country should remain a member of the European Union ("EU"), with voters approving to withdraw from the EU (commonly referred to as Brexit). The UK is currently scheduled to depart on March 29, 2019. Following the referendum, the UK government began discussions with the EU on the terms and conditions of the withdrawal from the EU and on terms of a transition period to December 31, 2020 proposed by the EU but not yet agreed upon. Current uncertainty over the final outcome of the negotiations between the UK and EU, could have an adverse effect on our business and financial results. The long-term effects of Brexit will depend on the terms negotiated between the UK and the EU, which may take years to complete. Our Orbital-UK operations could be impacted by the global economic uncertainty caused by Brexit.

The announcement of Brexit caused significant volatility in global stock markets and currency exchange rate fluctuations that resulted in the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against foreign currencies in which we conduct business. Volatility in exchange rates is expected to continue in the short term and a strong U.S. dollar relative to the British pound and other currencies may adversely affect our results of operations. During periods of a strengthening dollar, the local currency results of our international operations may translate into fewer U.S. dollars. Uncertainty over Brexit and currency fluctuations could also impact our customers, who may curtail or postpone near-term capital investments or take other actions that adversely affect the growth of our volume and revenue streams from these customers.

In addition, Brexit could lead to legal uncertainty and potentially divergent national laws and regulations as the UK determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Our UK operations may incur additional costs and expenses as we adapt to potentially divergent regulatory frameworks from the rest of the EU.

The UK may need to adopt specific legislation and apply for regulatory authorization and permission in separate EU member states. This may impact our overall business opportunities to operate in the EU and UK seamlessly. These added challenges may impact our customers' overall business, which may impact our volume and revenue.

Any of these effects of Brexit, among others, could adversely affect our business and financial results.

Our gas quality inferential measurement device, GasPT ®, has not gained market acceptance as rapidly as we anticipated.

Our future financial performance and ability to commercialize the GasPT device and compete successfully will depend on our ability to effectively manage acceptance and introduction of our GasPT device in the natural gas quality inferential measurement device market. Although we have entered into agreements and letters of understanding with third parties, which could result in substantial sales of the GasPT device over the next several years, there is no assurance we will sell at or near the number of units forecasted under these contracts.

Several factors have and may continue to contribute to the slower than anticipated market acceptance of the GasPT device, such as: disruptive technologies, such as the GasPT device, are slow to be accepted in a mature industry, such as natural gas distribution; extensive testing and research required by large natural gas distribution customers takes an extended period of time before such potential customers place firm orders; macro-economic issues in the natural gas industry may slow or impede capital expenditures; and registration, regulatory approvals, certifications and licensing requirements in foreign countries.

Our strategy has been to establish market acceptance and credibility with potential customers through a campaign of product exposure and disclosure of highly acceptable test results of recognized international testing laboratories along with industry seminars, conventions, trade shows, professional periodicals and public relations. While we believe that the base has been laid for substantial sales of our GasPT device over the next several years, there is no assurance that our strategy and efforts will be successful.