Table of Contents If the Company fails to maintain effective internal controls, it may not be able to report its financial results accurately or timely, or prevent or detect fraud, which could have an adverse effect on the Company’s business or the market price of the Company’s securities. The Company’s acquisition strategy may not produce the expected benefits, which may adversely affect the Company’s results of operations. Effective internal controls are necessary for the Company to provide reliable financial reports, safeguard its assets and to effectively prevent or detect fraud. If the Company cannot provide reliable financial reports and effectively safeguard its assets and prevent or detect fraudulent activity, its brand and operating results could be harmed. Internal controls over financial reporting are intended to prevent or detect material misstatements in its financial reporting or material fraudulent activity. Although such controls are inherently limited and may not identify all immaterial activity which could aggregate into a material misstatement, such limitations include the possibility of human error, the circumvention or overriding of controls, or fraud. Therefore, even effective internal controls cannot provide absolute assurance with respect to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements and prevention of all fraud and loss of assets. Management continuously evaluates the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company’s internal controls. However, if the Company fails to maintain the adequacy of its internal controls, including any failure to implement required new or improved internal controls, or if the Company experiences difficulties in their implementation, the Company’s business and operating results could be harmed. Additionally, the Company may be subject to sanctions or investigations by regulatory authorities, and the Company could fail to meet its reporting obligations, all of which could have an adverse effect on its business or the market price of the Company’s securities. Avnet has made, and expects to continue to make, strategic acquisitions or investments in companies around the world to further its strategic objectives and support key business initiatives. Acquisitions and investments involve risks and uncertainties, some of which may differ from those associated with Avnet’s historical operations. The risks relating to such acquisitions and investments include, but are not limited to, risks relating to expanding into emerging markets and business areas, adding additional product lines and services, impacting existing customer and supplier relationships, incurring costs or liabilities associated with the companies acquired, incurring potential impairment charges on acquired goodwill and other intangible assets and diverting management’s attention from existing business operations. As a result, the Company’s profitability may be negatively impacted. In addition, the Company may not be successful in integrating the acquired businesses or the integration may be more difficult, costly or time-consuming than anticipated. Further, any litigation relating to a potential acquisition will result in an increase in the expenses associated with the acquisition or cause a delay in completing the acquisition, thereby impacting the Company’s profitability. The Company may experience disruptions that could, depending on the size of the acquisition, have an adverse effect on its business, especially where an acquisition target may have pre-existing compliance issues or pre-existing deficiencies or material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting. Furthermore, the Company may not realize all of the anticipated benefits from its acquisitions, which could adversely affect the Company’s financial performance. The Company may become involved in legal proceedings that could cause it to incur substantial costs, divert management’s efforts or require it to pay substantial damages or licensing fees. From time to time, the Company may become involved in legal proceedings, including government investigations, that arise out of the ordinary conduct of the Company’s business, including matters involving intellectual property rights, commercial matters, merger-related matters, product liability and other actions. The Company may be obligated to indemnify and defend its customers if the products or services the Company sells are alleged to infringe any third party’s intellectual property rights. While the Company may be able to seek indemnification from its suppliers for itself and its customers against such claims, there is no assurance that it will be successful in realizing such indemnification or that the Company will be fully protected against such claims. However, the Company is exposed to potential liability for 15