27 • our customers' ability to manage their susceptibility to adverse economic conditions; • the ability of our customers to pay for our products; • the rate of market acceptance of our new products; • expenses associated with acquisition-related activities, including the costs of acquiring businesses or technologies; • seasonal sales trends, including with respect to Rofin's historical business, which has traditionally experienced a reduction in sales during the first half of its fiscal year as compared to the second half of its fiscal year; • jurisdictional capital and currency controls negatively impacting our ability to move funds from or to an applicable jurisdiction; • access to applicable credit markets by us, our customers and their end customers; • the impact of rising Chinese consumer debt and eroding consumer confidence and spending in China; • delays or reductions in customer purchases of our products in anticipation of the introduction of new and enhanced products by us or our competitors; • our ability to control expenses; • the level of capital spending of our customers; • potential excess and/or obsolescence of our inventory; • costs and timing of adhering to current and developing governmental regulations and reviews relating to our products and business, including import and export regulations in multiple jurisdictions; • impairment of goodwill, intangible assets and other long-lived assets; • our ability to meet our expectations and forecasts and those of public market analysts and investors; • the availability of research funding by governments with regard to our customers in the scientific business, such as universities; • continued government spending on defense-related and scientific research projects where we are a vendor directly or as a subcontractor; • maintenance of supply relating to products sold to the government on terms which we would prefer not to accept; • changes in policy, interpretations, or challenges to the allowability of costs incurred under government cost accounting standards; • changes in the method of determining the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR"), the Euro Interbank Offered Rate ("EURIBOR"), or the replacement of LIBOR or EURIBOR with an alternative reference rate, may adversely affect interest rates on our outstanding variable rate indebtedness; • our ability and the ability of our contractual counterparts to comply with the terms of our contracts; • damage to our reputation as a result of coverage in social media, Internet blogs or other media outlets; • managing our and other parties' compliance with contracts in multiple languages and jurisdictions; • managing our internal and third party sales representatives and distributors, including compliance with all applicable laws; • costs, expenses and damages arising from litigation; • the impact of market fluctuations on assets and liabilities in our deferred compensation plans; • costs associated with designing around or payment of licensing fees associated with issued patents in our fields of business; • individual employees intentionally or negligently failing to comply with our internal controls; • government support of alternative energy industries, such as solar;