87 expd 02 MD&A Impact of Inflation To date, the Company’s business has not been adversely affected by inflation, nor has the Company experienced significant difficulty in passing carrier rate increases on to its customers by means of price increases. Direct carrier rate increases could occur over the short- to medium-term period. Due to the high degree of competition in the market place, these rate increases might lead to an erosion in the Company’s margins. However, as the Company is not required to purchase or maintain extensive property and equipment and has not otherwise incurred substantial interest rate-sensitive indebtedness, the Company currently has limited direct exposure to increased costs resulting from increases in interest rates. The forward-looking statements contained in this document involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements include, but are not limited to: risks associated with foreign operations, elimination of intercompany transactions, matching of expenses with the associated revenue, seasonality, shifts in consumer demand, the effect that the imple- mentation of the Euro as the primary currency of 12 member states of the European Union might have on the global economy and the Company’s international and domestic customers, other accounting estimates and other risk factors disclosed from time to time in the Company’s public reports.