As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 2, 2012.
Registration No. 333-___
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM S-8
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
CUI Global, Inc.
(Name of Small Business Issuer in Its Charter)
Colorado | 3670 | 84-1463284 | ||
(State or jurisdiction of | (Primary Standard Industrial | (I.R.S. Employer | ||
incorporation or organization) | Classification Code Number) | Identification No.) |
20050 SW 112th Avenue
Tualatin, Oregon 97062
(503) 612-2300
(Address and Telephone Number of Principal
Executive Offices)
Stock Compensatory Arrangements
(Full Title of Plan)
William J. Clough, President
CUI Global, Inc.
20050 SW 112th Avenue
Tualatin, Oregon 97062
(503) 612-2300
(Name, Address and Telephone Number of Agent for Service)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer ¨ | Accelerated filer ¨ | |
Non-accelerated filer ¨ | (Do not check if a smaller reporting company) |
Smaller reporting company x |
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
Title of each class of securities to be registered | Amount to be Registered (1) | Proposed maximum offering price per unit (2) | Proposed maximum aggregate offering price | Amount of Registration fee (3) | ||||||||||||
Common Stock par value $0.001 | 50,750 | $ | 4.80 | $ | 243,600 | |||||||||||
Total | 50,750 | $ | 4.80 | $ | 243,600 | $ | 28 |
(1) | Pursuant to Rule 416 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), this Registration Statement shall also include such additional indeterminate number of shares of common stock as may become issuable under the applicable plan as a result of stock splits, stock dividends, recapitalizations or similar transaction. |
(2) | Calculated solely for purposes of this offering under Rule 457(h) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, on the basis of the average of the high and low prices per share of Registrant’s Common Stock on March 22, 2012 as reported by The Nasdaq Capital Market. |
(3) | $28 paid herewith. |
INTRODUCTION
CUI Global, Inc. (“CUI,” “we,” “us” or “our”) is filing this Registration Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) for the purpose of registering 50,750 shares of our common stock, par value $0.001 per share, for issuance to certain CUI Global, Inc. officers of 50,750 shares of our common stock as compensation bonuses pursuant to board of directors authorization (the “Plan”) which qualify as a plan as defined under Rule 405 of Regulation C. Effective February 17, 2012, the common stock of CUI Global, Inc. is listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market under trading symbol “CUI”.
Explanatory Note
This Registration Statement has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of Form S-8 under the Securities Act of 1933, to register 50,750 shares of our $.001 par value common stock issued pursuant to the Plan. Under cover of this Form S-8 is our reoffer prospectus prepared in accordance with Part I of Form S-3 under the Securities Act. Our reoffer prospectus has been prepared pursuant to Instruction C of Form S-8, in accordance with the requirements of Part I of Form S-3, and may be used for reoffering and resale on a continuous or delayed basis in the future of "restricted securities" which have been issued pursuant to the Plan.
Effective upon Filing
This Registration Statement will become effective immediately upon filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any reoffer or resale of the securities covered by this Registration Statement by “affiliates” or the reoffer or resale of "control" securities are included herein if they have been acquired by the selling security holder pursuant to the Plan.
Date of Proposed Sale
Approximate date of proposed sales pursuant to the plan:
As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective.
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PART I
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS
Item 1. Plan Information
We will send or give the documents containing the information specified in Part 1 of Form S-8 to employees as specified by the Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act. We do not need to file these documents with the Commission either as part of this Registration Statement or as prospectuses or prospectus supplements under Rule 424 of the Securities Act.
Item 2. Registrant Information and Employee Plan Annual Information
A copy of any document or part hereof incorporated by reference in this registration statement, but not delivered with this prospectus or any document required to be delivered pursuant to Rule 428(b) under the Securities Act will be furnished without charge upon written or oral request. Requests should be addressed to CUI Global, Inc., 20050 SW 112th Avenue, Tualatin, OR 97062.
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REOFFER PROSPECTUS
50,750 Common Shares
(par value $0.001 per share)
20050 SW 112th Avenue
Tualatin, Oregon 97062
(503) 612-2300.
This prospectus relates to the offer and sale from time to time by certain officers who may be considered our "affiliates", of up to 50,750 shares of our common stock which were issued as compensation bonuses pursuant to board of director authorization (the “Plan”).
The common stock may be sold from time to time by the selling stockholders or by their pledgees, donees, transferees or other successors in interest. Such sales may be made at prices and at terms then prevailing or at prices related to the then current market price or in negotiated transactions. The common stock may be sold in ordinary broker transactions by one or more of the following: (i) block trades in which the broker or dealer so engaged will attempt to sell the shares as agent, but may position and resell portions of the block as principal to facilitate the transaction; (ii) purchases by a broker or dealer as principal and resale by such broker or dealer for its account pursuant to this prospectus; (iii) an exchange distribution in accordance with the rules of such exchange; and (iv) ordinary brokerage transactions and transactions in which the broker solicits purchases or (v) as more fully described under the caption “Plan of Distribution”. In effecting sales, brokers or dealers engaged by the selling stockholder may arrange for other brokers or dealers to participate. Brokers or dealers will receive commissions or discounts from selling stockholders in amounts to be negotiated immediately prior to the sale. Such brokers or dealers and any other participating brokers or dealers may be deemed to be "underwriters" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Act"), in connection with such sales. In addition, any securities covered by this prospectus which qualify for sale pursuant to Rule 144 may be sold under Rule 144 rather than pursuant to this prospectus. We will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of these shares. We have paid the expenses of preparing this prospectus and the related registration statement.
Our common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol "CUI".
See "Risk Factors" beginning at page 7 for certain information which should be carefully considered by prospective purchasers of the shares offered hereby.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this Reoffer Prospectus is April ___, 2012.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page | ||
Summary | 6 | |
Company Overview | 6 | |
Risk Factors | 7 | |
Use of Proceeds | 24 | |
Selling Stockholders | 24 | |
Plan of Distribution | 24 | |
Legal Matters | 25 | |
Experts | 25 | |
Part II, Information Requires in the Registration Statement | 28 | |
Item 3 Incorporation of Documents by Reference | 28 | |
Item 4 Description of Securities | 28 | |
Item 5 Interests of Named Experts and Counsel | 29 | |
Item 6 Indemnification of Directors and Officers | 29 | |
Item 7 Exemption from Registration Claimed | 29 | |
Item 8 Exhibits | 29 | |
Item 9 Undertakings | 30 | |
Signatures | 32 |
You should only rely on the information incorporated by reference or provided in this reoffer prospectus or any supplement. We have not authorized anyone else to provide you with different information. The common stock is not being offered in any state where the offer is not permitted. You should not assume that the information in this reoffer prospectus or any supplement is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of this reoffer prospectus.
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SUMMARY
This Summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this Reoffer Prospectus. It does not contain all of the information that you should consider before investing in our Common Stock. We encourage you to read the entire Prospectus carefully, including the section entitled "Risk Factors" and the financial statements and the notes to those financial statements.
Company Overview
We are an electronics platform company currently delivering more than 20,000 separate products into the marketplace. We are dedicated to and focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of new, innovative electronic technologies/products to add to our product portfolio. We seek out market-ready technologies and, using our 20+ years experience in the electronics industry and our diversified platform of distribution, marketing, sales, R&D and engineering support, we bring that technology into the market place, joining our more than 20,000 current stock keeping units (“SKU’s”). Our platform consists of a financial, marketing, sales, engineering and administrative group dedicated to directing and supporting three separate market silos. Those silos include: (1) Power Supply Units (“PSU”), which consists of industrial power supplies (both internal and external) and our patented, proprietary technologies, Novum® Advanced Power and Solus™ Power Topology. Novum incorporates our digital power modules, providing programmable power chips to leading network and telecommunication companies. Solus enhances that capability by providing a more efficient power supply source, currently in the form of a ¼ brick, but scalable to serve numerous customer needs; (2) Test & Measurement, which is the oldest part of our business and, along with providing probes and other test devices, incorporates our unique Vergence™ Inferential Gas Metering Technology and the GasPT2 device, which we have branded under the name Vergence; and, (3) Electronic Components, which includes our more than 20,000 SKU’s and our proprietary motion control devices. From what we consider to be the world's smallest optical shaft encoder, to our innovative proprietary technology utilized in the AMT modular encoder, we are positioning ourselves to be a preeminent source for motion control products
We have built and continue to build a diversified portfolio of industry leading technologies that touch many markets. We focus on the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) market and supply higher levels of support, customer service and a constantly expanding product line, in order to further differentiate with our competitors. This product line typically ranges from a $0.02 connector to a $700 encoder – all different products for different customers.
We focus our market knowledge, industry network and reputation within the electronics industry into locating, identifying and acquiring market-ready electronic technologies. Once identified, we put considerable effort into our due diligence process. That process is designed to ensure that we only acquire market-ready technologies which are synergistic to our diversified electronics portfolio. Once acquired, we assign a team of engineers, market specialists and sales executives to implement our commercialization strategy. That “end-to-end”strategy incorporates everything from branding, to market/product surveys, to identification of appropriate market partners and more.
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We are led by a management team and board of directors with substantial experience in publicly traded companies. Our President & CEO, William Clough, a former California litigator and Hastings College of the Law Graduate, has been with the company for more than six years. Mr. Clough has extensive SEC experience and was the inventor/patent holder of one of the company’s early thermal management patents. Along with his other responsibilities, Mr. Clough spearheads our Vergence Natural Gas Metering Division. The company’s CFO, Daniel Ford has previous experience with KPMG and brings a large company perspective to a small company with big potential. Mr. Ford has consistently moved CUI into position for profitability, efficiency and forward thinking, transforming many of CUI’s accounting, inventory management and vendor relations processes. Our COO, Matt McKenzie has an extensive background in the electronics industry and with expertise in distribution, sales and supply chain management. In conjunction with our CTO, Duwang Li, Mr. McKenzie developed one of our most successful and profitable business divisions and brands, V-Infinity product line. The company’s CTO, Duwang Li, holds a doctoral degree in power electronics from Portland State University for which he made contributions in advanced analysis of power conversion topologies and architectures. In his current role, Dr. Li has been responsible for defining the company’s power technology road map and the establishment of a core IP portfolio in high performance power conversion that we believe will serve as a foundation for future growth.
RISK FACTORS
An investment in our common stock involves a significant degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors and all other information contained in or incorporated by reference into this prospectus before purchasing our common stock. If any of the risks discussed in this prospectus actually occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. If this were to happen, the price of our shares could decline significantly and you may lose all or a part of your investment. The risk factors described below are not the only ones that may affect us. This prospectus contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “PSLRA”) and are made pursuant to the safe harbors of the PSLRA. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, contained in this prospectus, including statements regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management, are forward-looking statements. We generally identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar words, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.
Risks Related to Our Business
There is no assurance we will achieve profitability.
For the year ended 2011 we had a net loss available to our common stockholders of $48,763. We will need to generate significant revenues to offset current operational and development losses if we are to cover our current overhead expenses, including further development costs and marketing expenses. There is no assurance that the Company will achieve profitability.
During 2011 and 2010, CUI Global had net cash used in continuing financing activities of $717,205 and $622,716, respectively. The Company believes that additional equity financing or debt may be necessary to fund its operations until revenue streams are sufficient to fund operations; however, the terms and timing of such additional equity or debt cannot be predicted. The Company cannot assure that its revenues will be sufficient to cover all operating and other expenses of the Company. If revenues are not sufficient to cover all operating and other expenses, the Company will require additional funding, or may have to scale back operations, reduce spending, etc.
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We have expanded our business activities and these activities may not be successful and may divert our resources from our existing business activities.
Our historic business was a commoditized electromechanical parts distribution business. In recent years, we have focused our business on the acquisition, development and commercialization of new and innovative electronic 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.
Our international 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:
· | challenges caused by distance, language and cultural differences and by doing business with foreign agencies and governments; |
· | longer payment cycles in some countries; |
· | uncertainty regarding liability for services and content; |
· | credit risk and higher levels of payment fraud; |
· | currency exchange rate fluctuations and our ability to manage these fluctuations; |
· | foreign exchange controls that might prevent us from repatriating cash earned in countries outside the U.S.; |
· | import and export requirements that may prevent us from shipping products or providing services to a particular market and may increase our operating costs; |
· | potentially adverse tax consequences; |
· | higher costs associated with doing business internationally; and |
· | different employee/employer relationships and the existence of workers’ councils and labor unions. |
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, criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and damage to our reputation. Although we have policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors or agents will not violate our policies. Any such violations could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products and services to 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 a few major customers.
During 2011, 55% of revenues were derived from six customers at 41%, 4%, 3%, 3%, 2% and 2%. During 2010, 53% of revenues were derived from five customers: 43%, 3%, 3%, 2% and 2%.
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The Company’s major product lines in 2011 and 2010 were external power, internal power and industrial controls.
At December 31, 2011, of the gross trade accounts receivable from continuing operations totaling $3,819,641, 53% was due from eight customers: 21%, 9%, 7%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2% and 2%. At December 31, 2010, of the gross trade accounts receivable from continuing operations totaling $3,947,735, 49% was due from eight customers: 28%, 4%, 4%, 3%, 3%, 3%, 2% and 2%.
There is no assurance that we will continue to trade with all of our existing customers in the future. Should we, for any reason, discontinue our business relationship with any one of these customers, the impact to our revenue stream would be substantial.
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 electronic 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 depends in part on our ability to educate our distributors about our products, which are complex. Our agreements with our distributors are generally non-exclusive and 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, who 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.
CUI defines its specialty solutions business into three categories: PSU (power supply units) that include our V-Infinity Power, Novum digital power and Solus advanced power; test and measurement equipment that includes our Vergence GasPT2; and components including our AMT modular encoder. We are a relatively small company with limited capitalization in comparison to many of our international competitors. Because of our size and capitalization, we believe that we have not yet established sufficient market awareness in the specialty electronic component and solutions business that is essential to our continued growth and success in all of our markets. We face formidable competition in every aspect of our specialty component and solutions business from other companies and we expect competition to intensify in the future. The market for our specialty component and solutions business 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. We must respond quickly and effectively to new technological developments and the failure to do so could have a material and adverse effect on our results of operations. There is no assurance we will be able to maintain the fast competitive pace that is necessary for our success.
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Acquisitions could result in operating difficulties, dilution and other harmful consequences.
We continue our process of integrating recent 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:
· | implementation or remediation of controls, procedures and policies of the acquired company; |
· | diversion of management time and focus from operating our business to acquisition integration challenges; |
· | coordination of product, engineering and sales and marketing functions; |
· | transition of operations, users and customers into our existing customs; |
· | cultural challenges associated with integrating employees from the acquired company into our organization; |
· | retention of employees from the businesses we acquire; |
· | integration of the acquired company’s accounting, management information, human resource and other administrative systems; |
· | liability for activities of the acquired company before the acquisition, including patent and trademark infringement claims, violations of laws, commercial disputes, tax liabilities and other known and unknown liabilities; |
· | litigation or other claims in connection with the acquired company, including claims from terminated employees, customers, former stockholders, or other third parties; |
· | in the case of foreign acquisitions, the need to integrate operations across different cultures and languages and to address the particular economic, currency, political and regulatory risks associated with specific countries; and |
· | failure to successfully further develop the acquired technologies |
· | Other as yet unknown risks that may impact our business. |
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.
Future acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of our equity securities, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or amortization expenses, or write-offs of goodwill, any of which could harm our financial condition. Also, the anticipated benefit of many of our acquisitions may not materialize.
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We will need to grow our organization and we may encounter difficulties in managing this growth.
As of December 31, 2011, the Company, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, had fifty-seven full-time and four part-time employees. We expect to experience significant growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations. 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 including the Vergence GasPT2, Novum digital power and Solus advanced power 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.
Until recent quarters, our operating results fluctuated 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:
· | varying demand for our products due to the financial and operating condition of our distributors and their customers, distributor inventory management practices and general economic conditions; |
· | inability of our contract manufacturers and suppliers to meet our demand; |
· | success and timing of new product introductions by us and the performance of our products generally; |
· | announcements by us or our competitors regarding products, promotions or other transactions; |
· | costs related to responding to government inquiries related to regulatory compliance; |
· | our ability to control and reduce product costs; |
· | changes in the manner in which we sell products; |
· | volatility in foreign exchange rates, changes in interest rates and/or the availability and cost of financing or other working capital to our distributors and their customers; and |
· | The impact of write downs of excess and obsolete inventory. |
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.
Historically, we limited our investment in operations, but 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 are making significant investments in using more professional services and expanding our operations outside the United States. We intend to 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 our increased investments to adversely affect operating income in the short term while providing long term benefit.
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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 the electronic component market. 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, Vergence, Novum, AMT, Solus, V-Infinity and CUI Japan 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. Such conditions could reduce demand for our products and services 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.
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Our subsidiary and certain suppliers are in Japan and 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 research, development and manufacturing resources in Japan. The risk of earthquakes, typhoons and other natural disasters in this geographic area is significant due to the proximity of major earthquake fault lines. Despite precautions taken by us and our third-party providers, over which we have no control, a natural disaster or other unanticipated problems at our location in Japan or a third-party provider could cause interruptions in the products that we provide. Earthquakes, fire, flooding or other natural disasters could result in the disruption of our development, manufacturing, assembly, testing or shipping capacity. Any disruption resulting from these events could cause significant delays in product development or shipments of our products until we are able to shift our development, manufacturing, assembly or testing from the affected contractor to another third party vendor or our research and development activities to another location. We cannot assure you that alternative capacity could be obtained on favorable terms, if at all.
Risks Related to our Products
We face intense competition, especially from larger, better-known companies and we may lack sufficient financial or other resources to maintain or improve our competitive position.
We face formidable competition in every aspect of our electromechanical component business from other companies and we expect competition to intensify in the future. Many of our existing and potential competitors may have substantial competitive advantages such as:
· | greater name recognition and longer operating histories; |
· | larger sales and marketing budgets and resources; |
· | broader distribution networks and more established relationships with distributors and customers; |
· | access to larger customer bases; |
· | greater customer support resources; |
· | greater resources to make acquisitions; |
· | greater resources to develop and introduce products that compete with our products; |
· | lower labor and development costs; and |
· | substantially greater financial, technical and other resources. |
In addition, some of our larger competitors have substantially broader product offerings and leverage their relationships based on other products or incorporate functionality into existing products in a manner that discourages customers from purchasing our products. Customers may elect to accept a bundled product offering from our competitors, even if it has more limited functionality than our product offering, instead of adding the additional appliances required to implement our offering. These larger competitors often are also in a better position to withstand any significant reduction in capital spending; therefore, will not be as susceptible to economic downturns. Conditions in our markets could change rapidly and significantly as a result of technological advancements or continuing market consolidation.
Our current and potential competitors may also establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties that may further enhance their resources. Current or potential competitors may be acquired by third parties with greater available resources.
We may not be able to enhance our products to keep pace with technological and market developments, or develop new products in a timely manner or at competitive prices.
The market for our electronic components 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. 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 and competitive environments.
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Development and delivery schedules for our electronic component products are difficult to predict. We may fail to introduce new versions of our products in a timely fashion. If new releases of our products are delayed, our distributors may curtail their efforts to market and promote our products and customers may switch to competing products, any of which would result in a delay or loss of revenues and could harm our business. In addition, we cannot assure you that the technologies and related products that we develop will be brought to market by us as quickly as anticipated or that they will achieve broad acceptance among end users.
Defects in our products could harm our reputation and business.
Our electronic component 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 electronic component products, or the perception of such defects or errors, could result in:
· | expenditure of significant financial and product development resources in efforts to analyze, correct, eliminate or work around errors or defects; |
· | loss of existing or potential customers or distributors; |
· | delayed or lost revenue; |
· | delay or failure to attain market acceptance; |
· | delay in the development or release of new products or services; |
· | negative publicity, which will harm our reputation; |
· | warranty claims against us, which could result in an increase in our provision for doubtful accounts; |
· | an increase in collection cycles for accounts receivable or the expense and risk of litigation; and |
· | harm to our results of operations. |
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 of electronic components 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.
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Risks Related to our Personnel
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, CUI Inc. and CUI Japan (formerly Comex Instruments, Ltd.), 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:
· | the continued employment and performance of our senior management; |
· | our ability to retain and motivate our officers and key employees; and |
· | our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, retain and motivate other highly skilled technical, managerial, marketing, sales and customer service personnel. |
We rely on skilled personnel.
Our performance largely depends on the talents and efforts of skilled individuals. Our future success depends on our continuing ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain skilled personnel for all areas of our organization. Competition in our industry for qualified employees is intense. In addition, our compensation arrangements, such as our equity award programs, may not always be successful in attracting new employees and retaining and motivating our existing employees. Our continued ability to compete effectively depends on our ability to attract new employees and to retain and motivate our existing employees.
In addition, we believe that our corporate culture fosters innovation, creativity and teamwork. As our organization grows and we are required to implement more complex organizational management structures, we may find it increasingly difficult to maintain the beneficial aspects of our corporate culture. This could negatively impact our future success.
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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 own or have licensing rights to several patents and trademarks and we have several patent applications pending. The prospective rights sought in our pending patent applications may not be meaningful or provide us with any commercial advantage and they could be opposed, contested, circumvented or designed around by our competitors or be declared invalid or unenforceable in judicial or administrative proceedings. Any failure of our patents to adequately protect our technology might make it easier for our competitors to offer similar products or technologies. In addition, patents may not issue from any of our current or future applications. Patent protection outside the United States is generally not as comprehensive as in the United States and may not protect our intellectual property in some countries where our products are sold or may be sold in the future. Even if patents are granted outside the United States, effective enforcement in those countries may not be available.
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. We may in the future 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 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. Our employment policies require former employees to continue to protect our trade secrets and to assign to us any intellectual property related to their activities on our behalf. However, we may have difficulty enforcing these rights, 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.
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Third parties may infringe on our intellectual property rights.
There can be no assurance that other parties will not infringe on our intellectual property rights with respect to current or future technologies. The Company expects that participants in its markets will be increasingly subject to infringement claims as the number of services and competitors in our industry segment grows. Any such claim, with or without merit, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, create service upgrade delays or require the Company to enter into royalty or licensing agreements. Such royalty or licensing agreements might not be available on terms acceptable to the Company, or at all. As a result, any such claim of infringement by the Company could have a material adverse effect upon its business, results of operations and financial condition.
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 in the form of lawsuits, letters or other forms of communication. These claims, whether or not successful, could:
· | divert management’s attention; |
· | result in costly and time-consuming litigation; |
· | require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements, which may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all; and |
· | require us to redesign our products to avoid infringement. |
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.
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Risks Related to Our Common Stock
Our common stock price may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses for individual stockholders.
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:
· | actual or anticipated variations in our quarterly operating results; |
· | announcements of technological innovations or new products or services by the Company or our competitors; |
· | conditions or trends relating to our electromechanical component technologies; |
· | changes in the economic performance and/or market valuations of other electromechanical, electronic component and industrial controls related companies; |
· | conditions or trends relating to the marketing, sale or distribution of electromechanical components and industrial controls to OEM manufacturing customers; |
· | changes in the economic performance and/or market valuations of other electromechanical components and industrial electronic component related companies; |
· | additions or departures of key personnel; |
· | fluctuations of the stock market as a whole; |
· | announcements about our earnings that are not in line with expectations; |
· | announcements by our competitors of their earnings that are not in line with expectations; |
· | the volume of shares of common stock available for public sale; |
· | sales of stock by us or by our stockholders; |
· | short sales, hedging and other derivative transactions on shares of our common stock; |
· | our ability to retain existing customers, attract new customers and satisfy our customers’ requirements; |
· | general economic conditions; |
· | changes in our pricing policies; |
· | our ability to expand our business; |
· | the effectiveness of our personnel; |
· | new product and service introductions; |
· | technical difficulties or interruptions in our services; |
· | the timing of additional investments in our products; |
· | regulatory compliance costs; |
· | costs associated with future acquisitions of technologies and businesses; and |
· | extraordinary expenses such as litigation or other dispute-related settlement payments. |
These factors may materially 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 our stock is thinly trading, there is a disparity between the bid and the asked price that may not be indicative of the stock’s true value.
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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. Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, 50,750 shares of our common stock will become freely tradable. These additional shares will increase to 7,379,353 the number of shares that are freely tradable without restriction or limitation under the Securities Act. As these shares and as additional shares of our common stock become available for resale in the public market, the supply of our common stock will increase, which could decrease the price of our common stock.
We may be unable to meet our future capital requirements.
The Company is dependent on receipt of additional capital to effectively execute its business plan. If adequate funds are not available to the Company on favorable terms, the Company will not be able to develop new products or enhance existing products in response to competitive pressures. The Company cannot be certain that additional financing will be available to it on favorable terms when required or at all. If the Company raises additional funds through the issuance of equity, equity-related or debt securities; such securities may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of the rights of its common stock and its stockholders may experience additional dilution.
Penny stock regulations may impose certain restrictions on marketability of our stock.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") has adopted regulations which generally define a "penny stock" to be any equity security that has a market price (as defined) of less than $5.00 per share or an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions. If the market price or the exercise price of the Company’s common stock falls below $5.00 per share we could be subject to rules that impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell such securities to persons other than established customers and accredited investors (generally those with assets in excess of $1,000,000 or annual income exceeding $200,000, or $300,000 together with their spouse). For transactions covered by these rules, the broker-dealer must make a special suitability determination for the purchase of such securities and have received the purchaser's written consent to the transaction prior to the purchase. Additionally, for any transaction involving a penny stock, unless exempt, the rules require the delivery, prior to the transaction, of a risk disclosure document mandated by the Commission relating to the penny stock market. The broker-dealer must also disclose the commission payable to both the broker-dealer and the registered representative, current quotations for the securities and, if the broker-dealer is the sole market maker, the broker-dealer must disclose this fact and the broker-dealer's presumed control over the market. Finally, monthly statements must be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the account and information on the limited market in penny stocks. Consequently, the "penny stock" rules may restrict the ability of broker-dealers to sell our securities.
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. Our ability to pay dividends on our common stock is restricted by the terms of our agreements with the holders of our Series A and Series B Convertible Preferred stock. As of April 1, 2012, the Company has 50,543 Series A Convertible Preferred shares outstanding and no Series B Convertible Preferred shares outstanding. The 48,043 shares of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock noted in the Form 10-K filed with the Commission on March 26, 2012, reports a conversion of 2,500 Series A Convertible Preferred that failed to occur. In the past, the Company has fulfilled its dividend obligations on the Series A and Series B Convertible Preferred stock through a combination of the issuance of additional shares of its Series A Convertible Preferred and/or common stock and cash payments. As of this filing, all Series B Convertible Preferred stock had been converted to common shares.
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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. 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.
Downward pressure on the stock price could encourage short selling.
The significant downward pressure on the price of the common stock as the selling stockholders convert and sell material amounts of common stock could encourage short sales by the selling stockholders or others. This could place significant downward pressure on the price of the common stock.
In finance, short selling or “shorting” is a way to profit from the decline in price of a security, such as stock or bond. A short sale is generally a sale of a stock you do not own. Investors who sell short believe the price of the stock will fall. If the price drops, you can buy the stock at the lower price and make a profit. If the price of the stock rises and you buy it back later at the higher price, you will incur a loss. When you sell short, your brokerage firm loans you the stock. The stock you borrow comes from either the firm’s own inventory, the margin account of another of the firm’s clients or another brokerage firm. As with buying stock on margin, you are subject to the margin rules. Other fees and charges may apply. If the stock you borrow pays a dividend, you must pay the dividend to the person or firm making the loan.
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 currently is 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 so 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 officers, directors and principal stockholders control a significant portion of our stock which gives them significant influence on all matters requiring stockholder approval.
As of the date of this prospectus our officers and directors own approximately 6.63% of our common stock outstanding and two major shareholders own approximately 11.78% of our common stock outstanding. This significant concentration of share ownership may adversely affect the trading price for our common stock because investors often perceive disadvantages in owning stock in companies with controlling stockholders. Also, these stockholders, acting together, will be able to control our management and affairs and matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and the approval of significant corporate transactions, such as mergers, consolidations or the sale of substantially all of our assets. Consequently, this concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control, including a merger, consolidation or other business combination involving us, or discouraging a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control, even if that change of control would benefit our other stockholders.
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Our board of directors has the authority, without stockholder approval, to issue preferred stock with terms that may not be beneficial to existing common stockholders and with the ability to affect adversely stockholder voting power and perpetuate their control over us.
Our Articles of Incorporation allow us to issue shares of preferred stock without any vote or further action by our common or preferred stockholders. Our board of directors has the authority to fix and determine the relative rights and preferences of preferred stock. Our board of directors also has the authority to issue preferred stock without further stockholder approval, including large blocks 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 stockholders and the right to the redemption of the shares, together with a premium, prior to the redemption of our common stock or existing preferred shares.
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.
We may need additional capital in the future, which may not be available to us on favorable terms, or at all and may dilute your ownership of our common stock.
We have historically relied on outside financing and cash from operations to fund our operations, capital expenditures and expansion. We may require additional capital from equity or debt financing in the future to:
· | fund our operations; |
· | respond to competitive pressures; |
· | take advantage of strategic opportunities, including more rapid expansion of our business or the acquisition of complementary products, technologies or businesses; and |
· | develop new products or enhancements to existing products. |
We may not be able to secure timely additional financing on favorable terms, or at all. The terms of any additional financing may place limits on our financial and operating flexibility. If we raise additional funds through issuances of equity, convertible debt securities or other securities convertible into equity, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution in their percentage ownership of our company and any new securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our common stock. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, if and when we require it, our ability to grow or support our business and to respond to business challenges could be significantly limited.
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Our Articles of Incorporation limits director liability, thereby making it difficult to bring any action against them for breach of fiduciary duty.
The Company is a Colorado corporation. As permitted by Colorado law, the Company's Articles of Incorporation limits the liability of directors to the Company or its stockholders 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.
Risks Relating to Our Nasdaq Stock Market Listing
Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “CUI”.
Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market under symbol “CUI”. One of the Nasdaq rules provide that, for an issue to be eligible for continued listing it may not appear that the aggregate market value of our common stock has become so reduced as to make further dealings inadvisable. There is no assurance that our stock price will continue to meet the minimum requirement for continued listing. Bid price rules must be thoroughly considered because the characteristics of future securities often exert downward pressure on the bid price of the Company's common stock.
The large number of authorized, but not issued common shares leaves an opportunity for dilution of your proportionate ownership of the company.
The Company currently has authorized 325,000,000 common and 10,000,000 preferred shares. An issuance of additional shares will have the effect of diluting the current shareholders' percentage of company ownership. We may seek additional capital through a combination of private and public equity offerings, debt financings and other strategic arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a stockholder. Debt financing, if available, would result in increased fixed payment obligations and may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions such as incurring debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise additional funds through other strategic arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us.
Risks Related to This Offering and Public Company Reporting
We will incur increased costs and demands upon management as a result of complying with the regulations affecting listing on The Nasdaq Stock Market.
As a Nasdaq Stock Market listed company, we may incur significant legal, accounting, investor relations, annual fees and other expenses including costs associated with reporting requirements. We also have incurred and will incur costs associated with current corporate governance requirements. The Nasdaq Stock Market has rigid regulations for reporting and corporate governance requirements. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs substantially and to make some activities more time consuming and costly. We are unable currently to estimate these costs with any degree of certainty. We expect to incur diversion of management’s time as a result of Nasdaq listing to comply with the certification and annual requirements.
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If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our stock, the price of our stock could decline.
After listing our common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market, we will be more visible to security and financial analysts which will subject us to additional financial and legal compliance scrutiny. Such additional scrutiny could affect any research or reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business which, in turn, could affect the trading price for our common stock. If one or more of the analysts who may elect to cover us downgrade their evaluations of our stock, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company, we could lose visibility in the market for our stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.
Our filed reports are subject to review by the SEC and the Nasdaq Stock Market compliance team and such review could result in a liability to us and a consequent adverse impact on the trading price of our common stock.
Recent SEC regulations have substantially increased the accounting, legal and other costs related to becoming and remaining an SEC reporting company. The reports of publicly traded companies are subject to review by the SEC from time to time and the SEC is required to undertake a comprehensive review of a company’s reports at least once every three years under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. After listing our common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market, we will be subject to an additional layer of compliance review. We could be required to modify, amend or reformulate information contained in prior filings as a result of an SEC or Nasdaq listed company review. Any modification, amendment or reformulation of information contained in such reports could be significant and result in material liability to us and have a material adverse impact on the trading price of our common stock.
The costs of preparing and filing annual and quarterly reports and other information with the SEC and Nasdaq and furnishing audited reports to stockholders, will cause our expenses to be higher than they would be if we were privately-held. In addition, we are incurring substantial expenses in connection with the preparation of this Registration Statement. These increased costs may be material and may include the hiring of additional employees and/or the retention of additional advisors and professionals. Our failure to comply with the federal securities laws and/or the Nasdaq regulations could result in private or governmental legal action against us and/or our officers and directors or, in the case of noncompliance with the regulations of the Nasdaq, delisting, either of which could have a detrimental effect on our business and finances, the value of our stock and the ability of stockholders to resell their stock.
Our stock price may be volatile and you may be unable to sell your shares at or above the public offering price.
The offering price for the shares of common stock sold in this offering will be determined by negotiations among us, our underwriter and representatives of our underwriter. This price may not be indicative of the price at which our common stock will trade after this offering and our common stock could easily trade below this public offering price. The market price of our common stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to, among other things, the factors described in this “Risk Factors” section or otherwise and other factors beyond our control, such as fluctuations in the valuations of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us. Furthermore, the stock markets have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market fluctuations, as well as general economic, systemic, political and market conditions, such as recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may negatively affect the market price of our common stock.
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In the past, many companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have become subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could harm our business.
USE OF PROCEEDS
All of the shares of common stock offered by the selling stockholders pursuant to this prospectus will be sold by the selling stockholders for their own accounts. We will not receive any of the proceeds from these sales, but we will incur offering expenses which are estimated to be $5,000.
SELLING STOCKHOLDERS
This prospectus relates to the offer and sale of up to 50,750 shares of CUI Global, Inc., par value $0.001, common stock from time to time by certain CUI Global, Inc. employees, officers and directors that were issued under the Plan. The Selling Shareholders and number of shares included in this Reoffer Prospectus are:
Selling Shareholders | Common Shares | |||
William J. Clough | 33,350 | |||
Matthew M. McKenzie | 6,750 | |||
Daniel N. Ford | 10,650 | |||
Total | 50,750 |
PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION
The selling stockholders and any of their pledgees, donees, assignees and transferees may sell any or all of the shares of common stock for value from time to time under this reoffer prospectus in one or more transactions on The Nasdaq Stock Market or any stock exchange, market or trading facility on which the common stock is traded, in a negotiated transaction or in a combination of such methods of sale, at market prices prevailing at the time of sale, at prices related to such prevailing market prices or at prices otherwise negotiated. The selling stockholders will act independently of us in making decisions with respect to the timing, manner and size of each sale. The selling stockholders may use any one or more of the following ordinary brokerage transactions when selling shares:
· | ordinary brokerage transactions and transactions in which the broker-dealer solicits purchasers; |
· | block trades in which the broker-dealer will attempt to sell the shares as agent but may position and resell a portion of the block as principal to facilitate the transaction; |
· | purchases by a broker-dealer as principal and resale by the broker-dealer for its account; |
· | an exchange distribution in accordance with the rules of the applicable exchange; |
· | underwritten offerings; |
· | short sales; |
· | agreements by the broker-dealer and a selling stockholder to sell a specified number of such shares at a stipulated price per share; |
· | a combination of any such methods of sale; and |
· | any other method permitted by applicable law. |
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The selling stockholders may also sell shares under Rule 144 under the Securities Act, if available, under Section 4(1) of the Securities Act in certain circumstances rather than under this reoffer prospectus.
To our knowledge, no selling stockholder has entered into any agreements, understandings or arrangements with any underwriters, broker-dealers or financial institutions regarding the sale of his or her shares other than ordinary brokerage transactions, nor are we aware of any underwriter or coordinating broker acting in connection with the proposed sale of shares by a selling stockholder.
The selling stockholders and any broker-dealers that participate in the distribution of the common stock may be deemed to be "underwriters" within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Securities Act, and any commissions received by them and any profit on the resale of the common stock sold by them may be deemed to be underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act. All selling and other expenses incurred by the selling stockholders will be borne by the selling stockholders.
There is no assurance that the selling stockholders will sell all or any portion of the shares of common stock offered.
We will pay all expenses in connection with this offering and will not receive any proceeds from sales of any common stock by the selling stockholders.
LEGAL MATTERS
The validity of the issuance of the common stock offered hereby will be passed upon for us by Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel & Burns, LLP, of Clearwater, Florida.
EXPERTS
Our financial statements as of December 31, 2011 and 2010 and for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 appearing in this Prospectus and registration statement have been audited by Webb & Company, P. A., Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, as set forth in their report appearing elsewhere herein, and are included in reliance upon the report given on the authority of the firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
We have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement on Form S-1 pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, with respect to the offer, issuance and sale of the shares of our Common Stock being registered herein. This Prospectus does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement. For further information with respect to us and the shares of our Common Stock to be sold in this offering, we make reference to the registration statement.
The Company will provide to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom a prospectus is delivered:
(i) | a copy of any or all of the information that has been incorporated by reference in the prospectus, but not delivered with the prospectus; |
(ii) | we will provide this information upon written or oral request; |
(iii) | we will provide this information at no cost to the requester. |
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The Company will provide to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom a prospectus is delivered, a copy of any or all of the reports or documents that have been incorporated by reference in the prospectus contained in the registration statement, but not delivered with the prospectus;
(i) we will provide these reports or documents upon written or oral request;
(ii) we will provide these reports or documents at no cost to the requester;
(iii) contact us at: CUI Global, Inc., 20050 SW 112th Avenue, Tualatin, Oregon 97062; phone us at (503) 612-2300; and
(iv) email us at Investors@CUIGlobal.com or view copies online at www.CUIGlobal.com.
You may read and copy all or any portion of the registration statement or any other information, which we filed at the SEC's public reference rooms in Washington, D.C., New York, New York and Chicago, Illinois. The address for the SEC's public reference room in Washington, D.C. is U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 "F" Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20549. You may request copies of these documents, upon payment of a duplicating filing fee, by writing to the SEC. Please call the Securities and Exchange Commission at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference rooms. Our SEC filings are also available to you free of charge at the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov and our Company website at www.CUIGlobal.com.
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50,750 Shares of Common Stock
Reoffer Prospectus
April __, 2012
You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus. No dealer, salesperson or other person is authorized to give information that is not contained in this prospectus. This prospectus is not an offer to sell nor is it seeking an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is correct only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of the delivery of this prospectus or any sale of these securities.
Dealer Prospectus Delivery Obligation
Until July 1, 2012, all dealers that effect transactions in these securities, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers' obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.
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PART II
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT
Item 3. Incorporation by Reference.
The following documents are incorporated herein by reference:
· | Our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 filed with the Commission March 26, 2012; |
· | Our current reports on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on January 5, 2012, January 12, 2012, January 24, 2012 and February 17, 2012; |
· | Our definitive proxy statements on Form 14A filed with the Commission on June 27, 2011 and October 5, 2011. |
· | Our registration statement on Form S-1 filed with the Commission on October 31, 2011, that became effective February 14, 2012. |
· | Our prospectus on Form 424(b) filed with the Commission on February 17, 2012. |
· | Our registration statement on Form 8-A filed with the Commission pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act on January 28, 2012. |
All documents subsequently filed pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which de-registers all securities then remaining unsold shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents. Unless expressly incorporated into this Registration Statement, a report furnished but not filed on Form 8-K under the 1934 Act shall not be incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement. Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any subsequently filed document which also is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.
Item 4. Description of Securities.
The class of securities offered under this prospectus is our common stock, which has been registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act.
The Company’s common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the trading symbol "CUI". The Company currently has authorized 325,000,000 common shares with $0.001 par value and 10,000,000 preferred shares with $0.001 par value. Of the 10,000,000 authorized preferred shares, 5,000,000 shares have been designated as Series A Convertible Preferred, 30,000 shares have been designated as Series B Convertible Preferred and 10,000 shares have been designated as Series C Convertible Preferred. As of April 1, 2012, the Company’s outstanding shares consisted of 10,522,139 issued and outstanding shares of common stock, 50,543 shares of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock and no shares of Series B and Series C Convertible Preferred Stock. The 48,043 shares of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock noted in the Form 10-K filed with the Commission on March 26, 2012, reports a conversion of 2,500 Series A Convertible Preferred that failed to occur. Of the issued and outstanding common shares, 7,379,353 shares are freely tradable without restriction or limitation under the Securities Act. As of April 1, 2012, the Company had in excess of 3,000 shareholders of record.
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The Company has never paid cash dividends on its common stock and the Company does not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future. Our ability to pay dividends on our common stock is restricted by the terms of our agreements with the holders of our Series A and Series B Convertible Preferred stock. In the past, the Company has fulfilled its dividend obligations on the Series A and Series B Convertible Preferred stock through a combination of the issuance of additional shares of its Series A Convertible Preferred and/or common stock and cash payments. As of this filing, all Series B Convertible Preferred stock had been converted to common shares.
Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel
No expert or counsel named in this prospectus as having prepared or certified any part of it or as having given an opinion upon the validity of the securities being registered or upon other legal matters in connection with the registration or offering of the common stock was employed on a contingency basis, or had, or is to receive, in connection with the offering, a substantial interest, direct or indirect, in the Company or any of its parents or subsidiaries. Nor was any such person connected with the Company or any of its parents or subsidiaries as a promoter, managing or principal underwriter, voting trustee, director, officer, or employee.
Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
The Colorado General Corporation Act, as revised, provides that If so provided in the articles of incorporation, the corporation shall eliminate or limit the personal liability of a director to the corporation or to its shareholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director; except that any such provision shall not eliminate or limit the liability of a director to the corporation or to its shareholders for monetary damages for any breach of the director's duty of loyalty to the corporation or to its shareholders, acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, unlawful distributions, or any transaction from which the director directly or indirectly derived an improper personal benefit.
Our Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws provide that a person who is performing his or her duties shall not have any liability by reason of being or having been a director of the corporation and that the Company shall indemnify and advance expenses to a director or officer in connection with a proceeding to the fullest extent permitted or required by and in accordance with the indemnification sections of Colorado statutes.
The above discussion of our Articles of Incorporation and the General Corporation Law of Colorado is only a summary and is qualified in its entirety by the full text of each of the foregoing.
Item 7. Exemption from Registration Claimed.
Not applicable.
Item 8. Exhibits
5.11 | Opinion regarding legality. |
23.11 | Consent of counsel included with Exhibit 5.1 above. |
23.21 | Consent of Webb & Company, P. A., Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm for incorporation by reference of their report in Form 10-K filed with the Commission on March 26, 2012 included in the Issuer's Registration Statement on Form S-8 filed herewith. |
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Note:
1. Filed herewith.
Item 9. Undertakings
The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes to file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:
i. | To include any prospectus required by section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933; |
ii. | To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the "Calculation of Registration Fee" table in the effective registration statement. |
iii. | To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement; |
iv. | To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering. |
For the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
For the purpose of determining liability of the registrant under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities the undersigned registrant undertakes that in a primary offering of securities of the undersigned registrant pursuant to this registration statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to such purchaser:
(i) | Any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424; |
(ii) | Any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant or used or referred to by the undersigned registrant; |
(iii) | The portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant; and |
(iv) | Any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned registrant to the purchaser. |
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Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question of whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements of filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the city of Tualatin, State of Oregon on April 2, 2012.
CUI Global, Inc.
By: | /s/ William J. Clough, Esq. | /s/ Daniel N. Ford | |
William J. Clough, Esq., | Daniel N. Ford, | ||
Chief Executive Officer/President | Chief Financial Officer and Principal Financial and Accounting Officer | ||
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Name | Title | Date | ||
/s/ Colton R. Melby | Director | April 2, 2012 | ||
Colton R. Melby | ||||
/s/ William J. Clough | Director | April 2, 2012 | ||
William J. Clough | ||||
/s/ Thomas A. Price | Director | April 2, 2012 | ||
Thomas A. Price | ||||
/s/ Sean P. Rooney | Director | April 2, 2012 | ||
Sean P. Rooney | ||||
/s/ Corey Lambrecht | Director | April 2, 2012 | ||
Corey Lambrecht | ||||
/s/ Matthew M. McKenzie | Director | April 2, 2012 | ||
Matthew M McKenzie |
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