Rollins, Inc. · Risk factors

We are subject to international, federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations designed to protect consumers generally, including laws governing lending, debt collection and consumer finance; consumer privacy and fraud; collection and use of consumer data; laws governing billing practices and contract renewals; telemarketing; and other forms of solicitation. Specifically, rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule, along with state laws and other legal authorities, govern our telephone and texting sales practices. The CAN-SPAM Act regulates our email solicitations, and the Consumer Review Fairness Act regulates consumer opinions on social media regarding our products and services.

The California Consumer Privacy Act, including amendments under the California Privacy Rights Act, and laws in other states provide consumers and sometimes employees the right to know what personal data businesses collect, how the data is used, and give them the right to access, delete and opt out of the sale of their personal information to third parties. We are subject to some of these states’ laws depending on the number of customers or amount of revenue in the specific state. Similarly, we are bound by foreign laws and regulations governing data protection in the United Kingdom (UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018; Canada (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act); Australia (Privacy Act and its Australian Privacy Principles); and Singapore (Personal Data Protection Act and Spam Control Act), when applicable.

Specifically, our businesses are subject to various international, federal, state and local laws and regulations regarding environmental, health and safety matters. Among other things, these laws regulate the emission or discharge of materials into the environment, govern the use, storage, treatment, disposal, transportation and management of hazardous substances and wastes and protect the health and safety of our employees. In addition, the use of certain pesticide products is also regulated by various federal, state, provincial and local environmental and public health agencies. These laws also impose liability for the costs of investigating and remediating, and damages resulting from, present and past releases of hazardous substances, including releases by prior owners or operators of sites we currently own or operate.

Compliance with environmental, health and safety laws increases our operating costs, limits or restricts the services we provide and subjects us to the possibility of regulatory or private actions or proceedings. Penalties for noncompliance with these laws may include criminal sanctions or civil remedies, including, but not limited to, cancellation of licenses, fines, and other corrective actions. Noncompliance with, changes in, expanded enforcement of, or adoption of new laws and regulations governing hazardous waste disposal and other environmental matters, could result in operational changes and increased costs.

Franchise Matters Certain of our subsidiaries are subject to various international, federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations governing franchise sales, marketing and licensing and franchise trade practices generally, including applicable rules and regulations of the Federal Trade Commission. These laws and regulations generally require disclosure of business information in connection with the sale and licensing of our franchises. Certain state regulations also affect our ability as a franchisor to revoke or refuse to renew a franchise. From time to time, we and one or more franchisees have been, and may in the future become, involved in a dispute regarding the franchise relationship, including payment of royalties or fees, location of branches, advertising, purchase of products by franchisees, non-competition covenants, compliance with our standards or franchise renewal criteria.

Employment Laws We are subject to a myriad of complex laws and regulations in the various federal, state, provincial, regional, and local governments in the countries in which we operate related to employees, including, but not limited to wage and hour laws, anti-discrimination laws, immigration, pension benefit plans, ERISA laws, and retirement benefits. Any failure to comply with such applicable laws or regulations could result in fines or legal proceedings.

Intellectual Property We rely on a combination of intellectual property rights, including a patent, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property. Our worldwide intellectual property portfolio is strengthened through innovation and brand recognition, and a comprehensive approach for protection and enforcement.

We protect and promote our intellectual property portfolio and take those actions we deem appropriate to enforce our intellectual property rights and to defend our rights both domestically and internationally. Although in the aggregate, our global portfolio of more than 450 trademarks is a valuable asset that is important to our operations, we believe that our competitive advantage is also largely attributable to the technical, marketing, and sales competence and capabilities of our teammates, rather than on any individual trademark; however, the loss of the Orkin trademark could be material to our business as a whole.

Available Information Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports, are available free of charge on our website at www.rollins.com, under the heading “SEC Filings,” as soon as reasonably practicable after those reports are electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

Item 1.A. Risk Factors An investment in our common stock involves certain risks. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the following risks and all of the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks. The trading price of our common stock could decline due to any of these risks, and you may lose all or part of your investment. This Annual Report on Form 10-K also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks faced by us described below and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. You are cautioned that the risk factors discussed below are not exhaustive.

We operate in a highly competitive industry with fragmented markets and low barriers to entry. Our revenues and earnings are affected by changes in competitors’ services, markets, and prices and general economic issues. We compete with other large pest control companies, as well as numerous smaller pest control companies and do-it-yourself options, for a finite number of customers. We believe that the principal competitive factors in the market areas that we serve are quality and speed of service, customer proximity, customer satisfaction, brand awareness and reputation, terms of guarantees, technical proficiency and price. Although we believe that our customer experience and quality service are excellent, we cannot assure investors that we will be able to maintain our competitive position in the future.

Acquisitions have been and may continue to be an important element of our business strategy. We cannot assure investors that we will be able to identify and acquire acceptable acquisition targets on terms favorable to us in the future, that we will receive necessary regulatory approvals, or that any acquisitions will achieve the anticipated financial benefits. Our inability to achieve the anticipated financial benefits from any acquisition transactions may not be realized due to any number of factors, including, but not limited to, unsuccessful onboarding efforts, unexpected or underestimated liabilities or increased costs, fees, expenses and charges related to such transactions. Such adverse events could result in a decrease in the estimated fair value of goodwill or other intangible assets established as a result of such transactions, triggering an impairment.

Our strong brands, such as Orkin, HomeTeam Pest Defense, Clark Pest Control, Northwest Exterminating, Fox Pest Control, Trutech, Western Pest Services, The Industrial Fumigant Company (IFC), Waltham Services, Okolona Pest Control (OPC), and Critter Control, have significantly contributed to the success of our business. Maintaining and enhancing our brands increases our ability to enter new markets and launch new and innovative services that better serve the needs of our customers. Our brands may be negatively impacted by a number of factors, including, among others, reputational issues, product/technical failures, and customer experience. We continue to develop strategies and innovative tools to gain a deeper understanding of customer acquisition and retention in order to more effectively expand and retain our customer base.

Maintaining and enhancing our brands will depend largely on our brands’ ability to remain service leaders and continue to provide high-quality pest control services that are truly beneficial and play a meaningful role in people’s lives.

Our ability to remain productive and profitable will depend substantially on our ability to compete with other pest control and service companies to attract, adequately train, and retain skilled workers and key employees (including executive officers), and create leadership opportunities. Our ability to expand our operations is in part impacted by our ability to increase our labor force. The demand for employees is high, and the supply is limited. Ongoing labor shortages could negatively affect our ability to efficiently operate at full capacity or lead to increased costs, such as increased overtime to meet demand and increased wage rates to attract and retain employees. A significant increase in the wages paid and benefits offered by competing employers could also result in a reduction in our labor force, increases in our labor costs, or both. Prolonged labor shortages, increased turnover or labor inflation could diminish our profitability and impair our growth potential.

In addition, decisions and rules by the National Labor Relations Board, including “expedited elections” and restrictions on appeals, has and could continue to lead to increased organizing activities at our brands. If these labor organizing activities are successful, it could further increase labor costs, decrease operating efficiency and productivity in the future, or otherwise disrupt or negatively impact our operations which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation and business.

We have invested in, and expect to continue to invest in, new systems and technology to implement new or improve existing business capabilities and streamline business processes, financial reporting, and acquisition integration. Many of these efforts impact customers, suppliers, employees, and others, and any disruption or failure could adversely affect our business and operations. We may experience significant delays, increased costs, and other difficulties, which could adversely affect our ability to process work orders, send invoices, track, and collect payments, fulfill contractual obligations, or otherwise operate our business in compliance with laws. In addition, our efforts to centralize various business processes within our organization in connection with the implementations may disrupt operations. We may also experience difficulties, costs or delays in migrating acquired businesses to our systems, processes, and technologies.

We have a complex global network of distributors and suppliers that has expanded to meet increased customer demand and may, in the future, further evolve in response to market conditions. Although the majority of the products we use are generally available from multiple sources, and alternatives have been generally available in the event of disruption in the past, we could experience material disruptions in production, transportation, labor disputes, and other supply chain issues on specific products, which could result in out-of-stock conditions, and our results of operations and relationships with customers could be adversely affected (a) if new or existing distributors or suppliers are unable to meet any standards that we set or that are set by government or industry regulations or customers, (b) if we are unable to contract with distributors or suppliers at the quantity, quality and price levels needed for our business, or (c) if any of our key distributors or suppliers has shipping disruptions or becomes insolvent, ceases or significantly reduces its operations or experiences financial distress.

Our inability to fully or substantially meet customer demand due to distributor or supply chain issues could result in, among other things, unmet consumer demand leading to reduced preference for our products or services in the future, customers' purchasing services from competitors, strained customer relationships, termination of customer contracts, additional competition and new entrants into the market, and loss of potential sales and revenue.

Our operations are directly impacted by the weather conditions worldwide, including catastrophic events, natural disasters and potential impacts from climate change. Our business is also affected by extreme weather such as hurricanes, wildfires, and other storms which can impact our ability to operate as well as drought which can greatly reduce the pest population for extended periods. Climate change continues to receive increasing global attention. The possible effects of climate change could include changes in rainfall patterns, water shortages, changing storm patterns and intensities, changing temperature levels, as well as changes in legislation, regulation, and international accords, all of which could adversely impact our costs and business operations. Our business is also affected by seasonality associated with our pest and termite control services.

The increase in pest presence and activity, as well as the metamorphosis of termites in the spring and summer (the occurrence of which is determined by the timing of the change in seasons), has historically resulted in an increase in the revenue and income of our pest and termite control operations during such periods.

We may not be able to fully implement our business strategies or realize, in whole or in part within the expected time frames, the anticipated benefits of various growth or other initiatives. Our ability to implement our business strategy may be adversely affected by factors that we cannot foresee currently, such as unanticipated costs and expenses, global health crises, technological change, recession and economic slowdown, the level of interest rates, foreign exchange risks, our inability to effectively manage and implement change, failure to onboard acquisitions, or a decline in the effectiveness of our marketing (including digital marketing) efforts.

In addition, we will incur certain costs to achieve efficiency improvements, systems implementations, and growth in our business, and we may not meet anticipated implementation timetables or stay within budgeted costs. As these initiatives are implemented, we may not fully achieve the desired results, including but not limited to, expected cost savings or growth rates, and these initiatives may adversely impact customer retention or our operations. Also, our business strategies may change in light of our ability to implement new business initiatives, competitive pressures, economic uncertainties or developments or other factors.

We currently conduct business in international markets, with approximately 7% of our 2024 revenues derived from our international operations. In addition, a key element of our business strategy includes further expansion in international markets. Our ability to operate successfully in international markets may be adversely affected by political, economic and social conditions beyond our control and geopolitical conflicts, such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza. Also, we may be adversely affected by local laws and customs and legal and regulatory constraints, including compliance with applicable export, anti-corruption and currency laws and regulations of the countries or regions in which we currently operate or intend to operate in the future.

Risks inherent in our existing and future international operations also include, among others, the costs and difficulties of managing international operations, difficulties in identifying and gaining access to local distributors and suppliers, suffering possible adverse tax consequences from changes in tax laws or the unfavorable resolution of tax assessments or audits, maintaining product quality and greater difficulty in enforcing intellectual property rights. Additionally, foreign currency exchange rates and fluctuations could have an adverse effect on our financial results.

Our franchisees, subcontractors, and vendors are contractually obligated to operate their businesses in accordance with the standards set forth in our agreements with them and applicable laws and regulations. Each of our brands that are franchised also provides training and support to franchisees. However, franchisees, subcontractors, and vendors are independent third parties that we do not control, and who own, operate and oversee the daily operations of their respective businesses, and the ultimate success of any business operation rests with the business owner. If franchisees do not successfully operate their businesses in a manner consistent with required standards, royalty payments owed to us will be adversely affected and our brands’ image and reputation could be harmed.

Similarly, if franchisees, subcontractors, and vendors do not successfully operate their businesses in a manner consistent with required laws, standards and regulations, we could be subject to claims from regulators or legal claims for the actions or omissions of such third-party franchisees, subcontractors, and vendors. In addition, our relationship with our franchisees, subcontractors, and vendors could become strained (including resulting in litigation) as we impose new standards or assert more rigorous enforcement practices of the existing required standards.

Our internal IT systems contain certain personal, financial, health, or other protected and confidential information that is entrusted to us by our customers and employees. Our IT systems also contain our and our brands’ proprietary and other confidential information related to our business, such as business plans, customer lists, pricing, and service development initiatives. From time to time, we integrate new IT systems due to organic growth and acquisitions. In addition, we grant third-party business partners and service providers access to confidential information in order to facilitate business operations and administer employee benefits. Employees, third-party business partners, and service providers can knowingly or unknowingly disseminate such information or serve as an entry point for bad actors to access such information.

The Company has assigned responsibility for Board oversight of cybersecurity risk to the Audit Committee, which monitors the cybersecurity risk management and cyber control functions, including external security audits, and receives periodic updates from experienced senior management, outside legal counsel, and cybersecurity insurance carriers knowledgeable about assessing and managing cyber risks, including, as appropriate, updates on the prevention, detection, mitigation, and remediation of cyber incidents.

We continue to evaluate and modify our systems and protocols for data security compliance purposes, and such standards may change from time to time. We have processes in place to oversee and identify cybersecurity risks and vulnerability related to certain third-party business partners, vendors, and service providers. We have processes to address risks of a key service provider experiencing a significant cybersecurity incident that renders their services unavailable, but those processes may not cover all business losses. Activities by bad actors, changes in computer and software capabilities and encryption technology, new tools and discoveries, cloud applications, changes in multi-jurisdictional regulations, and other events or developments may result in a compromise or breach of our systems.

Any compromises, breaches, application errors or human mistakes related to our systems or failures to comply with applicable standards could not only disrupt our financial operations, including our customers’ ability to pay for our services and products by credit card or their willingness to purchase our services and products, but could also result in violations of applicable laws, regulations, orders, industry standards or agreements and subject us to costs, penalties and liabilities. A breach of data security or failure to comply with rigorous multi-jurisdictional consumer privacy requirements could expose us to customer litigation, regulatory actions and costs related to the reporting and handling of such a violation or breach. Furthermore, while we maintain cybersecurity insurance, our insurance may not cover all liabilities incurred due to a security breach or incident.

Our business is subject to various federal, state, provincial, and local laws and regulations pertaining to environmental, public health and safety matters, including those related to the pest control industry. Among other things, these laws also govern the use, storage, treatment, disposal, transportation and management of certain pesticides and hazardous substances and waste and regulate the emission or discharge of materials into the environment. In addition, the use of certain pesticide products is also regulated by various federal, state, provincial and local environmental and public health agencies. Penalties for noncompliance with these laws may include criminal sanctions or civil remedies, including, but not limited to, cancellation of licenses, fines, and other corrective actions.

Noncompliance with, changes in, expanded enforcement of, or adoption of new laws and regulations governing hazardous waste disposal and other environmental matters, could result in operational changes and increased costs.

We are subject to a myriad of complex laws and regulations in the various federal, state, provincial, regional, and local governments in the countries in which we operate related to employees, including, but not limited to wage and hour laws, anti-discrimination laws, immigration, pension benefit plans, ERISA laws, OSHA regulations, and retirement benefits. Any failure to comply with such applicable laws or regulations could result in fines or legal proceedings.

Climate change has been the subject of increased focus by various governmental authorities and regulators around the world. For example, the State of California has enacted legislation that will require large U.S. companies doing business in California to make broad-based climate-related disclosures, and other states are also considering similar measures. Also, the SEC has issued final rules, which are currently stayed pending judicial review; however, if implemented as proposed, these rules would significantly increase our climate-related disclosure obligations. We are assessing our obligations under these proposed and enacted rules in the United States and around the world and expect that compliance could require substantial effort in the future. Compliance with any new or more stringent laws or requirements, or stricter interpretations of existing laws, could require additional expenditures by us or our suppliers. We cannot predict how the proposed rules, if finalized, or any future legislation or regulations pertaining to climate change, will ultimately affect our business.

From time to time, we are subject to claims brought by our customers for termite protection services, generally based on alleged termite damage to the structure(s) covered by our contracts with those customers. In some instances of these claims, the customer may initiate litigation or arbitration proceedings against us or one of our brands.

Our auto or other safety management system and performance measures are critical to our reputation and results of operation. We attempt to mitigate risks relating to employee work-related injuries, automobile collision, third-party liability, or property loss through the implementation of company-wide safety management programs designed to focus on prevention and decrease the occurrence of incidents or events that may occur. Such incidents could also have the effect of destabilizing or increasing our insurance costs and financial reserves. Incidents involving injury or property loss may be caused by multiple potential factors, a significant number of which are beyond our control. Therefore, there is no guarantee that our safety and risk management and safety programs will have the desired effect of avoiding or controlling all potential expenses and liability exposure.

Additionally, we retain certain risks related to general liability, workers’ compensation, and auto liability. The accruals and reserves we hold are based on estimates that involve a degree of judgment and are inherently variable and could be overestimated or insufficient. If actual claims exceed our estimates, our operating results could be materially affected, and our ability to take timely corrective actions to limit future costs may be limited.

Further, some of our commercial customers require that we meet certain safety criteria to be eligible to provide service and bid for contracts, and many contracts provide for automatic termination or forfeiture of some or all of our contract fees or profit in the event we fail to meet certain measures. Accordingly, if we fail to maintain adequate safety standards, we could experience reduced profitability or the loss of projects or clients.

We are exposed to liabilities that are unique to our business and the services we provide. We maintain commercial liability insurance that extends to products liability. In addition, we also maintain other insurance and other traditional risk transfer tools to respond to certain types of liabilities and risks. However, such tools are subject to terms such as deductibles, retentions, limits and policy exclusions, commercial availability and supply of coverage as well as risk of denial of coverage, default or insolvency. If we experience unexpected or uncovered losses, or if any of our insurance policies are terminated for any reason or are not effective in mitigating our risks, we may incur losses that are not covered or that exceed our coverage limits.

In addition, there can be no assurance that the types or levels of coverage maintained are adequate to cover these potential significant and catastrophic risks. Further, we may not be able to continue to maintain our existing insurance coverage or obtain comparable or additional insurance coverage at a reasonable cost in the event a significant product or service claim arises.

In the normal course of business, we have been and may in the future be involved in various claims, contractual disputes, investigations, arbitration and litigation, including (1) claims that our acts, omissions, services or vehicles caused damage or injury, (2) claims that our pest control, termite and/or ancillary services did not achieve the desired results, (3) claims related to acquisitions, (4) claims related to violations of antitrust laws or consumer protection laws, (4) claims related to allegations by federal, state or local authorities, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice, of violations of regulations or statutes, (5) claims related to federal securities laws, (6) claims related to employment or wage and hour violations, including class actions under the California Private Attorney General Act ("PAGA"), (7) claims related to environmental matters, and (8) claims related to additional laws and regulations. These claims, proceedings or litigation, either alone or in the aggregate, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our ability to compete effectively depends in part on our rights to service marks, trademarks, trade names and other intellectual property rights we own or license. Although we have sought to register or protect many of our marks either in the United States or in the countries in which they are or may be used, we have not sought to protect our marks in every country. Furthermore, because of the differences in foreign trademark, patent and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws, we may not receive the same protection in other countries as we would in the United States. If we are unable to protect our proprietary information and brand names, we could suffer a material adverse effect to our reputation and business.

Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights and protect our proprietary information, or to defend against claims by third parties that our products, services or activities infringe their intellectual property rights.

The impact of a pandemic or other major public health concerns, including changes in consumer behavior and discretionary spending, market downturns, and restrictions on business and individual activities, could create significant volatility in the global economy. Additionally, government or regulatory responses to pandemics or other public health concerns, such as mandatory lockdowns, vaccine mandates or other restrictions on operations, could negatively impact our business.

The ultimate impact of a pandemic or other major public health concern also depends on events beyond our knowledge or control, including the duration and severity of such pandemics and other major public health concerns, and related remedial or containment measures taken by parties other than us to respond to them.

We are unable to completely predict the full impact that a pandemic, or other major public health concern will have on our business due to numerous uncertainties. In addition, our compliance with remedial or containment measures could impact our day-to-day operations and could disrupt our business and operations, as well as that of our customers and suppliers, for an indefinite period of time. Furthermore, labor force availability may be impaired due to exposure, reluctance to comply with governmental, regulatory or contractual mandates, or other restrictions, which could negatively affect our operating costs and profitability or negatively impact our ability to provide quality services.

Economic downturns may adversely affect our commercial customers, including food service, hospitality and food processing industries whose business levels are particularly sensitive to adverse economies. For example, we may lose commercial customers and related revenues because of consolidation or cessation of commercial businesses or because these businesses switch to a lower cost provider. Pest and termite services represent discretionary expenditures to many of our residential customers. If consumers restrict their discretionary expenditures, due to inflation or other economic hardships, we may suffer a decline in revenues from our residential service lines. Disruptions in credit or financial markets could make it more difficult for us to obtain, or increase the cost of obtaining, financing in the future.

Increases in interest rates may cause a reduction in new home construction or real estate transactions, which could result in a decrease in revenue. We may be impacted by geopolitical tensions and conflicts, including changes to trade policies and regulations, such as tariffs. In addition, there can be no assurances that fuel prices, raw material costs, or other operating costs, all of which may be subject to inflationary pressures, will not materially increase in future years.

The Company has a significant shareholder group, which includes the Company’s Executive Chairman Emeritus of the Board, Gary W. Rollins, Board member, Pam Rollins, and certain persons acting as a group with them (the “Significant Shareholder”) which as of December 31, 2024, beneficially held (in the aggregate, including direct and indirect ownership) approximately 42 percent of our common stock. As a result, the Significant Shareholder has significant influence over our operations, including the election of directors, approval of substantial corporate transactions such as acquisitions, and approval of matters requiring stockholder approval. This concentration of ownership could also have the effect of delaying or preventing a third party from acquiring control of the Company at a premium.

The availability of Rollins’ common stock to the investing public is limited to those shares not held by the Significant Shareholder, which could negatively impact Rollins’ stock trading prices and affect the ability of minority stockholders to sell their shares. Future sales or other transactions entered into by the Significant Shareholder with respect to all or a portion of their shares or otherwise could also negatively affect the trading price of, or cause volatility in the market for, our common stock.

Rollins, Inc.’s certificate of incorporation, bylaws and other documents contain provisions including advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and staggered terms for the Board of Directors. These provisions may make a tender offer, change in control or takeover attempt that is opposed by the Company’s Board of Directors more difficult or expensive.