UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 28, 2019

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from ____________ to ____________

Commission file number 0-27078

HENRY SCHEIN, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware	11-3136595
(State or other jurisdiction of	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
incorporation or organization)

135 Duryea Road

Melville, New York

(Address of principal executive offices)

11747

(Zip Code)

(631) 843-5500

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, par value $.01 per share	HSIC	The Nasdaq Global Select Market

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

YES: ☒ NO: ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.

YES: ☐ NO: ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

YES: ☒ NO: ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

YES: ☒ NO: ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer: ☒ Accelerated filer: ☐ Non-accelerated filer: ☐ Smaller reporting company: ☐ Emerging growth company: ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

YES: ☐ NO: ☒

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, computed by reference to the closing sales price as quoted on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on June 29, 2019, was approximately $10,236,712,000.

As of February 14, 2020, there were 143,390,505 shares of registrant’s Common Stock, par value $.01 per share, outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference:

Portions of the Registrant’s definitive proxy statement to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A not later than 120 days after the end of the fiscal year (December 28, 2019) are incorporated by reference in Part III hereof.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
					Page
					Number
PART I.
	ITEM 1.		Business		3
	ITEM 1A.		Risk Factors		21
	ITEM 1B.		Unresolved Staff Comments		38
	ITEM 2.		Properties		39
	ITEM 3.		Legal Proceedings		40
	ITEM 4.		Mine Safety Disclosures		44
PART II
	ITEM 5.		Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters
				and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	45
	ITEM 6.		Selected Financial Data		48
	ITEM 7.		Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
				and Results of Operations	50
	ITEM 7A.		Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk		82
	ITEM 8.		Financial Statements and Supplementary Data		84
	ITEM 9.		Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting
				and Financial Disclosure	146
	ITEM 9A.		Controls and Procedures		146
	ITEM 9B.		Other Information		150
PART III
	ITEM 10.		Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance		150
	ITEM 11.		Executive Compensation		150
	ITEM 12.		Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management
				and Related Stockholder Matters	151
	ITEM 13.		Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence		151
	ITEM 14.		Principal Accounting Fees and Services		151
PART IV.
		ITEM 15.	Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules		151
		ITEM 16.	Form 10-K Summary		159
			Signatures		160

2

PART I

ITEM 1. Business

General

We believe we are the world’s largest provider of health care products and services primarily to office-based dental and medical practitioners. We serve more than 1 million customers worldwide including dental practitioners and laboratories and physician practices, as well as government, institutional health care clinics and other alternate care clinics. We believe that we have a strong brand identity due to our more than 87 years of experience distributing health care products.

We are headquartered in Melville, New York, employ more than 19,000 people (of which approximately 9,400 are based outside the United States) and have operations or affiliates in 31 countries, including the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

We offer a comprehensive selection of products and services and value-added solutions for operating efficient practices and delivering high quality care. We operate through a centralized and automated distribution network with a selection of more than 120,000 branded products and Henry Schein private brand products in stock, as well as more than 180,000 additional products available as special order items. We also offer our customers exclusive, innovative technology solutions, including practice management software and e-commerce solutions, as well as a broad range of financial services.

We have established over 3.5 million square feet of space in 29 strategically located distribution centers around the world to enable us to better serve our customers and increase our operating efficiency. This infrastructure, together with broad product and service offerings at competitive prices, and a strong commitment to customer service, enables us to be a single source of supply for our customers’ needs. Our infrastructure also allows us to provide convenient ordering and rapid, accurate and complete order fulfillment.

We conduct our business through two reportable segments: (i) health care distribution and (ii) technology and value-added services. These segments offer different products and services to the same customer base.

The health care distribution reportable segment aggregates our global dental and medical operating segments. This segment distributes consumable products, small equipment, laboratory products, large equipment, equipment repair services, branded and generic pharmaceuticals, vaccines, surgical products, diagnostic tests, infection-control products and vitamins. Our global dental group serves office-based dental practitioners, dental laboratories, schools and other institutions. Our global medical group serves office-based medical practitioners, ambulatory surgery centers, other alternate-care settings and other institutions.

Our global technology and value-added services group provides software, technology and other value-added services to health care practitioners. Our technology group offerings include practice management software systems for dental and medical practitioners. Our value-added practice solutions include financial services on a non-recourse basis, e-services, practice technology, network and hardware services, as well as continuing education services for practitioners.

Spin-Off of Henry Schein Animal Health Business

On February 7, 2019 (the “Distribution Date”), we completed the separation (the “Separation”) and subsequent merger (“Merger”) of our animal health business (the “Henry Schein Animal Health Business”) with Direct Vet Marketing, Inc. (d/b/a Vets First Choice, “Vets First Choice”). This was accomplished by a series of transactions among us, Vets First Choice, Covetrus, Inc. (f/k/a HS Spinco, Inc. “Covetrus”), a wholly owned subsidiary of ours prior to the Distribution Date, and HS Merger Sub, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Covetrus (“Merger

3

Sub”). In connection with the Separation, we contributed, assigned and transferred to Covetrus certain applicable assets, liabilities and capital stock or other ownership interests relating to the Henry Schein Animal Health Business. On the Distribution Date, we received a tax-free distribution of $1,120 million from Covetrus pursuant to certain debt financing incurred by Covetrus. On the Distribution Date and prior to the Animal Health Spin-off, Covetrus issued shares of Covetrus common stock to certain institutional accredited investors (the “Share Sale Investors”) for $361.1 million (the “Share Sale”). The proceeds of the Share Sale were paid to Covetrus and distributed to us. Subsequent to the Share Sale, we distributed, on a pro rata basis, all of the shares of the common stock of Covetrus held by us to our stockholders of record as of the close of business on January 17, 2019 (the “Animal Health Spin-off”). After the Share Sale and Animal Health Spin-off, Merger Sub consummated the Merger whereby it merged with and into Vets First Choice, with Vets First Choice surviving the Merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Covetrus. Immediately following the consummation of the Merger, on a fully diluted basis, (i) approximately 63% of the shares of Covetrus common stock were (a) owned by our stockholders and the Share Sale Investors, and (b) held by certain employees of the Henry Schein Animal Health Business (in the form of certain equity awards), and (ii) approximately 37% of the shares of Covetrus common stock were (a) owned by stockholders of Vets First Choice immediately prior to the Merger, and (b) held by certain employees of Vets First Choice (in the form of certain equity awards). After the Separation and the Merger, we no longer beneficially owned any shares of Covetrus common stock and, following the Distribution Date, will not consolidate the financial results of Covetrus for the purpose of our financial reporting. Following the Separation and the Merger, Covetrus was an independent, publicly traded company on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

In connection with the completion of the Animal Health Spin-off, we entered into a transition services agreement with Covetrus under which we have agreed to provide certain transition services for up to twenty-four months in areas such as information technology, finance and accounting, human resources, supply chain, and real estate and facility services.

As a result of the Separation, the financial position and results of operations of the Henry Schein Animal Health Business are presented as discontinued operations and have been excluded from continuing operations and segment results for all periods presented.

Industry

The health care products distribution industry, as it relates to office-based health care practitioners, is fragmented and diverse. The industry ranges from sole practitioners working out of relatively small offices to group practices or service organizations ranging in size from a few practitioners to a large number of practitioners who have combined or otherwise associated their practices.

Due in part to the inability of office-based health care practitioners to store and manage large quantities of supplies in their offices, the distribution of health care supplies and small equipment to office-based health care practitioners has been characterized by frequent, small quantity orders, and a need for rapid, reliable and substantially complete order fulfillment. The purchasing decisions within an office-based health care practice are typically made by the practitioner or an administrative assistant. Supplies and small equipment are generally purchased from more than one distributor, with one generally serving as the primary supplier.

The health care products distribution industry continues to experience growth due to the aging population, increased health care awareness, the proliferation of medical technology and testing, new pharmacology treatments and expanded third-party insurance coverage, partially offset by the effects of unemployment on insurance coverage. In addition, the physician market continues to benefit from the shift of procedures and diagnostic testing from acute care settings to alternate-care sites, particularly physicians’ offices.

We believe that consolidation within the industry will continue to result in a number of distributors, particularly those with limited financial, operating and marketing resources, seeking to combine with larger companies that can provide growth opportunities. This consolidation also may continue to result in distributors seeking to acquire companies that can enhance their current product and service offerings or provide opportunities to serve a broader customer base.

4

In recent years, the health care industry has increasingly focused on cost containment. This trend has benefited distributors capable of providing a broad array of products and services at low prices. It also has accelerated the growth of HMOs, group practices, other managed care accounts and collective buying groups, which, in addition to their emphasis on obtaining products at competitive prices, tend to favor distributors capable of providing specialized management information support. We believe that the trend towards cost containment has the potential to favorably affect demand for technology solutions, including software, which can enhance the efficiency and facilitation of practice management.

Competition

The distribution and manufacture of health care supplies and equipment is highly competitive. Many of the health care distribution products we sell are available to our customers from a number of suppliers. In addition, our competitors could obtain exclusive rights from manufacturers to market particular products. Manufacturers also could seek to sell directly to end-users, and thereby eliminate or reduce our role and that of other distributors.

In North America, we compete with other distributors, as well as several manufacturers, of dental and medical products, primarily on the basis of price, breadth of product line, customer service and value-added products and services. In the dental market, our primary competitors are the Patterson Dental division of Patterson Companies, Inc. and Benco Dental Supply Company. In addition, we compete against a number of other distributors that operate on a national, regional and local level. Our primary competitors in the medical market are McKesson Corporation and Medline Industries, Inc., which are national distributors. We also compete against a number of regional and local medical distributors, as well as a number of manufacturers that sell directly to physicians. With regard to our dental practice management software, we compete against numerous companies, including Carestream Health, Inc. and the Patterson Dental division of Patterson Companies, Inc. The medical practice management and electronic medical records market is very fragmented and we compete with numerous companies such as the NextGen division of Quality Systems, Inc., eClinicalWorks and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.

We also face significant competition internationally, where we compete on the basis of price and customer service against several large competitors, including the GACD Group, Pluradent AG & Co., Lifco AB, Planmeca Oy, Billericay Dental Supply Co. Ltd., as well as a large number of dental and medical product distributors and manufacturers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Significant price reductions by our competitors could result in a similar reduction in our prices. Any of these competitive pressures may materially adversely affect our operating results.

Competitive Strengths

We have more than 87 years of experience in distributing products to health care practitioners resulting in strong awareness of the Henry Schein® brand. Our competitive strengths include:

A focus on meeting our customers’ unique needs. We are committed to providing customized solutions to our customers that are driven by our understanding of the market and reflect the technology-driven products and services best suited for their practice needs.

Direct sales and marketing expertise. Our sales and marketing efforts are designed to establish and solidify customer relationships through personal visits by field sales representatives, frequent direct marketing and telesales contact, emphasizing our broad product lines, including exclusive distribution agreements, competitive prices and ease of order placement. The key elements of our direct sales and marketing efforts are:

5

• Field sales consultants. We have over 3,650 field sales consultants, including equipment sales specialists, covering major North American, European and other international markets. These consultants complement our direct marketing and telesales efforts and enable us to better market, service and support the sale of more sophisticated products and equipment.

• Direct marketing. During 2019, we distributed approximately 30 million pieces of direct marketing material, including catalogs, flyers, order stuffers and other promotional materials to existing and potential office-based health care customers.

• Telesales. We support our direct marketing effort with approximately 2,000 inbound and outbound telesales representatives, who facilitate order processing, generate new sales through direct and frequent contact with customers and stay abreast of market developments and the hundreds of new products, services and technologies introduced each year to educate practice personnel.

• Electronic commerce solutions. We provide our customers and sales teams with innovative and competitive Internet, PC and mobile e-commerce solutions.

• Social media. Our operating entities and employees engage our customers and supplier partners through various social media platforms.

Broad product and service offerings at competitive prices. We offer a broad range of products and services to our customers, at competitive prices, in the following categories:

• Consumable supplies and equipment. We offer over 120,000 Stock Keeping Units, or SKUs, to our customers. We offer over 180,000 additional SKUs to our customers in the form of special order items.

• Technology and other value-added products and services. We sell practice management software systems to our dental and medical customers. Our practice management solutions provide practitioners with electronic medical records, patient treatment history, billing, accounts receivable analyses and management, appointment calendars, electronic claims processing and word processing programs, network and hardware services, transition services and training and education programs for practitioners. We have approximately 800 technical representatives supporting customers using our practice management solutions. As of December 28, 2019, we had an active user base of approximately 83,600 practices, including users of Dentrix® Dental Systems, Dentrix® Enterprise, Dentrix® Dental Vision^TM, Dentrix Ascend®, Easy Dental®, Oasis^TM, Evolution® and EXACT®, Gesden®, Julie®Software, Power Practice® Px, AxiUm^TM, EndoVision®, PerioVision®, OMSVision® and Viive® for dental practices; and MicroMD® for physician practices.

• Repair services. We have over 170 equipment sales and service centers worldwide that provide a variety of repair, installation and technical services for our health care customers. Our over 2,000 technicians provide installation and repair services for: dental handpieces; dental and medical small equipment; table top sterilizers; and large dental equipment.

• Financial services. We offer our customers solutions in operating their practices more efficiently by providing access to a number of financial services and products provided by third party vendors (including non-recourse financing for equipment, technology and software products; non-recourse patient financing; collection services and credit card processing) at rates that we believe are generally lower than what our customers would be able to secure independently. We also provide consulting services, dental practice valuation and brokerage services.

Commitment to superior customer service. We maintain a strong commitment to providing superior customer service. We frequently monitor our customer service through customer surveys, focus groups and statistical reports. Our customer service policy primarily focuses on:

6

• Exceptional order fulfillment. We ship an average of approximately 124,000 cartons daily. Approximately 99% of items ordered are shipped without back ordering and are shipped on the same business day the order is received.

• Streamlined ordering process. Customers may place orders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by mail, fax, telephone, e-mail, Internet and by using our computerized order entry systems.

Integrated management information systems. Our information systems generally allow for centralized management of key functions, including accounts receivable, inventory, accounts payable, payroll, purchasing, sales and order fulfillment. These systems allow us to manage our growth, deliver superior customer service, properly target customers, manage financial performance and monitor daily operational statistics.

Cost-effective purchasing. We believe that cost-effective purchasing is a key element to maintaining and enhancing our position as a competitive-pricing provider of health care products. We continuously evaluate our purchase requirements and suppliers’ offerings and prices in order to obtain products at the lowest possible cost. In 2019, our top 10 health care distribution suppliers and our single largest supplier accounted for approximately 31% and 6%, respectively, of our aggregate purchases.

Efficient distribution. We distribute our products from our strategically located distribution centers. We strive to maintain optimal inventory levels in order to satisfy customer demand for prompt delivery and complete order fulfillment. These inventory levels are managed on a daily basis with the aid of our management information systems. Once an order is entered, it is electronically transmitted to the distribution center nearest the customer’s location and a packing slip for the entire order is printed for order fulfillment.

Products

The following table sets forth the percentage of consolidated net sales by principal categories of products offered through our health care distribution and technology reportable segments:

			December 28,			December 29,			December 30,
			2019			2018			2017
Health care distribution:
	Dental products (1)			64.2	%		67.4	%		68.1	%
	Medical products (2)			29.8			28.3			28.1
		Total health care distribution		94.0			95.7			96.2
Technology and value-added services:
	Software and related products and
		other value-added products (3)		5.2			4.3			3.8
Total excluding Corporate TSA revenues				99.2			100.0			100.0
	Corporate TSA revenues (4)			0.8			-			-
Total				100.0			100.0			100.0
(1)	Includes infection-control products, handpieces, preventatives, impression materials, composites, anesthetics, teeth, dental implants, gypsum, acrylics, articulators, abrasives, dental chairs, delivery units and lights, X-ray supplies and equipment, equipment repair and high-tech and digital restoration equipment.
(2)	Includes branded and generic pharmaceuticals, vaccines, surgical products, diagnostic tests, infection-control products, X-ray products, equipment and vitamins.
(3)	Consists of practice management software and other value-added products, which are distributed primarily to health care providers, and financial services on a non-recourse basis, e-services, continuing education services for practitioners, consulting and other services.
(4)	Corporate TSA revenues represents sales of certain products to Covetrus under the transition services agreement entered into in connection with the Animal Health spin-off, which we expect to continue through August 2020.

7

Business Strategy

Our objective is to continue to expand as a global value-added provider of health care products and services to office-based dental and medical practitioners. To accomplish this, we will apply our competitive strengths in executing the following strategies:

• Increase penetration of our existing customer base. We have over 1 million customers worldwide and we intend to increase sales to our existing customer base and enhance our position as their primary supplier.

• Increase the number of customers we serve. This strategy includes increasing the number and productivity of field sales consultants, as well as using our customer database to focus our marketing efforts in all of our operating segments. In the dental business, we provide products and services to traditional dental practices as well as new emerging segments, such as dental service organizations and community health centers. Leveraging our broad array of assets and capabilities, we offer solutions to address these new markets. In the medical business, we have expanded to serve customers located in settings outside of the traditional office, such as urgent care clinics, retail and occupational health settings. As settings of health care shift, we remain committed to serving these practitioners and providing them with the products and services they need.

• Leverage our value-added products and services. We continue to increase cross-selling efforts for key product lines utilizing a consultative selling process. In the dental business, we have significant cross-selling opportunities between our dental practice management software users and our dental distribution customers. In the medical business, we have opportunities to expand our vaccine, injectables and other pharmaceuticals sales to health care practitioners, as well as cross-selling core products and electronic health record and practice management software. Our strategy extends to providing health systems, integrated delivery networks and other large group and multi-site health care organizations, that include physician clinics, these same value added products and services. As physicians and health systems closely align, we have increased access to opportunities for cross-marketing and selling our product and service portfolios.

• Pursue strategic acquisitions and joint ventures. Our acquisition strategy includes acquiring businesses and entering into joint ventures complementary to ours that will provide, among other things, additional sales to be channeled through our existing distribution infrastructure, access to additional product lines and field sales consultants and an opportunity to further expand into new geographic markets.

Markets Served

Demographic trends indicate that our markets are growing, as an aging U.S. population is increasingly using health care services. Between 2019 and 2029, the 45 and older population is expected to grow by approximately 11%. Between 2019 and 2039, this age group is expected to grow by approximately 22%. This compares with expected total U.S. population growth rates of approximately 7% between 2019 and 2029 and approximately 13% between 2019 and 2039.

In the dental industry, there is predicted to be a rise in oral health care expenditures as the 45 and older segment of the population increases. There is increasing demand for new technologies that allow dentists to increase productivity, and this is being driven in the U.S. by lower insurance reimbursement rates. At the same time, there is an expected increase in dental insurance coverage.

We support our dental professionals through the many SKUs that we offer, as well as through important value-added services, including practice management software, electronic claims processing, financial services and continuing education, all designed to help maximize a practitioner’s efficiency.

In the medical market, there continues to be a migration of procedures from acute-care settings to physicians’ offices, a trend that we believe provides additional opportunities for us. There also is the continuing use of

8

vaccines, injectables and other pharmaceuticals in alternate-care settings. We believe we have established a leading position as a vaccine supplier to the office-based physician practitioner.

Additionally, we are expanding our dental full-service model and our medical offerings in countries where opportunities exist. Through our “Schein Direct” program, we also have the capability to provide door-to-door air package delivery to practitioners in over 190 countries around the world.

For information on revenues and long-lived assets by geographic area, see Note 18 of “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.”

Seasonality and Other Factors Affecting Our Business and Quarterly Results

We experience fluctuations in quarterly earnings. As a result, we may fail to meet or exceed the expectations of securities analysts and investors, which could cause our stock price to decline.

Our business is subject to seasonal and other quarterly fluctuations. Revenues and profitability generally have been higher in the third and fourth quarters due to the timing of sales of seasonal products (including influenza vaccine, equipment and software products), purchasing patterns of office-based health care practitioners and year-end promotions. Revenues and profitability generally have been lower in the first quarter, primarily due to increased sales in the prior two quarters. We expect our historical seasonality of sales to continue in the foreseeable future. Quarterly results may also be materially adversely affected by a variety of other factors, including:

• timing and amount of sales and marketing expenditures;

• timing of pricing changes offered by our suppliers;

• timing of the introduction of new products and services by our suppliers;

• timing of the release of upgrades and enhancements to our technology-related products and services;

• changes in or availability of supplier contracts or rebate programs;

• supplier rebates based upon attaining certain growth goals;

• changes in the way suppliers introduce or deliver products to market;

• costs of developing new applications and services;

• our ability to correctly identify customer needs and preferences and predict future needs and preferences;

• uncertainties regarding potential significant breaches of data security or disruptions of our information technology systems;

• unexpected regulatory actions, or government regulation generally;

• exclusivity requirements with certain suppliers may prohibit us from distributing competitive products manufactured by other suppliers;

• loss of sales representatives;

• costs related to acquisitions and/or integrations of technologies or businesses;

• costs associated with our self-insured medical and dental insurance programs;

9

• general market and economic conditions, as well as those specific to the health care industry and related industries;

• our success in establishing or maintaining business relationships;

• unexpected difficulties in developing and manufacturing products;

• product demand and availability or recalls by manufacturers;

• exposure to product liability and other claims in the event that the use of the products we sell results in injury;

• increases in shipping costs or service issues with our third-party shippers;

• fluctuations in the value of foreign currencies;

• restructuring costs;

• the adoption or repeal of legislation;

• changes in accounting principles; and

• litigation or regulatory judgments, expenses or settlements.

Any change in one or more of these or other factors could cause our annual or quarterly financial results to fluctuate. If our financial results do not meet market expectations, our stock price may decline.

Governmental Regulations

Operating, Security and Licensure Standards

Certain of our businesses involve the distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and in this regard we are subject to various local, state, federal and foreign governmental laws and regulations applicable to the distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Among the United States federal laws applicable to us are the Controlled Substances Act, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as amended (“FDC Act”), and Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act. We are also subject to comparable foreign regulations.

The FDC Act and similar foreign laws generally regulate the introduction, manufacture, advertising, labeling, packaging, storage, handling, reporting, marketing and distribution of, and record keeping for, pharmaceuticals and medical devices shipped in interstate commerce, and states may similarly regulate such activities within the state. Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, which provides authority to prevent the introduction, transmission or spread of communicable diseases, serves as the legal basis for the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) regulation of human cells, tissues and cellular and tissue-based products, also known as “HCT/P products.”

The Federal Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 brought about significant changes with respect to pharmaceutical supply chain requirements. Title II of this measure, known as the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (“DSCSA”), is being phased in over a period of ten years, and is intended to build a national electronic, interoperable system to identify and trace certain prescription drugs as they are distributed in the United States. The law’s track and trace requirements applicable to manufacturers, wholesalers, repackagers and dispensers (e.g., pharmacies) of prescription drugs took effect in January 2015, and continues to be implemented. The DSCSA product tracing requirements replace the former FDA drug pedigree requirements and pre-empt certain state requirements that are inconsistent with, more stringent than, or in addition to, the DSCSA requirements.

10

The DSCSA also establishes certain requirements for the licensing and operation of prescription drug wholesalers and third party logistics providers (“3PLs”), and includes the eventual creation of national wholesaler and 3PL licenses in cases where states do not license such entities. The DSCSA requires that wholesalers and 3PLs distribute drugs in accordance with certain standards regarding the recordkeeping, storage and handling of prescription drugs. The DSCSA requires wholesalers and 3PLs to submit annual reports to the FDA, which include information regarding each state where the wholesaler or 3PL is licensed, the name and address of each facility and contact information. According to FDA guidance, states are pre-empted from imposing any licensing requirements that are inconsistent with, less stringent than, directly related to, or covered by the standards established by federal law in this area. Current state licensing requirements concerning wholesalers will remain in effect until the FDA issues new regulations as directed by the DSCSA.

We believe that we are substantially compliant with applicable DSCSA requirements.

The Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 and the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act of 2012 amended the FDC Act to require the FDA to promulgate regulations to implement a unique device identification (“UDI”) system. The UDI rule phased in the implementation of the UDI regulations over seven years, generally beginning with the highest-risk devices (i.e., Class III medical devices) and ending with the lowest-risk devices. Most compliance dates were reached as of September 24, 2018, with a final set of requirements for low risk devices being reached on September 24, 2022, which will complete the phase in. The UDI regulations require “labelers” to include unique device identifiers (“UDIs”), with a content and format prescribed by the FDA and issued under a system operated by an FDA-accredited issuing agency, on the labels and packages of medical devices, and to directly mark certain devices with UDIs. The UDI regulations also require labelers to submit certain information concerning UDI-labeled devices to the FDA, much of which information is publicly available on an FDA database, the Global Unique Device Identification Database. The UDI regulations and subsequent FDA guidance regarding the UDI requirements provide for certain exceptions, alternatives and time extensions. For example, the UDI regulations include a general exception for Class I devices exempt from the Quality System Regulation (other than record-keeping requirements and complaint files). Regulated labelers include entities such as device manufacturers, repackagers, reprocessors and relabelers that cause a device’s label to be applied or modified, with the intent that the device will be commercially distributed without any subsequent replacement or modification of the label, and include certain of our businesses.

We believe that we are substantially compliant with applicable UDI requirements.

Under the Controlled Substances Act, as a distributor of controlled substances, we are required to obtain and renew annually registrations for our facilities from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) permitting us to handle controlled substances. We are also subject to other statutory and regulatory requirements relating to the storage, sale, marketing, handling, reporting, record-keeping and distribution of such drugs, in accordance with the Controlled Substances Act and its implementing regulations, and these requirements have been subject to heightened enforcement activity in recent times. We are subject to inspection by the DEA.

Certain of our businesses are also required to register for permits and/or licenses with, and comply with operating and security standards of, the DEA, the FDA, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and various state boards of pharmacy, state health departments and/or comparable state agencies as well as comparable foreign agencies, and certain accrediting bodies depending on the type of operations and location of product distribution, manufacturing or sale. These businesses include those that distribute, manufacture and/or repackage prescription pharmaceuticals and/or medical devices and/or HCT/P products, or own pharmacy operations, or install, maintain or repair equipment. In addition, Section 301 of the National Organ Transplant Act, and a number of comparable state laws, impose civil and/or criminal penalties for the transfer of certain human tissue (for example, human bone products) for valuable consideration, while generally permitting payments for the reasonable costs incurred in procuring, processing, storing and distributing that tissue. We are also subject to foreign government regulation of such products. The DEA, the FDA and state regulatory authorities have broad inspection and enforcement powers, including the ability to suspend or limit the distribution of products by our distribution centers, seize or order the recall of products and impose significant criminal, civil and administrative sanctions for violations of these laws and regulations. Foreign regulations subject us to similar foreign enforcement powers.

11

In the European Union, the EU Medical Device Regulation No. 2017/745 (“EU MDR”) will apply as of May 26, 2020. The EU MDR significantly modifies and intensifies the regulatory compliance requirements for the medical device industry as a whole. In particular, the EU MDR imposes stricter requirements for the confirmation that a product meets the regulatory requirements, including regarding a product’s clinical evaluation and a company’s quality systems, and for the distribution, marketing and sale of medical devices, including post-market surveillance. Medical devices that have been assessed and/or certified under the EU Medical Device Directive may continue to be placed on the market until 2024 (or until the expiry of their certificates, if applicable and earlier); however, requirements regarding the distribution, marketing and sale including quality systems and post-market surveillance have to be observed by manufacturers, importers and distributors as of the application date.

Furthermore, compliance with legal requirements has required and may in the future require us to institute voluntary recalls of products we sell, which could result in financial losses and potential reputational harm. Our customers are also subject to significant federal, state, local and foreign governmental regulation.

Certain of our businesses are subject to various additional federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations, including with respect to the sale, transportation, storage, handling and disposal of hazardous or potentially hazardous substances, and safe working conditions.

Certain of our businesses also maintain contracts with governmental agencies and are subject to certain regulatory requirements specific to government contractors.

Antitrust

The U.S. federal government, most U.S. states and many foreign countries have antitrust laws that prohibit certain types of conduct deemed to be anti-competitive. Violations of antitrust laws can result in various sanctions, including criminal and civil penalties. Private plaintiffs also could bring civil lawsuits against us in the United States for alleged antitrust law violations, including claims for treble damages.

Health Care Fraud

Certain of our businesses are subject to federal and state (and similar foreign) health care fraud and abuse, referral and reimbursement laws and regulations with respect to their operations. Some of these laws, referred to as “false claims laws,” prohibit the submission or causing the submission of false or fraudulent claims for reimbursement to federal, state and other health care payers and programs. Other laws, referred to as “anti-kickback laws,” prohibit soliciting, offering, receiving or paying remuneration in order to induce the referral of a patient or ordering, purchasing, leasing or arranging for, or recommending ordering, purchasing or leasing of, items or services that are paid for by federal, state and other health care payers and programs.

The fraud and abuse laws and regulations have been subject to varying interpretations, as well as heightened enforcement activity over the past few years, and significant enforcement activity has been the result of “relators” who serve as whistleblowers by filing complaints in the name of the United States (and if applicable, particular states) under federal and state false claims laws, and who may receive up to 30% of total government recoveries. Penalties under fraud and abuse laws may be severe. For example, under the federal False Claims Act, violations may result in treble damages, plus civil penalties of up to $22,927 per claim, as well as exclusion from federal health care programs and criminal penalties. Most states have adopted similar state false claims laws, and these state laws have their own penalties which may be in addition to federal False Claims Act penalties. With respect to “anti-kickback laws,” violations of, for example, the federal Anti-Kickback Law may result in civil penalties of up to $102,522 for each violation, plus up to three times the total amount of remuneration offered, paid, solicited or received, as well as exclusion from federal health care programs and criminal penalties. Notably, effective October 24, 2018, a new federal anti-kickback law (the “Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018”) enacted in connection with broader addiction services legislation, may impose criminal penalties for kickbacks involving clinical laboratory services, regardless of whether the services at issue involved addiction services, and regardless of whether the services were reimbursed by a federal health care program or by a

12

commercial health insurer. Furthermore, the United States Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, each enacted in March 2010 (the “Health Care Reform Law”) significantly strengthened the federal False Claims Act and the federal Anti-Kickback Law provisions, clarifying that a federal Anti-Kickback Law violation can be a basis for federal False Claims Act liability.

With respect to measures of this type, the United States government (among others) has expressed concerns about financial relationships between suppliers on the one hand and physicians and dentists on the other. As a result, we regularly review and revise our marketing practices as necessary to facilitate compliance.

We also are subject to certain United States and foreign laws and regulations concerning the conduct of our foreign operations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, German anti-corruption laws and other anti-bribery laws and laws pertaining to the accuracy of our internal books and records, which have been the focus of increasing enforcement activity globally in recent years.

Failure to comply with fraud and abuse laws and regulations could result in significant civil and criminal penalties and costs, including the loss of licenses and the ability to participate in federal and state health care programs, and could have a material adverse effect on our business. Also, these measures may be interpreted or applied by a prosecutorial, regulatory or judicial authority in a manner that could require us to make changes in our operations or incur substantial defense and settlement expenses. Even unsuccessful challenges by regulatory authorities or private relators could result in reputational harm and the incurring of substantial costs. In addition, many of these laws are vague or indefinite and have not been interpreted by the courts, and have been subject to frequent modification and varied interpretation by prosecutorial and regulatory authorities, increasing the risk of noncompliance.

While we believe that we are substantially compliant with applicable fraud and abuse laws and regulations, and have adequate compliance programs and controls in place to ensure substantial compliance, we cannot predict whether changes in applicable law, or interpretation of laws, or changes in our services or marketing practices in response to changes in applicable law or interpretation of laws, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Health Care Reform

The Health Care Reform Law increased federal oversight of private health insurance plans and included a number of provisions designed to reduce Medicare expenditures and the cost of health care generally, to reduce fraud and abuse, and to provide access to increased health coverage.

The Health Care Reform Law included a 2.3% excise tax on domestic sales of many medical devices by manufacturers and importers that was to begin in 2013 and a fee on branded prescription drugs and biologics. The fee on branded prescription drugs and biologics was implemented in 2011. However, subsequent federal laws had suspended the imposition of the medical device excise tax, through December 31, 2019, and the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, signed into law on December 20, 2019, has permanently repealed the medical device excise tax. The Health Care Reform Law has also materially expanded the number of individuals in the United States with health insurance. The Health Care Reform Law has faced ongoing legal challenges, including litigation seeking to invalidate some of or all of the law or the manner in which it has been implemented.

In addition, the President is seeking to repeal and replace the Health Care Reform Law. Repeal and replace legislation has been passed in the House of Representatives, but did not obtain the necessary votes in the Senate. Subsequently, the President has affirmed his intention to repeal and replace the Health Care Reform Law and has taken a number of administrative actions to materially weaken it, including, without limitation, by permitting the use of less robust plans with lower coverage and eliminating “premium support” for insurers providing policies under the Health Care Reform Law. On December 22, 2017, the President signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), which contains a broad range of tax reform provisions that impact the individual and corporate tax rates, international tax provisions, income tax add-back provisions and deductions and which also repealed the individual mandate of the Health Care Reform Law. Further, in December 2019, the Fifth Circuit ruled that the

13

mandate within the Health Care Reform Law requiring that people buy health insurance was unconstitutional, through the ruling will likely be appealed. The Fifth Circuit remanded the remainder of the case, pertaining to the viability of the remainder of the Health Care Reform Law, in the absence of the individual mandate, to the District Court of the Northern District of Texas. Any outcome of these cases that changes the Health Care Reform Law could have a significant impact on the U.S. healthcare industry. The uncertain status of the Health Care Reform Law affects our ability to plan.

A Health Care Reform Law provision, generally referred to as the Physician Payment Sunshine Act or Open Payments Program, imposes annual reporting and disclosure requirements for drug and device manufacturers and distributors with regard to payments or other transfers of value made to certain covered recipients (including physicians, dentists and teaching hospitals), and for such manufacturers and distributors and for group purchasing organizations, with regard to certain ownership interests held by physicians in the reporting entity. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) publishes information from these reports on a publicly available website, including amounts transferred and physician, dentist and teaching hospital identities. Amendments expanded the law to also require reporting, effective January 1, 2022, of payments or other transfers of value to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse-midwives, and this new requirement will be effective for data collected beginning in calendar year 2021.

Under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, we are required to collect and report detailed information regarding certain financial relationships we have with covered recipients such as physicians, dentists and teaching hospitals. We believe that we are substantially compliant with applicable Physician Payment Sunshine Act requirements. The Physician Payment Sunshine Act pre-empts similar state reporting laws, although we or our subsidiaries may be required to report under certain state transparency laws that address circumstances not covered by the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, and some of these state laws, as well as the federal law, can be ambiguous. We are also subject to foreign regulations requiring transparency of certain interactions between suppliers and their customers. While we believe we have substantially compliant programs and controls in place to comply with these requirements, our compliance with these rules imposes additional costs on us.

Another notable Medicare health care reform initiative, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (“MACRA”), enacted on April 16, 2015, established a new payment framework, called the Quality Payment Program, which modifies certain Medicare payments to “eligible clinicians,” including physicians, dentists and other practitioners. Under MACRA, certain eligible clinicians are required to participate in Medicare through the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (“MIPS”) or Advanced Alternative Payment Models (“APMs”). MIPS generally consolidated three programs (the physician quality reporting system, the value-based payment modifier and the Medicare electronic health record (“EHR”) program) into a single program in which Medicare reimbursement to eligible clinicians includes both positive and negative payment adjustments that take into account quality, promoting interoperability, cost and improvement activities. Advanced APMs generally involve higher levels of financial and technology risk. The first MIPS performance year was 2017, and the data collected in the first performance year determines payment adjustments that began January 1, 2019. MACRA standards continue to evolve, and represent a fundamental change in physician reimbursement that is expected to provide substantial financial incentives for physicians to participate in risk contracts, and to increase physician information technology and reporting obligations. The implications of the implementation of MACRA are uncertain and will depend on future regulatory activity and physician activity in the marketplace. MACRA may encourage physicians to move from smaller practices to larger physician groups or hospital employment, leading to a consolidation of a portion of our customer base. Although we believe that we are positioned to capitalize on this consolidation trend, there can be no assurances that we will be able to successfully accomplish this.

As a result of political, economic and regulatory influences, the health care distribution industry in the United States is under intense scrutiny and subject to fundamental changes. We cannot predict what further reform proposals, if any, will be adopted, when they may be adopted, or what impact they may have on us.

Recently, there has been increased scrutiny on drug pricing and concurrent efforts to control or reduce drug costs by Congress, the President and various states including that several related bills have been introduced at the federal level. Such legislation, if enacted, could have the potential to impose additional costs on our business.

14

Regulated Software; Electronic Health Records

The FDA has become increasingly active in addressing the regulation of computer software and digital health products intended for use in health care settings. The 21st Century Cures Act (the “Cures Act”), signed into law on December 13, 2016, among other things amended the medical device definition to exclude certain software from FDA regulation, including clinical decision support software that meets certain criteria. On September 27, 2019, the FDA issued a suite of guidance documents on digital health products, which incorporated applicable Cures Act standards, including regarding the types of clinical decision support tools and other software that are exempt from regulation by the FDA as medical devices. Certain of our businesses involve the development and sale of software and related products to support physician and dental practice management, and it is possible that the FDA or foreign government authorities could determine that one or more of our products is a medical device, which could subject us or one or more of our businesses to substantial additional requirements with respect to these products.

In addition, our businesses that involve physician and dental practice management products include electronic information technology systems that store and process personal health, clinical, financial and other sensitive information of individuals. These information technology systems may be vulnerable to breakdown, wrongful intrusions, data breaches and malicious attack, which could require us to expend significant resources to eliminate these problems and address related security concerns and could involve claims against us by private parties and/or governmental agencies. For example, we are directly or indirectly subject to numerous and evolving federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations that protect the privacy and security of such information, such as the privacy and security provisions of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended, and implementing regulations (“HIPAA”). HIPAA requires, among other things, the implementation of various recordkeeping, operational, notice and other practices intended to safeguard that information, limit its use to allowed purposes and notify individuals in the event of privacy and security breaches. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations can result in substantial penalties and other liabilities.

In addition, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have adopted a new pan-European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), effective from May 25, 2018, which increased privacy rights for individuals in Europe (“Data Subjects”) including individuals who are our customers, suppliers and employees. The GDPR extended the scope of responsibilities for data controllers and data processors, and generally imposes increased requirements and potential penalties on companies, such as us, that offer goods or services to Data Subjects or monitor their behavior (including by companies based outside of Europe). Noncompliance can result in penalties of up to the greater of EUR 20 million, or 4% of global company revenues. Individual member states may impose additional requirements and penalties regarding certain matters, such as employee personal data. With respect to the personal data it protects, the GDPR requires, among other things, company accountability, consents from Data Subjects or other acceptable legal basis to process the personal data, breach notifications within 72 hours, data integrity and security, and fairness and transparency regarding the storage, use or other processing of the personal data. The GDPR also provides rights to Data Subjects relating to modification, erasure and transporting of the personal data. In the United States, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which increases the privacy protections afforded California residents and was signed into law on June 28, 2018, became effective January 1, 2020. The CCPA generally requires companies, such as us, to institute additional protections regarding the collection, use and disclosure of certain personal information of California residents. The California Attorney General released proposed CCPA regulations on October 10, 2019, and is required to adopt final regulations on or before July 1, 2020. In addition to providing for enforcement by the California Attorney General, the CCPA also provides for a private right of action. Entities in violation of the CCPA may be liable for civil penalties. Other states, as well as the federal government, have increasingly considered the adoption of similarly expansive personal privacy laws, backed by significant civil penalties for non-compliance. While we believe we have substantially compliant programs and controls in place to comply with the GDPR and CCPA requirements, our compliance with these measures is likely to impose additional costs on us, and we cannot predict whether the interpretations of the requirements, or changes in our practices in response to new requirements or interpretations of the requirements, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

15

We also sell products and services that health care providers, such as physicians and dentists, use to store and manage patient medical or dental records. These customers, and we, are subject to laws, regulations and industry standards, such as HIPAA and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, which require the protection of the privacy and security of those records, and our products may also be used as part of these customers’ comprehensive data security programs, including in connection with their efforts to comply with applicable privacy and security laws. Perceived or actual security vulnerabilities in our products or services, or the perceived or actual failure by us or our customers who use our products or services to comply with applicable legal or contractual data privacy and security requirements, may not only cause us significant reputational harm, but may also lead to claims against us by our customers and/or governmental agencies and involve substantial fines, penalties and other liabilities and expenses and costs for remediation.

Various federal initiatives involve the adoption and use by health care providers of certain electronic health care records systems and processes. The initiatives include, among others, programs that incentivize physicians and dentists, through Medicare’s MIPS, to use certified EHR technology in accordance with certain evolving requirements, including regarding quality, promoting interoperability, cost and improvement activities. Qualification for the MIPS incentive payments requires the use of EHRs that are certified as having certain capabilities designated in standards adopted by CMS and by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of the Department of Health and Human Services. These standards have been subject to change.

Certain of our businesses involve the manufacture and sale of certified EHR systems and other products linked to MIPS and other incentive programs. In order to maintain certification of our EHR products, we must satisfy these changing governmental standards. If any of our EHR systems do not meet these standards, yet have been relied upon by health care providers to receive federal incentive payments, as noted above, we are exposed to risk, such as under federal health care fraud and abuse laws, including the False Claims Act. For example, on May 31, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $155 million settlement and 5-year corporate integrity agreement involving a vendor of certified EHR systems, based on allegations that the vendor, by misrepresenting capabilities to the certifying body, caused its health care provider customers to submit false Medicare and Medicaid claims for meaningful use incentive payments in violation of the False Claims Act. While we believe we are substantially in compliance with such certifications and with applicable fraud and abuse laws and regulations, and we have adequate compliance programs and controls in place to ensure substantial compliance, we cannot predict whether changes in applicable law, or interpretation of laws, or changes in our practices in response to changes in applicable law or interpretation of laws, could have a material adverse effect on our business. Moreover, in order to satisfy our customers, our products may need to incorporate increasingly complex reporting functionality. Although we believe we are positioned to accomplish this, the effort may involve increased costs, and our failure to implement product modifications, or otherwise satisfy applicable standards, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Other health information standards, such as regulations under HIPAA, establish standards regarding electronic health data transmissions and transaction code set rules for specific electronic transactions, such as transactions involving claims submissions to third party payers. Certain of our businesses provide electronic practice management products that must meet these requirements. Failure to abide by electronic health data transmission standards could expose us to breach of contract claims, substantial fines, penalties, and other liabilities and expenses, costs for remediation and harm to our reputation.

Additionally, as electronic medical devices are increasingly connected to each other and to other technology, the ability of these connected systems safely and effectively to exchange and use exchanged information becomes increasingly important. For example on September 6, 2017, the FDA issued final guidance to assist industry in identifying specific considerations related to the ability of electronic medical devices to safely and effectively exchange and use exchanged information. As a medical device manufacturer, we must manage risks including those associated with an electronic interface that is incorporated into a medical device.

There may be additional legislative or regulatory initiatives in the future impacting health care.

16

E-Commerce

Electronic commerce solutions have become an integral part of traditional health care supply and distribution relationships. Our distribution business is characterized by rapid technological developments and intense competition. The continuing advancement of online commerce requires us to cost-effectively adapt to changing technologies, to enhance existing services and to develop and introduce a variety of new services to address the changing demands of consumers and our customers on a timely basis, particularly in response to competitive offerings.

Through our proprietary, technologically based suite of products, we offer customers a variety of competitive alternatives. We believe that our tradition of reliable service, our name recognition and large customer base built on solid customer relationships, position us well to participate in this significant aspect of the distribution business. We continue to explore ways and means to improve and expand our Internet presence and capabilities, including our online commerce offerings and our use of various social media outlets.

International Transactions

In addition, United States and foreign import and export laws and regulations require us to abide by certain standards relating to the importation and exportation of products. We also are subject to certain laws and regulations concerning the conduct of our foreign operations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, German anti-corruption laws and other anti-bribery laws and laws pertaining to the accuracy of our internal books and records, as well as other types of foreign requirements similar to those imposed in the United States.

While we believe that we are substantially compliant with the foregoing laws and regulations promulgated thereunder and possess all material permits and licenses required for the conduct of our business, there can be no assurance that regulations that impact our business or customers’ practices will not have a material adverse effect on our business.

See “ITEM 1A. Risk Factors” for a discussion of additional burdens, risks and regulatory developments that may affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Proprietary Rights

We hold trademarks relating to the “Henry Schein^®” name and logo, as well as certain other trademarks. We intend to protect our trademarks to the fullest extent practicable.

Employees

We employ more than 19,000 full-time equivalent employees, including approximately 2,000 telesales representatives, over 3,650 field sales consultants, including equipment sales specialists, 3,000 warehouse employees, 800 computer programmers and technicians, 660 management employees and 7,000 office, clerical and administrative employees. Approximately 2,160, or 11%, of our employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements. We believe that our relations with our employees are excellent.

Available Information

We make available free of charge through our Internet website, www.henryschein.com, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, statements of beneficial ownership of securities on Forms 3, 4 and 5 and amendments to these reports and statements filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) and Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Our principal executive offices are located at 135 Duryea Road, Melville, New York 11747, and our telephone number is (631) 843-5500. Unless the context specifically requires otherwise, the terms the “Company,” “Henry Schein,” “we,” “us” and “our” mean Henry Schein, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries.

17

Information about our Executive Officers

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our executive officers:

Name	Age	Position
Stanley M. Bergman	70	Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Gerald A. Benjamin	67	Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, Director
James P. Breslawski	66	Vice Chairman, President, Director
Michael S. Ettinger	58	Senior Vice President, Corporate & Legal Affairs and Chief of Staff, Secretary
Mark E. Mlotek	64	Executive Vice President, Chief Strategic Officer, Director
Steven Paladino	62	Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Director
Walter Siegel	60	Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Stanley M. Bergman has been our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1989 and a director since 1982. Mr. Bergman held the position of President from 1989 to 2005. Mr. Bergman held the position of Executive Vice President from 1985 to 1989 and Vice President of Finance and Administration from 1980 to 1985.

Gerald A. Benjamin has been our Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer since 2000 and a director since 1994. Prior to holding his current position, Mr. Benjamin was Senior Vice President of Administration and Customer Satisfaction since 1993. Mr. Benjamin was Vice President of Distribution Operations from 1990 to 1992 and Director of Materials Management from 1988 to 1990. Before joining us in 1988, Mr. Benjamin was employed for 12 years at Estée Lauder, Inc., in various management positions where his last position was Director of Materials Planning and Control.

James P. Breslawski has been our Vice Chairman since 2018, President since 2005 and a director since 1992. Mr. Breslawski was the Chief Executive Officer of our Henry Schein Global Dental Group from 2005 to 2018. Mr. Breslawski held the position of Executive Vice President and President of U.S. Dental from 1990 to 2005, with primary responsibility for the North American Dental Group. Between 1980 and 1990, Mr. Breslawski held various positions with us, including Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Finance and Administration and Corporate Controller.

Michael S. Ettinger has been Senior Vice President, Corporate & Legal Affairs, Chief of Staff and Secretary since 2015. Prior to his current position, Mr. Ettinger served as Senior Vice President, Corporate & Legal Affairs and Secretary from 2013 to 2015, Corporate Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary from 2006 to 2013, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary from 2000 to 2006, Vice President and Associate General Counsel from 1998 to 2000 and Associate General Counsel from 1994 to 1998. Before joining us, Mr. Ettinger served as a senior associate with Bower & Gardner and as a member of the Tax Department at Arthur Andersen.

Mark E. Mlotek has been Executive Vice President and Chief Strategic Officer since 2012. Mr. Mlotek was Senior Vice President and subsequently Executive Vice President of the Corporate Business Development Group between 2000 and 2012. Prior to that, Mr. Mlotek was Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary from 1994 to 1999 and became a director in 1995. Prior to joining us, Mr. Mlotek was a partner in the law firm of Proskauer Rose LLP, counsel to us, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations and tax law from 1989 to 1994.

Steven Paladino has been our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 2000. Prior to holding his current position, Mr. Paladino was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 1993 to 2000 and has been a director since 1992. From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Paladino served as Vice President and Treasurer and from 1987 to 1990 served as Corporate Controller. Before joining us, Mr. Paladino was employed in public accounting for seven years, most recently with the international accounting firm of BDO USA, LLP. Mr. Paladino is a certified public accountant.

18

Walter Siegel has been Senior Vice President and General Counsel since 2013. Prior to joining us, Mr. Siegel was employed with Standard Microsystems Corporation, a publicly traded global semiconductor company from 2005 to 2012, holding positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary.

Other Executive Management

The following table sets forth certain information regarding other Executive Management:

Name	Age	Position
David Brous	51	President, Strategic Business Units Group and Asia Pacific & Brazil Dental
Brad Connett	61	President, U.S. Medical Group
Jonathan Koch	45	Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Global Dental Group and Interim Chief Executive Officer, Henry Schein One
Lorelei McGlynn	56	Chief Human Resources Officer
James Mullins	55	Senior Vice President, Global Services
Christopher Pendergast	57	Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
Michael Racioppi	65	Senior Vice President, Chief Merchandising Officer
René Willi, Ph.D.	52	President, Global Dental Surgical Group

David Brous has been our President, Strategic Business Units Group and Asia Pacific & Brazil Dental since 2019. Mr. Brous joined us in 2002 and has held many positions within the organization, including leading and managing the Corporate Business Development Group and the International Healthcare Group (managing our International Animal Health business, International Medical business and Australia / New Zealand Dental business).

Brad Connett has been President of our U.S. Medical Group since 2018. Mr. Connett joined us in 1997 and has held a number of increasingly responsible positions at the Company. Throughout his career, he has received numerous industry honors, including the John F. Sasen Leadership Award from the Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA), in recognition of his service to the industry, and induction into the Medical Distribution Hall of Fame by Repertoire Magazine.

Jonathan Koch has been our Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of our Global Dental Group since 2018 and Interim Chief Executive Officer of Henry Schein One since January 2020. Prior to joining us, for the years 2006 to 2018, Mr. Koch was a senior executive at Covance, the drug development services business of Laboratory Corporation of America. In his last role at Covance, Mr. Koch was the Executive Vice President and Group President of Covance Clinical Development & Commercialization Services. Prior to that, Mr. Koch was Executive Vice President and Group President of Covance Research and Development Laboratories from 2015 to 2017. Mr. Koch was also President of Covance Central Laboratory Services from 2010 to 2015, and Vice President at Covance, with various responsibilities, from 2006 to 2010. Prior to Covance, Mr. Koch held senior leadership roles of increasing responsibility while employed with Charles River Laboratories from 1998 to 2006.

Lorelei McGlynn has served as Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources Officer since 2013. Since joining us in 1999, Ms. McGlynn has served as Vice President, Global Human Resources and Financial Operations from 2008 to 2013, Chief Financial Officer, International Group and Vice President of Global Financial Operations from 2002 to 2008 and Vice President, Finance, North America from 1999 to 2002. Prior to joining us, Ms. McGlynn served as Assistant Vice President of Finance at Adecco Corporation.

James Mullins has served as our Senior Vice President of Global Services since 2018. Mr. Mullins joined us in 1988 and has held a number of key positions with increasing responsibility, including Global Chief Customer Service Officer.

19

Christopher Pendergast has been our Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer since 2018. Prior to joining us, Mr. Pendergast was the employed by VSP Global from 2008 to 2018, most recently as the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer. Prior to VSP Global, Mr. Pendergast served in roles of increasing responsibility at Natural Organics, Inc., from 2006 to 2008, IdeaSphere Inc./Twinlab Corporation from 2000 to 2006, IBM Corporation from 1987 to 1994 and 1998 to 2000 and Rohm and Haas from 1994 to 1998.

Michael Racioppi has been our Senior Vice President, Chief Merchandising Officer since 2008. Prior to holding his current position, Mr. Racioppi was President of the Medical Division from 2000 to 2008 and Interim President from 1999 to 2000, and Corporate Vice President from 1994 to 2008, with primary responsibility for the Medical Group, Marketing and Merchandising departments. Mr. Racioppi served as Senior Director, Corporate Merchandising from 1992 to 1994. Before joining us in 1992, Mr. Racioppi was employed by Ketchum Distributors, Inc. as the Vice President of Purchasing and Marketing. He currently serves on the board of National Distribution and Contracting and previously served on the board of Health Distribution Management Association and Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA).

René Willi, Ph.D. has been our President, Global Dental Surgical Group, Henry Schein Inc., since 2013. Prior to joining Henry Schein, Dr. Willi held senior level roles with Institut Straumann AG as Executive Vice President, Surgical Business Unit from 2005 to 2013. Prior to Straumann, he held roles of increasing responsibility in Medtronic Plc’s cardiovascular division from 2003 to 2005 and with McKinsey & Company as a management consultant from 2000 to 2003.

20

ITEM 1A. Risk Factors

The risks described below could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and/or the trading price of our common stock. Although it is not possible to predict or identify all such risks and uncertainties, they may include, but are not limited to, the factors discussed below. Our business operations could also be affected by additional factors that are not presently known to us or that we currently consider not to be material to our operations. You should not consider this list to be a complete statement of all risks and uncertainties. The order in which these factors appear should not be construed to indicate their relative importance or priority.

The health care products distribution industry is highly competitive and consolidating, and we may not be able to compete successfully.

We compete with numerous companies, including several major manufacturers and distributors. Some of our competitors have greater financial and other resources than we do, which could allow them to compete more successfully. Most of our products are available from several sources and our customers tend to have relationships with several distributors. Competitors could obtain exclusive rights to market particular products, which we would then be unable to market. Manufacturers also could increase their efforts to sell directly to end-users and thereby eliminate or reduce our role and the roles of other distributors. Industry consolidation among health care product distributors, price competition, the unavailability of products, whether due to our inability to gain access to products or to interruptions in supply from manufacturers, or the emergence of new competitors, also could increase competition. There has also been increasing consolidation among manufacturers of health care products which could have a material adverse effect on our margins and product availability. Additionally, in this competitive market, some of our contracts contain minimum purchase commitments. We could be subject to charges and financial losses in the event we fail to satisfy minimum purchase commitments. In the future, we may be unable to compete successfully and competitive pressures may reduce our revenues and profitability.

We may experience competition from third-party online commerce sites.

Traditional health care supply and distribution relationships are being challenged by electronic online commerce solutions. The continued advancement of online commerce by third parties will require us to cost-effectively adapt to changing technologies, to enhance existing services and to differentiate our business (including with additional value-added services) to address changing demands of consumers and our customers on a timely basis. The emergence of such potential competition and our inability to anticipate and effectively respond to changes on a timely basis could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Because substantially all of the products that we distribute are not manufactured by us, we are dependent upon third parties for the manufacture and supply of substantially all of our products.

We obtain substantially all of our products from third parties. Generally, we do not have long-term contracts with our suppliers committing them to supply products to us. Therefore, suppliers may not provide the products we need in the quantities we request. While there is generally more than one source of supply for most of the categories of products we sell, some key suppliers, in the aggregate, supply a significant portion of the products we sell. Additionally, because we generally do not control the actual production of the products we sell, we may be subject to delays caused by interruption in production based on conditions outside of our control, including the failure to comply with applicable government requirements. The failure of manufacturers of products regulated by the FDA or other governmental agencies to meet these requirements could result in product recall, cessation of sales or other market disruptions. In the event that any of our third-party suppliers were to become unable or unwilling to continue to provide the products in our required volumes, we would need to identify and obtain acceptable replacement sources on a timely basis. There is no guarantee that we would be able to obtain such alternative sources of supply on a timely basis, if at all. An extended interruption in the supply of our products, especially any high sales volume product, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, which most likely would adversely affect the value of our common stock.

21

Our revenues and profitability depend on our relationships with capable sales personnel as well as customers, suppliers and manufacturers of the products that we distribute.

Our future revenues and profitability depend on our ability to maintain satisfactory relationships with qualified sales personnel as well as customers, suppliers and manufacturers. If we fail to maintain our existing relationships with such persons or fail to acquire relationships with such key persons in the future, our business may be materially adversely affected.

Our future success is substantially dependent upon our senior management.

Our future success is substantially dependent upon the efforts and abilities of members of our existing senior management, particularly Stanley M. Bergman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The loss of the services of Mr. Bergman could have a material adverse effect on our business. We have an employment agreement with Mr. Bergman. We do not currently have “key man” life insurance policies on any of our employees. Competition for senior management is intense and we may not be successful in attracting and retaining key personnel.

We experience fluctuations in quarterly earnings. As a result, we may fail to meet or exceed the expectations of securities analysts and investors, which could cause our stock price to decline.

Our business is subject to seasonal and other quarterly fluctuations. Revenues and profitability generally have been higher in the third and fourth quarters due to the timing of sales of seasonal products (including influenza vaccine, equipment and software products), purchasing patterns of office-based health care practitioners and year-end promotions. Revenues and profitability generally have been lower in the first quarter, primarily due to increased sales in the prior two quarters. We expect our historical seasonality of sales to continue in the foreseeable future. Quarterly results may also be materially adversely affected by a variety of other factors, including:

• timing and amount of sales and marketing expenditures;

• timing of pricing changes offered by our suppliers;

• timing of the introduction of new products and services by our suppliers;

• timing of the release of upgrades and enhancements to our technology-related products and services;

• changes in or availability of supplier contracts or rebate programs;

• supplier rebates based upon attaining certain growth goals;

• changes in the way suppliers introduce or deliver products to market;

• costs of developing new applications and services;

• our ability to correctly identify customer needs and preferences and predict future needs and preferences;

• uncertainties regarding potential significant breaches of data security or disruptions of our information technology systems;

• unexpected regulatory actions, or government regulation generally;

• exclusivity requirements with certain suppliers, which may prohibit us from distributing competitive products manufactured by other suppliers;

• loss of sales representatives;

• costs related to acquisitions and/or integrations of technologies or businesses;

22

• costs associated with our self-insured medical and dental insurance programs;

• general market and economic conditions, as well as those specific to the health care industry and related industries;

• our success in establishing or maintaining business relationships;

• unexpected difficulties in developing and manufacturing products;

• product demand and availability, or product recalls by manufacturers;

• exposure to product liability and other claims in the event that the use of the products we sell results in injury;

• increases in shipping costs or service issues with our third-party shippers;

• fluctuations in the value of foreign currencies;

• restructuring costs;

• the adoption or repeal of legislation;

• changes in accounting principles; and

• litigation or regulatory judgments, expenses or settlements.

Any change in one or more of these or other factors could cause our annual or quarterly financial results to fluctuate. If our financial results do not meet market expectations, our stock price may decline.

Expansion of group purchasing organizations (“GPO”) or provider networks and the multi-tiered costing structure may place us at a competitive disadvantage.

The medical products industry is subject to a multi-tiered costing structure, which can vary by manufacturer and/or product. Under this structure, certain institutions can obtain more favorable prices for medical products than we are able to obtain. The multi-tiered costing structure continues to expand as many large integrated health care providers and others with significant purchasing power, such as GPOs, demand more favorable pricing terms. Additionally, the formation of provider networks and GPOs may shift purchasing decisions to entities or persons with whom we do not have a historical relationship. This may threaten our ability to compete effectively, which could in turn negatively impact our financial results. Although we are seeking to obtain similar terms from manufacturers to obtain access to lower prices demanded by GPO contracts or other contracts, and to develop relationships with provider networks and new GPOs, we cannot assure that such terms will be obtained or contracts will be executed.

Increases in shipping costs or service issues with our third-party shippers could harm our business.

Shipping is a significant expense in the operation of our business. We ship almost all of our orders through third-party delivery services, and typically bear the cost of shipment. Accordingly, any significant increase in shipping rates could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results. Similarly, strikes or other service interruptions by those shippers could cause our operating expenses to rise and materially adversely affect our ability to deliver products on a timely basis.

23

Uncertain global macro-economic and political conditions could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Uncertain global macro-economic and political conditions that affect the economy and the economic outlook of the United States, Europe and other parts of the world could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. These uncertainties, include, among other things:

• the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union (generally referred to as Brexit) and any other similar referenda or actions by other European Union member countries (during 2019, approximately 3% of our consolidated net sales were invoiced to customers in the United Kingdom and approximately 20% of our consolidated net sales were invoiced to customers in Europe overall, including the U.K.);

• election results;

• changes to laws and policies governing foreign trade (including, without limitation, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and other international trade agreements);

• greater restrictions on imports and exports;

• changes in laws and policies governing health care or data privacy;

• tariffs and sanctions;

• sovereign debt levels;

• the inability of political institutions to effectively resolve actual or perceived economic, currency or budgetary crises or issues;

• consumer confidence;

• unemployment levels (and a corresponding increase in the uninsured and underinsured population);

• changes in regulatory and tax regulations, including, without limitation, the Tax Act;

• increases in interest rates;

• availability of capital;

• increases in fuel and energy costs;

• the effect of inflation on our ability to procure products and our ability to increase prices over time;

• changes in tax rates and the availability of certain tax deductions;

• increases in health care costs;

• the threat or outbreak of war, terrorism or public unrest; and

• changes in laws and policies governing manufacturing, development and investment in territories and countries where we do business.

Additionally, changes in government, government debt and/or budget crises may lead to reductions in government spending in certain countries, which could reduce overall health care spending, and/or higher income or corporate taxes, which could depress spending overall.

24

Recessionary conditions and depressed levels of consumer and commercial spending may also cause customers to reduce, modify, delay or cancel plans to purchase our products and may cause suppliers to reduce their output or change their terms of sale. We generally sell products to customers with payment terms. If customers’ cash flow or operating and financial performance deteriorate, or if they are unable to make scheduled payments or obtain credit, they may not be able to pay, or may delay payment to us. Likewise, for similar reasons suppliers may restrict credit or impose different payment terms. Any inability of current and/or potential customers to pay us for our products and/or services or any demands by suppliers for different payment terms may materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Disruptions in the financial markets may materially adversely affect the availability and cost of credit to us.

Our ability to make scheduled payments or refinance our obligations with respect to indebtedness will depend on our operating and financial performance, which in turn is subject to prevailing economic conditions and financial, business and other factors beyond our control. Disruptions in the financial markets may materially adversely affect the availability and cost of credit to us.

The market price for our common stock may be highly volatile.

The market price for our common stock may be highly volatile. A variety of factors may have a significant impact on the market price of our common stock, including, but not limited to:

• the publication of earnings estimates or other research reports and speculation in the press or investment community;

• changes in our industry and competitors;

• changes in government or legislation;

• our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and prospects;

• stock repurchases;

• any future issuances of our common stock, which may include primary offerings for cash, stock splits, issuances in connection with business acquisitions, issuances of restricted stock/units and the grant or exercise of stock options from time to time;

• general market and economic conditions; and

• any outbreak or escalation of hostilities in areas where we do business.

In addition, the Nasdaq Stock Market can experience extreme price and volume fluctuations that can be unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the companies listed on Nasdaq. Broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of actual operating performance. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action or derivative litigation has often been instituted against companies. This type of litigation, if instituted, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

The health care industry is experiencing changes that could materially adversely affect our business.

The health care industry is highly regulated and subject to changing political, economic and regulatory influences. In recent years, the health care industry has undergone, and is in the process of undergoing, significant changes driven by various efforts to reduce costs, including, among other things: trends toward managed care; consolidation

25

of health care distribution companies; consolidation of health care manufacturers; collective purchasing arrangements and consolidation among office-based health care practitioners; and changes in reimbursements to customers, as well as growing enforcement activities (and related monetary recoveries) by governmental officials. Both our profitability and the profitability of our customers may be materially adversely affected by laws and regulations reducing reimbursement rates for pharmaceuticals and/or medical treatments or services, or changes to the methodology by which reimbursement levels are determined. If we are unable to react effectively to these and other changes in the health care industry, our financial results could be materially adversely affected.

The implementation of the Health Care Reform Law could materially adversely affect our business.

The Health Care Reform Law increased federal oversight of private health insurance plans and included a number of provisions designed to reduce Medicare expenditures and the cost of health care generally, to reduce fraud and abuse, and to provide access to increased health coverage.

The Health Care Reform Law contained many provisions designed to generate the revenues necessary to fund the coverage expansions and to reduce costs of Medicare and Medicaid, which included a 2.3% excise tax on domestic sales of many medical devices by manufacturers and importers that was to begin in 2013 and a fee on branded prescription drugs and biologics. The fee on branded prescription drugs and biologics was implemented in 2011, and may adversely affect sales and cost of goods sold. However, subsequent federal laws had suspended the imposition of the medical device excise tax through December 31, 2019, and the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, signed into law on December 20, 2019, has permanently repealed the medical device excise tax. The Health Care Reform Law has also materially expanded the number of individuals in the United States with health insurance.

The Health Care Reform Law has faced ongoing legal challenges, including litigation seeking to invalidate some of or all of the law or the manner in which it has been implemented.

In addition, the President is seeking to repeal and replace the Health Care Reform Law. Repeal and replace legislation has been passed in the House of Representatives, but did not obtain the necessary votes in the Senate. Subsequently, the President has affirmed his intention to repeal and replace the Health Care Reform Law and has taken a number of administrative actions to materially weaken it, including, without limitation, by permitting the use of less robust plans with lower coverage and eliminating “premium support” for insurers providing policies under the Health Care Reform Law. On December 22, 2017, the President signed into law the Tax Act, which contains a broad range of tax reform provisions that impact the individual and corporate tax rates, international tax provisions, income tax add-back provisions and deductions and which also repealed the individual mandate of the Health Care Reform Law. Further, in December 2019, the Fifth Circuit ruled that the mandate within the Health Care Reform Law requiring that people buy health insurance was unconstitutional, though the ruling will likely be appealed. The Fifth Circuit remanded the remainder of the case, pertaining to the viability of the Health Care Reform Law, in the absence of the individual mandate, to the District Court of the Northern District of Texas. Any outcome of these cases that changes the Health Care Reform Law could have a significant impact on the U.S. health care industry. The uncertain status of the Health Care Reform Law affects our ability to plan.

Recently, there has been increased scrutiny on drug pricing and concurrent efforts to control or reduce drug costs by Congress, the President, and various states, including that several related bills have been introduced at the federal level. Such legislation, if enacted, could have the potential to impose additional costs on our business.

The implementation of the reporting and disclosure obligations of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act provisions of the Health Care Reform Law could adversely affect our business.

A Health Care Reform Law provision, generally referred to as the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, or Open Payments Program, imposes annual reporting and disclosure requirements for drug and device manufacturers and distributors with regard to payments or other transfers of value made to certain covered recipients (including physicians, dentists and teaching hospitals), and for such manufacturers and distributors and for group purchasing organizations, with regard to certain ownership interests held by physicians in the reporting entity. CMS publishes

26

information from these reports on a publicly available website, including amounts transferred and physician, dentist and teaching hospital identities. Amendments expanded the law to also require reporting, effective January 1, 2022, of payments or other transfers of value to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse-midwives, and this new requirement will be effective for data collected beginning in calendar year 2021.

Under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act we are required to collect and report detailed information regarding certain financial relationships we have with covered recipients such as physicians, dentists and teaching hospitals. We believe that we are substantially compliant with applicable Physician Payment Sunshine Act requirements. The Physician Payment Sunshine Act pre-empts similar state reporting laws, although we or our subsidiaries may be required to report under certain state transparency laws that address circumstances not covered by the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, and some of these state laws, as well as the federal law, can be ambiguous. We are also subject to foreign regulations requiring transparency of certain interactions between suppliers and their customers. While we believe we have substantially compliant programs and controls in place to comply with these requirements, our compliance with these rules imposes additional costs on us.

Failure to comply with existing and future regulatory requirements could materially adversely affect our business.

Our business is subject to requirements under various local, state, federal and international laws and regulations applicable to the distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and human cells, tissue and cellular and tissue-based products, also known as HCT/P products, and animal feed and supplements. Among the federal laws with which we must comply are the Controlled Substances Act, the FDC Act, as amended, and Section 361 of the Public Health Services Act. Among other things, such laws, and the regulations promulgated thereunder:

• regulate the storage and distribution, labeling, packaging, handling, reporting, record keeping, introduction, manufacturing and marketing of drugs, HCT/P products and medical devices;

• subject us to inspection by the FDA and the DEA;

• regulate the storage, transportation and disposal of certain of our products that are considered hazardous materials;

• require us to advertise and promote our drugs and devices in accordance with applicable FDA requirements;

• require registration with the FDA and the DEA and various state agencies;

• require record keeping and documentation of transactions involving drug products;

• require us to design and operate a system to identify and report suspicious orders of controlled substances to the DEA;

• require us to manage returns of products that have been recalled and subject us to inspection of our recall procedures and activities; and

• impose reporting requirements if a pharmaceutical, HCT/P product or medical device causes serious illness, injury or death.

Applicable federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations also may require us to meet various standards relating to, among other things, licensure or registration, sales and marketing practices, product integrity and supply tracking to the manufacturer of the product, personnel, privacy and security of health or other personal information, installation, maintenance and repair of equipment, and the importation and exportation of products. Our business is also subject to requirements of similar and other foreign governmental laws and regulations affecting our operations

27

abroad. The FDA and DEA have recently increased their regulatory and enforcement activities, and in particular, the DEA has increased generally its regulatory and enforcement activities due to the widely reported opioid crisis in the United States.

The failure to comply with any of these regulations, or new interpretations of existing laws and regulations, or the imposition of any additional laws and regulations, could materially adversely affect our business. There can be no assurance that current and future government regulations will not adversely affect our business. The costs to us associated with complying with the various applicable statutes and regulations, as they now exist and as they may be modified, could be material. Allegations by a governmental body that we have not complied with these laws could have a material adverse effect on our businesses. While we believe that we are substantially compliant with applicable laws and regulations, and believe we have adequate compliance programs and controls in place to ensure substantial compliance, if it is determined that we have not complied with these laws, we are potentially subject to penalties, including warning letters, civil and criminal penalties, mandatory recall of product, seizure of product and injunction, consent decrees and suspension or limitation of product sale and distribution. If we enter into settlement agreements to resolve allegations of non-compliance, we could be required to make settlement payments or be subject to civil and criminal penalties, including fines and the loss of licenses. Non-compliance with government requirements could adversely affect our ability to participate in federal and state government health care programs and damage our reputation.

The EU Medical Device Regulation may adversely affect our business.

As of May 26, 2020, the European Union Medical Device Regulation No. 2017/745 (the “EU MDR”) applies to medical devices developed and/or commercialized in the European Union. The EU MDR is anticipated to have a major impact on the medical device industry as a whole. It may adversely affect our business in various ways.

First, to the extent new products require a conformity assessment and such conformity assessment requires involvement of a notified body, the current and persisting significant shortage of notified bodies may limit our options to seek certification and/or significantly delay certification. Furthermore the (few) existing notified bodies designated under the EU MDR are experiencing significant capacity bottlenecks, which leads to above-average timelines for product certifications. The same applies to timelines for recertification of our existing products for which the CE certificate is approaching expiry. This may result in us not being able to launch or to continue commercializing products.

Furthermore, within the context of conformity assessment (both for self-certified devices, and for devices under conformity assessment with a notified body), the EU MDR is tightening the requirements for clinical evaluation of a device. In the specific case of Class I products, where to date the legal manufacturer confirmed compliance with the regulatory requirements, oversight by supervisory authorities is expected to increase, and such authorities may have a stricter view. It may be that, from a perspective of the legal manufacturer, or of an authority, the existing product documentation has to be expanded, which may require additional development work. We may also have to decide to discontinue commercialization of certain products, if and to the extent investments into additional development are not commensurate with the business contribution of such products.

Additionally in the context of conformity assessment, certain national authorities as well as the European Commission have further scrutinized the business model of own brand labeling (private label products) under the EU MDR, i.e., the reliance of a manufacturer distributing a product under its name on an assessment of a supplier confirming that the product meets the regulatory requirements, including its technical file(s) for the supplied product. While this question remains under intense discussion between the industry and the authorities, and while we are exploring all options, this may require us to adapt the supply chain structure (e.g., by switching suppliers or moving to a distribution business model under which the supplier of a product is labeled as the legal manufacturer), for certain of our products, and may make it more difficult to bring private label products to market in Europe. We may not be able to continue commercializing products, if no alternative supply chain solution is found.

In addition, the EU MDR is imposing more stringent regulatory requirements across the whole value chain including post marketing requirements, additional requirements for the organization of the quality management

28

system such as a responsible person for regulatory compliance, post marketing safety reporting, the requirement of Unique Device Identification (UDI), and the input into a European Databank on Medical Devices (EUDAMED, which however is delayed in its operations, with unknown implications on the regulatory obligations for product owners and distributors). Also, the regulatory requirements for our interactions with suppliers and distributors alike are tightened. These additional regulatory requirements increase our compliance obligations and thus the risk for non-compliance and greater costs.

The uncertain impact of the new EU MDR regulations, as well as failure to comply with the EU MDR, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

If we fail to comply with laws and regulations relating to health care fraud or other laws and regulations, we could suffer penalties or be required to make significant changes to our operations, which could materially adversely affect our business.

Certain of our businesses are subject to federal and state (and similar foreign) health care fraud and abuse, referral and reimbursement laws and regulations with respect to their operations. Some of these laws, referred to as “false claims laws,” prohibit the submission or causing the submission of false or fraudulent claims for reimbursement to federal, state and other health care payers and programs. Other laws, referred to as “anti-kickback laws,” prohibit soliciting, offering, receiving or paying remuneration in order to induce the referral of a patient or ordering, purchasing, leasing or arranging for, or recommending ordering, purchasing or leasing of, items or services that are paid for by federal, state and other health care payers and programs. Health care fraud measures may implicate, for example, our relationships with pharmaceutical manufacturers, our pricing and incentive programs for physician and dental practices, and our dental and physician practice management products that offer billing related functionality.

The fraud and abuse laws and regulations have been subject to varying interpretations, as well as heightened enforcement activity over the past few years, and significant enforcement activity has been the result of “relators” who serve as whistleblowers by filing complaints in the name of the United States (and if applicable, particular states) under federal and state false claims laws, and who may receive up to 30% of total government recoveries. Penalties under fraud and abuse laws may be severe. For example, under the federal False Claims Act, violations may result in treble damages, plus civil penalties of up to $22,927 per claim, as well as exclusion from federal health care programs and criminal penalties. Most states have adopted similar state false claims laws, and these state laws have their own penalties which may be in addition to federal False Claims Act penalties. With respect to “anti-kickback laws,” violations of, for example, the federal Anti-Kickback Law may result in civil penalties of up to $100,522 for each violation, plus up to three times the total amount of remuneration offered, paid, solicited or received, as well as exclusion from federal health care programs and criminal penalties. Notably, effective October 24, 2018, a new federal anti-kickback law (the “Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018”) enacted in connection with broader addiction services legislation, may impose criminal penalties for kickbacks involving clinical laboratory services, regardless of whether the services at issue involved addiction services, and regardless of whether the services were reimbursed by a federal health care program or by a commercial health insurer. Furthermore, the Health Care Reform Law significantly strengthened the federal False Claims Act and the federal Anti-Kickback Law provisions, clarifying that a federal Anti-Kickback Law violation can be a basis for federal False Claims Act liability.

With respect to measures of this type, the United States government (among others) has expressed concerns about financial relationships between suppliers on the one hand and physicians and dentists on the other. As a result, we regularly review and revise our marketing practices as necessary to facilitate compliance.

We also are subject to certain United States and foreign laws and regulations concerning the conduct of our foreign operations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, German anti-corruption laws and other anti-bribery laws and laws pertaining to the accuracy of our internal books and records, which have been the focus of increasing enforcement activity globally in recent years. Our businesses are generally subject to numerous other laws and regulations that could impact our financial results, including, without limitation,

29

securities, antitrust and marketing laws and regulations. Failure to comply with laws or regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Failure to comply with fraud and abuse laws and regulations and other laws and regulations could result in significant civil and criminal penalties and costs, including the loss of licenses and the ability to participate in federal and state health care programs, and could have a material adverse effect on our business. Also, these measures may be interpreted or applied by a prosecutorial, regulatory or judicial authority in a manner that could require us to make changes in our operations or incur substantial defense and settlement expenses. Even unsuccessful challenges by regulatory authorities or private relators could result in reputational harm and the incurring of substantial costs. In addition, many of these laws are vague or indefinite and have not been interpreted by the courts, and have been subject to frequent modification and varied interpretation by prosecutorial and regulatory authorities, increasing the risk of non-compliance. We may determine to enter into settlements, make payments, agree to consent decrees or enter into other arrangements to resolve such matters. For example, one of our subsidiaries resolved an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission related to the manner in which it advertised certain data security features of its dental practice management software, which resulted in a consent order and fine. Failure to comply with consent decrees could materially adversely affect our business.

While we believe that we are substantially compliant with applicable fraud and abuse and other laws and regulations, and believe we have adequate compliance programs and controls in place to ensure substantial compliance, we cannot predict whether changes in applicable law, or interpretation of laws, or changes in our services or marketing practices in response to changes in applicable law or interpretation of laws, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

If we fail to comply with laws and regulations relating to the confidentiality of sensitive personal information or standards in electronic health records or transmissions, we could be required to make significant changes to our products, or incur substantial fines, penalties or other liabilities.

The FDA has become increasingly active in addressing the regulation of computer software and digital health products intended for use in health care settings. The Cures Act, signed into law on December 13, 2016, among other things amended the medical device definition to exclude certain software from FDA regulation, including clinical decision support software that meet certain criteria. On September 27, 2019, the FDA issued a suite of guidance documents on digital health products, which incorporated applicable Cures Act standards, including regarding the types of clinical decision support tools and other software that are exempt from regulations by the FDA as medical devices. Certain of our businesses involve the development and sale of software and related products to support physician and dental practice management, and it is possible that the FDA or foreign government authorities could determine that one or more of our products is subject to regulation as a medical device, which could subject us or one or more of our businesses to substantial additional requirements with respect to these products.

Our businesses that involve physician and dental practice management products include electronic information technology systems that store and process personal health, clinical, financial and other sensitive information of individuals. These information technology systems may be vulnerable to breakdown, wrongful intrusions, data breaches and malicious attack, which could require us to expend significant resources to eliminate these problems and address related security concerns, and could involve claims against us by private parties and/or governmental agencies. For example, we are directly or indirectly subject to numerous federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations that protect the privacy and security of such information, such as HIPAA. HIPAA requires, among other things, the implementation of various recordkeeping, operational, notice and other practices intended to safeguard that information, limit its use to allowed purposes and notify individuals in the event of privacy and security breaches. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations could expose us to breach of contract claims, substantial fines, penalties and other liabilities and expenses, costs for remediation and harm to our reputation. Also, evolving laws and regulations in this area could restrict the ability of our customers to obtain, use or disseminate patient information, or could require us to incur significant additional costs to re-design our products in a timely manner to reflect these legal requirements, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

30

Other health information standards, such as regulations under HIPAA, establish standards regarding electronic health data transmissions and transaction code set rules for specific electronic transactions, such as transactions involving claims submissions to third party payers. Certain of our businesses provide electronic practice management products that must meet these requirements. Failure to abide by electronic health data transmission standards could expose us to breach of contract claims, substantial fines, penalties and other liabilities and expenses, costs for remediation and harm to our reputation.

In addition, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have adopted the GDPR, effective from May 25, 2018, which increased privacy rights for individuals in Europe (“Data Subjects”), including individuals who are our customers, suppliers and employees. The GDPR extended the scope or responsibilities for data controllers and data processors and generally imposes increased requirements and potential penalties on companies, such as us, that offer goods or services to Data Subjects or monitor their behavior (including by companies based outside of Europe). Noncompliance can result in penalties of up to the greater of EUR 20 million, or 4% of global company revenues. Individual member states may impose additional requirements and penalties regarding certain matters, such as employee personal data. With respect to the personal data it protects, the GDPR requires, among other things, company accountability, consents from Data Subjects or other acceptable legal basis to process the personal data, breach notifications within 72 hours, data integrity and security, and fairness and transparency regarding the storage, use or other processing of the personal data. The GDPR also provides rights to Data Subjects relating to modification, erasure and transporting of the personal data. In the United States, the CCPA, which increases the privacy protections afforded California residents and was signed into law on June 28, 2018, became effective January 1, 2020. The CCPA generally requires companies, such as us, to institute additional protections regarding the collection, use and disclosure of certain personal information of California residents. The California Attorney General released proposed CCPA regulations on October 10, 2019, and is required to adopt final regulations on or before July 1, 2020. In addition to providing for enforcement by the California Attorney General, the CCPA also provides for a private right of action. Entities in violation of the CCPA may be liable for civil penalties. Other states, as well as the federal government, have increasingly considered the adoption of similarly expansive personal privacy laws, backed by significant civil penalties for non-compliance. While we believe we have substantially compliant programs and controls in place to comply with the GDPR and CCPA requirements, our compliance with these measures is likely to impose additional costs on us, and we cannot predict whether the interpretations of the requirements, or changes in our practices in response to new requirements or interpretations of the requirements, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We also sell products and services that health care providers, such as physicians and dentists, use to store and manage patient medical or dental records. These customers and we, are subject to laws, regulations and industry standards, such as HIPAA and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, which require the protection of the privacy and security of those records, and our products or services may also be used as part of these customers’ comprehensive data security programs, including in connection with their efforts to comply with applicable legal or contractual data privacy and security laws. Perceived or actual security vulnerabilities in our products or services, or the perceived or actual failure by us or our customers who use our products or services to comply with applicable legal or contractual data privacy and security requirements, may not only cause us significant reputational harm, but may also lead to claims against us by our customers and/or governmental agencies and involve substantial fines, penalties and other liabilities and expenses and costs for remediation.

Various federal initiatives involve the adoption and use by health care providers of certain electronic health care records systems and processes. The initiatives include, among others, programs that incentivize physicians and dentists, though Medicare’s MIPS, to use certified EHR technology in accordance with certain evolving requirements, including regarding quality, promoting interoperability, cost and improvement activities. Qualification for the MIPS incentive payments requires the use of EHRs that are certified as having certain capabilities designated in standards adopted by CMS and by the ONC. These standards have been subject to change.

Certain of our businesses involve the manufacture and sale of certified EHR systems and other products linked to MIPS and other incentive programs. In order to maintain certification of our EHR products, we must satisfy the

31

changing governmental standards. If any of our EHR systems do not meet these standards, yet have been relied upon by health care providers to receive federal incentive payments, as noted above, we are exposed to risk, such as under federal health care fraud and abuse laws, including the False Claims Act. For example, on May 31, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $155 million settlement and 5-year corporate integrity agreement involving a vendor of certified EHR systems, based on allegations that the vendor, by misrepresenting capabilities to the certifying body, caused its health care provider customers to submit false Medicare and Medicaid claims for meaningful use incentive payments in violation of the False Claims Act. While we believe we are substantially in compliance with such certifications and with applicable fraud and abuse laws and regulations and we have adequate compliance programs and controls in place to ensure substantial compliance, we cannot predict whether changes in applicable law, or interpretation of laws, or changes in our practices in response to changes in applicable law or interpretation of laws, could have a material adverse effect on our business. Moreover, in order to satisfy our customers, our products may need to incorporate increasingly complex reporting functionality. Although we believe we are positioned to accomplish this, the effort may involve increased costs, and our failure to implement product modifications, or otherwise satisfy applicable standards, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Additionally, as electronic medical devices are increasingly connected to each other and to other technology, the ability of these connected systems safely and effectively to exchange and use exchanged information becomes increasingly important. For example, on September 6, 2017, the FDA issued final guidance to assist industry in identifying specific considerations related to the ability of electronic medical devices to safely and effectively exchange and use exchanged information. As a medical device manufacturer, we must manage risks including those associated with an electronic interface that is incorporated into a medical device.

There may be additional legislative or regulatory initiatives in the future impacting health care.

Our global operations are subject to inherent risks that could materially adversely affect our business.

Global operations are subject to risks that may materially adversely affect our business. The risks that our global operations are subject to include, among other things:

• difficulties and costs relating to staffing and managing foreign operations;

• difficulties in establishing channels of distribution;

• fluctuations in the value of foreign currencies (including, without limitation, in connection with Brexit);

• longer payment cycles of foreign customers and difficulty of collecting receivables in foreign jurisdictions;

• repatriation of cash from our foreign operations to the United States;

• regulatory requirements;

• anti-bribery, anti-corruption and laws pertaining to the accuracy of our internal books and records;

• unexpected difficulties in importing or exporting our products;

• imposition of import/export tariffs, quotas, sanctions or penalties;

• difficulties and delays inherent in sourcing products and contract manufacturing in foreign markets;

• limitations on our ability under local laws to protect our intellectual property;

• unexpected regulatory, legal, economic and political changes in foreign markets;

32

• changes in tax regulations that influence purchases of capital equipment;

• civil disturbances, geopolitical turmoil, including terrorism, war or political or military coups; and

• public health emergencies, including the Coronavirus (as defined below).

The coronavirus could materially adversely affect our results

The Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (“Coronavirus”) is impacting worldwide economic activity, and activity in China in particular. Estimates for Chinese gross domestic product and economic growth have been reduced as a result of the coronavirus. The Company has several businesses in China that were forced to close as a result of the coronavirus for certain periods, with a corresponding effect on their sales activity. In addition, it is unclear if the coronavirus will spread to other countries, and how economic activity might be impacted on a worldwide basis. The Company also might be unable to obtain infection control products from its suppliers due to the additional demand for such products created by the virus. The impact of the virus on Chinese and other economic activity, and its effect on the supply chain are uncertain at this time and could have a material adverse effect on our results.

We operate within the European Union, including in the United Kingdom, and therefore may be affected by the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.

We operate within the European Union, including the United Kingdom, and as a result, we face risks associated with the potential uncertainty and disruptions that may lead up to and follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates and potential material changes to the regulatory regime applicable to our operations in the U.K. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. During 2019, approximately 3% of our consolidated net sales were invoiced to customers in the United Kingdom and approximately 20% of our consolidated net sales were invoiced to customers in Europe overall, including the U.K. There is significant uncertainty about the terms and timing under which the U.K. will continue a relationship with the EU. It is possible that Brexit will result in our U.K. and EU operations becoming subject to materially different, and potentially conflicting, laws, regulations or tariffs which could require costly new compliance initiatives or changes to legal entity structures or operating practices. Furthermore, in the event the U.K. and the EU do not reach a trade agreement during a prescribed transition period, there may be additional adverse impacts on immigration and trade between the U.K. and the EU or countries outside the EU. Such impacts could materially adversely affect our business. The ultimate effects of Brexit on us will depend on the specific terms of any agreement the U.K. and the EU reach to provide access to each other’s respective markets.

Our expansion through acquisitions and joint ventures involves risks.

We have expanded our domestic and international markets in part through acquisitions and joint ventures, and we expect to continue to make acquisitions and enter into joint ventures in the future. Such transactions involve numerous risks, including possible material adverse effects on our financial results or the market price of our common stock. Some of our acquisitions and future acquisitions may also give rise to an obligation by us to make contingent payments or to satisfy certain repurchase obligations, which payments could have a material adverse effect on our financial results. In addition, integrating acquired businesses and joint ventures:

• may result in a loss of customers or product lines of the acquired businesses or joint ventures;

• requires significant management attention;

• may place significant demands on our operations, information systems and financial resources; and

33

• results in additional acquisition and integration expenses.

There can be no assurance that our future acquisitions or joint ventures will be successful. Our ability to continue to successfully effect acquisitions and joint ventures will depend upon the following:

• the availability of suitable acquisition or joint venture candidates at acceptable prices;

• our ability to consummate such transactions, which could potentially be prohibited due to U.S. or foreign antitrust regulations;

• the availability of financing on acceptable terms, in the case of non-stock transactions;

• the liquidity of our investments and our ability to raise capital could be affected by the financial credit markets; and

• our ability to retain, recruit and incentivize the management of the companies we acquire.

Our acquisitions may not result in the benefits and revenue growth we expect.

We are in the process of integrating companies that we acquired and including the operations, services, products and personnel of each company within our management policies, procedures and strategies. We cannot be sure that we will achieve the benefits of revenue growth that we expect from these acquisitions or that we will not incur unforeseen additional costs or expenses in connection with these acquisitions. To effectively manage our expected future growth, we must continue to manage successfully our integration of these companies and continue to improve our operational systems, internal procedures, working capital management and financial and operational controls. If we fail in any of these areas, our business could be materially adversely affected.

If the Animal Health Spin-off or certain internal transactions undertaken in anticipation of the Animal Health Spin-off are determined to be taxable in whole or in part, we and our stockholders may incur substantial tax liabilities.

In connection with the Animal Health Spin-off, we obtained an opinion of outside tax counsel that the Animal Health Spin-off will qualify as a tax-free transaction to us and our stockholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. We have not sought or obtained a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) on the tax consequences of the transaction. In addition, the tax opinion is subject to customary qualifications and assumptions, and is based on factual representations and undertakings. The failure of any factual representation or assumption to be true, correct and complete in all material respects, or any undertakings to be fully complied with, could affect the validity of the tax opinion. Moreover, an opinion of counsel represents counsel’s best legal judgment, is not binding on the IRS or the courts, and the IRS or the courts may not agree with the conclusions set forth in the tax opinion. Even if the Animal Health Spin-off otherwise qualified as a tax-free transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes, it may become taxable to us if certain events occur that affect either us or Covetrus. While Covetrus has agreed not to take certain actions that could cause the transaction not to qualify as a tax-free transaction and is generally obligated to indemnify us against any tax consequences if it breaches this agreement, the potential tax liabilities could have an adverse effect on us if we were not entitled to indemnification or if the indemnification obligations were not fulfilled. If the Animal Health Spin-off or certain internal transactions undertaken in anticipation of the Animal Health Spin-off are determined to be taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we and/or our U.S. stockholders who participated in the Animal Health Spin-off could incur substantial U.S. federal income tax liabilities. There can be no assurance that we would be entitled to indemnification or that Covetrus would have the resources or liquidity required to indemnify us for any such taxable gain. In addition, we and/or our stockholders who participated in the Animal Health Spin-off could incur tax costs in foreign jurisdictions in connection with the transaction, irrespective of whether the Animal Health Spin-off qualifies as tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

34

The Animal Health Spin-off may not achieve the intended benefits and may expose us to potential risks and liabilities.

We completed the Animal Health Spin-off on February 7, 2019. We undertook the transaction because, among other things, we believed that our animal health business could achieve greater growth by combining with Vets First Choice and that we could benefit from greater strategic focus of our resources and management efforts. We may not benefit as expected from the increased focus on our core business, strategic programs and objectives made possible by the Animal Health Spin-off. In addition, the value of the transaction may be reduced by potential liabilities related to post-closing adjustments and indemnities, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

We face inherent risk of exposure to product liability, intellectual property infringement and other claims in the event that the use of the products we sell results in injury.

Our business involves a risk of product liability, intellectual property infringement and other claims in the ordinary course of business, and from time to time we are named as a defendant in cases as a result of our distribution of products. Additionally, we own interests in companies that manufacture certain dental products. As a result, we are subject to the potential risk of product liability, intellectual property infringement or other claims relating to the manufacture and distribution of products by those entities. Additionally, as our private-label business continues to grow, purchasers of such products may increasingly seek recourse directly from us, rather than the ultimate product manufacturer, for product-related claims. Another potential risk we face in the distribution of our products is liability resulting from counterfeit or tainted products infiltrating the supply chain. In addition, some of the products that we transport and sell are considered hazardous materials. The improper handling of such materials or accidents involving the transportation of such materials could subject us to liability. In addition, our reputation could be adversely affected by negative publicity surrounding such events regardless of whether or not claims against us are successful. We have various insurance policies, including product liability insurance, covering risks and in amounts that we consider adequate. In many cases in which we have been sued in connection with products manufactured by others, the manufacturer of the product provides us with indemnification. There can be no assurance that the insurance coverage we maintain is sufficient or will be available in adequate amounts or at a reasonable cost, or that indemnification agreements will provide us with adequate protection. A successful claim brought against us in excess of available insurance or not covered by indemnification agreements, or any claim that results in significant adverse publicity against us, could have a material adverse effect on our business and our reputation.

Our technology segment depends upon continued software and e-services product development, technical support and successful marketing.

Competition among companies supplying practice management software and/or e-services is intense and increasing. Our future sales of practice management software and e-services will depend on, among other factors:

• the effectiveness of our sales and marketing programs;

• our ability to enhance our products and services to satisfy customer requirements; and

• our ability to provide ongoing technical support.

We cannot be sure that we will be successful in introducing and marketing new software, software enhancements or e-services, or that such software, software enhancements and e-services will be released on time or accepted by the market. Our software and applicable e-services products, like software products generally, may contain undetected errors or bugs when introduced or as new versions are released. We cannot be sure that future problems with post-release software errors or bugs will not occur. Any such defective software may result in increased expenses related to the software and could adversely affect our relationships with the customers using such software as well as our reputation. We do not have any patents on our software or e-services, and rely upon copyright, trademark

35

and trade secret laws, as well as contractual and common law protections. We cannot provide assurance that such legal protections will be available or enforceable to protect our software or e-services products.

We rely on third parties for certain technologically advanced products.

Some of our products contain technologically advanced components, including software, that are developed by third parties. We may not be able to replace the functions provided by these third-party components or products if they become obsolete, defective or incompatible with future versions of our products or with our services and solutions, or if they are not adequately maintained or updated.

In addition, third-party suppliers of software or other intellectual property assets could be unwilling to permit us to use their intellectual property and this could impede or disrupt use of their products or services by us and our customers. Alternate sources for the technology currently provided by third parties to us may not be available to us in a timely manner, and may not provide us with the same functions as currently provided to us or may be more expensive than products we currently use or sell.

Further, the risk of intellectual property infringement claims against us may increase as we expand our business to include more technologically advanced products and continue to incorporate third party components, software and/or other intellectual property into the products we sell. Also, individuals and firms have purchased intellectual property assets in order to assert claims of infringement against technology providers and customers that use such technology. Any infringement action brought against us or our customers could be costly to defend or lead to an expensive settlement or judgment against us.

The risks described above could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results and our reputation.

Security risks generally associated with our information systems and our technology products and services could materially adversely affect our business, and our results of operations could be materially adversely affected if such products, services or systems (or third-party systems we rely on) are interrupted, damaged by unforeseen events, are subject to cyberattacks or fail for any extended period of time.

We rely on information systems (IS) in our business to obtain, rapidly process, analyze, manage and store customer, product, supplier and employee data to, among other things:

• maintain and manage worldwide systems to facilitate the purchase and distribution of thousands of inventory items from numerous distribution centers;

• receive, process and ship orders on a timely basis;

• manage the accurate billing and collections for thousands of customers;

• process payments to suppliers; and

• provide products and services that maintain certain of our customers’ electronic medical or dental records (including protected health information of their patients).

Information security risks have generally increased in recent years, and a cyberattack that bypasses our IS security systems (including third-party systems we rely on) causing an IS security breach may lead to a material disruption of our IS business systems (including third-party systems we rely on) and/or the loss of business information resulting in a material adverse effect on our business, as well as claims against us by affected parties and/or governmental agencies, and involve fines and penalties, costs for remediation, and substantial defense and settlement expenses.

36

In addition, we develop products and provide services to our customers that are technology-based, and a cyberattack that bypasses the IS security systems of our products or services causing a security breach and/or perceived security vulnerabilities in our products or services could also cause significant reputational harm, and actual or perceived vulnerabilities may lead to claims against us by our customers and/or governmental agencies. In particular, certain of our practice management products and services purchased by health care providers, such as physicians and dentists, are used to store and manage patient medical or dental records. These customers are subject to laws and regulations which require that they protect the privacy and security of those records, and our products may be used as part of these customers’ comprehensive data security programs, including in connection with their efforts to comply with applicable privacy and security laws. Perceived or actual security vulnerabilities in our products or services, or the perceived or actual failure by us or our customers who use our products to comply with applicable legal requirements, may not only cause us significant reputational harm, but may also lead to claims against us by our customers and/or governmental agencies and involve fines and penalties, costs for remediation, and substantial defense and settlement expenses.

Regarding direct customer claims, although our customer license agreements typically contain provisions that seek to eliminate or limit our exposure to such liability, there is no assurance these provisions will withstand legal challenges, or that we will be able to obtain such provisions in all cases.

In addition, our information systems also utilize certain third party service organizations that manage a portion of our information systems, and our business may be materially adversely affected if these third party service organizations are subject to a cyber attack. Additionally, legislative or regulatory action related to cybersecurity may increase our costs to develop or implement new technology products and services.

Risks associated with these and other IS security breaches may include, among other things:

• future results could be materially adversely affected due to the theft, destruction, loss, misappropriation or release of confidential data or intellectual property;

• operational or business delays resulting from the disruption of information systems and subsequent clean-up and mitigation activities;

• procedures and safeguards must continually evolve to meet new IS challenges, and enhancing protections, and conducting investigations and remediation, may impose additional costs on us;

• we may incur claims, fines and penalties, and costs for remediation, or substantial defense and settlement expenses; and

• negative publicity resulting in reputation or brand damage with our customers, partners or industry peers.

We also deliver Internet-based services and, accordingly, depend on our ability and the ability of our customers to access the Internet. In the event of any difficulties, outages and delays by Internet service providers, we may be impeded from providing such services, which may have a material adverse effect on our business and our reputation.

We have various insurance policies, including cyber liability insurance, covering risks and in amounts that we consider adequate. There can be no assurance that the insurance coverage we maintain is sufficient or will be available in adequate amounts or at a reasonable cost. Successful claims for misappropriation or release of confidential or personal data brought against us in excess of available insurance or fines or other penalties assessed or any claim that results in significant adverse publicity against us could have a material adverse effect on our business and our reputation.

37

Certain provisions in our governing documents and other documents to which we are a party may discourage third-party offers to acquire us that might otherwise result in our stockholders receiving a premium over the market price of their shares.

The provisions of our certificate of incorporation and by-laws may make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, may discourage acquisition bids and may limit the price that certain investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. These provisions, among other things:

• require the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 60% of the shares of common stock entitled to vote to approve a merger, consolidation, or a sale, lease, transfer or exchange of all or substantially all of our assets; and

• require the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of our common stock entitled to vote to (i) remove a director; and (ii) to amend or repeal our by-laws, with certain limited exceptions.

In addition, our 2013 Stock Incentive Plan and 2015 Non-Employee Director Stock Incentive Plan provide for accelerated vesting of stock options upon a change in control. These incentive plans also authorize the committee under the plans to provide for accelerated vesting of other types of equity awards in connection with a change in control at grant or thereafter, and certain other awards made under these incentive plans (such as restricted stock/unit awards) accelerate upon a change in control or upon certain termination events in connection with a change in control. Further, certain agreements between us and our executive officers provide for increased severance payments and certain benefits if those executive officers are terminated without cause by us or if they terminate for good reason, in each case within two years after a change in control or within ninety days prior to the effective date of the change in control or after the first public announcement of the pendency of the change in control.

Tax legislation could materially adversely affect our financial results and tax liabilities.

We are subject to the tax laws and regulations of the United States federal, state and local governments, as well as foreign jurisdictions. From time to time, various legislative initiatives may be proposed that could materially adversely affect our tax positions. There can be no assurance that our effective tax rate will not be materially adversely affected by legislation resulting from these initiatives. On December 22, 2017, the President signed the Tax Act into law, which contains a broad range of tax reform provisions that impact the individual and corporate tax rates, international tax provisions, income tax add-back provisions and deductions. In addition, tax laws and regulations are extremely complex and subject to varying interpretations. Although we believe that our historical tax positions are sound and consistent with applicable laws, regulations and existing precedent, there can be no assurance that our tax positions will not be challenged by relevant tax authorities or that we would be successful in any such challenge.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

We have no unresolved comments from the staff of the SEC that were issued 180 days or more preceding the end of our 2019 fiscal year.

38

ITEM 2. Properties

We own or lease the following properties with more than 100,000 square feet:

		Own or	Approximate	Lease Expiration
Property	Location	Lease	Square Footage	Date
Corporate Headquarters	Melville, NY	Lease	185,000	June 2020
Corporate Headquarters	Melville, NY	Own	105,000	N/A
Office and Distribution Center	Fiumana-Predappio, Italy	Own	183,000	N/A
Office and Distribution Center	Tours, France	Own	166,000	N/A
Office and Distribution Center	Gillingham, United Kingdom	Lease/Own	165,000	June 2033
Office and Distribution Center	Eastern Creek, New South Wales, Australia	Lease	161,000	July 2030
Office and Distribution Center	Niagara on the Lake, Canada	Lease	128,000	September 2021
Office and Distribution Center	Bastian, VA	Own	108,000	N/A
Office and Distribution Center	West Allis, WI	Lease	106,000	October 2027
Office and Distribution Center	Geer, SC	Lease	102,000	December 2028
Distribution Center	Denver, PA	Lease	624,000	December 2021
Distribution Center	Indianapolis, IN	Lease	380,000	March 2022
Distribution Center	Sparks, NV	Lease	370,000	December 2021
Distribution Center	Indianapolis, IN	Own	287,000	N/A
Distribution Center	Grapevine, TX	Lease	242,000	July 2023
Distribution Center	Gallin, Germany	Own	215,000	N/A
Distribution Center	Jacksonville, FL	Lease	212,000	February 2026
Distribution Center	Heppenheim, Germany	Lease	194,000	March 2030

The properties listed in the table above are our principal properties primarily used by our health care distribution segment. In addition, we lease numerous other distribution, office, showroom, manufacturing and sales space in locations including the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

We believe that our properties are in good condition, are well maintained and are suitable and adequate to carry on our business. We have additional operating capacity at certain distribution center facilities.

39

ITEM 3. Legal Proceedings

On August 31, 2012, Archer and White Sales, Inc. (“Archer”) filed a complaint against Henry Schein, Inc. as well as Danaher Corporation and its subsidiaries Instrumentarium Dental, Inc., Dental Equipment, LLC, Kavo Dental Technologies, LLC and Dental Imaging Technologies Corporation (collectively, the “Danaher Defendants”) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Civil Action No. 2:12-CV-00572-JRG, styled as an antitrust action under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, and the Texas Free Enterprise Antitrust Act. Archer alleges a conspiracy between Henry Schein, an unnamed company and the Danaher Defendants to terminate or limit Archer’s distribution rights. On August 1, 2017, Archer filed an amended complaint, adding Patterson Companies, Inc. (“Patterson”) and Benco Dental Supply Co. (“Benco”) as defendants, and alleging that Henry Schein, Patterson, Benco and Burkhart Dental Supply conspired to fix prices and refused to compete with each other for sales of dental equipment to dental professionals and agreed to enlist their common suppliers, the Danaher Defendants, to join a price-fixing conspiracy and boycott by reducing the distribution territory of, and eventually terminating, their price-cutting competing distributor Archer. Archer seeks damages in an amount to be proved at trial, to be trebled with interest and costs, including attorneys’ fees, jointly and severally, as well as injunctive relief. On October 30, 2017, Archer filed a second amended complaint, to add additional allegations that it believes support its claims. The named parties and causes of action are the same as the August 1, 2017 amended complaint.

On October 1, 2012, we filed a motion for an order: (i) compelling Archer to arbitrate its claims against us; (2) staying all proceedings pending arbitration; and (3) joining the Danaher Defendants’ motion to arbitrate and stay. On May 28, 2013, the Magistrate Judge granted the motions to arbitrate and stayed proceedings pending arbitration. On June 10, 2013, Archer moved for reconsideration before the District Court judge. On December 7, 2016, the District Court Judge granted Archer’s motion for reconsideration and lifted the stay. Defendants appealed the District Court’s order. On December 21, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s order denying the motions to compel arbitration. On June 25, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States granted defendants’ petition for writ of certiorari. On October 29, 2018, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments. On January 8, 2019, the Supreme Court issued its published decision vacating the judgment of the Fifth Circuit and remanding the case to the Fifth Circuit for further proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court’s opinion. On April 2, 2019, the District Court stayed the proceeding in the trial court pending resolution by the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit heard oral argument on May 1, 2019 on whether the case should be arbitrated. The Fifth Circuit issued its opinion on August 14, 2019 affirming the District Court’s order denying defendants’ motions to compel arbitration. Defendants filed a petition for rehearing en banc before the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit denied that petition. On October 1, 2019, the District Court set the case for trial on February 3, 2020, which was subsequently moved to January 29, 2020. On January 24, 2020 the Supreme Court granted our motion to stay the District Court proceedings, pending the disposition of our petition for writ of certiorari, which was filed on January 31, 2020. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously against this action.

On August 17, 2017, IQ Dental Supply, Inc. (“IQ Dental”) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, entitled IQ Dental Supply, Inc. v. Henry Schein, Inc., Patterson Companies, Inc. and Benco Dental Supply Company, Case No. 2:17-cv-4834. Plaintiff alleged that it is a distributor of dental supplies and equipment, and sells dental products through an online dental distribution platform operated by SourceOne Dental (“SourceOne”). SourceOne had previously brought an antitrust lawsuit against Henry Schein, Patterson and Benco, which Henry Schein settled in the second quarter of 2017 and which is described in our prior filings with the SEC.

IQ Dental alleged, among other things, that defendants conspired to suppress competition from IQ Dental and SourceOne for the marketing, distribution and sale of dental supplies and equipment in the United States, and that defendants unlawfully agreed with one another to boycott dentists, manufacturers and state dental associations that deal with, or considered dealing with, plaintiff and SourceOne. Plaintiff claimed that this alleged conduct constitutes unreasonable restraint of trade in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, New York’s Donnelly Act and the New Jersey Antitrust Act, and also made pendant state law claims for tortious interference with prospective business relations, civil conspiracy and aiding and abetting. Plaintiff sought injunctive relief, compensatory, treble and punitive damages, jointly and severally, and reasonable costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees and expert fees. On December 21, 2017, the District Court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. On January 19,

40

2018, IQ Dental appealed the District Court’s order. On May 10, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the District Court’s dismissal of the complaint, holding that IQ Dental lacks antitrust standing to challenge the alleged boycott of SourceOne and state dental associations, but that it has standing to challenge injury related to the alleged direct boycott of its business. On June 29, 2019, the Second Circuit denied IQ Dental’s petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc. On January 8, 2020, Henry Schein and IQ Dental entered into a settlement agreement, pursuant to which Henry Schein paid an amount which is not material. Henry Schein was dismissed from the case on January 16, 2020.

On February 12, 2018, the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed a complaint against Benco Dental Supply Co., Henry Schein, Inc. and Patterson Companies, Inc. The FTC alleged, among other things, that defendants violated U.S. antitrust laws by conspiring, and entering into an agreement, to refuse to provide discounts to or otherwise serve buying groups representing dental practitioners. The FTC alleged that defendants conspired in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act. The complaint sought equitable relief only and does not seek monetary damages. We denied the allegation that we conspired to refuse to provide discounts to or otherwise serve dental buying groups. A hearing before an administrative law judge began on October 16, 2018 and the hearing record was closed on February 21, 2019. On October 7, 2019, the administrative law judge issued his Initial Decision, finding in relevant part that the “evidence fails to prove a conspiracy involving Schein,” and dismissing the complaint as to Henry Schein. The Initial Decision became the decision of the FTC on November 7, 2019 and is not subject to further appeal.

On March 7, 2018, Joseph Salkowitz, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a putative class action complaint for violation of the federal securities laws against Henry Schein, Inc., Stanley M. Bergman and Steven Paladino in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Case No. 1:18-cv-01428. The complaint sought to certify a class consisting of all persons and entities who, subject to certain exclusions, purchased Henry Schein securities from March 7, 2013 through February 12, 2018 (the “Class Period”). The complaint alleged, among other things, that the defendants had made materially false and misleading statements about Henry Schein’s business, operations and prospects during the Class Period, including matters relating to the issues in the In re Dental Supplies Antitrust Litigation which Henry Schein settled and which the court dismissed in June 2019, as described in our prior filings with the SEC, and the FTC action described above, thereby causing the plaintiff and members of the purported class to pay artificially inflated prices for Henry Schein securities. The complaint sought unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial. Pursuant to the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “PSLRA”), the court appointed lead plaintiff and lead counsel on June 22, 2018 and recaptioned the putative class action as In re Henry Schein, Inc. Securities Litigation, under the same case number. Lead plaintiff filed a consolidated class action complaint on September 14, 2018. The consolidated class action complaint asserts similar claims against the same defendants (plus Timothy Sullivan) on behalf of the same putative class of purchasers during the Class Period. It alleges that Henry Schein’s stock price was inflated during that period because Henry Schein had misleadingly portrayed its dental-distribution business “as successfully producing excellent profits while operating in a highly competitive environment” even though, “in reality, [Henry Schein] had engaged for years in collusive and anticompetitive practices in order to maintain Schein’s margins, profits, and market share.” The complaint alleges that the stock price started to fall from August 8, 2017, when the company announced below-expected financial performance that allegedly “revealed that Schein’s poor results were a product of abandoning prior attempts to inflate sales volume and margins through anticompetitive collusion,” through February 13, 2018, after the FTC filed a complaint against Benco, Henry Schein and Patterson alleging that they violated U.S. antitrust laws. The complaint alleges violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 and Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act. On September 27, 2019, the court issued a decision partially granting and partially denying defendants’ motion to dismiss the securities action. The court dismissed all claims against Messrs. Bergman and Paladino as well as the Section 10(b) claim against Henry Schein to the extent that that claim relied on the Company’s financial results and margins to allege a material misstatement or omission. The court also dismissed the Section 10(b) claim against Henry Schein to the extent that it relied on the Company’s August 8, 2017 disclosure to allege loss causation. The court otherwise denied the motion as to Henry Schein and Mr. Sullivan. Henry Schein and Mr. Sullivan moved for partial reconsideration of the court’s decision. Pursuant to all parties’ request, the court temporarily took the motion off the calendar after it was fully briefed. The parties have agreed to a resolution of this matter, subject to various conditions, including the drafting and execution of a definitive settlement agreement and court approval. The

41

contemplated settlement, if finally approved, would have no earnings impact to the Company as all payments would be covered by insurance. Henry Schein had previously received a request under 8 Del. C. § 220 to inspect corporate books and records relating to the issues raised in the securities class action and the antitrust matters discussed above.

On May 3, 2018, a purported class action complaint, Marion Diagnostic Center, LLC, et al. v. Becton, Dickinson, and Co., et al., Case No. 3:18-cv-010509, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Becton, Dickinson, and Co. (“Becton”); Premier, Inc. (“Premier”), Vizient, Inc. (“Vizient”), Cardinal Health, Inc. (“Cardinal”), Owens & Minor Inc. (“O&M”), Henry Schein, Inc., and Unnamed Becton Distributor Co-Conspirators. The complaint alleges that the defendants entered into a vertical conspiracy to force health care providers into long-term exclusionary contracts that restrain trade in the nationwide markets for conventional and safety syringes and safety IV catheters and inflate the prices of certain Becton products to above-competitive levels. The named plaintiffs seek to represent three separate classes consisting of all health care providers that purchased (i) Becton’s conventional syringes, (ii) Becton’s safety syringes, or (iii) Becton’s safety catheters directly from Becton, Premier, Vizient, Cardinal, O&M or Henry Schein on or after May 3, 2014. The complaint asserts a single count under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, and seeks equitable relief, treble damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs and expenses, and pre-judgment and post-judgment interest. On June 15, 2018, an amended complaint was filed asserting the same allegations against the same parties and adding McKesson Medical-Surgical, Inc. as a defendant. On November 30, 2018, the District Court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss and entered a final judgment, dismissing plaintiffs’ complaint with prejudice. On December 27, 2018, plaintiffs appealed the District Court’s decision to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The parties argued the appeal on September 27, 2019 and are currently awaiting the Seventh Circuit’s ruling.

On May 29, 2018, an amended complaint was filed in the MultiDistrict Litigation (“MDL”) proceeding In Re National Prescription Opiate Litigation (MDL No. 2804; Case No. 17-md-2804) in an action entitled The County of Summit, Ohio et al. v. Purdue Pharma, L.P., et al., Civil Action No. 1:18-op-45090-DAP (“County of Summit Action”), in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, adding Henry Schein, Inc., Henry Schein Medical Systems, Inc. and others as defendants. Summit County alleges that manufacturers of prescription opioid drugs engaged in a false advertising campaign to expand the market for such drugs and their own market share and that the entities in the supply chain (including Henry Schein, Inc. and Henry Schein Medical Systems, Inc.) reaped financial rewards by refusing or otherwise failing to monitor appropriately and restrict the improper distribution of those drugs. On October 29, 2019, the Company was dismissed with prejudice from this lawsuit. Henry Schein, working with Summit County, donated $1 million to a foundation dedicated to making grants to programs within Summit County focused on (i) educating the community on alternative pain management treatment techniques and/or avoiding addiction; ‎(ii) supporting research into alternative pain management techniques and protocols; (iii) enabling professionals to obtain the necessary certification for a Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Waiver; and (iv) advancing programs and services to Summit County to deliver results and solutions to the opiate and addiction crises. Henry Schein paid $250,000 of Summit County’s expenses.

In addition to the County of Summit Action, Henry Schein and/or one or more of its affiliated companies have currently been named as a defendant in multiple lawsuits (currently less than one-hundred and twenty-five (125)), which allege claims similar to those alleged in the County of Summit Action. At this time, the only case set for trial is the action filed by Tuscon Medical Center, which is currently scheduled for a 30-day trial beginning on March 16, 2021. These actions consist of some that have been consolidated within the MDL and are currently abated for discovery purposes, and others which remain pending in state courts and are proceeding independently and outside of the MDL. Of Henry Schein’s 2018 revenue of $9.4 billion from continuing operations, sales of opioids represented less than one-tenth of 1 percent. Opioids represent a negligible part of our business. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously against these actions.

On January 29, 2019, a purported class action complaint was filed by R. Lawrence Hatchett, M.D. against Henry Schein, Inc., Patterson Co., Inc., Benco Dental Supply Co., and unnamed co-conspirators in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The complaint alleges that members of the proposed class suffered antitrust injury due to an unlawful boycott, price-fixing or otherwise anticompetitive conspiracy among Henry Schein, Patterson and Benco. The complaint alleges that the alleged conspiracy overcharged Illinois dental practices,

42

orthodontic practices and dental laboratories on their purchase of dental supplies, which in turn passed on some or all of such overcharges to members of the class. Subject to certain exclusions, the complaint defines the class as “all persons residing in Illinois purchasing and/or reimbursing for dental care provided by independent Illinois dental practices purchasing dental supplies from the defendants, or purchasing from buying groups purchasing these supplies from the defendants, on or after January 29, 2015.” The complaint alleges violations of the Illinois Antitrust Act, 740 Ill. Comp. Stat. §§ 10/3(2), 10/7(2), and seeks a permanent injunction, actual damages to be determined at trial, trebled, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, and pre- and post-judgment interest. On February 13, 2020, the court granted our motion to dismiss for lack of standing, and dismissed the action with prejudice.

On September 30, 2019, City of Hollywood Police Officers Retirement System, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a putative class action complaint for violation of the federal securities laws against Henry Schein, Inc., Covetrus, Inc., and Benjamin Shaw and Christine Komola (Covetrus’s then Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, respectively) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Case No. 2:19-cv-05530-FB-RLM. The complaint seeks to certify a class consisting of all persons and entities who, subject to certain exclusions, purchased or otherwise acquired Covetrus common stock from February 8, 2019 through August 12, 2019. The case relates to the Animal Health Spin-off and Merger of the Henry Schein Animal Health Business with Vets First Choice in February 2019. The complaint alleges violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act and SEC Rule 10b-5 and asserts that defendants’ statements in the offering documents and after the transaction were materially false and misleading because they purportedly overstated Covetrus’s capabilities as to inventory management and supply-chain services, understated the costs of integrating the Henry Schein Animal Health Business and Vets First Choice, understated Covetrus’s separation costs from Henry Schein, and understated the impact on earnings from online competition and alternative distribution channels and from the loss of an allegedly large customer in North America just before the Separation and Merger. The complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial. Pursuant to the provisions of the PSLRA, the court appointed lead plaintiff and lead counsel on December 23, 2019. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously against this action.

On November 15, 2019, Frank Finazzo filed a putative shareholder derivative action on behalf of Henry Schein, Inc. against various present and former directors and officers of Henry Schein in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Case No. 1:19-cv-6485-LDH-JO. The named defendants in the action are Stanley M. Bergman, Steven Paladino, Timothy J. Sullivan, Barry J. Alperin, Lawrence S. Bacow, Gerald A. Benjamin, James P. Breslawski, Paul Brons, Shira Goodman, Joseph L. Herring, Donald J. Kabat, Kurt Kuehn, Philip A. Laskawy, Anne H. Margulies, Karyn Mashima, Norman S. Matthews, Mark E. Mlotek, Carol Raphael, E. Dianne Rekow, Bradley T. Sheares, and Louis W. Sullivan, with Henry Schein named as a nominal defendant. The Complaint asserts claims under the federal securities laws and state law relating to the allegations in the antitrust actions, the In re Henry Schein, Inc. Securities Litigation, and the City of Hollywood securities class action described above. The complaint seeks declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief on behalf of Henry Schein. On January 6, 2020, counsel who filed the Finazzo case filed another, virtually identical putative shareholder derivative action on behalf of Henry Schein against the same defendants, asserting the same claims and seeking the same relief. That case, captioned Mark Sloan v. Stanley M. Bergman, et al., is also pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Case No. 1:20-cv-0076. On January 24, 2020, the court consolidated the Finazzo and Sloan cases under the new caption In re Henry Schein, Inc. Derivative Litigation, No. 1:19-cv-06485-LDH-JO, and appointed the counsel in these cases as co-lead counsel for the consolidated action. The parties have agreed to a resolution of this matter subject to various conditions, including the drafting and execution of a definitive settlement agreement and court approval. The contemplated settlement, if finally approved, would involve the adoption of certain procedures but would not involve the payment of any money except a fee to the plaintiffs’ attorneys that is immaterial.

From time to time, we may become a party to other legal proceedings, including, without limitation, product liability claims, employment matters, commercial disputes, governmental inquiries and investigations (which may in some cases involve our entering into settlement arrangements or consent decrees), and other matters arising out of the ordinary course of our business. While the results of any legal proceeding cannot be predicted with certainty, in our opinion none of these other pending matters are currently anticipated to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, liquidity or results of operations.

43

As of December 28, 2019, we had accrued our best estimate of potential losses relating to claims that were probable to result in liability and for which we were able to reasonably estimate a loss. This accrued amount, as well as related expenses, was not material to our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. Our method for determining estimated losses considers currently available facts, presently enacted laws and regulations and other factors, including probable recoveries from third parties.

ITEM 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

44

PART II

ITEM 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market tier of the Nasdaq Stock Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol HSIC.

On February 14, 2020, there were approximately 269 holders of record of our common stock and the last reported sales price was $72.13.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer

Our share repurchase program, announced on March 3, 2003, originally allowed us to repurchase up to two million shares pre-stock splits (eight million shares post-stock splits) of our common stock, which represented approximately 2.3% of the shares outstanding at the commencement of the program. As summarized in the table below, subsequent additional increases totaling $3.7 billion, authorized by our Board of Directors, to the repurchase program provide for a total of $3.8 billion of shares of our common stock to be repurchased under this program.

Date of	Amount of Additional
Authorization	Repurchases Authorized
June 21, 2004	$	100,000,000
October 31, 2005		100,000,000
March 28, 2007		100,000,000
November 16, 2010		100,000,000
August 18, 2011		200,000,000
April 18, 2012		200,000,000
November 12, 2012		300,000,000
December 9, 2013		300,000,000
December 4, 2014		300,000,000
November 30, 2015		400,000,000
October 18, 2016		400,000,000
September 15, 2017		400,000,000
December 12, 2018		400,000,000
October 30, 2019		400,000,000

As of December 28, 2019, we had repurchased approximately $3.5 billion of common stock (74,363,289 shares) under these initiatives, with $275.0 million available for future common stock share repurchases.

45

The following table summarizes repurchases of our common stock under our stock repurchase program during the fiscal quarter ended December 28, 2019:

					Total Number	Maximum Number
		Total			of Shares	of Shares
		Number	Average		Purchased as Part	that May Yet
		of Shares	Price Paid		of Our Publicly	Be Purchased Under
Fiscal Month		Purchased (1)	Per Share		Announced Program	Our Program (2)
9/29/19 through 11/02/19		-	$	-		7,503,954
11/03/19 through 11/30/19		795,000		69.40	795,000	6,093,247
12/01/19 through 12/28/19		2,101,656		68.91	2,101,656	4,130,374
		2,896,656			2,896,656
(1)	All repurchases were executed in the open market under our existing publicly announced authorized program. This table excludes shares withheld from employees to satisfy minimum tax withholding requirements for equity-based transactions.
(2)	The maximum number of shares that may yet be purchased under this program is determined at the end of each month based on the
	closing price of our common stock at that time.

Dividend Policy

We have not declared any cash or stock dividends on our common stock during fiscal years 2019 or 2018. We currently do not anticipate declaring any cash or stock dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We intend to retain earnings to finance the expansion of our business and for general corporate purposes, including our share repurchase program. Any declaration of dividends will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon the earnings, financial condition, capital requirements, level of indebtedness, contractual restrictions with respect to payment of dividends and other factors.

46

Stock Performance Graph

The graph below compares the cumulative total stockholder return on $100 invested, assuming the reinvestment of all dividends, on December 27, 2014, the last trading day before the beginning of our 2015 fiscal year, through the end of our 2019 fiscal year with the cumulative total return on $100 invested for the same period in the Dow Jones U.S. Health Care Index and the Nasdaq Stock Market Composite Index.

COMPARISON OF 5-YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN

 

ASSUMES $100 INVESTED ON DECEMBER 27, 2014
ASSUMES DIVIDENDS REINVESTED
	December 27,		December 26,		December 31,		December 30,		December 29,		December 28,
	2014		2015		2016		2017		2018		2019
Henry Schein, Inc.	$	100.00	$	114.34	$	110.43	$	101.73	$	113.43	$	125.14
Dow Jones U.S. Health
Care Index		100.00		105.95		102.82		126.30		132.27		163.32
NASDAQ Stock Market
Composite Index		100.00		106.25		114.75		148.76		143.41		198.30

47

ITEM 6. Selected Financial Data

The following selected financial data, with respect to our financial position and results of operations for each of the five fiscal years in the period ended December 28, 2019, set forth below, has been derived from, should be read in conjunction with and is qualified in its entirety by reference to, our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto. The selected financial data presented below should also be read in conjunction with ITEM 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and ITEM 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

	Years ended
	December 28,		December 29,		December 30,		December 31,		December 26,
	2019		2018		2017		2016		2015
	(in thousands, except per share data)
Income Statement Data:
Net sales	$	9,985,803	$	9,417,603	$	8,883,438	$	8,218,885	$	7,650,755
Gross profit		3,090,886		2,910,747		2,746,662		2,605,907		2,476,068
Selling, general and administrative expenses		2,357,920		2,217,273		2,071,576		1,975,445		1,869,351
Litigation settlements		-		38,488		5,325		-		-
Restructuring costs (1)		14,705		54,367		-		38,621		26,587
Operating income		718,261		600,619		669,761		591,841		580,130
Other expense, net		(37,954)		(63,783)		(39,967)		(18,705)		(17,904)
Income from continuing operations before taxes, equity
in earnings of affiliates and noncontrolling interests		680,307		536,836		629,794		573,136		562,226
Income taxes (2)		(159,515)		(107,432)		(308,975)		(169,311)		(170,113)
Equity in earnings of affiliates		17,900		21,037		15,293		17,110		13,300
Net gain (loss) on sale of equity investments (3)		186,769		-		(17,636)		-		-
Net income from continuing operations		725,461		450,441		318,476		420,935		405,413
Income (loss) from discontinued operations		(6,323)		111,685		140,817		135,460		118,014
Net income		719,138		562,126		459,293		556,395		523,427
Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests