Great Elm Group, Inc.

Previous wording

Additionally, disruptions in the financial markets in recent years as a result of a variety of factors, including regional bank instability, high inflation and interest rates and tariffs and trade tensions, have increased the spread between the yields realized on risk-free and higher risk securities, resulting in illiquidity in parts of the financial markets, and led to general volatility in the financial markets, including with respect to market prices of publicly traded investments and asset valuations. These and future market disruptions and/or illiquidity would be expected to have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Unfavorable economic conditions also would be expected to increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us. These events have limited and could continue to limit our investment originations, limit our ability to grow and have a material negative impact on our operating results and the fair values of our debt and equity investments. As a result, we may experience additional losses on our investments. Decreases in the market values of investments held within the underlying portfolios of managed funds could also lead to decreases in asset-based fee revenues.

Current wording

Additionally, disruptions in the financial markets in recent years as a result of a variety of factors, including regional bank instability, high inflation and interest rates and tariffs and trade tensions, have increased the spread between the yields realized on risk-free and higher risk securities, resulting in illiquidity in parts of the financial markets, and led to general volatility in the financial markets, including with respect to market prices of publicly traded investments and asset valuations, higher construction costs, availability of construction financing, declining property values and weakened rental demand. These and future market disruptions and/or illiquidity would be expected to have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Unfavorable economic conditions also would be expected to increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us. These events have limited and could continue to limit our investment originations, limit our ability to grow and have a material negative impact on our operating results and the fair values of our debt and equity investments. As a result, we may experience additional losses on our investments. Decreases in the market values of investments held within the underlying portfolios of managed funds could also lead to decreases in asset-based fee revenues.

Previous wording

We may be required to expend significant additional resources to modify our protective measures or to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities or other exposures, and we may be subject to litigation and financial losses that are either not insured against or not fully covered through any insurance maintained by us. The increased use of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices as well as cloud computing may also heighten these and other operational risks. We and our third-party providers are or may be the subject of attempted unauthorized access, computer viruses and malware, and cyberattacks designed to disrupt or degrade service or cause other damage and denial of service. Cyberattacks and other cyber incidents are occurring more frequently, are constantly evolving in nature, are becoming more sophisticated and are being carried out by groups and individuals (including criminal hackers, hacktivists, state-sponsored actors, criminal and terrorist organizations, individuals or groups participating in organized crime and insiders) with a wide range of expertise and motives (including monetization of corporate, payment or other internal or personal data, theft of computing resources, financial fraud, operational disruption, theft of trade secrets and intellectual property for competitive advantage and leverage for political, social, economic and environmental reasons). Such cyberattacks and cyber incidents can take many forms including cyber extortion, denial of service, social engineering, such as impersonation attempts to fraudulently induce employees or others to disclose information or unwittingly provide access to systems or data, introduction of viruses or malware, such as ransomware through phishing emails, website defacement or theft of passwords and other credentials, unauthorized use of computing resources for digital currency mining and business email compromises. There can be no assurance that such unauthorized access or cyber incidents will not occur in the future, and they could occur more frequently and on a larger scale. Legal liability arising from such risks could be significant and may harm our business. Many aspects of our business involve substantial risks of liability. Any failure of our systems, including from cyberattacks, cyber incidents or other reasons, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Current wording

We may be required to expend significant additional resources to modify our protective measures or to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities or other exposures, and we may be subject to litigation and financial losses that are either not insured against or not fully covered through any insurance maintained by us. The increased use of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices as well as cloud computing may also heighten these and other operational risks. We and our third-party providers are or may be the subject of attempted unauthorized access, computer viruses and malware, and cyberattacks designed to disrupt or degrade service or cause other damage and denial of service. Cyberattacks and other cyber incidents are occurring more frequently, are constantly evolving in nature, are becoming more sophisticated and are being carried out by groups and individuals (including criminal hackers, hacktivists, state-sponsored actors, criminal and terrorist organizations, individuals or groups participating in organized crime and insiders), as well as agents powered by artificial intelligence, with a wide range of expertise and motives (including monetization of corporate, payment or other internal or personal data, theft of computing resources, financial fraud, operational disruption, theft of trade secrets and intellectual property for competitive advantage and leverage for political, social, economic and environmental reasons). Such cyberattacks and cyber incidents can take many forms including cyber extortion, denial of service, social engineering, such as impersonation attempts to fraudulently induce employees or others to disclose information or unwittingly provide access to systems or data, introduction of viruses or malware, such as ransomware through phishing emails, website defacement or theft of passwords and other credentials, unauthorized use of computing resources for digital currency mining and business email compromises. There can be no assurance that such unauthorized access or cyber incidents will not occur in the future, and they could occur more frequently and on a larger scale. Legal liability arising from such risks could be significant and may harm our business. Many aspects of our business involve substantial risks of liability. Any failure of our systems, including from cyberattacks, cyber incidents or other reasons, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Previous wording

Moreover, the revenue we earn from management, incentive and/or administration fees under the IMAs is driven in part by the value of the assets under management at our pooled investment vehicles. If the value of assets under management at any of our pooled investment vehicles declines, the amount of fees we earn would also decline, which would have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. The historical performance of our pooled investment vehicles should not be considered indicative of future results.

Current wording

Moreover, the revenue we earn from management, incentive and/or administration fees under the IMAs is driven in part by the value of the assets under management at our pooled investment vehicles. If the value of assets under management at any of our pooled investment vehicles declines for any reason, the amount of fees we earn would also decline, which would have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. In addition, the pooled investment vehicles we manage may, at their direction, alter their investment strategies, asset allocations, or risk profiles, any of which could result in changes that consequently reduce the management fees, incentive fees, or other revenues we earn from those vehicles. The historical performance of our pooled investment vehicles should not be considered indicative of future results.