BASSETT FURNITURE INDUSTRIES INC

Previous wording

Historically, the home furnishings industry has been subject to cyclical variations in the general economy and to uncertainty regarding future economic prospects. Should current economic conditions weaken, the current rate of housing starts decline, or rising inflation persist, consumer confidence and demand for home furnishings could deteriorate which could adversely affect our business through its impact on the performance of our Company-owned stores, as well as our licensees and the ability of a number of them to meet their obligations to us.

Current wording

Historically, the home furnishings industry has been subject to cyclical variations in the general economy and to uncertainty regarding future economic prospects. Should current economic conditions weaken, the current rate of housing starts continue to decline, or rising inflation persist, consumer confidence and demand for home furnishings could deteriorate which could adversely affect our business through its impact on the performance of our Company-owned stores, as well as our licensees and the ability of a number of them to meet their obligations to us.

Previous wording

Maintaining and enhancing our brand is critical to our ability to expand our base of customers and drive increased traffic at both Company-owned and licensee-owned stores and to our website. While digital advertising and outreach continue to dominate our marketing expenditures in 2024, we plan to supplement those strategies in 2025 with added direct mail and television. We have also invested heavily in our website and e-commerce. We cannot provide assurance that our marketing, advertising and other efforts to promote and maintain awareness of our brand will not require us to incur substantial costs. If these efforts are unsuccessful or we incur substantial costs in connection with these efforts, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Current wording

Maintaining and enhancing our brand is critical to our ability to expand our base of customers and drive increased traffic at both Company-owned and licensee-owned stores and on our website. Digital outreach strategies have been the primary vehicle for brand advertising and customer acquisition. We began supplementing the digital outreach strategy with added direct mail and television late in 2024 and expect to continue with a balanced blend of both digital and traditional direct mail and television in 2026. We have also invested heavily in our website and e-commerce. We cannot provide assurance that our marketing, advertising and other efforts to promote and maintain awareness of our brand will not require us to incur substantial costs. If these efforts are unsuccessful or we incur substantial costs in connection with these efforts, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Previous wording

Our primary and back-up computer systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, computer viruses, security breaches, natural disasters and errors by employees. Though losses arising from some of these issues would be covered by insurance, interruptions of our critical business computer systems or failure of our back-up systems could reduce our sales or result in longer production times. If our critical business computer systems or back-up systems are damaged or cease to function properly, we may have to make a significant investment to repair or replace them. For example, we disclosed a cybersecurity incident in Item 1.05 of Current Reports on Form 8-K and 8-K/A filed on July 15, 2024 and August 6, 2024, respectively, relating to the detection of unauthorized occurrences on a portion of our information technology (IT) systems.

Current wording

Our primary and back-up computer systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, computer viruses, security breaches, natural disasters and errors by employees. Though losses arising from some of these issues would be covered by insurance, interruptions of our critical business computer systems or failure of our back-up systems could reduce our sales or result in longer production times. If our critical business computer systems or back-up systems are damaged or cease to function properly, we may have to make a significant investment to repair or replace them. We have been a target of a cybersecurity attack in the past, and while such attack did not result in a material impact on our operations, business, customer relationships or reputation, we can provide no assurance that cybersecurity attacks or incidents in the future will not have a material adverse impact on our business.