UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
CURRENT REPORT
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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).
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| Item 8.01 | Other Events. |
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (the “Company”, “we”, “us”, and “our”) is filing this Current Report on Form 8-K to supplement the risk factors described in Item 1A of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019. The following risk factor should be read in conjunction with the risk factors described in the Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We are subject to risks associated with public health crises and epidemics/pandemics, such as the novel strain of coronavirus that recently originated in China.
Our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health crises and epidemics/pandemics, such as the novel strain of coronavirus that recently originated in China (COVID-19) and has spread globally. In recent weeks, the continued spread has led to disruption and volatility in the global capital markets, which increases the cost of, and adversely impacts access to, capital and increases economic uncertainty. It is likely that the pandemic will cause an economic slowdown of potentially extended duration, and it is possible that it could cause a global recession.
COVID-19 is having, and will continue to have, an adverse impact on our operations, supply chains and distribution systems, including as a result of impacts associated with preventive and precautionary measures that we, other businesses and governments are taking. Due to these impacts and measures, we have experienced, and will continue to experience, significant and unpredictable reductions or increases in demand for certain of our products. Many employers in the United States and Europe are requiring their employees to work from home or not go into their offices. If the pandemic continues and conditions worsen, we will experience a decline in sales activities and customer orders, and it remains uncertain what impact these declines will have on future sales and customer orders once conditions begin to improve. In addition to existing travel restrictions, countries may continue to close borders, impose prolonged quarantines, and further restrict travel, which would significantly impact our ability to support our sites and customers in those locations and the ability of our employees to get to their places of work to produce products, or significantly hamper our products from moving through the supply chain. As a result, given the rapid and evolving nature of the virus, COVID-19 will negatively affect our revenue growth, and it is uncertain how materially COVID-19 will affect our global operations generally if these impacts persist or worsen over an extended period of time. Any of these impacts would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, and at this point, the extent of the impact of COVID-19 remains uncertain.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC. | ||||||
| Date: March 23, 2020 |
By: |
/s/ Michael A. Boxer | ||||
| Michael A. Boxer | ||||||
| Senior Vice President and General Counsel | ||||||