Item 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

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Financial Risk Management

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We are exposed to market risk primarily from adverse changes in interest rates and commodity prices. To minimize this risk, we may periodically use financial instruments, including derivatives. All derivative financial instrument transactions must be authorized and executed pursuant to approval by the Board of Directors. As a matter of policy, we do not buy or sell financial instruments for speculative or trading purposes, and any such derivative financial instruments are intended to be used to reduce risk by hedging an underlying economic exposure. Our objective is to correlate derivative financial instruments and the underlying exposure being hedged, so that fluctuations in the value of the financial instruments are generally offset by reciprocal changes in the value of the underlying economic exposure.

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Interest Rate Risk

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We are exposed to changes in interest rates as a result of our short-term borrowings, long-term debt, and cash investments. We manage our interest rate risk through the strategic use of fixed and variable interest rate debt and, from time to time, derivative financial instruments. Currently, we are counterparty to certain interest rate swaps with a total notional amount of $350.0 million entered into in May 2021. These swaps are scheduled to mature in April 2030. Under the terms of these agreements, we swap fixed interest rates on a portion of our 2030 Senior Notes for compounded SOFR rates. In recent years, our principal interest rate exposure has been from outstanding borrowings under our Revolving Facility as well as our commercial paper program. As of January 31, 2025, we had no consolidated commercial paper borrowings and no borrowings outstanding under our Revolving Facility. For a detailed discussion of our Revolving Facility and our commercial paper program, see Note 5 to the consolidated financial statements.

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A change in interest rates on variable rate debt impacts our pre-tax earnings and cash flows; whereas a change in interest rates on fixed rate debt impacts the economic fair value of debt but not our pre-tax earnings and cash flows.

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At January 31, 2025, our primary interest rate exposure was from changes in interest rates on our variable rate investment holdings, which are classified as cash and cash equivalents in our consolidated financial statements. The increase in cash and cash equivalents was driven primarily from cash from operations. Based on our outstanding variable rate cash and debt balances as of January 31, 2025, the net annualized effect of a one percentage point decrease in interest rates would have resulted in a pre-tax reduction of our earnings and cash flows of approximately $3.5 million in 2024.

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At February 2, 2024, our primary interest rate exposure was from changes in interest rates which affect our variable rate debt. Based on our outstanding variable rate debt as of February 2, 2024, after giving consideration to our interest rate swap agreements, the annualized effect of a one percentage point increase in variable interest rates would have resulted in a pretax reduction of our earnings and cash flows of approximately $3.5 million in 2023.

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