Item 1A. RISK FACTORS

The following should be read in conjunction with, and supplements and amends, the factors that may affect the Company’s business or operations described under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A, of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2021. Other than as described in this Item 1A, there have been no other material changes to our risk factors from the risk factors previously disclosed in the 2021 Annual Report.

The following updates and replaces the risk factor entitled “Impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows".

Impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The global outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted economic activity around the world. As a result, we and our affiliates, employees, suppliers, customers and others have been and may continue to be restricted or prevented from conducting normal business activities, including as a result of shutdowns, travel restrictions and other actions that may be requested or mandated by governmental authorities. While a substantial portion of our businesses and facilities have been classified as essential in jurisdictions in which facility closures have been mandated, we can give no assurance that there will not be additional closures in the future or that our businesses and facilities will be classified as essential in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate.

The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted, and may continue to impact, our office locations, manufacturing and servicing facilities and distribution centers, as well as those of our third-party vendors, including the effects of facility closures, reductions in operating hours and other social distancing efforts. In response to the challenges presented by COVID-19, we modified our business practices, including restricting non-essential employee travel, implementing remote work protocols, and limiting physical participation in meetings, events and conferences, and we may take further actions as may be required by government authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers, partners and suppliers. These modifications to our business practices, including any future actions we take, may cause us to experience increases in costs, reductions in productivity and disruptions to our business routines.

In September 2021, the Biden Administration issued an executive order requiring U.S.-based employees, contractors, and subcontractors, that work on or in support of U.S. Government contracts, to be fully vaccinated. The executive order includes on-site and remote U.S.-based employees, contractors and subcontractors but permits limited exceptions for medical and religious reasons. However, the implementation and enforcement of the federal contractor mandate remains uncertain due to ongoing legal challenges. If the mandate is upheld and implemented, it is expected to be applicable to our federal contracting business. We have internally announced policies with respect to our U.S.-based employees to comply with this mandate if it is implemented. In addition, a number of our customers have issued vaccine requirements with respect to our employees who provide on-site service at customer facilities. It is also possible that additional vaccine mandates may be announced in other jurisdictions in which our businesses operate. Our efforts to comply with these mandates, including requiring that some or all of our employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, could result in increased labor attrition and disruption, as well as difficulty securing future labor needs, and could materially impact our ability to deliver services to our U.S. federal government customers and potentially other customers, which could in turn adversely impact our results of operations.

We may also experience impacts from market forces and changes in consumer behavior related to pandemic fears as a result of COVID-19. Although we experienced increases in both demand and volumes during fiscal 2021 as governments distributed vaccines and lifted COVID-19-related restrictions, challenges in achieving sufficient vaccination levels and the introduction of new variants of COVID-19 have and could continue to negatively impact our results of operations due to the extension or reinstitution of lockdowns and similar restrictive measures, limited access to customer sites to perform installation and service work, the delay or abandonment of projects on which we provide products and/or services, and the general adverse impacts on demand and sales volumes from industries that are sensitive to economic downturns and volatility in commodity prices. In addition, the Company has experienced and could continue to experience labor shortages at its facilities as the Company expands its production capacity to meet increased customer demand. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic could result in permanent changes in the behaviors of our customers, including the increased prevalence of remote work and a corresponding decline in demand for the construction and maintenance of commercial buildings. Any of these impacts could cause our stock price and the operating performances of our businesses to be adversely affected, which could require us to incur material impairment, restructuring or other charges.

Our management of the impact of COVID-19 has and will continue to require significant investment of time from our management and employees, as well as resources across our global enterprise. This may cause us to divert or delay the application of our resources toward new initiatives or investments, which may adversely impact our future results of operations. In addition, issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic may result in legal claims or litigation against us.

The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the resurgence of COVID-19 and its variants in regions recovering from the impacts of the pandemic, the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and the speed at which populations are vaccinated around the globe, the impact of COVID-19 on economic activity and regulatory actions taken to contain the impact of COVID-19 on public health and the global economy. The impact of COVID-19 may also exacerbate other risks discussed in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, any of which could have a material effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

In March 2021, the Company's Board of Directors approved a $4.0 billion increase to the Company's share repurchase authorization, adding to the $2.0 billion remaining as of December 31, 2020 under the prior share repurchase authorization approved in 2019. The share repurchase authorization does not have an expiration date and may be amended or terminated by the Board of Directors at any time without prior notice. During the three months ended December 31, 2021, the Company repurchased approximately $0.5 billion of its ordinary shares on an open market. As of December 31, 2021, approximately $4.5 billion remains available under the share repurchase authorization.

The following table presents information regarding the repurchase of the Company’s ordinary shares by the Company as part of its publicly announced program during the three months ended December 31, 2021.

During the three months ended December 31, 2021, acquisitions of shares by the Company from certain employees in order to satisfy employee tax withholding requirements in connection with the vesting of restricted shares were not material.