Item 1A. Risk Factors
Risks Related to Operations of Our Business
A significant portion of our revenues is generated by large, recurring business from certain significant customers, including the U.S. government. Any loss, cancellation or delay in one or more projects by our significant customers in the future could negatively affect our financial performance.
A considerable percentage of our revenues, particularly in our GS business segment, is generated under contracts with certain significant customers. Revenues from the U.S. government represented 57% of our total consolidated revenues for fiscal 2024. Budget uncertainty, the potential for U.S. government shutdowns, the use of continuing resolutions and the federal debt ceiling can adversely affect our industry and the funding for our contracts. If appropriations are delayed or a government shutdown were to occur and were to continue for an extended period of time, we could be at risk of contract cancellations and other disruptions and nonpayment. When the U.S. government operates under a continuing resolution, new contract starts are restricted and funding for our programs may be unavailable, reduced or delayed. Shifting funding priorities or federal budget compromises also could result in reductions in overall defense spending on an absolute or inflation-adjusted basis, which could adversely impact our business.
Our results of operations and cash flows depend on the award of new contracts and the timing of the performance of existing contracts.
Our revenues are directly and indirectly derived from contract awards. Reductions in the number and amounts of new awards, delays in the timing of anticipated awards or potential cancellations of such prospects as a result of economic conditions, funding priorities, material and equipment pricing and availability or other factors could adversely impact our long-term projected results. It is particularly difficult to predict whether or when we will receive large-scale projects as these contracts usually involve a lengthy and complex bidding and selection process. This process can be affected by a number of factors, including market conditions and governmental and environmental approvals, and in some cases, the customer's ability to secure the necessary financing for a project to proceed. As a portion of our revenues is generated from such projects, our results of operations and cash flows can fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter depending on the timing of our contract awards and the commencement or progress of work under awarded contracts. The uncertainty of our contract award timing can also present difficulties in matching workforce size with contract needs. In some cases, we maintain and bear the cost of a ready workforce that is larger than necessary under existing contracts in expectation of future workforce needs for anticipated contract awards. If an anticipated contract award is delayed or not received, we may incur additional costs resulting from reductions in staff or redundancy of facilities that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Following contract award, we may also encounter significant expense, delay, contract modifications or even contract loss. Additionally, certain contract awards (including the performance of such awards) have been and may in the future be contested and/or otherwise involved in ongoing legal proceedings, inquiries or other similar developments outside of our control, which may result in significant delays in the project timeline or the wholesale cancellation or termination of a project. Any project delays, cancellations or contract modifications following the award of a contract could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, backlog, revenue recognition timing and cash flows.
Ongoing international conflicts, and other geopolitical conditions, may adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Political, economic and other conditions in foreign countries and regions, including geopolitical risks, such as the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine and political and economic instability and ongoing conflict in the Middle East, may adversely affect our business and operations as a portion of our revenue is derived from foreign operations. Additionally, the full scope, duration and broader implications of international conflicts, which may include additional international sanctions, embargoes, regional instability and geopolitical shifts; increased tensions between the United States and countries in which we operate; and the extent of the conflicts’ effects on our business and results of operations as well as the global economy, cannot be predicted. Any alleged or actual failure to comply with any sanctions and trade control measures implemented in response to international conflicts may subject us to government scrutiny, civil and/or criminal proceedings, sanctions and other liabilities, which may have an adverse effect on our international operations, financial condition and results of operations.
To the extent current conflicts or other geopolitical conflicts adversely affect our business, they may also have the effect of heightening many of our other risks identified in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Such risks include, but are not limited to, the following:
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•adverse effects on macroeconomic conditions, including inflation, demand for our products and potential recessionary economic conditions;
•increased cyber security threats;
•adverse changes in trade policies, taxes, government regulations and tariffs;
•our ability to obtain compensation for increased costs incurred related to rising costs of equipment, materials and labor on fixed-price contracts;
•our ability to implement and execute our business strategy;
•disruptions in global supply chains;
•our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations; and
•constraints, volatility or disruption in the capital markets.
Global pandemics, epidemics, outbreaks of infectious diseases or public health crises have disrupted our business and could have a material adverse effect on our future results of operations and financial performance.
Pandemics, epidemics, outbreaks of infectious diseases or public health crises across the globe have disrupted, and may in the future disrupt our business, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and/or future expectations. Our business, operations and financial performance have been, and may be affected by macroeconomic impacts resulting from pandemics, infectious disease outbreaks and public health crises. As a result, our financial performance and growth rates may differ from historical periods, and our future results may fall below expectations. Any health crisis may negatively affect worldwide economic and commercial activity, disrupt global supply chains and the labor market and create significant volatility and disruption of financial and commodity markets. The extent to which our business will continue to be affected and may in the future be affected by pandemics, infectious disease outbreaks and other public health crises depends on a number of factors outside of our control, including but not limited to the extent and duration of labor disruptions, business operations disruptions from quarantines, travel restrictions and other requirements imposed by regulators and health authorities, delays, modifications and terminations of contracts, supply chain disruptions, increased cybersecurity and data protection risks, increased costs of doing business and other macroeconomic disruptions.
If we are unable to enforce our intellectual property rights, or if our intellectual property rights are challenged or become obsolete, our competitive position could be adversely impacted.
We utilize a variety of intellectual property rights in providing technology and services to our customers. We view our portfolio of process and design technologies as one of our competitive strengths and we use it as part of our efforts to differentiate our service offerings. We may not be able to successfully preserve these intellectual property rights in the future, and these rights could be invalidated, circumvented, challenged or infringed upon. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries in which our services may be sold do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S. We also license technologies from third parties and there is a risk that our relationships with licensors may terminate, expire or be interrupted or harmed. If we are unable to protect and maintain our intellectual property rights, or if there are any successful intellectual property challenges or infringement proceedings against us, our ability to differentiate our service offerings could diminish. In addition, if our intellectual property rights or work processes become obsolete, we may not be able to differentiate our service offerings and some of our competitors may be able to offer more attractive services to our customers. We will also need to continue to respond to and anticipate changes resulting from disruptive technologies, including in areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning. If we are not successful in protecting and preserving our intellectual property rights and licenses, or in staying ahead of developing artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies and strategically incorporating them into our business, our business and financial performance could be materially and adversely affected.
We may not properly leverage or appropriately invest in technology advancements, which could diminish any sustainable competitive advantage in our service offerings resulting in the potential loss of market share and profits.
We operate in global markets with customers who demand innovation, technical and domain expertise and digitally-enabled, technology-led solutions. Robust information technology systems, platforms and products are integral in our efforts to differentiate our service offerings and maintain our competitive advantages. Disruptive technologies, including in areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning, are rapidly changing the environment in which we, our customers, and our competitors operate and could affect the nature of how we generate revenue. We will need to continue to respond to and anticipate these changes by enhancing our product and service offerings to maintain our competitive position.
It is strategically important that we lead the digital transformation occurring in our industry. However, we may not be successful in structuring our technology or developing, acquiring or implementing technology systems in ways that are competitive and responsive to the needs of our customers. We may lack sufficient resources to continue to make the significant
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technology investments to effectively compete with our competitors. Certain technology initiatives that management considers important to our long-term success will require capital investment, have significant risks associated with their execution and could take several years to implement. If we are unable to develop and implement these initiatives in a cost-effective, timely manner or at all, it could damage our relationships with our customers and negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations. There can be no assurance that others will not acquire similar or superior technologies sooner than we do or that we will acquire technologies on an exclusive basis or at a significant price advantage. If we do not accurately predict, prepare and respond to new technology innovations, market developments and changing customer needs, our revenues, profitability and long-term competitiveness could be materially adversely affected.
We may use artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science and similar technologies in our business, and challenges with properly managing such technologies could result in reputational harm, competitive harm and legal liability, and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science and similar technologies (collectively, “AI”), including third-party AI tools, may be enabled by, or integrated into some of our business and solutions. As with many developing technologies, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its further development, adoption, and use, and therefore our business. AI algorithms may be flawed or biased. Datasets used to train or develop AI systems may be insufficient, of inferior quality, or contain biased information. Additionally, the laws and regulations concerning the use of AI continue to evolve. If the use or integration of AI systems, or the outputs generated by such systems, were determined to be non-compliant (e.g., in relation to intellectual property or data privacy rights), this may result in liability, including legal liability, or adversely affect our business, reputation, brand, financial condition and results of operations. It is possible that emerging regulations may limit or block the use of AI in our business and solutions or otherwise impose other restrictions that may affect or impair the usability or efficiency of our business or services for an extended period of time or indefinitely. Our competitors or other third parties may incorporate AI into their product development, product offerings, technology and infrastructure products more quickly or more successfully than us, which could impair our ability to compete effectively and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we are unable to attract and retain senior management and key technical professionals with elite skills and appropriate government qualifications, our ability to pursue and compete for projects to grow our business may be adversely affected, our operating income may decrease and our reputation may be negatively impacted.
KBR's forward-looking strategy requires talent with dynamic and elite skills as KBR moves upmarket. Our rate of growth and the success of our business depend upon our ability to attract, develop, retain and replace key qualified technical and management professionals, either through direct hire, subcontracts or acquisition of other firms, who possess the elite skills to successfully deliver the solutions strategy. The market for these professionals is competitive in the sectors in which we compete, and we rely heavily upon the expertise and leadership of our professionals to perform, execute and complete projects as required by our clients.
We currently hold U.S. government-issued facility security clearances and a large number of our employees have qualified for and hold U.S. government-issued personal security clearances necessary to perform certain U.S. government contracts. Obtaining and maintaining security clearances for employees involves lengthy processes, and it is difficult to identify, recruit and retain employees who already hold security clearances.If our employees are unable to obtain or retain security clearances or if our employees who hold security clearances terminate employment with us and we are unable to find replacements with equivalent security clearances, we may be unable to perform our obligations to customers whose work requires cleared employees, or such customers could terminate their contracts or decide not to renew them upon their expiration. Our facility security clearances could be marked as "invalid" for several reasons including unapproved foreign ownership, control or influence, mishandling of classified materials or failure to properly report required activities. An inability to obtain or retain our facility security clearances or engage employees with the required security clearances for a particular contract could disqualify us from bidding for and winning new contracts with security requirements.
If we are unable to attract and retain a sufficient number of elite skilled professionals with appropriate government qualifications, our ability to pursue and execute projects may be adversely affected, our operating income may decline, and our reputation may be damaged. Our future success depends on the continued services of our executive officers as well as our ability to effectively transition to their successors. If we are unable to attract, develop and retain qualified employees that can succeed our executive officers, or if our succession plans and/or succession planning processes do not yield the results we intend or expect, there could be a material adverse effect on our operating income and reputation.
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The nature of our business exposes us to potential liability claims and contract disputes that may exceed or be excluded from existing insurance coverage.
We engage in activities for large facilities where design, construction or systems failures can result in substantial injury or damage to employees or other third parties or delays in completion or commencement of commercial operations, exposing us to legal proceedings, investigations and disputes. The nature of our business results in clients, subcontractors and vendors occasionally presenting claims against us for recovery of costs they incurred in excess of what they expected to incur or for which they believe they are not contractually liable. If it is determined that we have liability, we may not be covered by insurance or, if covered, the dollar amount of these liabilities may exceed our policy limits. Our professional liability coverage is on a “claims-made” basis covering only claims actually made during the policy period currently in effect. In addition, even where insurance is maintained for such exposures, the policies have deductibles, which result in our assumption of exposure for a layer of coverage with respect to any such claims. We also manage and maintain a portion of our retained risk through our wholly-owned captive insurance company, which insures certain claims up to the applicable deductible amount of our third-party insurance programs. Additionally, our captive insurance company is a registered and licensed insurance company with the Texas Department of Insurance, and is therefore subject to various rules and regulations including meeting certain capital requirements, which can result in additional use of our resources such as securing the captive insurance company's retained risks with issuing letters of credit. Any liability not covered by our insurance, in excess of our insurance limits or if covered by insurance but subject to a high deductible, could result in a significant loss for us, which may reduce our profits and cash available for operations. Furthermore, there is risk of mass casualty or environmentally damaging events that may involve our and third-party personnel and property, which could lead to future claims and litigation, impact our reputation and investor confidence and ultimately result in reduced share price.
We occasionally bring claims against project owners for additional costs exceeding the contract price or for amounts not included in the original contract price. These types of claims occur due to matters such as owner-caused delays, changes from the initial project scope or other economic changes not stipulated under the contract that may result in additional direct and indirect costs. Often these claims can be the subject of lengthy negotiations, arbitration or litigation proceedings, and it is difficult to accurately predict when these claims will be fully resolved. When these types of events occur and unresolved claims are pending, we may invest significant working capital in projects to cover cost overruns pending the resolution of the relevant claims. A failure to recover on these types of claims fully or promptly could have a material adverse impact on our liquidity and financial results.
Dependence on third-party subcontractors, suppliers and equipment manufacturers could adversely affect our financial performance on contracts.
We rely on third-party subcontractors, suppliers and equipment manufacturers in order to complete many of our projects. Certain subcontractors and suppliers, such as those used on our U.S. government contracts, are subject to the same rigorous government requirements that we are and if they are unable to comply with these requirements, in many cases, there are limited alternative subcontractors and suppliers available in the market, particularly those with the requisite security clearances. Our subcontractors may be subject to various regulations to engage in motor carrier service, including regulations from the Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and various state agencies. The failure of our subcontractors to comply with these regulations could adversely affect our financial performance on certain contracts.
We sometimes have disputes with our contracting parties, including disputes regarding the cost, quality and timeliness of work performed or customer concerns about the other party’s performance. We also have been and in the future could be adversely affected by actions or issues experienced by our contracting parties that are outside of our control, such as misconduct and reputational issues involving our contracting parties, which has and could in the future subject us to liability and reputational harm or adversely affect our ability to compete for contract awards. In addition, if any subcontractor or a manufacturer is unable to deliver its services, equipment or materials according to the negotiated terms for any reason including, but not limited to, the deterioration of its financial condition, we may be required to purchase the services, equipment or materials from another source at a higher price. This may reduce the profit we expect to realize or result in a loss on a project for which the services, equipment or materials were needed. Furthermore, if the amount we are required to pay for these goods and services exceeds the amount we have estimated in bidding for fixed-price contracts, we could experience losses in the performance of these contracts.
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We use estimates in recognizing revenues, and if we make changes to estimates used in recognizing revenues, our profitability may be adversely affected.
A significant portion of our revenues and profits are measured and recognized over time using the cost-to-cost method of revenue recognition. Our use of this accounting method results in recognition of revenues and profits over the life of a contract, based on the proportion of costs incurred to date to total costs expected to be incurred for the entire project. The effects of revisions to estimated revenues and costs are recorded when the amounts are known or can be reasonably estimated. In addition, we record unapproved change orders and claims against clients as well as estimated recoveries of claims against suppliers and subcontractors that have been included in the estimated profit at completion for certain projects. Revisions to these estimates could occur in any period and their effects could be material. The uncertainties inherent in estimating the progress towards completion or the recoverability of claims of long-term contracts make it possible for actual revenues and costs to vary materially from our estimates, including reductions or reversals of previously recorded revenues and profits.
We conduct a portion of our operations through joint ventures and partnerships, exposing us to risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control.
We conduct a portion of our operations through project-specific joint ventures where control may be shared with unaffiliated third parties or control may be held by the unaffiliated third parties. These projects include the facilitation of nonrecourse financing, the design and construction of facilities, the provision of operation and maintenance services and warranty obligations for an agreed-upon period after the facilities have been completed. If a project is unable to obtain financing, we could incur losses on our investments and any related contractual receivables. As with any joint venture arrangement, differences in views among the joint venture partners may result in delayed decisions or in failures to agree on major issues. We also cannot control the actions of our joint venture partners, including failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, nonperformance and default or bankruptcy of our joint venture partners. Also, we often share liabilities on a joint and several basis with our joint venture partners under these arrangements. If our partners do not meet their contractual obligations, the joint venture may be unable to adequately perform and deliver its contracted services, requiring us to make additional investments or perform additional services to ensure the adequate performance and delivery of services to the customer, which could ultimately result in litigation. We could be liable for both our obligations and those of our partners, which may result in reduced profits, significant losses on the project and a negative impact to our cash flows. Additionally, these factors could have a material adverse effect on the business operations of the joint venture and, in turn, our business operations and reputation.
Operating through joint ventures in which we have a minority interest could result in us having limited control over many decisions made with respect to projects and internal controls relating to projects. These joint ventures may not be subject to the same requirements regarding internal controls that are applicable to us. As a result, internal control issues may arise, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
The nature of our contracts, particularly those that are fixed-price, subjects us to risks associated with cost overruns, operating cost inflation and potential claims for liquidated damages.
We conduct our business under various types of contracts where costs must be estimated in advance of our performance. A portion of the value of our current backlog is attributable to fixed-price contracts where we bear a significant portion of the risk of cost overruns. These types of contracts are priced, in part, on cost and scheduling estimates that are based on assumptions including pricing and availability of experienced labor, equipment and materials as well as productivity, performance and future economic conditions. If these estimates prove inaccurate, if there are errors or ambiguities as to contract terms or specifications, or if circumstances change due to, among other things, the recent rise in interest rates, continued inflation, supply-chain disruptions, tariffs, unanticipated technical problems, poor project execution, difficulties in obtaining permits or approvals, changes in local laws or labor conditions, weather delays, increased costs of equipment and materials from inflation or other factors or our suppliers’ or subcontractors’ inability to perform, then cost overruns may occur. Our approach to include annual price escalations in our bids for multi-year work may be insufficient to counter inflationary cost pressures, which may result in significant cost overruns on our contracts. This could result in reduced profits on a contract, losses on a contract and negative impacts to our cash flows, and our longer-term multi-year contracts could become less favorable to us over time.
We may not be able to obtain compensation for additional work performed or expenses incurred. Additionally, we have in the past and may in the future be required to pay liquidated damages upon our failure to meet schedule or performance requirements of our contracts. Our failure to accurately estimate the resources and time required for fixed-price contracts or our failure to complete our contractual obligations within a specified time frame or cost estimate could result in reduced profits or,
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in certain cases, a loss for that contract. If the contract is significant, or we encounter issues that impact multiple contracts, cost overruns or schedule delays could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our backlog of unfilled orders is subject to unexpected adjustments and cancellations and, therefore, may not be a reliable indicator of our future revenues or earnings.
As of January 3, 2025, the future revenues we expect to realize as a result of backlog was approximately $17.3 billion. We cannot guarantee that the revenues projected in our backlog will be realized or that the projects will be profitable. Many of our contracts are subject to cancellation, termination or suspension at the discretion of the customer. From time to time, changes in project scope may occur with respect to contracts reflected in our backlog and could reduce the dollar amount of our backlog or the timing of the revenues and profits that we ultimately earn. Projects may remain in our backlog for an extended period of time because of the nature of the project and the timing of the particular services or equipment required by the project. Delays, suspensions, cancellations, payment defaults, scope changes and poor project execution could materially reduce or eliminate profits that we actually realize from projects in backlog. We cannot predict the impact that future economic conditions may have on our backlog, which could include a diminished ability to replace backlog once projects are completed or could result in the termination, modification or suspension of projects currently in our backlog. Such developments could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We have made and may continue to make business combinations as a part of our business strategy, which may present certain risks and uncertainties.
We may continue to seek business acquisitions as a means of broadening our offerings and capturing additional market opportunities by our business segments. However, there is no guarantee that we will be successful in identifying target companies that meet our criteria for acquisition. We may also face increased competition from other potential acquirers who have greater financial resources or who are in a position to offer more favorable terms to the target company. This competition may limit our ability to pursue acquisition opportunities which could negatively affect our growth strategies. Additionally, future acquisitions may require us to obtain additional equity or debt financing, which may not be available on attractive terms, if at all.
The success of our historical and future business combinations also depends on our ability to integrate the operations of the acquired businesses efficiently and effectively with our existing operations and realize the anticipated benefits from them. The potential risks associated with successful integration and realization of benefits include, but are not limited to the following:
•our due diligence may not identify or fully assess valuation issues, potential liabilities or other acquisition risks;
•acquired entities may not achieve anticipated revenue targets, cost savings or other synergies or benefits, or acquisitions may not result in improved operating performance, which could adversely affect our operating income or operating margins, and we may be unable to recover investments in any such acquisitions;
•we may have difficulty integrating acquired businesses, resulting in unforeseen difficulties, such as incompatible accounting, information management or other control systems, and greater expenses than expected;
•we may have difficulty entering into new markets in which we are not experienced, in an efficient and cost-effective manner while maintaining adequate standards, controls and procedures;
•key personnel within an acquired organization may resign from their related positions resulting in a significant loss to our strategic and operational efficiency associated with the acquired company;
•the effectiveness of our daily operations may be reduced by the redirection of employees and other resources to acquisition and integration activities;
•we may assume liabilities of an acquired business (including litigation, tax liabilities, contingent liabilities, environmental issues), including liabilities that were unknown at the time of the acquisition, that pose future risks to our working capital needs, cash flows and the profitability of related operations;
•we may assume unprofitable projects that pose future risks to our working capital needs, cash flows and the profitability of related operations; or
•business acquisitions may include substantial transactional costs to complete the acquisition that exceed the estimated financial and operational benefits.
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International and political events may adversely affect our operations.
A portion of our revenues is derived from foreign operations, which exposes us to risks inherent in doing business in each of the countries where we transact business. The occurrence of any of the risks described below could have a material adverse effect on our business operations and financial performance. With respect to any particular country, these risks may include, but not be limited to:
•expropriation and nationalization of our assets in that country;
•changes in government regimes and other developments that may cause, directly or indirectly, political and economic instability;
•costs to maintain the safety of our personnel and clients in high-risk locations, including but not limited to, certain parts of Africa and the Middle East, where the country or surrounding area is suffering from political, social or economic issues, war or civil unrest;
•changes in trade policies affecting the markets for our services (including but not limited to retaliatory tariffs between the United States and other countries);
•civil unrest, acts of terrorism, war or other armed conflict (including but not limited to potential U.S. sanctions on other countries);
•currency fluctuations, devaluations and conversion restrictions;
•confiscatory taxation or other adverse tax policies;
•uncertainties related to any geopolitical, economic and regulatory effects or changes due to recent or upcoming domestic and international elections;
•governmental activities or judicial actions that limit or disrupt markets, restrict payments, limit the movement of funds, result in the deprivation of contract rights or result in the inability for us to obtain or retain licenses required for operation; or
•increased polarization of political parties, in the U.S. and abroad, which may lead to more volatility in government spending or other developments such as trade wars or changes in military priorities.
Due to the unsettled political conditions in countries where we provide governmental logistical support, our financial performance is subject to the adverse consequences of war, the effects of terrorism, civil unrest, strikes, currency controls and governmental actions. In addition, despite safety precautions, military action or unrest could disrupt our operations in such locations and elsewhere and increase our costs related to security worldwide.
Internal or external cybersecurity or privacy breaches, or systems and information technology interruption or failure could adversely impact our ability to operate or expose us to significant financial losses and reputational harm.
As a U.S. government contractor and a provider of services operating in multiple regulated industries and geographies, we and our business partners (including our service providers, joint venture partners, suppliers and subcontractors) handle a variety of sensitive information including personally identifiable information, personnel information, protected health information, classified and controlled unclassified information, and financial information, concerning our business, employees and customers. We and our business partners are continuously exposed to cyber and other security threats, including cyberattacks such as malware/computer viruses, ransomware and phishing attacks, insider threats related to malicious and non-malicious activities from authorized and unauthorized employees or third parties, catastrophic events, power outages, natural disasters, computer system or network failures or physical break-ins. We also utilize third-party software in the performance of certain critical accounting, project management, and financial reporting systems. Technological developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning, particularly those that provide actors with the capability to use more sophisticated means to attack our systems, may exacerbate cybersecurity and data privacy risks. Any unauthorized electronic or physical intrusion or other security threat may jeopardize the protection of sensitive or other information stored or transmitted through our IT systems and networks and those of our business partners and third-party software providers. This could lead to disruptions in our business and result in decreased performance, significant remediation costs, reputational damage, transaction errors, loss of data (including personally identifiable information), data leakage of confidential information, processing inefficiencies, downtime, litigation and the loss of suppliers or customers. Under certain contracts with the U.S. government subject to the FAR and CAS, the adequacy of our business processes and related systems could be called into question. Any significant disruptions or failures could have a material adverse effect on our business operations, financial performance, financial condition and reputation.
Additionally, we work with the defense industrial base industry and the U.S. government to gather and share threat intelligence and promote increased awareness and enhanced protections against cybersecurity threats. However, because of the evolving nature of these security threats, there can be no assurance that our policies, procedures and other controls will detect or prevent them, and we cannot predict their full impact. We may experience similar security threats to the IT systems that we
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develop, install or maintain under customer contracts, including customer contracts under which we may have access to or management responsibility for customer databases or networks that contain sensitive information relating to our customers, their employees or related third parties. Although we work cooperatively with our customers to seek to minimize the impacts of cyber and other security threats, we must usually rely on the safeguards used or required by those customers. In the event of unauthorized access to sensitive information for which we are responsible under customer contracts, our customers, their employees, or third parties may seek to hold us liable for any costs or other damages associated with the unauthorized access. In addition, government agencies may bring legal actions against us for violation of or noncompliance with regulatory requirements relating to any unauthorized access to sensitive information. Any remediation costs, damages or other liabilities related to unauthorized access of sensitive information of ours or our customers caused by cyber or other security threats may not be fully insured or indemnified by other means or our insurers. Occurrence of any unauthorized access caused by these security threats could adversely affect our reputation, business operations and financial results.
While we have security measures and technology in place designed to protect our and our clients’ proprietary or classified information, there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent all threats to our computer systems. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or sabotage systems change frequently, become more sophisticated and generally are not identified until they are launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. As a result, we may be required to expend significant resources to protect against the threat of system disruptions and security breaches or to alleviate problems caused by these disruptions and breaches. Any of these events could damage our reputation, cause us to incur significant liability and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We continuously evaluate the need to upgrade and/or replace our systems and network infrastructure to protect our digital environment, to stay current on vendor supported products and to improve the efficiency of our systems and for other business reasons. The implementation of new systems and information technology could adversely impact our operations by imposing substantial capital expenditures, demands on management time and risks of delays or difficulties in transitioning to new systems. In addition, our systems implementations may not result in productivity improvements at the levels anticipated. Systems implementation disruption and any other information technology disruption, if not anticipated and appropriately mitigated, could have a material adverse effect on our business.
In addition, laws and regulations governing data privacy and the unauthorized disclosure of personal data, including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), the United Kingdom Data Protection Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act, the California Privacy Rights Act and other emerging U.S. state and global privacy laws pose increasingly complex compliance challenges and potentially elevate costs and may require changes to our business practices resulting from the variation of regulatory requirements and increased enforcement frequency. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations, including related regulatory enforcement and/or private litigation resulting from a potential privacy breach, could result in governmental investigations, significant fines and penalties, damages from private causes of action or reputational harm. Additionally, we are subject to laws, rules and regulations regarding cross-border transfers of personal data, including laws relating to transfer of personal data outside the European Economic Area. If we cannot rely on existing mechanisms for transferring personal data, we may be unable to transfer personal data of employees and clients in those regions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.
An impairment of all or part of our goodwill or our intangible assets could have a material adverse impact on our net earnings and net worth.
As of January 3, 2025, we had $2,630 million of goodwill and $763 million of intangible assets recorded on our consolidated balance sheets. Goodwill represents the excess of cost over the fair market value of net assets acquired in business combinations. We perform an annual analysis of our goodwill on the first day of the fourth fiscal quarter to determine if it has become impaired. We perform an interim analysis to determine if our goodwill has become impaired if events occur or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce our enterprise fair value below its book value. These events or circumstances could include a significant change in the business climate, including a significant sustained decline in a reporting unit’s market value, legal factors, operating performance indicators, competition, sale or disposition of a significant portion of our business, potential government actions toward our facilities and various other factors. If the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, we could be required to record an impairment charge. An impairment of all or a part of our goodwill or intangible assets could have a material adverse effect on our net earnings and net worth.
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Our actual results could differ from the estimates and assumptions used to prepare our financial statements.
The preparation of our consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of certain assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses for the periods covered and certain amounts disclosed in the notes to our consolidated financial statements. These estimates are based on information available through the date of the issuance of the financial statements and actual results could differ from those estimates, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We ship a significant amount of cargo using seagoing vessels, exposing us to certain maritime risks.
We execute different projects in remote locations around the world and procure equipment and materials on a global basis. Depending on the type of contract, location, nature of the work and the sourcing of equipment and materials, we may charter seagoing vessels under time and bareboat charter arrangements and assume certain risks typical of those agreements. Such risks may include damage to the ship, liability for cargo and liability that charterers and vessel operators have to third parties “at law.” In addition, we ship a significant amount of cargo and are subject to hazards of the shipping and transportation industry.
Risks Related to Our Industry
The U.S. government awards its contracts through a rigorous competitive process and our efforts to obtain future contracts from the U.S. government may be unsuccessful.
The U.S. government conducts a rigorous competitive process for awarding most contracts. In the services arena, the U.S. government uses multiple contracting approaches. Historically, omnibus contract vehicles have been used for work that is done on a contingency or as-needed basis. In more predictable “sustainment” environments, contracts may include fixed-price, cost-reimbursable and time-and-materials elements. The U.S. government also favors multiple award task order contracts in which several contractors are selected as eligible bidders for future work. Such processes require successful contractors to continually anticipate customer requirements and develop rapid-response bid and proposal teams as well as maintain supplier relationships and delivery systems to react to emerging needs. In addition, U.S. government procurement practices sometimes emphasize price over qualitative factors, such as technical capability and past performance. As a result of these competitive pricing pressures, our profit margins on future U.S. government contracts may be reduced and may require us to make sustained efforts to reduce costs to remain competitive.
We face rigorous competition and pricing pressures for any additional contract awards from the U.S. government. Many of our existing contracts must be recompeted when their original period of performance ends, representing opportunities for competitors to take market share away from us or for our customers to obtain more favorable terms. We may be required to qualify or continue to qualify under the various multiple award task order contract criteria. Therefore, it may be more difficult for us to win future awards from the U.S. government and we may have other contractors sharing in U.S. government awards that we win. Once a contract is awarded, it may be subject to a lengthy protest process. Bid protests can result in significant expenses to us, contract modifications or even loss of the contract award and the resolution can extend the time until contract activity can begin and delay the recognition of sales and defer underlying cash flows and adversely affect our operating results. Our efforts to protest or challenge any bids for contracts that were not awarded to us also may be unsuccessful.
Our profitability and cash flow may vary based on the mix of our contracts and programs, our performance, our ability to control costs and seasonal factors.
Our profitability and cash flow may vary materially depending on the types of government contracts undertaken, the nature of services performed under those contracts, the costs incurred in performing the work, the achievement of other performance objectives and the stage of performance at which the right to receive fees is determined, particularly under award and incentive-fee contracts. Failure to perform to customer expectations and contract requirements may result in reduced fees or losses and may adversely affect our financial performance.
Our GS business segment primarily performs work in the U.S. under cost-reimbursable contracts with the DoD and other U.S. governmental agencies. If the U.S. government concludes costs charged to a contract are not reimbursable under the terms of the contract or applicable procurement regulations, these costs are disallowed or, if already reimbursed, we may be required to refund the reimbursed amounts to the customer. Such conditions may also include interest and other financial penalties.
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Contract types primarily include fixed-price and cost-reimbursable contracts. Cost-reimbursable contracts provide for the payment of allowable costs incurred during performance of the contract plus a fee up to a ceiling based on the amount that has been funded. Cost, schedule or technical performance issues with respect to cost-reimbursable contracts could result in reduced fees, lower profit rates, or program cancellation.
Under fixed price contracts, we receive a fixed price irrespective of the actual costs we incur and therefore we carry the burden of any cost overruns. Due to the fixed-price nature of the contracts, if our actual costs exceed our estimates, our margins and profits are reduced and we could incur a loss on the respective contract which could adversely affect our financial results. In addition, the timing of our profitability and cash flows may be affected by seasonal factors. For example, the peak amount of military moves in the U.S. typically occurs between May and September.
Under both fixed-price and cost-reimbursable contracts, if we are unable to control costs, our operating results could be adversely affected. Costs to complete a contract may increase for many reasons, including technical and manufacturing challenges, schedule delays, workforce-related issues, the timeliness and availability of materials from suppliers, internal and subcontractor performance or product quality issues, inability to meet cost reduction initiatives or achieve efficiencies from digital transformation, changing laws or regulations, inflation and natural disasters. Certain contracts may impose other risks, such as forfeiting fees, paying penalties, or providing replacement systems in the event of performance failure. Many of our contracts include multiple option years exercisable at the customer’s discretion, which carries risk. The customer may decline to exercise an option, or the customer may exercise an option on a contract for which we expect to incur a loss or perform at a low margin, either of which could adversely affect our financial results.
The U.S. government may adopt new contract rules and regulations or revise its procurement practices in a manner adverse to us at any time.
We face rigorous competition and pricing pressures for any additional contract awards from the U.S. government. Our industry has experienced, and we expect it will continue to experience, significant changes to business practices as a result of an increased focus on affordability, efficiencies and recovery of costs, among other items. From time to time, new laws and regulations are enacted, and government agencies adopt new interpretations and enforcement priorities relative to laws and regulations already in effect. U.S. government agencies have and may continue to face restrictions or pressure regarding the type and amount of services that they may obtain from private contractors. Legislation, regulations and initiatives dealing with procurement reform as well as any resulting shifts in the buying practices of U.S. government agencies, such as increased usage of fixed-price contracts, multiple-award contracts and small business set-aside contracts, could have adverse effects on government contractors, including us. In addition, U.S. government procurement practices sometimes emphasize price over qualitative factors, such as technical capability and past performance. As a result of these competitive pricing pressures, our profit margins on future U.S. government contracts may be reduced and may require us to make sustained efforts to reduce costs to remain competitive.
Our programs for the U.S. government often operate for periods of time under Undefinitized Contract Actions (UCAs), which means that we begin performing our obligations before the terms, specifications or price are finally agreed to between the parties. The U.S. government has (and has exercised in the past) the ability to unilaterally definitize contracts, which, absent a successful appeal, obligates us to perform under terms and conditions imposed by the U.S. government. This can affect our ability to negotiate mutually agreeable contract terms and, if a contract is unilaterally imposed upon on us, it may negatively affect our expected profit and cash flows on a program or impose burdensome terms.
Heightened competition could impact our ability to obtain contracts which could reduce our market share and profits.
We serve markets that are global and highly competitive. We compete with larger companies that have greater name recognition, financial resources and a larger technical staff. We also compete with smaller, more specialized companies that are able to concentrate their resources on particular areas. Additionally, we compete with the U.S. government’s own capabilities.
The markets in which we operate are characterized by rapidly changing technology and the needs of our customers change and evolve regularly. Therefore, our success depends on our ability to invest in and develop our people and technology to enable us to deliver services and products that address these changing needs. To remain competitive, we must consistently provide superior service, technology and performance on a cost-effective basis to our customers while understanding customer priorities and maintaining customer relationships. Our competitors may be able to provide our customers with differentiated or superior capabilities or technologies or more attractive contract terms than we can provide, including technical qualifications, past contract experience, geographic presence, price and the availability of qualified professional personnel. Some of our competitors have made or could make acquisitions of businesses, or establish teaming or other agreements among themselves or third parties, that allow them to offer more competitive and comprehensive solutions. As a result of such acquisitions or
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arrangements, our current or potential competitors may be able to accelerate the adoption of new technologies that better address customer needs, devote greater resources to bring these products and services to market, initiate or withstand substantial price competition or develop and expand their product and service offerings at a more accelerated rate. These competitive pressures in our market or our failure to compete effectively may result in fewer orders, reduced revenue and margins and loss of market share.
Our U.S. government contract work is regularly reviewed and audited by the U.S. government, U.S. government auditors and others, and these reviews can lead to withholding or delay of payments to us, non-receipt of award fees, legal actions, fines, penalties and liabilities and other remedies against us.
U.S. government contracts are subject to specific regulations such as the FAR, the Truthful Cost or Pricing Data Statute, CAS, the Service Contract Act and DoD security regulations. Failure to comply with any of these regulations, requirements or statutes may result in contract price adjustments, financial penalties or contract termination. Our U.S. government contracts are subject to audits, cost reviews and investigations by U.S. government contracting oversight agencies such as the DCAA. The DCAA reviews the adequacy of, and our compliance with, our internal control systems and policies, including our labor, billing, accounting, purchasing, property, estimating, compensation and management information systems. The DCAA has the authority to conduct audits and reviews to determine if we are complying with the requirements under the FAR and CAS, pertaining to the allocation, period assignment and allowability of costs assigned to U.S. government contracts. The DCAA presents its report findings to the DCMA. Should the DCMA determine that we have not complied with the terms of our contract or applicable statutes and regulations, payments to us may be disallowed, which could result in adjustments to previously reported revenues and refunding of previously collected cash proceeds. Additionally, we previously have been, and may in the future be subject to additional qui tam litigation brought by private individuals on behalf of the U.S. government under the Federal False Claims Act, which could include claims for treble damages. These suits may remain under seal (and hence, be unknown to us) for some time while the U.S. government decides whether to intervene on behalf of the qui tam plaintiff. For more information, see Note 14. "U.S. Government Matters" to our consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Given the demands of working for the U.S. government, we may have disagreements or experience performance issues. When performance issues arise under any of our U.S. government contracts, the U.S. government retains the right to pursue remedies, which could include termination under any affected contract. If any contract were so terminated, our ability to secure future contracts could be adversely affected. Other remedies that could be sought by our U.S. government customers for any improper activities or performance issues include sanctions such as forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments, fines and suspensions or debarment from doing business with the U.S. government. Further, the negative publicity that could arise from disagreements with our customers or sanctions as a result thereof could have an adverse effect on our reputation in the industry, reduce our ability to compete for new contracts and may also have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Several of our contracts with the U.S. government are classified or subject to other security restrictions, which may limit investor insight into portions of our business.
A significant portion of our revenue is from contracts with the U.S. government that are classified or subject to security restrictions that preclude the disclosure of certain information. Additionally, a large number of our employees have security clearances which prohibit them from providing information to investors and other KBR employees without security clearances regarding certain clients and the related services we provide to them. As we are limited in our ability to provide information about these contracts and services, such as the scope of work, associated risks and any disputes or claims, our investors may have limited insight into a substantial portion of our business which may hinder their ability to fully evaluate the risks related to that portion of our business.
Demand for our services provided under government contracts is directly affected by spending by our customers.
We derive a significant portion of our revenues from contracts with agencies and departments of the U.S., the U.K. and Australia governments, which is directly affected by changes in government spending priorities and availability of adequate funding. Additionally, government regulations generally include the right for government agencies to modify, delay, curtail, renegotiate or terminate contracts at their convenience any time prior to their completion. As we are a significant government
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contractor, our financial performance is affected by the allocation and prioritization of government spending. Factors that could affect current and future government spending include:
•policy or spending changes, or changes in enforcement priorities or resource allocation, implemented by the current administrations, defense departments or other government agencies;
•advisory commissions created to review budgetary priorities, including efficiency initiatives such as the Department of Government Efficiency;
•increased polarization of political parties;
•failure to pass budget appropriations, continuing funding resolutions or other budgetary decisions, including any failure of the U.S. federal government to manage its fiscal matters or to raise or further suspend the debt ceiling;
•changes, delays or cancellations of government programs or requirements;
•adoption of new laws, regulations or policies, or repeal of existing laws, regulations or policies, that affect companies providing services to the governments;
•reduced buying power as a result of inflation;
•curtailment of the governments’ outsourcing of services to private contractors; or
•the level of political instability due to war, conflict or natural disasters.
We face uncertainty with respect to our government contracts due to the political, fiscal, economic and budgetary challenges facing our customers. Potential contract delays, modifications or terminations may arise from resolution of these issues and could cause our revenues, profits and cash flows to be lower than our current projections. The loss of work we perform for governments or decreases in governmental spending and outsourcing could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and cash flows.
Fluctuations in commodity prices and outlook may affect our customers’ investment decisions which may result in existing project cancellations or delays or changes in the timing and funding of new awards.
Demand for many of our services in our commodity-based markets depends on capital spending by oil and natural gas companies, including national and international oil companies, and by industrial companies, which is directly affected by trends in the prices of oil, natural gas and other commodities. Fluctuations in commodity prices can have a direct effect on the profitability and cash flow of such companies, which may impact their willingness to continue pursuing their current investments or make new capital investments. Additionally, commodity prices can also significantly affect the costs of projects. Rising commodity prices can negatively impact the potential returns on investments that are planned, as well as those in progress, and result in customers deferring new investments or canceling or delaying existing projects. To the extent commodity prices decline or fluctuate, or the perceived risk thereof, and our customers defer new investments or cancel or delay existing projects, the demand for our services may decrease, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Financial Conditions and Markets
Current or future economic conditions, including recession or inflation, in the credit markets may negatively affect the ability to operate our or our customers’ businesses, finance working capital, implement our acquisition strategy and access our cash and short-term investments.
We finance our business using cash provided by operations, but also depend on the availability of and access to credit markets, including bank credit lines, letters of credit and surety bonds. Our ability to obtain capital or financing on satisfactory terms will depend in part on prevailing market conditions as well as our operating results. The lack of adequate credit or funding or the unavailability of funding on terms satisfactory to us, could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial performance. Rising or high inflation and/or interest rates could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Inflation and rising and/or high interest rates could have a negative impact on our business and we may not be able to fully offset such higher rates.
Disruptions of the capital markets could also adversely affect our clients’ ability to finance projects and could result in contract cancellations or suspensions, project delays and payment delays or defaults by our clients. In addition, clients may be unable to fund new projects, may choose to make fewer capital expenditures or otherwise slow their spending on our services or seek contract terms more favorable to them. Our government clients may face budget deficits that prohibit them from funding proposed and existing projects or that cause them to exercise their right to terminate our contracts with little or no prior notice. Furthermore, any financial difficulties suffered by our subcontractors or suppliers could increase our cost or adversely impact project schedules. These disruptions could materially impact our backlog and financial performance.
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In addition, we are subject to the risk that the lending counterparties to our Revolver may be unable to meet their contractual obligations to us if they suffer catastrophic demands on their liquidity. We also routinely enter into contracts with counterparties, including vendors, suppliers and subcontractors that may be negatively affected by events in the capital markets. If those counterparties are unable to perform their obligations to us or our clients, we may be required to provide additional services or make alternate arrangements on less favorable terms with other parties to ensure adequate performance and delivery of service to our clients. These circumstances could also lead to disputes and litigation with our partners or clients, which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.
Furthermore, our cash balances and short-term investments are maintained in accounts held at major banks and financial institutions located primarily in North America, the U.K. and Australia. Deposits are in amounts that exceed available insurance. Although none of the financial institutions in which we hold our cash and investments have gone into bankruptcy, been forced into receivership or have been seized by their governments, there is a risk that this may occur in the future. If this were to occur, we would be at risk of not being able to access our cash and investments, which may result in a temporary decrease in liquidity that could impede our ability to fund operations or execute acquisitions.
We may be unable to obtain new contract awards if we are unable to provide our customers with letters of credit, surety bonds or other credit enhancements.
Customers may require us to provide credit enhancements, including letters of credit, bank guarantees or surety bonds. We are often required to provide performance guarantees to customers to indemnify the customer should we fail to perform our obligations under the contract. Failure to provide the required credit enhancements on terms required by a customer may result in an inability to bid, win or comply with the contract. Historically, we have had adequate letters of credit capacity but such capacity beyond our Senior Credit Facility is generally at the provider’s sole discretion. Due to events that affect the banking and insurance markets, letters of credit or surety bonds may be difficult to obtain or may only be available at significant cost. Moreover, many projects are very large and complex, which often necessitates the use of a joint venture, often with a market competitor, to bid on and perform the contract. Entering into joint ventures or partnerships exposes us to the credit and performance risk of third parties, many of whom may not be financially as strong or may encounter financial difficulties. If our joint ventures or partners fail to perform, we may be required to complete the project activities. In addition, future projects may require us to obtain letters of credit that extend beyond the term of our Senior Credit Facility. Any inability to bid for or win new contracts due to the failure of obtaining adequate letters of credit, surety bonds or other customary credit enhancements could have a material adverse effect on our business prospects and future revenues.
Our Senior Credit Facility imposes restrictions that limit our operating flexibility and may result in additional expenses, and such facility may not be available if financial covenants are violated or if an event of default occurs.
Our Senior Credit Facility includes a $1 billion revolving credit facility which matures in February 2029, a Term Loan A with debt tranches denominated in U.S. dollars and British pound sterling and a Term Loan B. The Senior Credit Facility contains a number of covenants restricting, among other things, our ability to incur liens and indebtedness, sell assets, repurchase our equity shares and make certain types of investments. We are also subject to certain financial covenants, including but not limited to maintenance of a maximum consolidated net leverage ratio and a consolidated interest coverage ratio as defined in the Senior Credit Facility agreement.
A breach of any covenant or our inability to comply with the required financial ratios could result in a default under our Senior Credit Facility, and we can provide no assurance that we will be able to obtain the necessary waivers or amendments from our lenders to remedy a default. In the event of any default not cured or waived, the lenders are not obligated to provide funding or issue letters of credit and could elect to require us to apply available cash to collateralize any outstanding letters of credit and declare any outstanding borrowings, together with accrued interest and other fees, to be immediately due and payable, thus requiring us to apply available cash to repay any borrowings then outstanding. If we are unable to cash collateralize our letters of credit or repay borrowings with respect to our Senior Credit Facility when due, our lenders could proceed against the guarantees of our major domestic subsidiaries. If any future indebtedness under our Senior Credit Facility is accelerated, we can provide no assurance that our assets would be sufficient to repay such indebtedness in full.
Our indebtedness and the associated covenants could materially adversely affect our ability to obtain additional financing, including for acquisitions and capital expenditures, limit our flexibility to manage our business, prevent us from fulfilling our financial obligations and restrict our use of capital.
We had approximately $2.6 billion of indebtedness outstanding as of January 3, 2025 which could have negative consequences to us, including, but not limited to:
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•requiring us to dedicate cash flow from operations to the repayment of debt, interest and other related amounts, which reduces the funds we have available for other purposes, such as working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, payment of dividends and share repurchase programs;
•making it more difficult or expensive for us to obtain any necessary future financing for working capital, capital expenditures, debt service requirements, debt refinancing, acquisitions or other purposes;
•reducing our flexibility in planning for or reacting to changes in our industry and market conditions;
•causing us to be more vulnerable in the event of a downturn in our business;
•exposing us to increased interest rate risk given that a portion of our debt obligations are at variable interest rates; and
•increasing our risk of a covenant violation under our Senior Credit Facility.
We may be required to contribute additional cash to meet any unfunded benefit obligations associated with our defined benefit plans.
We have frozen defined benefit pension plans for employees primarily in the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. At January 3, 2025, our defined benefit pension plans had an aggregate funding surplus (calculated as the excess of the fair value of plan assets over the projected benefit obligations) of approximately $77 million. The largest potential source of deficit is related to our defined benefit pension plan in the U.K that is in a funding surplus position at January 3, 2025. In the future, our pension surpluses and deficits may increase or decrease depending on changes in the levels of interest rates, pension plan performance and other factors that may require us to make additional cash contributions to our pension plans and recognize further increases in our net pension cost to satisfy our funding requirements. If we are required or elect to make up all or a significant portion of the deficit for any underfunded benefit plans, our financial position could be materially and adversely affected.
Our U.K. pension plan has been frozen to new participants for a number of years but can still have an aggregate funding deficit due to assumptions and factors noted below. For our frozen defined benefit pension plan in the U.K., the annual minimum funding requirements are based on a binding agreement with the plan trustees that is negotiated on a triennial basis. This agreement also includes other assurances and commitments regarding the business and assets that support the U.K. pension plan. It is possible that, following future valuations of our U.K. pension plan assets and liabilities or following future discussions with the trustees, the annual funding obligation will change. The future valuations under our U.K. pension plan can be affected by a number of assumptions and factors, including legislative changes, assumptions regarding interest rates, inflation, mortality and retirement rates, the investment strategy and performance of the plan assets and (in certain circumstance) actions by the U.K. pensions regulator. Adverse changes in the equity markets, interest rates or actuarial assumptions and legislative or other regulatory actions could increase the risk that the funding requirements increase following the next triennial negotiation. A significant increase in our funding requirements for our U.K. pension plan could result in a material adverse effect on our cash flows and financial position.
We are subject to foreign currency exchange risks that could adversely affect our results of operations and our ability to reinvest earnings from operations. Our ability to mitigate our foreign exchange risk through hedging transactions may be limited.
We generally attempt to denominate our contracts in U.S. dollars or in the currencies of our costs. However, we enter into contracts that subject us to currency risk exposure, primarily when our contract revenues are denominated in a currency different from the contract costs. A portion of our consolidated revenues and consolidated operating expenses are in foreign currencies. As a result, we are subject to foreign currency risks, including risks resulting from changes in currency exchange rates and limitations on our ability to reinvest earnings from operations in one country to fund the financing requirements of our operations in other countries.
The governments of certain countries have or may in the future impose restrictive exchange controls on local currencies and it may not be possible for us to engage in effective hedging transactions to mitigate the risks associated with fluctuations of a particular currency. We are often required to pay all or a portion of our costs associated with a project in the local currency. As a result, we generally attempt to negotiate contract terms with our customer, who is often affiliated with the local government, or has a significant local presence, to provide that we are only paid in the local currency for amounts that match our local expenses. If we are unable to match our local currency costs with revenues in the local currency, we would be exposed to the risk of adverse changes in currency exchange rates.
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Risks Related to Our Common Stock
If we need to sell or issue additional shares of common stock to refinance existing debt or to finance future acquisitions or operations, our existing shareholder ownership could be diluted.
Part of our business strategy is to expand into new markets and enhance our position in existing markets, both domestically and internationally, which may include the acquisition and merging of complementary businesses. To successfully fund and complete such potential acquisitions, or to refinance our existing debt, we may issue additional equity securities that may result in dilution of our existing shareholder ownership's earnings per share. For example, we have previously issued convertible notes and may again in the future issue additional convertible notes.
Provisions in our charter documents, Delaware law and our Senior Credit Facility may inhibit a takeover or impact operational control that could adversely affect the value of our common stock.
Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as Delaware corporate law, contain provisions that could delay or prevent a change of control or changes in our management that a stockholder might consider favorable. These provisions include, among others, prohibiting stockholder action by written consent, advance notice for making nominations at meetings of stockholders, providing for the state of Delaware as the exclusive forum for lawsuits concerning certain corporate matters and the issuance of preferred stock with rights that may be senior to those of our common stock without stockholder approval. These provisions would apply even if a takeover offer may be considered beneficial by some of our stockholders. If a change of control or change in management is delayed or prevented, the market price of our common stock could decline. Additionally, our Senior Credit Facility contains a default provision that is triggered upon a change in control of at least 25%, which would impede a takeover and/or make a takeover more costly.
We may change our dividend policy in the future.
We have maintained a regular cash dividend program since 2007. We anticipate continuing to pay quarterly dividends during fiscal 2025. However, any future payment of dividends, including the timing and amount of any such dividends, is at the discretion of our Board of Directors and may depend upon our earnings, liquidity, financial condition, alternate capital deployment opportunities or any other factors that our Board of Directors considers relevant. A change in our regular cash dividend program could have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.
Risks Related to Regulations and Compliance
We could be adversely impacted if we fail to comply with international export and domestic laws, which are rigorously enforced by the U.S. government.
To the extent that we export products, technical data and services outside of the U.S., we are subject to laws and regulations governing trade and exports, including, but not limited to, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations, and trade sanctions against embargoed countries, including sanctions and export restrictions related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which are administered by the Office of Foreign Asset Control within the Department of the Treasury. In addition, President Trump has directed various federal agencies to further evaluate key aspects of U.S. trade policy and there has been ongoing discussion and commentary regarding potential significant changes to U.S. trade policies, treaties and tariffs. A failure to comply with these laws and regulations could result in civil or criminal sanctions, including the imposition of fines as well as the denial of export privileges and debarment from participation in U.S. government contracts. U.S. government contract violations could result in the imposition of civil and criminal penalties or sanctions, contract termination, forfeiture of profit or suspension of payment, any of which could result in losing our status as an eligible U.S. government contractor and cause us to suffer serious reputational harm, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We are subject to anti-bribery laws in the U.S. and other jurisdictions, violations of which could result in suspension or debarment of our ability to contract with the U.S. state or local governments, U.S. government agencies or the U.K. MoD, third-party claims, loss of customers, adverse financial impact, damage to reputation and adverse consequences on financing for current or future projects.
The FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act and similar anti-bribery laws ("Anti-bribery Laws") in other jurisdictions generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Our policies mandate compliance with these Anti-bribery Laws. We operate in many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree and, in certain circumstances, strict compliance with
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Anti-bribery Laws may conflict with local customs and practices. We train our staff concerning Anti-bribery Laws and we also inform our partners, subcontractors, agents and other third parties who work for us or on our behalf that they must comply with the requirements of these Anti-bribery Laws. We also have procedures and controls in place to monitor internal and external compliance. We cannot provide complete assurance that our internal controls and procedures will always protect us from the reckless or criminal acts committed by our employees or third parties working on our behalf. If we are found to be liable for violations of these laws (either due to our own acts or our inadvertence, or due to the acts or inadvertence of others), we could suffer from criminal or civil penalties or other sanctions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Certain of our work sites are inherently dangerous and we are subject to various environmental and worker health and safety laws and regulations. If we fail to maintain safe work sites or to comply with these laws and regulations, we may suffer damage to our reputation and incur significant costs and penalties that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Certain work sites often expose our employees and others to chemical and manufacturing processes, highly-regulated materials, large pieces of mechanized equipment and moving vehicles. Additionally, our employees and others at certain project sites may be exposed to severe weather events or high security risks. Failure to implement effective safety procedures may result in injury, disability or loss of life to these parties. In addition, the projects may be delayed and we may be exposed to litigation or investigations.
Our operations are subject to a variety of environmental, worker health and safety laws and regulations governing the generation, management and use of regulated materials, the discharge of materials into the environment, the remediation of environmental contamination associated with the release of hazardous substances and human health and safety. Violations of these laws and regulations can cause significant delays and additional costs to a project. When we perform our services, our personnel and equipment may be exposed to radioactive and hazardous materials and conditions. We may be subject to claims alleging personal injury, property damage or natural resource damages by employees, customers and third parties as a result of alleged exposure to or contamination by hazardous substances. In addition, we may be subject to fines, penalties or other liabilities arising under environmental and employee safety laws. A claim, if not covered by insurance at all or only partially, could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, more stringent regulation of our customers' operations with respect to the protection of the environment could also adversely affect their operations and reduce demand for our services.
Various U.S. federal, state and local as well as foreign environmental laws and regulations may impose liability for property damage and costs of investigation and cleanup of hazardous or toxic substances on property currently or previously owned by us or arising out of our waste management or environmental remediation activities. These laws may impose responsibility and liability without regard to knowledge or causation of the presence of contaminants. The liability under these laws may be joint and several. The ongoing costs of complying with existing environmental laws and regulations could be substantial and have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Changes in the environmental laws and regulations, remediation obligations, enforcement actions, stricter interpretations of existing requirements, future discovery of contamination or claims for damages to persons, property, natural resources or the environment could result in material costs and liabilities that we currently do not anticipate.
Our effective tax rate and tax positions may vary.
We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in determining certain components of our worldwide provision for income taxes and a change in tax laws, treaties or regulations, or their interpretation, in any country in which we operate could result in higher taxes on our earnings, which could have a material impact on our earnings and cash flows from operations. In the ordinary course of our business, there are certain transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. We are audited by various U.S. and foreign tax authorities in the ordinary course of business, and our tax estimates and tax positions could be materially affected by many factors including the final outcome of tax audits and related litigation, the introduction of new tax accounting standards, legislation, regulations and related interpretations, our global mix of earnings, the realizability of deferred tax assets and changes in uncertain tax positions. In particular, international operations could adversely be affected by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s proposed international taxation reform and introduction of a global minimum tax. A significant increase in tax rates could have a material adverse effect on our profitability and liquidity.
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Risks Related to Climate
There are rapidly evolving views from stakeholders, such as investors, customers and current and future employees, with respect to global climate risks and the related emphasis on sustainability practices, which could affect our business.
Continued attention to issues concerning climate risks or other environmental matters may result in the imposition of additional environmental regulations, rules, standards and policies that seek to restrict, or otherwise impose limitations or costs upon our operations and the emission of greenhouse gases. International agreements, national, regional and state legislation and regulatory measures, including LNG exports, or other policies and restrictions on emissions of greenhouse gases could affect our clients, including those who are involved in the exploration, production or refining of fossil fuels and those who emit greenhouse gases through the combustion of fossil fuels, or through mining, manufacturing or the utilization or production of materials or goods. Such legislation or restrictions could increase the costs of projects for us and our clients or, in some cases, prevent a project from going forward, thereby potentially reducing the need for our services that could in turn have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial condition. However, policy changes and climate legislation could also increase the overall demand for our services as our clients and partners work to comply with such policies, such as by decarbonizing their industries, transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources and developing integrated and sustainable solutions, which could have a positive impact on our business. We cannot predict when or whether any of these various legislative and regulatory proposals may become law or what their effect will be on us and our customers.
Furthermore, investor and societal expectations with respect to corporate responsibility matters have been rapidly evolving and increasing. We risk damage to our reputation if we do not act responsibly in the following key areas: anti-discrimination, environmental stewardship, support for local communities and corporate governance and transparency. A failure to adequately meet stakeholders' expectations may result in loss of business, diluted market valuation, an inability to attract and retain customers and talented personnel, increased negative investor sentiment toward us and/or our customers and the diversion of investment to other industries, which could have a negative impact on our stock price and our access to and costs of capital. In some cases, certain of our key stakeholders may have oppositional or conflicting views and expectations with respect to various matters (e.g., some may be pro-environmental stewardship and others may be anti-sustainability initiatives). In such cases, it may be difficult or impossible for us to meet all stakeholders’ expectations, and the decisions we make may not yield the results that we expect or intend.
In addition, standards for tracking and reporting corporate responsibility matters continue to evolve. New laws, regulations, policies and international accords relating to such matters, including sustainability, climate-related risks, human capital and anti-discrimination, are being developed and formalized in Europe, the United States, Asia and elsewhere, which may entail specific, target-driven frameworks and/or disclosure requirements. Our selection of voluntary disclosure frameworks and standards, and the interpretation or application of those frameworks and standards, may change from time to time or differ from those of others, and may not be in line with any new and forthcoming related disclosure rules in the United States and abroad. For example, in January 2025, President Trump signed several executive orders signaling ongoing oversight of diversity initiatives. These orders may lead to further investigations of private entities, including publicly-traded companies. Methodologies for reporting data in these areas (e.g., sustainability and climate-related impacts, or human capital data) may also be updated and previously reported data may be adjusted to reflect improvement in availability and quality of internal and third-party data, changing assumptions, changes in the nature and scope of our operations and other changes in circumstances. Our processes and controls for reporting such matters across our operations and supply chain are evolving along with multiple disparate standards for identifying, measuring and reporting metrics, including related disclosures that may be required by the SEC, European and other regulators, and such standards may change over time, which could result in significant revisions to our current goals, reported progress in achieving such goals or ability to achieve such goals in the future. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply fully with developing interpretations of such laws and regulations could harm our business, reputation, financial condition and operating results and require significant time and resources to make the necessary adjustments. If our corporate responsibility practices do not meet evolving investor or other stakeholder expectations and standards, then our reputation or our attractiveness as an investment, business partner, acquirer, service provider or employer could be negatively impacted.
Climate risks and related environmental issues could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Climate-related events, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, floods, wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, freezing conditions and other natural disasters, may have a long-term impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Although we are proactively seeking measures to mitigate our business risks associated with climate-related events, we recognize that there are innate climate-related risks regardless of where and how we conduct our businesses. As such, a potential disruption to our and our customer's businesses from a natural disaster may cause us to experience work stoppages,
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project delays, financial losses and additional costs to resume operations such as increased insurance costs or loss of coverage, legal liability and reputational damage.
We may be unable to achieve our sustainability commitments and targets which could result in the loss of investors and customers and damage to our reputation.
We are continuously committed to advancing our sustainability strategy as evidenced by the establishment and continued focus on delivering on our net-zero carbon ambitions after we achieved carbon neutrality in 2019. However, achievement of our sustainability commitments and targets is subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: our ability to execute our operational strategies and achieve our goals within the currently projected costs and the expected timeframes; the availability and cost of alternative fuels, global electrical charging infrastructure, off-site renewable energy and other materials and components; unforeseen design, operational and technological difficulties; the outcome of research efforts and future technology developments, including the ability to scale projects and technologies on a commercially competitive basis such as carbon sequestration and/or other related processes; compliance with, and changes or additions to, global and regional regulations, taxes, charges, mandates or requirements relating to greenhouse gas emissions, carbon costs or climate-related goals; labor-related regulations and requirements that restrict or prohibit our ability to impose requirements on third party contractors; adapting products to customer preferences and customer acceptance of sustainable supply chain solutions; the actions of competitors and competitive pressures; and an acquisition of or merger with another company that has not adopted similar carbon negative goals or whose progress towards reaching its carbon negative goals is not as advanced as ours.
Although we believe that our sustainability commitments and targets are achievable, there is no assurance that we will be able to successfully implement our strategies and achieve our net-zero targets. Investors have recently increased their focus on sustainability matters, including practices related to greenhouse gas emissions and the environment. Additionally, an increasing percentage of the investment community considers sustainability factors in making investment decisions, and an increasing number of entities are considering sustainability factors in awarding business. The implementation of these goals and initiatives may require considerable investments, and our goals, with all of their contingencies, dependencies and in certain cases, reliance on third-party verification and/or performance, are complex and ambitious and may change, and we cannot guarantee that we will achieve them. If we are unable to meet our commitments and targets and appropriately address sustainability enhancement, we may lose investors, customers or partners, our stock price may be negatively impacted, our reputation may be negatively affected and it may be more difficult for us to compete effectively, all of which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as on the price of our common stock.
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Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 1C. Cybersecurity
Risk Management and Strategy
Cybersecurity risk is managed within the Company’s Enterprise Risk Management program. Our Enterprise Risk Management team works closely with our global Information Assurance team to continuously evaluate and address cybersecurity risks within the Enterprise Risk Management framework in alignment with our business objectives and operational needs. The Company has established a comprehensive global cybersecurity and information security framework to help safeguard the confidentiality, integrity and access of its information assets and to ensure regulatory, contractual and operational compliance. We understand the importance of preserving trust and protecting personal and other confidential and sensitive information. Our cybersecurity program includes controls designed to identify, protect against, detect, respond to and recover from cybersecurity and information security incidents.
The Company's cybersecurity and information security framework is built upon the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cyber Security Framework and incorporates International Organization for Standardizations (ISO) 27001 standards for general information technology security controls and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) for assessment of internal controls. KBR's global cybersecurity risk program also integrates the following cybersecurity frameworks across our regional operations: US Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and NIST 800-171, UK Cyber Essentials and Australia's Essential Eight.
The Company utilizes policies and procedures, software, training programs and hardware solutions to protect and monitor its environment. Our Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) oversees the Company’s approach to managing cybersecurity and digital risk. Our CISO reports to the General Counsel, is supported by and collaborates with the Company's executive leadership team and regularly engages with cross-functional teams at the Company, including Digital Technology, Legal, Audit, Human Resources, Facilities and Corporate Risk. Our Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), Chief Information Officer (CIO) and CISO oversee our dedicated technology risk management, which work in partnership with our internal audit department and data privacy team to review information technology-related internal controls with our independent registered public accounting firm as part of the overall internal controls process.
The Company provides mandatory annual security awareness education and training for all employees, new hires and contractors, conducts regular internal “phishing” testing and requires additional training for “clickers,” and publishes periodic tips to inform our user population of cyber best practices, any emerging external or internal threats and data privacy requirements applicable in the jurisdictions in which we operate.
We maintain a robust Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan, which provides a framework for handling cybersecurity incidents based on the severity of the incident and facilitates cross-functional coordination across the Company, and have established a global Security Operations Center to support enterprise visibility to cyber incidents in real time. We update our Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan on a regular basis, and regularly measure our security posture and resilience through risk assessments, penetration testing, vulnerability scanning and attack simulation. The Company also conducts additional cybersecurity tabletop exercises using independent moderators with respect to breach and other problematic information security scenarios for executive management and employees, as well as our board of directors, when appropriate.
We also engage with a range of external experts to assess and report on the effectiveness of our cybersecurity and data privacy controls, compliance with international and regional cybersecurity standards and our internal incident response preparedness, as well as to help identify areas for continued focus and improvement.The Company also has a third-party risk management program that assesses the cyber-related risks from our vendors and suppliers. We also benchmark our activities and results against select peers.
Risks from Cybersecurity Threats
In the last three fiscal years, we have not experienced any material information security breach incidences and the expenses we have incurred from information security breach incidences were immaterial. We have not incurred any material penalties and settlements related to any cybersecurity breach. Other risks from cybersecurity threats have also not materially impacted our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition, and as of the date of this report, we do not reasonably believe that such risks will have a material impact on our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition.
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Governance
Our CISO oversees the Company’s approach to managing cybersecurity and digital risk and leads our global Information Assurance team. Our CISO brings over 15 years of experience, which includes implementing and verifying effectiveness of cybersecurity controls in high-security environments. Our CISO maintains the following internationally recognized certifications: ISC2 - Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) and Project Management Institute - Project Management Professional (PMP).
Our CIO oversees the Company’s information technology infrastructure and implements policies and procedures issued by the CISO within the Company. Our CIO brings over 30 years of experience, garnered across a diverse range of industries and countries, which includes implementing new systems and modifying existing systems for changes in policies and procedures.
Management's Role Managing Risk
Our CISO is responsible for the creation of the Company’s enterprise-wide cybersecurity and information security framework, including the design effectiveness of the Company’s cybersecurity controls. Our CIO is responsible for the implementation of the Company’s cybersecurity and information security framework and the day-to-day execution of our cybersecurity processes and controls. The CISO reports to the General Counsel and the CIO reports to the Chief Financial Officer. All cyber incidents under our existing cyber policy are reported to both the CISO and CIO, which are then communicated through their reporting structure to the General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer. The CISO and CIO routinely provide operational updates to the General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer as needed, and updates are regularly provided by the CISO and CIO to both the Cybersecurity and Audit Committees of our Board of Directors as discussed more fully below.
Board of Directors Oversight
Our board of directors is committed to mitigating data privacy and cybersecurity risks. While the Board of Directors maintains ultimate responsibility for the oversight of our data privacy and cybersecurity program and risks, it has delegated certain responsibilities to our Cybersecurity Committee and Audit Committee. The Cybersecurity and Audit Committees stay apprised of our data privacy and information security programs, strategy, policies, standards, architecture, processes and material risks and overseeing responses to security and data incidents. The Board of Directors receives information security and privacy awareness training, which covers, among other matters, the Board's oversight obligations and the privacy and security programs in place at the company. Our Cybersecurity and Audit Committees regularly receive updates from our CISO and CIO on data privacy risks, security risks and any material incidents. Additionally, outside counsel advises the Board about best practices for cybersecurity oversight by the Board. Members of the Board stay apprised of the rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape through our ongoing director education programming and provide guidance to management as appropriate in order to address the effectiveness of our overall data privacy and cybersecurity program. Four members of our Board of Directors, two of whom serve as members of the Cybersecurity Committee, have cybersecurity experience.
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Item 2.Properties
Our operations are conducted at both owned and leased properties in domestic and foreign locations. Our corporate headquarters are located at 601 Jefferson Street, Houston, Texas 77002. While we have operations worldwide, the following table describes the locations of our more significant existing office facilities:
Location Owned/Leased Business Segment
North America:
Houston, Texas Leased All
Fulton, Maryland Leased Government Solutions
Columbia, Maryland Leased Government Solutions
Lexington Park, Maryland Leased Government Solutions
Chantilly, Virginia Leased Government Solutions
Vienna, Virginia Leased Government Solutions
Fairfax, Virginia Leased Government Solutions
Herndon, Virginia Leased Government Solutions
Huntsville, Alabama Leased Government Solutions
Phoenix, Arizona Leased Government Solutions
El Segundo, California Leased Government Solutions
Newark, Delaware Leased Sustainable Technology Solutions
Colorado Springs, Colorado Leased Government Solutions
North Charleston, South Carolina Leased Government Solutions
Dayton/Beavercreek, Ohio Leased Government Solutions
Europe, Middle East and Africa:
Leatherhead, United Kingdom Owned All
Glasgow, United Kingdom Leased Government Solutions
Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia Leased Sustainable Technology Solutions
Asia-Pacific:
Chennai, India Leased All
Majura Park, Australia Leased Government Solutions
Delhi (Gurgaon), India Leased Sustainable Technology Solutions
Brisbane, Australia Leased Government Solutions
Sydney, Australia Leased Government Solutions
Melbourne, Australia Leased Government Solutions
Adelaide, Australia Leased Sustainable Technology Solutions
Canberra, Australia Leased Government Solutions
We also own or lease numerous small facilities that include sales, administrative and offices as well as warehouses and equipment yards located throughout the world. Our owned Leatherhead property is pledged to secure certain pension obligations in the U.K., and we believe all properties that we currently occupy are suitable for their intended use.
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Item 3.Legal Proceedings
Information relating to various commitments and contingencies is described in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” contained in Part I of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in Notes 6, 13 and 14 to our consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the information discussed therein is incorporated by reference into this Part I, Item 3.
Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5.Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our common stock is listed on the NYSE and trades under the symbol “KBR.” We have declared a dividend in each quarter during the years ended January 3, 2025 and December 29, 2023, and we currently expect that comparable quarterly cash dividends will continue to be paid for the foreseeable future. The declaration, payment and amount of future cash dividends will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors. On February 20, 2025, the Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.165 per share, which will be paid on April 15, 2025.
At January 31, 2025, there were 58 shareholders of record. In calculating the number of shareholders, we consider clearing agencies and security position listings as one shareholder for each agency or listing.
Share Repurchases
On February 25, 2014, the Board of Directors authorized a plan to repurchase our outstanding shares of common stock, which replaced and terminated the August 26, 2011 share repurchase program. As of January 3, 2025, $296 million remained available for repurchase under this authorization. On February 20, 2025, the Board of Directors authorized $454 million of share repurchases to be added to the prior authorizations, which increased the total amount authorized and available for repurchase under the share repurchase program to $750 million. The authorization does not obligate us to acquire any particular number of shares of common stock and may be commenced, suspended or discontinued without prior notice. The share repurchases are intended to be funded through our current and future cash flows and the authorization does not have an expiration date.
The following is a summary of share repurchases of our common stock settled during the three months ended January 3, 2025, and the amount available to be repurchased under the authorized share repurchase program as of January 3, 2025:
(1)Included within the shares repurchased herein are 11,968 shares acquired from employees in connection with the settlement of income tax and related benefit withholding obligations arising from issuance of share-based equity awards under the KBR Stock and Incentive Plan at an average price of $58.06 per share.
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Performance Graph
The following performance graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC, nor shall the information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that the Company specifically incorporates it by reference into such filing.
The following performance graph compares the cumulative total shareholder return on shares of our common stock for the five-year period ended January 3, 2025, with the cumulative total return on the S&P 1500 IT Consulting & Other Services Index, the Russell 1000 Index, the S&P MidCap 400 Index and the Dow Jones Heavy Construction Industry Index for the same period. The comparisons assume the investment of $100 on December 31, 2019 and reinvestment of all dividends. The shareholder return is not necessarily indicative of future performance.
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Item 6.[Reserved]
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Item 7.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Introduction
The purpose of the MD&A is to provide our stockholders and other interested parties with information necessary to gain an understanding of our financial condition and disclose changes in our financial condition since the most recent fiscal year-end and results of operations during the current fiscal period as compared to the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal year. The MD&A should be read in conjunction with Part I of this Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as the consolidated financial statements and related notes included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Company Overview
KBR Inc., a Delaware corporation ("KBR"), delivers science, technology, engineering and logistics support solutions to governments and companies around the world. Drawing from its culture of innovation and mission focus, KBR creates sustainable value by combining deep domain expertise with its full-life cycle capabilities to help clients meet their most pressing challenges.
Our Business Segments
KBR's business is organized into two core business segments and one non-core business segment as follows:
Core business segments
•Government Solutions
•Sustainable Technology Solutions
Non-core business segment
•Corporate
See additional information on our business segments in Note 2. "Business Segment Information" to our consolidated financial statements and under "Item 1. Business" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Business Environment and Trends
Government Outlook
In December 2024, the National Defense Authorization Act ("NDAA") for fiscal year 2025 was signed into law. The NDAA authorizes programs, projects and policies to be carried out with funds appropriated by Congress as part of the annual budgetary process. The NDAA supports approximately $884 billion in fiscal year 2025 funding for national defense, $850 billion of which is for the DoD. The requested amount is an increase of $9 billion when compared to the authorized defense spending for fiscal year 2024.
The U.S. government has not yet enacted an annual budget for its fiscal year 2025. To avert a government shutdown, a continuing resolution funding measure has been enacted to finance all U.S. government activities through March 14, 2025. Under the continuing resolution, partial-year funding at amounts consistent with appropriated levels for fiscal year 2024 are available, subject to certain restrictions, but new spending initiatives are not authorized. Uncertainty continues to exist regarding the 2025 fiscal year budget and the impacts that the new legislative and executive branch will have on the final fiscal year 2025 budget. We believe our key programs will continue to be supported and funded in the continuing resolution financing mechanism. The effect of a potential government shutdown or the ultimate fiscal year 2025 budget on KBR or our individual programs cannot be predicted at this time. However, if a government shutdown were to occur and were to continue for an extended period, we could be at risk of program cancellations, schedule delays and other disruptions and nonpayment, which could adversely affect our results of operations. We anticipate the federal budget will continue to be subject to debate and compromise shaped by, among other things, the new Administration and Congress, efficiency initiatives such as the Department of Government Efficiency, the global security environment, inflationary pressures and macroeconomic conditions. The result may be shifting funding priorities, which could have material impacts on defense spending broadly and our programs.
Internationally, our Government Solutions work is performed primarily for the U.K. MoD and the Australian Department of Defence. In March 2024, the U.K. government announced the defense budget, with the defense budget remaining consistent with the defense budget from the prior fiscal year. A general election was held in the United Kingdom in July 2024, with the
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Labour Party becoming the primary governing party of the House of Commons. The Labour Party has committed to increasing defense spending to 2.5% of GDP in the future, which is an increase from the previous commitment to increase defense spending to 2.25%. The Labour Party has commissioned a strategic defense review to determine future defense spending priorities. Recognizing the importance of strong defense and the role the U.K. plays across the globe, the U.K. has prioritized investment in military research and investment in key areas to advance and develop capabilities around artificial intelligence, cyber security and space superiority. The Australian government continues to invest in defense spending, with particular focus on enhancing regional security, modernizing defense capabilities, strengthening cyber defenses and promoting broader economic stability. The fiscal year budget for Australia for the 2024 - 2025 financial year was finalized, with the Australian government increasing defense spending to AUD 55.7 billion, or approximately 2.00% of GDP.
With defense and civil budgets driven in part by political instability, military conflicts, aging platforms and infrastructure and the need for technology advances, we expect continued opportunities to provide solutions and technologies to mission critical work aligned with our customers’ and our nation’s critical priorities.
Sustainable Technology Outlook
Long-range commercial market fundamentals are supported by global population growth, expanding global development and an acceleration of demand for energy transition, renewable energy sources and climate-related solutions. The globe is in search of the solution to the energy trilemma, the balance between energy affordability, ensuring energy security and achieving environmental sustainability. Clients are prioritizing their efforts to solve the energy trilemma by investing in digital solutions to optimize operations, increase end-product flexibility and energy efficiency, reduce unplanned downtime and minimize environmental footprint. As the global focus on energy security intensifies and companies continue to commit to near-term carbon neutrality and longer-range net-zero carbon emissions, we expect spending to continue in areas such as decarbonization; carbon capture, utilization and sequestration; biofuels; and circular economy. Further, leading companies across the world are proactively evaluating clean energy alternatives, including hydrogen and green ammonia, which complements KBR's proprietary process technologies, solutions and capabilities. We expect climate protection, energy security and energy transition to continue to be areas of priority and investment as many countries, including the U.S., look to boost their economies and invest in a cleaner, more secure future.
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Results of Operations
The following tables set forth our results of operations for the periods presented, including by segment. A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operations for the years ended December 29, 2023 and December 31, 2022 is included in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2023 ("fiscal 2023"), as filed with the SEC on February 20, 2024.
Consolidated Results
Year Ended Change
Legal settlement of legacy matter — (144) — (144) (100) % 144 n/m
Gain (loss) on disposition of assets and investments 7 (7) 19 14 n/m (26) n/m
Other (11) (4) (4) 7 n/m — — %
Gain on other investment — — 16 — — % (16) n/m
Charges associated with Convertible Notes — (494) — (494) (100) % 494 n/m
Other non-operating income (expense) (7) (5) 12 2 40 % (17) n/m
Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests 6 4 2 2 50 % 2 100 %
Net income (loss) attributable to KBR $ 375 $ (265) $ 190 $ 640 n/m $ (455) n/m
n/m - not meaningful
Revenues. Revenues increased by $786 million, or 11%, to $7,742 million in fiscal 2024, compared to $6,956 million in fiscal 2023. The increase was primarily due to growth on high-end defense engineering, classified intelligence and international programs within our GS business, increased revenues from engineering and professional services in our STS business and $181 million in revenue associated with LinQuest. The increase was offset by the final resolution of an outstanding legacy claim associated with a U.S. government project, resulting in a $26 million decrease in fiscal 2024.
Gross profit. The increase in overall gross profit of $126 million, or 13%, was primarily driven by items increasing revenues discussed above and $32 million in gross profit associated with LinQuest. This was partially offset by favorable resolutions on various legacy matters in fiscal 2023 that did not recur in fiscal 2024.
Equity in earnings (losses) of unconsolidated affiliates. Equity in earnings (losses) of unconsolidated affiliates decreased by $7 million to $107 million in earnings in fiscal 2024 compared to $114 million in earnings in fiscal 2023, primarily due to decreased equity in earnings from services on an LNG project within our STS segment.
Selling, general and administrative expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $56 million higher in fiscal 2024 compared to fiscal 2023, which was primarily driven by additional expenses incurred to support the growth in both our GS and STS business segments.
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Legal settlement of legacy matter. In fiscal 2023, we recorded a charge of $144 million related to the settlement of a legacy legal matter that did not recur in fiscal 2024.
Gain (loss) on disposition of assets and investments. In fiscal 2024, we recognized a gain on disposition of assets and investments of $7 million primarily due to the sale of our investment interest in a joint venture within our GS segment. In fiscal 2023, we recognized a loss on disposition of assets and investments of $7 million related to the sale of our operations in Russia. This loss was primarily due to $10 million in accumulated foreign currency adjustments that were reclassified from AOCL.
Interest Expense. The increase in interest expense was primarily driven by increases in the U.S. federal reserve funds rate and increased outstanding debt principal from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2024.
Charges associated with Convertible Notes. In fiscal 2023, we recognized a loss of $494 million related to the cash election and repurchase of our Convertible Notes and the agreements to terminate and settle our outstanding warrants in fiscal 2023 that did not recur in fiscal 2024.
Provision for income taxes. The provision for income taxes for fiscal 2024 reflects a 25% tax rate as compared to a (57)% tax rate for fiscal 2023. The effective tax rate of 25%, as compared to the U.S. statutory rate of 21%, for fiscal 2024 was primarily impacted by the rate differential on our foreign earnings and the impact of state and local taxes in the U.S. The effective tax rate of (57)%, as compared to the U.S. statutory rate of 21%, for fiscal 2023 was primarily impacted by the non-deductible portion of a legal settlement on a legacy matter and the non-deductible charge associated with the cash election and Convertible Notes repurchase in fiscal 2023. The impacts of these non-deductible items were partially offset by the release of a previously reserved position based on developments associated with the ongoing IRS examination and appeals process for certain years. See Note 12 "Income Taxes" to our consolidated financial statements for further discussion on income taxes, including our reconciliation of the U.S. statutory tax rate to our effective tax rate.
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Results of Operations by Business Segment
We analyze the financial results of our two core business segments and one non-core business segment. The business segments presented are consistent with our reportable segments discussed in Note 2. "Business Segment Information" to our consolidated financial statements.
Years Ended Change
Revenues
Operating income
n/m - not meaningful
Government Solutions
GS revenues increased by $518 million, or 10%, to $5,871 million in fiscal 2024 compared to $5,353 million in fiscal 2023. The increase in revenue is primarily due to growth on high-end defense engineering, classified intelligence and international programs and $181 million in revenue associated with LinQuest. The increase was offset by the final resolution of an outstanding legacy claim associated with a U.S. government program, resulting in a $26 million decrease in fiscal 2024.
GS operating income increased by $168 million, or 59%, to $453 million in fiscal 2024 compared to $285 million in fiscal 2023. The increase in operating income was primarily driven by the $144 million charge recognized in fiscal 2023 related to the settlement of a legacy legal matter that did not recur in fiscal 2024, $16 million in operating income associated with LinQuest and growth in the areas discussed above. Additionally, in fiscal 2024, we recognized $6 million gain related to the sale of our investment interest in a joint venture. These increases were offset by the final resolution of an outstanding legacy claim associated with a U.S. government project, resulting in a $26 million decrease in fiscal 2024.
Sustainable Technology Solutions
STS revenues increased by $268 million, or 17%, to $1,871 million in fiscal 2024 compared to $1,603 million in fiscal 2023. This increase is primarily driven by increased revenues from engineering and professional services.
STS operating income increased by $46 million, or 14%, to $370 million in fiscal 2024 compared to $324 million in fiscal 2023. The increase from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2024 is primarily due to the items discussed above and a $7 million loss related to the sale of our operations in Russia in fiscal 2023 that did not recur in fiscal 2024, offset by decreased equity in earnings from services on an LNG project within our STS segment and a favorable resolution on a legacy matter in 2023 that did not recur in 2024.
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Backlog of Unfilled Orders
Backlog represents the estimated dollar amount of revenues we expect to realize in the future as a result of performing work on contracts and our pro-rata share of work to be performed by our unconsolidated joint ventures. We include total estimated revenues in backlog when a contract is awarded under a legally binding agreement. In many instances, arrangements included in backlog are complex, nonrepetitive and may fluctuate over the contract period due to the release of contracted work in phases by the customer. Additionally, nearly all contracts allow customers to terminate the agreement at any time for convenience, and from time to time customers may dispute or try to renegotiate existing contracts. These and other factors may result in delays or changes in our recognition of revenue from our backlog versus amounts we book as backlog. Certain contracts provide maximum dollar limits, with actual authorization to perform work under the contract agreed upon on a periodic basis with the customer. In these arrangements, only the amounts authorized and probable are included in backlog. For projects where we act solely in a project management capacity, we only include the expected value of our services in backlog.
We define backlog, as it relates to U.S. government contracts, as our estimate of the remaining future revenue from existing signed contracts over the remaining base contract performance period (including customer approved option periods) for which work scope and price have been agreed with the customer. We define funded backlog as the portion of backlog for which funding currently is appropriated, less the amount of revenue we have previously recognized. We define unfunded backlog as the total backlog less the funded backlog. Our GS backlog does not include any estimate of future potential delivery orders that might be awarded under our government-wide acquisition contracts, agency-specific indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts or other multiple-award contract vehicles, nor does it include option periods that have not been exercised by the customer.
Within our GS business segment, we calculate estimated backlog for long-term contracts associated with the U.K. government's PFIs based on the aggregate amount that our client would contractually be obligated to pay us over the life of the project. We update our estimates of the future work to be executed under these contracts on a quarterly basis and adjust backlog if necessary.
Refer to "Item 1A. Risk Factors" contained in Part 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of other factors that may cause backlog to ultimately convert into revenues at different amounts.
We have included in the table below our proportionate share of unconsolidated joint ventures' estimated backlog. As these projects are accounted for under the equity method, only our share of future earnings from these projects will be recorded in our results of operations. Our proportionate share of backlog for projects related to unconsolidated joint ventures totaled $2.8 billion at January 3, 2025, and $4.1 billion at December 29, 2023.
The following table summarizes our backlog by business segment as of January 3, 2025 and December 29, 2023, respectively:
Sustainable Technology Solutions 3,710 4,545
We estimate that as of January 3, 2025, 40% of our backlog will be executed within one year. Of this amount, we estimate that 89% will be recognized in revenues on our consolidated statement of operations and 11% will be recorded by our unconsolidated joint ventures. As of January 3, 2025, $193 million of our backlog relates to active contracts that are in a loss position.
As of January 3, 2025, 17% of our backlog was attributable to fixed-price contracts, 36% was attributable to PFIs, 30% was attributable to cost-reimbursable contracts and 17% was attributable to time-and-materials contracts. For contracts that contain fixed-price, cost-reimbursable and time-and-materials components, we classify the individual components as either fixed-price, cost-reimbursable or time-and materials according to the composition of the contract; however, for smaller contracts, we characterize the entire contract based on the predominant component. As of January 3, 2025, $9.1 billion of our GS backlog was currently funded by our customers.
As of January 3, 2025, we had approximately $4.0 billion of priced option periods not yet exercised by the customer for U.S. government contracts that are not included in the backlog amounts presented above.
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The difference between backlog of $17.3 billion and the remaining performance obligations as defined by ASC 606 of $13.8 billion is primarily due to our proportionate share of backlog related to unconsolidated joint ventures which is not included in our remaining performance obligations. See Note 3 "Revenue" to our consolidated financial statements for discussion of the remaining performance obligations.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Liquidity is provided by available cash and cash equivalents, cash generated from operations, our Senior Credit Facility (as defined below), sale or divestiture of assets and access to capital markets. Our operating cash flow can vary significantly from year to year and is affected by the mix, terms, timing and stage of completion of our projects. We often receive cash in advance on certain of our sustainable technology projects. On time-and-material and cost reimbursable contracts, we may utilize cash on hand or availability under our Senior Credit Facility to satisfy any periodic operating cash requirements for working capital, as we incur costs and subsequently invoice our customers.
Certain STS services projects may require us to provide credit support for our performance obligations to our customers in the form of letters of credit, surety bonds or guarantees. Our ability to obtain new project awards in the future may be dependent on our letter of credit and surety bonding capacity, which may be further dependent on the timely release of existing letters of credit and surety bonds. As the need for credit support arises, letters of credit may be issued under the Revolver (as defined below) or with lending counterparties on a bilateral, syndicated or other basis.
As discussed in Note 11 "Debt and Other Credit Facilities" of our consolidated financial statements, we entered into Amendment No.11 to our Credit Agreement on January 19, 2024. This amendment provided for an incremental Term Loan B facility in an aggregate principal amount of $1 billion and extended the Term Loan B maturity date to January 2031. We borrowed the full $1 billion principal amount available under this loan. We received $24 million in cash proceeds from this borrowing to pay accrued interest and financing fees, $501 million was applied to the outstanding principal under the Term Loan B facility and the remaining $475 million was applied to the outstanding principal under the Revolver. In addition, Amendment No. 11 reduced the interest rate margin applicable to Term Loan B. During fiscal 2024, $7 million in cash was paid on the outstanding Term Loan B principal.
We entered into Amendment No.12 to our Credit Agreement on February 7, 2024. This amendment consolidated all USD denominated Term Loans A including: Term A-1, Term A-2 and Term A-4 loan facilities under our Credit Agreement into the amended singular USD denominated Term A-1 loan facility and continued the GBP denominated Term A-3 loan facility outstanding at December 29, 2023. During fiscal 2024, $117 million in cash was paid on the outstanding Term Loan A principal and accrued interest and $20 million was applied to the Term Loan A principal using proceeds of a borrowing on our Revolver. Additionally, this amendment extended the maturity date of the $1 billion Revolver, amended Term A-1 loan facility and Term A-3 loan facility to February 2029.
We entered into Amendment No. 13 to our Credit Agreement on August 14, 2024. This amendment allowed for an incremental delayed draw Term A-2 loan in an aggregate principal amount up to $550 million, which remained available for 180 days to fund the acquisition of LinQuest, maturing August 2027. On August 30, 2024, we borrowed the entire $550 million available under the delayed draw Term A-2 loan upon closing of the LinQuest acquisition. Additionally, under Amendment No. 13, we refinanced outstanding principal amounts under the Company's existing Term B loan facility via a cashless roll into a new Term B loan facility to reduce the interest rate margin applicable to Term Loan B. The applicable interest rate per annum of the new Term B loan facility is term SOFR plus 2.00% (or base rate plus 1.00%) and the maturity date is January 2031. See Note 4. "Acquisition of LinQuest Corporation" to our consolidated financial statements for further discussion around the acquisition of LinQuest.
We believe that existing cash balances, internally generated cash flows, availability under our Senior Credit Facility and other lines of credit are sufficient to support our business operations for the next 12 months. As of January 3, 2025, we are in compliance with all financial covenants related to our debt agreements.
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Cash and cash equivalents totaled $350 million at January 3, 2025 and $304 million at December 29, 2023 and consisted of the following:
January 3, December 29,
Domestic U.S. cash $ 24 $ 44
Joint venture and Aspire Defence project cash 119 132
Our cash balances are held in numerous accounts throughout the world to fund our global activities, including acquisitions, joint ventures and other business partnerships. Domestic cash relates to cash balances held by U.S. entities and is largely used to support project activities of those businesses as well as general corporate needs such as the payment of dividends to shareholders, repayment of debt and potential repurchases of our outstanding common stock. Additionally, domestic cash and cash equivalents includes $12 million held by our wholly-owned captive insurance company as of January 3, 2025 which is generally not available to KBR to utilize to support its other operations.
Our international cash balances may be available for general corporate purposes but are subject to local restrictions, such as capital adequacy requirements and maintaining sufficient cash balances to support our U.K. pension plan and other obligations incurred in the normal course of business by those foreign entities. Repatriations of our undistributed foreign earnings are generally free of U.S. tax but may incur withholding and/or state taxes. We consider our future non-U.S. cash needs as 1) our anticipated foreign working capital requirements, including funding of our U.K. pension plan, 2) the expected growth opportunities across all geographical markets and 3) our plans to invest in strategic growth opportunities, which may include acquisitions, joint ventures and other business partnerships around the world, including whether foreign earnings are permanently reinvested. If management were to completely remove the indefinite investment assertion on all foreign subsidiaries, the exposure to local withholding taxes would be less than $7 million.
Joint venture cash and Aspire Defence project cash balances reflect the amounts held by joint venture entities that we consolidate for financial reporting purposes. These amounts are limited to those entities' activities and are not readily available for general corporate purposes; however, portions of such amounts may become available to us in the future should there be a distribution of dividends to the joint venture partners. We expect that the majority of the joint venture cash balances will be utilized for the corresponding joint venture purposes or for paying dividends.
As of January 3, 2025, substantially all of our excess cash was held in interest bearing operating accounts or short-term investment accounts with the primary objectives of preserving capital and maintaining liquidity.
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods indicated:
Years ended,
January 3, December 29, December 31,
Cash flows provided by operating activities $ 462 $ 331 $ 396
Cash flows provided by (used in) investing activities (776) (70) 37
Cash flows provided by (used in) financing activities 374 (359) (399)
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash (14) 13 (15)
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents $ 46 $ (85) $ 19
Operating Activities. Cash provided by operations totaled $462 million and $331 million in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023, respectively, as compared to net income of $381 million and net loss of $261 million in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023, respectively. Cash flows from operating activities result primarily from earnings and are affected by changes in operating assets and liabilities, which consist primarily of working capital balances for projects. Working capital levels vary from year to year and are primarily affected by our volume of work. These levels are also impacted by the mix, stage of completion and commercial terms of projects. Working capital requirements also vary by project depending on the type of client and location throughout the world.
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The increase in operating cash flows in fiscal 2024 compared to fiscal 2023 is primarily related to the $144 million payment made in fiscal 2023 related to the settlement of a legacy legal matter that did not recur in fiscal 2024 and increased distributions of earnings from unconsolidated affiliates. In fiscal 2024, we received $163 million in distributions of earnings from unconsolidated affiliates compared to $74 million in fiscal 2023. The increase in operating cash flows was primarily offset by increased employer pension contributions in fiscal 2024. In fiscal 2024, we made an advance payment to our U.K. defined benefit pension plan for approximately £17 million ($21 million at the current exchange rate). Additionally, we made an advance payment to our U.K pension plan in fiscal 2022 that resulted in decreased employer pension contributions in fiscal 2023. Further, there were decreases in operating cash flows in fiscal 2024 from changes in the primary components of our working capital. The primary components of our working capital accounts are accounts receivable, contract assets, accounts payable and contract liabilities. These components are impacted by the size and changes in the mix of our cost-reimbursable and time-and-materials projects versus fixed price projects, and as a result, fluctuations in these components are not uncommon in our business.
Investing Activities. Cash used in investing activities totaled $776 million in fiscal 2024 and was primarily related to the acquisition of LinQuest, net of cash acquired of $738 million, capital expenditures of $77 million and funding in other investment of $5 million. This was offset by a return of equity method investment from JKC in fiscal 2024 of approximately $36 million related to our proportionate share of a tax refund. Additionally, we received $7 million primarily from the sale of our investment interest in a joint venture within our GS segment. See Note 4. "Acquisition of LinQuest Corporation" to our consolidated financial statements for further discussion around the acquisition of LinQuest and Note 9. "Equity Method Investments and Variable Interest Entities" for further details around the return of investment from JKC.
Cash used in investing activities totaled $70 million in fiscal 2023 and was primarily related to the second payment for an additional investment of $39 million in Mura Technology and capital expenditures of $80 million. This was offset by a return of equity method investment of approximately $61 million from JKC resulting from the receipt of the second payment from the Subcontractor Settlement Agreement. See Note 9 "Equity Method Investments and Variable Interest Entities" for further details.
Financing Activities. Cash provided by financing activities totaled $374 million in fiscal 2024 and was primarily related to $393 million in borrowings on our Revolver and $574 million in borrowings associated with Amendment No. 11 and No. 13 to our Credit Agreement. These increases were offset by $124 million of principal payments related to our Senior Credit Facility, $98 million in payments on the Revolver, $204 million for the repurchase of common stock under our share repurchase program and $14 million for the repurchase of common stock under our "withhold to cover" program. Cash used in financing activities also included a $33 million payment for the settlement of warrants in connection with our Convertible Notes, $79 million of dividend payments to common shareholders, $18 million in debt issuance costs associated with Amendment No. 11, No. 12 and No. 13 to our Credit Agreement for our Senior Credit Facility and $10 million for the acquisition of a noncontrolling interest. See Note 11 "Debt and Other Credit Facilities" for further discussion of our Senior Credit Facility.
Cash used in financing activities totaled $359 million in fiscal 2023 and was primarily due to a net cash outflow of $567 million for the settlement and maturity of our outstanding Convertible Notes, corresponding note hedge and warrants settled and paid during the year. Cash used in financing activities also included $72 million of dividend payments to common shareholders, $125 million for the repurchase of common stock under our share repurchase program, $13 million for the repurchase of common stock under our "withhold to cover" program, $340 million in payments on our revolving credit facility and $17 million of principal payments related to our Senior Credit Facility. These decreases were partially offset by $785 million in borrowings related to our Revolver. See Note 11 "Debt and Other Credit Facilities" for further discussion of our Senior Credit Facility.
Future sources of cash. We believe that future sources of cash include cash flows from operations (including accounts receivable monetization arrangements), cash derived from working capital management and cash borrowings under the Senior Credit Facility.
Future uses of cash. We believe that future uses of cash include working capital requirements, joint venture capital calls, capital expenditures, dividends, pension funding obligations, repayments of borrowings, share repurchases, legal settlements of any currently outstanding legal matter or any future legal proceeding and strategic investments including acquisitions, joint ventures and other business partnerships. Our capital expenditures will be focused primarily on facilities and equipment to support our businesses. In addition, we will use cash to make payments under leases and various other obligations, including potential litigation payments, as they arise.
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Other factors potentially affecting liquidity
Ichthys LNG Project. As part of the settlement agreement between JKC and Ichthys LNG, Pty, Ltd (collectively, “the Parties”) in October 2021, KBR’s letters of credit were reduced to $82 million from $164 million. Additionally, as part of this settlement agreement, the Parties agreed to consult in good faith and to cooperate to seek maximum recovery from the insurance policies and paint manufacturer for the deterioration of paint and insulation on certain exterior areas of the plant. The Parties agreed to collectively pursue claims against the paint manufacturer, and JKC has assigned claims under the insurance policy regarding the paint and insulation matters to the client. The parties have agreed that if, at the date of final resolution of the above proceedings and claims with respect to the paint and insulation matters, the recovered amount from the paint manufacturer and insurance claim is less than the stipulated ceiling amount in the settlement agreement, JKC will pay the client the difference between the stipulated ceiling amount and the recovered amount. JKC has provided for and continues to maintain a provision for this contingent liability.
U.K. pension obligation. We have recognized on our consolidated balance sheets a funding surplus of approximately $82 million (calculated as the excess of the fair value of plan assets over projected benefit obligations) as of January 3, 2025 for our frozen U.K. defined benefit pension plan. The total amount of employer pension contributions paid for the year ended January 3, 2025 is $61 million for our defined benefit plan in the U.K. The funding requirements for our U.K. pension plan are determined based on the U.K. Pensions Act 1995. Annual minimum funding requirements are based on a binding agreement with the Trustee of the U.K. pension plan that is negotiated on a triennial basis. This schedule of contributions will be reviewed by the Trustee and KBR no later than 15 months after the effective date of each actuarial valuation, due every three years. In 2024, the Trustee of the U.K. defined benefit pension plan commenced the triennial actuarial valuation of the plan. At this time, we do not anticipate contributing additional funding to this plan at least until the next triennial valuation. In the future, pension funding may increase or decrease depending on changes in the levels of interest rates, pension plan asset return performance and other factors. A significant increase in our funding requirements for the U.K. pension plan could result in a material adverse impact on our financial position.
Sales of Receivables. From time to time, we sell certain receivables to unrelated third-party financial institutions under various accounts receivable monetization programs. One such program is with MUFG Bank, Ltd. (“MUFG”) under a Master Accounts Receivable Purchase Agreement, which provides the sale to MUFG of certain of our designated eligible receivables, with a significant portion of such receivables being owed by the U.S. government. We plan to continue to utilize these programs to ensure we have flexibility to meet our capital needs. Refer to Note 20 "Fair Value of Financial Instruments and Risk Management" to our consolidated financial statements for further discussion on our sales of receivables.
Credit Agreement and Senior Credit Facility
Information relating to our Senior Credit Facility is described in Note 11 "Debt and Other Credit Facilities" to our consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the information discussed therein is incorporated by reference into this Part II, Item 7.
Senior Notes
Information relating to our Senior Notes is described in Note 11 "Debt and Other Credit Facilities" to our consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the information discussed therein is incorporated by reference into this Part II, Item 7.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
Letters of credit, surety bonds and guarantees. In the ordinary course of business, we may enter into various arrangements providing financial or performance assurance to customers on behalf of certain consolidated and unconsolidated subsidiaries, joint ventures and other jointly executed contracts. Such off-balance sheet arrangements include letters of credit, surety bonds and corporate guarantees to support the creditworthiness or project execution commitments of these entities and typically have various expiration dates ranging from mechanical completion of the project being constructed to a period beyond completion in certain circumstances such as for warranties. We may also guarantee that a project, once completed, will achieve specified performance standards. If the project subsequently fails to meet guaranteed performance standards, we may incur additional costs, pay liquidated damages or be held responsible for the costs incurred by the client to achieve the required performance standards. The potential amount of future payments that we could be required to make under an outstanding performance arrangement is typically the remaining estimated cost of work to be performed by or on behalf of third parties. For cost-reimbursable contracts, amounts that may become payable pursuant to guarantee provisions are normally recoverable from the client for work performed under the contract. For fixed-price contracts, the performance guarantee amount is the cost to
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complete the contracted work, less amounts remaining to be billed to the client under the contract. Remaining billable amounts could be greater or less than the cost to complete the project. If costs exceed the remaining amounts payable under the contract, we may have recourse to third parties, such as owners, subcontractors or vendors for claims.