Hershey Foods (HSY)

Political, economic, and/or financial market conditions could negatively impact our financial results.

Our operations are impacted by consumer spending levels and impulse purchases which are affected by general macroeconomic conditions, consumer confidence, employment levels, availability of consumer credit and interest rates on that credit, consumer debt levels, energy costs and other factors. Volatility in food and energy costs, sustained global recessions, rising unemployment and declines in personal spending could adversely impact the Company’s revenues, profitability and financial condition.

Changes in financial market conditions may make it difficult to access credit markets on commercially acceptable terms which may reduce liquidity or increase borrowing costs for our Company, our customers and our suppliers. A significant reduction in liquidity could increase counterparty risk associated with certain suppliers and service providers, resulting in disruption to our supply chain and/or higher costs, and could impact our customers, resulting in a reduction in our revenue, including a possible increase in bad debt expense.