SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements,” which include information relating to future events, future financial performance, financial projections, strategies, expectations, competitive environment and regulation. Words such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” and similar expressions, as well as statements in future tense, identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and may not be accurate indications of when such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information we have when those statements are made or management’s good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to:

The foregoing does not represent an exhaustive list of matters that may be covered by the forward-looking statements contained herein or risk factors that we are faced with that may cause our actual results to differ from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Moreover, new risks regularly emerge and it is not possible for us to predict or articulate all risks we face, nor can we assess the impact of all risks on our business or the extent to which any risk, or combination of risks, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Except to the extent required by applicable laws or rules, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should review carefully the risks and uncertainties described under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of the foregoing and other risks that relate to our business and investing in shares of our common stock.

PART I

ITEM 1.  BUSINESS

Overview

Pioneer Power Solutions, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries (“Pioneer,(referred to herein as the “Company,” “Pioneer,” “we,” “us,” “our,” or “the Company”“our” and “us”) manufactures, sellsmanufacture, sell and servicesservice a broad range of specialty electrical transmission, distribution and on-site power generation equipment for applications in the utility, industrial, commercial and backup power markets. Our principal products and services include custom-engineered electrical transformers, switchgear and engine-generator sets and controls, complemented by a national field-service network to maintain and repair power generation assets. We areThe Company is headquartered in Fort Lee, New Jersey and operateoperates from twelve (12)five (5) additional locations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico for manufacturing, service, centralized distribution, engineering, sales and administration.

Our largest customers include a number of recognized national and regional utilities, industrial companies and engineering, procurement and construction firms located in North America. In addition, we sell our products through hundreds of electrical distributors served by our network of stocking locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. We intend to grow our business through internal product development, and expansion of our sales force coverage and through acquisitions to increase the scope and relevance of highly-engineered solutions and technical service we offer our customers for their specific electrical applications.

Description of Business Segments

In 2016, we hadWe have two reportable segments: Transmission & Distribution Solutions (“T&D Solutions”) and Critical Power Solutions (“Critical Power”). 

Disposition of Business Units

Sale of PCPI

On January 22, 2019, Pioneer Critical Power, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“PCPI”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company within the T&D Solutions segment, CleanSpark and CleanSpark Acquisition, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Merger Sub”), entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”), pursuant to which, among other things, Merger Sub merged with and into PCPI, with PCPI becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of the CleanSpark and the surviving company of the merger (the “Merger”).

At the effective date of the Merger, all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of PCPI, par value $0.01 per share, were converted into the right to receive (i) 175,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, of CleanSpark (“CleanSpark Common Stock”), (ii) a five-year warrant to purchase 50,000 shares of CleanSpark Common Stock at an exercise price of $16.00 per share, and (iii) a five-year warrant to purchase 50,000 shares of CleanSpark Common Stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share. The share quantities and exercise prices of warrants reflect the 10:1 stock split completed by CleanSpark in December 2019.

The Merger Agreement also contained representations, warranties and covenants of the parties customary for transactions similar to those contemplated by the Merger Agreement. Such representations and warranties were made solely for purposes of the Merger Agreement and, in some cases, may have been subject to qualifications and limitations agreed to by the parties in connection with the negotiated terms of the Merger Agreement and qualified by disclosures that were made in connection with the parties’ entry into the Merger Agreement.

In connection with the Merger Agreement, the Company, CleanSpark and PCPI entered into an Indemnity Agreement (the “Indemnity Agreement”), dated January 22, 2019, pursuant to which the Company agreed to assume the liabilities and obligations related to the claims made by Myers Powers Products, Inc. in the case titled Myers Power Products, Inc. v. Pioneer Power Solutions, Inc., Pioneer Custom Electrical Products, Corp., et al., Los Angeles County Superior Court Case No. BC606546 (the “Myers Power Case”) as they may relate to PCPI or CleanSpark after the closing of the Merger. In addition, the Company agreed to indemnify and hold harmless CleanSpark and the surviving company of the Merger and their respective officers, directors, agents, members and employees, and the heirs successors and assigns of the foregoing from and against all losses incurred by reason of claims made by Myers Power Products, Inc. as presented or substantially similar to that presented in the Myers Powers Case that are brought against CleanSpark or the surviving company of the Merger after the closing of the Merger. The Indemnity Agreement expires five years from the date of the Indemnity Agreement.

In connection with entry into the Merger Agreement, the Company and CleanSpark entered into a Contract Manufacturing Agreement (the “Contract Manufacturing Agreement”), dated as of January 22, 2019, pursuant to which the Company agreed to manufacture paralleling switchgear, automatic transfer switches and related control and circuit protective equipment (collectively, “Products”) exclusively for purchase by CleanSpark. CleanSpark agreed to purchase the Products via purchase orders issued to the Company at any time and from time to time. Pursuant to the Contract Manufacturing Agreement, the price for the Products payable by CleanSpark to the Company are negotiated on a case by case basis, but all purchases of Products have a target price of 91% of the CleanSpark customer’s purchase order price and are not to be more than 109% of the Company’s cost. The Contract Manufacturing Agreement has a term of 18 months and may be extended by mutual agreement of the Company and CleanSpark.

In connection with entry into the Merger Agreement, the Company and CleanSpark entered into a Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Agreement (the “Non-Compete Agreement”), dated January 22, 2019, pursuant to which the Company agreed not to, among other things, own, manage, operate, finance, control, advise, render services to or guarantee the obligations of any person or entity that engages in or plans to engage in the design, manufacture, distribution and service of paralleling switchgear, automatic transfer switches, and related products (the “Restricted Business”). The Company agreed not to engage in the Restricted Business within any state or county within the United States in which CleanSpark or the surviving company of the Merger conducts such Restricted Business for a period of four (4) years from the date of the Non-Compete Agreement.

In addition, the Company also agreed, for a period of four (4) years from the date of the Non-Compete Agreement, not to, among other things, directly or indirectly (i) solicit, induce, or attempt to induce customers, suppliers, licensees, licensors, franchisees, consultants of the Restricted Business as conducted by the Company, CleanSpark or the surviving company to cease doing business with the surviving company or CleanSpark or (ii) solicit, recruit, or encourage any of the surviving company’s or CleanSpark’s employees, or independent contractors to discontinue their employment or engagement with the surviving company or CleanSpark.

The Merger resulted in the deconsolidation of PCPI and a gain of $4.2 million in the first quarter of 2019. The fair value of the investment in the common stock of CleanSpark was determined using quoted market prices and warrants were established using a Black Scholes model.

From the date of sale through December 31, 2019, the estimated fair value of the warrants and common stock decreased to $1.4 million and an unrealized mark to market loss of $2.8 million was recognized within other expense for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Sale of Transformer Business Units

On June 28, 2019, the Company entered into the Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Stock Purchase Agreement”), by and among the Company, Electrogroup Canada, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (“Electrogroup”), Jefferson Electric, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (“Jefferson”), JE Mexican Holdings, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (“JE Mexico,” and together with Electrogroup and Jefferson, the “Disposed Companies”), Nathan Mazurek, Pioneer Transformers L.P. (the “US Buyer”) and Pioneer Acquireco ULC (the “Canadian Buyer,” and together with the US Buyer, the “Buyer”). Pursuant to the Stock Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell (i) all of the issued and outstanding equity interests of Electrogroup to the Canadian Buyer and (ii) all of the issued and outstanding equity interests of Jefferson and JE Mexico to the US Buyer (collectively, the “Equity Transaction”).

Under the terms of the Stock Purchase Agreement, the consideration for the Equity Transaction consisted of a base cash purchase price of $60.5 million, as well as the issuance by the Buyer of a subordinated promissory note to Pioneer Power in the aggregate principal amount of $5.0 million, in each case subject to adjustment pursuant to the terms of the Stock Purchase Agreement. The Buyer was to have the right to set-off amounts owed to Pioneer Power under the Seller Note in the aggregate principal amount of $5.0 million on a dollar-for-dollar basis by the amount of any indemnifiable losses Buyer suffers as a result of certain actions or omissions by Pioneer Power or the Disposed Companies.

On August 13, 2019, Pioneer Power, the Buyer and the Disposed Companies entered into Amendment No. 1 to the Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Amendment”). Pursuant to the Amendment, (i) the base purchase price was increased from $65.5 million to $68.0 million, (ii) the target working capital amount of the Disposed Companies was increased from $21.2 million to $29.6 million, (iii) the parties agreed to an estimated closing net working capital amount of $23.6 million, (iv) the increase in the base purchase price was to be paid in the form of an additional Seller Note in the aggregate principal amount of $2.5 million to be issued to Pioneer Power at the closing, (v) a $150 deductible was added with respect to the indemnification obligations of Pioneer Power and the Disposed Companies concerning certain legal matters, (vi) Pioneer Power agreed to pay any difference between the final net purchase price and the closing date net purchase price in immediately available funds rather than causing the Buyer to set off the amount of such difference against any amounts due and payable to Pioneer Power under the Seller Note, subject to certain exceptions, (vii) the definition of Applicable Adverse Event was amended to exclude certain events related to Pioneer Power’s financial performance through the second quarter (subject to certain exceptions, such items were also excluded from the post-closing indemnity under the Stock Purchase Agreement) and (viii) the parties agreed to the allocation of the $1.8 million insurance proceeds still to be received from the June 2019 flood at Pioneer Power’s facility in Reynosa, Mexico. The Buyer is only required to set-off any indemnifiable losses the Buyer suffers as a result of certain actions, omissions, or misrepresentations by Pioneer Power or the Disposed Companies against the first Seller Note in the aggregate principal amount of $5.0 million.

On August 16, 2019, the Company completed the Equity Transaction pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Stock Purchase Agreement, as amended by the Amendment. As consideration for the Disposed Companies, Buyer paid the Company a base aggregate purchase price of $68.0 million, consisting of (i) $60.5 million of cash, (ii) the issuance by the Buyer of a subordinated promissory note to Pioneer Power in the aggregate principal amount of $5.0 million and (iii) the issuance by the Buyer of a subordinated promissory note to Pioneer Power in the aggregate principal amount of $2.5 million. The subordinated promissory notes accrue interest at a rate of 4.0% per annum with a final payment of all unpaid principal and interest becoming fully due and payable at December 31, 2022. During the fourth quarter of 2019, the Company and the Buyer, pursuant to the Stock Purchase Agreement, completed the net working capital adjustment, which resulted in the Company paying the Buyer $1.7 million in cash and reducing the principal amount of the $5.0 million Seller Note to $3.3 million. After these adjustments, and expenses of sale, we received net proceeds from the sale of $45.2 million. Subsequent to finalizing the working capital adjustment during the fourth quarter of 2019 the gain recognized on the Equity Transaction amounted to $13.7 million and is reflected within discontinued operations.

Upon completion of the Equity Transaction, Pioneer Power sold to the Buyer all of the assets and liabilities associated with its liquid-filled transformer and dry-type transformer manufacturing businesses within the Company’s T&D Solutions segment. The transformer business units are being presented as discontinued operations for all periods presented in this report. The Company retained its switchgear manufacturing business within the T&D Solutions segment, as well as all of the operations associated with its Critical Power segment.   

T&D Solutions Segment

We design, develop, manufacture and sell a wide range of electrical transmission and distribution equipment and our emphasis is to provide custom engineered, manufactured-to-order solutions, which we estimate currently represents over two-thirdsall of our T&D revenue. We believe that demand for our custom solutions is driven primarily by end user maintenance programs to repair, replace or retrofit aging equipment, as well as to upgrade or expand their electrical distribution systems to accommodate growth and other changes in their operations. In addition, a significant portion of our custom solutions revenue is derived from the production of magnetic subassemblies incorporated by original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) into the systems they sell, systems which in the case of our customers are principally being used for data center, elevator control and electric drive applications.  The remainder of our T&D Solutions revenue is derived from our catalogue of standard transformer designs, models which are sold primarily through electrical distributors and to brand label customers. These products are manufactured to stock and are used in general purpose electrical applications, with demand being driven by the overall pace of new commercial construction.

We distinguish ourselves by producing a wide range of engineered-to-order and standard equipment, sold either directly to end users, through manufacturers’ representatives and engineering and construction firms or through electrical distributors. We serve customers in a variety of industries including electric utilities, industrial customers, OEMs, commercial firms, contractors and renewable energy producers.

Overview of Electrical Transformers

Our liquid-filled and dry-type power, distribution and specialty electrical transformers are magnetic products used in the control and conditioning of electrical current for critical processes. An electric transformer is used to increase or decrease the voltage of electricity traveling through a power line. This change in voltage is accomplished by transferring electric energy from one internal coil or winding to another coil through electromagnetic induction. Electric power generating plants use generator transformers to “step-up,” or increase, voltage that is transferred through power lines in order to transmit the electricity more efficiently over long distances. When high voltage electricity nears its final destination, a “step-down” transformer reduces its voltage. A distribution transformer makes a final step-down in voltage to a level usable in businesses and homes.

Transformers are integral to every electrical transmission and distribution system. Electric utilities use transformers for the construction and maintenance of their power networks. Industrial firms use transformers to supply factories with electricity and to distribute power to production machinery. The renewable energy industry uses transformers to connect new sources of electricity generation to the power grid. The construction industry uses transformers for the supply of electricity to new homes and buildings and original equipment manufacturers use custom transformers as a component part of the systems they make.

We manufacture liquid-filled transformers at our facility in Granby, Quebec. Liquid-filled transformers are typically used for applications handling utility or industrial-level electrical loads, such as in a substation, and are most commonly found in outdoor settings given the risk of leakage and the flammable properties of the liquid coolant, typically mineral oil. We manufacture these products in electrical power ranges from 25 kVA (kilovolt amperes) to 30 MVA (megavolt amperes) and at up to 69 kV (kilovolts) in voltage. In recent years, we have focused primarily on the small power market, generally considered to include transformers between 1 MVA and 10 MVA, as well as on specialty transformers such as network and submersible designs used by utilities to withstand harsh environments and ensure reliability of service. We sell these products to electrical utilities, independent power providers, electrical co-ops, industrial companies, commercial users and electric equipment wholesalers. All of our liquid-filled transformers are designed and manufactured specifically to a customer order.

We manufacture dry-type transformers and custom magnetics at our facilities in Farnham, Quebec and Reynosa, Mexico. The largest and longest-standing component of our dry-type transformer revenue consists of low voltage, standard distribution units sold from our catalogue of over 1,000 designs. These units are typically used indoors to handle general loads for powering commercial and industrial machinery and equipment requiring 50 VA (volt amperes) through 1 MVA of power transformation capacity in voltages at or below 600 V (volts). In recent years, we have focused primarily on custom-engineered solutions – including equipment for OEM applications, and transformers in the medium voltage and power-dry product classes where our range extends to 10 MVA and to 35 kV in voltage. Medium voltage and power-dry transformers are conventionally used for indoor applications and in metropolitan areas, and are increasingly being used outdoors and indoors for commercial, industrial, manufacturing and production process applications.  They are engineered to meet the most onerous duty requirements and are well-suited to operate in harsh environmental conditions, a situation which occurs frequently when the transformer needs to be installed close to the area where the power will ultimately be used, such as in down-hole mining or on drilling rigs. 

We also offer a broad array of magnetically-driven solutions to ensure clean power and eliminate potential issues caused by harmonics and transients, including proprietary solutions that incorporate our patented technology through the use of power electronics.  Our power quality solutions are for use in industrial, commercial and institutional settings where sensitive automation equipment is being used and clean, efficient power is required.

Overview of Switchgear

There are many different classes of switchgear, a generic term that encompasses the finished assembly of a system of devices utilizing electrical disconnects, fuses and circuit breakers, whose general function is to distribute, control and monitor the flow of electrical energy, while isolating and protecting critical equipment such as transformers, motors and other electrically powered machinery. 

We design and manufacture low voltage electric power distribution panel boards, low and medium voltage switchgear and switchboards manufactured at our facility in Southern California. This location specializes in quick-turn, manufactured-to-order circuit protection and control equipment, primarily serving electrical distributors in the region. In addition, it incorporates transformers manufactured at other Pioneer locations into specialty products, such as unit substations, and also serves to supply our PSG solutions with several classes of switchgear used in its customer projects.

Additional product categories include paralleling switchgear (PSG), automatic transfer switches (ATS) and provide other necessary equipment to create a reliable and dependable power generation system.  The primary function of our PSG solutions is to reliably switch the power source to the load, protect and operate the power generation source(s), meter output and provide paralleling and load sharing capability between multiple on-site power sources and the utility grid. Our PSG solution specializes in customized equipment and controls for complex primary power applications, enabling on-site users to parallel multiple power sources with the utility power grid, in combined heat, power and cooling applications, and for peak shaving and demand/load side management of electrical power.  PSG is an integral component to ensuring optimal power generation and electrical distribution system performance, both for primary and backup power installations. Installations requiring a PSG solution typically involve more complex and redundant power schemes, such as in data centers, hospitals, industrial facilities, remote locations not connected to the power grid and other sites where emergency backup power sources are a necessity to protect operations from the consequences of blackouts or brownouts. Our focus is on larger installations where a single engine generator, or “genset”, is not sufficient or where multiple gensets may be required to provide system resilience. We believe that our PSG solutions represent a scalable, cost-effective and intelligent automation option through their embedded programming and logic to synchronize multiple on-site power sources and the capability to operate them in concert with the utility feed(s).

Critical Power Segment

Our Critical Power segment is engaged in designing, manufacturing, selling, commissioning and aftermarketbusiness performs service of onsiteon our customer’s sophisticated power generation and control equipment. OurThese systems are used to maintain reliable emergency standby power at facilities where it is either required or where the potential consequences of a power outage make it necessary – such as at data centers, hospitals, communications facilities, factories, national retailers, military sites, office complexes and other critical operations. 

Depending on the needsSummary of our customers, we offer our solutions on a complete equipment package basis, or as a standalone equipment or service solution that addresses one or more requirements of an overall power project. We believe that our value proposition to customers is differentiated by our use of advanced communications and automated data collection technologies to provide a highly-sophisticated remote monitoring, automated control and reporting platform to our customers.Critical Power Segment Offerings

Power Generation EquipmentService

We provide our industrial and commercial customers with a variety of power generation equipment and fuel options which, depending on their needs and applications, can range from several kilowatts to 2 MW of output per genset. Using the PSG capabilities of our switchgear business unit, we excel in projects requiring multiple gensets in side-by-side arrangements that are paralleled for synchronous operation. 

Our Critical Power business is the sole authorized distributor for the Industrial Power equipment and parts of Generac Power Systems Inc. (“Generac”) in the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Nebraska, and one of only 32 such distributors throughout North America. Outside of these five Midwestern states, we sell power generation equipment made by all major manufacturers, including Generac. In order to more competitively serve our customers, we regularly provide Pioneer-manufactured power distribution equipment to each project, including switchgear and transformers. We also offer niche solutions such as GenMax® – our proprietary harmonic suppression technology that resolves power reliability and genset capacity issues frequently encountered when new gensets are introduced to a system of existing gensets, where the make, model and power output of the gensets within the system are different.

To fully meet the onsite power reliability needs of our customers, we realize a small portion of our revenue from the sale of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems. UPS systems are used by data-intensive businesses to provide battery backup power to servers until the emergency backup genset(s) come online. Once the gensets are producing proper voltage and frequency, the UPS switches the load onto the gensets. For UPS system sales, we are an authorized dealer for GE and also represent Toshiba, Eaton-Powerware and other manufacturers.

Service

Power generation systems represent considerable investments that require proper maintenance and service in order to operate reliably during a time of emergency. Our power maintenance programs provide preventative maintenance, repair and support service for our customers’ power generation systems. To support our customers in managing their critical infrastructure, we maintain inventories of equipment andrepair parts, a fleet of service vehicles and a staff of certified field service technicians in the Midwest and Florida. To complete our geographic coverage, we maintain a network of field service partners located in other regions, enabling us to provide quick-response, 24/7 service capability that can effectively service any make and model of back-up power equipment in any city of the United States. Our field service organization services more than 7,5005,500 generators owned by more than 1,2001,000 customers located throughout the United States, including for multi-site, multi-state customers such as Target Corporation and Verizon Corporation.customers.

We recognize discrete revenue streams from service contracts, installation and maintenance services, and we offer service contracts to all owners of power generation and related equipment, whether or not the equipment was originally sold by us. Our service agreements have terms ranging from one to five years in duration, provideproviding us with a recurring revenue stream, and generally yield higher margins as compared to genset equipment sales. These service contracts may also include remote monitoring services that allow owners to be informed of the condition and operations of their equipment at any time and from any place.

Remote Monitoring and Automated Control

We have dedicated considerable resources to developing and engineering our proprietary remote monitoring and automated control system for onsite power generation. We believe this system enables us to provide a technologically superior service program that benefits our customer from a cost and quality standpoint. In addition, we have developed specialized asset management and auditing tools to more efficiently and cost effectively provide our customers with detailed information about their onsite power systems.  We believe these tools provide us with an advantage over service companies that do not have these technologies, allowing us to compete for work more efficiently, maintain higher service levels and realize higher margins by using these tools.

Our monitoring and control system performs 24/7,  capturing and monitoring data from up to 100 critical points and functions on the genset,  PSG, ATS and UPS, from metering electrical output to emissions.  This data is displayed in continuously updated, fully customizable, easy-to-read web-based reporting that provide a complete picture of our customers’ power generation system condition. By tracking and trending real-time performance indicators in combination with the ability to remotely test, start and stop onsite power systems, our network operations center is able to avert potential failures before they occur and immediately respond to emergency situations before a customer calls. Our monitoring and control system is instrumental to ensure that our servicing programs are being administered appropriately in order to optimize system reliability on behalf of our customers. In addition, because our system is completely scalable, we are able to monitor one to thousands of generators nationwide, a solution which is ideally-suited to service our national account customers.

Our customers use our monitoring and control system for access to our monitoring dashboard, to view generator performance in real-time, to receive alerts and notifications, track work orders and submit support requests. These capabilities have been combined with automated electronic audit and inventory reporting to form a comprehensive asset management program for our customers, enabling them to quickly and efficiently record, categorize and retrieve vital information about their power generation assets across their facilities. We believe the advantage of these reporting systems is that they help us and our customers to better protect their equipment, while increasing system reliability in times of need and reducing ongoing operating costs for service and repairs through preventative maintenance.

Business Strategy

We believe we have established a stable platform from which to develop and grow our business lines, revenues, net income and shareholder value. We intend to expand rapidly over the next several years through a two-pronged strategy. First, we are focused on internal growth through operating efficiencies, new product development, customer focus and our continued migration towards more highly-engineered products and specialized services. We intend to significantly increase the percentage of our sales derived from engineered-to-order products and differentiated services and believe this can be accomplished by targeting market segments, such as data centers and independent power producers, which have growth characteristics exceeding the norm in our industry. The second element of our growth strategy is to pursue strategic acquisitions that provide us with complementary product and service offerings, new sales channels, end-markets and scalable operations.

OverDuring 2019, the last five years, through internal developmentCompany completed the sales of the transformer and acquisitions, we believe we have broadened the array and sophistication of our product and service offerings.  Our strategy isPCPI business units. The Company continues to continue to expand the portfolio of solutions we offer in order to address more elements of every electrical infrastructure project. We believe this approach makes us more relevant to our customers, allows us to compete more effectively and increases the number of sales opportunitiesexplore strategic alternatives for our products and solutions.its remaining business units.

We intend to build our revenue and net income at rates exceeding industry norms through internal growth initiatives and complementary acquisitions. Accomplishing these financial goals will be dependent on a number of factors including our ability to execute the following strategies and actions:

T&D Solutions Segment

We intend to accomplish our growth objectives within our T&D Solutions business by emphasizing our capabilities in OEM equipment solutions, by continuing to invest in engineering resources and product development to increase our pipeline of recurring order customers that integrate our magnetic subassemblies and/or components into the following areas:products they sell. Our key focus areas for this solution category include providers of motor control/drive systems, factory automation equipment, power distribution units and UPS systems for data centers, HVAC systems, and power quality and conditioning equipment.

Critical Power Segment

Within our Critical Power business, we intend to accomplish our growth objectives by implementing the following business initiatives:

Acquisitions

We believe a disciplined acquisition program is a key component to accelerating our growth and we intend to acquire businesses that broaden the range of customer solutions we provide, increase our market share or expand our geographic reach. In addition to switchgear and transformer manufacturers, we also intend to acquire manufacturing and service businesses focused on other technically-advanced, customized, ancillary or complementary products that address market segments where we seek further penetration, such as in data centers, backup power equipment and service, traction power, renewable energy and natural resources. We operate in a highly fragmented industry that is served by a few global diversified electrical equipment manufacturers and numerous small manufacturing companies that provide niche products and services to various sub-segments of the power transmission and distribution market. We favor candidates that have competencies and business characteristics similar to our own, and those that we expect will benefit from some of the major trends affecting our industry. Our acquisitions since 2010 are examples of the implementation of our acquisition strategy.

Our Industry

The market for our largest business segment, electrical T&D equipment, is substantial and has grown over the last several decades. According to a February 2015 study by The Freedonia Group, a market research firm, total U.S. demand for electric T&D equipment was $25.5 billion in 2014 and was distributed by product category as follows: switchgear (54%), transformers (33%), meters (7%) and pole/transmission line hardware (6%). The Freedonia Group forecasts demand for switchgear and for transformers to climb 6.1%  and 4.5% annually to $28.9 billion collectively in 2019,  as compared to 5.5% and 2.0% annual growth for these categories between 2009 and 2014, driven by rising utilization of renewable energy sources and increasing demand from the industrial and non-utility generator markets.

Most of our business today consists of manufacturing power, distribution and non-utility transformers, although we have become increasingly engaged in producing conventional and certain specialty categories of electrical switchgear. Utilities, industrial and commercial firms purchase transformers to replace old equipment, maintain system reliability, achieve efficiency improvements and for substation or grid expansion. Demand is also sensitive to overall economic conditions, particularly with respect to the level of industrial production and investment in commercial and residential construction. Other market demand factors include voltage conversion, voltage unit upgrades, electrical equipment failures, higher energy costs, stricter environmental regulations and investment in sources of renewable and distributed energy generation.

The market for switchgear and related equipment is significantly larger and more complex given the number and classes of solutions available. Within our Critical Power segment, we believe that our PSG and ATS switchgear offerings, together with our service programs for power generation and ancillary equipment, addresses annual U.S. demand exceeding $2.0 billion.

The market for T&D equipment and Critical Power solutions is very fragmented due to the range of equipment types, electrical and mechanical properties, technological standards and service parameters required by different categories of end users for their specific applications. Many orders are custom-engineered and tend to be time-sensitive since other critical work is frequently being coordinated around the customer’s electrical equipment installation. The vast majority of North American demand for the types of solutions we provide is satisfied by thousands of producers and service companies in the U.S. and Canada.

We believe several of the key industry trends supporting future growth in our industry are as follows:

Customers

For the year ended December 31, 2016 approximately 27% of our sales were to Canadian customers, including many of Canada’s electrical utilities, municipal power systems, large industrial companies, engineering and construction firms and a number of electrical distributors. Another 72%2019, 100% of our sales in 20162019 were to U.S. customers, represented in large part by companies involved in commercial construction. Less than 1% of our sales were to export customers primarily serving the Central and Latin American markets. During the year ended December 31, 2016,2019, we sold our electrical equipment and services to over 2,200900 individual customers and our twenty largest customers represented approximately 51%75% of our consolidated revenue.

For the year ended December 31, 2018, 100% of our sales in 2018 were to U.S. customers, represented in large part by companies involved in commercial construction. During the year ended December 31, 2018, we sold our electrical equipment and services to over 1,000 individual customers and our twenty largest customers represented approximately 70% of our consolidated revenue.

Approximately 15%13% and 10%15% of our sales in the years ended December 31, 20162019 and 2015,2018, respectively, were made to SiemensVerizon and its affiliated companies. Our pricing agreement with Siemens doesVerizon outlines the services to be provided for their equipment and frequently results in additional sales opportunities for service work that is outside the scope of the agreement. This agreement represents the majority of the sales and profits the Company received from Verizon. The agreement with Verizon for their preventative maintenance service will not obligate Siemensbe renewed, and the current term expires on March 31, 2020. If we cannot find alternative sources of business or reduce our expenses, the loss of the Verizon business is expected to purchase transformers from ushave a material adverse impact on our results of operations. We are seeking an opportunity to reclaim this portion of the business after March 31, 2021; however, there is no assurance that we will be able to reclaim any portion of the business after March 31, 2021.

Approximately 18% of our sales in quantities consistentthe year ended December 31, 2019 were made to CleanSpark Inc. The majority of our sales to CleanSpark are made pursuant to the Contract Manufacturing Agreement that was entered into as part of the sale of PCPI. The agreement continues until July 22, 2020. The Company anticipates negotiating an extension of this agreement before it expires, but there is no assurance that the Company will be able to extend the agreement with the past or at all.CleanSpark.

While the loss of a significant number of customers would have a material adverse effect on our business, aside from Siemens, we do not believe that the loss of any specific customer, aside from Verizon and CleanSpark, would have a material adverse effect on our business.

Marketing, Sales and Distribution

A substantial portion of the transformers manufactured by us, and most of the switchgear products we offer are sold directly to customers by our 183 full-time marketing and sales personnel and 6 members of our executive management team operating from our office locations in the U.S. andFollowing the sale of the transformer business units, we no longer have office locations or employees in Canada. Our products are also sold through our network of more than 64 independent sales agencies throughout North America that sell primarily to full-line electrical distributors and to maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations. Our direct sales force markets to end users and to third parties, such as original equipment manufacturers and engineering firms that prescribe the specifications and parameters that control the applications of our products.

Sales Backlog

Backlog reflects the amount of revenue we expect to realize upon the shipment of customer orders for our products that are not yet complete or for which work has not yet begun. Our sales backlog as of December 31, 20162019 was approximately $38.6$15.9 million, as compared to $28.7$15.7 million as of December 31, 2015.2018 for our continuing operations. We anticipate that most of our current backlog will be delivered during 2017.2020. Orders included in our sales backlog are represented by customer purchase orders and contracts that we believe to be firm.

Competition

We experience intense competition from a large number of electrical equipment manufacturers and from distributors and servicers of such equipment. The number and size of our competitors varies considerably by product line and service category, with many of our competitors tending to be small, highly specialized or focused on a certain geographic market area or customer. However, several of our competitors have substantially greater financial and technical resources than us, including some of the world’s largest electrical products and industrial equipment manufacturing companies. A representative list of our competitors in our T&D Solutions segment includes ABB Ltd.Crown Electric Engineering and Manufacturing, LLC , Carte International,Industrial Electric Machinery, LLC , RESA Power, LLC , Powell Industries, Inc., and Eaton Corporation plc, General Electric Company, Schneider Electric SA, Hammond Power Solutions Inc., Howard Industries, Inc. and Partner Technologies, Inc. In the sale of onsite power systems and service, our Critical Power segment competes with larger, more established regional companies that represent Caterpillar, Cummins, Kohler and other generator manufacturers..

We believe that we compete primarily on the basis of technical support and application expertise, engineering, manufacturing and service capabilities, equipment rating, quality, scheduling and price. In all our businesses, our objective is to focus our efforts on more specialized, challenging and complex applications. Accordingly, a critical element to the success of our business is responsiveness and flexibility in providing custom-engineered solutions to satisfy customer needs. We believe that our strongest product niches are in the manufacture and design of small power and distribution electrical transformers, custom-manufactured panel board and switchboard products and in paralleling switchgear solutions for on-site power applications serving data centers, hospitals and other businesses with critical power needs. As a result of our long-time presence in the industry, we possess a number of special designs and libraries of programming code for our equipment that were engineered and developed specifically for our customers. We believe these factors give us a competitive advantage and that they are a major contributor to our frequency of repeat customer orders and the longevity of our customer relationships.

Raw Materials and Suppliers

The principal raw materials purchased by us are core steel, copper, wire, aluminum strip, insulating materials including transformer oilcells, sensors, breakers, meters and sheet metal.relays. We also purchase certain electrical components from a variety of suppliers including bushings, switches, fuses, protectors and circuit breakers. These raw materials and components are available from and supplied by numerous sources at competitive prices, although there are more limited sources of supply for electrical core steel and transformer oil.prices. Unanticipated increases in raw material prices or disruptions in supply could increase production costs and adversely affect our profitability. We attempt to minimize the effect on our profit margins of unanticipated changes in the prices of raw materials by including index clauses in our customer contracts that allow us to increase or reduce our prices if the costs of raw materials unexpectedly rise or decrease. Approximately 31% of our annual sales are made pursuant to contracts that contain such index clauses, which, subject to various formulae and limitations, permit us to adjust the final prices we charge. We do not anticipate any significant difficulty in satisfying our raw material requirements on reasonable terms and have not experienced any such difficulty in the past several years. Our largest suppliers during the year ended December 31, 20162019 included SumitomoEaton Corporation Generac, Essex Group, Metelec Ltée , Industrial Connections & Solutions, LLC , Thyssenkrupp Materials NA , ABB, Inc. and Rea Magnet Wire Co. Inc. and our distribution transformer supplier from a low cost production location in Asia.Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc .

Employees

As of December 31, 2016,2019, we had 41595 employees consisting of 12925 salaried staff and 28670 hourly workers. Our hourly employees located at our plant in Farnham, Quebec, Canada are covered by a collective bargaining agreement with a provincial labor union that expires in March 2017. This agreement will not be renewed as we are planning to relocate our production from this facility to our lower cost facility in Reynosa Mexico. Our hourly employees located at our plant in Granby, Quebec, Canada are covered by a collective bargaining agreement with the United Steel Workers of America Local 9414 that expires in May 2020. The hourly employees located at our manufacturing facility in Reynosa, Mexico are also covered by a collective bargaining agreement with a local labor union that has an indefinite term, subject to annual review and negotiation of key provisions. In addition, certainCertain of our hourly employees located at our manufacturing facility in Santa Fe Springs, California are covered by a collective bargaining agreement with Local Union 1710 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO that expires in June 2019.2022.

Environmental

We are subject to numerous environmental laws and regulations concerning, among other areas, air emissions, discharges into waterways and the generation, handling, storing, transportation, treatment and disposal of waste materials. These laws and regulations are constantly changing and it is impossible to predict with accuracy the effect they may have on us in the future. Like many other industrial enterprises, our manufacturing operations entail the risk of noncompliance, which may result in fines, penalties and remediation costs, and there can be no assurance that such costs will be insignificant. To our knowledge, we are in substantial compliance with all federal, state, provincial and local environmental protection provisions, and believe that the future compliance cost should not have a material adverse effect on our capital expenditures, net income or competitive position. However, legal and regulatory requirements in these areas have been increasing and there can be no assurance that significant costs and liabilities will not be incurred in the future due to regulatory noncompliance.

Corporate History

We were originally formed in the State of Nevada in 2008. On November 30, 2009, we merged with and into Pioneer Power Solutions, Inc., a Delaware corporation, for the sole purpose of changing our state of incorporation from Nevada to Delaware and changing our name to “Pioneer Power Solutions, Inc.” On September 24, 2013, we completed an underwritten public offering and our common stock began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol PPSI.

Available Information

Our corporate website is located at www.pioneerpowersolutions.com.www.pioneerpowersolutions.com. On the investor relations section of our website, we make available, free of charge, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with or furnish them to the SEC. You may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. You may obtain information on the operation of the SEC’s Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers, such as us, that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov.www.sec.gov.

We webcast our earnings calls and certain events we participate in with members of the investment community on our investor relations website. Additionally, we provide notifications of news or announcements regarding our financial performance, including SEC filings, investor events and press and earnings releases as part of the investor relations section of our website. Further corporate governance materials, including our Corporate Governance Guidelines, charters of our Board Committees and our Code of Business Ethics and Conduct, are also available under the heading “Corporate Governance” on the investor relations portion of our website. The contents of and the information on or accessible through our corporate website, including the investor relations portion of our website, is not a part of, and is not intended to be incorporated into, this report or any other report or document we file with or furnish to the SEC, and any references to our website are intended to be an inactive textual references only.

ITEM 1A.  RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Before investing in our common stock you should carefully consider the following risks, together with the financial and other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10–K for the year ended December 31, 20162019 and our other periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of may become important factors that affect us. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial conditions and operating results may be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our common stock may decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry

We are vulnerable to economic downturns in the commercial construction market, which may reduce the demand for some of our products and adversely affect our sales, net income, cash flow or financial condition.

A large portion of our business involves sales of our products in connection with commercial and industrial construction. Our sales to this sector are affected by the level of discretionary business spending. During economic downturns in this sector, the level of business discretionary spending may decrease. This decrease in spending will likely reduce the demand for some of our products and may adversely affect our sales, net income, cash flow or financial condition.

The commercial and industrial building and maintenance sectors began to experience a significant decline in 2008. The downturn in these segments contributed to a decline in the demand for our T&D Solutions, particularly our standard distribution transformers and general purpose switchgear products, as well as a decline in demand for power generation equipment distributed by our Critical Power reporting unit. We cannot predict the timing, duration or severity of another such downturn in these segments which may adversely impact sales, net income and cash flow.

Our operating results may vary significantly from quarter to quarter, which makes our operating results difficult to predict and can cause our operating results in any particular period to be less than comparable quarters and expectations from time to time.

Our quarterly results may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside our control and have the potential to materially and adversely affect our results. Factors that affect our operating results include the following:

Accordingly, our operating results in any particular quarter may not be indicative of the results that you can expect for any other quarter or for an entire year.

Our industry is highly competitive.

The electrical equipment manufacturing industry is highly competitive. Principal competitors in our markets in the T&D Solutions segment include ABB Ltd., Carte International, Inc., Eaton Corporation plc, EmersonCrown Electric Company, GeneralEngineering and Manufacturing, LLC, Industrial Electric Company, HammondMachinery, LLC, RESA Power, Solutions Inc., HowardLLC, Powell Industries, Inc., Partner Technologies, Inc., and Schneider Electric SA.Eaton Corporation. Many of these competitors, as well as other companies in the broader electrical equipment manufacturing and service industry where we expect to compete, are significantly larger and have substantially greater resources than we do and are able to achieve greater economies of scale and lower cost structures than us and may, therefore, be able to provide their products and services to customers at lower prices than we are able to. Moreover, our competitors could develop the expertise, experience and resources to offer products that are superior in both price and quality to our products. While we seek to compete by providing more customized, highly-engineered products, there are few technical or other barriers to prevent much larger companies in our industry from putting more emphasis on this same strategy. Similarly, we cannot be certain that we will be able to market our business effectively in the face of competition or to maintain or enhance our competitive position within our industry, maintain our customer base at current levels or increase our customer base. Our inability to manage our business in light of the competitive forces we face could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Because weWe currently derive a significant portion of our revenues from one customer, any decreasetwo customers, agreements with whom are expiring in orders2020. Loss of business from this customerthese customers could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We depend on SiemensVerizon and CleanSpark for a large portion of our business, and any change in the level of orders from Siemens,these customers has, in the past, had a significant impact on our results of operations. SiemensIn particular, Verizon accounted for 15%13% and 10%15% of our net sales in the years ended December 31, 20162019 and 2015,2018, respectively. In addition,CleanSpark accounted for 18% of our pricing agreement with Siemens does not obligate Siemens to purchase transformers from usnet sales in quantities consistent with the past or at all. If Siemens were to significantly cancel, delay or reduce the amountyear ended December 31, 2019. Loss of business it does with us for any reason, there would be a materialfrom these customers could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Our long-term supply agreement with Verizon expires on March 31, 2020 and we have been notified by Verizon that the agreement will not be renewed with us. If we cannot find alternative sources of business or reduce our expenses, the loss of the Verizon business is expected to have a material adverse impact on our results of operations. We are seeking an opportunity to reclaim this portion of the business after March 31, 2021; however, there is no assurance that we will be able to reclaim any portion of the business after March 31, 2021.

The majority of our sales to CleanSpark are made pursuant to the Contract Manufacturing Agreement that was entered into as part of the sale of PCPI. The agreement continues until July 22, 2020. The Company anticipates negotiating an extension of this agreement before it expires, but there is no assurance that the Company will be able to extend the agreement with CleanSpark. 

Our operations have been curtailed following the closing of the Equity Transaction, and we have limited sources of revenue following the Equity Transaction, which may negatively impact the value and liquidity of our common stock.

The Equity Transaction has reduced the size of our business operations, and our sources of revenue are limited to our Critical Power segment and the switchgear manufacturing business of our T&D Solutions segment following the closing of the Equity Transaction. Although our board of directors may use a portion of the proceeds from the Equity Transaction to support the business operations remaining following the Equity Transaction, there can be no assurance that we will be successful at carrying out the operations of our remaining businesses or that we will be successful at generating revenue. A failure by us to secure additional sources of revenue following the closing of the Equity Transaction could negatively impact the value and liquidity of our common stock.

Our remaining business units have historically generated operating losses and negative cash flows, which may result in the usage of our cash and cash equivalents.

After the completion of the Equity Transaction, we have two business units remaining (PCEP and TESI). These two units have been unable to earn positive income and generate positive cash flow in their recent history. With $8.2 million of cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2019, these losses will negatively impact our cash and cash equivalents.

The departure or loss of key personnel could disrupt our business.

We depend heavily on the continued efforts of Nathan J. Mazurek, our principal executive officer, and on other senior officers who are responsible for the day-to-day management of our fourthree operating subsidiaries. In addition, we rely on our current electrical and mechanical design engineers, along with trained coil winders, many of whom are important to our operations and would be difficult to replace. We cannot be certain that any of these individuals will continue in their respective capacities for any particular period of time. The departure or loss of key personnel, or the inability to hire and retain qualified employees, could negatively impact our ability to manage our business.

Any acquisitions that we have completed, or may complete in the future, may not perform as planned and could disrupt our business and harm our financial condition and operations.

In an effort to effectively compete in the specialty electrical equipment manufacturing and service businesses, where increasing competition and industry consolidation prevail, we have sought to acquire complementary businesses in the past and will continue to do so in the future. In the event of any future acquisitions, we could:

These events could result in significant expenses and decreased revenue, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. In addition, integrating acquired businesses and completing any future acquisitions involve numerous operational and financial risks. These risks include difficulty in assimilating acquired operations, diversion of management’s attention, and the potential loss of key employees or customers of acquired operations. Furthermore, companies acquired by us may not generate financial results consistent with our management’s plans at the time of acquisition.

We may not be able to expandThe success of our business throughdepends on achieving our strategic acquisitions, and internal growth initiatives facilitated by acquisitions, which could decrease our profitability.objectives, including dispositions.

A key elementWe continue to evaluate the potential disposition of assets and businesses that may no longer help us meet our strategy isobjectives. When we decide to pursue strategic acquisitions that either expandsell assets or complement oura business, we may encounter difficulty in order to increase revenue and net income. We may not be able to identify additional attractive acquisition candidatesfinding buyers or executing alternative exit strategies on acceptable terms favorable to us or in a timely manner. Wemanner, which could delay the accomplishment of our strategic objectives. Alternatively, we may require additional debtdispose of a business at a price or equity financingon terms that are less than we had anticipated, or with the exclusion of assets that must be divested separately. After reaching an agreement with a buyer for future acquisitions,the disposition of a business, the transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of pre-closing conditions, which may not be available on terms favorable toprevent us if at all. Moreover, wefrom completing the transaction. Dispositions may not be able to integrate any acquiredalso involve continued financial involvement in the divested business, such as through continuing equity ownership, transition service agreements, guarantees, indemnities or other current or contingent financial obligations. Under these arrangements, performance by the divested businesses intoor other conditions outside our business or to operate any acquired businesses profitably. Recently acquired businesses may operate at lower profit margins, whichcontrol could negatively impactaffect our results of operations. Each of these factors may contribute to our inability to grow our business through strategic acquisitions, which could ultimately result in increased costs without a corresponding contemporary increase in revenues, which would result in decreased profitability.future financial results.

If we do not conduct an adequate due diligence investigation of a target business that we acquire, we may be required subsequently to take write downs or write-offs, restructuring, and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and our stock price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.

As part of our acquisition strategy, we will need to conduct a due diligence investigation of one or more target businesses. Intensive due diligence is time consuming and expensive due to the operations, accounting, finance and legal professionals who must be involved in the due diligence process. We may have limited time to conduct such due diligence. Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business that we acquire, we cannot assure you that this diligence will uncover all material issues relating to a particular target business, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. If our diligence fails to identify issues specific to a target business or the environment in which the target business operates, we may be forced to write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in us reporting losses. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our common stock. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants that we may be subject to as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing.

Our revenue may be adversely affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

Approximately one-third of our 2017 revenue and a significant portion of our expenditures are expected to be derived or spent in Canadian dollars. However, we report our financial condition and results of operations in U.S. dollars. As a result, fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar will impact the amount of our revenues and net income. For example, if the Canadian dollar appreciates relative to the U.S. dollar, the fluctuation will result in a positive impact on the revenues that we report. However, if the Canadian dollar depreciates relative to the U.S. dollar, which was the case during 2015 and 2016, there will be a negative impact on the revenues we report due to such fluctuation. It is possible that the impact of currency fluctuations will result in a decrease in reported consolidated sales even though we may have experienced an increase in sales transacted in the Canadian dollar. Conversely, the impact of currency fluctuations may result in an increase in reported consolidated sales despite declining sales transacted in the Canadian dollar. The exchange rate from the U.S. dollar to the Canadian dollar has fluctuated substantially in the past and may continue to do so in the future. Though we may choose to hedge our exposure to foreign currency exchange rate changes in the future, there is no guarantee such hedging, if undertaken, will be successful.

We may be unable to generate internal growth.

Our ability to generate internal growth will be affected by, among other factors, our ability to attract new customers, increases or decreases in the number or size of orders received from existing customers, hiring and retaining skilled employees and increasing volume utilizing our existing facilities. Many of the factors affecting our ability to generate internal growth may be beyond our control, and we cannot be certain that our strategies will be implemented with positive results or that we will be able to generate cash flow sufficient to fund our operations and to support internal growth. If we do not achieve internal growth, our results of operations will suffer and we will likely not be able to expand our operations or grow our business.

Fluctuations in the price and supply of raw materials used to manufacture our products may reduce our profits.

Our raw material costs represented approximately 60%55% and 59%52% of our revenues for the years ended December 31, 20162019 and 2015,2018, respectively. The principal raw materials purchased by us are electrical core steel, copper wire, aluminum strip and insulating materials including transformer oil. We also purchase certain electrical components from a variety of suppliers including bushings, switches, fuses, circuit breakers, and protectors. These raw materials and components are available from, and supplied by, numerous sources at competitive prices, although there are more limited sources of supply for electrical core steel and transformer oil.prices. Unanticipated increases in raw material prices or disruptions in supply could increase production costs and adversely affect our profitability. We cannot provide any assurances that we will not experience difficulties sourcing our raw materials in the future.

Our Critical Power solutions segment, through our wholly-owned subsidiary Titan Energy Systems Inc., currently derives a significant portion of its revenues pursuant to a distributor agreement with Generac; a termination or expiration of our distributor agreement with Generac , or any reduction in market acceptance of products sold by us pursuant to the distributor agreement could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.  

Under the terms of our distributor agreement with Generac, we are responsible for marketing, distributing and servicing the Generac Industrial Power line of products in the states Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Nebraska. Our agreement has an initial term expiring on March 31, 2018, and automatically expires unless extended by Generac, with 90 days’ prior notice, for at least an additional one-year (1) periods. Approximately 37% of Titan’s business involves the sale of Generac products. As such, Titan’s business is dependent on market acceptance of Generac products. We believe that Generac has a solid reputation as a manufacturer, with excellent brand recognition and customer support and a growing market share in many of the markets it serves. However, there can be no assurance that Generac will be able to maintain its reputation and grow its market position in the future. If Generac is unsuccessful in developing and enhancing its product lines to meet evolving and sophisticated customer needs, is unable to maintain the quality of its products, or if it is unable to provide its products at competitive prices, the market acceptance for Generac products may deteriorate over time. Any resulting decrease in the demand for Generac products could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and future prospects.

We are also dependent on Generac for the timely supply of parts and equipment to fulfill its deliveries to our customers and meet the requirements of our service maintenance contracts. From time to time, during periods of intense demand, Generac finds it necessary to allocate its supply of particular products among its dealers. Such allocations of supply have not, in the past, proven to be a significant impediment to us in conducting our business. However, there can be no assurance that Generac will continue to supply its products in the quantities and timeframes required by our customers.  While delays in the availability of product supply in sufficient quantities may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, historically this has not been an issue for us.

We have, and expect to continue to have, credit facilities with restrictive loan covenants that may impact our ability to operate our business and to pursue our business strategies, and our failure to comply with these covenants could result in an acceleration of our indebtedness.

We will continue to rely on our credit facilities with Bank of Montreal (“BMO”) for a significant portion of the working capital to operate our business and execute our strategy. These credit facilities contain certain covenants that restrict our ability to, among other things:

The majority of the liquidity derived from our credit facilities is based on availability determined by a borrowing base. Specifically, the availability of credit is dependent upon eligible receivables, inventory and certain liens. We may not be able to maintain adequate levels of eligible assets to support our required liquidity.

In addition, our credit facilities require us to meet certain financial ratios, including working capital ratios, EBITDA levels and effective tangible net worth levels. Our ability to meet these financial provisions may be affected by events beyond our control. If, as or when required, we are unable to repay, refinance or restructure our indebtedness under, or amend the covenants contained in, our credit facilities, our lenders could institute foreclosure proceedings against the assets securing borrowings under those facilities, which would harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The indebtedness under our credit facilities with BMO is secured by substantially all of our consolidated assets. As a result of these security interests, such assets would only be available to satisfy claims of our general creditors or to holders of our equity securities if we were to become insolvent to the extent the value of such assets exceeded the amount of our indebtedness and other obligations. In addition, the existence of these security interests may adversely affect our financial flexibility.

Indebtedness under our credit facilities with BMO is secured by a lien on substantially all of our assets. Accordingly, if an event of default were to occur under our credit facilities, BMO would have a prior right to our assets, to the exclusion of our general creditors in the event of our bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation, or reorganization. In that event, our assets would first be used to repay in full all indebtedness and other obligations secured by them (including all amounts outstanding under our senior secured credit agreement), resulting in all or a portion of our assets being unavailable to satisfy the claims of our unsecured indebtedness. Only after satisfying the claims of our unsecured creditors and our subsidiaries’ unsecured creditors is any amount available for our equity holders. The pledge of these assets and other restrictions may limit our flexibility in raising capital for other purposes. Because substantially all of our assets are pledged under these financing arrangements, our ability to incur additional secured indebtedness or to sell or dispose of assets to raise capital may be impaired, which could have an adverse effect on our financial flexibility.

We depend upon the availability of capital under our revolving credit facilities and term loans with BMO to finance our operations. Any additional financing that we have requested from BMO may not be available on favorable terms or at all.

In addition to cash flow provided by operations, we finance our working capital and general corporate needs through our Canadian Facilities and U.S. Facilities with BMO. On April 29, 2016 we and BMO restated and amended these credit agreements to revise covenants and funding amounts to finance our cash requirements for anticipated operating activities, restructuring and integration plans, capital improvements and scheduled principal repayments of long-term debt. On March 15, 2017, the expiration date of this credit facility was extended until July 31, 2018.

We may not be able to fully realize the revenue value reported in our backlog.

We routinely have a backlog of work to be completed on contracts representing a significant portion of our annual sales. As of December 31, 2016,2019, our order backlog was $38.6$15.9 million. Orders included in our backlog are represented by customer purchase orders and service contracts that we believe to be firm. Backlog develops as a result of new business taken, which represents the revenue value of new customer orders received by us during a given period. Backlog consists of customer orders that either (1) have not yet been started or (2) are in progress and are not yet completed. In the latter case, the revenue value reported in backlog is the remaining value associated with work that has not yet been completed.billed. From time to time, customer orders are canceled that appeared to have a high certainty of going forward at the time they were recorded as new business taken. In the event of a customer order cancellation, we may be reimbursed for certain costs but typically have no contractual right to the total revenue reflected in our backlog. In addition to us being unable to recover certain direct costs, canceled customer orders may also result in additional unrecoverable costs due to the resulting underutilization of our assets.

We are subject to pricing pressure from our larger customers.

We face significant pricing pressures in all of our business segments from our larger customers, including Siemens.Verizon and CleanSpark. Because of their purchasing size, our larger customers can influence market participants to compete on price terms. Such customers also use their buying power to negotiate lower prices. If we are not able to offset pricing reductions resulting from these pressures by improved operating efficiencies and reduced expenditures, those price reductions may have an adverse impact on our financial results.

Deterioration in the credit quality of several major customers could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

A significant asset included in our working capital is accounts receivable from customers. If customers responsible for a significant amount of accounts receivable become insolvent or are otherwise unable to pay for products and services, or become unwilling or unable to make payments in a timely manner, our operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected. A significant deterioration in the economy could have an adverse effect on the servicing of these accounts receivable, which could result in longer payment cycles, increased collection costs and defaults in excess of management’s expectations. Deterioration in the credit quality of SiemensVerizon, CleanSpark or of any other major customers could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

We rely on third parties for key elements of our business whose operations are outside our control.

We rely on arrangements with third party shippers and carriers such as independent shipping companies for timely delivery of our products to our customers. As a result, we may be subject to carrier disruptions and increased costs due to factors that are beyond our control, including labor strikes, inclement weather, natural disasters and rapidly increasing fuel costs. If the services of any of these third parties become unsatisfactory, we may experience delays in meeting our customers’ product demands and we may not be able to find a suitable replacement on a timely basis or on commercially reasonable terms. Any failure to deliver products to our customers in a timely and accurate manner may damage our reputation and could cause us to lose customers.

We also utilize third party distributors and manufacturer’s representatives to sell, install and service certain of our products. While we are selective in whom we choose to represent us, it is difficult for us to ensure that our distributors and manufacturer’s representatives consistently act in accordance with the standards we set for them. To the extent any of our end-customers have negative experiences with any of our distributors or manufacturer’s representatives,representatives; it could reflect poorly on us and damage our reputation, thereby negatively impacting our financial results.

Our business, and our industry as a whole, could be adversely affected by an outbreak of disease, epidemic or pandemic, such as the global coronavirus pandemic, or similar public threat, or fear of such an event. 

The recent global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic could have a negative impact on our revenues and operating results. This outbreak could result in disruptions and damage to our business, caused by both the negative impact to our ability to obtain cost effective raw materials, supplies and component parts necessary to operate our business and the negative impact on our ability to operate our facility should the coronavirus spread more broadly in the regions we are located, thereby creating an increased risk of exposure to our workforce which cannot operate our facility remotely. Mitigation efforts will not completely prevent our business from being adversely affected, and the longer the pandemic impacts supply and demand and the more broadly the pandemic spreads, it is more likely that the impact on our business, revenues and operating results will become increasingly negative. Also, global or national health concerns, including the outbreak of pandemic or contagious disease such as the recent coronavirus outbreak, can negatively impact the global economy and demand for our services. 

Per the guidance issued from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”), part of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Company and its subsidiaries, are considered “essential businesses”. We fall into multiple categories within the guidance but specifically within 1) Energy & Electricity Industry and 2) Critical Manufacturing as we provide essential products for the energy sector.

The guidance issued by CISA can be found at: https://www.cisa.gov/publication/guidance-essential-critical-infrastructure-workforce.

While we cannot guarantee that we will continue to be considered an “essential business”, this guidance and exception allow work at our facilities to continue in order to provide critical infrastructure products that enable the safe and reliable delivery of electricity into millions of homes at this time.

Our business may face cyber-securitycybersecurity risk generally associated with our information technology systems which could materially affect our business, and our results of operations could be materially affected if our information technology systems (or third-party systems we rely on) are interrupted, damaged by unforeseen events, or fail for any extended period of time.

We rely on information systems (IS) in our business to obtain, rapidly process, analyze, manage and store data to among other things:

Information securityIS risks have generally increased in recent years, and a cyberattack that bypasses our IS security systems causing an IS security breach may lead to a material disruption of our business operations and/or the loss of business information resulting in a material effect on our business.

In addition, we develop products and provide services to our customers that are technology-based, and a cyberattack that bypasses the IS security systems of our products or services causing a security breach and/or perceived security vulnerabilities in our products or services could also cause significant reputational harm, and actual or perceived vulnerabilities may lead to claims against us by our customers. Perceived or actual security vulnerabilities in our products or services, or the perceived or actual failure by us or our customers who use our products to comply with applicable legal requirements, may not only cause us significant reputational harm, but may also lead to claims against us by our customers and involve fines and penalties, costs for remediation, and settlement expenses.

Our information systems alsoIS utilize certain third party service organizations that manage a portion of our information systems, and our business may be materially affected if these third party service organizations are subject to an IS security breach. Risks associated with these and other IS security breaches may include, among other things:

We have various insurance policies, covering risks in amounts that we consider adequate. There can be no assurance that the insurance coverage we maintain is sufficient or will be available in adequate amounts or at a reasonable cost. Successful claims for misappropriation or release of confidential or personal data brought against us in excess of available insurance or fines or other penalties assessed or any claim that results in significant adverse publicity against us could have a material adverse effect on our business and our reputation.

We may face impairment charges if economic environments in which our business operates and key economic and business assumptions substantially change.

Assessment of the potential impairment of property, plant and equipment, goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets is an integral part of our normal ongoing review of operations. Testing for potential impairment of long-lived assets is dependent on numerous assumptions and reflects our best estimates at a particular point in time, which may vary from testing date to testing date. The economic environments in which our businesses operate and key economic and business assumptions with respect to projected product selling prices and materials costs, market growth and inflation rates, can significantly affect the outcome of impairment tests. Estimates based on these assumptions may differ significantly from actual results. Changes in factors and assumptions used in assessing potential impairments can have a significant impact on the existence and magnitude of impairments, as well as the time at which such impairments are recognized. Future changes in the economic environment and the economic outlook for the assets being evaluated could also result in additional impairment charges. Any significant asset impairments would adversely impact our financial results.

Our business requires skilled labor, and we may be unable to attract and retain qualified employees.

Our ability to maintain our productivity and profitability will be limited by our ability to employ, train and retain skilled personnel necessary to meet our requirements. We may experience shortages of qualified personnel. We cannot be certain that we will be able to maintain an adequate skilled labor force necessary to operate efficiently and to support our growth strategy or that our labor expenses will not increase as a result of a shortage in the supply of skilled personnel. Labor shortages, increased labor costs or loss of our most skilled workers could impair our ability to deliver on time to our customers (thereby creating a risk that we lose our customers to competition) and would inhibit our ability to maintain our business or grow our revenues, and may adversely impact our profitability.

Our business operations are dependent upon our ability to engage in successful collective bargaining with our unionized workforce.

If we are unable to renew our collective bargaining agreements, or if additional segments of our workforce become unionized, we may be subject to work interruptions or stoppages. Strikes or labor disputes with our employees may adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.

We are subject to the risks of owning real property.

We own real property, including the land and buildings at two of our manufacturing locations. The ownership of real property subjects us to risks, including: the possibility of environmental contamination and the costs associated with fixing any environmental problems and the risk of damages resulting from such contamination; adverse changes in the value of the property due to interest rate changes, changes in the neighborhood in which the property is located or other factors; ongoing maintenance expenses and costs of improvements; the possible need for structural improvements in order to comply with zoning, seismic, disability act or other requirements; and possible disputes with neighboring owners or others.

Our risk management activities may leave us exposed to unidentified or unanticipated risks.

Although we maintain insurance policies for our business, these policies contain deductibles and limits of coverage. We estimate our liabilities for known claims and unpaid claims and expenses based on information available as well as projections for claims incurred but not reported. However, insurance liabilities are difficult to estimate due to various factors and we may be unable to effectively anticipate or measure potential risks to our company. If we suffer unexpected or uncovered losses, any of our insurance policies or programs are terminated for any reason or are not effective in mitigating our risks, we may incur losses that are not covered by our insurance policies or that exceed our accruals or that exceed our coverage limits and could adversely impact our consolidated results of operations, cash flows and financial position.

Regulatory, environmental, monetary and other governmental policies could have a material adverse effect on our profitability.

We are subject to international, federal, provincial, state and local laws and regulations governing environmental matters, including emissions to air, discharge to waters and the generation and handling of waste. We are also subject to laws relating to occupational health and safety. The operation of manufacturing plants involves a high level of susceptibility in these areas, and there is no assurance that we will not incur material environmental or occupational health and safety liabilities in the future. Moreover, expectations of remediation expenses could be affected by, and potentially significant expenditures could be required to comply with, environmental regulations and health and safety laws that may be adopted or imposed in the future. Future remediation technology advances could adversely impact expectations of remediation expenses. 

We face risks associated with litigation and claims.

Our business, results of operations and financial condition could be affected by significant litigation or claims adverse to us. There is a lawsuit filed against us, PCEP, PCEP’s president and a PCEP employee by Myers Power Products, Inc. in January 2016, seeking injunctive relief and compensatory damages of an unspecified unlimited (exceeding $25,000) amount, alleging, among other things, that our employees wrongly used and retained confidential business information of Myers Power Products, Inc. for the benefit of us and PCEP, and that we and PCEP knowingly received and used such confidential business information. See “Business — Legal Proceedings” for more information. Due to the uncertainties of litigation, however, we can give no assurance that we, PCEP and our employees will prevail on any claims made against us, PCEP and our employees in any such lawsuit. Also, we can give no assurance that any other lawsuits or claims brought in the future will not have an adverse effect on our financial condition, liquidity or operating results. Types of potential litigation cases include product liability, contract, employment-related, labor relations, personal injury or property damage, intellectual property, stockholder claims and claims arising from any injury or damage to persons, property or the environment from hazardous substances used, generated or disposed of in the conduct of our business. Adverse outcomes in some or all of these claims may result in significant monetary damages that could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.

Our international operations subject us to additionalWe face risks associated with litigation and claims, which riskscould impact our financial results and costs may differ in each country in which we do business and may cause our profitability to decline.condition.

MostOur business, results of operations and financial condition could be affected by significant litigation or claims adverse to us. Types of potential litigation cases include product liability, contract, employment-related, labor relations, personal injury or property damage, intellectual property, trade secret or unfair competition claims, stockholder claims and claims arising from any injury or damage to persons, property or the environment from hazardous substances used, generated or disposed of in the conduct of our productsbusiness.

There are manufactured at our facilities in Canada and Mexico, and we depend on a number of suppliers for raw materials and component parts that are located outside of the U.S., including Asia and Western Europe. We generate a significant portion of our revenue from our operations in Canada and currently derive most of our revenuealso two appeals pending in the U.S. from productsCalifornia Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District as referenced in Item 3 - Legal Proceedings, which includes an appeal of an order modifying a previously issued preliminary injunction and an order enjoining us to obtain and post a $12 million bond in connection with the modified preliminary injunction. Due to the uncertainties of litigation, we manufacture in Mexico and source internationally. Our international operations are subject to a variety of riskscan give no assurance that we do not facewill prevail on the appeals. Also, we can give no assurance that any other lawsuits or claims brought in the U.S., and that we may face only to a limited degree in Canada, including:

We may be unable to maintain policies and strategies that will be effective in managing these risks in each country where we do business. Our failure to manage these risks could cause us to fail to reap our investments in these markets and could harm our international operations, reduce our international sales and increase our costs, thus adversely affecting our international and overall business, financial condition, andliquidity or operating results.

Market disruptions caused by domestic Adverse outcomes in some or international financial crisesall of these claims may result in significant monetary damages that could adversely affect our ability to meetconduct our liquidity needs at a reasonable costbusiness. These appeals are currently scheduled to be heard later in calendar year 2021, after the underlying case is likely to be heard and our ability to meet long-term commitments, which could adversely affect our financial condition anddecided; we expect that the results of operations.the case will be known before the appeals are heard and decided.

We rely on credit facilities with our lenders, amongst other avenues, to satisfy our liquidity needs. Disruptions in the domestic or international credit markets or deterioration of the banking industry’s financial condition (such as occurred beginning in 2008), may discourage or prevent our lenders and other lenders from meeting their existing lending commitments, extending the terms of such commitments or agreeing to new commitments, such as for acquisitions or to refinance existing credit facilities. Market disruptions may also limit our ability to issue debt securities in the capital markets. We can provide no assurances that our lenders or any other lenders we may have will meet their existing commitments or that we will be able to access the credit markets in the future on terms acceptable to us or at all.

Longer term disruptions in the domestic or international capital and credit markets as a result of uncertainty, reduced financing alternatives or failures of significant financial institutions could adversely affect our access to the liquidity needed for our business. Any disruption could require us to take measures to conserve cash until the market stabilizes or until alternative financing can be arranged. Such measures could include deferring capital expenditures and reducing other discretionary expenditures. Market disruptions could cause a broad economic downturn that may lead to increased incidence of customers’ failure to pay for services delivered, which could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.

Capital market disruptions could result in increased costs related to variable rate debt. As a result, continuation of market disruptions could increase our interest expense and adversely impact our results of operations. Disruption in the capital markets and its actual or perceived effects on particular businesses and the greater economy also adversely affects the value of the investments held within our pension plans. Significant declines in the value of the investments held within our pension plans may require us to increase contributions to those plans in order to meet future funding requirements if the actual asset returns do not recover these declines in value in the foreseeable future. These trends may also adversely impact our results of operations, net cash flows and financial positions, including our stockholders’ equity.

Risks Relating to Our Organization

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, and we take advantage of the “controlled company” exemption to the corporate governance rules for NASDAQ-listed companies. As a controlled Company, our common stock may be less attractive to some investors or otherwise harm our stock price.

Because we qualify as a “controlled company” under the corporate governance rules for NASDAQ-listed companies, we are not required to have a majority of our board of directors be independent, nor are we required to have a compensation committee or an independent nominating function. In light of our status as a controlled company, our board of directors has determined not to have a majority of independent directors or an independent nominating or compensation committee and to have the full board of directors be directly responsible for compensation matters and for nominating members of our board. Accordingly, should the interests of our controlling stockholder differ from those of other stockholders, the other stockholders may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all the corporate governance rules for NASDAQ-listed companies. Our status as a controlled company could make our common stock less attractive to some investors or otherwise harm our stock price.

Delaware law and our corporate charter and bylaws contain anti-takeover provisions that could delay or discourage takeover attempts that stockholders may consider favorable.

Our board of directors is authorized to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix the voting powers, preferences and other rights and limitations of the preferred stock. Accordingly, we may issue shares of preferred stock with a preference over our common stock with respect to dividends or distributions on liquidation or dissolution, or that may otherwise adversely affect the voting or other rights of the holders of common stock. Issuances of preferred stock, depending upon the rights, preferences and designations of the preferred stock, may have the effect of delaying, deterring or preventing a change of control, even if that change of control might benefit our stockholders. In addition, we are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Section 203 generally prohibits a public Delaware corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless (i) prior to the date of the transaction, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder; (ii) the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding for purposes of determining the number of shares outstanding (a) shares owned by persons who are directors and also officers and (b) shares owned by employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or (iii) on or subsequent to the date of the transaction, the business combination is approved by the board and authorized at an annual or special meeting of stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock which is not owned by the interested stockholder.

Section 203 could delay or prohibit mergers or other takeover or change in control attempts with respect to us and, accordingly, may discourage attempts to acquire us even though such a transaction may offer our stockholders the opportunity to sell their stock at a price above the prevailing market price.

Your ability to influence corporate decisions may be limited because Provident Pioneer Partners, L.P. owns a controlling percentage of our common stock.

Provident Pioneer Partners, L.P., which is controlled by Nathan J. Mazurek, our chief executive officer, president and chairman of the board of directors, beneficially owns approximately 52.5%52.4% of our outstanding common stock as of March 28, 2017.30, 2020. As a result of this stock ownership, Provident Pioneer Partners, L.P. and Mr. Mazurek can control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors and approval of any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. This concentration of voting power could delay or prevent an acquisition of our company on terms that other stockholders may desire. In addition, as the interests of Provident Pioneer Partners, L.P. and our minority stockholders may not always be the same, this large concentration of voting power may lead to stockholder votes that are inconsistent with the best interests of our minority stockholders or the best interest of us as a whole. stockholders.

Furthermore, pursuant to the terms of our credit agreement with BMO, we are restricted from, among other things, entering into merger agreements or agreements for the sale of any or all of our assets outside the course of ordinary business. As such, even if certain corporate transactions may be approved by our stockholders, BMO, as the lender under our credit agreement, has final authority to approve or reject certain of our transactions. This could lead to us not being able to effect certain transactions that may be in the best interests of our stockholders or our business.

We are subject to financial reporting and other requirements for which our accounting, internal audit and other management systems and resources may not be adequately prepared.

We are subject to reporting and other obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), including the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 404 requires us to conduct an annual management assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. These reporting and other obligations place significant demands on our management, administrative, operational, internal audit and accounting resources. Any failure to maintain effective internal controls could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and stock price.

In addition, our internal controls will also include those of any company or business that we may acquire in the future. Acquired companies or businesses are likely to have different standards, controls, contracts, procedures and policies, making it more difficult to implement and harmonize company-wide financial, accounting, information and other systems. As a result, our internal controls may become more complex and we may require significantly more resources to ensure they remain effective. Failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, either in our existing business or in businesses that we may acquire, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations.

We have identifiedThere are inherent limitations in all control systems, and misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

The ongoing internal control provisions of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 require us to identify material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, and if we are unable to achieve and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting or effective disclosure controls, this could have a material adverse effect on our business.

As discussed in Item 9A “Controls and Procedures”, we concluded there are material weaknesses in the design and operating effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is defined as a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, suchwhich is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, does not expect that our internal controls and disclosure controls will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. In addition, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and the benefit of controls must be relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, in our company have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple errors or mistakes. Further, controls can be circumvented by individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more persons, or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is also based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, a reasonable possibility thatcontrol may be inadequate because of changes in conditions, such as growth of the company or increased transaction volume, or the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Because of inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

In addition, discovery and disclosure of a material misstatement ofweakness, by definition, could have a company’s annualmaterial adverse impact on our financial statements. Such an occurrence could discourage certain customers or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by the company’s internal controls.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to remediatesuppliers from doing business with us and adversely affect how our existing material weaknessesstock trades. This could in a timely manner, if at all, or that in the future additional material weaknesses will not exist, reoccur or otherwise be discovered, a risk that is significantly increased in light of the complexity of our business. If our efforts to remediate these material weaknesses, as described in Item 9A “Controls and Procedures”, are not successful or if other deficiencies occur,turn negatively affect our ability to accurately and timely report our financial position, results of operations, cash flows or key operating metrics could be impaired, which could result in late filings of our annual and quarterly reports under the Exchange Act, restatements of our consolidated financial statements or other corrective disclosures. Additional impacts could include a decline in our stock price, suspension of trading or delisting of our common stock by the Nasdaq Capital Market, or other material adverse effects on our business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity. Furthermore, if we continue to have these existing material weaknesses, other material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in the future, it could create a perception that our financial results do not fairly state our financial condition or results of operations. Any of the foregoing could have an adverse effect on the value of our stock.access equity markets for capital.

Risks Relating to our Common Stock  

There has been a limited market for our common stock and we cannot ensure investors that an active market for our common stock will be sustained.

There has been limited trading in our common stock and there can be no assurance that an active trading market in our common stock will be maintained. Due to the illiquidity of our common stock, the market price may not accurately reflect our relative value. There can be no assurance that an active market for our shares of common stock will develop in the future. Because our common stock is so thinly traded, even limited trading in our shares has in the past, and might in the future, lead to dramatic fluctuations in share price and investors may not be able to liquidate their investment in us at all or at a price that reflects the value of the business.

While our common stock became listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market as of September 2013, we cannot assure you that we will maintain compliance with all of the requirements for our common stock to remain listed. Additionally, there can be no assurance that trading of our common stock on such market will be sustained or desirable.

Our stock price may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses for investors.

The market price of our common stock is highly volatile and could fluctuate widely in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the following:

In addition, the securities markets have from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also significantly affect the market price of our common stock.

Offers or availability for sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock may cause the price of our common stock to decline.

Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public market could harm the market price of our common stock and make it more difficult for us to raise funds through future offerings of common stock. Our stockholders and the holders of our options and warrants may sell substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market. The availability of these shares of our common stock for resale in the public market has the potential to cause the supply of our common stock to exceed investor demand, thereby decreasing the price of our common stock.

In addition, the fact that our stockholders, option holders and warrant holders can sell substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, whether or not sales have occurred or are occurring, could make it more difficult for us to raise additional financing through the sale of equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem reasonable or appropriate.

We do not expect to pay cash dividends in the future. As a result, any return on investment may be limited to the value of our common stock.

We do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. The payment of dividends on our common stock will depend on our net income, financial condition and other business and economic factors as our board of directors may consider relevant. In addition, our credit agreement with BMO restricts our abilityMoreover, on October 4, 2019, the dividend that was payable by the Company was enjoined by court order of the Superior Court of California related to pay cash dividends.a pending litigation, and as a result, the Company cancelled the dividend as the result of such court order. If we do not pay dividends, our common stock may be less valuable because a return on your investment will only occur if our stock price appreciates.

We will continue to incur the expense of complying with public company reporting requirements following the closing of the Equity Transaction.

After the Equity Transaction, Pioneer Power will continue to be required to comply with the applicable reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, even though compliance with such reporting requirements is economically burdensome.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research aboutIn the event that we fail to satisfy any of the listing requirements of the NASDAQ Capital Market, our business,common stock may be delisted, which could affect our stockmarket price and trading volume could decline.liquidity.

The trading market for ourOur common stock will depend in partis listed on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not currently have research coverage by securities and industry analysts and you should not invest in ourNASDAQ Capital Market. In order to maintain the listing of Pioneer Power’s common stock in anticipation that we will obtain such coverage. If we obtain securitieson NASDAQ, Pioneer Power’s common stock must comply with certain continued listing requirements, including having:

●            

at least two registered and active market makers, one of which may be a market maker entering a stabilizing bid;

●            

a minimum bid price of at least $1.00 per share;

●           

at least 300 total holders (including both beneficial holders and holders of record, but excluding any holder who is directly or industry analyst coverage and if oneindirectly an executive officer, director or the beneficial holder of more than 10% of the analyststotal shares outstanding); and

●           

at least 500,000 publicly held shares with a market value of at least $1.0 million (excluding any shares held directly or indirectly by officers, directors or any person who covers us downgrades ouris the beneficial owner of more than 10% of the total shares outstanding).

●

Pioneer Power must also meet at least one of the following continued listing standards: 

●            

stockholders’ equity of at least $2.5 million;

●            

market value of Pioneer Power’s common stock of at least $35 million; or

●            

net income from continuing operations of $500,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or morein two of the three most recently completed fiscal years.

No assurances can be given that Pioneer Power will continue to satisfy these requirements as some of these analysts ceases coveragerequirements are outside of us or failsPioneer Power’s direct control, such as the bid price of its common stock, the number of holders of its common stock and the value of its publicly held shares. If Pioneer Power is unable to publish reportsmeet these requirements, NASDAQ may take action to delist Pioneer Power’s common stock. In such a case, Pioneer Power may appeal NASDAQ’s determination to delist its common stock, but such appeal may not be successful.

If Pioneer Power’s common stock is delisted from NASDAQ, Pioneer Power expects that its common stock would begin trading on us regularly, demand for ourthe over-the-counter markets. The delisting of Pioneer Power’s common stock could decrease, which could cause our stockresult in a reduction in its trading price and trading volumewould substantially limit the liquidity of Pioneer Power’s common stock. In addition, delisting could materially adversely impact Pioneer Power’s ability to decline.raise capital or pursue strategic restructuring, refinancing or other transactions. Delisting from NASDAQ could also have other negative results, including the potential loss of confidence by institutional investors.

ITEM 1B.  UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Not applicable.

ITEM 2.  PROPERTIES

We believe our manufacturing and distribution facilities are well maintained, in proper condition to operate at higher than current levels and are adequately insured. We do not anticipate significant difficulty in renewing or extending existing leases as they expire, or in replacing them with equivalent facilities or office locations. Of the owned properties, both are subject to encumbrances with a bank, in amounts that we do not believe are material to our operations.operations.

ITEM 3.  LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.PROCEEDINGS

From time to time, we may become involved in lawsuits, investigations and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business.

On January 11, 2016, Myers Power Products, Inc., a specialty electrical products manufacturer, filed suit with the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, against us, PCEP and two PCEP’sPCEP employees who are former employees of Myers Power Products, Inc., Geo Murickan, the president of PCEP (“Murickan”), and Brett DeChellis (“DeChellis”), alleging, among other things, that Murickan wrongly used and retained confidential business information of Myers Power Products, Inc. for the benefit of us and PCEP, in breach of their confidentiality agreement and/or employment agreement entered into with Myers Power Products, Inc., and that we and PCEP knowingly received and used such confidential business information. Myers Power Products, Inc. is seeking injunctive relief enjoining us, PCEP and our employees from using its confidential business information and compensatory damages of an unspecified unlimited amount (exceeding $25,000) amount.; however, the Company has recognized approximately $1.2 million for expected costs related to this litigation. On March 18, 2016, we filed an answer to the complaint, denying generally each and every allegation and relief sought by Myers Power Products, Inc. and seeking dismissal based on, among other things, failure to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. We intend to contest the matter vigorously. Due to the uncertainties of litigation, however, we can give no assurance that we, PCEP and our employees will prevail on any claims made against us, PCEP and our employees in any such lawsuit. As of the filing of this report, this action is scheduled for trial in the second quarter of 2020. Also, we can give no assurance that any other lawsuits or claims brought in the future will not have an adverse effect on our financial condition, liquidity or operating results. See Note 11 ‒ Commitments and Contingencies included inWe cannot execute the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.sale of PCEP until the lawsuit has been resolved.

On October 4, 2019, the dividend that was payable by the Company was enjoined by court order of the Superior Court of California related to the foregoing case. The Company continues to contest the order. As of the date of this filing, this court order remains in place. On October 16, 2019, Myers Power Products, Inc. filed an ex parte application arguing the Company had violated, or intended to violate the modified preliminary injunction and sought order from the court for the Company to post a bond in an amount of $20,000 or more. The court has not taken any action on this request and the Company intends to vigorously defend its rights in the event the order is granted. The Company cancelled the dividend as the result of this court order.

There are also two appeals pending in the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District (“Court of Appeal”). Case no. B301494 is an appeal of the October 4, 2019 Modified Preliminary Injunction. Case no. B302943 is an appeal of the November 26, 2019 order enjoining Pioneer Power Solutions, Inc. and Pioneer Custom Electrical Products Corp. to obtain and post a $12 million bond. Pioneer’s opening brief in case no. B301494 is due March 30, 2020. On March 23, 2020 we filed a stipulated request for a 60-day extension. Pursuant to a March 20 Implement Order for Emergency Order issued by the Court of Appeal (available at http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/Administrative-order-re-OA.pdf), all deadlines in the Court of Appeal are automatically extended by 30 days without the need for any other action. The Court of Appeal also has suspended all in-person oral argument, temporarily transitioning to video conferencing. (Order available at http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/Administrative-order-re-OA.pdf.)

With respect to all such lawsuits, claims and proceedings, the Company records a reserve when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. However, the outcomes of any currently pending lawsuits, claims and proceedings cannot be predicted, and therefore, there can be no assurance that this will be the case.

As of the date hereof, we are not aware of or a party to any other material legal proceedings to which we or any of our subsidiaries is a party or to which any of our property is subject, nor are we aware of any such threatened or pending litigation or any such proceedings known to be contemplated by governmental authorities other than other than the foregoingforgoing suit filed by Myers Power Products, Inc. that we believe could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results. See Note 12 – Commitments and Contingencies included in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We are not aware of any material proceedings in which any of our directors, officers or affiliates or any registered or beneficial shareholder of more than 5% of our common stock is an adverse party or has a material interest adverse to our interest.

ITEM 4.  MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5.  MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock has been listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “PPSI” since September 19, 2013. Prior to that time, it was quoted on the OTCQB. The following table sets forth the high and low sales prices for our common stock as reported on the Nasdaq Capital Market for the periods indicated.