Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) 10-K2020 FY Annual report

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. is a leading beverage company in North America, with a diverse portfolio of flavored (non-cola) CSDs, NCBs, including water (enhanced and flavored), ready-to-drink tea and coffee, juice, juice drinks, mixers and specialty coffee, and is a leading producer of innovative single serve brewing systems. With a wide range of hot and cold beverages that meet virtually any consumer need, KDP key brands include Keurig, Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, Snapple, Bai, Mott's, Core, Green Mountain and The Original Donut Shop. KDP has some of the most recognized beverage brands in North America, with significant consumer awareness levels and long histories that evoke strong emotional connections with consumers. KDP offers more than 125 owned, licensed and partner brands, including the top ten best-selling coffee brands and Dr Pepper as a leading flavored CSD in the U.S. according to IRi, available nearly everywhere people shop and consume beverages.

KDP was created through the combination of the business operations of Keurig, a leading producer of innovative single serve brewing systems and specialty coffee in the U.S. and Canada, and DPS, a company built over time through a series of strategic acquisitions that brought together iconic beverage brands in North America such as Dr Pepper, Snapple, 7UP, Canada Dry, Mott's, A&W and the Peñafiel business in Mexico. The DPS Merger was consummated on July 9, 2018, at which time DPS changed its name to Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. and began trading on the NYSE under the symbol "KDP". Today, we trade on Nasdaq under the symbol KDP, and we are a member of the Nasdaq 100 Index.

Refer to Note 5 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further information related to the DPS Merger.

The key strengths of our business are:

We are a leading integrated brand owner, manufacturer, and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. We have a portfolio of brands with the ability to satisfy every consumer need, anytime and anywhere – hot or cold, at home or on-the-go, at work or at play.

The following presents highlights of our major owned and licensed brands as of December 31, 2020:

In the NCB market segment in the U.S., we participate primarily in the premium water category, including enhanced and flavored water, ready-to-drink tea, juice, juice drinks, and mixer categories. In addition to our major brands above, we also sell regional and smaller niche brands, such as Nantucket Nectars. We manufacture most of our NCBs as ready-to-drink beverages and distribute them through our own distribution network and through third parties or direct to our customers' warehouses. In addition to NCB beverages, we also manufacture Mott's apple sauce as a finished product.

In Mexico and the Caribbean, we participate primarily in the carbonated mineral water, flavored CSDs, bottled water and vegetable juice categories. In Mexico, we manufacture and sell our brands through both our own manufacturing and distribution operations as well as third party bottlers. In the Caribbean, we distribute our products solely through third party distributors and bottlers. We have also begun to distribute certain products in other international jurisdictions through various third party bottlers and distributors.

Our Keurig single serve brewers are aimed at changing the way consumers prepare and enjoy coffee and other beverages both at home and away from home in places such as offices, restaurants, cafeterias, convenience stores and hotels. We create value by developing and selling our Keurig single serve brewers and by expanding Keurig brewer household adoption, which increased nearly 10% for the year ended December 31, 2020 to approximately 33 million U.S. households, based on third party survey data and our own estimates. Expansion of Keurig system household adoption enables sales of specialty coffee and a variety of other specialty beverages in K-Cup pods (including hot and iced teas, hot cocoa and other beverages) for use with Keurig brewers. We also offer traditional whole bean and ground coffee in other package types, including bags, fractional packages and cans. We, together with our partners, are able to bring consumers high-quality coffee and other beverage experiences from the brands they love, all through the one-touch simplicity and convenience of Keurig brewers. We currently offer a portfolio of more than 125 owned, licensed, partner and private label brands, including the top ten best-selling coffee brands in the U.S. based on IRi.

We are focused on a robust innovation pipeline within our portfolio of products to build household penetration of our business. We regularly launch new brewers with new features and benefits, technological advances, and changes in aesthetics and sustainability to provide a variety of options to suit individual consumer preferences. We also continuously innovate and renovate our portfolio of K-cup pods, CSDs and NCBs to provide an expansive array of flavors.

During 2020, we introduced the K-Supreme and the K-Supreme Plus brewers, which include multi-stream technology to provide the consumer better extraction compared to previous models, while adding new controls for temperature and strength. We also launched a limited-edition brewer designed by Jonathan Adler. We achieved our longstanding commitment to make all of the K-Cup pods that we produce recyclable, as the pods are now made from polypropylene #5 plastic. We launched a line of K-Cup pods to provide one-step lattes with our Original Donut Shop Vanilla and Mocha lattes.

Within our CSD portfolio, we launched Dr Pepper & Cream Soda, which was the best-selling CSD innovation in 2020 according to IRi, and Canada Dry Bold. Within our NCB portfolio, we launched Zambia Bing Cherry and Blackberry Lemonade, two new flavors for Bai, and Snapple’s Mystery Flavor as a limited time offer. We have also begun the rollout of new PET bottles made from 100% recycled PET for Snapple and Core.

As of December 31, 2020, our operating structure consists of four operating segments: Coffee Systems, Packaged Beverages, Beverage Concentrates, and Latin America Beverages. Segment financial data, including financial information about foreign and domestic operations, is included in Note 18 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements.

Our Coffee Systems segment is primarily a producer of innovative single serve brewers and specialty coffee in the U.S. and Canada.

Our Coffee Systems segment manufactures over 75% of the pods in the single-serve K-Cup pod format in the U.S. We manufacture and sell 100% of the K-Cup pods of the following brands to retailers, away from home channel participants and end-use consumers: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, The Original Donut Shop, McCafé, Laughing Man, REVV, and Van Houtte.

We manufacture and sell K-Cup pods for the following brands to our partners, who in turn sell them to retailers: Starbucks, Smuckers, Peet's, Dunkin' Donuts, Folgers, Newman’s Own Organics, Caribou Coffee, Eight O’Clock, Maxwell House, and Tim Hortons, as well as private label arrangements. Generally, we are able to sell these brands to our away from home channel participants and end-use consumers. We also have agreements for manufacturing, distributing, and selling K-Cup pods for tea under brands such as Celestial Seasonings, Lipton and Tazo in addition to K-Cup pods of our own brand, Snapple. We also produce and sell K-Cup pods for cocoa, including through a licensing agreement for the Swiss Miss brand, and hot apple cider, including under our own brand, Mott's.

Our Coffee Systems segment manufactures its K-Cup pods in facilities in North America that include specialty designed proprietary high-speed packaging lines using freshly roasted and ground coffee as well as tea, cocoa and other products. We offer high-quality coffee including certified single-origin, organic, flavored, limited edition and proprietary blends. We carefully select our coffee beans and appropriately roast the coffees to optimize their taste and flavor differences. We engineer and design most of our single serve brewers, where we then utilize third-party contract manufacturers located in various countries in Asia for brewer appliance manufacturing. We distribute our brewers using third-party distributors, retail partners and through our website at www.keurig.com.

In 2020, Walmart and Costco were the Coffee Systems segment's largest customers. The loss of one of those customers could have a material adverse effect on the Coffee Systems segment.

Our Packaged Beverages segment is principally a brand ownership, manufacturing and distribution business. In this segment, we primarily manufacture and distribute packaged beverages of our brands. Additionally, in order to maximize the size and scale of our manufacturing and distribution operations, we also distribute packaged beverages for our partner brands and manufacture packaged beverages for other third parties in the U.S. and Canada.

The larger NCB brands in this segment include Snapple, Mott's, Bai, Clamato, Hawaiian Punch, Core, Yoo-Hoo, ReaLemon, evian, Vita Coco and Mr and Mrs T mixers. The larger CSD brands in this segment include Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, A&W, 7UP, Sunkist, Squirt, Big Red, RC Cola, and Vernors. 

The majority of our Packaged Beverages net sales come from the manufacturing and distribution of our own brands and the contract manufacturing of certain private label and emerging brand beverages. We also recognize net sales in this segment from the distribution of our partner brands such as evian, Vita Coco, Peet's RTD coffee, A Shoc energy drinks and Runa energy drinks. We provide a route-to-market for third party brand owners seeking effective distribution for their new and emerging brands. These brands give us exposure in certain markets to fast growing segments of the beverage industry with minimal capital investment.

We sell our Packaged Beverages products through our DSD and our WD systems, both of which include sales to all major retail channels.

In 2020, Walmart was the Packaged Beverages segment's largest customer. The loss of this customer could have a material adverse effect on the Packaged Beverages segment.

Our Beverage Concentrates segment is principally a brand ownership business where we manufacture and sell beverage concentrates in the U.S. and Canada. Most of the brands in this segment are CSD brands. Key brands include Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, Schweppes, Crush, Sunkist, A&W, 7UP, Sun Drop, Squirt, Big Red, Hawaiian Punch and RC Cola. Almost all of our beverage concentrates are currently manufactured at our plant in St. Louis, Missouri. We are expanding our manufacturing capabilities to include a concentrate manufacturing facility in Ireland in 2021.

Beverage concentrates are shipped to third party bottlers, as well as to our own manufacturing systems, who combine them with carbonation, water, sweeteners and other ingredients, package the combined product in aluminum cans, PET containers and glass bottles, and sell them as a finished beverage to retailers. Beverage concentrates are also manufactured into syrup, which is shipped to fountain customers, such as fast food restaurants, who mix the syrup with water and carbonation to create a finished beverage at the point of sale to consumers. Dr Pepper represents most of our fountain channel volume.

Our Beverage Concentrates brands are sold by our bottlers through all major retail channels. As our Beverage Concentrates business is reliant upon a small number of customers, the loss of any of our bottlers in this segment could have a material adverse effect on the segment.

Our Latin America Beverages segment is a brand ownership, manufacturing and distribution business, with operations in Mexico representing approximately 90% of the segment's net sales. This segment participates mainly in the carbonated mineral water, flavored CSD, bottled water and vegetable juice categories. The largest brands include Peñafiel, Clamato, Squirt, Mott's, Dr Pepper, Aguafiel and Crush.

In 2020, Walmart was the Latin America Beverages segment's largest customer. The loss of this customer could have a material adverse effect on the Latin America Beverages segment.

We primarily serve the following types of customers:

Retailers include supermarkets, hypermarkets, mass merchandisers, club stores, e-commerce retailers, office superstores, vending machines, fountains, grocery and drug stores, convenience stores and other small outlets. Retailers purchase finished beverages, K-Cup pods, appliances and accessories directly from us. Our portfolio of strong brands, operational scale and experience in the beverage industry has enabled us to maintain strong relationships with major retailers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. In 2020, our largest retailer was Walmart, representing approximately 15% of our consolidated net sales.

In the U.S. and Canada, we generally grant perpetual, exclusive licenses for CSD brands and packages to bottlers for specific geographic areas. These bottlers may be affiliated with Coca-Cola, with PepsiCo, or may be independent. These agreements prohibit bottlers and distributors from selling the licensed products outside their exclusive territory and selling any imitative products in that territory. Generally, we may terminate bottling and distribution agreements only for cause, change in control or breach of agreements and the bottler or distributor may terminate without cause upon giving certain specified notice and complying with other applicable conditions. Fountain agreements for bottlers generally are not exclusive for a territory, but do restrict bottlers from carrying imitative product in the territory.

Certain NCB brands, such as Snapple, Bai, Core, Yoo-Hoo, Mistic and Nantucket Nectars are licensed for distribution in various territories to bottlers and a number of smaller distributors such as beer wholesalers, wine and spirit distributors, independent distributors and retail brokers.

We have differentiated ourselves and the Keurig brand through our ability to create and sustain partnerships with other leading coffee, tea and beverage brand companies through multi-year licensing and manufacturing agreements that best suit each brand's interests and strengths. Typically, we manufacture pods on behalf of our partners, who in turn sell them to retailers.

As of December 31, 2020, our partner brands included, but were not limited to, Starbucks, Kirkland Signature, Dunkin' Donuts, Great Value, Peet's, Caribou Coffee, Eight O’Clock, Folgers, Newman’s Own Organics, McCafé, Maxwell House, Kroger, Krispy Kreme, Celestial Seasonings, Lipton, Tazo, Panera, and Tim Hortons.

We distribute brewers, accessories and K-Cup pods (owned, licensed, and partner brands) to away from home channel participants, which include restaurants, hotel chains, and office coffee distributors.

We have a robust e-commerce platform at www.keurig.com where end-use consumers can purchase brewers, accessories, K-Cup pods and other coffee products such as bagged traditional coffee and cold brew.

The beverage industry is highly competitive and continues to evolve in response to changing consumer preferences. Competition is generally based on brand recognition, taste, quality, price, availability, selection and convenience, as well as factors related to corporate responsibility and sustainability. We compete with multinational corporations with significant financial resources. In our bottling and manufacturing operations, we also compete with a number of smaller bottlers and distributors and a variety of smaller, regional and private label manufacturers.

The following represents a list of our major competitors:

Although these companies offer competing brands in categories we participate in, they are also our partners and customers, as they purchase beverage concentrates or K-Cup pods directly from us.

The principal raw materials we use in our business, which we commonly refer to as ingredients and materials, approximate 58% of our cost of sales and include green coffee, PET bottles and caps, including both virgin and recycled PET, aluminum cans and ends, sweeteners, paper products, K-Cup pod packaging materials, fruit, glass bottles and enclosures, juices, teas, water, and other ingredients. We also use post-consumer recycled materials in the manufacturing of our single serve brewers. The availability, quality and costs of many of these materials have fluctuated, and may continue to fluctuate, over time.

When appropriate, we mitigate the exposure to volatility in the prices of certain commodities used in our production process and transportation to our customers through the use of various commodity derivative contracts or supplier pricing agreements. The intent of the contracts and agreements is to provide a certain level of predictability in our operating margins and our overall cost structure, while remaining in what we believe to be a competitive cost position.

Trademarks and Patents

We possess a variety of intellectual property rights that are important to our business. We rely on a combination of trademarks, copyrights, patents and trade secrets to safeguard our proprietary rights, including our brands, our technologies, and ingredient and production formulas for our products.

We own numerous trademarks in our portfolio within the U.S., Canada, Mexico and other countries. Depending upon the jurisdiction, trademarks are valid as long as they are in use and/or their registrations are properly maintained.

In many countries outside the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the manufacturing and distribution rights to many of our CSD brands, including our Dr Pepper trademark and formula, are owned by third parties including, in certain cases, competitors such as Coca-Cola.

We hold U.S. and international patents related to Keurig brewers and K-Cup pod technology. Of these, a majority are utility patents and the remainder are design patents. We view these patents as valuable assets but we do not view any single patent as critical to our success. We also have pending patent applications associated with Keurig brewers and K-Cup pod technology. We take steps that we believe are appropriate to protect such innovation.

Licensing Arrangements

We license various trade names from our partners in order to manufacture K-Cup pods. Although these licenses vary in length and other terms, they generally are long-term, cover the entire U.S. and/or Canada and generally include an upfront payment to the partner in order to use their trade names to manufacture and/or distribute the K-Cup pods.

For CSDs and NCBs, we license various trademarks from third parties, which generally allow us to manufacture and distribute certain products or brands throughout the U.S. and/or Canada and Mexico. For example, we license trademarks for Sunkist soda, Stewart's, Rose's and Margaritaville from third parties. Although these licenses vary in length and other terms, they generally are long-term, cover the entire U.S. and/or Canada and Mexico and generally include a royalty payment to the licensor.

For CSDs and NCBs in emerging and fast growing categories where we may not currently have a brand presence, we license various trademarks from third party partners, which generally allow us to manufacture and distribute certain products or brands throughout the U.S., Canada or Mexico. These partners view us as a distributor with strong route-to-market resources to grow their brands. Although these licenses vary in length and other terms, they generally are long-term, cover the entire U.S. and/or Canada and Mexico, and generally require a payment from the partner if the licensing agreement is terminated. In some instances, we make investments in these companies, which may include a path to acquire the company after a period of time based on a pre-determined formula. As of December 31, 2020, our portfolio of partner brands included, but was not limited to, Vita Coco coconut water, evian water, A Shoc energy drinks, Peet's RTD Coffee, Runa energy drinks, Polar Beverages seltzer water, and Don't Quit nutrition shakes.

We have nearly 27,000 employees, primarily located in North America. In the U.S., we have approximately 21,500 employees, of which approximately 4,500 employees are covered by union collective bargaining agreements. In Mexico, we have approximately 4,000 employees, of which approximately 3,000 are covered by union collective bargaining agreements. In Canada, we have approximately 1,500 employees, with approximately 500 covered by union collective bargaining agreements.

These collective bargaining agreements generally address working conditions, as well as wage rates and benefits, and expire over varying terms over the next several years. We generally believe that these agreements can be renegotiated on terms satisfactory to us as they expire and that we have good relationships with our employees and their representative organizations.

Our compensation programs are designed to ensure that we attract and retain the right talent. We generally review and consider median market pay levels when assessing total compensation, but pay decisions are based on a more comprehensive set of considerations such as company performance, individual performance, experience, and internal equity.

Our employee benefits programs strive to deliver competitive benefits that are effective in attracting and retaining talent, that create a culture of well-being and inclusiveness, and that meet the diverse needs of our employees. Our total package of benefits is designed to support the physical, mental, and financial health of our employees, and we currently provide access to medical, dental, vision, life insurance and retirement benefits, as well as disability benefits, and assistance with major life activities such as adoption, childbirth, and eldercare, among other benefits.

Together with our employees, we created a set of core values that are a unifying force for our team and are the cornerstone of KDP's culture. These core values are:

With our DPS Merger integration complete, in early 2020, our focus turned to accelerating our work in the area of diversity and inclusion, and we made significant progress, despite the pandemic. We approached this effort as we approach critical business priorities, using our playbook from integration and transformation initiatives. To date, we have:

We will report our progress with expanded disclosures in our Corporate Responsibility Report, which is expected to be published in June 2021.

KDP uses a wide variety of strategies and programs to support the health and safety of our employees. From training on risks from non-routine tasks, such as unexpected maintenance on equipment, to installing automated systems to prevent trailers from shifting during loading and unloading, our Environmental Health & Safety team considers all aspects of what our employees may encounter and works to minimize risk. Key to these efforts are data and preventive actions. KDP measures Lost Time Incident Rate, a reliable indication of Total Recordable Injuries Rate severity, and uses a risk reduction process that thoroughly analyzes injuries and near misses.

Our Response to COVID-19

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken extraordinary measures to protect the safety and well-being of our employees. These measures include enhanced and comprehensive sanitation, physical distancing, and health protocols; directing most of our office employees to work from home, leveraging technology and collaboration tools; providing enhanced paid sick time, along with back-up childcare assistance, as needed; and provided temporary financial incentives to our frontline employees, who are working selflessly to manufacture, distribute and stock store shelves with the essential goods our communities need.

The beverage market is subject to some seasonal variations. Our cold beverage sales are generally higher during the warmer months, while hot beverage sales are generally higher during the cooler months. Overall beverage sales can also be influenced by the timing of holidays and weather fluctuations. Sales of brewers and related accessories are generally higher during the second half of the year due to the holiday shopping season.

In the normal course of our business, We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local laws and regulations in the countries in which we do business. Regulations apply to many aspects of our business, including our products and their ingredients, manufacturing, safety, labeling, transportation, recycling, advertising and sale. For example, our products and their manufacturing, labeling, marketing and sale in the U.S. are subject to various aspects of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Lanham Act, state consumer protection laws and state warning and labeling laws, such as Proposition 65. Certain cities and municipalities within the U.S. have also passed various taxes on the distribution of sugar-sweetened and diet beverages, which are at different stages of enactment. In Canada and Mexico, the manufacture, distribution, marketing and sale of many of our products are also subject to similar statutes and regulations.

Various states, provinces and other authorities require deposits, eco-taxes or fees on certain products or packaging. Similar legislation or regulations may be proposed in the future at local, state and federal levels, both in the U.S. and elsewhere. In Mexico, the government has encouraged the soft drink industry to comply voluntarily with collection and recycling programs for plastic materials, and we are in compliance with these programs.

As a result of our sustainability efforts, in 2020, Newsweek named us one of America's most responsible companies. Newsweek ranked us as the top beverage company, as well as giving us the top environmental score for all consumer goods companies.

Sustainable packaging is a top priority for us, and we continue to innovate for circular solutions across our portfolio. We have set a goal to make 100% of our packaging recyclable or compostable by 2025. We also want to further contribute to the circular economy with our commitment to use 30% recycled material across our packaging portfolio by 2025. In the fourth quarter of 2020, we began transitioning our Snapple and Core brands to bottles made with 100% post-consumer recycled PET.

In December 2020, we achieved our goal of making all K-Cup pods sold in the U.S. recyclable by the end of 2020, having converted all K-Cup pods sold in Canada to a recyclable format in 2018. The new pods are made of polypropylene #5 plastic, a material that is accepted curbside for recycling by many communities, and we have conducted extensive testing with municipal recycling facilities to validate that they can be effectively recycled. We continue to engage with municipalities and recycling facilities to advance the quantity and quality of recycled polypropylene and have committed $10 million toward the advancement of polypropylene recycling in the U.S. through the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, an effort led by The Recycling Partnership and funded by leading brands, recyclers, converters and producers of polypropylene.

Improving packaging solutions for product quality, consumer use, recoverability and reuse requires collaboration of all parties along the value chain. Using our strength in forming partnerships, we collaborate closely with a number of stakeholders, including industry groups, non-governmental organizations and investment firms, to move our commitments beyond independent ambitions to collective action.

KDP is working to address climate change and build the resilience of our business and supply chain. In 2019, we laid the groundwork for important new climate targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a 2018 baseline. This foundation included a corporate policy, governance structures and greater transparency, including reporting to CDP Climate. Our targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative and are in line with the reductions that are required to meet the Paris Agreement on climate change goal of keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. Our new climate goals provide a clear path for us to reduce our share of greenhouse gas emissions through continuation of existing efforts and the development of new focus areas, such as packaging improvements and value chain engagement.

KDP conducts periodic water risk assessments of its operations and supply chain. To refine our understanding of challenges for our high water-risk sites, we assess each site in the context of the surrounding watershed, the local water issues and other local entities’ interest and perspective on those issues. We have public goals and programs to both increase operational efficiency and to replenish water through conservation and restoration projects with conservation organizations in communities where we operate that have high water risk. We report annually on our water stewardship efforts to CDP Water.

In 2020, KDP joined a water stewardship effort to increase water supply reliability for Arizona, Nevada, and California through a system conservation project with the Colorado River Indian Tribes. Additionally, we were a founding company member in the first-of-its kind beverage industry collaboration project to improve water quantity and quality in Jalisco, Mexico through activities such as planting native vegetation and restoring water infrastructure in the area.

We are committed to providing a balanced portfolio of beverage options and the resources consumers need to make informed choices for positive nutrition. We have dramatically transformed our portfolio over the past decade, offering a low- or no-calorie option for virtually every full-calorie brand in our portfolio, and we have also added smaller portion-size offerings. Our approach to product development and marketing is rooted in what our diverse universe of consumers want from their beverage occasion. We are committed to advertising our products in a responsible and truthful manner, aligned with the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.

In 2014, we joined industry peers to form the Balance Calories Initiative, managed by the American Beverage Association and in partnership with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The Balance Calories Initiative is the single-largest voluntary effort by an industry to help fight obesity, and its target is to reduce beverage calories consumed per person nationally by 20% by 2025.

We also know that health equality is about ensuring opportunities for physical activity. Since 2011, we’ve provided more than 14 million kids and their families in underserved areas with play opportunities through our Let’s Play initiative, building or improving play spaces and supplying sports equipment to schools and youth groups across the country.

The market and industry data in this Annual Report on Form 10-K is from IRi, an independent industry source, and is based on retail dollar sales and sales volumes in 2020. Although we believe that this independent source is reliable, we have not verified the accuracy or completeness of this data or any assumptions underlying such data. IRi is a marketing information provider, primarily serving consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers. We use IRi data as our primary management tool to track market performance because it has broad and deep data coverage, is based on consumer transactions at retailers, and is reported to us monthly. IRi data provides measurement and analysis of marketplace trends such as market share, retail pricing, promotional activity and distribution across various channels, retailers and geographies. Measured categories provided to us by IRi include K-Cup pods, CSDs, including energy drinks and carbonated waters, and NCBs, including ready-to-drink teas and coffee, single-serve and multi-serve juice and juice drinks, sports drinks, still waters and non-alcoholic mixers. IRi also provides data on other food items such as apple sauce. IRi data we present in this report is from IRi service, which compiles data based on scanner transactions in key retail channels, including grocery stores, mass merchandisers (including Walmart), club stores (excluding Costco), drug chains, convenience stores and gas stations. However, this data does not include the fountain or vending channels, or small independent retail outlets, which together represent a meaningful portion of the U.S. beverage market. This data does not include certain customers and e-commerce sales which represents a significant portion of our Coffee Systems segment.

Our market share data for our brewers is based on information provided by NPD. NPD data is based upon Consumer Panel Track SM (consumer-reported sales) calibrated with selected retailers' point of sale data, based on NPD's definition of the coffeemaker category. The data presented is based upon The NPD/Consumer Tracking Service for Coffeemakers in the U.S. and represents the twelve month period ended December 31, 2020.

Our business has been, and may continue to be, adversely impacted by the response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in countries where we operate or our customers and suppliers are located, due to recommendations or mandates from governmental authorities to close businesses, limit travel, avoid large gatherings or self-quarantine, as well as temporary closures or decreased operations of the facilities of our customers, distributors or suppliers. These impacts include, but are not limited to:

All of these impacts could place limitations on our ability to execute on our business plan and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We continue to monitor the situation, have actively implemented policies and procedures to address the situation, and as the pandemic continues to further unfold, we may adjust our current policies and procedures as regulations or governmental orders are implemented or more information and guidance become available. The impact of COVID-19 may also exacerbate other risks discussed in Item 1A of our Annual Report, any of which could have a material effect on us. This situation is changing rapidly and additional impacts may arise that we are not aware of currently.

The industry in which we operate is highly competitive and continues to evolve in response to changing consumer preferences. Some of our competitors, such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, The Kraft Heinz Company and Nestlé S.A., are multinational corporations with significant financial resources. These competitors can use their resources and scale to rapidly respond to competitive pressures and changes in consumer preferences by introducing new products, changing their route to market, reducing prices or increasing promotional activities. We also compete with a number of smaller brands and a variety of smaller, regional and private label manufacturers. Smaller companies may be more innovative, better able to bring new products to market and better able to quickly exploit and serve niche markets. We also compete for contract manufacturing with other bottlers and manufacturers. In Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, we compete with many of these same international companies as well as a number of regional competitors.

Our sales may be negatively affected by numerous factors including our inability to maintain or increase prices, our inability to effectively promote our products, ineffective advertising and marketing campaigns, new entrants into the market, the decision of wholesalers, retailers or consumers to purchase competitors' products instead of ours, and increased marketing costs and in-store placement and slotting fees due to our competitors' willingness to spend aggressively. Competitive pressures may also cause us to reduce prices we charge customers or may restrict our ability to increase such prices. In addition, the rapid growth of e-commerce may create additional consumer price deflation by, among other things, facilitating comparison shopping, and could potentially threaten the value of some of our legacy route-to-market strategies and thus negatively affect revenues.

A significant percentage of the Coffee Systems segment's financial performance is attributable to sales of K-Cup pods for use with Keurig brewing systems. We compete for sales of K-Cup pods against local and regional brands, as well as against private label brands developed by retailers. Our ability to gain or maintain share of sales in the countries in which we operate or in various local marketplaces or maintain or enhance our relationships with our partners and customers may be limited as a result of actions by competitors, including as a result of increased consolidation in the food and beverage industry and a significant increase in the number of competitive pod contract manufacturers.

Continued acceptance of Keurig brewers and sales of K-Cup pods to an increasing installed customer base are significant factors in our Coffee Systems' growth plans. Any substantial or sustained decline in the sale of Keurig brewers, failure to continue to reduce the cost of Keurig brewers, or substantial or sustained decline in the sales of K-Cup pods could materially and adversely affect our business. Keurig brewers compete against all sellers and types of coffeemakers. If we do not succeed in continuing to reduce the costs of manufacturing Keurig brewers or differentiating Keurig brewers from our competitors in the coffeemaker category, based on technology, quality of products, desired brands or otherwise, or our competitors adopt their respective strategies, our competitive position may be weakened.

Our raw materials are sourced from industries characterized by a limited supply base, and their cost can fluctuate substantially. Under many of our supply arrangements, the price we pay for raw materials fluctuates along with certain changes in underlying commodities costs. Price increases for our raw materials could exert pressure on our costs and we may not be able to effectively hedge or pass along any such increases to our customers or consumers. Furthermore, any price increases passed along to our customers or consumers could reduce demand for our products. Such increases could negatively affect our business and financial performance. Furthermore, price decreases in commodities that we have effectively hedged could also increase our cost of goods sold for mark-to-market changes in the derivative instruments.

Our principal raw materials in our hot business include coffee beans and K-Cup pod raw materials (including cups, filter paper and other ingredients) used in the manufacturing of our K-Cup pods. We purchase, roast and sell high-quality whole bean coffee and related coffee products. The quality of the coffee we seek tends to trade on a negotiated basis at a premium above the “C” price of coffee. This premium depends upon the supply and demand at the time of purchase, and the amount of the premium can vary significantly. Increases in the “C” coffee commodity price increase the price of high-quality coffee and also impact our ability to enter into fixed-price purchase commitments. We frequently enter into supply contracts whereby the quality, quantity, delivery period and other negotiated terms are agreed upon, but the date, and therefore price, at which the base “C” coffee commodity price component will be fixed has not yet been established. These are known as price-to-be-fixed contracts.

The supply and price of crop commodities we purchase, such as coffee, apples, and corn, can also be affected by multiple factors in the producing countries, including weather, natural disasters, crop disease (such as coffee rust), general cost increases in farm inputs and costs of production, inventory levels and political and economic conditions, as well as the actions of certain organizations and associations that have historically attempted to influence prices of various commodities through agreements establishing export quotas or by restricting supplies.

Speculative trading in commodities can also influence prices. If we are unable to purchase sufficient quantities of our commodities due to any of the factors described herein or a worldwide or regional shortage, we may not be able to fulfill the demand for our products, which could have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.

We also have a limited number of suppliers for certain strategic raw materials critical to our operations. We may have limited negotiation leverage with regards to these suppliers, which could negatively affect our operations and the financial performance of our business. In addition, in order to ensure a continuous supply of high-quality raw materials, some of our inventory purchase obligations include long-term purchase commitments for certain strategic raw materials. The timing of these may not always coincide with the period in which we need the supplies to fulfill customer demand. This could lead to higher and more variable inventory levels and/or higher raw material costs for us.

If our suppliers are unable or unwilling to meet our requirements, we could suffer shortages or substantial cost increases. Changing suppliers can require long lead times. The failure of our suppliers to meet our needs could occur for many reasons, including fires, natural disasters, weather, manufacturing problems, disease, crop failure, strikes, transportation interruption, government regulation, political instability, cybersecurity attacks and terrorism. A failure of supply could also occur due to suppliers’ financial difficulties, including bankruptcy. Some of these risks may be more acute where the supplier or its plant is located in riskier or less-developed countries or regions. Any significant interruption to supply or cost increase could substantially harm our business and financial performance.

In addition, we use a significant amount of energy in our business, and therefore may be significantly impacted by changes in fuel costs due to the large truck fleet we operate in our distribution business and our use of third-party carriers. Additionally, conversion of raw materials into our products for sale uses electricity and natural gas.

The success of our business depends in part on our ability to maintain consumer confidence in the safety and quality of all of our products, including beverage products and our brewers. We have various quality, environmental, health and safety supply chain standards. A failure or perceived failure to meet our quality or safety standards, including product contamination or tampering, or allegations of mislabeling, whether actual or perceived, could occur in our operations or those of our bottlers, manufacturers, distributors or suppliers. This could result in time consuming and expensive production interruptions, recalls, market withdrawals, product liability claims, and negative publicity. It could also result in the destruction of product inventory, lost sales due to the unavailability of product for a period of time, fines from applicable regulatory agencies, and higher-than-anticipated rates of warranty returns and other returns of goods. Moreover, negative publicity also could be generated from false, unfounded or nominal liability claims or limited recalls.

Any or all of these events may lead to a loss of consumer confidence and trust, could damage the goodwill associated with our brands and may cause consumers to choose other products and could negatively affect our business and financial performance.

Consumers’ preferences continually evolve due to a variety of factors, including changing demographics of the population, social trends, changes in consumer lifestyles and consumption patterns, concerns or perceptions regarding the health effects of products, concerns regarding the location of origin or source of ingredients and products, changes in consumers' spending habits, negative publicity, economic downturn or other factors. For example, consumers are increasingly concerned about health and wellness, focusing on the caloric intake associated with regular CSDs, the use of artificial sweeteners in diet CSDs, and the use of natural, organic or simple ingredients in beverages. The demand for CSDs has therefore decreased as consumers have shifted towards NCBs, such as water, ready-to-drink coffee and teas, and sports drinks. If we do not effectively anticipate and respond to these trends and changing consumer beverage preferences, our sales and growth could suffer.

Consumers are also increasingly focused on sustainability, with particular attention to the recyclability of product packaging, reducing consumption of single-use plastics and non-recyclable materials, and the environmental impact of manufacturing operations. If we do not meet consumer demands by providing recyclable packaging options and focusing on sustainability throughout our manufacturing operations, our sales could suffer.

In addition, consumer shopping behavior is rapidly evolving due to both changes in travel, vacation and leisure activity patterns and the acceleration of e-commerce and other methods of purchasing products. If we are unable to meet the consumer where and when they desire their products or if we are unable to respond to changes in distribution channels (including e-commerce), our financial results could be adversely impacted.

If we do not innovate rapidly and successfully to respond to shifting consumer demands, our business may suffer. Achieving growth depends on our successful development, introduction and marketing of innovative new products and line extensions. There are inherent risks associated with new product or packaging introductions, including uncertainties about trade and consumer acceptance or potential impacts on our existing product offerings. We may be required to increase expenditures for new product development. Successful innovation depends on our ability to correctly anticipate customer and consumer acceptance, to obtain, protect, and maintain necessary intellectual property rights, and to avoid infringing upon the intellectual property rights of others. We must also be able to respond successfully to technological advances by and intellectual property rights of our competitors, and failure to do so could compromise our competitive position and impact our product sales, financial condition, and operating results.

From time to time, we expect to acquire businesses or brands, invest in emerging companies and/or form joint ventures, and enter into various licensing and distribution agreements to expand our product portfolio. In evaluating such endeavors, we will be required to make difficult judgments regarding the value of business strategies, opportunities, technologies and other assets, and the risks and cost of potential liabilities. Furthermore, we may incur unforeseen liabilities and obligations in connection with any such transaction, including in connection with the integration or management of the acquired businesses or brands and may encounter unexpected difficulties and costs in integrating them into our operating and internal control structures. We may also experience delays in extending our respective internal control over financial reporting to newly acquired businesses, which may increase the risk of failure to prevent misstatements in our financial records and in our consolidated financial statements. Additionally, new ventures and investments are inherently risky and may not be successful, and we may face challenges in achieving strategic objectives and other benefits expected from such investments or ventures. Any acquisitions, investments or ventures may also result in the diversion of management attention and resources from other initiatives and operations.

Our financial performance will depend in large part on how well we can manage and improve the performance of acquired businesses or brands and the success of our other investments and ventures. We may not achieve the strategic and financial objectives for such transactions. If we are unable to achieve such objectives, our consolidated results could be negatively affected.

A disruption at our manufacturing and distribution facilities could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, a disruption could occur at the facilities of our suppliers, bottlers, contract manufacturers or distributors. The disruption could occur for many reasons, including fire, natural disasters, weather, water scarcity, manufacturing problems, disease, epidemics, strikes, transportation or supply interruption, contractual dispute, government regulation, cybersecurity attacks or terrorism. Moreover, if demand increases more than we forecast, we will need to either expand our capabilities internally or acquire additional capacity. Alternative facilities with sufficient capacity or capabilities may not be available, may cost substantially more than existing facilities or may take a significant time to start production, each of which could negatively affect our business and financial performance.

We have programs to invest and upgrade our manufacturing, distribution and other facilities, including expansive investments in new manufacturing facilities in Spartanburg, South Carolina; Newbridge, Ireland; and Allentown, Pennsylvania. We may continue to incur significant costs to upgrade or keep up-to-date various facilities and equipment or restructure our operations, including closing existing facilities or opening new ones. Additionally, we rely on third parties for the construction and renovation of our facilities and manufacturing of our production equipment. If our investment and restructuring costs are higher than anticipated, our business does not develop as anticipated to appropriately utilize new or upgraded facilities, or third parties fail to complete the construction or renovation of facilities or production equipment in a timely manner or in accordance with our specifications, our costs and financial performance could be negatively affected.

We possess intellectual property that is important to our business. This intellectual property includes ingredient formulas, trademarks, copyrights, patents, business processes and other trade secrets. We and third parties, including competitors, could come into conflict over intellectual property rights. Litigation could disrupt our business, divert management attention and cost a substantial amount to protect our rights or defend against claims. We cannot be certain that the steps taken to protect our rights will be sufficient or that others will not infringe or misappropriate our rights. If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights, our brands, products and business could be harmed.

We also license various trademarks from third parties and license our trademarks to third parties. In some countries, third parties own certain trademarks or other intellectual property that we own in the U.S., Canada or Mexico. For example, the Dr Pepper trademark and formula is owned by Coca-Cola outside North America. Adverse events affecting those third parties or their products could also negatively impact our brands.

In some cases, we license rights to distribute third-party products. The licensor may be able to terminate the license arrangement upon an agreed period of notice, in some cases without payment to us of any termination fee. The termination of any material license arrangement could adversely affect our business and financial performance.

Approximately 8,000 of our employees worldwide are covered by collective bargaining agreements. These agreements typically expire every three to four years at various dates. We may not be able to renew our collective bargaining agreements on satisfactory terms or at all. This could result in labor disputes, strikes or work stoppages, which could impair our ability to manufacture and distribute our products and result in a substantial loss of sales. The terms of existing, renewed or expanded agreements could also significantly increase our costs or negatively affect our ability to increase operational efficiency.

As of December 31, 2020, we had $49,779 million of total assets, of which $20,184 million were goodwill and $23,968 million were other intangible assets. Intangible assets include both definite and indefinite-lived intangible assets in connection with brands, trade names, acquired technology, customer relationships and contractual arrangements. We conduct impairment tests on goodwill and all indefinite-lived intangible assets annually, as of October 1, or more frequently if circumstances indicate that all or a portion of the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable.

The impairment tests require us to make an estimate of the fair value of our reporting units and other intangible assets. An impairment could be recorded as a result of changes in assumptions, estimates or circumstances, some of which are beyond our control. Factors which could result in an impairment include, but are not limited to: (i) reduced demand for our products and/or the product category resulting in diminished long-term revenue growth; (ii) higher commodity or transportation prices; (iii) lower prices for our products or increased marketing as a result of increased competition; (iv) not achieving forecasted synergies from the DPS Merger; (v) significant disruptions to our operations as a result of both internal and external events, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; and (vi) changes in our discount rates, which could change due to factors such as movement in risk free interest rates, changes in general market interest rate and market beta volatility and changes to management's view of forecast risk, among others. Since a number of factors may influence determinations of fair value of intangible assets, we are unable to predict whether impairments of goodwill or other indefinite-lived intangibles will occur in the future. Any such impairment would result in us recognizing a non-cash charge in our Consolidated Statements of Income, which could adversely affect our results of operations and increase our effective tax rate.

We have significant indebtedness, which could adversely affect us, including decreasing our business flexibility and increasing our interest expense. The increased levels of indebtedness could also reduce funds available for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, the repayment or refinancing of our indebtedness as it becomes due and other general corporate purposes and may create competitive disadvantages for us relative to other companies with lower debt levels. If our financial performance does not meet current expectations, our ability to service our indebtedness may be adversely impacted.

Additionally, in assessing our credit strength, credit rating agencies consider our capital structure and financial policies as well as our results of operations and financial position at the time. If our credit ratings were to be downgraded as a result of changes in our capital structure, changes in the credit rating agencies’ methodology in assessing our credit strength, the credit agencies’ perception of the impact of credit market conditions on our current or future results of operations and financial position or for any other reason, our cost of borrowing could increase. Furthermore, a significant downgrade in our credit ratings could limit a financial institution's willingness to participate in our accounts payable program and reduce the attractiveness of the accounts payable program to participating suppliers who may sell payment obligations from us to financial institutions. In addition, a significant downgrade in our credit ratings may reduce flexibility of our business to engage in certain transactions, such as the execution and renewal of certain leases.

Moreover, in the future we may be required to raise substantial additional financing to fund working capital, capital expenditures, the repayment or refinancing of its indebtedness, acquisitions or other general corporate requirements. Our ability to arrange additional financing or refinancing will depend on, among other factors, our financial position and performance, as well as prevailing market conditions and other factors beyond our control. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain additional financing or refinancing on terms acceptable to us or at all.

The agreements that govern our indebtedness contain various affirmative and negative covenants that may, subject to certain significant exceptions, restrict our ability, including certain subsidiaries, to incur debt and our ability, including certain subsidiaries, to, among other things, have liens on our property, and/or merge or consolidate with any other person or sell or convey certain of our assets to any one person, and engage in certain sale and leaseback transactions. Our ability, including certain subsidiaries, to comply with these provisions may be affected by events beyond our control. Failure to comply with these covenants could result in an event of default, which, if not cured or waived, could accelerate our repayment obligations and could result in a default and acceleration under other agreements containing cross-default provisions. Under these circumstances, we might not have sufficient funds or other resources to satisfy all of our obligations.

We continue to optimize our operations as One KDP, which is a complex, costly and time-consuming process. The anticipated benefits of the DPS Merger may not be realized fully or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected. There can be no assurances that we will be successful or that we will realize the expected operating efficiencies, cost savings and other benefits currently anticipated from the DPS Merger.

We are also incurring costs related to the optimization of our operations, including facilities and systems consolidation costs and employment-related costs. We continue to assess the magnitude of these costs, and additional unanticipated costs may be incurred in the optimization of our operations.

Our profitability is substantially affected by costs for employee health care, pension and other retirement programs and other benefits. In recent years, these costs have increased significantly due to factors such as increases in health care costs, declines in investment returns on pension assets and changes in discount rates used to calculate pension and related liabilities. These factors will continue to put pressure on our business and financial performance. Although we will actively seek to control increases in costs, there can be no assurance that it will succeed in limiting future cost increases, and continued upward cost pressure could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial performance.

Food and beverage retailers in the U.S. have been consolidating, resulting in large, sophisticated retailers with increased buying power. They are in a better position to resist our price increases and demand lower prices and more favorable trade terms. To the extent we provide concessions or trade terms that are favorable to retailers, our respective margins would be reduced. Retailers also have leverage to require us to provide increased marketing and promotional expenditures, including larger, more tailored promotional and product delivery programs. If we and our partners, including bottlers, distributors and licensees, do not successfully provide appropriate marketing, product, packaging, pricing and service to these retailers, our product availability, sales and margins could suffer. In addition, certain retailers make up a significant percentage of our products’ retail volume, including volume sold by our bottlers and distributors. Some retailers also offer their own private label products that compete with some of our brands. Accordingly, the success of our business depends in part on our ability to maintain good relationships with key retail customers.

If we are unable to offer terms that are acceptable to our significant customers, or such customers determine that they need fewer inventories to service consumers, these customers could reduce purchases of our products or may increase purchases of products from competitors, which would harm our sales and profitability. Furthermore, the loss of sales from a major retailer could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial performance.

Net sales from our Beverage Concentrates segment represent sales of beverage concentrates to third-party bottling companies that we do not own. The Beverage Concentrates segment’s operations generate a significant portion of our overall income from operations. Some of these bottlers are also our direct competitors, or also bottle and distribute products for our competitors. The majority of these bottlers’ business comes from selling either their own products or our competitors’ products. In addition, some of the products we manufacture are distributed by third parties. As independent companies, these bottlers and distributors make their own business decisions. They may have the right to determine whether, and to what extent, they produce and distribute our products, our competitors’ products and their own products. They may devote more resources to other products, prioritize their own products, or take other actions detrimental to our brands. In most cases, they are able to terminate their bottling and distribution arrangements with us without cause. We may need to increase support for our brands in their territories to protect our route to market and may not be able to pass price increases through to them. Their financial condition could also be adversely affected by conditions beyond their control, and their business could suffer as a result. Deteriorating economic conditions could negatively impact the financial viability of third-party bottlers.

In our Coffee Systems segment, we have entered into strategic relationships for the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of K-Cup pods with partner customers, as well as with retailers for their private label brands. As independent companies, our strategic partners make their own business decisions which may not align with our interests. If we are unable to provide an appropriate mix of incentives to our strategic partners through a combination of premium performance and service, pricing, and marketing and advertising support, or if these strategic partners are not satisfied with our brand innovation and technological or other development efforts, they may take actions that adversely impact us, including entering into agreements with competing pod contract manufacturers or vertically integrating to manufacture their own K-Cup pods. Increasing competition among K-Cup pod manufacturers and moving to vertical integration may result in price compression, which could have an adverse effect on our gross margins. The loss of strategic partners could also adversely impact our future profitability and growth, awareness of Keurig brewers, our ability to attract additional branded or private label parties to do business with us or our ability to attract new consumers to buy Keurig brewers.

In our Packaged Beverages segment, we have entered into strategic relationships for the manufacture and/or distribution of products from partner brand owners in emerging or fast-growing segments in which we may not currently have a brand presence. We are subject to a risk of our partner brands terminating their agreements with us, which could negatively affect our business and financial performance. Within each distribution agreement, we have certain protections in case the partner brands terminate their agreements, such as a one-time termination payment.

A small number of companies manufacture the vast majority of our brewers, with a majority of the brewers we sell procured from one third-party brewer manufacturer. If these manufacturers are not able to scale their manufacturing operations to match increasing consumer demand for our brewers at competitive costs, our overall results will be negatively affected. Our reliance on third-party manufacturers also exposes us to increased risk that certain minerals and metals, known as "conflict minerals", that are contained in our brewers have originated from "covered countries" (as defined in Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010) but cannot be determined to be "conflict free". As a result of the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the SEC adopted disclosure requirements for public companies whose products contain conflict minerals that are necessary to the functionality or production of such products. Under these rules, we are required to obtain sourcing data from suppliers, perform supply chain due diligence, and file annually with the SEC a specialized disclosure report on Form SD covering the prior calendar year. We have incurred and expect to incur additional costs to comply with the rules, including costs related to the determination of the origin, source and chain of custody of the conflict minerals used in our products and the adoption of conflict minerals-related governance policies, processes and controls. Moreover, the implementation of these compliance measures could adversely affect the sourcing, availability and pricing of materials used in the manufacture of our products to the extent that there may be only a limited number of suppliers that are able to meet our sourcing requirements. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain such materials in sufficient quantities or at competitive prices. We may also encounter customers who require that all of the components of our products be certified as conflict-free. If we are not able to meet customer requirements, such customers may choose to not purchase our products, which could impact our sales and the value of portions of our inventory.

On August 19, 2020, Maple Holdings B.V., an affiliate of JAB, completed the sale of 45 million shares of KDP stock in a public secondary offering. On September 8, 2020, JAB distributed an additional 76 million shares of KDP stock to its minority partners. On November 19, 2020, Maple Holdings B.V. completed the sale of an additional 20 million shares of KDP stock in a public secondary offering. As a result of these transactions, JAB and its affiliates now own approximately 34% of KDP's common stock, and we are no longer a “controlled company” as defined in the Nasdaq rules. However, even though we are not a "controlled company," we will continue to qualify for, and may rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that would otherwise provide protection to stockholders of other companies during a one-year transition period. The Nasdaq rules require that our Board be composed of a majority of "independent directors," as defined under the rules of such exchange, by August 19, 2021 and that our Remuneration and Nomination Committee consist entirely of independent directors by August 19, 2021.

During these transition periods, we may continue to utilize the available exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that would otherwise provide protection to stockholders of other companies, as permitted by the Nasdaq rules. If we fail to meet the above deadlines for these requirements, our common stock could be delisted from Nasdaq, which would negatively impact the trading of our common shares and our business and financial condition.

Changes in economic and financial conditions in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean or other geographies where we do business may negatively impact consumer confidence and consumer spending, which could result in a reduction in our sales volume and/or switching to lower price offerings. We may be impacted by consumer price sensitivity associated with many of our products. Similarly, disruptions in financial and credit markets worldwide may impact our ability to manage normal commercial relationships with customers, suppliers and creditors. These disruptions could have a negative impact on the ability of our customers to timely pay their obligations, thus reducing our cash flow, or the ability of our vendors to supply materials timely. Additionally, these disruptions could have a negative effect on our ability to raise capital through the issuance of unsecured commercial paper or senior notes.

We also face counterparty risk for our cash investments and derivative instruments. Declines in the securities and credit markets could also affect our marketable securities and pension fund, which in turn could increase funding requirements.

Our business depends on developing and maintaining close relationships with our suppliers and on our suppliers’ ability and willingness to sell quality products to us at favorable prices and terms. Many factors outside our control may harm these relationships and the ability or willingness of these suppliers to sell us products on favorable terms. Such factors include a general decline in the economy and economic conditions and prolonged recessionary conditions. These events could negatively affect our suppliers’ operations and make it difficult for them to obtain the credit lines or loans necessary to finance their operations in the short-term or long-term and meet our product requirements.

While our operations are predominately in the U.S., we are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate risk with respect to our sales, expenses, profits, assets and liabilities denominated in the Mexican peso, the Canadian dollar and the Euro, as well as other foreign currencies in which we transact business. We may continue to hedge a small portion of our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations by utilizing derivative instruments for certain transactions. However, we are not protected against most foreign currency fluctuations.

As a result, our financial performance may be affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Moreover, any favorable or unfavorable impacts to gross profit, gross margin and income from operations from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates are likely to be inconsistent year over year.

We continue to be exposed to foreign currency exchange rate risk that we may not be able to manage through derivative instruments and may incur material losses from such transactions utilizing derivative instruments.

Unseasonable or unusual weather, natural disasters or long-term climate changes may negatively impact the price or availability of raw materials, energy and fuel, our ability to produce and demand for our products. Unusually cool weather during the summer months or unusually warm weather during the winter months may result in reduced demand for our products and have a negative effect on our business and financial performance.

Global climate change poses a serious threat to communities, businesses, farmers and ecosystems across the world. Climate change is already affecting the agricultural sector, and disruptions to crop growing conditions are expected to increase with extreme weather events, increasing temperatures, and changing water availability. Water is the main ingredient in substantially all of our products. Climate change may cause water scarcity and a deterioration of water quality in areas where we maintain operations. The competition for water among domestic, agricultural and manufacturing users is increasing in the countries where we operate, and as water becomes scarcer or the quality of the water deteriorates, we may incur increased production costs or face manufacturing constraints which could negatively affect our business and financial performance. Even where water is widely available, water purification and waste treatment infrastructure limitations could increase costs or constrain our operations.

We are also faced with the impact of disruptions to crop growing conditions as a result of changing weather patterns, which can cause changes in geographical ranges of crops, as well as weeds, diseases and pests that affect those crops. These impacts may limit availability or increase the cost of key agricultural commodities, such as coffee, corn and tea, which are important sources of ingredients for our products.

Concern over climate change, including global warming, has led to legislative and regulatory initiatives directed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions. For example, proposals that would impose mandatory requirements on greenhouse gas emissions continue to be considered by policy makers in the countries in which we will operate. Laws enacted that directly or indirectly affect our production, distribution, packaging (including K-Cup pods and the disposal of K-Cup pods), cost of raw materials, fuel, ingredients and water could all negatively impact our business and financial results.

Our products are subject to a variety of federal, state and local laws and regulations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and other countries in which we conduct business. These laws and regulations apply to many aspects of our business including the manufacture, safety, sourcing, labeling, storing, transportation, marketing, advertising, distribution and sale of our products. Other laws and regulations that may impact our business relate to the environment, relations with distributors and retailers, employment, privacy, health and trade practices. Our expanding international business will also expose us to economic factors, regulatory requirements, increasing competition and other risks associated with doing business in foreign countries. Our international business is also subject to U.S. laws, regulations and policies, including anti-corruption and export laws and regulations.

Violations of these laws or regulations in the manufacturing, safety, sourcing, labeling, storing, transportation, advertising, distribution and sale of our products could damage our reputation and/or result in criminal, civil or administrative actions with substantial financial penalties and operational limitations. In addition, any significant change in such laws or regulations or their interpretation, or the introduction of higher standards or more stringent laws or regulations, could result in increased compliance costs or capital expenditures or significant challenges to our ability to continue to produce and sell products that generate a significant portion of our sales and profits. For example, changes in recycling and bottle deposit laws or special taxes on soft drinks or ingredients could increase our costs. In addition, changes in legislation imposing tariffs on or restricting the importation of our products or raw materials required to make our products, restricting the sale of K-Cup pods, requiring compostability of K-Cup pods, limiting the ability of consumers to put K-Cup pods into municipal waste or recycling streams or requiring manufacturers of K-Cup pods to pay responsible producer or other fees to local or other governmental entities in connection with the collection, recycling or disposition of K-Cup pods could increase costs for us or, at least for some period of time, cut off a significant source of our sales and profits. Regulatory focus on the health, safety and marketing of food products is increasing. Certain federal or state regulations or laws affecting the labeling of our products, such as California’s “Proposition 65,” which requires warnings on any product with substances that the state lists as potentially causing cancer or birth defects, are or could become applicable to our products.

We depend on key information systems to accurately and efficiently transact our business, provide information to management and prepare financial reports. We rely on third-party providers for a number of key information systems and business processing services, including hosting, collecting, storing and transmitting our primary data center and processing various accounting and transactional services. An offshore shared service center managed by third parties provides lower cost services to conduct our business, including a number of accounting, tax, and computing functions. If any of these third-party service providers or vendors do not perform effectively, or if we fail to adequately monitor their performance (including compliance with service level agreements or regulatory or legal requirements), we may have to incur additional costs to correct errors made by such service providers, our reputation could be harmed or we could be subject to litigation, claims, legal or regulatory proceedings, inquiries or investigations. In addition, the management of multiple third-party service providers increases operational complexity and decreases our control.

Our information systems contain proprietary and other confidential information related to our business. These systems and services are vulnerable to interruptions or other failures resulting from, among other things, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, software, equipment or telecommunications failures, processing errors, computer viruses, other security issues or supplier defaults. Security, backup and disaster recovery measures may not be adequate or implemented properly to avoid such disruptions or failures. Any disruption or failure of these systems or services could cause substantial errors, processing inefficiencies, security breaches, inability to use the systems or process transactions, loss of customers or other business disruptions, all of which could negatively affect our business and financial performance.

In addition, because we primarily accept debit and credit cards for payment in our e-commerce channel, we are subject to the PCI Standard, issued by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. The PCI Standard contains compliance guidelines with regard to our security surrounding the physical and electronic storage, processing and transmission of cardholder data. We are not fully compliant with the PCI Standard and there can be no assurance that in the future we will be able to operate our facilities and our customer service and sales operations in accordance with the PCI Standard or other industry recommended or contractually required practices. We are in the process to be in compliance with the PCI Standard. However, complying with the PCI Standard and implementing related procedures, technology and information security measures requires significant resources and ongoing attention. Costs and potential problems and interruptions associated with the implementation of new or upgraded systems and technology such as those necessary to achieve compliance with the PCI Standard or with maintenance or adequate support of existing systems could also disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our operations. Even if we are compliant with PCI Standard, we still may not be able to prevent security breaches. Any material interruptions or failures in our payment-related systems could negatively affect our business and financial performance.

In addition, some of our commercial partners may receive or store information provided by us or our users through their websites, including information entrusted to them by customers. If we or these third-party commercial partners fail to adopt or adhere to adequate information security practices, or fail to comply with their respective online policies, or in the event of a breach of our networks, our users’ data and customer information may be improperly accessed, used or disclosed.

As cybersecurity attacks continue to evolve and increase, our information systems could also be penetrated or compromised by internal and external parties intent on extracting confidential information, disrupting business processes or corrupting information. These risks could arise from external parties or from acts or omissions of internal or service provider personnel. Such unauthorized access could disrupt our business and could result in the loss of assets, litigation, regulatory actions or investigations, remediation costs, damage to our reputation and failure to retain or attract customers following such an event, which could adversely affect our business.

We use information technology and third party service providers to support our global business processes and activities, including supporting critical business operations; communicating with our suppliers, customers and employees; maintaining financial information and effective accounting processes and financial and disclosure controls; engaging in mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions; conducting research and development activities; meeting regulatory, legal and tax requirements; and executing various digital marketing and consumer promotion activities. Global shared service centers managed by third parties provide an increasing amount of services to conduct our business, including a number of accounting, internal control, human resources and computing functions.

Continuity of business applications and services has been, and may in the future be, disrupted by events such as infection by viruses or malware. Our continuity of business applications and operations has been, and may in the future be, also disrupted by other cybersecurity attacks; issues with or errors in systems’ maintenance or security; migration of applications to the cloud; power outages; hardware or software failures; denial of service; telecommunication failures; natural disasters; terrorist attacks; and other catastrophic occurrences. Further, cybersecurity breaches of our or third party systems, whether from circumvention of security systems, denial-of-service attacks or other cyberattacks, hacking, phishing attacks, computer viruses, ransomware or malware, employee or insider error, malfeasance, social engineering, physical breaches or other actions may cause confidential information belonging to us or our employees, customers, consumers, partners, suppliers, or governmental or regulatory authorities to be misused or breached. When risks such as these materialize, the need for us to coordinate with various third party service providers and for third party service providers to coordinate amongst themselves might make it more challenging to resolve the related issues. Additionally, in the event of a cybersecurity breach of confidential information that we process and maintain about our employees or consumers through our e-commerce platform could be potentially exposed. If our controls, disaster recovery and business continuity plans or those of our third party providers do not effectively respond to or resolve the issues related to any such disruptions in a timely manner, our product sales, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected, and we might experience delays in reporting our financial results, loss of intellectual property, breach of confidential information and damage to our reputation or brands.

We continue to devote focused resources to network security, backup and disaster recovery, upgrading systems and networks, enhanced training and other security measures to protect our systems and data; we are also in the process of enhancing the monitoring and detection of threats in our environment. However, security measures cannot provide absolute security or guarantee that we will be successful in preventing or responding to every breach or disruption on a timely basis. In addition, due to the constantly evolving nature of security threats, we cannot predict the form and impact of any future incident, and the cost and operational expense of implementing, maintaining and enhancing protective measures to guard against increasingly complex and sophisticated cyber threats could increase significantly. Although we maintain insurance coverage that may, subject to policy terms and conditions, cover certain aspects of a breach or disruption, such insurance coverage may be insufficient to cover all losses.

We regularly move data across national borders to conduct our operations and consequently are subject to a variety of continuously evolving and developing laws and regulations in numerous jurisdictions regarding privacy, data protection and data security, including those related to the collection, storage, handling, use, disclosure, transfer and security of personal data. Privacy and data protection laws may be interpreted and applied differently from country to country and may create inconsistent or conflicting requirements. Our efforts to comply with privacy and data protection laws may impose significant costs and challenges that are likely to increase over time, and we could incur substantial penalties or litigation related to violation of existing or future data privacy laws and regulations.

Our future success depends upon the continued contributions of senior management and other key personnel and the ability to retain and motivate them. If we are unable to recruit, retain and motivate the senior management team and other key personnel sufficiently to support the projected growth and initiatives of our business, our business and financial performance may be adversely affected.

We may be a party to various litigation claims and legal proceedings that may include employment, tort, real estate, antitrust, environmental, recycling/sustainability, intellectual property, commercial, securities, false advertising, packaging, product labeling, consumer protection and other claims. We may be a defendant in class action litigation, including litigation regarding employment practices, product labeling, including under California’s “Proposition 65,” public statements and disclosures under securities laws, antitrust, advertising, consumer protection and wage and hour laws. Plaintiffs in class action litigation may seek to recover amounts that are large and may be indeterminable for some period of time. We evaluate litigation claims and legal proceedings to assess the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes and estimate, if possible, the amount of potential losses. We will establish a reserve as appropriate based upon assessments and estimates in accordance with our accounting policies. We will base our assessments, estimates and disclosures on the information available to us at the time and rely on legal and management judgment. Actual outcomes or losses may differ materially from assessments and estimates. Costs to defend litigation claims and legal proceedings and the cost and any required actions arising out of actual settlements, judgments or resolutions of these claims and legal proceedings may negatively affect our business and financial performance. Any adverse publicity resulting from allegations made in litigation claims or legal proceedings may also adversely affect our reputation, which in turn could adversely affect our results of operations.

We are subject to income taxes and non-income-based taxes in many U.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions. Income tax expense includes a provision for uncertain tax positions. At any one time, many tax years are subject to audit by various taxing jurisdictions. As these audits and negotiations progress, events may occur that change our expectation about how the audit will ultimately be resolved. As a result, there could be ongoing variability in our quarterly and/or annual tax rates as events occur that cause a change in our provision for uncertain tax positions. In addition, our effective tax rate in any given financial statement period may be significantly impacted by changes in the mix and level of earnings or by changes to existing accounting rules, tax regulations or interpretations of existing law. In addition, tax legislation may be enacted in the future, domestically or abroad, that impacts our effective tax rate. Among other things, a number of countries are considering changes to their tax laws applicable to multinational corporate groups, such as the TCJA. Some foreign governments may enact tax laws in response to the TCJA that could result in further changes to global taxation and materially affect our financial position and operating results. Moreover, many of the new provisions of the TCJA will need to be implemented through U.S. Department of Treasury regulations and other guidance that could impact the interpretation and effect of these provisions. The recent presidential election may additionally impact our effective tax rate, as the new administration may seek to change the statutory rate and associated tax laws. Changes in tax laws, regulations, related interpretations, and tax accounting standards in the U.S. and various foreign jurisdictions in which we operate may adversely affect our financial results.

In many countries, including the U.S., we are subject to transfer pricing and other tax regulations designed to ensure that appropriate levels of income are reported as earned and are taxed accordingly. Although we believe that we are in substantial compliance with all applicable regulations and restrictions, we are subject to the risk that governmental authorities could audit our transfer pricing and related practices and assert that additional taxes are owed. In the event that the audits or assessments are concluded adversely to our positions, we may or may not be able to offset or mitigate the consolidated effect of foreign income tax assessments through the use of U.S. foreign tax credits. Because the laws and regulations governing U.S. foreign tax credits are complex and subject to periodic legislative amendment, we cannot be sure that we will in fact be able to take advantage of any foreign tax credits in the future.

We have two corporate headquarters, located in Burlington, Massachusetts and Plano, Texas, both of which are leased. Our Plano headquarters will move to Frisco, Texas in 2021.

The following table summarizes our principal manufacturing plants and principal warehouse and distribution facilities by geography and reportable segment as of December 31, 2020:

We believe our facilities are well-maintained and adequate, that they are being appropriately utilized and that they have sufficient production capacity for their present intended purposes. The extent of utilization of such facilities varies based on seasonal demand for our products. It is not possible to measure with any degree of certainty or uniformity the productive capacity and extent of utilization of these facilities. We periodically review our space requirements, and we look to consolidate and dispose or sublet facilities we no longer need as appropriate.

Not applicable.

None.

KDP is a leading beverage company in North America, with a diverse portfolio of flavored (non-cola) CSDs, NCBs, including water (enhanced and flavored), ready-to-drink tea and coffee, juice, juice drinks, mixers and specialty coffee, and is a leading producer of innovative single serve brewers. With a wide range of hot and cold beverages that meet virtually any consumer need, KDP key brands include Keurig, Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, Snapple, Bai, Mott's, Core, Green Mountain and The Original Donut Shop. KDP has some of the most recognized beverage brands in North America, with significant consumer awareness levels and long histories that evoke strong emotional connections with consumers. KDP offers more than 125 owned, licensed and partner brands, including the top ten best-selling coffee brands and Dr Pepper as a leading flavored CSD in the U.S. according to IRi, available nearly everywhere people shop and consume beverages.

As of December 31, 2020, we report our business in four operating segments:

In evaluating our performance, we consider different volume measures depending on whether we sell beverage concentrates, finished beverages, pods or brewers.

In our Coffee Systems segments, we measure our sales volume as the number of appliances and the number of individual K-Cup pods sold to our customers.

In our Packaged Beverages and Latin America Beverages segments, we measure volume as case sales to customers. A case sale represents a unit of measurement equal to 288 fluid ounces of packaged beverage sold by us. Case sales include both our owned brands and certain brands licensed to and/or distributed by us.

In our Beverage Concentrates segment, we measure our sales volume as concentrate case sales for concentrates sold by us to our bottlers and distributors. A concentrate case is the amount of concentrate needed to make one case of 288 fluid ounces of finished beverage, the equivalent of 24 twelve ounce servings. It does not include any other component of the finished beverage other than concentrate.

Our first priority, always, is to keep our employees safe and healthy. We have taken extraordinary precautions to do this and to provide the support our employees and their families may need during this unprecedented time.

We continue to deliver for our customers and consumers, working hard to fulfill strong demand. We are finding innovative ways to quickly adapt to changes in shopping behaviors, with the vast majority of North America impacted by a mix of occupancy limitations, stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders, and closures of non-essential businesses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had divergent impacts within our business. For example, we experienced a significant increase in demand and consumption of our products in our at-home business caused in part by changing consumer habits in response to COVID-19, contributing to increases in net sales. At the same time, we experienced significant declines in net sales in our away-from-home business due to office closures and the slowdown of hospitality and fountain foodservice as a result of shelter-in-place guidelines and restaurant capacity limits. In the future, the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including higher levels of unemployment, lower wages or a recessionary environment, may result in reduced demand for our products. It could also lead to volatility in demand due to government actions, such as shelter-in-place notices, in response to increases in reported cases and hospitalizations in certain regions. These government actions could impact consumers' movements and access to our products.

While we believe that there will continue to be strong long-term demand for our products, the timing and extent of economic recovery, and the uncertainties in short-term demand trends, make it difficult to predict the overall effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business. We expect that there will be heightened volatility in net sales during and subsequent to the duration of the pandemic that may impact interim periods.

Our ability to continue to operate without any significant negative impacts will in part depend on our ability to protect our critical frontline employees and our supply chain. As food and agriculture is deemed part of the critical infrastructure by the Department of Homeland Security, our frontline employees have been identified as critical workers in maintaining the U.S. food and beverage supply. As a result, we have strived to follow recommended actions of government and health authorities to protect our employees, with particular measures in place for those working in our manufacturing and distribution facilities, which also included temporary incentive pay programs and benefits. We intend to continue to work with government authorities and implement our employee safety measures; however, disruptions to our supply chain, measures taken to protect employees, increased absenteeism or other local effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted and could continue to impact our operations. For our corporate employees, we do not believe that the remote work environment has had any significant impact on our internal controls over financial reporting. With the health and safety of our employees remaining our top priority, we are diligently working on plans to safely bring our employees back to office locations with enhanced safety and health protocols. We do not believe these plans will impact our near-term liquidity needs.

The impact of COVID-19 on our net sales performance presented both headwinds and tailwinds across the business and within the segments, requiring strong portfolio, package and channel mix management to optimize overall performance. The diversity of the Company’s broad portfolio and extensive route to market network enabled us to successfully navigate these mix impacts posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to drive overall performance.

The current environment has increased operating costs, requiring us to take deliberate action. In addition to strong portfolio, package and channel mix management to optimize overall net sales performance, we maintained our strong cost discipline, which included the following:

The following table sets forth our reconciliation of significant COVID-19-related expenses. Employee compensation expense and employee protection costs, which impact our SG&A expenses and cost of sales, are included as the COVID-19 item affecting comparability and is excluded in our non-GAAP financial measures. In addition, reported amounts under U.S. GAAP also include additional costs, not included in the COVID-19 item affecting comparability, as presented in tables below.

The following table details our net income and diluted EPS for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

Net income attributable to KDP increased $71 million, or 5.7%, to $1,325 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to $1,254 million in the prior year, reflecting strong growth in income from operations, driven primarily by the continued benefit of productivity and merger synergies, volume/mix growth and lower discretionary expenses, primarily marketing, partially offset by $150 million of additional pre-tax expenses associated with COVID-19 and a non-cash impairment on our Bai brand intangible asset. Other favorable drivers included lower interest expense due to continued deleveraging and the impact of a lower effective tax rate, partially offset by a non-cash impairment on equity investments and a related party note receivable.

Adjusted net income attributable to KDP increased $261 million, or 15.1%, to $1,988 million, compared to $1,727 million in the prior year, reflecting the continued benefit of productivity and merger synergies, volume/mix growth and lower discretionary expenses, primarily marketing, which were partially offset by lower net price realization and higher operating and manufacturing costs associated with increased consumer retail demand for our products. Other drivers included lower Adjusted interest expense due to continued deleveraging and the impact of a lower Adjusted effective tax rate.

During the year ended December 31, 2020, we made net repayments of $951 million related to our Notes, our 2019 KDP Term Loan, and our commercial paper notes. Additionally, we repaid $341 million and added $171 million of structured payables.

In February 2021, our Board has approved an increase of 25% in our quarterly dividend, which will begin with the second quarter dividend announcement.

The following table sets forth our consolidated results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

The following table sets forth selected consolidated adjusted results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

The following tables set forth net sales and income from operations for our segments for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, as well as the other amounts necessary to reconcile our total segment results to our consolidated results presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP:

The following table provides selected information for our Coffee Systems segment for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

The following table provides selected information for our Packaged Beverages segment for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

The following table provides selected information for our Beverage Concentrates segment for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

The following table provides selected information for our Latin America Beverages segment for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

Our financial condition and liquidity remain strong. Net cash provided by operations was $2,456 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $2,474 million for the prior year. Although there is uncertainty related to the anticipated impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our future results, we believe we are uniquely positioned, with our broad portfolio and unmatched distribution network, to successfully navigate through this pandemic, and the steps we have taken to strengthen our balance sheet leave us well positioned to manage our business as the crisis continues to unfold. We continue to manage all aspects of our business, including, but not limited to, monitoring the financial health of our customers, suppliers and other third-party relationships, implementing gross margin enhancement strategies and developing new opportunities for growth.

As of December 31, 2020, we were in compliance with all debt covenants and we have no reason to believe that we will be unable to satisfy these covenants.

Disruptions in financial and credit markets, including those caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, may impact our ability to manage normal commercial relationships with our customers, suppliers and creditors. These disruptions could have a negative impact on the ability of our customers to timely pay their obligations to us, thus reducing our cash flow, or the ability of our vendors to timely supply materials.

Customer and consumer demand for our products may additionally be impacted by all risk factors discussed in Item 1A, "Risk Factors" that could have a material effect on production, delivery and consumption of our products in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean or Canada, which could result in a reduction in our sales volume. Similarly, disruptions in financial and credit markets may impact our ability to manage normal commercial relationships with our customers, suppliers and creditors. These disruptions could have a negative impact on the ability of our customers to timely pay their obligations to us, thus reducing our cash flow, or the ability of our vendors to timely supply materials.

We believe that the following events, trends and uncertainties may also impact liquidity:

In 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced that LIBOR will no longer be published after 2021. In the U.S., the Alternative Reference Rates Committee selected the Secured Overnight Financing Rate as the preferred alternative reference rate to LIBOR. In December 2020, it was announced that certain LIBOR rates will continue to be published through June 30, 2023.

We have a number of financing arrangements which incorporate LIBOR as a benchmark rate and which extend past 2021, including the 2019 KDP Term Loan and the KDP Revolver. The agreements related to such financing arrangements contain provisions for alternative reference rates, and we do not expect a significant change to our cost of debt as a result of the transition from LIBOR to an alternative reference rate.

Based on our current and anticipated level of operations, we believe that our operating cash flows will be sufficient to meet our anticipated obligations for the next twelve months. To the extent that our operating cash flows are not sufficient to meet our liquidity needs, we may utilize cash on hand or amounts available under our financing arrangements, if necessary.

The following table summarizes our cash activity:

Net cash provided by operating activities decreased $18 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to year ended December 31, 2019, driven by the decline in working capital and an increase in income tax payments, partially offset by the increase in net income adjusted for non-cash items.

As of December 31, 2020, we had no deferred estimated tax payments, as compared to deferred estimated tax payments as of December 31, 2019 of $59 million, which were paid in January 2020.

Beginning in the second quarter of 2020 and continuing through the rest of the year, we deferred payments of employer-related payroll taxes as allowed under the U.S. Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, commonly known as the CARES Act. Payment of at least 50% of the deferred amount is due on December 31, 2021 with the remainder due by December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2020, we have deferred a total of $59 million in such payments.

Our cash conversion cycle is defined as DIO and DSO less DPO. The calculation of each component of the cash conversion cycle is provided below:

For the year ending December 31, 2021, DPO is expected to have a positive impact on our cash conversion cycle as a result of our supplier terms initiative, which has set our customary terms as we integrate our legacy businesses.

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve our cash flow and related liquidity, we work with our suppliers to optimize our terms and conditions, which include the extension of payment terms. Excluding our suppliers who require cash at date of purchase or sale, our current payment terms with our suppliers generally range from 10 to 360 days. We also entered into an agreement with a third party administrator to allow participating suppliers to track payment obligations from us, and if voluntarily elected by the supplier, sell payment obligations from us to financial institutions. Suppliers can sell one or more of our payment obligations at their sole discretion and our rights and obligations to our suppliers are not impacted. We have no economic interest in a supplier’s decision to enter into these agreements and no direct financial relationship with the financial institutions. Our obligations to our suppliers, including amounts due and scheduled payment terms, are not impacted. We have been informed by the third party administrator that as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, $2,578 million and $2,097 million, respectively, of our outstanding payment obligations were voluntarily elected by the supplier and sold to financial institutions. The amounts settled through the program and paid to the financial institutions were $2,770 million and $1,745 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily driven by our purchases of property, plant and equipment of $461 million and purchases of intangible assets of $56 million, which was partially offset by proceeds of $203 million from sales of property, plant and equipment, primarily driven by our asset sale-leaseback transactions.

Cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 was primarily driven by our purchases of property, plant and equipment of $330 million, partially offset by proceeds of $247 million from sales of property, plant and equipment, primarily driven by our asset sale-leaseback transactions. Other drivers of cash used investing activities included $35 million for purchases of intangible assets, primarily the reacquisition of distribution rights, and advances of $32 million to Bedford under its line of credit with us.

Cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 consisted primarily of the net repayment of $1,246 million for commercial paper notes. We made the decision to repay commercial paper notes with an equivalent amount of borrowings under our KDP Revolver, as the costs and ability to issue commercial paper became inefficient at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic versus borrowings under our KDP Revolver. The KDP Revolver was subsequently repaid through the issuance of our 2030 Notes and 2050 Notes. Additionally, we made voluntary and mandatory repayments on the term loan facility of $955 million, dividend payments of $846 million, the repayment of the 2020 Notes of $250 million and net payments on structured payables of $170 million. We also received $29 million from controlling shareholder stock transactions, which related to the disgorgement of short-swing profits pursuant to Section 16(b) of the Exchange Act.

Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 consisted primarily of the voluntary and mandatory repayments on the 2018 KDP Term Loan and 2019 KDP Term Loan of $1,203 million, dividend payments of $844 million, repayments of structured payables of $531 million and the repayment of the 2019 Notes of $250 million. These cash outflows from financing activities were partially offset by net issuance of commercial paper notes of $167 million and proceeds from structured payables of $330 million.

These debt and commercial paper ratings impact the interest we pay on our financing arrangements. A downgrade of one or both of our debt and commercial paper ratings could increase our interest expense and decrease the cash available to fund anticipated obligations.

Purchases of property, plant and equipment were $461 million and $330 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Capital expenditures, which includes purchases of property, plant and equipment and amounts reflected in accounts payable and accrued expenses, for the year ended December 31, 2020 primarily related to our continued investment in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and equipment through the build-out of our Spartanburg manufacturing facility, the purchase of real estate in Ireland and the associated build out of the manufacturing facility and the build-out of our Allentown manufacturing facility.

Capital expenditures for the year ended December 31, 2019 primarily related to manufacturing equipment, our continued investment in the construction of our new Spartanburg facility in South Carolina and information technology infrastructure.

Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents increased $144 million to $255 million as of December 31, 2020 compared to $111 million as of December 31, 2019.

Our cash balances are used to fund working capital requirements, scheduled debt and interest payments, capital expenditures, income tax obligations, dividend payments and business combinations. Cash generated by our foreign operations is generally repatriated to the U.S. periodically as working capital funding requirements in those jurisdictions allow. Foreign cash balances were $165 million and $70 million as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. We accrue tax costs for repatriation, as applicable, as cash is generated in those foreign jurisdictions.

We enter into various contractual obligations that impact, or could impact, our liquidity. Based on our current and anticipated level of operations, we believe that our proceeds from operating cash flows will be sufficient to meet our anticipated obligations. To the extent that our operating cash flows are not sufficient to meet our liquidity needs, we may utilize cash on hand or amounts available under our financing arrangements, if necessary. Refer to Note 3 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for obligations related to our senior unsecured notes and our KDP Credit Agreements. Refer to Note 9 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for future minimum lease commitments.

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2020:

As of December 31, 2020, we had $11 million of non-current unrecognized tax benefits, related interest and penalties classified as a long-term liability. The table above does not reflect any payments related to these amounts as it is not possible to make a reasonable estimate of the amount or timing of the payment. Refer to Note 7 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

The total accrued benefit liability representing the underfunded position for pension recognized as of December 31, 2020 was approximately $25 million. This amount is impacted by, among other items, funding levels, plan amendments, changes in plan assumptions and the investment return on plan assets. We did not include estimated payments related to our total accrued benefit liability in the table above. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 was enacted in August 2006 and established, among other things, new standards for funding of U.S. defined benefit pension plans. We generally expect to fund all future contributions with cash flows from operating activities. Our international pension plans are generally funded in accordance with local laws and income tax regulations. We did not include our estimated contributions to our various single employer plans in the table above.

We have a deferred compensation plan where the assets are maintained in a rabbi trust and the corresponding liability related to the plan is recorded in other non-current liabilities. We did not include estimated payments related to the deferred compensation liability as the timing and payment of these amounts are determined by the participants and outside our control.

In general, we are covered under conventional insurance programs with high deductibles or are self-insured for large portions of many different types of claims. Our accrued liabilities for our losses related to these programs are estimated through actuarial procedures of the insurance industry and by using industry assumptions, adjusted for our specific expectations based on our claim history. As of December 31, 2020, our accrued liabilities for our losses related to these programs totaled approximately $107 million.

We conduct tests for impairment of our goodwill and our other indefinite lived intangible assets annually, as of October 1, or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate the carrying amount may not be recoverable. We use present value and other valuation techniques to make this assessment. If the carrying amount of goodwill or an intangible asset exceeds its fair value, an impairment loss is recognized in an amount equal to that excess. For purposes of impairment testing, we assign goodwill to the reporting unit that benefits from the synergies arising from each business combination, and we also assign indefinite lived intangible assets to our reporting units.

We define our six reporting units as the following:

For both goodwill and other indefinite lived intangible assets, we have the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether the fair value of either the reporting unit or indefinite lived intangible asset is not "more likely than not" less than its carrying value, also known as a Step 0 analysis. If a quantitative analysis is required, the following would be required:

Critical assumptions for quantitative analyses include revenue growth and profit performance, including the achievability of productivity and synergies, over the next five year period, as well as an appropriate discount rate, long term growth rate and royalty rates, as applicable. Discount rates are based on a weighted average cost of equity and cost of debt, adjusted with various risk premiums. Long term growth rates are based on the long-term inflation forecast, industry growth and the long-term economic growth potential. Royalty rates are based on observable market participant information.

The following table provides the range of rates used in the analysis as of October 1, 2020:

For goodwill, holding all other assumptions in the analysis constant, including the revenue and profit performance assumption, the effect of a 0.50% increase in the discount rate used to determine the fair value of the reporting units as of October 1, 2020, would not change our conclusion.

For the indefinite-lived intangible assets, holding all other assumptions in the analysis constant, including the revenue and profit performance assumption, the effect of a 0.50% increase in the discount rate used to determine the fair value of our brands and trade names as of October 1, 2020, would impact the amount of headroom over the carrying value of our brands and trade names as follows (in millions):

For goodwill, holding all other assumptions in the analysis constant, including the discrete period revenue and profit performance assumptions as well as the discount rates, the effect of a 0.50% decrease in the long-term growth rate used to determine the fair value of the reporting units as of October 1, 2020, would not change our conclusion.

For the indefinite-lived intangible assets, holding all other assumptions in the analysis constant, including the discrete period revenue and profit performance assumptions as well as the discount rates, the effect of a 0.50% decrease in the long-term revenue growth rate used to determine the fair value of our brands and trade names as of October 1, 2020, would impact the amount of headroom over the carrying value of our brands and trade names as follows (in millions):

We recognize revenue when performance obligations under the terms of a contract with the customer are satisfied. Accruals for customer incentives, sales returns and marketing programs are established for the expected payout based on contractual terms, volume-based metrics and/or historical trends.

Our customer incentives, sales returns and marketing accrual methodology contains uncertainties because it requires management to make assumptions and to apply judgment regarding our contractual terms in order to estimate our customer participation and volume performance levels which impact the expense recognition. Our estimates are based primarily on a combination of known or historical transaction experiences. Differences between estimated expenses and actual costs are normally insignificant and are recognized to earnings in the period differences are determined.

Additionally, judgment is required to ensure the classification of the spend is correctly recorded as either a reduction from gross sales or advertising and marketing expense, which is a component of our SG&A expenses.

A 10% change in the accrual for our customer incentives, sales returns and marketing programs would have affected our income from operations by $38 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

We establish income tax liabilities to remove some or all of the income tax benefit of any of our income tax positions based upon one of the following:

Our liability for uncertain tax positions contains uncertainties because management is required to make assumptions and to apply judgment to estimate the exposures associated with our various tax positions.

Our income tax returns, like those of most companies, are periodically audited by domestic and foreign tax authorities. These audits include questions regarding our tax positions, including the timing and amount of deductions and the allocation of income among various tax jurisdictions. As these audits progress, events may occur that cause us to change our liability for uncertain tax positions. To the extent we prevail in matters for which a liability for uncertain tax positions has been established, or are required to pay amounts in excess of our established liability, our effective tax rate in a given financial statement period could be materially affected. An unfavorable tax settlement generally would require use of our cash and may result in an increase in our effective tax rate in the period of resolution. A favorable tax settlement may be recognized as a reduction in our effective tax rate in the period of resolution.

We also assess the likelihood of realizing our deferred tax assets. Valuation allowances reduce deferred tax assets to the amount more likely than not to be realized. We base our judgment of the recoverability of our deferred tax assets primarily on historical earnings, our estimate of current and expected future earnings and prudent and feasible tax planning strategies.

If results differ from our assumptions, a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets may be increased or decreased which would impact our effective tax rate.

We record acquisitions using the purchase method of accounting. All of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed are recorded at fair value as of the acquisition date. The excess of the purchase price over the estimated fair values of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired is recorded as goodwill.

The application of the purchase method of accounting for business combinations requires management to make significant estimates and assumptions in the determination of the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed, in order to properly allocate purchase price consideration between assets that are depreciated and amortized from goodwill. The fair value assigned to tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed are based on management’s estimates and assumptions, as well as other information compiled by management, including valuations that utilize customary valuation procedures and techniques. Significant assumptions and estimates include, but are not limited to, the cash flows that an asset is expected to generate in the future, the appropriate weighted-average cost of capital, and the cost savings expected to be derived from acquiring an asset, if applicable.

On December 28, 2020, one of our third-party bottlers sold their manufacturing and distribution rights to Veyron SPE. Subsequently, we entered into a distribution arrangement with Veyron SPE, which provided us access to distribute certain CSD beverages, such as Canada Dry, 7UP and A&W in a number of counties in New York and New Jersey in exchange for a fixed service fee and a residual value guarantee. As a result of the residual value guarantee, Veyron SPE was determined to be a VIE; however, we did not consolidate the VIE as we were not the primary beneficiary. Since the agreement provided us immediate distribution access without reacquiring ownership of the distribution rights asset and includes a guarantee on the assets of Veyron SPE, we believe this is an off-balance sheet arrangement. Revenues and expenses related to the arrangement for the year ended December 31, 2020 were not significant. Refer to Note 16 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

We currently participate, and have in the past participated, in multi-employer pension plans in the U.S. If, in the future, we choose to withdraw from participation in one of these plans, or we are deemed to have withdrawn from any of the multi-employer pension plans in which we currently participate or have participated in the past, the plan will assess us a withdrawal liability for exiting the plan, and U.S. GAAP would require us to record the withdrawal charge as an expense in our consolidated statements of income and as a liability on our consolidated balance sheets once the multi-employer pension withdrawal charge is probable and estimable. Refer to Note 10 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our multi-employer pension plans.

There are no other off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future material effect on our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources other than letters of credit outstanding. Refer to Note 3 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding outstanding letters of credit.

The Notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by certain of our direct and indirect subsidiaries (the "Guarantors"), as defined in the indentures governing the Notes. The Guarantors are 100% owned either directly or indirectly by us and jointly and severally guarantee, subject to the release provisions described below, our obligations under the Notes. None of our subsidiaries organized outside of the U.S., immaterial subsidiaries used for charitable purposes, any of the subsidiaries held by Maple Parent Holdings Corp. prior to the DPS Merger or any of the subsidiaries acquired after the DPS Merger (collectively, the "Non-Guarantors") guarantee the Notes. The subsidiary guarantees with respect to the Notes are subject to release upon the occurrence of certain events, including the sale of all or substantially all of a subsidiary's assets, the release of the subsidiary's guarantee of our other indebtedness, our exercise of the legal defeasance option with respect to the Notes and the discharge of our obligations under the applicable indenture.

The following schedules present the summarized financial information for the Parent and the Guarantors on a combined basis after intercompany eliminations; the Parent and the Guarantors' amounts due from; amounts due to, and transactions with Non-Guarantors are disclosed separately. The consolidating schedules are provided in accordance with the reporting requirements of Rule 13-01 under SEC Regulation S-X for the issuer and guarantor subsidiaries.

The summarized financial information for the Parent and Guarantors were as follows:

To supplement the consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we have presented for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (i) Adjusted income from operations, (ii) Adjusted interest expense, (iii) Adjusted provision for income taxes, (iv) Adjusted net income attributable to KDP and (v) Adjusted diluted EPS, which are considered non-GAAP financial measures. The non-GAAP financial measures provided should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative for, results prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures presented may differ from similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures presented by other companies, and other companies may not define these non-GAAP financial measures in the same way. The adjusted measures are not substitutes for their comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures, such as income from operations, net income, diluted EPS, or other measures prescribed by U.S. GAAP, and there are limitations to using non-GAAP financial measures.

For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we define our Adjusted non-GAAP financial measures as certain financial statement captions and metrics adjusted for certain items affecting comparability. The items affecting comparability are defined below.

Items affecting comparability:

Defined as certain items that are excluded for comparison to the prior year, adjusted for the tax impact as applicable. Tax impact is determined based upon an approximate rate for each item. For each year, management adjusts for (i) the unrealized mark-to-market impact of derivative instruments not designated as hedges in accordance with U.S. GAAP and do not have an offsetting risk reflected within the financial results; (ii) the amortization associated with definite-lived intangible assets; (iii) the amortization of the deferred financing costs associated with the DPS Merger and the Keurig Acquisition; (iv) the amortization of the fair value adjustment of the senior unsecured notes obtained as a result of the DPS Merger; (v) stock compensation expense attributable to the matching awards made to employees who made an initial investment in the EOP, the 2009 Incentive Plan or the 2019 Incentive Plan; and (vi) other certain items that are excluded for comparison purposes to the prior year.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, the other certain items excluded for comparison purposes include (i) restructuring and integration expenses related to significant business combinations; (ii) productivity expenses; (iii) costs related to significant non-routine legal matters; (iv) the loss on early extinguishment of debt related to the redemption of debt; (v) incremental temporary costs to our operations related to risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic; (vi) impairment recognized on the equity method investments with Bedford and LifeFuels; and (vii) impairment recognized on the Bai brand.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the other certain items excluded for comparison purposes include (i) restructuring and integration expenses related to significant business combinations; (ii) productivity expenses; (iii) transaction costs for significant business combinations (completed or abandoned) excluding the DPS Merger; (iv) costs related to significant non-routine legal matters; (v) the impact of the step-up of acquired inventory not associated with the DPS Merger; (vi) the loss on early extinguishment of debt related to the redemption of debt and (vii) the loss related to the February 2019 organized malware attack on our business operation networks in the Coffee Systems segment.

For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the supplemental financial data set forth below includes reconciliations of Adjusted income from operations, Adjusted net income and Adjusted diluted EPS to the applicable financial measure presented in the consolidated financial statement for the same year.