DOO 40-F
BRP Inc. (DOO)
PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
TO SECTION 13(a) OR |
15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended |
Commission File Number: |
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Name of each exchange on which registered | ||
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PRINCIPAL DOCUMENTS
The following documents have been filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 40-F:
A. Annual Information Form
The Registrant’s Annual Information Form for the year ended January 31, 2024 is attached as Exhibit 99.1 to this Annual Report on Form 40-F and is incorporated by reference herein.
B. Audited Annual Financial Statements
The Registrant’s audited annual consolidated financial statements for the year ended January 31, 2024, including the reports of the independent registered public accounting firm with respect thereto, are attached as Exhibit 99.2 to this Annual Report on Form 40-F and are incorporated by reference herein.
C. Management’s Discussion and Analysis
The Registrant’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the year ended January 31, 2024 is attached as Exhibit 99.3 to this Annual Report on Form 40-F and is incorporated by reference herein.
CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
The Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer are responsible for establishing and maintaining the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as well as its internal control over financial reporting, as those terms are defined in National Instrument 52-109 – Certification of Disclosure in Issuers’ Annual and Interim Filings of the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, Rule 13a-15(e) and Rule 15d-15(e) under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 13a-15(f) and Rule 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act.
Disclosure controls and procedures
The President and Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer have designed, or caused to be designed under their supervision, disclosure controls and procedures in order to provide reasonable assurance that:
| • | material information relating to the Company has been made known to them; and |
| • | information required to be disclosed in the Company’s filings is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in securities legislation. |
An evaluation of the design and effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures was carried out under the supervision of the President and Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer. Based on this evaluation, the President and Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer concluded, as of January 31, 2024, that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective.
Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
The President and Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer have designed, or caused to be designed under their supervision, such internal control over financial reporting to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board.
Due to its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Management’s projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as to future periods are subject to the risks that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
An evaluation of the design and effectiveness of the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting was carried out under the supervision of the President and Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer. In making this evaluation, the President and Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013). Based on this evaluation, the President and Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer concluded, as of January 31, 2024, that the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting were effective.
Our internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2024 has been audited by Deloitte LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, who also audited our consolidated financial statements for the year ended January 31, 2024. Deloitte LLP issued an unqualified opinion, as stated in their report, on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2024.
Changes in internal control over financial reporting
There were no changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting during the three- and twelve-month periods ended January 31, 2024, that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
Attestation report of registered public accounting firm
The attestation report of Deloitte LLP on management’s internal control over financial reporting is filed in Exhibit 99.2 to this Annual Report on Form 40-F, and is incorporated herein by reference.
NOTICES PURSUANT TO REGULATION BTR
There were no notices required by Rule 104 of Regulation BTR that the Registrant sent during the year ended January 31, 2024 concerning any equity security subject to a blackout period under Rule 101 of Regulation BTR.
AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT
The Registrant’s board of directors (the “Board of Directors”) has determined that it has at least one audit committee financial expert (as such term is defined in item 8(a) of General Instruction B to Form 40-F) serving on its audit committee (the “Audit Committee”). Michael Ross has been determined by the Board of Directors to be such audit committee financial expert and is independent (as such term is defined by the Nasdaq Stock Market’s corporate governance standards applicable to the Registrant).
Mr. Ross is a corporate director. He was Chief Financial Officer of Sesami Cash Management Technologies Corporation (“Sesami”) from 2022 to 2023. In this role, he was responsible for all financial activities, corporate development, and strategic planning. Prior to joining Sesami, Mr. Ross was Chief Financial Officer of Dollarama Inc. for over a decade. Prior to that, Mr. Ross was CFO of Sanimax Industries, a rendering services company, and spent over 20 years in senior financial roles in the television and broadcasting industry. He began his career as an auditor with Ernst & Young. Mr. Ross is a member of the board of directors of Pixcom Inc., the Fondation CHU Saint Justine and FEI – Quebec Chapter. He was previously a member of the board of directors of Investissement Québec, la Fondation Marie-Vincent, Fondation Dr Clown and Muscular Dystrophy Canada. Mr. Ross holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce and a graduate diploma in accounting from Concordia University. He received the Fellow of the Order distinction (FCPA) in 2012.
The SEC has indicated that the designation of Michael Ross as an audit committee financial expert does not make him an “expert” for any purpose, impose on him any duties, obligations or liability that are greater than the duties, obligations or liability imposed on him as a member of the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors in absence of such designation, or affect the duties, obligations or liability of any other member of the Audit Committee or Board of Directors.
CODE OF ETHICS
The Registrant has adopted a Code of Ethics that applies to all directors, officers and employees of the Registrant and its subsidiaries (collectively, “covered persons”). A copy of the Code of Ethics can be obtained, free of charge, on the Registrant’s website (www.brp.com) or by contacting the Registrant at (450) 532-6154.
PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES
The following table sets out the fees billed to the Registrant by Deloitte LLP for professional services rendered for the fiscal period ended January 31, 2024 and January 31, 2023. During this period, Deloitte LLP was the Registrant’s only external auditor.
| (in Canadian dollars) | Year ended January 31, 2024 |
Year ended January 31, 2023 |
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| Audit Fees(1) |
$ | 5,515,701 | $ | 4,541,500 | ||||
| Audit-Related Fees(2) |
1,165,189 | 772,597 | ||||||
| Tax Fees(3) |
124,674 | 126,429 | ||||||
| All Other Fees(4) |
1,196 | - | ||||||
| Total Fees Paid |
$ | 6,806,760 | $ | 5,440,526 | ||||
Notes:
| 1. | “Audit Fees” include fees necessary to perform the annual audit or reviews of the consolidated financial statements. |
| 2. | “Audit-Related Fees” include fees for assurance and related services by the independent auditor that are reasonably related to the performance of statutory audit or review of the Company’s financial statements other than those included in “Audit Fees,” such as consultation on accounting and reporting matters. |
| 3. | “Tax Fees” include fees for all tax services other than those included in “Audit Fees” and “Audit-Related Fees.” This category includes fees for tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning. |
| 4. | “Other Fees” include fees for products and services provided by the independent auditor other than those included above, including consulting services. |
The Registrant’s Audit Committee is responsible for pre-approval of all audit services and permitted non-audit services provided to the Registrant or its subsidiaries by Deloitte LLP. The Audit Committee has delegated to the Chair of the Audit Committee, who is independent, the authority to act on behalf of the Audit Committee with respect to the pre-approval of all audit and permitted non-audit services provided by its external auditors from time to time. Any approvals by the Chair are reported to the full Audit Committee at its next meeting. All of the services described in footnotes 2, 3 and 4 under “Principal Accountant Fees and Services” above were approved by the Audit Committee pursuant to paragraph (c)(7)(i)(C) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X.
IDENTIFICATION OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE
The Registrant has a separately designated standing Audit Committee established in accordance with section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Exchange Act. The members of the Audit Committee are Ernesto M. Hernández, Katherine Kountze, Estelle Métayer, Nicholas Nomicos and Michael Ross.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The Registrant is a “foreign private issuer” as defined in Rule 3b-4 under the Exchange Act and its Subordinate Voting Shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) and The Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”). Nasdaq Listing Rule 5615(a)(3) permits a foreign private issuer to follow its home country practices in lieu of certain requirements in the Nasdaq Listing Rules. The following is a summary of the significant ways in which the Registrant’s corporate governance practices differ from those required to be followed by U.S. domestic issuers under Nasdaq’s corporate governance standards. In addition, the Registrant is currently a “controlled company” as defined in the Nasdaq Listing Rules. Upon ceasing to be a “controlled company”, as a foreign private issuer, the Registrant intends to continue to follow Canadian corporate governance practices and TSX rules in lieu of the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq. Except as described below, the Registrant is in compliance with the Nasdaq corporate governance standards in all significant respects.
| • | Quorum Requirements. Rule 5620(c) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules requires that the minimum quorum requirement for a meeting of shareholders is 33.33% of the outstanding shares of its common voting stock. In addition, Rule 5620(c) requires that an issuer listed on Nasdaq state its quorum requirement in its by-laws. The Registrant follows the requirements of the Canada Business Corporations Act with respect to quorum requirements. The quorum requirement for a meeting of shareholders is set forth in the Registrant’s by-laws, which require not less than 25% of the issued and outstanding shares entitled to vote at the meeting to be present in person or represented by proxy and at least two persons entitled to vote at the meeting actually present. |
| • | Shareholder Approval. Sections 5635(a) through (d) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules require an issuer to obtain shareholder approval prior to certain issuances of securities, including (i) the acquisition of the stock or assets of another company; (ii) equity-based compensation of officers, directors, employees or consultants; (iii) a change of control; and (iv) private placements. The Registrant does not follow this rule. Instead, the Registrant complies with applicable TSX rules. Such rules require issuers to obtain shareholder approval prior to a distribution of common shares (other than in respect of public offerings) that involve the sale of more than 25% of the issuer’s outstanding common shares prior to the transaction. In addition, under TSX rules (1) the creation of, or certain material amendments to, equity compensation plans require shareholder approval and (2) the sale of common shares at a discount to officers and directors requires shareholder approval in specified circumstances. |
| • | Compensation Committee. The Registrant follows applicable Canadian laws with respect to compensation consultants, legal counsel and other advisers to our Human Resources & Compensation Committee. Applicable Canadian securities legislation does not specifically require consideration of potential conflicts of interest on the part of compensation consultants, legal counsel and other advisers to the compensation committee, but best practices dictate disclosure of any such conflicts in the Registrant’s management information circular. |
| • | Independent Directors. Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(b) requires that a majority of a listed issuer’s board of directors be independent directors as defined in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(a)(2) for companies that are not controlled. Applicable TSX rules require only that listed issuers have at least two independent directors. Although the Registrant is a “controlled company” under Nasdaq rules, we follow applicable TSX requirements with respect to director independence. |
UNDERTAKING AND CONSENT TO SERVICE OF PROCESS
A. Undertaking
Registrant undertakes to make available, in person or by telephone, representatives to respond to inquiries made by the Commission staff, and to furnish promptly, when requested to do so by the Commission staff, information relating to: the securities registered pursuant to Form 40-F, the securities in relation to which the obligation to file an annual report on Form 40-F arises, or transactions in said securities.
B. Consent to Service of Process
The Registrant has previously filed with the SEC an Appointment of Agent for Service of Process and Undertaking on Form F-X in connection with its Subordinate Voting Shares.
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Exchange Act, the Registrant certifies that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form 40-F and has duly caused this annual report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereto duly authorized.
| BRP INC. | ||||||||
| Date: March 28, 2024 |
By: |
/s/ Sébastien Martel | ||||||
| Name |
Sébastien Martel |
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| Title: |
Chief Financial Officer |
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EXHIBIT INDEX
| No. | Document | |
| 97 |
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| 99.1 |
Annual Information Form of the Registrant for the year ended January 31, 2024 | |
| 99.2 |
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| 99.3 |
Management’s discussion and analysis of the Registrant for the year ended January 31, 2024. | |
| 99.4 |
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| 99.5 |
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| 23.1 |
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| 31.1 |
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| 31.2 |
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| 32.1 |
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| 32.2 |
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| 101 |
Inline Interactive Data File. | |
| 104 |
Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101) |