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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART IV

Table of Contents

 

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549



FORM 10-K



(Mark One)    

ý

 

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2014

or

o

 

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                                  to                                 

Commission File Number 1-13045



IRON MOUNTAIN INCORPORATED
(Exact name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Delaware
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation)
One Federal Street, Boston, Massachusetts
(Address of principal executive offices)
  23-2588479
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
02110
(Zip Code)
617-535-4766
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

         Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of Each Class   Name of Exchange on Which Registered
Common Stock, $.01 par value per share   New York Stock Exchange

         Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

         Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ý    No o

         Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes o    No ý

         Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ý    No o

         Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ý    No o

         Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K o

         Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or a small reporting company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer" and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large accelerated filer ý   Accelerated filer o
Non-accelerated filer o
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)
  Smaller reporting company o

         Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o    No ý

         As of June 30, 2014, the aggregate market value of the Common Stock of the registrant held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $6.2 billion based on the closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on such date.

         Number of shares of the registrant's Common Stock at February 20, 2015: 210,071,985

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

         Certain information required in Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K (the "Annual Report") is incorporated by reference from our definitive Proxy Statement for our 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (our "Proxy Statement") to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") within 120 days after the close of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014.

   


Table of Contents


IRON MOUNTAIN INCORPORATED
2014 FORM 10-K ANNUAL REPORT

Table of Contents

 
   
  Page

PART I

       

Item 1.

 

Business

  1

       

Item 1A.

 

Risk Factors

  13

       

Item 1B.

 

Unresolved Staff Comments

  26

       

Item 2.

 

Properties

  26

       

Item 3.

 

Legal Proceedings

  29

       

Item 4.

 

Mine Safety Disclosures

  29

       

PART II

       

Item 5.

 

Market For Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

  30

       

Item 6.

 

Selected Financial Data

  33

       

Item 7.

 

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

  35

       

Item 7A.

 

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

  70

       

Item 8.

 

Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

  72

       

Item 9.

 

Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

  72

       

Item 9A.

 

Controls and Procedures

  72


       

Item 9B.

 

Other Information

  74


       

PART III

       

Item 10.

 

Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

  75

       

Item 11.

 

Executive Compensation

  75

       

Item 12.

 

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

  75

       

Item 13.

 

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

  75

       

Item 14.

 

Principal Accountant Fees and Services

  75

       

PART IV

       

Item 15.

 

Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules

  75

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        References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to "the Company," "IMI," "Iron Mountain," "we," "us" or "our" include Iron Mountain Incorporated, a Delaware corporation, and its predecessor, as applicable, and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.


CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

        We have made statements in this Annual Report that constitute "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other securities laws. These forward-looking statements concern our operations, economic performance, financial condition, goals, beliefs, future growth strategies, investment objectives, plans and current expectations, such as our (1) commitment to future dividend payments, (2) expected growth in volume of records stored with us from existing customers, (3) expected 2015 consolidated internal revenue growth rate and capital expenditures in 2015, and (4) expected target leverage ratio. These forward-looking statements are subject to various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. When we use words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" or similar expressions, we are making forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, our expected results may not be achieved, and actual results may differ materially from our expectations. In addition, important factors that could cause actual results to differ from expectations include, among others:

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        Other risks may adversely impact us, as described more fully under "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of this Annual Report.

        You should not rely upon forward-looking statements except as statements of our present intentions and of our present expectations, which may or may not occur. You should read these cautionary statements as being applicable to all forward-looking statements wherever they appear. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to release publicly the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Readers are also urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures we have made in this document, as well as our other periodic reports filed with the SEC.

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Item 1. Business.

Business Overview

        We store records, primarily paper documents and data backup media, and provide information management services that help organizations around the world protect their information, lower storage rental costs, comply with regulations, enable corporate disaster recovery, and better use their information for business advantages, regardless of its format, location or lifecycle stage. We offer comprehensive records and information management services and data management services, along with the expertise and experience to address complex storage and information management challenges such as rising storage rental costs, and increased litigation, regulatory compliance and disaster recovery requirements. Founded in an underground facility near Hudson, New York in 1951, Iron Mountain Incorporated, a Delaware corporation, is a trusted partner to more than 155,000 customers throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region. We have a diversified customer base consisting of commercial, legal, banking, healthcare, accounting, insurance, entertainment and government organizations, including more than 92% of the Fortune 1000. As of December 31, 2014, we operated in 36 countries on five continents and employed over 20,000 people.

        Now in our 64th year, we have experienced tremendous growth, particularly since successfully completing the initial public offering of our common stock in February 1996. We have grown from a U.S. business operating fewer than 85 facilities (6 million square feet) with limited storage and information management service offerings and annual revenues of $104.0 million in 1995 into a global enterprise providing storage and a broad range of related records and information management services to customers in markets around the world with approximately 1,100 facilities (67.8 million square feet) as of December 31, 2014 and total revenues of more than $3.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2014. On January 5, 2009, we were added to the S&P 500 Index. On November 28 2014, we were added to the MSCI REIT index and as of December 31, 2014 we were number 712 on the Fortune 1000.

REIT Conversion

        We are committed to delivering stockholder value. To that end, and supported by our strong cash flows, we initiated a stockholder payout program in February 2010 and a dividend policy under which we have paid, and in the future intend to pay, cash dividends on our common stock. In April 2011, we announced a three-year strategic plan to increase stockholder value. A major component of that plan was our commitment to significant stockholder payouts of $2.2 billion through 2013, with $1.2 billion being paid out by May 2012. We fulfilled the commitment to return $1.2 billion of cash to stockholders by May 2012, and in June 2012, we announced our intention to pursue conversion to a REIT. The plan was unanimously approved by our board of directors following a thorough analysis and careful consideration of ways to maximize value through alternative financing, capital and tax strategies. Since May 2012, we have returned $2.1 billion of capital to stockholders including $1.0 billion in cash and $1.1 billion in our common stock.

        As part of our plan to convert to a REIT for federal income tax purposes and elect REIT status effective January 1, 2014, we sought private letter rulings ("PLRs") from the United States Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS") relating to numerous technical tax issues, including classification of our steel racking structures as qualified real estate assets. We submitted the PLR requests in the third quarter of 2012, and on June 25, 2014, we announced that we received the favorable PLRs from the IRS necessary for our conversion to a REIT. After receipt of the PLRs, our board of directors unanimously approved our conversion to a REIT for our taxable year beginning January 1, 2014.

        In connection with our conversion to a REIT and, in particular, to impose ownership limitations customary for REITs, on January 20, 2015, we completed the merger with our predecessor and all outstanding shares of our predecessor's common stock were converted into a right to receive an equal

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number of shares of our common stock. Accordingly, references herein to our "common stock" refer to our common stock and the common stock of our predecessor, as applicable.

The Durability of Our Business

        We believe that the creation of paper-based information will be sustained, not in spite of, but because of, "paperless" technologies such as e-mail and the Internet. These technologies have prompted the creation of hard copies of such electronic information and have also led to increased demand for electronic records services, such as the storage and off-site rotation of backup copies of magnetic media. In addition, we believe that the proliferation of digital information technologies and distributed data networks has created a growing need for efficient, cost-effective, high quality technology solutions for electronic data protection and the management of electronic documents.

        We believe that the volume of stored physical and electronic records will continue to increase on a global basis for a number of reasons, including: (1) regulatory requirements; (2) concerns over possible future litigation and the resulting increases in volume and holding periods of records; (3) the continued proliferation of data processing technologies such as personal computers and networks; (4) inexpensive document producing technologies such as desktop publishing software and desktop printing; (5) the high cost of reviewing records and deciding whether to retain or destroy them; (6) the failure of many entities to adopt or follow policies on records destruction; and (7) the need to keep backup copies of certain records in off-site locations for business continuity purposes in the event of disaster.

Business Strategy

Overview

        We have transitioned from a growth strategy driven primarily by acquisitions of storage and information management services companies to a strategy that targets multiple sources of revenue growth. Our current strategy is focused on: (1) increasing revenues in developed markets such as the United States, Canada, Australia and western Europe, primarily through improved sales and marketing efforts and attractive fold-in acquisitions; (2) establishing and enhancing leadership positions in high-growth emerging markets such as central and eastern Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region (excluding Australia), primarily through acquisitions; and (3) continuing to identify, incubate and scale emerging business opportunities to support our long-term growth objectives and drive solid returns on invested capital. In our developed markets, we expect continuous improvement initiatives will generate modest profit growth, a portion of which we expect to reinvest in our business. In our existing emerging markets, we expect profits will grow as the local businesses scale, and we will look to reinvest a portion of that improvement to support the growth of these businesses. However, any increases in our international profits will be limited as we seek to make acquisitions in new emerging markets.

        Storage rental is the key driver of our economics and allows us to expand our relationships with our customers through value-added services that flow from storage rental. Consistent with our overall strategy, we are focused on increasing incoming volumes on a global basis. There are multiple sources of new volumes available to us, and these sources inform our growth investment strategy. Our investments in sales and marketing support sales to new customers that do not currently outsource some or all of their storage and information management needs, as well as increased volumes from existing customers. We also expect to invest in acquisitions of customer relationships and storage and information management services businesses. In our developed markets, we expect that these acquisitions will primarily be fold-in acquisitions designed to optimize the utilization of existing assets, expand our presence and better serve customers. We also expect to use acquisitions to expand our presence in attractive, higher growth emerging markets. Finally, we continue to pursue new rental streams through emerging business opportunities.

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        We offer our customers an integrated value proposition by providing them with secure storage and comprehensive service offerings, including records and information management services and data management services. We have the expertise and experience to address complex storage and information management challenges, such as rising storage rental costs and increased litigation, regulatory compliance and disaster recovery requirements. We expect to maintain a leadership position in the storage and information management services industry around the world by enabling customers to store, protect and better use their information—regardless of its format, location or lifecycle stage—so they can optimize their business and ensure proper recovery, compliance and discovery. Our objective is to continue to capitalize on our brand, our expertise in the storage and information management industry and our global network to enhance our customers' experience, thereby increasing our customer retention rates and attracting new customers. Our overall growth strategy will focus on growing our business organically, making strategic customer acquisitions, pursuing acquisitions of storage and information management businesses, and developing ancillary businesses and real estate. We continue to expand our portfolio of products and services. Adding new products and services allows us to strengthen our existing customer relationships and attract new customers in previously untapped markets.

Growth from Existing and New Customers

        Our existing customers' storage of physical records contributes to the growth of storage rental and certain records and information management services revenues because, on average, our existing customers generate additional records at a faster rate than old records are destroyed or permanently removed. The growth in new records volume from our existing customers has been consistent in the past three years, and we anticipate this growth will be sustained, although we cannot give any assurance as to whether this growth will continue. In order to maximize growth opportunities from existing customers, we seek to maintain high levels of customer retention by providing premium customer service.

        Our sales coverage model is designed to identify and capitalize on incremental revenue opportunities by strategically allocating our sales resources to our customer base and selling additional storage, records and information management services and products in new and existing markets. Our sales force is dedicated to three primary objectives: (1) establishing new customer account relationships; (2) generating additional revenue by expanding existing customer relationships globally; and (3) expanding new and existing customer relationships by effectively selling a wide array of related services and products. In order to accomplish these objectives, our sales forces draw on our United States and international marketing organizations and senior management. We are developing tailored marketing strategies to target customers in the healthcare, financial, insurance, legal, life sciences, energy, business services and federal vertical market segments.

Growth through Acquisitions

        The storage and information management services industry is highly fragmented with thousands of competitors in North America and around the world. Between 1995 and 2004 there was significant acquisition activity in the industry. Acquisitions were a fast and efficient way to achieve scale, expand geographically and broaden service offerings. After 2004, acquisition activity was reduced as we focused on integrating these recent transactions and diversifying the business. Beginning again in 2012, we saw opportunities for attractive acquisitions in emerging markets and consolidation opportunities in more developed markets, and resumed acquisition activity. We believe this ongoing acquisition activity is due to opportunities for large providers to achieve economies of scale and meet customer demands for sophisticated, technology-based solutions. Attractive acquisition opportunities, in North America and internationally, many of which are small, continue to exist, and we expect to continue to pursue acquisition of these businesses where we believe they present a good opportunity to create value for our stockholders. Lastly, we have a successful record of acquiring and integrating these businesses.

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        We have acquired, and we continue to seek to acquire, storage and information management services businesses in developed markets including the United States, Canada, Australia and western Europe. Given the relatively small size of most attractive acquisition targets in these markets, future acquisitions are expected to be less significant to our overall revenue growth in these markets than in the past. Occasionally, however, we may be presented with the opportunity to acquire one of the larger businesses in these markets and will evaluate each opportunity with a focus on return on invested capital and the creation of stockholder value. Such was the case with our acquisition in October 2013 of Cornerstone Records Management, LLC and its affiliates.

        We expect to continue to make acquisitions and investments in storage and information management services businesses in targeted emerging markets outside the United States, Canada, Australia and western Europe. We have acquired and invested in, and seek to acquire and invest in, storage and information management services companies in certain countries, and, more specifically, certain markets within such countries, where we believe there is potential for significant growth. We expect that future acquisitions and investments will focus primarily on expanding priority markets in central and eastern Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region.

        The experience, depth and strength of local management are particularly important in our emerging market acquisition strategy. Since beginning our international expansion program in January 1999, we have, directly and through joint ventures, expanded our operations into 35 countries. These transactions have taken, and may continue to take, the form of acquisitions of an entire business or controlling or minority investments with a long-term goal of full ownership. We believe a joint venture strategy, rather than an outright acquisition, may, in certain markets, better position us to expand the existing business. The local partners benefit from our expertise in the storage and information management services industry, our multinational customer relationships, our access to capital and our technology, while we benefit from our local partners' knowledge of the market, relationships with local customers and their presence in the community. In addition to the criteria we use to evaluate developed market acquisition candidates, when looking at an emerging market acquisition we also evaluate risks uniquely associated with an international investment, including those risks described below. Our long-term goal is to acquire full ownership of each business in which we make a joint venture investment. We now own more than 98% of our international operations, measured as a percentage of consolidated revenues.

        Our international investments are subject to risks and uncertainties relating to the indigenous political, social, regulatory, tax and economic structures of other countries, as well as fluctuations in currency valuation, exchange controls, expropriation and governmental policies limiting returns to foreign investors.

Business Characteristics.

        We generate our revenues by renting storage space to a large and diverse customer base in approximately 1,100 facilities representing 67.8 million square feet of real estate as of December 31, 2014 around the globe and providing to our customers an expanding menu of related and ancillary products and services. Providing outsourced storage is the mainstay of our customer relationships and serves as the foundation for all our revenue growth. Services are a vital part of a comprehensive records management program and consist primarily of the handling and transportation of stored records and information, shredding, document management solutions ("DMS"), data restoration projects, fulfillment services, consulting services, technology services, product sales (including specially designed storage containers and related supplies), and recurring project revenues. Shredding consists primarily of the scheduled collection and shredding of records and documents generated by business operations and the sale of recycled paper resulting from shredding services.

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Secure Storage

        Our storage operations consist of providing non-dedicated storage rental space to our customers. Non-dedicated space allows our customers to increase or decrease the volume of their physical storage over the life of the contract based on their storage needs, while also reducing their risk of loss in the event of natural disaster. Given this non-dedicated space dynamic, the large portfolio of customer contracts, and the fact that no customer accounted for more than 2% of our consolidated revenues as of the year ended December 31, 2014, we assess the performance of our storage rental business predominantly by analyzing trends in segment level storage rental volume and storage rental revenue.

        Renting secure space to customers for the purpose of storing paper records and data backup media is our largest source of revenue. Records storage consists primarily of the archival storage of records for long periods of time according to applicable laws, regulations and industry best practices. The secure off-site storage of data backup media is a key component of a company's disaster recovery and business continuity programs, and storage rental charges are generally billed monthly on a per storage unit basis.

        Hard copy business records are typically stored for long periods of time with limited activity in cartons packed by the customer. For some customers we store individual files on an open shelf basis, and these files are typically more active. Storage rental charges are generally billed monthly on a per storage unit basis, usually per cubic foot of records, and include the provision of space, racking systems, computerized inventory and activity tracking, and physical security.

        Physical records may also include critical or irreplaceable data such as master audio and video recordings, film and other highly proprietary information, such as energy data. We continue to identify additional areas of physical storage that fit with our core competencies in security and transportation, seeking to provide enterprise storage to businesses in much the same manner that self-storage companies serve consumers. Physical records may require special facilities, either because of the data they contain or the media on which they are recorded. Accordingly, our charges for providing enhanced security and special climate-controlled environments for these vital records are higher than for typical storage rental.

Physical Records

        Physical records may be broadly divided into two categories: active and inactive. Active records relate to ongoing and recently completed activities or contain information that is frequently referenced. Active records are usually stored and managed on-site by their owners to ensure ready availability. Inactive physical records are the principal focus of the storage and information management services industry and consist of those records that are not needed for immediate access but which must be retained for legal, regulatory and compliance reasons or for occasional reference in support of ongoing business operations.

        Physical data management services consist of the rotation of backup computer media as part of corporate disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Computer tapes, cartridges and disk packs are transported off-site by our courier operations on a scheduled basis to secure, climate-controlled facilities, where they are available to customers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to facilitate data recovery in the event of a disaster. Frequently, backup tapes are rotated from our facilities back to our customers' data centers. We also manage tape library relocations and support disaster recovery testing and execution.

Electronic Records

        Electronic records management focuses on the storage of, and related services for, computer media that is either a backup copy of recently processed data or archival in nature. We believe the issues encountered by customers trying to manage their electronic records are similar to the ones they

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face in their physical records management programs and consist primarily of: (1) storage capacity and the preservation of data; (2) access to and control over the data in a secure environment; and (3) the need to retain electronic records due to regulatory requirements or for litigation support. Customer needs for data backup and recovery and archiving are distinctively different. Backup data exists because of the need of many businesses to be able to recover the data in the event of a system failure, casualty loss or other disaster. It is customary (and a best practice) for data processing groups to rotate backup tapes to offsite locations on a regular basis and to store multiple copies of such information at multiple sites. In addition to the physical storage and rotation of backup data that we provide, we offer online backup services through partnerships as an alternative way for businesses to store and access data. Online backup is an Internet-based service that automatically backs up computer data from servers or directly from desktop and laptop computers over the Internet and stores it in secure data centers.

Service Offerings

        Central to any records management program is the handling and transportation and the eventual destruction of records upon the expiration of retention periods. These activities are accomplished through our extensive service and courier operations. Service charges are generally assessed for each activity on a per unit basis. Courier operations consist primarily of the pickup and delivery of records upon customer request. Charges for courier services are based on urgency of delivery, volume and location and are billed monthly. As of December 31, 2014, our courier fleet consisted of approximately 3,600 owned or leased vehicles. Our other services include secure shredding, DMS, Compliant Records Management and Consulting Services, Health Information Storage and Management Solutions, Entertainment Services, Energy Data Services, Discovery Services and other ancillary services.

        Our information destruction services consist primarily of physical secure shredding operations and typically include the scheduled pick-up of loose office records that customers accumulate in specially designed secure containers we provide. In addition, secure shredding is a natural extension of our hard copy records management services by completing the lifecycle of a record and involves the shredding of sensitive documents for customers that, in many cases, store their records with us. Complementary to our shredding operations is the sale of the resultant waste paper to third-party recyclers. Through a combination of plant-based shredding operations and mobile shredding units consisting of custom built trucks, we are able to offer secure shredding services to our customers throughout the United States, Canada and Latin America. In December 2014, we sold our secure shredding businesses in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, which were much smaller than our operation in North America, because we did not benefit from scale in these markets.

        The focus of our DMS business is to develop, implement and support comprehensive storage and information management solutions for the complete lifecycle of our customers' information. We seek to develop solutions that solve our customers' document management challenges by integrating the management of physical records, document conversion and digital storage. Our DMS services complement our service offerings and enhance our existing customer relationships. We differentiate our offerings from our competitors by providing solutions that complement and expand our existing portfolio of products and services. The trend towards increased usage of Electronic Document Management ("EDM") systems represents another opportunity for us to manage active records. Our DMS services provide the bridge between customers' physical documents and their EDM solutions.

        We offer records and information management services that have been tailored for specific industries, such as healthcare, or to address the needs of customers with more specific requirements based on the critical nature of their records. For example, medical records tend to be more active in nature and are typically stored on specialized open shelving systems that provide easier access to individual files. In addition to storing medical records, we provide health care information services, which include the handling, filing, processing and retrieval of medical records used by hospitals, private practitioners and other medical institutions, as well as recurring project work and ancillary services.

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        Recurring project work involves the on-site removal of aged patient files and related computerized file indexing. Ancillary healthcare information services include release of information (medical record copying and delivery), temporary staffing, contract coding, facilities management and imaging. We offer a variety of additional services which customers may request or contract for on an individual basis. These services include conducting records inventories, packing records into cartons or other containers, and creating computerized indices of files and individual documents. We also provide services for the management of active records programs. We can provide these services, which generally include document and file processing and storage, both offsite at our own facilities and by supplying our own personnel to perform management functions on-site at a customer's premises. Other services that we provide include fulfillment, professional consulting services, and technology escrow services.

Business Segments

        Our North American Records and Information Management Business, North American Data Management Business, and our International Business segments offer storage and the information management services discussed above, in their respective geographies. The amount of revenues derived from our North American Records and Information Management Business, North American Data Management Business, International Business, and Corporate and Other segments and other relevant data, including financial information about geographic areas and product and service lines, for fiscal years 2012, 2013 and 2014 are set forth in Note 9 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report.

North American Records and Information Management Business

        Our North American Records and Information Management Business segment consists of storage and information management services throughout the United States and Canada, including the storage of paper documents, as well as other media such as microfilm and microfiche, master audio and videotapes, film, X-rays and blueprints, including healthcare information services, vital records services, service and courier operations, and the collection, handling and disposal of sensitive documents for corporate customers ("Records Management"); information destruction services ("Destruction"); DMS; fulfillment services; and technology escrow services that protect and manage source code.

North American Data Management Business

        Our North American Data Management Business segment consists of the storage and rotation of backup computer media as part of corporate disaster recovery plans throughout the United States and Canada, including service and courier operations ("Data Protection & Recovery"), server and computer backup services, digital content repository systems to house, distribute, and archive key media assets, and storage, safeguarding and electronic or physical delivery of physical media of all types, primarily for entertainment and media industry clients.

International Business

        Our International Business segment consists of storage and information management services throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, including Records Management, Data Protection & Recovery and DMS. Our European operations provide Records Management, Data Protection & Recovery and DMS throughout Europe. Our Latin America operations provide Records Management, Data Protection & Recovery and DMS throughout Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Our Asia Pacific operations provide Records Management, Data Protection & Recovery and DMS throughout Australia, with Records Management and Data Protection & Recovery also provided in certain cities in India, Singapore, Hong Kong-SAR and China. Prior to December 2014, our International Business segment offered Destruction in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.

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Corporate and Other

        Our Corporate and Other segment consists of our data center business in the United States as well as costs related to executive and staff functions, including finance, human resources and information technology, which benefit the enterprise as a whole. These costs are primarily related to the general management of these functions on a corporate level and the design and development of programs, policies and procedures that are then implemented in the individual segments, with each segment bearing its own cost of implementation. Our Corporate and Other segment also includes stock-based employee compensation expense associated with all stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance units and shares of stock issued under our employee stock purchase plans.

        Emerging Business Opportunities ("EBOs") are prospective business lines that we consider investing in to grow and diversify our business. We are seeking businesses with long-term, recurring revenue, preferably with storage rental attributes, which are consistent with and will enhance our REIT structure. Our management team is focused on identifying and evaluating these opportunities. We have established an innovation process so we cautiously and effectively develop opportunities to leverage our capabilities. After we have demonstrated success and met return thresholds, we may potentially acquire businesses to further accelerate our growth in the relevant opportunity. Importantly, the EBO process includes financial hurdles and decision gates to help us evaluate whether we scale or scrap these opportunities, consistent with our disciplined approach to capital allocation.

        Currently, our data center business is one example of an EBO where we are assessing the potential for additional investment. The growth rate of critical digital information is accelerating, driven in part by the use of the Internet as a distribution and transaction medium. The rising cost and increasing importance of storing and managing digital information, coupled with the increasing availability of telecommunications bandwidth at lower costs, may create meaningful opportunities for us to provide solutions to our customers with respect to their digital records storage and management challenges.

Our Business Fundamentals

        Our business fundamentals are based on the recurring nature of our various revenue streams. We generate attractive returns from our differentiated storage rental business model because our occupancy costs, whether in a leased or owned building, are incurred per square foot while our storage revenue is generally earned per cubic foot. The historical predictability of our revenues and the resulting profitability allows us to operate with a high degree of financial leverage. Our business fundamentals consist of:

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        The following table presents our capital spend for 2012, 2013 and 2014 organized by the type of the spending as described above:

 
  Year Ended December 31,  
Nature of Capital Spend (dollars in thousands)
  2012(1)   2013(1)   2014(1)  

Real Estate:

                   

Investment

  $ 113,577   $ 135,708   $ 199,663  

Maintenance

    47,013     61,863     57,574  

    160,590     197,571     257,237  

Non-Real Estate:

                   

Investment

    63,722     91,792     55,991  

Maintenance

    24,915     22,644     19,527  

    88,637     114,436     75,518  

Total

  $ 249,227   $ 312,007   $ 332,755  

(1)
Represents capital expenditures on an accrual basis and may differ from amounts presented on the cash basis in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows included in this Annual Report.

Competition

        We are a global leader in the physical storage and information management services industry with operations in 36 countries. We compete with our current and potential customers' internal storage and information management services capabilities. We can provide no assurance that these organizations will begin or continue to use us for their future storage and information management services.

        We also compete with numerous storage and information management services providers in every geographic area where we operate. The physical storage and information management services industry is highly competitive and includes thousands of competitors in North America and around the world. We believe that competition for customers is based on price, reputation for reliability, quality and security of storage, quality of service and scope and scale of technology, and we believe we generally compete effectively in each of these areas.

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Alternative Technologies

        We derive most of our revenues from rental fees for the storage of paper documents and computer backup tapes and from storage related services. Alternative storage technologies exist, many of which require significantly less space than paper documents and tapes, and as alternative technologies are adopted, storage related services may decline as the physical records or tapes we store become less active and more archived. To date, none of the alternative technologies has replaced paper documents as the primary means for storing information. However, we can provide no assurance that our customers will continue to store most or a portion of their records as paper documents or in tape format. We continue to provide, primarily through partnerships, additional services such as online backup, designed to address our customers' need for efficient, cost-effective, high-quality solutions for electronic records and storage and information management.

Employees

        As of December 31, 2014, we employed more than 7,500 employees in the United States and more than 12,500 employees outside of the United States. At December 31, 2014, an aggregate of 528 employees were represented by unions in California, Georgia and three provinces in Canada.

        All union and non-union employees are generally eligible to participate in our benefit programs, which include medical, dental, life, short and long-term disability, retirement/401(k) and accidental death and dismemberment plans. Certain unionized employees in California receive these types of benefits through their unions and are not eligible to participate in our benefit programs. In addition to base compensation and other usual benefits, all full-time employees participate in some form of incentive-based compensation program that provides payments based on revenues, profits, collections or attainment of specified objectives for the unit in which they work. Management believes that we have good relationships with our employees and unions. All union employees are currently under renewed labor agreements or operating under an extension agreement.

Insurance

        For strategic risk transfer purposes, we maintain a comprehensive insurance program with insurers that we believe to be reputable and that have adequate capitalization in amounts that we believe to be appropriate. Property insurance is purchased on a comprehensive basis, including flood and earthquake (including excess coverage), subject to certain policy conditions, sublimits and deductibles. Property is insured based upon the replacement cost of real and personal property, including leasehold improvements, business income loss and extra expense. Other types of insurance that we carry, which are also subject to certain policy conditions, sublimits and deductibles, include medical, workers' compensation, general liability, umbrella, automobile, professional, warehouse legal liability and directors' and officers' liability policies.

        Our customer contracts usually contain provisions limiting our liability for damages with respect to loss or destruction of, or damage to, records or information stored with us. Our liability under physical storage contracts is often limited to a nominal fixed amount per item or unit of storage, such as per cubic foot. Our liability under our DMS services and other service contracts is often limited to a percentage of annual revenue under the contract. We can provide no assurance that where we have limitation of liability provisions that they will be enforceable in all instances or would otherwise protect us from liability. Also, some of our contracts with large volume accounts and some of the contracts assumed in our acquisitions contain no such limits or contain higher limits. In addition to provisions limiting our liability, our standard storage rental and service contracts include a schedule setting forth the majority of the customer-specific terms, including storage rental and service pricing and service delivery terms. Our customers may dispute the interpretation of various provisions in their contracts. While we have had relatively few disputes with our customers with regard to the terms of their

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customer contracts, and most disputes to date have not been material, we can give no assurance that we will not have material disputes in the future.

Environmental Matters

        Some of our current and formerly owned or leased properties were previously used by entities other than us for industrial or other purposes, or were affected by waste generated from nearby properties, that involved the use, storage, generation and/or disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, including petroleum products. In some instances this prior use involved the operation of underground storage tanks or the presence of asbestos-containing materials. Where we are aware of environmental conditions that require remediation, we undertake appropriate activity, in accordance with all legal requirements. Although we have from time to time conducted limited environmental investigations and remedial activities at some of our former and current facilities, we have not undertaken an in-depth environmental review of all of our properties. We therefore may be potentially liable for environmental costs and may be unable to sell, rent, mortgage or use contaminated real estate owned or leased by us. Under various federal, state and local environmental laws, we may be liable for environmental compliance and remediation costs to address contamination, if any, located at owned and leased properties as well as damages arising from such contamination, whether or not we know of, or were responsible for, the contamination, or the contamination occurred while we owned or leased the property. Environmental conditions for which we might be liable may also exist at properties that we may acquire in the future. In addition, future regulatory action and environmental laws may impose costs for environmental compliance that do not exist today.

        We transfer a portion of our risk of financial loss due to currently undetected environmental matters by purchasing an environmental impairment liability insurance policy, which covers all owned and leased locations. Coverage is provided for both liability and remediation costs.

Corporate Responsibility

        We are committed to transparent reporting on sustainability and corporate responsibility efforts in accordance with the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative. Our corporate responsibility report highlights our progress against key measures of success for our efforts in the community, our environment, and for our people. We are a trusted partner to more than 92% of the Fortune 1000 companies. Iron Mountain is also a member of the Fortune 1000, ranked at 712 as of December 31, 2014, as well as a member of the FTSE4 Good Index, MSCI World ESG Index, MSCI ACWI ESG Index and MSCI USA IMI ESG Index in which include companies that meet globally recognized corporate responsibility standards. A copy of our corporate responsibility report is available on the "Company" section of our website, www.ironmountain.com, under the heading "Corporate Responsibility."

Internet Website

        Our Internet address is www.ironmountain.com. Under the "For Investors" section on our Internet website, we make available free of charge, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") as soon as reasonably practicable after such forms are filed with or furnished to the SEC. We are not including the information contained on or available through our website as a part of, or incorporating such information by reference into, this Annual Report. Copies of our corporate governance guidelines, code of ethics and the charters of our audit, compensation, and nominating and governance committees are available on the "For Investors" section of our website, www.ironmountain.com, under the heading "Corporate Governance."

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Item 1A. Risk Factors.

        We face many risks. If any of the events or circumstances described below actually occur, we and our businesses, financial condition or results of operations could suffer, and the trading price of our debt or equity securities could decline. Our current and potential investors should consider the following risks and the information contained under the heading "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" before deciding to invest in our securities.

Risks Related to Operating as a REIT

If we fail to remain qualified as a REIT, we will be subject to tax at corporate income tax rates and will not be able to deduct distributions to stockholders when computing our taxable income.

        We began operating as a REIT for federal income tax purposes effective for the taxable year beginning January 1, 2014; however, we can provide no assurance that we will remain qualified as a REIT. If we fail to remain qualified as a REIT, we will be taxed at corporate income tax rates unless certain relief provisions apply.

        REIT qualification involves the application of highly technical and complex provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), which provisions may change from time to time, to our operations as well as various factual determinations concerning matters and circumstances not entirely within our control. There are limited judicial or administrative interpretations of these provisions.

        If, in any taxable year, we fail to remain qualified for taxation as a REIT and are not entitled to relief under the Code:

        Any such corporate tax liability could be substantial and would reduce the amount of cash available for other purposes.

        If we fail to remain qualified for taxation as a REIT, we may need to borrow additional funds or liquidate some investments to pay any additional tax liability. Accordingly, funds available for investment and distributions to stockholders could be reduced.

As a REIT, failure to make required distributions would subject us to federal corporate income tax.

        We expect to continue paying regular quarterly distributions, and, to achieve maximum tax efficiency and retain cash to allow us to make selective discretionary investments, we currently anticipate our typical regular quarterly distributions will be based on a payment of approximately 100% of our REIT taxable income; however, the amount, timing and form of our regular quarterly distributions will be determined, and will be subject to adjustment, by our board of directors. To remain qualified and be taxed as a REIT, we are generally required to distribute at least 90% of our REIT taxable income (determined without regard to the dividends paid deduction and excluding net capital gain) each year to our stockholders. Generally, we expect to distribute all or substantially all of our REIT taxable income. If our cash available for distribution falls short of our estimates, we may be unable to maintain distributions that approximate our REIT taxable income and may fail to remain qualified for taxation as a REIT. In addition, our cash flows from operations may be insufficient to

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fund required distributions as a result of differences in timing between the actual receipt of income and the recognition of income for federal income tax purposes, or the effect of nondeductible expenditures, such as capital expenditures, payments of compensation for which Section 162(m) of the Code denies a deduction, the creation of reserves or required debt service or amortization payments.

        To the extent that we satisfy the 90% distribution requirement but distribute less than 100% of our REIT taxable income, we will be subject to federal corporate income tax on our undistributed taxable income. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax if the actual amount that we distribute to our stockholders for a calendar year is less than the minimum amount specified under the Code.

We may be required to borrow funds, sell assets or raise equity to satisfy REIT distribution requirements, to comply with asset ownership tests or to fund capital expenditures, future growth and expansion initiatives.

        In order to meet the REIT distribution requirements and maintain our qualification and taxation as a REIT, or to fund capital expenditures, future growth and expansion initiatives, we may need to borrow funds, sell assets or raise equity, even if the then-prevailing market conditions are not favorable for these borrowings, sales or offerings. Any insufficiency of our cash flows to cover our REIT distribution requirements could adversely impact our ability to raise short- and long-term debt, to sell assets, or to offer equity securities in order to fund distributions required to maintain our qualification and taxation as a REIT. Furthermore, the REIT distribution requirements may increase the financing we need to fund capital expenditures, future growth and expansion initiatives. This would increase our indebtedness. An increase in our outstanding debt could lead to a downgrade of our credit rating. A downgrade of our credit rating could negatively impact our ability to access credit markets. Further, certain of our current debt instruments limit the amount of indebtedness we and our subsidiaries may incur. Additional financing, therefore, may be unavailable, more expensive or restricted by the terms of our outstanding indebtedness. For a discussion of risks related to our substantial level of indebtedness, see "Risks Relating to Our Indebtedness."

        Whether we issue equity, at what price and the amount and other terms of any such issuances will depend on many factors, including alternative sources of capital, our then-existing leverage, our need for additional capital, market conditions and other factors beyond our control. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity securities or debt convertible into equity securities, the percentage of stock ownership by our existing stockholders may be reduced. In addition, new equity securities or convertible debt securities could have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our current stockholders, which could substantially decrease the value of our securities owned by them. Depending on the share price we are able to obtain, we may have to sell a significant number of shares in order to raise the capital we deem necessary to execute our long-term strategy, and our stockholders may experience dilution in the value of their shares as a result.

        In addition, if we fail to comply with specified asset ownership tests applicable to REITs as measured at the end of any calendar quarter, we must correct such failure within 30 days after the end of the applicable calendar quarter or qualify for statutory relief provisions to avoid losing our REIT qualification. As a result, we may be required to liquidate otherwise attractive investments. These actions may reduce our income and amounts available for distribution to our stockholders.

Legislative or other actions affecting REITs could have a negative effect on us or our stockholders.

        At any time, the federal income tax laws governing REITs or the administrative interpretations of those laws may be amended. Federal and state tax laws are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process, the IRS, the United States Department of the Treasury and state taxing authorities. Changes to the tax laws, regulations and administrative interpretations, which may have retroactive application, could adversely affect us. In addition, some of these changes could have a more

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significant impact on us as compared to other REITs due to the nature of our business and our substantial use of taxable REIT subsidiaries ("TRSs"). We cannot predict with certainty whether, when, in what forms, or with what effective dates, the tax laws, regulations and administrative interpretations applicable to us may be changed.

Complying with REIT requirements may limit our flexibility or cause us to forgo otherwise attractive opportunities.

        To remain qualified as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, we must continually satisfy tests concerning, among other things, the sources of our income, the nature and diversification of our assets and the amounts we distribute to our stockholders. Thus, compliance with these tests may require us to refrain from certain activities and may hinder our ability to make certain attractive investments, including the purchase of non-REIT qualifying operations or assets, the expansion of non-real estate activities, and investments in the businesses to be conducted by our TRSs, and to that extent limit our opportunities and our flexibility to change our business strategy. Furthermore, acquisition opportunities in domestic and international markets may be adversely affected if we need or require the target company to comply with some REIT requirements prior to closing.

        We conduct a significant portion of our business activities, including our information management services businesses and several of our international operations, through domestic and foreign TRSs. Under the Code, no more than 25% of the value of the assets of a REIT may be represented by securities of one or more TRSs and other nonqualifying assets. This limitation may affect our ability to make additional investments in non-REIT qualifying operations or assets or in international operations through TRSs.

As a REIT, we are limited in our ability to fund distribution payments using cash generated through our TRSs.

        Our ability to receive distributions from our TRSs is limited by the rules with which we must comply to maintain our status as a REIT. In particular, at least 75% of our gross income for each taxable year as a REIT must be derived from real estate, which principally includes gross income from providing customers with secure storage space. Consequently, no more than 25% of our gross income may consist of dividend income from our TRSs and other nonqualifying types of income. Thus, our ability to receive distributions from our TRSs may be limited, and may impact our ability to fund distributions to our stockholders using cash flows from our TRSs. Specifically, if our TRSs become highly profitable, we might become limited in our ability to receive net income from our TRSs in an amount required to fund distributions to our stockholders commensurate with that profitability.

        In addition, a significant amount of our income and cash flows from our TRSs is generated from our international operations. In many cases, there are local withholding taxes and currency controls that may impact our ability or willingness to repatriate funds to the United States to help satisfy REIT distribution requirements.

Our extensive use of TRSs, including for certain of our international operations, may cause us to fail to remain qualified as a REIT.

        The net income of our TRSs is not required to be distributed to us, and income that is not distributed to us generally is not subject to the REIT income distribution requirement. However, there may be limitations on our ability to accumulate earnings in our TRSs and the accumulation or reinvestment of significant earnings in our TRSs could result in adverse tax treatment. In particular, if the accumulation of cash in our TRSs causes the fair market value of our securities in our TRSs and other nonqualifying assets to exceed 25% of the fair market value of our assets, we will fail to remain qualified as a REIT.

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Our cash distributions are not guaranteed and may fluctuate.

        A REIT generally is required to distribute at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders.

        Our board of directors, in its sole discretion, will determine on a quarterly basis the amount of cash to be distributed to our stockholders based on a number of factors including, but not limited to, our results of operations, cash flow and capital requirements, economic conditions, tax considerations, borrowing capacity and other factors, including debt covenant restrictions that may impose limitations on cash payments, future acquisitions and divestitures, any stock repurchase program and general market demand for our space and services. Consequently, our distribution levels may fluctuate.

Even if we remain qualified as a REIT, some of our business activities are subject to corporate level income tax and foreign taxes, which will reduce our cash flows, and we will have potential deferred and contingent tax liabilities.

        Even if we remain qualified for taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to some federal, state, local and foreign taxes on our income and assets, including alternative minimum taxes, taxes on any undistributed income, and state, local or foreign income, franchise, property and transfer taxes. In addition, we could in certain circumstances be required to pay an excise or penalty tax, which could be significant in amount, in order to utilize one or more relief provisions under the Code to maintain qualification for taxation as a REIT.

        Our information management services businesses are conducted through wholly owned TRSs because these activities could generate nonqualifying REIT income as currently structured and operated. The income of our domestic TRSs will continue to be subject to federal and state corporate income taxes. In addition, our international assets and operations will continue to be subject to taxation in the foreign jurisdictions where those assets are held or those operations are conducted. Any of these taxes would decrease our earnings and our available cash.

        We will also be subject to a federal corporate level tax at the highest regular corporate tax rate (currently 35%) on gain recognized from a sale of assets occurring within a specified period (generally ten years) after the effective date of our REIT election, that is, January 1, 2014, to the extent of the built-in-gain based on the fair market value of those assets on the effective date of the REIT election in excess of our then tax basis. In addition, depreciation recapture income that we recognized in our 2014 taxable year and will recognize in subsequent taxable years, as a result of accounting method changes that were effective prior to January 1, 2014, has been and will be fully subject to this 35% tax.

        In addition, the IRS and any state or local tax authority may successfully assert liabilities against us for corporate income taxes for our pre-REIT period, in which case we will owe these taxes plus applicable interest and penalties, if any. Moreover, any increase in taxable income for these pre-REIT periods will likely result in an increase in pre-REIT accumulated earnings and profits, which could cause us to pay an additional taxable distribution to our stockholders after the relevant determination.

Complying with REIT requirements may limit our ability to hedge effectively and increase the cost of our hedging and may cause us to incur tax liabilities.

        The REIT provisions of the Code limit our ability to hedge liabilities. Generally, income from hedging transactions that we enter into to manage risk of interest rate changes with respect to borrowings made or to be made to acquire or carry real estate assets and income from certain currency hedging transactions related to our non-U.S. operations do not constitute "gross income" for purposes of the REIT gross income tests. To the extent that we enter into other types of hedging transactions, the income from those transactions is likely to be treated as nonqualifying income for purposes of the REIT gross income tests. As a result of these rules, we may need to limit our use of advantageous

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hedging techniques or implement those hedges through our TRSs. This could increase the cost of our hedging activities because our TRSs would be subject to tax on income or gains resulting from hedges entered into by them or expose us to greater risks associated with changes in interest rates or exchange rates than we would otherwise want to bear. In addition, hedging losses in any of our TRSs generally will not provide any tax benefit, except for being carried forward for possible use against future taxable income in the TRSs.

We have limited experience operating as a REIT, which may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, per share trading price of our common stock, ability to forecast dividends and ability to satisfy debt service obligations.

        We began operating as a REIT on January 1, 2014 and, as such, have limited operating history as a REIT. In addition, prior to January 1, 2014 our senior management team had no prior experience operating a REIT. We can provide no assurance that our past experience has sufficiently prepared us to operate successfully as a REIT. Our inability to operate successfully as a REIT, including the failure to maintain REIT status, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Distributions payable by REITs generally do not qualify for preferential tax rates.

        Qualifying distributions payable by corporations to individuals, trusts and estates that are United States stockholders are currently eligible for federal income tax at preferential rates. Distributions payable by REITs, in contrast, generally are not eligible for the preferential rates. The preferential rates applicable to regular corporate distributions could cause investors who are individuals, trusts and estates to perceive investments in REITs to be relatively less attractive than investments in the stock of non-REIT corporations that pay distributions, which could adversely affect the value of the stock of REITs, including our common stock.

The ownership and transfer restrictions contained in our certificate of incorporation may not protect our status as a REIT, could have unintended antitakeover effects and may prevent our stockholders from receiving a takeover premium.

        In order for us to remain qualified as a REIT, no more than 50% of the value of outstanding shares of our capital stock may be owned, beneficially or constructively, by five or fewer individuals at any time during the last half of each taxable year other than the first year for which we elect to be taxed as a REIT. In addition, rents from "affiliated tenants" will not qualify as qualifying REIT income if we own 10% or more by vote or value of the customer, whether directly or after application of attribution rules under the Code. Subject to certain exceptions, our certificate of incorporation prohibits any stockholder from owning, beneficially or constructively, more than (i) 9.8% in value of the outstanding shares of all classes or series of our capital stock or (ii) 9.8% in value or number, whichever is more restrictive, of the outstanding shares of any class or series of our capital stock. We refer to these restrictions collectively as the "ownership limits" and we included them in our certificate of incorporation to facilitate our compliance with REIT tax rules. The constructive ownership rules under the Code are complex and may cause the outstanding stock owned by a group of related individuals or entities to be deemed to be constructively owned by one individual or entity. As a result, the acquisition of less than 9.8% of our outstanding common stock (or the outstanding shares of any class or series of our capital stock) by an individual or entity could cause that individual or entity or another individual or entity to own constructively in excess of the relevant ownership limits. Any attempt to own or transfer shares of our common stock or of any of our other capital stock in violation of these restrictions may result in the shares being automatically transferred to a charitable trust or may be void. Even though our certificate of incorporation contains the ownership limits, there can be no assurance that these provisions will be effective to prevent our REIT status from being jeopardized, including under the affiliated tenant rule. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that we will be able

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to monitor and enforce the ownership limits. If the restrictions in our certificate of incorporation are not effective and as a result we fail to satisfy the REIT tax rules described above, then absent an applicable relief provision, we will fail to remain qualified as a REIT.

        In addition, the ownership and transfer restrictions could delay, defer or prevent a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for our stock or otherwise be in the best interest of our stockholders. As a result, the overall effect of the ownership and transfer restrictions may be to render more difficult or discourage any attempt to acquire us, even if such acquisition may be favorable to the interests of our stockholders.

The ability of our board of directors to change our major policies without the consent of stockholders may not be in the interest of our stockholders.

        Our board of directors determines our major policies, including policies and guidelines relating to our investments, acquisitions, leverage, financing, growth, operations and distributions to our stockholders. Our board of directors may amend or revise these and other policies and guidelines from time to time without the vote or consent of our stockholders. Accordingly, our stockholders will have limited control over changes in our policies, and any such changes could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common stock and our ability to make distributions to our stockholders.

Operational Risks

Our customers may shift from paper and tape storage to alternative technologies that require less physical space.

        We derive most of our revenues from rental fees for the storage of paper documents and computer backup tapes and from storage related services. Alternative storage technologies exist, many of which require significantly less space than paper documents and tapes, and as alternative technologies are adopted, storage related services may decline as the physical records or tapes we store become less active and more archived. We can provide no assurance that our customers will continue to store most or a portion of their records as paper documents or in tape format. The adoption of alternative technologies may also result in decreased demand for services related to the paper documents and tapes we store. A significant shift by our customers to storage of data through non-paper or tape-based technologies, whether now existing or developed in the future, could adversely affect our businesses.

As stored records become less active our service revenue growth and profitability may decline.

        Our records management service revenue growth is being negatively impacted by declining activity rates as stored records are becoming less active. The amount of information available to customers through the Internet or their own information systems has been steadily increasing in recent years. As a result, while we continue to experience growth in storage rental, our customers are less likely than they have been in the past to retrieve records, thereby reducing their service activity levels. At the same time many of our costs related to records related services remain fixed. In addition, our reputation for providing secure information storage is critical to our success, and actions to manage cost structure, such as outsourcing certain transportation, security or other functions, could negatively impact our reputation and adversely affect our business. Ultimately, if we are unable to appropriately align our cost structure with decreased levels of service revenue, our operating results could be adversely affected.

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Changes in customer behavior with respect to document destruction and pricing could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

        We have experienced pricing pressure in recent years as some customers have become more cost conscious with respect to their information management expenditures. Some customers have taken actions designed to reduce costs associated with the retention of documents, including reducing the volume of documents they store and adopting more aggressive destruction practices. If we are unable to increase pricing over time, or if rates of destruction of documents stored with us increase substantially, particularly in our developed and slower growing markets, our financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.

Governmental and customer focus on data security could increase our costs of operations. We may not be able to fully offset these costs through increases in our rates. Incidents in which we fail to protect our customers' information against security breaches could result in monetary damages against us and could otherwise damage our reputation, harm our businesses and adversely impact our results of operations. In addition, if we fail to protect our own information, including information about our employees, we could experience significant costs and expenses as well as damage to our reputation.

        In reaction to publicized incidents in which electronically stored information has been lost, illegally accessed or stolen, almost all states in the United States have adopted breach of data security statutes or regulations that require notification to consumers if the security of their personal information is breached. In addition, certain federal laws and regulations affecting financial institutions, health care providers and plans and others impose requirements regarding the privacy and security of information maintained by those institutions as well as notification to persons whose personal information is accessed by an unauthorized third party. Some of these laws and regulations provide for civil fines in certain circumstances and require the adoption and maintenance of privacy and information security programs; our failure to be in compliance with any such programs may adversely affect our business. Some states in the United States have adopted regulations requiring every company that maintains or stores personal information to adopt a comprehensive written information security program. The European Commission has proposed a regulation and directive that will, if adopted, supersede Directive 95/46/EC, which has governed the processing of personal data since 1995. It is anticipated that the proposed regulation and directive will significantly alter the security and privacy obligations of entities, such as Iron Mountain, that process data of residents of members of the European Union and substantially increase penalties for violations. If adopted, we would be directly subject to some of these laws, and our customers, pursuant to agreements, would require us to comply with others.

        Continued governmental focus on data security may lead to additional legislative action in the United States. For example, the recently completed 113th Congress considered legislation that would expand the federal data breach notification requirement beyond the financial and medical fields, and it is anticipated that the 114th Congress will also consider such issues. Also, an increasing number of countries have introduced and/or increased enforcement of comprehensive privacy laws, or are expected to do so. The continued emphasis on information security as well as increasing concerns about government surveillance may lead customers to request that we take additional measures to enhance security and assume higher liability under our contracts. While we have experienced incidents in which customers' backup tapes or other records have been lost, and we have been informed by customers that some of the incidents involved the loss of personal information, resulting in monetary costs to those customers for which we have provided reimbursement. As a result of legislative initiatives and client demands, we may have to modify our operations with the goal of further improving data security. Any such modifications may result in increased expenses and operating complexity, and we may be unable to increase the rates we charge for our services sufficiently to offset any increased expenses.

        In addition to increases in the costs of operations or potential liability that may result from a heightened focus on data security or losses of information, our reputation may be damaged by any

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compromise of security, accidental loss or theft of our own records, or information that we maintain with respect to our employees, as well as customer data in our possession. We believe that establishing and maintaining a good reputation is critical to attracting and retaining customers. If our reputation is damaged, we may become less competitive, which could negatively impact our businesses, financial condition or results of operations.

Changing fire and safety standards may result in significant expense in certain jurisdictions.

        As of December 31, 2014, we operated 977 records management and off-site data protection facilities worldwide, including 561 in the United States. Many of these facilities were built and outfitted by third parties and added to our real estate portfolio as part of acquisitions. Some of these facilities contain fire suppression and safety features that are different from our current specifications and current standards for new facilities although we believe all of our facilities were constructed, in all material respects, in compliance with laws and regulations in effect at the time of their construction or outfitting. In some instances local authorities having jurisdiction may take the position that our fire suppression and safety features in a particular facility are insufficient and require additional measures that may involve considerable expense to us. In addition, where we determine that the fire suppression and safety features of a facility require improvement, we will develop and implement a plan to remediate the issue, although implementation may require an extended period to complete. If additional fire safety and suppression measures beyond our current operating plan were required at a large number of our facilities, the expense required for compliance could negatively impact our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our customer contracts may not always limit our liability and may sometimes contain terms that could lead to disputes in contract interpretation.

        Our customer contracts typically contain provisions limiting our liability with respect to loss or destruction of, or damage to, records or information stored with us. Our liability under physical storage contracts is often limited to a nominal fixed amount per item or unit of storage, such as per cubic foot and our liability under our DMS and other service contracts is often limited to a percentage of annual revenue under the contract; however, some of our contracts with large volume accounts and some of the contracts assumed in our acquisitions contain no such limits or contain higher limits. We cannot provide assurance that where we have limitation of liability provisions they will be enforceable in all instances or, if enforceable, that they would otherwise protect us from liability. In addition to provisions limiting our liability, our standard storage rental and service contracts include a schedule setting forth the majority of the customer-specific terms, including storage rental and service pricing and service delivery terms. Our customers may dispute the interpretation of various provisions in their contracts. In the past, we have had relatively few disputes with our customers with regard to the terms of their customer contracts, and most disputes to date have not been material, but we can provide no assurance that we will not have material disputes in the future. Although we maintain a comprehensive insurance program, we can provide no assurance that we will be able to maintain insurance policies on acceptable terms in order to cover losses to us in connection with customer contract disputes.

Failure to comply with certain regulatory and contractual requirements under our United States Government contracts could adversely affect our revenues, operating results and financial position.

        Selling our services to the United States Government subjects us to certain regulatory and contractual requirements. Failure to comply with these requirements could subject us to investigations, price reductions, up to treble damages, and civil penalties. Noncompliance with certain regulatory and contractual requirements could also result in us being suspended or barred from future United States Government contracting. We may also face private derivative securities claims as a result of adverse

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government actions. Any of these outcomes could have a material adverse effect on our revenues, operating results, financial position and reputation.

International operations may pose unique risks.

        As of December 31, 2014, we provided services in 35 countries outside the United States. As part of our growth strategy, we expect to continue to acquire or invest in storage and information management services businesses in select foreign markets, including countries where we do not currently operate. International operations are subject to numerous risks, including:

        In particular, our net income can be significantly affected by fluctuations in currencies associated with certain intercompany balances of our foreign subsidiaries owed to us and between our foreign subsidiaries.

We have operations in multiple foreign countries and, as a result, are subject to foreign exchange translation risk, which could have an adverse effect on our financial results.

        We conduct business operations in several foreign countries through our foreign subsidiaries or affiliates, which operate in their respective local currencies. Those local currencies are translated into United States dollars at the applicable exchange rates for inclusion in our consolidated financial statements. The results of operations of, and certain of our intercompany balances associated with, our international storage and information management services businesses are exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations, and as we have expanded our international operations, our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations has increased. Upon translation, operating results may differ materially from expectations, and significant shifts in foreign currencies can impact our short-term results, as well as our long-term forecasts and targets. In addition, because we intend to distribute 100% of our REIT taxable income to our stockholders, and any exchange rate fluctuations may negatively impact our REIT taxable income, our distribution amounts may fluctuate as a result of exchange rate fluctuations.

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We may be subject to certain costs and potential liabilities associated with the real estate required for our business.

        Because our business is heavily dependent on real estate, we face special risks attributable to the real estate we own or lease. Such risks include:

        Some of our current and formerly owned or leased properties were previously used by entities other than us for industrial or other purposes, or were affected by waste generated from nearby properties, that involved the use, storage, generation and/or disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, including petroleum products. In some instances this prior use involved the operation of underground storage tanks or the presence of asbestos-containing materials. Where we are aware of environmental conditions that require remediation, we undertake appropriate activity, in accordance with all legal requirements. Although we have from time to time conducted limited environmental investigations and remedial activities at some of our former and current facilities, we have not undertaken an in-depth environmental review of all of our properties. We therefore may be potentially liable for environmental costs like those discussed above and may be unable to sell, rent, mortgage or use contaminated real estate owned or leased by us. Environmental conditions for which we might be liable may also exist at properties that we may acquire in the future. In addition, future regulatory action and environmental laws may impose costs for environmental compliance that do not exist today.

Unexpected events could disrupt our operations and adversely affect our reputation and results of operations.

        Unexpected events, including fires or explosions at our facilities, natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes, war or terrorist activities, unplanned power outages, supply disruptions and failure of equipment or systems, could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations. Our customers rely on us to securely store and timely retrieve their critical information, and these events could result in customer service disruption, physical damage to one or more key operating facilities and the information stored in those facilities, the temporary closure of one or more key operating facilities or the temporary disruption of information systems, each of which could negatively impact our reputation and results of operations. During the past several years we have seen an increase in severe storms and hurricanes and our key facilities in Florida and other coastal areas in particular are subject to this inherent risk.

Damage to our reputation could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

        Our reputation for providing highly secure information storage to customers is critical to the success of our business. Our reputation or brand, and specifically, the trust our customers place in us, could be negatively impacted in the event of perceived or actual failures by us to store information securely. For example, events such as fires, natural disasters, attacks on our information technology

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systems or security breaches involving Iron Mountain could negatively impact our reputation, particularly if such incidents result in adverse publicity, governmental investigations or litigation. Damage to our reputation could make us less competitive, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Fluctuations in commodity prices may affect our operating revenues and results of operations.

        Our operating revenues and results of operations are impacted by significant changes in commodity prices. In particular, our secure shredding operations generate revenue from the sale of shredded paper to recyclers. We generate additional revenue through a customer surcharge when the price of diesel fuel rises above certain predetermined rates. As a result, significant declines in paper and diesel fuel prices may negatively impact our revenues and results of operations, and increases in other commodity prices, including steel, may negatively impact our results of operations.

Attacks on our internal information technology systems could damage our reputation, harm our businesses and adversely impact our results of operations.

        Our reputation for providing secure information storage to customers is critical to the success of our business. We have previously faced attempts by unauthorized users to gain access to our information technology systems and expect to continue to face such attempts. Although we seek to prevent, detect and investigate these security incidents and have taken steps to prevent such security breaches, our information technology and network infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breaches due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions. A successful breach of the security of our information technology systems could lead to theft or misuse of our customers' proprietary or confidential information and result in third party claims against us and reputational harm. If our reputation is damaged, we may become less competitive, which could negatively impact our businesses, financial condition or results of operations.

We may be subject to claims that our technology violates the intellectual property rights of a third party.

        Third parties may have legal rights (including ownership of patents, trade secrets, trademarks and copyrights) to ideas, materials, processes, names or original works that are the same or similar to those we use. Third parties have in the past, and may in the future, bring claims, or threaten to bring claims, against us that allege that their intellectual property rights are being infringed or violated by our use of intellectual property. Litigation or threatened litigation could be costly and distract our senior management from operating our business. Further, if we cannot establish our right or obtain the right to use the intellectual property on reasonable terms, we may be required to develop alternative intellectual property at our expense to mitigate potential harm.

We face competition for customers.

        We compete with multiple storage and information management services providers in all geographic areas where we operate; our current or potential customers may choose to use those competitors instead of us. We also compete, in some of our business lines, with our current and potential customers' internal storage and information management services capabilities. These organizations may not begin or continue to use us for their future storage and information management service needs.

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Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our financial health and prevent us from fulfilling our obligations under our various debt instruments.

        We have a significant amount of indebtedness. As of December 31, 2014, our total long-term debt was approximately $4.66 billion. Our substantial indebtedness could have important consequences to our current and potential investors. These risks include:

Restrictive debt covenants may limit our ability to pursue our growth strategy.

        Our credit facility and our indentures contain covenants restricting or limiting our ability to, among other things:

        These restrictions may adversely affect our ability to pursue our acquisition and other growth strategies.

We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to finance the repurchase of outstanding senior or senior subordinated notes upon a change of control event as required by our indentures.

        Upon the occurrence of a "change of control", we will be required to offer to repurchase all outstanding senior or senior subordinated notes. However, it is possible that we will not have sufficient

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funds at the time of the change of control to make the required repurchase of the notes or that restrictions in our revolving credit facility will not allow such repurchases. Certain important corporate events, however, such as leveraged recapitalizations that would increase the level of our indebtedness, would not constitute a "change of control" under our indentures.

Iron Mountain is a holding company, and, therefore, our ability to make payments on our various debt obligations depends in part on the operations of our subsidiaries.

        Iron Mountain is a holding company; substantially all of our assets consist of the stock of our subsidiaries, and substantially all of our operations are conducted by our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. As a result, our ability to make payments on our various debt obligations will be dependent upon the receipt of sufficient funds from our subsidiaries. However, our various debt obligations are guaranteed, on a joint and several and full and unconditional basis, by most, but not all, of our direct and indirect wholly owned United States subsidiaries.

Acquisition and Expansion Risks

Elements of our strategic growth plan involve inherent risks.

        As part of our strategic growth plan, we expect to invest in new business strategies, products, services, technologies and geographies and we may selectively divest certain businesses. These initiatives may involve significant risks and uncertainties, including distraction of management from current operations, insufficient revenues to offset expenses and liabilities associated with new investments, inadequate return of capital on these investments and the inability to attract, develop and retain skilled employees to lead and support new initiatives. For example, in 2013 we expanded our entry into the data center market by leasing wholesale and retail colocation space in our underground facility in Pennsylvania, and in 2014 we opened our first regional data center in Massachusetts, each of which required a significant capital commitment. Many of these new ventures are inherently risky and we can provide no assurance that such strategies and offerings will be successful in achieving the desired returns within a reasonable timeframe, if at all, and that they will not adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, and operating results.

Failure to manage our growth may impact operating results.

        If we succeed in expanding our existing businesses, or in moving into new areas of business, that expansion may place increased demands on our management, operating systems, internal controls and financial and physical resources. If not managed effectively, these increased demands may adversely affect the services we provide to customers. In addition, our personnel, systems, procedures and controls may be inadequate to support future operations, particularly with respect to operations in countries outside of the United States or in new lines of business. Consequently, in order to manage growth effectively, we may be required to increase expenditures to increase our physical resources, expand, train and manage our employee base, improve management, financial and information systems and controls, or make other capital expenditures. Our results of operations and financial condition could be harmed if we encounter difficulties in effectively managing the budgeting, forecasting and other process control issues presented by future growth.

Failure to successfully integrate acquired operations could negatively impact our balance sheet and results of operations.

        Strategic acquisitions are an important element of our growth strategy and the success of any acquisition we make depends in part on our ability to integrate the acquired company and realize anticipated synergies. The process of integrating acquired businesses, particularly in new markets, may involve unforeseen difficulties and may require a disproportionate amount of our management's

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attention and our financial and other resources. We can give no assurance that we will ultimately be able to effectively integrate and manage the operations of any acquired business or realize anticipated synergies. The failure to successfully integrate the cultures, operating systems, procedures and information technologies of an acquired business could have a material adverse effect on our balance sheet and results of operations.

We may be unable to continue our international expansion.

        An important part of our growth strategy involves expanding operations in international markets, including in markets where we currently do not operate, and we expect to continue this expansion. Europe, Latin America and Australia have been our primary areas of focus for international expansion, and we have expanded into the Asia Pacific region to a lesser extent. We have entered into joint ventures and have acquired all or a majority of the equity in storage and information management services businesses operating in these areas and may acquire other storage and information management services businesses in the future, including in new countries/markets where we currently do not operate.

        This growth strategy involves risks. We may be unable to pursue this strategy in the future at the desired pace or at all. For example, we may be unable to:

        We also compete with other storage and information management services providers for companies to acquire. Some of our competitors may possess substantial financial and other resources. If any such competitor were to devote additional resources to pursue such acquisition candidates or focus its strategy on our international markets, the purchase price for potential acquisitions or investments could rise, competition in international markets could increase and our results of operations could be adversely affected.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

        None.

Item 2. Properties.

        As of December 31, 2014, we conducted operations through 839 leased facilities and 255 facilities that we own. Our facilities are divided among our reportable segments as follows: North American Records and Information Management Business (614), North American Data Management Business (58), International Business (421) and Corporate and Other (1). These facilities contain a total of 67.8 million square feet of space.

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        A breakdown of owned and leased facilities by country (and by state within the United States) is listed below:

 
  Leased   Owned   Total  
Country/State
  Number   Square Feet   Number   Square Feet   Number   Square Feet  

North America

                                     

United States (Including Puerto Rico)

                                     

Alabama

    3     312,473     1     12,621     4     325,094  

Arizona

    12     535,921     4     239,110     16     775,031  

California

    59     3,404,346     15     1,964,572     74     5,368,918  

Colorado

    13     543,590     5     338,009     18     881,599  

Connecticut

    4     209,183     6     665,013     10     874,196  

Delaware

    3     267,267     1     120,921     4     388,188  

Florida

    37     2,426,077     4     194,090     41     2,620,167  

Georgia

    12     910,820     4     229,719     16     1,140,539  

Illinois

    13     1,128,817     6     1,281,947     19     2,410,764  

Indiana

    3     154,080     1     131,506     4     285,586  

Iowa

    3     118,658     1     14,200     4     132,858  

Kansas

    1     131,764             1     131,764  

Kentucky

    2     64,000     4     418,760     6     482,760  

Louisiana

    3     210,350     2     214,625     5     424,975  

Maine

    1     95,000             1     95,000  

Maryland

    13     1,220,692     3     327,258     16     1,547,950  

Massachusetts

    5     396,656     8     1,171,438     13     1,568,094  

Michigan

    18     1,011,868     5     217,936     23     1,229,804  

Minnesota

    11     841,567             11     841,567  

Mississippi

    2     157,386             2     157,386  

Missouri

    11     1,182,324     1     25,120     12     1,207,444  

Nebraska

    1     34,560     3     316,970     4     351,530  

Nevada

    6     220,276     1     107,041     7     327,317  

New Hampshire

            1     146,467     1     146,467  

New Jersey

    27     1,903,574     8     1,628,945     35     3,532,519  

New Mexico

            2     109,473     2     109,473  

New York

    17     789,817     13     1,186,266     30     1,976,083  

North Carolina

    19     1,019,486     1     13,624     20     1,033,110  

Ohio

    13     859,305     6     603,878     19     1,463,183  

Oklahoma

    5     227,883             5     227,883  

Oregon

    11     360,475     1     55,621     12     416,096  

Pennsylvania

    18     1,661,118     8     2,577,883     26     4,239,001  

Puerto Rico

    3     178,449     1     54,352     4     232,801  

Rhode Island

    2     70,159     1     12,748     3     82,907  

South Carolina

    10     521,005             10     521,005  

Tennessee

    4     166,993     5     153,659     9     320,652  

Texas

    47     2,231,997     28     2,484,082     75     4,716,079  

Utah

    2     78,148     1     90,553     3     168,701  

Vermont

    2     55,200             2     55,200  

Virginia

    15     749,745     5     437,021     20     1,186,766  

Washington

    6     312,763     5     432,896     11     745,659  

West Virginia

    2     167,055             2     167,055  

Wisconsin

    7     428,068     1     10,655     8     438,723  

    446     27,358,915     162     17,988,979     608     45,347,894  

Canada

    49     2,906,882     15     1,749,664     64     4,656,546  

    495     30,265,797     177     19,738,643     672     50,004,440  

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  Leased   Owned   Total  
Country/State
  Number   Square Feet   Number   Square Feet   Number   Square Feet  

International

                                     

Argentina

    5     491,545     5     469,748     10     961,293  

Australia

    22     1,343,068     1     30,615     23     1,373,683  

Austria

            1     30,000     1     30,000  

Belgium

    4     135,456     1     104,391     5     239,847  

Brazil

    31     1,957,275     3     190,076     34     2,147,351  

Chile

    10     409,643     5     212,010     15     621,653  

China

    19     253,302     1     20,721     20     274,023  

Columbia

    16     511,932             16     511,932  

Czech Republic

    8     256,300             8     256,300  

Denmark

    1     66,942             1     66,942  

France

    17     704,656     4     217,919     21     922,575  

Germany

    15     658,212     1     58,329     16     716,541  

Greece

    2     73,947             2     73,947  

Hong Kong

    3     138,498             3     138,498  

Hungary

    5     304,161             5     304,161  

India

    24     396,420             24     396,420  

Mexico

    9     257,883     6     419,188     15     677,071  

Netherlands

    8     466,347             8     466,347  

Northern Ireland

    2     66,876             2     66,876  

Norway

    3     104,937             3     104,937  

Peru

    2     41,878     8     259,903     10     301,781  

Poland

    21     731,250             21     731,250  

Republic of Ireland

    6     56,525     3     158,558     9     215,083  

Romania

    3     232,368             3     232,368  

Russia

    25     612,083             25     612,083  

Scotland

    7     196,298     4     375,294     11     571,592  

Serbia

    2     23,681             2     23,681  

Singapore

    1     33,700             1     33,700  

Slovakia

    3     104,846             3     104,846  

Spain

    7     165,935     6     203,000     13     368,935  

Switzerland

    4     85,357             4     85,357  

Turkey

    12     624,383             12     624,383  

Ukraine

    1     48,438             1     48,438  

United Kingdom

    45     1,942,306     29     1,377,324     74     3,319,630  

    343     13,496,448     78     4,127,076     421     17,623,524  

Corporate and Other

                                     

Corporate headquarters (Boston, Massachusetts)

    1     132,860             1     132,860  

Total

    839     43,895,105     255     23,865,719     1,094     67,760,824  

        The leased facilities typically have initial lease terms of five to ten years with one or more five-year renewal options. In addition, some of the leases contain either a purchase option or a right of first refusal upon the sale of the property. We believe that the space available in our facilities is adequate to meet our current needs, although future growth may require that we lease or purchase additional real property.

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        See Note 10 to the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report for information regarding our minimum annual lease commitments.

        See Schedule III—Schedule of Real Estate and Accumulated Depreciation in this Annual Report for information regarding the cost, accumulated depreciation and encumbrances associated with our owned real estate.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

        We are involved in litigation from time to time in the ordinary course of business. A portion of the defense and/or settlement costs associated with such litigation is covered by various commercial liability insurance policies purchased by us and, in limited cases, indemnification from third parties. In the opinion of management, no material legal proceedings are pending to which we, or any of our properties, are subject.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

        None.

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PART II

Item 5. Market For Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

        Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") under the symbol "IRM." The following table sets forth the high and low sale prices on the NYSE, for the years 2013 and 2014:

 
  Sale Prices  
 
  High   Low  

2013

             

First Quarter

  $ 36.67   $ 31.45  

Second Quarter

    39.71     25.91  

Third Quarter

    29.12     25.53  

Fourth Quarter

    30.80     25.03  

2014

             

First Quarter

  $ 30.48   $ 25.74  

Second Quarter

    31.15     25.95  

Third Quarter

    37.10     31.17  

Fourth Quarter

    40.41     31.11  

        The closing price of our common stock on the NYSE on February 20, 2015 was $36.71. As of February 20, 2015, there were 439 holders of record of our common stock.

        On September 15, 2014, we announced the declaration by our board of directors of a special distribution of $700.0 million (the "Special Distribution"), payable to stockholders of record as of September 30, 2014 (the "Record Date"). The Special Distribution represented the remaining amount of our undistributed earnings and profits attributable to all taxable periods ending on or prior to December 31, 2013, which in accordance with tax rules applicable to REIT conversions, we were required to pay to our stockholders on or before December 31, 2014 in connection with our conversion to a REIT. The Special Distribution also included certain items of taxable income that we recognized in 2014, such as depreciation recapture in respect of accounting method changes commenced in our pre-REIT period as well as foreign earnings and profits recognized as dividend income. The Special Distribution followed an initial special distribution of $700.0 million paid to stockholders in November 2012.

        The Special Distribution was paid on November 4, 2014 (the "Payment Date") to stockholders of record as of the Record Date in a combination of common stock and cash. Stockholders had the right to elect to be paid their pro rata portion of the Special Distribution in all common stock or all cash, with the total cash payment to stockholders limited to no more than $140.0 million, or 20% of the total Special Distribution, not including cash paid in lieu of fractional shares. Based on stockholder elections, we paid $140.0 million of the Special Distribution in cash, not including cash paid in lieu of fractional shares, with the balance paid in the form of common stock. Our shares of common stock were valued for purposes of the Special Distribution based upon the average closing price on the three trading days following October 24, 2014, or $35.55 per share, and as such, we issued approximately 15.8 million shares of common stock in the Special Distribution. These shares impact weighted average shares outstanding from the date of issuance, and thus impact our earnings per share data prospectively from the Payment Date.

        In November 2014, our board of directors declared a distribution of $0.255 per share (the "Catch-Up Distribution") payable on December 15, 2014 to stockholders of record on November 28, 2014. Our board of directors declared the Catch-Up Distribution because our cash distributions paid from January 2014 through July 2014 were declared and paid before our board of directors had

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determined that we would elect REIT status effective January 1, 2014 and were lower than they otherwise would have been if the final determination to elect REIT status effective January 1, 2014 had been prior to such distributions.

        In February 2010, our board of directors adopted a dividend policy under which we have paid, and in the future intend to pay, quarterly cash dividends on our common stock. Declaration and payment of future quarterly dividends is at the discretion of our board of directors. In 2013 and 2014, our board of directors declared the following dividends:

Declaration Date
  Dividend
Per Share
  Record Date   Total
Amount
(in thousands)
  Payment Date  

March 14, 2013

  $ 0.2700     March 25, 2013   $ 51,460     April 15, 2013  

June 6, 2013

    0.2700     June 25, 2013     51,597     July 15, 2013  

September 11, 2013

    0.2700     September 25, 2013     51,625     October 15, 2013  

December 16, 2013

    0.2700     December 27, 2013     51,683     January 15, 2014  

March 14, 2014

    0.2700     March 25, 2014     51,812     April 15, 2014  

May 28, 2014

    0.2700     June 25, 2014     52,033     July 15, 2014  

September 15, 2014

    0.4750     September 25, 2014     91,993     October 15, 2014  

September 15, 2014(1)

    3.6144     September 30, 2014     700,000     November 4, 2014  

November 17, 2014(2)

    0.2550     November 28, 2014     53,450     December 15, 2014  

November 17, 2014

    0.4750     December 5, 2014     99,617     December 22, 2014  

(1)
Represents Special Distribution.

(2)
Represents Catch-Up Distribution.

        During the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014, we declared distributions to our stockholders of $886.9 million, $206.4 million and $1,048.9 million, respectively. These distributions represent approximately $5.12 per share, $1.08 per share and $5.37 per share for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively, based on the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during each respective year. For each of 2012 and 2014, total amounts distributed included Special Distributions (as described above) of $700.0 million, or $4.07 and $3.61 per share, respectively, associated with the Company's conversion to a REIT.

        For federal income tax purposes, distributions to our stockholders are generally treated as nonqualified ordinary dividends, qualified ordinary dividends or return of capital. The IRS requires historical C corporation earnings and profits to be distributed prior to any REIT distributions, which may affect the character of each distribution to our stockholders, including whether and to what extent each distribution is characterized as a qualified or nonqualified ordinary dividend. For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014, the dividends we paid on our common shares were classified as follows:

 
  Year Ended December 31,  
 
  2012   2013   2014  

Nonqualified ordinary dividends

    0.0 %   0.0 %   26.4 %

Qualified ordinary dividends

    100.0 %   100.0 %   56.4 %

Return of capital

    0.0 %   0.0 %   17.2 %

    100.0 %   100.0 %   100.0 %

        In December 2013, our board of directors approved, and we entered into, a REIT Status Protection Rights Agreement (the "Rights Agreement") which provided for a dividend of one preferred stock purchase right (a "Right") for each share of our common stock outstanding on December 20,

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2013. On November 18, 2014, we entered into the First Amendment to the Rights Agreement to extend the expiration of the Rights Agreement from December 9, 2014 to February 28, 2015. On January 20, 2015, in connection with the merger with our predecessor, the Rights Agreement was terminated.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

        We did not sell any unregistered securities during the three months ended December 31, 2014, nor did we repurchase any shares of our common stock during the three months ended December 31, 2014.

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Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

        The following selected consolidated statements of operations, balance sheet and other data have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements. The selected consolidated financial and operating information set forth below should be read in conjunction with "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and our Consolidated Financial Statements and the Notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

 
  Year Ended December 31,  
 
  2010(1)(2)   2011(1)(2)   2012(1)(2)   2013(1)(2)   2014  

Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:

                               

Revenues:

                               

Storage rental

  $ 1,598,718   $ 1,682,990   $ 1,733,138   $ 1,784,721   $ 1,860,243  

Service

    1,292,431     1,330,613     1,270,817     1,239,902     1,257,450  

Total Revenues

    2,891,149     3,013,603     3,003,955     3,024,623     3,117,693  

Operating Expenses:

                               

Cost of sales (excluding depreciation and amortization)

    1,192,862     1,245,200     1,277,113     1,288,878     1,344,636  

Selling, general and administrative

    772,811     834,591     850,371     924,031     869,572  

Depreciation and amortization

    304,205     319,499     316,344     322,037     353,143  

Intangible impairments(3)

    85,909     46,500              

(Gain) loss on disposal/write-down of property, plant and equipment (excluding real estate), net

    (9,906 )   995     4,661     430     1,065  

Total Operating Expenses

    2,345,881     2,446,785     2,448,489     2,535,376     2,568,416  

Operating Income

    545,268     566,818     555,466     489,247     549,277  

Interest Expense, Net

    204,559     205,256     242,599     254,174     260,717  

Other Expense, Net

    8,768     13,043     16,062     75,202     65,187  

Income from Continuing Operations Before Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes and Gain on Sale of Real Estate

    331,941     348,519     296,805     159,871     223,373  

Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes

    166,720     105,139     114,304     62,127     (97,275 )

Gain on Sale of Real Estate, Net of Tax

    (786 )   (2,361 )   (206 )   (1,417 )   (8,307 )

Income from Continuing Operations

    166,007     245,741     182,707     99,161     328,955  

(Loss) Income from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax

    (219,417 )   (47,439 )   (6,774 )   831     (209 )

Gain (Loss) on Sale of Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax

        200,619     (1,885 )        

Net (Loss) Income

    (53,410 )   398,921     174,048     99,992     328,746  

Less: Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests

    4,908     4,054     3,126     3,530     2,627  

Net (Loss) Income Attributable to Iron Mountain Incorporated

  $ (58,318 ) $ 394,867   $ 170,922   $ 96,462   $ 326,119  

(footnotes follow)

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

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  Year Ended December 31,  
 
  2010(1)   2011(1)   2012(1)   2013(1)   2014  
 
  (In thousands, except per share data)
 

Earnings (Losses) per Share—Basic:

                               

Income from Continuing Operations

  $ 0.82   $ 1.26   $ 1.05   $ 0.52   $ 1.68  

Total (Loss) Income from Discontinued Operations

  $ (1.09 ) $ 0.79   $ (0.05 ) $   $  

Net (Loss) Income Attributable to Iron Mountain Incorporated

  $ (0.29 ) $ 2.03   $ 0.98   $ 0.51   $ 1.67  

Earnings (Losses) per Share—Diluted:

                               

Income from Continuing Operations

  $ 0.82   $ 1.25   $ 1.04   $ 0.52   $ 1.67  

Total (Loss) Income from Discontinued Operations

  $ (1.09 ) $ 0.78   $ (0.05 )     $  

Net (Loss) Income Attributable to Iron Mountain Incorporated

  $ (0.29 ) $ 2.02   $ 0.98   $ 0.50   $ 1.66  

Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding—Basic

    201,991     194,777     173,604     190,994     195,278  

Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding—Diluted

    201,991     195,938     174,867     192,412     196,749  

Dividends Declared per Common Share

  $ 0.3750   $ 0.9375   $ 5.1200   $ 1.0800   $ 5.3713  

(footnotes follow)

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

 
  Year Ended December 31,  
 
  2010(1)   2011(1)   2012(1)   2013(1)   2014  
 
  (In thousands)
 

Other Data:

                               

Adjusted OIBDA(4)

  $ 925,476   $ 949,339   $ 910,917   $ 894,581   $ 925,797  

Adjusted OIBDA Margin(4)

    32.0 %   31.5 %   30.3 %   29.6 %   29.7 %

Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges

    2.2x     2.2x     1.9x     1.5x     1.7x  

(footnotes follow)

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

 
  As of December 31,  
 
  2010(1)   2011(1)   2012(1)   2013(1)   2014  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:

                               

Cash and Cash Equivalents

  $ 258,693   $ 179,845   $ 243,415   $ 120,526   $ 125,933  

Total Assets

    6,416,393     6,041,258     6,358,339     6,653,005     6,570,342  

Total Long-Term Debt (including Current Portion of Long-Term Debt)

    3,008,207     3,353,588     3,825,003     4,171,722     4,663,531  

Total Equity

    1,949,022     1,249,742     1,157,148     1,051,734     869,955  

(footnotes follow)

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

(1)
During the second quarter of 2014, we identified contract billing inaccuracies arising from a single location which occurred over numerous years that resulted in an overstatement of prior years' reported revenue by an aggregate of $10.0 million, as described in Note 2.y. to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report. Revenue and Adjusted OIBDA,

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(2)
As a result of our conversion to a REIT and in accordance with SEC rules applicable to REITs, we no longer report (gain) loss on sale of real estate as a component of operating income, but we will continue to report it as a component of income (loss) from continuing operations. We will continue to report the (gain) loss on sale of property, plant and equipment (excluding real estate), along with any impairment, write-downs or involuntary conversions related to real estate, as a component of operating income. The results for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 have been reclassified to conform to this presentation.

(3)
For the year ended December 31, 2010, we recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $85.9 million related to our technology escrow services business, which we continue to own and operate and which was previously reflected in the former worldwide digital business segment and is now reflected as a component of the North American Records and Information Management segment. For the year ended December 31, 2010, we recorded a $197.9 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge related to our former worldwide digital business that is included in loss from discontinued operations, net of tax. For the year ended December 31, 2011, we recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $46.5 million in our Continental Western Europe reporting unit, which is a component of the International Business segment.

(4)
Adjusted OIBDA and Adjusted OIBDA Margin are non-GAAP measures. Adjusted OIBDA is defined as operating income before depreciation, amortization, intangible impairments, (gain) loss on disposal/write-down of property, plant and equipment, net (excluding real estate), and REIT Costs (as defined below). Adjusted OIBDA Margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted OIBDA by total revenues. For a more detailed definition and reconciliation of Adjusted OIBDA and a discussion of why we believe these non-GAAP measures provide relevant and useful information to our current and potential investors, see "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Non-GAAP Measures" of this Annual Report.

Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

        The following discussion should be read in conjunction with "Item 6. Selected Financial Data" and the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto and the other financial and operating information included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

        This discussion contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and in other securities laws. See "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" on page iii of this Annual Report and "Item 1A. Risk Factors" beginning on page 13 of this Annual Report.

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Overview

REIT Conversion

        We previously disclosed that, as part of our plan to convert to a REIT for federal income tax purposes and elect REIT status effective January 1, 2014 (the "Conversion Plan"), we sought PLRs from the IRS relating to numerous technical tax issues, including classification of our steel racking structures as qualified real estate assets. We submitted the PLR requests in the third quarter of 2012, and on June 25, 2014, we announced that we received the favorable PLRs from the IRS necessary for our conversion to a REIT. After receipt of the PLRs, our board of directors unanimously approved our conversion to a REIT for our taxable year beginning January 1, 2014.

        In connection with the Conversion Plan, and, in particular, to impose ownership limitations customary for REITs, on January 20, 2015, we completed the merger with our predecessor and all outstanding shares of our predecessor's common stock were converted into a right to receive an equal number of shares of our common stock.

        Total operating and capital expenditures associated with the Conversion Plan through the end of 2014 were approximately $180.7 million. Of these amounts, approximately $47.0 million was incurred in 2012, including approximately $12.5 million of capital expenditures. Additionally, approximately $106.3 million was incurred in 2013, including approximately $23.4 million of capital expenditures. Also, we incurred approximately $27.4 million in 2014, including approximately $5.1 million of capital expenditures.

Discontinued Operations

        On April 27, 2012, we sold our records management operations in Italy. The financial position, operating results and cash flows of our Italian operations, including the loss on the sale of our Italian operations, for all periods presented, have been reported as discontinued operations for financial reporting purposes. See Note 14 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report.

        In December 2014, we divested our secure shredding operations in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom (the "International Shredding Operations") in a stock transaction for approximately $26.2 million of cash at closing, including $1.5 million being held in escrow. The assets sold primarily consisted of customer contracts and certain long-lived assets. We have concluded that this divestiture is not a discontinued operation and, therefore, have recorded a pretax gain on sale in other (income) expense, net of approximately $6.9 million ($10.2 million, inclusive of a tax benefit) in our Consolidated Statement of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2014. Revenues from our International Shredding Operations in 2014 represent less than 1% of our consolidated revenues. The International Shredding Operations were previously included in our International Business segment.

Restructuring

        In the third quarter of 2013, we implemented a plan that called for certain organizational realignments to advance our growth strategy and reduce operating costs, which was completed in 2014. As a result, we recorded restructuring costs of approximately $23.4 million and $3.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014, respectively, primarily related to employee severance and associated benefits. Of the total restructuring costs incurred in 2013, $12.6 million, $2.1 million, $3.7 million and $5.0 million are reflected in the North American Records and Information Management Business, North American Data Management Business, International Business and Corporate and Other segments, respectively. Of the total restructuring costs incurred in 2014, $1.6 million, $0.3 million and $1.5 million are reflected in the North American Records and Information Management Business, North American Data Management Business and Corporate and

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Other segments, respectively. In our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2013, $20.0 million and $3.4 million of these restructuring costs are recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses and cost of sales, respectively. In our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2014, $2.2 million and $1.2 million of these restructuring costs are recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses and cost of sales, respectively.

General

        As a result of certain organizational realignments effective January 1, 2014, we evaluated changes to our internal financial reporting to better align our internal reporting to how we will manage our business going forward. This evaluation resulted in changes to our reportable segments effective January 1, 2014 and, as a result, we have restated previously reported segment information. As a result of the changes to our reportable segments, the former North American Business segment was separated into two unique reportable segments, which we refer to as (1) North American Records and Information Management Business segment and (2) North American Data Management Business segment. In addition, the Emerging Businesses segment, which was previously reported as a component of the former North American Business segment, is now reported as a component of the Corporate and Other segment.

        Our revenues consist of storage rental revenues as well as service revenues and are reflected net of sales and value added taxes. Storage rental revenues, which are considered a key driver of financial performance for the storage and information management services industry, consist primarily of recurring periodic rental charges related to the storage of materials or data (generally on a per unit basis) that are typically retained by customers for many years. Service revenues include charges for related service activities, which include: (1) the handling of records, including the addition of new records, temporary removal of records from storage, refiling of removed records and the destruction of records; (2) courier operations, consisting primarily of the pickup and delivery of records upon customer request; (3) secure shredding of sensitive documents and the related sale of recycled paper, the price of which can fluctuate from period to period; (4) other services, including DMS, which relate to physical and digital records, and project revenues; (5) customer termination and permanent withdrawal fees; (6) data restoration projects; (7) special project work; (8) fulfillment services; (9) consulting services; and (10) technology escrow services that protect and manage source code ("Intellectual Property Management") and other technology services and product sales (including specially designed storage containers and related supplies). Our service revenue growth has been negatively impacted by declining activity rates as stored records are becoming less active. While customers continue to store their records with us, they are less likely than they have been in the past to retrieve records for research purposes, thereby reducing service activity levels.

        Cost of sales (excluding depreciation and amortization) consists primarily of wages and benefits for field personnel, facility occupancy costs (including rent and utilities), transportation expenses (including vehicle leases and fuel), other product cost of sales and other equipment costs and supplies. Of these, wages and benefits and facility occupancy costs are the most significant. Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of wages and benefits for management, administrative, information technology, sales, account management and marketing personnel, as well as expenses related to communications and data processing, travel, professional fees, bad debts, training, office equipment and supplies. Trends in facility occupancy costs are impacted by the total number of facilities we occupy, the mix of properties we own versus properties we occupy under operating leases, fluctuations in per square foot occupancy costs, and the levels of utilization of these properties. Trends in total wages and benefits in dollars and as a percentage of total consolidated revenue are influenced by changes in headcount and compensation levels, achievement of incentive compensation targets, workforce productivity and variability in costs associated with medical insurance and workers' compensation.

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        The expansion of our international businesses has impacted the major cost of sales components and selling, general and administrative expenses. Our international operations are more labor intensive than our operations in North America and, therefore, labor costs are a higher percentage of segment revenue. In addition, the overhead structure of our expanding international operations has not achieved the same level of overhead leverage as our North American segments, which may result in an increase in selling, general and administrative expenses, as a percentage of consolidated revenue, as our international operations become a more meaningful percentage of our consolidated results.

        Our depreciation and amortization charges result primarily from the capital-intensive nature of our business. The principal components of depreciation relate to storage systems, which include racking structures, building and leasehold improvements, computer systems hardware and software and buildings. Amortization relates primarily to customer relationship acquisition costs and is impacted by the nature and timing of acquisitions.

        Our consolidated revenues and expenses are subject to variations caused by the net effect of foreign currency translation on revenues and expenses incurred by our entities outside the United States. It is difficult to predict the future fluctuations of foreign currency exchange rates and how those fluctuations will impact our Consolidated Statements of Operations. Due to the expansion of our international operations, some of these fluctuations have become material on individual balances. However, because both the revenues and expenses are denominated in the local currency of the country in which they are derived or incurred, the impact of currency fluctuations on our operating income and operating margin is partially mitigated. In order to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency fluctuations, we compare the percentage change in the results from one period to another period in this report using constant currency presentation. The constant currency growth rates are calculated by translating the 2012 results at the 2013 average exchange rates and the 2013 results at the 2014 average exchange rates.

        The following table is a comparison of underlying average exchange rates of the foreign currencies that had the most significant impact on our United States dollar-reported revenues and expenses:

 
  Average Exchange
Rates for the
Year Ended
December 31,
   
 
 
  Percentage
Strengthening /
(Weakening) of
Foreign Currency
 
 
  2013   2014  

Australian dollar

  $ 0.968   $ 0.902     (6.8 )%

Brazilian real

  $ 0.465   $ 0.426     (8.4 )%

British pound sterling

  $ 1.565   $ 1.648     5.3 %

Canadian dollar

  $ 0.971   $ 0.906     (6.7 )%

Euro

  $ 1.328   $ 1.329     0.1 %

 

 
  Average Exchange
Rates for the
Year Ended
December 31,
   
 
 
  Percentage
Strengthening /
(Weakening) of
Foreign Currency
 
 
  2012   2013  

Australian dollar

  $ 1.036   $ 0.968     (6.6 )%

Brazilian real

  $ 0.514   $ 0.465     (9.5 )%

British pound sterling

  $ 1.585   $ 1.565     (1.3 )%

Canadian dollar

  $ 1.000   $ 0.971     (2.9 )%

Euro

  $ 1.286   $ 1.328     3.3 %

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Non-GAAP Measures

Adjusted Operating Income Before Depreciation, Amortization, Intangible Impairments, (Gain) Loss on Disposal/Write-Down of Property, Plant and Equipment (Excluding Real Estate), Net and REIT Costs ("Adjusted OIBDA")

        Adjusted OIBDA is defined as operating income before depreciation, amortization, intangible impairments, (gain) loss on disposal/write-down of property, plant and equipment (excluding real estate), net and REIT Costs (as defined below). Adjusted OIBDA Margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted OIBDA by total revenues. We use multiples of current or projected Adjusted OIBDA in conjunction with our discounted cash flow models to determine our overall enterprise valuation and to evaluate acquisition targets. We believe Adjusted OIBDA and Adjusted OIBDA Margin provide our current and potential investors with relevant and useful information regarding our ability to generate cash flow to support business investment. These measures are an integral part of the internal reporting system we use to assess and evaluate the operating performance of our business. Adjusted OIBDA does not include certain items that we believe are not indicative of our core operating results, specifically: (1) (gain) loss on disposal/write-down of property, plant and equipment (excluding real estate), net; (2) (gain) loss on sale of real estate, net of tax; (3) intangible impairments; (4) REIT Costs; (5) other expense (income), net; (6) income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax; (7) gain (loss) on sale of discontinued operations, net of tax; and (8) net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests.

        Adjusted OIBDA also does not include interest expense, net and the provision (benefit) for income taxes. These expenses are associated with our capitalization and tax structures, which we do not consider when evaluating the operating profitability of our core operations. Finally, Adjusted OIBDA does not include depreciation and amortization expenses, in order to eliminate the impact of capital investments, which we evaluate by comparing capital expenditures to incremental revenue generated and as a percentage of total revenues. Adjusted OIBDA and Adjusted OIBDA Margin should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"), such as operating or net income (loss) or cash flows from operating activities from continuing operations (as determined in accordance with GAAP).

Reconciliation of Operating Income to Adjusted OIBDA (in thousands):

 
  Year Ended December 31,  
 
  2010   2011   2012   2013   2014  

Operating Income

  $ 545,268   $ 566,818   $ 555,466   $ 489,247   $ 549,277  

Add: Depreciation and Amortization

    304,205     319,499     316,344     322,037     353,143  

Intangible Impairments

    85,909     46,500              

(Gain) Loss on Disposal/Write-Down of Property, Plant and Equipment (Excluding Real Estate), Net

    (9,906 )   995     4,661     430     1,065  

REIT Costs(1)

        15,527     34,446     82,867     22,312  

Adjusted OIBDA

  $ 925,476   $ 949,339   $ 910,917   $ 894,581   $ 925,797  

(1)
Includes costs associated with our 2011 proxy contest, the previous work of the former Strategic Review Special Committee of the board of directors and costs associated with our conversion to a REIT, excluding REIT compliance costs beginning January 1, 2014 which we expect to recur in future periods ("REIT Costs").

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Adjusted Earnings per Share from Continuing Operations ("Adjusted EPS")

        Adjusted EPS is defined as reported earnings per share from continuing operations excluding: (1) (gain) loss on disposal/write-down of property, plant and equipment (excluding real estate), net; (2) (gain) loss on sale of real estate, net of tax; (3) intangible impairments; (4) REIT Costs; (5) other expense (income), net; and (6) the tax impact of reconciling items and discrete tax items. We do not believe these excluded items to be indicative of our ongoing operating results, and they are not considered when we are forecasting our future results. We believe Adjusted EPS is of value to our current and potential investors when comparing our results from past, present and future periods.

Reconciliation of Reported EPS—Fully Diluted from Continuing Operations to Adjusted EPS—Fully Diluted from Continuing Operations:

 
  Year Ended December 31,  
 
  2010   2011   2012   2013   2014  

Reported EPS—Fully Diluted from Continuing Operations

  $ 0.82   $ 1.25   $ 1.04   $ 0.52   $ 1.67  

Add: (Gain) Loss on Disposal/Write-down of Property, Plant and Equipment (Excluding Real Estate), Net

    (0.05 )   0.01     0.03         0.01  

Intangible Impairments

    0.43     0.24              

Gain on Sale of Real Estate, Net of Tax

        (0.01 )       (0.01 )   (0.04 )

Other Expense (Income), Net

    0.04     0.07     0.09     0.39     0.33  

REIT Costs

        0.08     0.20     0.43     0.11  

Tax Impact of Reconciling Items and Discrete Tax Items(1)

    0.52     0.21     0.35     0.07     (0.72 )

Adjusted EPS—Fully Diluted from Continuing Operations

  $ 1.76   $ 1.85   $ 1.71   $ 1.40   $ 1.36  

(1)
The Adjusted EPS for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 have been restated to reflect an estimated annual effective tax rate of approximately 15.0%. The Adjusted EPS for the year ended December 31, 2014 reflects an estimated annual effective tax rate of approximately 14.4%.

Critical Accounting Policies

        Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and for the period then ended. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate the estimates used. We base our estimates on historical experience, actuarial estimates, current conditions and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. These estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities and are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates. Our critical accounting policies include the following, which are listed in no particular order:

Revenue Recognition

        Our revenues consist of storage rental revenues as well as service revenues and are reflected net of sales and value added taxes. Storage rental revenues, which are considered a key driver of financial performance for the storage and information management services industry, consist primarily of recurring periodic rental charges related to the storage of materials or data (generally on a per unit

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basis). Service revenues include charges for related service activities, which include: (1) the handling of records, including the addition of new records, temporary removal of records from storage, refiling of removed records and the destruction of records; (2) courier operations, consisting primarily of the pickup and delivery of records upon customer request; (3) secure shredding of sensitive documents and the related sale of recycled paper, the price of which can fluctuate from period to period; (4) other services, including DMS, which relate to physical and digital records, and project revenues; (5) customer termination and permanent withdrawal fees; (6) data restoration projects; (7) special project work; (8) fulfillment services; (9) consulting services; and (10) Intellectual Property Management and other technology services and product sales (including specially designed storage containers and related supplies).

        We recognize revenue when the following criteria are met: persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, services have been rendered, the sales price is fixed or determinable and collectability of the resulting receivable is reasonably assured. Storage rental and service revenues are recognized in the month the respective storage rental or service is provided, and customers are generally billed on a monthly basis on contractually agreed-upon terms. Amounts related to future storage rental or prepaid service contracts for customers where storage rental fees or services are billed in advance are accounted for as deferred revenue and recognized ratably over the period the applicable storage rental or service is provided or performed. Revenues from the sales of products, which are included as a component of service revenues, are recognized when products are shipped and title has passed to the customer. Revenues from the sales of products have historically not been significant.

Accounting for Acquisitions

        Part of our growth strategy has included the acquisition by us of numerous businesses. The purchase price of each acquisition has been determined after due diligence of the target business, market research, strategic planning and the forecasting of expected future results and synergies. Estimated future results and expected synergies are subject to revisions as we integrate each acquisition and attempt to leverage resources.

        Each acquisition has been accounted for using the acquisition method of accounting as defined under the applicable accounting standards at the date of each acquisition. Accounting for these acquisitions has resulted in the capitalization of the cost in excess of fair value of the net assets acquired in each of these acquisitions as goodwill. We estimated the fair values of the assets acquired in each acquisition as of the date of acquisition and these estimates are subject to adjustment based on the final assessments of the fair value of intangible assets (primarily customer relationship intangible assets), property, plant and equipment (primarily racking structures), operating leases, contingencies and income taxes (primarily deferred income taxes). We complete these assessments within one year of the date of acquisition. See Note 6 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report for a description of recent acquisitions.

        Determining the fair values of the net assets acquired requires management's judgment and often involves the use of assumptions with respect to future cash inflows and outflows, discount rates and market data, among other items. Due to the inherent uncertainty of future events, actual values of net assets acquired could be different from our estimated fair values and could have a material impact on our financial statements.

        Of the net assets acquired in our acquisitions, the fair value of owned buildings, customer relationship intangible assets, racking structures and operating leases are generally the most common and most significant. For significant acquisitions or acquisitions involving new markets or new products, we generally use third party appraisals of the fair value of owned buildings, customer relationship intangible assets and market rental rates for acquired operating leases. For acquisitions that are not significant or do not involve new markets or new products, we generally use third party appraisals of

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fair value for acquired owned buildings and market rental rates for acquired operating leases. When not using third party appraisals of the fair value of acquired net assets, the fair value of acquired customer relationship intangible assets and acquired racking structures is determined internally. The fair value of acquired racking structures is determined internally by taking current replacement cost at the date of acquisition for the quantity of racking structures acquired, discounted to take into account the quality (e.g. age, material and type) of the racking structures. Additionally, we use discounted cash flow models to determine the fair value of customer relationship intangible assets, which requires a significant amount of judgment by management, including estimating expected lives of the relationships, expected future cash flows and discount rates.

        Of the key assumptions that impact the estimated fair values of customer relationship intangible assets, the expected future cash flows and discount rate are among the most sensitive and are considered to be critical assumptions. To illustrate the sensitivity of changes in key assumptions used in determining the fair value of customer relationship intangible assets acquired in our most significant acquisitions in fiscal year 2014 (Keepers Brasil Ltda and Securit Records Management), a hypothetical increase of 10% in the expected annual future cash flows attributable to these two acquisitions, with all other assumptions unchanged, would have increased the calculated fair value of the acquired customer relationship intangible assets in the aggregate for both of these acquisitions combined by $2.6 million, with an offsetting decrease to goodwill. A hypothetical decrease of 100 basis points in the discount rate, with all other assumptions unchanged, would have increased the fair value of the acquired customer relationship intangible assets in the aggregate for both of these acquisitions combined by $1.7 million, with an offsetting decrease to goodwill.

        Our estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable at that time but which are inherently uncertain and unpredictable. Assumptions may be incomplete or inaccurate, and unanticipated events and circumstances may occur, which may affect the accuracy of such assumptions.

Impairment of Tangible and Intangible Assets

        Assets subject to depreciation or amortization: We review long-lived assets and all amortizable intangible assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. Examples of events or circumstances that may be indicative of impairment include, but are not limited to:

        Recoverability of these assets is determined by comparing the forecasted undiscounted net cash flows of the operation to which the assets relate to their carrying amount. The operations are generally distinguished by the business segment and geographic region in which they operate. If the operation is determined to be unable to recover the carrying amount of its assets, the long-lived assets are written down, on a pro rata basis, to fair value. Fair value is determined based on discounted cash flows or appraised values, depending upon the nature of the assets.

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        Goodwill and intangible assets not subject to amortization: Goodwill and intangible assets with indefinite lives are not amortized but are reviewed annually for impairment or more frequently if impairment indicators arise. Other than goodwill, we currently have no intangible assets that have indefinite lives and which are not amortized.

        We have selected October 1 as our annual goodwill impairment review date. We performed our annual goodwill impairment review as of October 1, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and concluded that goodwill was not impaired as of those dates. Based on our goodwill impairment assessment, all of our reporting units with goodwill had estimated fair values as of October 1, 2014 that exceeded their carrying values by greater than 15%. As of December 31, 2014, no factors were identified that would alter our October 1, 2014 goodwill assessment. In making this assessment, we relied on a number of factors including operating results, business plans, anticipated future cash flows, transactions and marketplace data. There are inherent uncertainties related to these factors and our judgment in applying them to the analysis of goodwill impairment. When changes occur in the composition of one or more reporting units, the goodwill is reassigned to the reporting units affected based on their relative fair values.

        Our reporting units at which level we performed our goodwill impairment analysis as of October 1, 2013 were as follows: (1) North America; (2) United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Spain ("Western Europe"); (3) the remaining countries in Europe in which we operate, excluding Russia and Ukraine ("Emerging Markets"); (4) Latin America; (5) Australia, China, Hong Kong and Singapore ("Asia Pacific"); and (6) India, Russia and Ukraine ("Emerging Market Joint Ventures"). The carrying value of goodwill, net for each of these reporting units as of December 31, 2013 is as follows (in thousands):

 
  Carrying Value as of
December 31, 2013
 

North America

  $ 1,849,440  

Western Europe

    375,954  

Emerging Markets

    88,599  

Latin America

    93,149  

Asia Pacific

    56,210  

Emerging Market Joint Ventures

     

Total

  $ 2,463,352  

        Beginning January 1, 2014, as a result of the changes in our reportable segments associated with our reorganization (see Note 9 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report for a description of our reportable operating segments), we now have 12 reporting units. Our North American Records and Information Management Business segment includes the following three reporting units: (1) North American Records and Information Management; (2) Intellectual Property Management; and (3) Fulfillment Services. The North American Data Management Business segment is a separate reporting unit. The Emerging Businesses reporting unit (which primarily relates to our data center business in the United States and which is a component of Corporate and Other) is also a reporting unit. Additionally, the International Business segment consists of the following seven reporting units: (1) United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland ("New Western Europe"); (2) the remaining countries in Europe in which we operate, excluding Russia, Ukraine and Denmark ("New Emerging Markets"); (3) Latin America; (4) Australia and Singapore; (5) China and Hong Kong ("Greater China"); (6) India; and (7) Russia, Ukraine and Denmark. We have reassigned goodwill associated with the reporting units impacted by the reorganization among the new reporting units on a relative fair value basis. The fair value of each of our new reporting units was determined based on the application of a combined weighted average approach of fair value multiples of revenue and earnings and discounted cash flow techniques.

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        As a result of the change in the composition of our reporting units noted above, we concluded that we had an interim triggering event, and, therefore, we performed an interim goodwill impairment test as of January 1, 2014 on the basis of these new reporting units during the first quarter of 2014. We concluded that the goodwill for each of our new reporting units was not impaired as of such date. The carrying value of goodwill, net for each of these reporting units as of December 31, 2014 is as follows (in thousands):

 
  Carrying Value as of
December 31, 2014
 

North American Records and Information Management

  $ 1,397,484  

Intellectual Property Management

    38,491  

Fulfillment Services

    3,247  

North American Data Management

    375,957  

Emerging Businesses

     

New Western Europe

    354,049  

New Emerging Markets

    87,408  

Latin America

    107,240  

Australia and Singapore

    55,779  

Greater China

    3,500  

India

     

Russia, Ukraine and Denmark

    628  

Total

  $ 2,423,783  

        Reporting unit valuations have been determined using a combined approach based on the present value of future cash flows and market multiples of revenues and earnings. The income approach incorporates many assumptions including future growth rates, discount factors, expected capital expenditures and income tax cash flows. Changes in economic and operating conditions impacting these assumptions could result in goodwill impairments in future periods. In conjunction with our annual goodwill impairment reviews, we reconcile the sum of the valuations of all of our reporting units to our market capitalization as of such dates.

        Although we believe we have sufficient historical and projected information available to us to test for impairment, it is possible that actual results could differ from the estimates used in our impairment tests. Of the key assumptions that impact the goodwill impairment test, the expected future cash flows and discount rate are among the most sensitive and are considered to be critical assumptions, as changes to these estimates could have an effect on the estimated fair value of each of our reporting units. As a measure of sensitivity, we have grouped each of our reporting units according to the amount by which each reporting unit's fair value exceeded its carrying value in the goodwill impairment test. A hypothetical decrease of 10% in the expected annual future cash flows, with all other assumptions unchanged, would have decreased the fair value of our reporting units as of October 1, 2014 by a range of approximately 9.1% to 10.4% but would not, however, have resulted in the carrying value of any of our reporting units with goodwill exceeding their fair value. A hypothetical increase of 100 basis points in the discount rate, with all other assumptions unchanged, would have decreased the fair value of our reporting units as of October 1, 2014 by a range of approximately 3.9% to 11.6% but would not, however, have resulted in the carrying value of any of our reporting units with goodwill exceeding their fair value.

Income Taxes

        As a REIT, we are generally permitted to deduct from our federal taxable income the dividends we pay to our stockholders. The income represented by such dividends is not subject to federal taxation at the entity level but is taxed, if at all, at the stockholder level. The income of our domestic TRSs,

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which hold our domestic operations that may not be REIT-compliant as currently operated and structured, is subject, as applicable, to federal and state corporate income tax. In addition, we and our subsidiaries continue to be subject to foreign income taxes in jurisdictions in which they hold assets or conduct operations, regardless of whether held or conducted through subsidiaries disregarded for federal tax purposes or TRSs. We will also be subject to a separate corporate income tax on any gains recognized during a specified period (generally ten years) following the REIT conversion that are attributable to "built-in" gains with respect to the assets that we owned on January 1, 2014; this built-in gains tax will also be imposed on our depreciation recapture recognized into income in 2014 and subsequent taxable years as a result of accounting method changes commenced in our pre-REIT period. If we fail to remain qualified for taxation as a REIT, we will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate tax rates. Even if we remain qualified for taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to some federal, state, local and foreign taxes on our income and property in addition to taxes owed with respect to our TRS operations. In particular, while state income tax regimes often parallel the federal income tax regime for REITs, many states do not completely follow federal rules and some do not follow them at all.

        Accounting for income taxes requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the tax and financial reporting bases of assets and liabilities and for loss and credit carryforwards. Valuation allowances are provided when recovery of deferred tax assets does not meet the more likely than not standards as defined in GAAP.

        We have federal net operating loss carryforwards, which expire in 2021 through 2033, of $88.1 million ($0, tax effected) at December 31, 2014 to reduce future federal taxable income, on which no federal tax benefit is expected to be realized. We have state net operating loss carryforwards, which expire in 2015 through 2033, of $74.4 million ($0.1 million, tax effected) at December 31, 2014 to reduce future state taxable income, on which an insignificant state tax benefit is expected to be realized. We have assets for foreign net operating losses of $64.6 million, with various expiration dates (and in some cases no expiration date), subject to a valuation allowance of approximately 62%. If actual results differ unfavorably from certain of our estimates used, we may not be able to realize all or part of our net deferred income tax assets, and additional valuation allowances may be required. Although we believe our estimates are reasonable, no assurance can be given that our estimates reflected in the tax provisions and accruals will equal our actual results. These differences could have a material impact on our income tax provision and operating results in the period in which such determination is made.

        The evaluation of an uncertain tax position is a two-step process. The first step is a recognition process whereby we determine whether it is more likely than not that a tax position will be sustained upon examination, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes, based on the technical merits of the position. The second step is a measurement process whereby a tax position that meets the more likely than not recognition threshold is calculated to determine the amount of benefit to recognize in the financial statements. The tax position is measured at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than 50% likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement.

        We are subject to income taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. We are subject to examination by various tax authorities in jurisdictions in which we have business operations or a taxable presence. We regularly assess the likelihood of additional assessments by tax authorities and provide for these matters as appropriate. As of December 31, 2013 and 2014, we had approximately $51.1 million and $56.0 million, respectively, of reserves related to uncertain tax positions. The reversal of these reserves will be recorded as a reduction of our income tax provision if sustained. Although we believe our tax estimates are appropriate, the final determination of tax audits and any related litigation could result in changes in our estimates.

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        We had not previously provided incremental federal and certain state income taxes on net tax over book outside basis differences related to the earnings of our foreign subsidiaries because our intent, prior to our conversion to a REIT, was to reinvest our current and future undistributed earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries indefinitely outside the United States. As a result of our conversion to a REIT, it is no longer our intent to indefinitely reinvest our current and future undistributed foreign earnings outside the United States, and, therefore, during 2014, we recognized an increase in our tax provision from continuing operations in the amount of $46.4 million, representing incremental federal and state income taxes and foreign withholding taxes on such foreign earnings. As a REIT, future repatriation of incremental undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries will not be subject to federal or state income tax, with the exception of foreign withholding taxes in limited instances; however, such future repatriations will require distribution in accordance with REIT distribution rules, and any such distribution may then be taxable, as appropriate, at the stockholder level.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

        In April 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2014-08, Presentation of Financial Statements (Topic 205) and Property, Plant, and Equipment (Topic 360) ("ASU 2014-08"). ASU 2014-08 changes the criteria for a disposal to qualify as a discontinued operation and requires additional disclosures of both discontinued operations and certain other disposals that do not meet the definition of a discontinued operation. ASU 2014-08 is effective for annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2014. Under this guidance, we expect fewer dispositions to qualify as discontinued operations. Early adoption is permitted, but only for disposals that have not been reported in the financial statements previously issued. We adopted ASU 2014-08 effective April 1, 2014.

        In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) ("ASU 2014-09"). ASU 2014-09 provides additional guidance for management to reassess revenue recognition as it relates to: (1) transfer of control, (2) variable consideration, (3) allocation of transaction price based on relative standalone selling price, (3) licenses, (4) time value of money and (5) contract costs. Further disclosures will be required to provide a better understanding of revenue that has been recognized and revenue that is expected to be recognized in the future from existing contracts. ASU 2014-09 is effective for us on January 1, 2017, with no early adoption permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact ASU 2014-09 will have on our consolidated financial statements.

        In August 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-15, Presentation of Financial Statements Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40) ("ASU 2014-15"). ASU 2014-15 requires management to assess an entity's ability to continue as a going concern by incorporating and expanding upon certain principles of current United States auditing standards. Specifically, the amendments (1) provide a definition of the term "substantial doubt", (2) require an evaluation every reporting period, including interim periods, (3) provide principles for considering the mitigating effect of management's plans, (4) require certain disclosures when substantial doubt is alleviated as a result of consideration of management's plans, (5) require an express statement and other disclosures when substantial doubt is still present, and (6) require an assessment for a period of one year after the date that the financial statements are issued (or available to be issued). ASU 2014-15 is effective for us on January 1, 2017, with early adoption permitted. We do not believe that this pronouncement will have an impact on our consolidated financial statements.

        In February 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-02, Consolidation (Topic 810): Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis ("ASU 2015-02"). ASU 2015-02 affects reporting entities that are required to evaluate whether they should consolidate certain legal entities. ASU 2015-02 is effective for us on January 1, 2016, with early adoption permitted. We do not believe that this pronouncement will have an impact on our consolidated financial statements.

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Results of Operations

Comparison of Year Ended December 31, 2014 to Year Ended December 31, 2013 and Comparison of Year Ended December 31, 2013 to Year Ended December 31, 2012

 
  Year Ended December 31,    
   
 
 
  Dollar
Change
  Percentage
Change
 
 
  2013   2014  

Revenues

  $ 3,024,623   $ 3,117,693   $ 93,070     3.1 %

Operating Expenses

    2,535,376     2,568,416     33,040     1.3 %
                     

Operating Income

    489,247     549,277     60,030     12.3 %

Other Expenses, Net

    390,086     220,322     (169,764 )   (43.5 )%
                     

Income from Continuing Operations

    99,161     328,955     229,794     231.7 %

Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax

    831     (209 )   (1,040 )   (125.2 )%
                     

Net Income

    99,992     328,746     228,754     228.8 %

Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests

    3,530     2,627     (903 )   25.6 %
                     

Net Income Attributable to Iron Mountain Incorporated

  $ 96,462   $ 326,119   $ 229,657     238.1 %
                     

Adjusted OIBDA(1)

  $ 894,581   $ 925,797   $ 31,216     3.5 %
                     

Adjusted OIBDA Margin(1)

    29.6 %   29.7 %            

 

 
  Year Ended December 31,    
   
 
 
  Dollar
Change
  Percentage
Change
 
 
  2012   2013  

Revenues

  $ 3,003,955   $ 3,024,623   $ 20,668     0.7 %

Operating Expenses

    2,448,489     2,535,376     86,887     3.5 %
                     

Operating Income

    555,466     489,247     (66,219 )   (11.9 )%

Other Expenses, Net

    372,759     390,086     17,327     4.6 %
                     

Income from Continuing Operations

    182,707     99,161     (83,546 )   (45.7 )%

(Loss) Income from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax

    (6,774 )   831     7,605     112.3 %

Loss on Sale of Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax

    (1,885 )       1,885     100.0 %
                     

Net Income

    174,048     99,992     (74,056 )   (42.5 )%

Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests

    3,126     3,530     404     (12.9 )%
                     

Net Income Attributable to Iron Mountain Incorporated

  $ 170,922   $ 96,462   $ (74,460 )   (43.6 )%
                     

Adjusted OIBDA(1)

  $ 910,917   $ 894,581   $ (16,336 )   (1.8 )%
                     

Adjusted OIBDA Margin(1)

    30.3 %   29.6 %            

(1)
See "Non-GAAP Measures—Adjusted Operating Income Before Depreciation, Amortization, Intangible Impairments, (Gain) Loss on Disposal/Write-Down of Property, Plant and Equipment (Excluding Real Estate), Net and REIT Costs ('Adjusted OIBDA')" in this Annual Report for the definition, reconciliation and a discussion of why we believe these measures provide relevant and useful information to our current and potential investors.

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REVENUES

 
   
   
   
  Percentage Change    
 
 
  Year Ended December 31,    
   
 
 
  Dollar
Change
   
  Constant
Currency(1)
  Internal
Growth(2)
 
 
  2013   2014   Actual  

Storage Rental

  $ 1,784,721   $ 1,860,243   $ 75,522     4.2 %   5.4 %   2.2 %

Service

    1,239,902     1,257,450     17,548     1.4 %   2.8 %   (0.7 )%
                                 

Total Revenues

  $ 3,024,623   $ 3,117,693   $ 93,070     3.1 %   4.3 %   1.0 %
                                 

 

 
   
   
   
  Percentage Change    
 
 
  Year Ended December 31,    
   
 
 
  Dollar
Change
   
  Constant
Currency(1)
  Internal
Growth(2)
 
 
  2012   2013   Actual  

Storage Rental

  $ 1,733,138   $ 1,784,721   $ 51,583     3.0 %   3.6 %   2.1 %

Service

    1,270,817     1,239,902     (30,915 )   (2.4 )%   (1.6 )%   (3.4 )%
                                 

Total Revenues

  $ 3,003,955   $ 3,024,623   $ 20,668     0.7 %   1.4 %   (0.2 )%
                                 

(1)
Constant currency growth rates are calculated by translating the 2013 results at the 2014 average exchange rates and the 2012 results at the 2013 average exchange rates.

(2)
Our internal revenue growth rate represents the weighted average year-over-year growth rate of our revenues after removing the effects of acquisitions, divestitures and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. We calculate internal revenue growth in local currency for our international operations.

        Consolidated storage rental revenues increased $75.5 million, or 4.2%, to $1,860.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2014 and $51.6 million, or 3.0%, to $1,784.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2013, in comparison to the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively. The growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2014 consists primarily of internal revenue growth of 2.2%. Net acquisitions/divestitures contributed 3.2% of the increase in reported storage rental revenues in 2014 over 2013. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations decreased our reported storage rental revenue growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2014 by approximately 1.2%. Our consolidated storage rental revenue growth in 2014 was driven by sustained storage rental internal growth of 0.3%, 2.3% and 6.3% in our North American Records and Information Management Business, North American Data Management Business and International Business segments, respectively. Global records management net volumes in 2014 increased by 3.6% over the ending volume at December 31, 2013, supported by 12.3% volume increases in our International Business segment, which was driven by growth from both emerging and developed markets as well as recent acquisitions. The growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2013 consists primarily of internal revenue growth of 2.1%. Net acquisitions/divestitures contributed 1.5% of the increase in reported storage rental revenues in 2013 over 2012. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations decreased our reported storage rental revenue growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2013 by approximately 0.6%. Our consolidated storage rental revenue growth in 2013 was driven by sustained storage rental internal growth of 0.4%, 1.5% and 6.2% in our North American Records and Information Management Business, North American Data Management Business and International Business segments, respectively.

        Consolidated service revenues increased $17.5 million, or 1.4%, to $1,257.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2014 from $1,239.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2013. Service revenue internal growth was negative 0.7% for the year ended December 31, 2014. The negative service revenue internal growth for 2014 reflects a trend toward reduced retrieval/re-file activity and a related decrease in transportation revenues within our North American Records and Information Management Business segment, as well as continued declines in service revenue activity levels in our North American

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Data Management Business segment as the storage business becomes more archival in nature. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations decreased our reported total service revenues by 1.4% in 2014 over 2013. Net acquisitions/divestitures contributed 3.5% of the increase of reported service revenues in 2014. Consolidated service revenues decreased $30.9 million, or 2.4%, to $1,239.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2013 from $1,270.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2012. Service revenue internal growth was negative 3.4% for the year ended December 31, 2013. The negative service revenue internal growth for 2013 reflects a trend toward reduced retrieval/re-file activity and a related decrease in transportation revenues within our North American Records and Information Management Business segment, as well as continued declines in service revenue activity levels in our North American Data Management Business segment as the storage business becomes more archival in nature. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations decreased reported service revenues by 0.8% in 2013 over 2012. Net acquisitions/divestitures partially offset the decrease in reported consolidated service revenues and contributed an increase of 1.8% of reported service revenues in 2013.

        For the reasons stated above, our consolidated revenues increased $93.1 million, or 3.1%, to $3,117.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2014 from $3,024.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2013. Internal revenue growth was 1.0% for 2014. For the year ended December 31, 2014, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations decreased our reported consolidated revenues by 1.2% primarily due to the weakening of the Australian dollar, Brazilian real and Canadian dollar against the United States dollar, partially offset by a strengthening of the British pound sterling and the Euro against the United States dollar, based on an analysis of weighted average rates for the comparable periods. Net acquisitions/divestitures contributed an increase of 3.3% of total reported revenues in 2014 over the same period in 2013. Our consolidated revenues increased $20.7 million, or 0.7%, to $3,024.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2013 from $3,004.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2012. Internal revenue growth was negative 0.2% for 2013. For the year ended December 31, 2013, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations decreased our consolidated revenues by 0.7% primarily due to the weakening of the Australian dollar, Brazilian real, British pound sterling and Canadian dollar, offset by an increase of the Euro against the United States dollar, based on an analysis of weighted average rates for the comparable periods. Net acquisitions/divestitures partially offset the decrease in reported consolidated revenues and contributed an increase of 1.6% of total reported revenues in 2013 over the same period in 2012.

Internal Growth—Eight-Quarter Trend

 
  2013   2014  
 
  First
Quarter
  Second
Quarter
  Third
Quarter
  Fourth
Quarter
  First
Quarter
  Second
Quarter
  Third
Quarter
  Fourth
Quarter
 

Storage Rental Revenue

    2.5 %   2.3 %   2.3 %   1.3 %   1.4 %   1.6 %   2.2 %   3.5 %

Service Revenue

    (6.5 )%   (1.9 )%   (0.9 )%   (4.4 )%   (0.7 )%   (1.9 )%   (2.7 )%   2.3 %

Total Revenue

    (1.4 )%   0.5 %   1.0 %   (1.1 )%   0.5 %   0.1 %   0.2 %   3.0 %

        We expect our consolidated internal revenue growth rate for 2015 to be approximately 0% to 2%. During the past eight quarters our storage rental revenue internal growth rate has ranged between 1.3% and 3.5%. Storage rental revenue internal growth rates have been relatively stable over the past eight quarters, averaging between 2.1% and 2.2% for full-year 2013 and 2014. At various points in the economic cycle, storage rental internal growth may be influenced by changes in pricing and volume. Recently, we initiated sales force programs focused on increasing volume through new sales and improved customer retention. In addition, we are working on enhancing our pricing strategy through implementing a statistically based approach, which enables customized pricing based on customer profiles and needs. Within our International Business segment, the developed markets are generating consistent low-to-mid single-digit storage rental revenue growth, and the emerging markets are producing strong double-digit storage rental revenue growth by capturing the first-time outsourcing

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trends for physical records storage and management in those markets. The internal revenue growth rate for service revenue is inherently more volatile than the storage rental revenue internal growth rate due to the more discretionary nature of certain services we offer, such as large special projects, and, as a commodity, the volatility of pricing for recycled paper. These revenues, which are often event-driven and impacted to a greater extent by economic downturns as customers defer or cancel the purchase of certain services as a way to reduce their short-term costs, may be difficult to replicate in future periods. The internal growth rate for total service revenues reflects the following: (1) consistent pressures on activity-based service revenues related to the handling and transportation of items in storage in the North American Records and Information Management Business and the North American Data Management Business segments and secure shredding revenues; and (2) softness in some of our other service lines, such as fulfillment services.

OPERATING EXPENSES

Cost of Sales

        Consolidated cost of sales (excluding depreciation and amortization) consists of the following expenses (in thousands):

 
   
   
   
  Percentage
Change
   
   
   
 
 
   
   
   
  % of
Consolidated
Revenues
   
 
 
  Year Ended December 31,    
  Percentage
Change
(Favorable)/
Unfavorable
 
 
  Dollar
Change
   
  Constant
Currency
 
 
  2013   2014   Actual   2013   2014  

Labor

  $ 638,403   $ 674,658   $ 36,255     5.7 %   7.7 %   21.1 %   21.6 %   0.5 %

Facilities

    413,675     440,408     26,733     6.5 %   7.5 %   13.7 %   14.1 %   0.4 %

Transportation

    123,179     118,027     (5,152 )   (4.2 )%   (2.6 )%   4.1 %   3.8 %   (0.3 )%

Product Cost of Sales and Other

    113,621     111,543     (2,078 )   (1.8 )%   0.0 %   3.8 %   3.6 %   (0.2 )%
                                             

  $ 1,288,878   $ 1,344,636   $ 55,758     4.3 %   6.0 %   42.6 %   43.1 %   0.5 %
                                             

 

 
   
   
   
  Percentage
Change
   
   
   
 
 
   
   
   
  % of
Consolidated
Revenues
   
 
 
  Year Ended December 31,    
  Percentage
Change
(Favorable)/
Unfavorable
 
 
  Dollar
Change
   
  Constant
Currency
 
 
  2012   2013   Actual   2012   2013  

Labor

  $ 625,922   $ 638,403   $ 12,481     2.0 %   3.1 %   20.8 %   21.1 %   0.3 %

Facilities

    421,098     413,675     (7,423 )   (1.8 )%   (0.9 )%   14.0 %   13.7 %   (0.3 )%

Transportation

    126,023     123,179     (2,844 )   (2.3 )%   (1.1 )%   4.2 %   4.1 %   (0.1 )%

Product Cost of Sales and Other

    104,070     113,621     9,551     9.2 %   10.2 %   3.5 %   3.8 %   0.3 %
                                             

  $ 1,277,113   $ 1,288,878   $ 11,765     0.9 %   1.9 %   42.5 %   42.6 %   0.1 %
                                             

Labor

        Labor expense increased to 21.6% of consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to 21.1% for the year ended December 31, 2013. Labor expense for the year ended December 31, 2014 increased by 7.7% on a constant dollar basis compared to the year ended December 31, 2013 primarily due to incremental labor costs associated with acquisitions completed during fiscal year 2014 and the fourth quarter of 2013, as well as merit increases, partially offset by a $2.2 million decrease in restructuring costs. Labor costs were favorably impacted by 2.0 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2014.

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        Labor expense increased to 21.1% of consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to 20.8% for the year ended December 31, 2012. Labor expense for the year ended December 31, 2013 increased by 3.1% on a constant dollar basis compared to the year ended December 31, 2012 primarily due to $10.7 million of incremental labor costs associated with fiscal year 2013 acquisitions, as well as $3.4 million of restructuring costs that were incurred in 2013. Labor costs were favorably impacted by 1.1 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2013.

Facilities

        Facilities costs increased to 14.1% of consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2014, compared to 13.7% for the year ended December 31, 2013. Rent expense, which, on a constant dollar basis, increased by $10.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to the year ended December 31, 2013, primarily due to the impact of acquisitions completed during fiscal year 2014 and the fourth quarter of 2013. Other facilities costs increased by $19.9 million on a constant dollar basis for the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to the year ended December 31, 2013, primarily due to higher utilities of $4.0 million and building maintenance costs of $6.5 million, as well as higher insurance costs of $3.5 million associated with a fire at one of our facilities in Buenos Aires, Argentina on February 5, 2014 (described at Note 10.g. to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report). Facilities costs were favorably impacted by 1.0 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2014.

        Facilities costs decreased to 13.7% of consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2013, compared to 14.0% for the year ended December 31, 2012. The largest component of our facilities cost is rent expense, which, on a constant dollar basis, decreased by $6.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the year ended December 31, 2012 as a result of our ongoing facility consolidation efforts. This decrease was partially offset by $4.8 million of costs associated with 2013 acquisitions. Facilities costs were favorably impacted by 0.9 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2013.

Transportation

        Transportation expenses decreased by $3.2 million on a constant dollar basis during the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to the year ended December 31, 2013 primarily as a result of decreased fuel and maintenance costs of $1.3 million and $0.9 million, respectively. Transportation expenses were favorably impacted by 1.6 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2014.

        Transportation expenses decreased by $1.4 million on a constant dollar basis during the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the year ended December 31, 2012 as a result of a decrease in vehicle lease expense, primarily associated with our United Kingdom operations, due to the capitalization of leased vehicles upon renewal. Although the aggregate lease cost has not changed, the categorization of charges did change, resulting in the cost being allocated to depreciation and interest. Transportation expenses were favorably impacted by 1.2 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2013.

Product Cost of Sales and Other

        Product cost of sales and other, which includes cartons, media and other service, storage and supply costs, is highly correlated to service revenue streams, particularly project revenues. For the year ended December 31, 2014, product cost of sales and other decreased by $2.1 million compared to the year ended December 31, 2013 on an actual basis, primarily due to a reduction in costs associated with

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special projects. These costs were favorably impacted by 1.8 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2014.

        For the year ended December 31, 2013, product cost of sales and other increased by $9.6 million compared to the year ended December 31, 2012 on an actual basis, primarily as a result of higher move costs associated with facility consolidations, as well as $1.5 million of incremental costs incurred associated with 2013 acquisitions. These costs were favorably impacted by 1.0 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2013.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

        Selling, general and administrative expenses consists of the following expenses (in thousands):

 
   
   
   
  Percentage
Change
   
   
   
 
 
   
   
   
  % of
Consolidated
Revenues
   
 
 
  Year Ended December 31,    
  Percentage
Change
(Favorable)/
Unfavorable
 
 
  Dollar
Change
   
  Constant
Currency
 
 
  2013   2014   Actual   2013   2014  

General and Administrative

  $ 595,699   $ 538,657   $ (57,042 )   (9.6 )%   (8.8 )%   19.7 %   17.3 %   (2.4 )%

Sales, Marketing & Account Management

    219,143     213,532     (5,611 )   (2.6 )%   (1.8 )%   7.2 %   6.8 %   (0.4 )%

Information Technology

    97,868     103,174     5,306     5.4 %   6.1 %   3.2 %   3.3 %   0.1 %

Bad Debt Expense

    11,321     14,209     2,888     25.5 %   27.4 %   0.4 %   0.5 %   0.1 %
                                             

  $ 924,031   $ 869,572   $ (54,459 )   (5.9 )%   (5.1 )%   30.6 %   27.9 %   (2.7 )%
                                             

 

 
   
   
   
  Percentage
Change
   
   
   
 
 
   
   
   
  % of
Consolidated
Revenues
   
 
 
  Year Ended December 31,    
  Percentage
Change
(Favorable)/
Unfavorable
 
 
  Dollar
Change
   
  Constant
Currency
 
 
  2012   2013   Actual   2012   2013  

General and Administrative

  $ 508,365   $ 595,699   $ 87,334     17.2 %   18.0 %   16.9 %   19.7 %   2.8 %

Sales, Marketing & Account Management

    235,449     219,143     (16,306 )   (6.9 )%   (6.3 )%   7.8 %   7.2 %   (0.6 )%

Information Technology

    98,234     97,868     (366 )   (0.4 )%   0.4 %   3.3 %   3.2 %   (0.1 )%

Bad Debt Expense

    8,323     11,321     2,998     36.0 %   38.7 %   0.3 %   0.4 %   0.1 %
                                             

  $ 850,371   $ 924,031   $ 73,660     8.7 %   9.4 %   28.3 %   30.6 %   2.3 %
                                             

General and Administrative

        General and administrative expenses decreased to 17.3% of consolidated revenues during the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to 19.7% in the year ended December 31, 2013. On a constant dollar basis, general and administrative expenses decreased by $52.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to the year ended December 31, 2013, primarily driven by a $60.6 million decrease in REIT Costs and a $15.3 million decrease in restructuring costs. These decreases were partially offset by increased compensation costs of $15.1 million, primarily associated with merit increases, higher incentive compensation and the associated payroll taxes, as well as $7.2 million of incremental general and administrative expenses associated with international acquisitions completed during fiscal year 2014 and the fourth quarter of 2013. General and administrative expenses were favorably impacted by 0.8 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2014.

        General and administrative expenses increased to 19.7% of consolidated revenues during the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to 16.9% in the year ended December 31, 2012. On a constant dollar basis, general and administrative expenses increased by $91.0 million during the year ended

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December 31, 2013 compared to the year ended December 31, 2012. Included in general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2013 were $82.9 million of REIT Costs compared to $34.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2012. The increase during the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the year ended December 31, 2012 also included a $31.7 million increase in compensation expenses, primarily associated with restructuring costs, $5.1 million of incremental costs associated with 2013 acquisitions and a $4.8 million increase in software license fees. General and administrative expenses were favorably impacted by 0.8 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2013.

Sales, Marketing & Account Management

        Sales, marketing and account management expenses decreased to 6.8% of consolidated revenues during the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to 7.2% in 2013. On a constant dollar basis, the decrease of $4.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to the year ended December 31, 2013 is primarily due to a decrease in compensation expense of $3.5 million as a result of the organizational restructuring initiated in 2013 and completed in 2014. Sales, marketing and account management expenses were favorably impacted by 0.8 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2014.

        Sales, marketing and account management expenses decreased to 7.2% of consolidated revenues during the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to 7.8% for the year ended December 31, 2012. On a constant dollar basis, the decrease of $14.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the year ended December 31, 2012 is primarily due to a decrease of $15.4 million in compensation expense within our North American Records and Information Management Business segment and $3.1 million in compensation expense within our North American Data Management Business segment as a result of restructuring in the fourth quarter of 2012. This decrease was partially offset by $1.1 million of incremental costs incurred associated with 2013 acquisitions. Sales, marketing and account management expenses were favorably impacted by 0.6 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2013.

Information Technology

        On a constant dollar basis, information technology expenses increased $6.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to the year ended December 31, 2013 primarily due to increased professional fees of $2.4 million and software license fees of $1.0 million, as well as an increase in compensation expenses of $2.9 million related to the mix of project work year over year performed by internal personnel associated with capital versus maintenance initiatives. Information technology expenses were favorably impacted by 0.7 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2014.

        On a constant dollar basis, information technology expenses increased $0.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the year ended December 31, 2012 primarily due to incremental costs associated with 2013 acquisitions. Information technology expenses were favorably impacted by 0.8 percentage points due to currency rate changes during the year ended December 31, 2013.

Bad Debt Expense

        Consolidated bad debt expense for the year ended December 31, 2014 increased $2.9 million to $14.2 million (0.5% of consolidated revenues) from $11.3 million (0.4% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2013. We maintain an allowance for doubtful accounts that is calculated based on our past loss experience, current and prior trends in our aged receivables, current economic conditions, and specific circumstances of individual receivable balances. We continue to monitor our

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customers' payment activity and make adjustments based on their financial condition and in light of historical and expected trends.

        Consolidated bad debt expense for the year ended December 31, 2013 increased $3.0 million to $11.3 million (0.4% of consolidated revenues) from $8.3 million (0.3% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2012.

Depreciation, Amortization, and (Gain) Loss on Disposal/Write-down of Property, Plant and Equipment (Excluding Real Estate), Net

        Depreciation expense increased $21.7 million and $2.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, compared to the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, primarily due to the increased depreciation of property, plant and equipment acquired through business combinations.

        Amortization expense increased $9.4 million and $3.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, compared to the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, primarily due to the increased amortization of customer relationship intangible assets acquired through business combinations.

        As a result of our conversion to a REIT and in accordance with SEC rules applicable to REITs, we no longer report (gain) loss on sale of real estate as a component of operating income, but we will continue to report it as a component of income (loss) from continuing operations. We will continue to report the (gain) loss on sale of property, plant and equipment (excluding real estate), along with any impairment, write-downs or involuntary conversions related to real estate, as a component of operating income. Previously reported amounts have been reclassified to conform to this presentation.

        Consolidated loss on disposal/write-down of property, plant and equipment (excluding real estate), net was $1.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2014 and consisted primarily of losses associated with the write-off of certain software associated with our North American Records and Information Management Business segment. Consolidated loss on disposal/write-down of property, plant and equipment (excluding real estate), net was $0.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2013 and consisted of $1.7 million of asset write-offs in our North American Records and Information Management Business segment, approximately $0.3 million of asset write-offs in our Corporate and Other segment and approximately $0.9 million of asset write-offs associated with our European operations, partially offset by gains of approximately $2.5 million on the retirement of leased vehicles accounted for as capital lease assets primarily associated with our North American Records and Information Management Business segment. Consolidated loss on disposal/write-down of property, plant and equipment (excluding real estate), net was $4.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2012 and consisted primarily of approximately $5.8 million, $0.7 million, $1.1 million and $0.5 million of asset write-offs in Europe, North American Records and Information Management Business, Emerging Businesses and Latin America, respectively, partially offset by approximately $3.5 million of gains associated with the retirement of leased vehicles accounted for as capital lease assets associated with our North American Records and Information Management Business segment.

OPERATING INCOME and ADJUSTED OIBDA

        As a result of the foregoing factors, consolidated operating income increased $60.0 million, or 12.3%, to $549.3 million (17.6% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2014 from $489.2 million (16.2% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2013, and consolidated Adjusted OIBDA increased $31.2 million, or 3.5%, to $925.8 million (29.7% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2014 from $894.6 million (29.6% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2013.

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        As a result of the foregoing factors, consolidated operating income decreased $66.2 million, or 11.9%, to $489.2 million (16.2% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2013 from $555.5 million (18.5% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2012, and consolidated Adjusted OIBDA decreased $16.3 million, or 1.8%, to $894.6 million (29.6% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2013 from $910.9 million (30.3% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2012.

OTHER EXPENSES, NET

Interest Expense, Net

        Consolidated interest expense, net increased $6.5 million to $260.7 million (8.4% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2014 from $254.2 million (8.4% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2013 primarily due to the issuance in August 2013 of (i) $600.0 million in aggregate principal of the 6% Senior Notes due 2023 (the "6% Notes") by IMI and (ii) 200.0 million CAD in aggregate principal of the 61/8% Senior Notes due 2021 (the "CAD Notes") by Iron Mountain Canada Operations ULC ("Canada Company"), as well as the issuance in September 2014 of 400.0 million British pounds sterling in aggregate principal of the 61/8% Senior Notes due 2022 (the "GBP Notes") by Iron Mountain Europe PLC ("IME"). This increase was partially offset by (1) the early retirement in August 2013 of (i) 175.0 million CAD of the 71/2% CAD Senior Subordinated Notes due 2017 (the "71/2% Notes"), (ii) $50.0 million of the 8% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2018 (the "8% Notes"), (iii) $300.0 million of the 8% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2020 (the "8% Notes due 2020") and (iv) $137.5 million of the 83/8% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2021 (the "83/8% Notes") as well as (2) the redemption in January 2014 of 150.0 million British pounds sterling of the 71/4% GBP Senior Subordinated Notes due 2014 (the "71/4% Notes"). Our weighted average interest rate was 5.6% at December 31, 2014 and 6.2% at December 31, 2013.

        Consolidated interest expense, net increased $11.6 million to $254.2 million (8.4% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2013 from $242.6 million (8.1% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2012 primarily due to the issuance of the 6% Notes, the CAD Notes and the issuance of $1.0 billion in aggregate principal of the 53/4% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2024 in August 2012. This increase was partially offset by the early retirement in August 2013 of the (i) 71/2% Notes, (ii) the 8% Notes , (iii) the 8% Notes due 2020 and (iv) $137.5 million of our 83/8% Notes as well as the early retirement in August 2012 of $320.0 million of our 65/8% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2016 (the "65/8 Notes") and $200.0 million of our 83/4% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2018 (the "83/4 Notes").

Other Expense (Income), Net (in thousands)

 
  Year Ended
December 31,
   
 
 
  Dollar
Change
 
 
  2013   2014  

Foreign currency transaction losses, net

  $ 36,201   $ 58,316   $ 22,115  

Debt extinguishment expense, net

    43,724     16,495     (27,229 )

Other, net

    (4,723 )   (9,624 )   (4,901 )

  $ 75,202   $ 65,187   $ (10,015 )

 

 
  Year Ended
December 31,
   
 
 
  Dollar
Change
 
 
  2012   2013  

Foreign currency transaction losses, net

  $ 10,223   $ 36,201   $ 25,978  

Debt extinguishment expense, net

    10,628     43,724     33,096  

Other, net

    (4,789 )   (4,723 )   66  

  $ 16,062   $ 75,202   $ 59,140  

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        Net foreign currency transaction losses of $58.3 million, based on period-end exchange rates, were recorded in the year ended December 31, 2014. Losses resulted primarily from changes in the exchange rate of each of the Argentine peso, Brazilian real, British pound sterling, Euro, Russian ruble and Ukrainian hryvnia against the United States dollar compared to December 31, 2013, as these currencies relate to our intercompany balances with and between our Latin American and European subsidiaries, as well as Euro forward contracts. These losses were partially offset by gains primarily from British pound sterling borrowings on our revolving credit facility, Australian dollar and British pound sterling forward contracts, and Euro denominated bonds issued by IMI.

        Net foreign currency transaction losses of $36.2 million, based on period-end exchange rates, were recorded in the year ended December 31, 2013. Losses resulted primarily from changes in the exchange rate of each of the Australian dollar, Brazilian real, Russian ruble and Euro against the United States dollar compared to December 31, 2012, as these currencies relate to our intercompany balances with and between our European, Australian and Brazilian subsidiaries as well as British pound sterling debt and forward currency contracts, which were partially offset by gains as a result of an Australian forward currency contract, as well as changes in the exchange rate of the British pound sterling against the United States dollar compared to December 31, 2012 as it relates to our intercompany balances with and between our United Kingdom subsidiaries.

        Net foreign currency transaction losses of $10.2 million, based on period-end exchange rates, were recorded in the year ended December 31, 2012. Losses were primarily a result of changes in the exchange rate of the Brazilian real, as this currency relates to our intercompany balances with and between our Brazilian subsidiaries, as well as additional losses associated with our British pound sterling and Euro denominated debt and forward foreign currency swap contracts denominated in British pounds sterling and Australian dollars. These losses were partially offset by gains resulting primarily from the change in the exchange rate of the British pound sterling, Euro and Australian dollar against the United States dollar compared to December 31, 2011, as it relates to our intercompany balances with and between our European and Australian subsidiaries.

        In December 2014, we recorded a debt extinguishment charge of $16.5 million related to the early redemption of $306.0 million in aggregate principal of the 83/8% Notes at 104.188% of par. This charge consists of call premiums, original issue discounts and deferred financing costs related to the 83/8% Notes. During the year ended December 31, 2013, we recorded a charge of $43.7 million related to the amendment of our former credit agreement in the third quarter of 2013, representing a write-off of deferred financing costs, and the early extinguishment of the 71/2% Notes, the 8% Notes, the 8% Notes due 2020 and a portion of the 83/8% Notes. This charge consists of call premiums, original issue discounts and deferred financing costs related to this debt. During the year ended December 31, 2012, we recorded a charge of approximately $10.6 million related to the early extinguishment of $320.0 million of the 65/8% Notes and $200.0 million of the 83/4% Notes in the third quarter of 2012. This charge consists of the call premium associated with the 83/4% Notes and original issue discounts and deferred financing costs related to the 65/8% Notes and 83/4% Notes.

        Other, net in the year ended December 31, 2014 included income of $9.6 million. In December 2014, we divested our secure shredding operations in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom in a stock transaction and recorded a pretax gain of approximately $6.9 million (see Note 16 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report). Also included in other, net in the year ended December 31, 2014 was approximately $0.9 million of royalty income and $1.1 million of gains associated with a deferred compensation plan we sponsor. Other, net in the year ended December 31, 2013 consists primarily of $3.7 million of royalty income. Other, net in the year ended December 31, 2012 consists primarily of $2.7 million of royalty income, $1.5 million of gains associated with our acquisition of equity interests that we previously held associated with our Turkish and Swiss joint ventures and $1.3 million of gains associated with a deferred compensation plan we sponsor.

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Provision for Income Taxes

        Our effective tax rates for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 were 38.5%, 38.9% and (43.5)%, respectively. The primary reconciling items between the federal statutory rate of 35% and our overall effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2012 were differences in the rates of tax at which our foreign earnings are subject, including foreign exchange gains and losses in different jurisdictions with different tax rates and state income taxes (net of federal tax benefit). During the year ended December 31, 2012, foreign currency gains were recorded in lower tax jurisdictions associated with our marking-to-market of intercompany loan positions while foreign currency losses were recorded in higher tax jurisdictions associated with our marking-to-market of debt and derivative instruments, which lowered our 2012 effective tax rate by 2.2%. The primary reconciling items between the federal statutory rate of 35% and our overall effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2013 were the impact from the repatriation discussed below, which increased our 2013 effective tax rate by 13.1%, and state income taxes (net of federal tax benefit). These expenses were partially offset by a favorable impact provided by the recognition of certain previously unrecognized tax benefits due to expirations of statute of limitation periods and settlements with tax authorities in various jurisdictions and differences in the rates of tax at which our foreign earnings are subject, including foreign exchange gains and losses in different jurisdictions with different tax rates.

        During 2013, we completed a plan to utilize both current and carryforward foreign tax credits by repatriating approximately $252.7 million (approximately $65.2 million of which was previously subject to United States taxes) from our foreign earnings. Due to uncertainty in our ability to fully utilize foreign tax credit carryforwards, we previously did not recognize a full benefit for such foreign tax credit carryforwards in our tax provision. As a result, we recorded an increase in our tax provision from continuing operations in the amount of $63.5 million in 2013. This increase was offset by decreases of $18.8 million from current year foreign tax credits and $23.3 million reversal of valuation allowances related to foreign tax credit carryforwards, resulting in a net increase of $21.5 million in our tax provision from continuing operations.

        As a result of our REIT conversion, we recorded a net tax benefit of $212.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2014 for the revaluation of certain deferred tax assets and liabilities associated with the REIT conversion. In 2014, we recorded an increase to the tax provision of $29.3 million associated with tax accounting method changes consistent with our REIT conversion, primarily affected through the filing of amended tax returns. The primary other reconciling items between the federal statutory rate of 35% and our overall effective tax rate during the year ended December 31, 2014 was an increase of $46.4 million in our tax provision from the repatriation discussed below and other net tax adjustments related to the REIT conversion, including a tax benefit of $63.3 million primarily related to the dividends paid deduction. As a REIT, we are entitled to a deduction for dividends paid, resulting in a substantial reduction of federal income tax expense. As a REIT, substantially all of our income tax expense will be incurred based on the earnings generated by our foreign subsidiaries and our domestic TRSs.

        We had not previously provided incremental federal and certain state income taxes on net tax over book outside basis differences related to the earnings of our foreign subsidiaries because our intent, prior to our conversion to a REIT, was to reinvest our current and future undistributed earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries indefinitely outside the United States. As a result of our conversion to a REIT, it is no longer our intent to indefinitely reinvest our current and future undistributed foreign earnings outside the United States, and, therefore, during 2014, we recognized an increase in our tax provision from continuing operations in the amount of $46.4 million, representing incremental federal and state income taxes and foreign withholding taxes on such foreign earnings. As a REIT, future repatriation of incremental undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries will not be subject to federal or state income tax, with the exception of foreign withholding taxes in limited instances;

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however, such future repatriations will require distribution in accordance with REIT distribution rules, and any such distribution may then be taxable, as appropriate, at the stockholder level.

        Our effective tax rate is subject to variability in the future due to, among other items: (1) changes in the mix of income between our qualified REIT subsidiaries and our TRSs; (2) tax law changes; (3) volatility in foreign exchange gains (losses); (4) the timing of the establishment and reversal of tax reserves; and (5) our ability to utilize foreign tax credits and net operating losses that we generate. We are subject to income taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. We are subject to examination by various tax authorities in jurisdictions in which we have business operations or a taxable presence. We regularly assess the likelihood of additional assessments by tax authorities and provide for these matters as appropriate. Although we believe our tax estimates are appropriate, the final determination of tax audits and any related litigation could result in changes in our estimates.

Gain on Sale of Real Estate, Net of Tax

        Consolidated gain on sale of real estate for the year ended December 31, 2014 was $8.3 million, net of tax of $2.2 million associated with the sale of two buildings in the United Kingdom and a building in Canada. Consolidated gain on sale of real estate for the year ended December 31, 2013 was $1.4 million, net of tax of $0.4 million associated with the sale of a building in the United Kingdom. Consolidated gain on sale of real estate for the year ended December 31, 2012 was $0.2 million, net of tax of $0.1 million associated with the sale of a building in the United Kingdom.

INCOME FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS

        As a result of the foregoing factors, consolidated income from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2014 increased $229.8 million, or 231.7%, to $329.0 million (10.6% of consolidated revenues) from income from continuing operations of $99.2 million (3.3% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2013. The increase in income from continuing operations is primarily due to a $159.4 million decrease in our provision for income taxes as a result of our REIT conversion and a $60.6 million decrease in REIT Costs in 2014 compared to 2013.

        As a result of the foregoing factors, consolidated income from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2013 decreased $83.5 million, or 45.7%, to $99.2 million (3.3% of consolidated revenues) from income from continuing operations of $182.7 million (6.1% of consolidated revenues) for the year ended December 31, 2012. The decrease in income from continuing operations is primarily due to a $48.4 million increase in REIT Costs year over year, restructuring costs of $23.4 million and a $59.1 million increase in other expenses primarily associated with debt extinguishment costs and foreign exchange losses, partially offset by a lower income tax provision in 2013 compared to 2012.

INCOME (LOSS) FROM DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS AND GAIN (LOSS) ON SALE OF DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS, NET OF TAX

        Loss from discontinued operations, net of tax was $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2014, primarily related to legal reserves, offset by the recovery of insurance proceeds in excess of carrying value. Income from discontinued operations, net of tax was $0.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2013, which primarily represents the recovery of insurance proceeds in excess of carrying value. Loss from discontinued operations, net of tax was $6.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2012, primarily due to losses related to our Italian operations which we sold on April 27, 2012.

        We recorded a loss on sale of discontinued operations in the amount of $1.9 million ($1.9 million, net of tax) during the year ended December 31, 2012 as a result of the sale of our Italian operations.

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NONCONTROLLING INTERESTS

        Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests resulted in a decrease in net income attributable to Iron Mountain Incorporated of $2.6 million, $3.5 million and $3.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. These amounts represent our noncontrolling partners' share of earnings/losses in our majority-owned international subsidiaries that are consolidated in our operating results.

Segment Analysis (in thousands)

        As a result of certain organizational realignments effective January 1, 2014, we evaluated changes to our internal financial reporting to better align our internal reporting to how we will manage our business going forward. This evaluation resulted in changes to our reportable segments effective January 1, 2014. As a result of the changes to our reportable segments, the former North American Business segment was separated into two unique reportable segments, which we refer to as (1) North American Records and Information Management Business segment and (2) North American Data Management Business segment. In addition, the Emerging Businesses segment, which was previously reported as a component of the former North American Business segment, is now reported as a component of the Corporate and Other segment. As a result, we have restated previously reported segment information.

        Our reportable operating segments are North American Records and Information Management Business, North American Data Management Business, International Business and Corporate and Other. See Note 9 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report. Our North American Records and Information Management Business segment offers storage and information management services throughout the United States and Canada, including Records Management; Destruction; DMS; Fulfillment Services; and Intellectual Property Management. Our North American Data Management Business segment offers storage and rotation of backup computer media as part of corporate disaster recovery plans throughout the United States and Canada, including Data Protection & Recovery, server and computer backup services, digital content repository systems to house, distribute, and archive key media assets, and storage, safeguarding and electronic or physical delivery of physical media of all types,