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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 23 M AY 4 , 2 0 1 5 U.S. dollars. One example is Kepware Technologies, a Portland software company that does about half of its business overseas. "To date, all of our international partners and customers have agreed to deal in U.S. dollars," says Brett Austin, company president. "At times it has benefited Kepware, and at other times our partners and customers. I suspect that as we open offices in Europe and Asia, we may deal in local currency. When we make that move, we will begin to hedge our risk." ere is a risk to dealing strictly in dollars. If you invoice German cus- tomers in dollars, for example, and if the euro drops, you may have to adjust prices or be undercut by local com- petitors, market experts note. Peter Klein, CEO and president of KICTeam Inc., an Auburn-based maker of cleaning cards for industrial equipment, actually found himself increasing prices in Canada, one of its foreign markets. It also sells in Australia, China, Europe and elsewhere. In the past year, the Canadian dollar has fallen from 0.9 per U.S. dollar to 0.83. "We just had to increase prices due to the exchange rate," says Klein of his agreement with his Canadian customers, who he says are expecting the price increases because they do so much business with U.S. companies. e current exchange rates will stay in effect until the contracts expire, but new business will see a 25% price rise. Another way his company is offset- ting some currency risk is via the manu- facturing company it bought in England last year. Currency issues were not the reason for the purchase. However, the company is able to purchase materials in Europe using euros for products it then sells in the United States. "It's a natural hedge," he says. "e objective is to min- imize the currency exchange impact." With a rising international presence, KICTeam is being more proactive in managing FX. In the last few months it put processes into place to pay more attention to the currencies of its inter- national partners. e company's chief financial officer is charged with looking at the impact of six currencies, he says. U.S. Dollar exchange rates, 4/1/14 – 4/1/15 S O U R C E : The Federal Reserve aaaenergy.com Investing in indoor air quality has at least five advantages for your business. When it comes to creating a healthy environment for your employees and equipment, "duct cleaning" may not even cross your mind. But the cost of letting is slide may include your employee's well-being, your equipment's length of service, creating re hazards, energy efficiency and even costly litigation. AAA Energy Service includes regular duct cleaning as part of our maintenance plan, so you can keep breathing easy. To learn more, call 207.883.1473 or email us at info@aaaenergy.com 27 Keep your buildings healthy w w w . m a i n e p o r t s . c o m C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » 2014 2015 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 U.S. dollar per Canadian dollar U.S. dollar per euro A M F J D N O S A J J M A

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