FactSet Research Systems 10-K 2018-08-31

10-K 1 fds20180831_10k.htm FORM 10-K

U****NITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

☒ Annual Report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

F****or the fiscal year ended August 31, 2018

☐ 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: 1-11869

FACTSET RESEAR****CH SYSTEMS INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

601 Merritt 7**,** Norwalk, Connecticut 06851

(Address of principal executive office, including zip code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (203) 810-1000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Common Stock**, par value $0.01 per share**

Name of each exchange on which registered: New York Stock Exchange and T****he NASDAQ Stock Market LLC

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 ☒ No ☐

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 ☐ No ☒

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 ☒ No ☐

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 (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) 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. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

☐

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

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant based upon the closing price of a share of the registrant’s common stock on February 28, 2018, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, as reported by the New York Stock Exchange on that date, was $7,767,417,390.

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s common stock, as of October 24, 2018, was 38,037,295.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement dated October 30, 2018, for the 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on December 18, 2018, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Report on Form 10-K where indicated.

FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS INC.

FORM 10-K

For The Fiscal Year Ended August 31, 2018

PART I

| | | | | Item 2. Properties 18 | | | | | Item 3. Legal Proceedings 19 | | | | |

| | | | | | PART II | | | | | | | | | Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities 20 | | | | | Item 6. Selected Financial Data 22 | | | | | Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations 24 | | | | | Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 45 | | | | | Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 47 | | | | |

| | | | | Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 90 | | | | | Item 9B. Other Information 90 | | | | | | PART III | | | | | | | | | Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 91 | | | | | Item 11. Executive Compensation 91 | | | | | Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters 91 | | | | | Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence 92 | | | | | Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services 92 | | | | | | PART IV | | | | | | | | | Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 93 | | | | | | Signatures | | | 95 |

Part I

Business Overview

FactSet Research Systems Inc. (the “Company” or “FactSet”) is a global provider of integrated financial information, analytical applications and industry-leading service for the investment community. Our mission is to solve our clients’ greatest challenges through the power of collaboration. We deliver insight and information to investment professionals through our analytics, service, content, and technology. These professionals include portfolio managers, investment research professionals, investment bankers, risk and performance analysts, and wealth advisors. From streaming real-time data to historical information, including quotes, estimates, news and commentary, we offer proprietary and third-party content through desktop, web, mobile and off-platform solutions. Our broad application suite offers tools and resources including company and industry analyses, full screening tools, portfolio analysis, risk profiles, alpha-testing, portfolio optimization and research management solutions. Our revenues are primarily derived from subscriptions to products and services such as workstations, analytics, enterprise data, research management, and trade execution.

Corporate History

FactSet was founded in 1978 and has been publicly held since 1996. We are dual listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and the NASDAQ Stock Market (“NASDAQ”) under the symbol “FDS.” Fiscal 2018 marked our 40th year of operation and while much has changed in our market and technologies, our focus has always been to provide the best in class products and exceptional client service.

The following timeline depicts the Company’s history since our founding in 1978:

Business Strategy

We provide our clients with the global standard for delivery, integration and consumption of our financial data by the global investment community. We maintain flexible, open data and software solutions to bring the front, middle, and back office together to drive productivity and performance throughout the portfolio lifecycle. Our strategy is focused on growing our business throughout each of our three segments which include the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific. We believe this geographical strategy alignment helps us better manage our resources and concentrate on markets that demand our products. The U.S. segment services investment professionals, including financial institutions throughout the Americas. The European and Asia Pacific segments service investment professionals located throughout Europe and the Asia Pacific segment, respectively. To execute on our business strategy of broad-based growth across each geographical segment, we continue to look at ways to create value for our clients by offering data, products and analytical applications within our key workflows of Research, Analytics, Wealth, and Content and Technology Solutions.

Research Solutions

Our Research Solutions (“Research”) workflow offers a powerful data solution that combines global coverage, deep history, and transparency with thousands of FactSet-sourced and third-party databases integrated in one flexible platform. Our Research workflow has a strong focus on growing the number of users and client types including investment banking, sell-side research, buy-side research, private equity, capital markets, investor relations, and media. This workflow offering is comprised of Core Applications, including Universal Screening, Company & Security Analytics, Industry and Markets, Filings, Ownership, Research, News and our Research Management Solutions (“RMS”).

Analytics Solutions

Our Analytics Solutions (“Analytics”) workflow addresses processes around risk, performance and reporting. Our Analytics workflow provides investment professionals with in-depth insight, powerful analytics, and comprehensive datasets integrated seamlessly into their portfolios. The Analytics workflow is driven by FactSet Portfolio Analysis (“PA”) and FactSet’s Multi-Asset Class (“MAC”) risk models. PA is a multi-asset class interactive global solution that includes a flexible, multi-tile interface of reports and charts to enable a user to make smarter decisions. MAC risk models analyze risk factors across different asset types and classes. We have enhanced our Analytics workflow offering by leveraging client-requested functionality such as fixed income optimization and the Duration Times Spread attribution model.

Additionally, included in the Analytics workflow is our portfolio management and trading solutions which focus on workflows that are specific for the front office serving traders and portfolio managers. This offering includes a multi-asset execution management system (“EMS”) platform, as well as compliance and order management functionality. These products are aimed at large asset managers, hedge funds and mid-market customers to provide a combination of automated and intelligent trading workflows.

Wealth Solutions

Our Wealth Solutions (“Wealth”) workflow creates solutions that are specific to the wealth management industry and helps with investment portfolio management, advisory services, financial planning and other financial services. Our Wealth workflow offerings include providing end-to-end solutions, focusing on non-equity content and single security analytics, portfolio and risk analytics, and digital strategy.

Content and Technology Solutions

Our Content and Technology Solutions (“CTS”) workflow is focused on delivering value to our clients in the way they want to consume it. Our goal is to reduce the number of customizations by standardizing and bundling our proprietary data into data feeds. Whether a client needs market, company, or alternative data, our data delivery services provide normalized data through APIs and a direct delivery of local copies of standard data feeds. Our symbology links and aggregates a variety of content sources to ensure consistency, transparency, and data integrity across your business.

The CTS workflow also includes direct access to insight and information outside of the workstation through cloud-based application program interfaces and white label solutions. More specifically, our recent launch of Open:FactSet data marketplace provides access to 25 specialty datasets from FactSet and other data providers in flexible delivery formats.

FactSet Clients

Buy-side

We focus on the buy-side workflow across all firm and user types. These clients include portfolio managers, analysts, traders, wealth managers, performance teams and risk and compliance teams at a variety of firms, such as traditional asset managers, wealth advisors, corporations, hedge funds, insurance companies, plan sponsors and fund of funds.

As buy-side clients continue to shift towards multi-asset class investment strategies, we are positioned to be a partner in the space, given our ability to provide enterprise-wide solutions across their entire workflow. We provide solutions across asset classes and at nearly every stage of the investment process by utilizing our workstations, powerful analytics, proprietary content, data feeds and portfolio services.

The buy-side annual subscription value (“ASV”) growth rate for fiscal 2018 was 5.4%. Buy-side clients accounted for 83.9% of ASV as of August 31, 2018.

Sell-side

We are a market leader on the sell-side and we are continuing to expand beyond investment banking into various other parts of banking institutions. Our clients represent banking & advisory, broker-dealers, consulting, independent research, institutional asset management, private equity, and venture capital firms. We believe that future growth may be derived from the breadth of solutions we provide to the sell-side across our geographic segments and workflow solutions.

Though historically we have focused on selling workstations to banks, over the last few years our emphasis has shifted to focus on selling more differentiated product offerings outside the workstation. We are also expanding our banking user base to commercial banking, equity and fixed income research teams, quantitative analysis groups, compliance and regulatory divisions and sales and trading teams.

The sell-side ASV growth rate for fiscal 2018 was 7.3%. Sell-side clients accounted for 16.1% of ASV as of August 31, 2018.

Client Subscription Growth

ASV at any given point in time represents the forward-looking revenues for the next twelve months from all subscription services currently being supplied to clients and excludes professional services fees billed in the last twelve months, which are not subscription-based. Organic ASV excludes ASV from acquisitions and dispositions completed within the last 12 months and the effects of foreign currency

As of August 31, 2018, ASV was $1.39 billion, up $74.4 million or 5.7% organically from a year ago. This increase in ASV was driven by growth amongst our geographic segments and achievements across each of our workflow solutions which include Research, Analytics, CTS, and Wealth.

During fiscal 2018, we added 398 new clients, increasing the number of clients by 8.4% over the prior year. We added 3,051 new users during fiscal 2018, leading to a healthy progression in the number of users in both our buy-side and sell-side clients.

The following chart provides a snapshot of FactSet’s historic ASV growth:

Financial Information on Geographic Areas

Operating segments are defined as (i) components of an enterprise that engage in business activities from which they may earn revenues and incur expenses, (ii) with operating results that are regularly reviewed by the enterprise’s chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (iii) for which discrete financial information is available. Executive management, along with the CEO, constitute our chief operating decision making group (“CODMG”). Executive management consists of certain executives who directly report to the CEO, including the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Technology and Product Officer, Global Head of Sales and Client Solutions, General Counsel, Chief Human Resources Officer and Head of Analytics & Trading. The CODMG reviews financial information at the operating segment level and is responsible for making decisions about resources allocated amongst the operating segments based on actual results.

Our operating segments are aligned with how the Company, including its CODMG, manages the business and the demographic markets we serve. Our internal financial reporting structure is based on three segments: the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific. We believe this alignment helps us better manage the business and focus on markets that demand our products. Our primary functional groups within the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific segments include sales, consulting, data collection, product development and software engineering, which provide global financial and economic information to investment managers, investment banks and other financial services professionals.

The U.S. segment services investment professionals, including financial institutions throughout the Americas. The European and Asia Pacific segments service investment professionals located throughout Europe and the Asia Pacific segment, respectively. Financial information, including revenues, operating income and long-lived assets related to our operations in each geographic area are presented in Note 7, Segment Information, and in the Notes to the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8.

The U.S. segment has offices in fourteen states throughout the U.S., including our corporate headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut as well as two additional offices located in Brazil and Canada. The European segment maintains office locations in Bulgaria, Dubai, England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, and Switzerland. The Asia Pacific segment has office locations in Australia, China, India, Japan, and Singapore. Segment revenues reflect direct sales to clients based in their respective geographic locations. Each segment records compensation expense, including stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets, depreciation of furniture and fixtures, amortization of leasehold improvements, communication costs, professional fees, rent expense, travel, marketing, office and other direct expenses.

Expenditures associated with our data centers, data costs and corporate charges are recorded by the U.S. segment and are not allocated to the other segments. The centers of excellence, which focus primarily on content collection and are located in India and the Philippines, benefit all operating segments and thus the expenses incurred at these locations are allocated to each segment based on a percentage of revenues.

The following charts depict revenues related to our reportable segments.

Talent

Since our founding, we have built a collaborative culture that recognizes and rewards innovation and offers employees a variety of opportunities and experiences. Our employees are critical to our success and the reason we continue to execute at a high level. We believe our continued focus on making employee engagement a top priority will help us provide high quality insights and information to clients globally.

In order to optimize productivity, we have invested in expanding our footprint and talent pool in India and the Philippines, where we now have a combined workforce of over 5,500 people.

As of August 31, 2018, our employee headcount was 9,571, an increase of 5.5% in the last twelve months. Of our total employees, 2,471 are in the U.S., 1,246 in Europe and 5,854 in the Asia Pacific segment.

In fiscal 2018, approximately 430 FactSet employees within certain French and German subsidiaries were represented by mandatory works councils, an amount consistent with fiscal 2017. No other employees are represented by collective bargaining agreements.

In May 2018, we announced that Maurizio Nicolelli, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, would depart FactSet as of December 31, 2018. In July 2018, we announced that Helen L. Shan would join FactSet as the new Chief Financial Officer beginning in September 2018. Additionally, in July 2018, we announced that Edward Baker-Greene, the Company’s Chief Human Resources Officer would depart FactSet as of November 30, 2018.

Third-Party Content

We aggregate content from thousands of third-party data suppliers, news sources, exchanges, brokers and contributors into our own dedicated online service, which clients access to perform their analyses. We carry content from premier providers of major global exchanges and data providers. We seek to maintain contractual relationships with a minimum of two content providers for each major type of financial data, though certain data sets on which we rely have a limited number of suppliers. We make every effort, when reasonable, to locate alternative sources, to ensure that we are not dependent on any one third- party data supplier. We have entered into third-party content agreements at varying lengths, which in some cases can be terminated on one year’s notice, at predefined dates, and in other cases on shorter notice. No single vendor or data supplier represented 10% or more of our total data expenses in any fiscal year presented.

Data Centers

Our business is dependent on our ability to process substantial volumes of data and transactions rapidly and efficiently on our networks and systems. Our global technology infrastructure supports our operations and is designed to facilitate the reliable and efficient processing and delivery of data and analytics to our clients. Our data centers contain multiple layers of redundancy to enhance system performance, including maintaining, processing and storing data at multiple data centers. User connections are load balanced between data centers. In the event of a site failure, equipment problem or localized disaster, the remaining centers have the capacity to handle the additional load. We continue to be focused on maintaining a global technological infrastructure that allows us to support our growing business.

Several years ago, we launched Project NextGen to evolve away from large mainframe computers to a more distributed environment powered by a vast array of smaller, faster and more cost-effective machines. We operate fully redundant data centers in both Virginia and New Jersey in the U.S. that can handle our entire client capacity. In addition, we maintain a vast private wide area network that provides a high-speed direct link between the client’s local network and the data content and powerful applications found on our mainframe machines.

The Competitive Landscape

We are a part of the financial information services industry, providing accurate financial information and software solutions to the global investment community. This extremely competitive market is comprised of both large, well-capitalized companies and smaller, niche firms including market data suppliers, news and information providers and many of the content providers that supply us with financial information included in the FactSet workstation. Our largest competitors are Bloomberg L.P., Refinitiv (formerly part of Thomson Reuters), and S&P Global Market Intelligence. Other competitors and competitive products include online database suppliers and integrators and their applications, such as MSCI Inc., Morningstar Inc., BlackRock Solutions and RIMES Technologies Corporation. Many of these firms offer products or services which are similar to those we sell. Our development of our own robust sets of proprietary content combined with our news and quotes offering have resulted in more direct competition with the largest financial data providers.

Despite competing products and services, we enjoy high barriers to entry and believe it would be difficult for another vendor to quickly replicate the extensive databases we currently offer. Through our in-depth analytics and client service, we believe we can offer clients a more complete solution with one of the broadest sets of functionalities, through a desktop user interface or data feed. In addition, our applications, including our client support and service offerings, are entrenched in the workflow of many financial professionals given the downloading functions and portfolio analysis/screening capabilities offered. We are entrusted with significant amounts of our clients' own proprietary data, including portfolio holdings. As a result, our products have become central to our clients’ investment analysis and decision-making.

Intellectual Property

We have registered trademarks and copyrights for many of our products and services and will continue to evaluate the registration of additional trademarks and copyrights as appropriate. We enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees, clients, data suppliers and vendors. We seek to protect our software, documentation and other written materials under trade secret, copyright and patent laws. While we do not believe we are dependent on any one of our intellectual property rights, we do rely on the combination of intellectual property rights and other measures to protect our proprietary rights. Despite these efforts, existing intellectual property laws may afford only limited protection.

Research and Product Development Costs

A key aspect of our growth strategy is to enhance our existing products and applications by making them faster with more reliable data. We strive to rapidly to adopt new technology that can improve our products and services. At FactSet we do not have a separate research and product development department, but rather our Product Development and Engineering departments work closely with our strategists, product managers, sales and other client-facing specialists to identify areas of improvement to provide increased value to our clients. Research and product development costs relate to the salary and benefits for our product development, software engineering and technical support staff. These costs are expensed as incurred within our cost of services as employee compensation. We expect to appropriate a similar percentage of our workforce and associated expenses in future years to continue to develop new products and enhancements, respond quickly to market changes and meet the needs of our clients efficiently. In fiscal 2018, we incurred $217.1 million of research and product development costs, which was comparable to our spend on similar development during fiscal years 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Government Regulation

FactSet is subject to reporting requirements, disclosure obligations and other recordkeeping requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the various local authorities that regulate each location in which we operate. The Company’s P.A.N. Securities, LP, is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. and is a registered broker-dealer under Section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. P.A.N. Securities, LP, as a registered broker-dealer, is subject to Rule 15c3-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which requires that the Company maintain minimum net capital requirements. The Company claims exemption under Rule 15c3-3(k)(2)(i).

Corporate Contact Information

FactSet was founded as a Delaware corporation in 1978, and its principal executive office is in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Mailing address of the Company’s headquarters: 601 Merritt 7, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851 USA

Telephone number: +1 (203) 810-1000

Website address: www.factset.com

Available Information

Through the Investor Relations section of FactSet’s website (https://investor.factset.com), we make available the following filings as soon as practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC: the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, Proxy Statements for the annual stockholder meetings, Reports on Forms 3, 4 and 5, and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All such filings are available free of charge.

Additionally, we broadcast live our quarterly earnings calls via the investor relations section of our website. We also provide notifications of news or announcements regarding our financial performance, including SEC filings, investor events, press and earnings releases, and blogs as part of our investor relations website. The contents of this website section are not intended to be incorporated by reference into this Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document the Company files and any reference to this section of our website is intended to be inactive textual references only.

In addition, the FactSet Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is posted in the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website. The same information is available in print to any stockholder who submits a written request to the Company’s Investor Relations department. Any amendments to or waivers of such code that are required to be publicly disclosed by the applicable exchange rules or the SEC will be posted on our website. The Corporate Governance Guidelines and the charters of each of the committees of the Company’s Board of Directors, including the Audit Committee, Compensation and Talent Committee, and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee are available on the Investor Relations section of our website. The same information is available in print, free of charge, to any stockholder who submits a written request to our Investor Relations department.

Executive Officers of the Registrant

The following table shows FactSet’s current executive officers:

F. Philip Snow – Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Snow was named Chief Executive Officer effective July 1, 2015. Prior to that, Mr. Snow held the title of President. He began his career at FactSet in 1996 as a Consultant, before moving to Asia to hold positions in the Tokyo and Sydney offices. After moving back to the U.S. in 2000, Mr. Snow held various sales leadership roles before assuming the role of Senior Vice President, Director of U.S. Investment Management Sales in 2013. Mr. Snow received a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master of International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute.

Helen L. Shan – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Shan joined FactSet in September 2018 from Marsh and McLennan Companies, where she was CFO for Mercer, one of the world’s leading professional services firms. During her time at Mercer, Ms. Shan was responsible for global financial reporting and performance, operational finance, investments, and corporate strategy, leading a team of finance professionals supporting clients in over 130 countries. Prior to Mercer, Ms. Shan was a Vice President and Treasurer for both Marsh and McLennan Companies and Pitney Bowes Inc. and was also a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan. In September 2018, Ms. Shan joined the Board of Directors of EPAM Systems Inc., a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and software development services. Ms. Shan earned B.S. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and School of Engineering and Applied Science, and a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business.

Edward Baker-Greene – Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer. Mr. Baker-Greene joined FactSet in June 2015 from Voya Financial, formerly ING, U.S., where he was Head of Human Resources for Retirement Solutions, Operations, and Information Technology. Previously, Mr. Baker-Greene worked at Fidelity Investments for 13 years. At Fidelity, he was a part of the Personal and Workplace Investing division, where he held roles in business and human resources capacities, including Senior Vice President/Managing Director, Relationship Management. Mr. Baker-Greene began his professional career as a lawyer focusing on employment law, recruiting, talent management, and human capital management. Mr. Baker-Greene received a B.A. from Tufts University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

On July 5, 2018, the Company entered into a separation of employment and general release agreement with Edward Baker-Greene, pursuant to which Mr. Baker-Greene will remain in his current position as Chief Human Resources Officer until his successor is appointed and will remain an employee of FactSet until his separation date of November 30, 2018.

Gene D. Fernandez – Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Product Officer. Mr. Fernandez joined FactSet in November 2017 from J.P. Morgan, where he served as the Chief Technology Officer, New Product Development. In this role, he developed the strategy and built the engineering function responsible for new product innovation. During a decade at J.P. Morgan, Mr. Fernandez held various other roles, including Chief Technology Officer for Client Technology and Research and Banking Information Technology. Prior to J.P. Morgan, he worked at Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch. Mr. Fernandez received a B.S. in Computer Science and Economics from Rutgers University.

Robert J. Robie – Executive Vice President, Head of Analytics and Trading Analytics Solutions. Mr. Robie joined FactSet in 2000 as a Product Sales Specialist. During his tenure at FactSet, Mr. Robie has held several positions of increasing responsibility, including Senior Director of Analytics and Director of Global Fixed Income and Analytics where he led sales and support efforts for FactSet’s fixed income product offering. Between 2004 and 2005, Mr. Robie worked at BTN Partners, where he worked in their quantitative portfolio management and performance division as an analyst. Mr. Robie holds a B.A. in Economics from Beloit College.

Rachel R. Stern – Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary__. Ms. Stern joined FactSet in 2001 as General Counsel. In addition to the Legal Department at FactSet, she is responsible for Facilities and Real Estate Planning; Third-Party Content and Strategic Partnerships; and the administration of our offices in Hyderabad and Manila. Ms. Stern is admitted to practice in New York, and Washington D.C., and as House Counsel in Connecticut. Ms. Stern received a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from the University of London and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

John W. Wiseman – Executive Vice President, Global Head of Sales and Client Solutions. Mr. Wiseman joined FactSet in 2004 as a Vice President in the sales department. During his tenure at FactSet, Mr. Wiseman has held several positions of responsibility including Senior Vice President, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships & Alliances. Prior to his experience with FactSet, Mr. Wiseman was a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. Mr. Wiseman received a B.A. in Political Science and Management Science from Duke University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Edinburgh.

Additional Information

Additional information with respect to FactSet’s business is included in the following pages and is incorporated herein by reference:

The following risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, cash flows, results of operations and the trading price of our common stock could decline. These risk factors do not identify all risks that we face; our operations could also be affected by factors that are not presently known to us or that we currently consider to be immaterial to our operations. Due to risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, our past financial results may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods. Investors should also refer to the other information set forth in this Report on Form 10-K, including “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements including the related notes. Investors should carefully consider all risks, including those disclosed, before making an investment decision.

Loss, corruption and misappropriation of data and information relating to clients and others

Many of our products, as well as our internal systems and processes, involve the storage and transmission of our own, as well as supplier and customer proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data, including client portfolios and strategies. Breaches of this confidentiality, should they occur, could result in the loss of clients and termination of arrangements with suppliers for the use of their data. We rely on a complex network of internal controls to protect the privacy of data. If we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, including any failure to implement required new or improved controls, unauthorized access or misappropriation of client or supplier data by an employee or an external third-party could occur. Additionally, the maintenance and enhancement of our systems may not be completely effective in preventing loss, unauthorized access or misappropriation. Data misappropriation, unauthorized access or data loss could instill a lack of confidence in our products and systems and damage our brand, reputation and business. Breaches of security measures could expose us, our clients or the individuals affected to a risk of loss or misuse of this information, potentially resulting in litigation and liability for us, as well as the loss of existing or potential clients. Many jurisdictions in which we operate have laws and regulations relating to data privacy and protection of personal information, including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) which became effective May 25, 2018. GDPR requires companies to satisfy new requirements regarding the handling of personal and sensitive data, including our use, protection and certain abilities of persons whose data is stored to correct or delete such data about themselves. Failure to comply with GDPR requirements could result in penalties of up to 4% of worldwide revenues. The law in this area continues to develop and the changing nature of privacy laws in the European Union and elsewhere could impact our processing of personal and sensitive information related to our content operations, employees, clients, and suppliers, and may expose us to claims of violations.

Successful cyber-attacks and the failure of cyber-security systems and procedures

In providing our software-enabled services to clients, we rely on information technology infrastructure that is primarily managed internally, along with some reliance placed on third-party service providers. We and these third-party service providers are subject to the risks of system failures and security breaches, including cyber-attacks, such as phishing scams, viruses and denials of service attacks, as well as employee errors or malfeasance. Our protective systems and procedures and those of third parties to which we are connected, such as cloud computing providers, may not be effective against these threats. We could suffer significant damage to our brand and reputation if a cyber-attack or other security incident were to allow unauthorized access to, or modification of, clients’ or suppliers’ data, other external data, internal data or information technology systems; if the services provided to clients were disrupted; or if products or services were perceived as having security vulnerabilities. The costs we would incur to address and resolve these security incidents would increase our expenses. These types of security incidents could also lead to lawsuits, regulatory investigations and claims, loss of business and increased legal liability. We also make acquisitions periodically. While significant effort is placed on addressing information technology security issues with respect to the acquired companies, we may inherit such risks when these acquisitions are integrated into our infrastructure.

A prolonged or recurring outage at our data centers and other business continuity disruptions at facilities could result in reduced service and the loss of clients

Our clients rely on us for the delivery of time-sensitive, up-to-date data and applications. Our business is dependent on our ability to process substantial volumes of data and transactions rapidly and efficiently on our computer-based networks and systems. Our computer operations, as well as our other business centers, and those of our suppliers and clients are vulnerable to interruption by fire, natural disaster, power loss, telecommunications failures, terrorist attacks, acts of war, civil unrest, Internet failures, computer viruses and security breaches, and other events beyond our reasonable control. We maintain back-up facilities and certain other redundancies for each of our major data centers to minimize the risk that any such event will disrupt those operations. However, a loss of our services involving our significant facilities may materially disrupt our business and may induce our clients to seek alternative data suppliers. Any such, losses or damages we incur could have a material adverse effect on our business. Although we seek to minimize these risks through security measures, controls, back-up data centers and emergency planning, there can be no assurance that such efforts will be successful or effective.

Competition in our industry may cause price reductions or loss of market share

We continue to experience intense competition across all markets for our products with competitors ranging in size from smaller, highly specialized, single-product businesses to multi-billion-dollar companies. While we believe the breadth and depth of our suite of products and applications offer benefits to our clients that are a competitive advantage, our competitors may offer price incentives to attract new business. Future competitive pricing pressures may result in decreased sales volumes and price reductions, resulting in lower revenues. Weak economic conditions may also result in clients seeking to utilize lower-cost information that is available from alternative sources. The impact of cost-cutting pressures across the industries we serve could lower demand for our products. Clients within the financial services industry that strive to reduce their operating costs may seek to reduce their spending on financial market data and related services, such as ours. If our clients consolidate their spending with fewer suppliers, by selecting suppliers with lower-cost offerings or by self-sourcing their needs for financial market data, our business could be negatively affected.

The continued shift from active to passive investing could negatively impact user count growth and revenues

The predominant investment strategy today is still active investing, which attempts to outperform the market. The main advantage of active management is the expectation that the investment managers will be able to outperform market indices. They make informed investment decisions based on their experiences, insights, knowledge and ability to identify opportunities that can translate into superior performance. The main advantage of passive investing is that it closely matches the performance of market indices. Passive investing requires little decision-making by investment managers and low operating costs which result in lower fees for the investor. While the majority of assets under management are still actively managed, outflows to passively managed index funds have increased in recent years. A continued shift to passive investing could reduce demand for the services of active investment managers and consequently, the demand of our clients for our services.

A decline in equity and/or fixed income returns may impact the buying power of investment management clients

Approximately 83.9% of our ASV is derived from our investment management clients. The profitability and management fees of these clients are tied to assets under management. An equity market decline not only depresses the value of assets under management but could cause a significant increase in redemption requests from our clients’ customers, further reducing their assets under management. Reduced client profits and management fees may cause our clients to cut costs. Moreover, extended declines in the equity and fixed income markets may reduce new fund or client creation. Each of these developments may result in lower demand for our services and workstations from investment managers that could affect our business.

Failure to develop and market new products and enhancements that maintain our technological and competitive position and failure to anticipate and respond to changes in the marketplace for our products

The market for our products is characterized by rapid technological change, including methods and speed of delivery, changes in client demands, development of new investment instruments and evolving industry standards, which can render our existing products less competitive, obsolete or unmarketable. As a result, our future success will continue to depend upon our ability to identify and develop new products and enhancements that address the future needs of our target markets and to respond to their changing standards and practices. We may not be successful in developing, introducing, marketing, licensing and implementing new products and enhancements on a timely and cost-effective basis or without impacting the stability and efficiency of existing products and customer systems. Further, any new products and enhancements may not adequately meet the requirements of the marketplace or achieve market acceptance. Our failure or inability to anticipate and respond to changes in the marketplace, including competitor and supplier developments, may also adversely affect our business, operations and growth.

Uncertainty, consolidation and business failures in the global investment banking industry may cause us to lose clients and users

Our investment banking clients that perform Mergers and Acquisitions (“M&A”) advisory work, capital markets services and equity research, account for approximately 16.1% of our ASV. A significant portion of these revenues relate to services deployed by the largest banks. Consolidation or contraction in this industry directly impacts the number of prospective clients and users within the sector. Thus, economic uncertainty for our global investment banking clients, consolidation and business failures in this sector could adversely affect our financial results and future growth.

Volatility in the financial markets may delay the spending pattern of clients and reduce future ASV growth

The decision on the part of large institutional clients to purchase our services often requires management-level sponsorship and typically depends upon the size of the client, with larger clients having more complex and time-consuming purchasing processes. The process is also influenced by market volatility. These characteristics often lead us to engage in relatively lengthy sales efforts. Purchases (and incremental ASV) may therefore be delayed as uncertainties in the financial markets may cause clients to remain cautious about capital and data content expenditures, particularly in uncertain economic environments.

Additional cost due to tax assessments resulting from ongoing and future audits by tax authorities as well as changes in tax laws

In the ordinary course of business, we are subject to tax examinations by various governmental tax authorities. The global and diverse nature of our business means that there could be additional examinations by governmental tax authorities and the resolution of ongoing and other probable audits which could impose a future risk to the results of our business. In the third quarter of fiscal 2018, we received a letter from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue relating to prior tax periods. The letter requested additional information in order to determine if we should have collected sales and use taxes on our sales to Massachusetts-based clients. Based upon a preliminary review of their request, it is possible that the State may assess sales and use taxes, underpayment penalties and interest, on previously recorded sales transactions. We have not recorded a liability as of August 31, 2018. While we believe that we will ultimately prevail, if we are required to pay an assessment, the amount could have a material impact on our consolidated financial position, cash flows and results of operations.

Changes in tax laws or the terms of tax treaties, in a jurisdiction where we are subject to tax could increase our taxes payable. On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, (the "Act") was signed into law. The Act enacts broad changes to the existing U.S. Internal Revenue code, including reducing the federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, amongst many other complex provisions. The ultimate impact of such tax reform may differ from our current estimate due to changes in interpretations and assumptions made by us as well as the issuance of further regulations or guidance.

Failure to identify, integrate, or realize anticipated benefits of acquisitions and strains on resources as a result of growth

There can be no assurance that we will be able to identify suitable candidates for successful acquisition at acceptable prices. Additionally, there may be integration risks or other risks resulting from acquired businesses. As we continue to pursue selective acquisitions to support our business strategy, we seek to be a disciplined acquirer. Our ability to achieve the expected returns and synergies from past and future acquisitions and alliances depends in part upon our ability to integrate the offerings, technology, sales, administrative functions and personnel of these businesses effectively into our core business. We cannot guarantee that our acquired businesses will perform at the levels anticipated. In addition, past and future acquisitions may subject us to unanticipated risks or liabilities or disrupt operations.

Growth, such as the addition of new clients and acquisitions, puts demands on our resources, including our internal systems and infrastructure. These may require improvements or replacement to meet the additional demands of a larger organization. Further, the addition of new clients and the implementation of such improvements would require additional management time and resources. These needs may result in increased costs that could negatively impact results of operations. Failure to implement needed improvements, such as improved scalability, could result in a deterioration in the performance of our internal systems and negatively impact the performance of our business.

Failure to enter into or renew contracts supplying new and existing data sets or products on competitive terms

We collect and aggregate third-party content from thousands of data suppliers, news sources, exchanges, brokers and contributors into our own dedicated online service, which clients access to perform their analyses. Clients have access to the data and content found within our databases. These databases are important to our operations as they provide clients with key information. We have entered into third-party content agreements with varying lengths, which in some cases can be terminated on one year’s notice at predefined dates, and in other cases on shorter notice. Some of our content provider agreements are with competitors, who may attempt to make renewals difficult or expensive. We seek to maintain favorable contractual relationships with our data suppliers, including those that are also competitors. We also make efforts, when reasonable, to locate alternative sources to ensure we are not dependent on any one third-party data supplier. We believe we are not dependent on any one significant third-party data supplier. Our failure to be able to maintain these relationships or the failure of our suppliers to deliver accurate data or in a timely manner could adversely affect our business.

Inability to hire and retain key qualified personnel

Our business is based on successfully attracting, motivating and retaining talented employees. Competition for talent, especially engineering personnel, is strong. We need technical resources such as engineers to help develop new products and enhance existing services. We rely upon sales personnel to sell our products and services and maintain healthy business relationships. If we are unsuccessful in our recruiting efforts, or if we are unable to retain key employees, our ability to develop and deliver successful products and services may be adversely affected and could have a material, adverse effect on our business.

Increased accessibility to free or relatively inexpensive information sources may reduce demand for our products

Each year, an increasing amount of free or relatively inexpensive information becomes available, particularly through the Internet, and this trend may continue. The availability of free or relatively inexpensive information may reduce demand for our products. While we believe our service offering is distinguished by such factors as customization, timeliness, accuracy, ease-of-use, completeness and other value-added factors, if users choose to obtain the information they need from public or other sources, then our business and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Third parties may claim we infringe upon their intellectual property rights or may infringe upon our intellectual property rights

We may receive notice from others claiming that we have infringed upon their intellectual property rights. Responding to these claims may require us to enter into royalty and licensing agreements on favorable terms, incur litigation costs, enter into settlements, stop selling or redesign affected products, pay damages and satisfy indemnification commitments with our clients or suppliers under contractual provisions of various license arrangements. Additionally, third parties may copy, infringe or otherwise profit from unauthorized use of our intellectually property rights requiring us to litigate to protect our rights. Certain countries may not offer adequate protection of proprietary rights. If we are required to defend ourselves or assert our rights or take such actions mentioned, our operating margins may decline as a result. We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, expenditures to acquire the use of technology and intellectual property rights as part of our strategy to manage this risk.

Operations outside the U.S. involve additional requirements and burdens that we may not be able to control or manage successfully

In fiscal 2018, approximately 38% of our revenues related to operations located outside the U.S. In addition, a significant number of our employees, approximately 74%, are located in offices outside the U.S. We expect our growth to continue outside the U.S., with non-U.S. revenues accounting for an increased portion of total revenues in the future. Our non-U.S. operations involve risks that differ from or are in addition to those faced by our U.S. operations. These risks include: difficulties in developing products, services and technology tailored to the needs of non-U.S. clients, including in emerging markets; different employment laws and rules; rising labor costs in low-wage countries; difficulties in staffing and managing personnel that are located outside the U.S.; different regulatory, legal and compliance requirements, including in the areas of privacy and data protection, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, trade sanctions and currency controls, marketing and sales and other barriers to conducting business; social and cultural differences, such as languages; diverse or less stable political, operating and economic environments and market fluctuations; civil disturbances or other catastrophic events that reduce business activity; limited recognition of our brand and intellectual property protection; differing accounting principles and standards; restrictions on or adverse tax consequences from entity management efforts; and changes in U.S. or foreign tax laws. If we are not able to adapt efficiently to or manage the business effectively in markets outside the U.S., our business prospects and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.

Exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates and the failure of hedging arrangements

Due to the global nature of our operations, we conduct business outside the U.S. in several currencies including the British Pound Sterling, Euro, Indian Rupee, Japanese Yen, and Philippine Peso. To the extent that our international activities increase in the future, our exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates may increase as well. To manage this exposure, we utilize derivative instruments (such as foreign currency forward contracts). By their nature, all derivative instruments involve elements of market and credit risk. The market risk associated with these instruments resulting from currency exchange movements is expected to offset the market risk of the underlying transactions, assets and liabilities being hedged. Credit risk is managed through the continuous monitoring of exposure to the counterparties associated with these instruments. Our primary objective in holding derivatives is to reduce the volatility of earnings with changes in foreign currency. Although we believe that our foreign exchange hedging policies are reasonable and prudent under the circumstances, our attempt to hedge against these risks may not be successful, which could cause an adverse impact on our results of operations.

Legislative and regulatory changes in the environments in which we and our clients operate

Many of our clients operate within a highly regulated environment and must comply with governmental legislation and regulations. The U.S. regulators have increased their focus on the regulation of the financial services industry. Increased regulation of our clients may increase their expenses, causing them to seek to limit or reduce their costs from outside services such as ours. Additionally, if our clients are subjected to investigations or legal proceedings they may be adversely impacted, possibly leading to their liquidation, bankruptcy, receivership, reduction in assets under management, or diminished operations, which would adversely affect our revenues. In the European Union, the new version of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, also known as “MiFID II” became effective in January 2018. We believe that compliance with MiFID II requirements is time-consuming and costly for the investment managers who are subject to it and will cause clients to adapt their pricing models and business practices significantly. These increased costs may impact our clients’ spending and may cause some investment managers to lose business or withdraw from the market, which may adversely affect demand for our services. However, MiFID II may also present us with new business opportunities for new service offerings. In addition to the MiFID II requirements, we further believe the proposed withdrawal of the U.K. from the European Union (also known as Brexit) on terms still being negotiated, has created economic uncertainty among our client base. This uncertainty may have an impact on our clients’ expansion or spending plans, which may in turn negatively impact our revenues or growth.

As a business, we are also subject to numerous laws and regulations in the U.S. and in the other countries in which we operate. These laws, rules, and regulations, and their interpretations, may change in the future, and compliance with these changes may increase our costs or cause us to make changes in or otherwise limit our business practices. In addition, the global nature and scope of our business operations make it more difficult to monitor areas that may be subject to regulatory and compliance risk. If we fail to comply with any applicable law, rule, or regulation, we could be subject to claims and fines and suffer reputational damage.

Adverse resolution of litigation or governmental investigations

We are party to lawsuits in the normal course of business. Litigation and governmental investigations can be expensive, lengthy and disruptive to normal business operations. Moreover, the results of complex legal proceedings are difficult to predict. Unfavorable resolution of lawsuits could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition. For additional information regarding legal matters, see Item 3, Legal Proceedings, contained in Part I of this Report on Form 10-K.

Failure to maintain reputation

We enjoy a positive reputation in the marketplace. Our ability to attract and retain clients and employees is affected by external perceptions of our brand and reputation. Reputational damage from negative perceptions or publicity could affect our ability to attract and retain clients and employees and our ability to maintain our pricing for our products. Although we monitor developments for areas of potential risk to our reputation and brand, negative perceptions or publicity could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

As of August 31, 2018, we leased approximately 202,000 square feet of office space at our headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut. On February 14, 2018, we entered into a new lease agreement to relocate our corporate headquarters to 45 Glover Avenue in Norwalk, Connecticut. The new location will comprise approximately 173,000 square feet of office space. We expect to take possession of the newly leased property on or around January 1, 2019, for fit-out purposes. We will continue to occupy our existing headquarters space until the new headquarters is ready for occupancy, currently estimated to be in the second quarter of fiscal 2020.

Including new lease agreements executed during fiscal 2018, our Company’s worldwide leased space increased to approximately 1,750,000 square feet as of August 31, 2018, up 607,000 square feet, or 53.1%, from August 31, 2017 and includes properties at the following locations:

We have data content collection offices located in Hyderabad, India and Manila, the Philippines, which benefit all our operating segments. Additionally, we have data centers that support our technological infrastructure located in Manchester, New Hampshire, Piscataway, New Jersey and Reston, Virginia. The other locations listed in the table above are leased office space. The leases expire on various dates through 2031. We believe the amount of leased space as of August 31, 2018 is adequate for our current needs and that additional space is available for lease to meet any future needs.

From time to time, the Company is subject to legal proceedings, claims and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business, including intellectual property litigation. Based on currently available information, the Company’s management does not believe that the ultimate outcome of these unresolved matters against FactSet, individually or in the aggregate, is likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company's consolidated financial position, its annual results of operations or its annual cash flows. However, these matters are subject to inherent uncertainties and management’s view of these matters may change in the future.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

Part II

Market Information – Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol FDS. The following table sets forth, for each fiscal period indicated, the high and low sales prices per share of our common stock as reported on the NYSE:

Holders of Record – As of October 24, 2018, we had approximately 177,777 holders of record of our common stock. However, because many of our shares of common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of stockholders represented by these record holders. The closing price of our common stock on October 24, 2018, was $215.30 per share as reported on the NYSE.

Dividends - During fiscal years 2018 and 2017, our Board of Directors declared the following dividends on our common stock:

All the above cash dividends were paid from existing cash resources on a quarterly basis. Future dividend payments will depend on our earnings, capital requirements, financial condition and other factors considered relevant by us, and is subject to final determination by our Board of Directors.

There were no sales of unregistered equity securities during fiscal 2018.

The following table provides a month-to-month summary of the share repurchase activity under the current stock repurchase program during the three months ended August 31, 2018 (in thousands, except per share data):

Securities Authorized for Issuance u__nder Equity Compensation Plans – see Part III of this Report on Form 10-K

Stock P****erformance G****raph

The annual changes for the five-year period shown in the graph below are based on the assumption that $100 had been invested in our common stock, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the NYSE Composite Index and the Dow Jones U.S. Financial Services Index on August 31, 2013. The total cumulative dollar returns shown on the graph represent the value that such investments would have had on August 31, 2018. Stockholder returns over the indicated period are based on historical data and should not be considered indicative of future stockholder returns.

The information contained in the above graph shall not be deemed to be soliciting material or filed or incorporated by reference in future filings with the SEC, or subject to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent that FactSet specifically incorporates it by reference into a document f__iled under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

The following selected financial data has been derived from our consolidated financial statements. This financial data should be read in conjunction with Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Report on Form 10-K.

Consolidated Statements of Income Data

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) is designed to provide a reader of our financial statements with a narrative from the perspective of our management on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and certain other factors that may affect our future results. Our MD&A is presented in the following sections:

The MD&A should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and related Notes included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Report on Form 10-K.

Executive Overview

We are a global provider of integrated financial information, analytical applications and industry-leading service for the global investment community. We deliver insight and information to investment professionals through our analytics, service, content, and technology. These professionals include portfolio managers, investment research professionals, investment bankers, risk and performance analysts, and wealth advisors. From streaming real-time data to historical information, including quotes, estimates, news and commentary, we offer proprietary and third-party content through desktop, web, mobile and off-platform solutions. Our broad application suite offers tools and resources including company and industry analyses, full screening tools, portfolio analysis, risk profiles, alpha-testing, portfolio optimization and research management solutions. With recent acquisitions, we have continued to expand our solutions across the investment lifecycle from idea generation to performance and client reporting. Our revenues are derived from subscriptions to products and services such as workstations, analytics, enterprise data, research management, and trade execution.

2018 Year in Review

Fiscal 2018 revenue growth can be attributed to achievements in the delivery, integration and consumption of our financial data and analytical applications by the global investment community. As of August 31, 2018, annual subscription value (“ASV”) totaled $1.39 billion, an increase of 5.8% over the prior year and 5.7% organically. Revenues increased 10.6% year over year, of which, 5.6% of the increase can be attributed to organic revenue growth. In addition, clients and users reached new highs of 5,142 and 91,897, respectively, in fiscal 2018. We returned $393.4 million to stockholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends during the fiscal year.

We continued to diversity our suite of solutions through the integration of our acquisitions and new product investments. We enhanced our Multi-Asset Class (“MAC”) risk models, leading to several global client wins and strengthening our position in the analytics market. We expanded our Content and Technology Solutions (“CTS”) workflow and launched Open:FactSet Marketplace, a new platform to address the demand for integrating both financial and alternative data. We recently added Data Exploration, a platform for financial professionals to evaluate quickly alternative and financial datasets and build investment applications in a fully hosted environment.

FactSet released its first annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report (“CSR”), highlighting the Company’s commitments to our clients, employees, stockholders, and communities. The report covered the fiscal year ending August 31, 2017, highlighting our recent achievements and setting a trajectory for our future CSR goals.

Client Service / Consultants

A client-centric approach has always been a key foundation of our success at FactSet. We support our powerful information and analytical applications with a team of financial data and modeling experts. Client satisfaction is a key metric by which we measure the success of our service. According to our global client satisfaction survey, greater than 95% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with FactSet’s support. The depth of our knowledge, the data behind the models and the complex mathematics substantiating the answers each create an opportunity for us to forge close working relationships with our user community.

Our industry-leading customer care is largely due to the talent of our employee population. As of August 31, 2018, employee headcount was 9,571, up 5.5% from a year ago. This increase in headcount was primarily in client-focused positions with dedication to client loyalty, supporting our recent global client retention rate of greater than 95% of ASV as of August 31, 2018. Our consulting teams have been trained to listen to our clients’ needs and transfer this knowledge directly to the product development teams, helping us transform suggestions into new or enhanced product offerings.

Educating our clients is also an important component of our service. Not only do we teach our users the nuances of our software and content offerings, but also FactSet personnel are often thought-leaders in a particular area of financial modeling in our rapidly evolving industry. As a result, clients look to FactSet as a trusted partner to stay on the forefront of financial modeling and analysis.

Key Metrics

The following is a review of our key metrics:

| | (4) | In the second quarter of fiscal 2017, we changed our user count definition to include users from workstations previously not captured due to certain product bundling and _users of the StreetAccount web product. The prior year user count was restated to reflect this change for comparison purp

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In the normal course of business, we are exposed to foreign currency exchange risk that could impact our financial position and results of operations.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

We conduct business outside the U.S. in several currencies including the British Pound Sterling, Euro, Indian Rupee, Japanese Yen and Philippine Peso. The financial statements of these foreign subsidiaries are translated into U.S. dollars using period-end rates of exchange for assets and liabilities and average rates for the period for revenues and expenses. Over the next 12 months, our non-U.S. dollar denominated revenues expected to be recognized are estimated to be $92.8 million while our non-U.S. dollar denominated expenses are estimated to be $324.5 million, which translates into a net foreign currency exposure of $231.7 million. To the extent that our international activities recorded in local currencies increase in the future, our exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates will correspondingly increase. To manage the exposures related to the effects of foreign exchange rate fluctuations, we utilize derivative instruments (foreign currency forward contracts). By their nature, all derivative instruments involve, to varying degrees, elements of market and credit risk. The market risk associated with these instruments resulting from currency exchange movements is expected to offset the market risk of the underlying transactions, assets and liabilities being hedged. We do not believe there is significant risk of loss in the event of non-performance by the counterparties associated with these instruments because these transactions are executed with a major financial institution. Further, our policy is to deal with counterparties having a minimum investment grade or better credit rating. Credit risk is managed through the continuous monitoring of exposures to such counterparties. Our primary objective in holding derivatives is to reduce the volatility of earnings associated with changes in foreign currency.

Foreign Currency Hedges

As of August 31, 2018, we maintained the following foreign currency forward contracts to hedge our exposures:

As of August 31, 2018, the gross notional value of foreign currency forward contracts to purchase Philippine Pesos with U.S. dollars was PHP 2.8 billion, to purchase Indian Rupees with U.S. dollars was Rs. 3.6 billion, to purchase Euros with U.S. dollars was € 22.0 million and to purchase British Pound Sterling with U.S. dollars was £14.0 million.

There were no other outstanding foreign currency forward contracts as of August 31, 2018. A gain on derivatives of $3.1 million was recorded into operating income during fiscal 2018, compared to a loss of $2.9 million in fiscal 2017.The gains and losses on foreign currency forward contracts mitigate the variability in operating expenses associated with currency movements. These transactions are designated and accounted for as cash flow hedges in accordance with applicable accounting guidance. The changes in fair value for these foreign currency forward contracts are initially reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss and subsequently reclassified into operating expenses when the hedged exposure affects earnings. The related cash flow impacts of all our derivative activities are reflected as cash flows from operating activities.

A sensitivity analysis was performed based on the estimated fair value of all foreign currency forward contracts outstanding at August 31, 2018. If the U.S. dollar had been 10% weaker, the fair value of outstanding foreign currency forward contracts would have increased by $7.3 million, which would have had an immaterial impact on our Consolidated Balance Sheet. Such a change in fair value of our financial instruments would be substantially offset by changes in our expense base. If we had no hedges in place as of August 31, 2018, a hypothetical 10% weaker U.S. dollar against all foreign currencies from the quoted foreign currency exchange rates at August 31, 2018, would result in a decrease in operating income by $28.8 million over the next 12 months. A hypothetical 10% weaker U.S. dollar against all foreign currencies at August 31, 2018 would increase the fair value of total assets by $65.3 million and equity by $61.2 million.

Volatility in the British Pound Sterling exchange rate is expected to continue in the short term as the UK negotiates its exit from the European Union. In the longer term, any impact from Brexit will depend on, in part, on the outcome of tariff, regulatory, and other negotiations.

Interest Rate Risk

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The fair market value of our cash and investments at August 31, 2018, was $237.9 million. Our cash and cash equivalents consist of demand deposits and money market funds with original maturities of three months or less and are reported at fair value. Our investments consist of both mutual funds and certificates of deposits as both are part of our investment strategy. These mutual funds and certificates of deposits are included as Investments (short-term) on our Consolidated Balance Sheet as the mutual funds can be liquidated at our discretion and the certificates of deposit have original maturities greater than three months, but less than one year. The mutual funds and certificates are held for investment and are not considered debt securities. It is anticipated that the fair market value of our cash and investments will continue to be immaterially affected by fluctuations in interest rates. Preservation of principal is the primary goal of our cash and investment policy. Pursuant to our established investment guidelines, we try to achieve high levels of credit quality, liquidity and diversification. Our investment guidelines do not permit us to invest in puts, calls, strips, short sales, straddles, options, commodities, precious metals, futures or investments on margin. Because we have a restrictive investment policy, our financial exposure to fluctuations in interest rates is expected to remain low. We do not believe that the value or liquidity of our cash and investments have been significantly impacted by current market events.

Debt

As of August 31, 2018, the fair value of our long-term debt was $575.0 million, which approximated its carrying amount and was determined based on quoted market prices for debt with a similar maturity. It is anticipated that the fair market value of our debt will continue to be immaterially affected by fluctuations in interest rates and we do not believe that the value of our debt has been significantly impacted by current market events. The debt bears interest on the outstanding principal amount at a rate equal to the daily LIBOR rate plus a spread using a debt leverage pricing grid currently at 1.00%. During fiscal years 2018, 2017 and 2016, we recorded interest expense of $15.9 million, $8.4 million and $3.0 million, respectively, on our outstanding debt amounts. Assuming all terms of our outstanding long-term debt remained the same, a hypothetical 25 basis point change (up or down) in the one-month LIBOR rate would result in a $1.4 million change in our annual interest expense.

Index to Consolidated Financial Statements

Management’s Statement of Responsibility for Financial Statements

FactSet’s consolidated financial statements are prepared by management, which is responsible for their fairness, integrity and objectivity. The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and include amounts based on management’s estimates and judgments. All financial information in this Report on Form 10-K has been presented on a basis consistent with the information included in the accompanying financial statements.

FactSet’s policies and practices reflect corporate governance initiatives that are compliant with the listing requirements of the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ Stock Market and the corporate governance requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Management, with oversight by the Company’s Board of Directors, has established and maintains a strong ethical climate so that its affairs are conducted to the highest standards of personal and corporate conduct.

FactSet maintains accounting systems, including internal accounting controls, designed to provide reasonable assurance of the reliability of financial records and the protection of assets. The concept of reasonable assurance is based on recognition that the cost of a system should not exceed the related benefits. The effectiveness of those systems depends primarily upon the careful selection of financial and other managers, clear delegation of authority and assignment of accountability, inculcation of high business ethics and conflict-of-interest standards, policies and procedures for coordinating the management of corporate resources, and the leadership and commitment of top management. In compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, FactSet assessed its internal control over financial reporting as of August 31, 2018 and issued a report (see below).

The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, which consists solely of independent non-employee directors, is responsible for overseeing the functioning of the accounting system and related controls and the preparation of annual financial statements. The Audit Committee periodically meets with management and the independent accountants to review and evaluate their accounting, auditing and financial reporting activities and responsibilities, including management’s assessment of internal control over financial reporting. The independent registered public accounting firm has full and free access to the Audit Committee and has met with the committee, with and without management present.

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for FactSet. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Management (with the participation of the principal executive officer and principal financial officer) conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of FactSet’s internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this evaluation, management concluded that FactSet’s internal control over financial reporting was effective as of August 31, 2018. Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, has audited the effectiveness of FactSet’s internal control over financial reporting and has issued a report on FactSet’s internal control over financial reporting, which is included in their report on the subsequent page.

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Directors and Stockholders of FactSet Research Systems Inc.

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited FactSet Research System Inc.’s (the Company) internal control over financial reporting as of August 31, 2018, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of August 31, 2018, based on the COSO criteria.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the 2018 consolidated financial statements of the Company and our report dated October 30, 2018, expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordan

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Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including the principal executive officer and principal financial officer, we have evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as of the end of the annual period covered by this report. Based on that evaluation, the principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “Exchange Act”) are effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in Securities and Exchange Commission rules and forms and is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

See Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting under Item 8 of this Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

See Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm under Item 8 of this Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated herein by reference.

In the Current Report on Form 8-K filed on September 6, 2018, the Company reported in connection with her hiring that Helen L. Shan, its Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, would be granted an annual equity award with a grant date value of $400,000 in conjunction with the Company’s fiscal 2019 equity grant and that such grant was estimated to be made in early November 2018. In fact, this grant is expected to be made in November 2019 in connection with the Company’s 2019 equity grants at the same time as all other annual option grants are made to executives in calendar year 2019.

PART III

The information required by this item relating to our directors and nominees, relating to compliance with Section 16(a) of the Securities Act of 1934, and relating to our Audit Committee is included under the captions “Corporate Governance” and “Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance” in the definitive Proxy Statement dated October 30, 2018, and all such information is incorporated herein by reference.

Pursuant to General Instruction G(3) of Form 10-K, the information required by this item relating to our executive officers is included under the caption “Executive Officers of the Registrant” in Part I of this Report on Form 10-K.

The Company has adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that applies to all employees, including the Company’s principal executive officer, principal financial officer and principal accounting officer, all other officers and the Company’s directors. A copy of this code is available on the Company’s website at https://investor.factset.com on the Leadership and Corporate Governance page. The Company intends to satisfy any disclosure requirement under Item 5.05 of Form 8-K regarding an amendment to, or waiver from, a provision of this code of ethics by posting such information on our website at the address and general location specified above.

The Corporate Governance Guidelines and the charters of the committees of our Board of Directors, including the Audit Committee, Compensation and Talent Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee are also available on our website at https://investor.factset.com on the Leadership and Corporate Governance page. The guidelines, charters and code of ethics are also available in print free of charge to any stockholder who submits a written request to our Investor Relations department at our corporate headquarters at 601 Merritt 7, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.

The information required by this item relating to compensation is included under the captions “Executive Compensation,” “Compensation Discussion and Analysis,” “Compensation and Talent Committee Report,” “Director Compensation Program,” including “Equity Compensation,” and “Director Compensation Table” of the definitive Proxy Statement dated October 30, 2018, and all such information is incorporated herein by reference.

The information required by this item relating to security ownership of certain beneficial owners and management is included under the caption “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management”, in the definitive Proxy Statement dated October 30, 2018, and such information is incorporated herein by reference.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

The following table summarizes as of August 31, 2018, the number of outstanding equity awards granted to employees and non-employee directors, as well as the number of equity awards remaining available for future issuance, under FactSet’s equity compensation plans:

The information required by this item relating to review, approval or ratification of transactions with related persons is included under the caption “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions” and all the information required by this item relating to director independence is included under the caption “Corporate Governance” contained in the definitive Proxy Statement dated October 30, 2018, all of which information is incorporated herein by reference.

The information required by this item is included under the caption “Proposal 2: Ratification of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm” in the definitive Proxy Statement dated October 30, 2018, all of which information is incorporated herein by reference.

PART IV

Schedule II – Valuation and Qualifying Accounts

Years ended August 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 (in thousands):

Additional financial statement schedules are omitted since they are either not required, not applicable, or the information is otherwise included.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this Report on Form 10-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this Report on Form 10-K has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.