FactSet Research Systems 10-Q 2022-02-28

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-Q

For the quarterly period ended February 28, 2022

OR

For the transition period from ______to ______

Commission File Number: 1-11869

FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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

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

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 x No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted 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 x No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an 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.

Large accelerated filer x Accelerated filer ☐ Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐ Emerging growth company ☐

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 Exchange Act).

Yes ☐ No x

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s common stock, $.01 par value, as of March 28, 2022 was 37,896,579.

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FactSet Research Systems Inc.

Form 10-Q

For the Quarter Ended February 28, 2022

Index

For additional information about FactSet Research Systems Inc. and access to its Annual Reports to Stockholders and Securities and Exchange Commission filings, free of charge, please visit FactSet’s website (https://investor.factset.com). Any information on or linked from the website is not incorporated by reference into this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

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Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

FactSet Research Systems Inc. has made statements under the captions Part I, Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, Part II, Item 1A. Risk Factors, and in other sections of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three and six months ended February 28, 2022, that are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify these statements by words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "intends," "projects," "indicates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," and similar expressions.

These forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us, may include projections of our future financial performance and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about future events. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. There are many important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including the numerous factors discussed under Item 1A. Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2021, that should be specifically considered.

Although we believe the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. We do not intend, and are under no duty, to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q to reflect actual results, future events or circumstances, or revised expectations.

We intend that all forward-looking statements we make will be subject to safe harbor protection of the federal securities laws as found in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

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PART I – FINANCIAL INFORMATION

FactSet Research Systems Inc.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME – Unaudited

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

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FactSet Research Systems Inc.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME – Unaudited

*For the three and six months ended February 28, 2022, the net unrealized gain on cash flow hedges were net of a tax expense of $468 thousand and a tax expense of $469 thousand, respectively. For the three and six months ended February 28, 2021, the net unrealized gain on cash flow hedges were net of a tax expense of $441 thousand and a tax expense of $400 thousand, respectively.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated Financia**l Statements.

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FactSet Research Systems Inc.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS – Unaudited

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This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ("MD&A") should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2021, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below and those discussed in Item 1A. Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended August 31, 2021.

Our 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:

• Executive Overview

• Annual Subscription Value ("ASV")

• Client and User Additions

• Employee Headcount

• Results of Operations

• Non-GAAP Financial Measures

• Liquidity and Capital Resources

• Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

• Foreign Currency

• Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

• New Accounting Pronouncements

Executive Overview

FactSet Research Systems Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries (collectively, "we," "our," "us," the "Company" or "FactSet") is a global financial data and analytics company with an open and flexible digital platform which focuses on driving the investment community to see more, think bigger, and do its best work. Our strategy is to build the leading open content and analytics platform that delivers a differentiated advantage for our clients’ success.

For over 40 years, the FactSet platform has delivered expansive data, sophisticated analytics, and flexible technology that global financial professionals need to power their critical investment workflows. More than 171,000 investment professionals including asset managers, asset owners, bankers, wealth managers, corporate users, private equity and venture capital professionals, and others use our personalized solutions to identify opportunities, explore ideas, and gain a competitive advantage. Our solutions span investment research, portfolio construction and analysis, trade execution, performance measurement, risk management, and reporting across the investment lifecycle.

We provide financial data and market intelligence on securities, companies, industries and people to enable our clients to research investment ideas, as well as offering them the capabilities to analyze, monitor and manage their portfolios. We combine dedicated client service with open and flexible technology offerings, such as a configurable desktop and mobile platform, comprehensive data feeds, cloud-based digital solutions, and application programming interfaces ("APIs"). Our revenues are primarily derived from subscriptions to our products and services such as workstations, portfolio analytics, and market data.

We advance our industry by comprehensively understanding our clients’ workflows, solving their most complex challenges, and helping them achieve their goals. By providing them with the leading open content and analytics platform, an expansive universe of concorded data they can trust, next-generation workflow support designed to help them grow and see their next best action, and the industry’s most committed service specialists, we put our clients in a position to outperform.

We are focused on growing our business through three reportable segments ("segments"): the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Refer to Note 16, Segment Information, in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for further discussion. Within each of our segments, we deliver insight and information through our three workflows: Research & Advisory Solutions; Analytics & Trading Solutions; and Content & Technology Solutions ("CTS").

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Business Strategy

Client needs and market dynamics continue to evolve at an accelerated pace with an increasing demand for differentiated, personalized, and connected data, an ongoing shift to multi-asset class investing, and cost rationalization as the shift from active to passive investing continues. Clients are seeking new cloud-based solutions that enable self-service and automation, open and flexible systems, and increased efficiencies when integrating and managing data as part of their own broader digital transformations.

FactSet’s strategy focuses on building the leading open content and analytics platform that delivers differentiated advantages for our clients’ success, in keeping with our purpose of enabling the investment community to see more, think bigger and do their best work. We want to be the trusted partner of choice for clients, to anticipate their needs and provide them with the most innovative solutions to make them more efficient. This includes transforming the way our clients discover, decide, and act on an opportunity using our digital platform; purposefully increasing our pace and speed to market by streamlining how we work; and investing in our future workforce. To execute on our strategy, we plan on the following:

• Growing our digital platform**: Scaling up our content refinery by providing the most comprehensive and connected inventory of industry, proprietary, and third-party data for the financial community, including granular data for key industry verticals, private companies, wealth, and environmental social and governance ("ESG"). Driving next-generation workflow solutions by creating personalized and integrated solutions to streamline workflows which includes solutions for asset managers, asset owners, sell side, wealth and corporate clients. Our goal is to deliver tangible efficiencies to our clients by connecting data and analytics with a cloud based eco-system, enabling them to manage work more effectively through an integrated investment lifecycle.

• Delivering execution excellence**: Building a more agile and digital first-minded organization that increases the speed of our product creation and go-to-market strategy. To capitalize on market trends and give our clients innovative tools, we plan to release new products built on a cloud-based digital foundation as well as migrating our existing data and applications to the cloud. Additionally, we expect to rationalize our existing product portfolio to reinvest in higher return products.

• Driving a growth mindset**: Recruiting, training and empowering a diverse and operationally efficient workforce to drive sustainable growth. To drive a more performance-based culture, we are investing in talent who can create leading technological solutions, efficiently execute our go-to-market strategy and achieve our growth targets.

At the center of our strategy is the relentless focus on our clients and their FactSet experience. We want to be a trusted partner and service provider, offering hyper-personalized digital products for clients to research ideas, uncover relevant insights, and leverage cognitive computing to help get the most out of their data and analytics. Additionally, we continually evaluate business opportunities such as acquisitions and partnerships to help us expand our capabilities and competitive differentiators across the investment portfolio lifecycle.

We are focused on growing our global business in three segments: the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. We believe this geographical strategic alignment helps us better manage our resources, target our solutions and interact with our clients. We further execute on our growth strateg

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

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

We are exposed to foreign currency exchange risk as we conduct business outside the U.S. in several currencies including British Pound Sterling, Euro, Indian Rupee, and Philippine Peso. Changes in the exchange rates for such currencies into U.S. dollars can affect our revenues, earnings, and the carrying values of our assets and liabilities in our consolidated balance sheet, either positively or negatively.

To manage the exposures related to the effects of foreign exchange rate fluctuations, we utilize derivative instruments (foreign currency forward contracts). The changes in fair value for these foreign currency forward contracts are initially reported as a component of Accumulated other comprehensive loss ("AOCL") and subsequently reclassified into operating expenses when the hedged exposure affects earnings.

A sensitivity analysis was performed based on the estimated fair value of all foreign currency forward contracts outstanding at February 28, 2022. If the U.S. dollar had been 10% weaker, the fair value of outstanding foreign currency forward contracts would have increased by $9.7 million. 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 February 28, 2022, a hypothetical 10% weaker U.S. dollar against all foreign currencies from the quoted foreign currency exchange rates at February 28, 2022, with operating results held constant in local currencies, would result in a decrease in operating income by $41.5 million over the next 12 months. A hypothetical 10% weaker U.S. dollar against all foreign currencies at February 28, 2022 would have increased the fair value of total assets by $67.9 million and equity by $47.1 million.

Refer to Note 6, Derivative Instruments in the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for more information on our foreign currency exposures and our foreign currency forward contracts.

Interest Rate Risk

Cash and Cash Equivalents and Investments

The fair market value of our Cash and cash equivalents and Investments at February 28, 2022 was $808.0 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. We are exposed to interest rate risk through fluctuations of interest rates on our investments. As we have a restrictive investment policy, our financial exposure to fluctuations in interest rates is expected to remain low.

Debt

2019 Credit Agreement

As of February 28, 2022, we had long-term debt outstanding under the 2019 Revolving Credit Facility with a principal balance of $575.0 million. The debt bears interest on the outstanding principle at a rate equal to LIBOR plus a spread, using a debt leverage pricing grid. The variable rate of interest on our long-term debt created exposure to interest rate volatility due to changes in LIBOR. To mitigate this exposure, on March 5, 2020, we entered into the 2020 Swap Agreement (as defined in Note 6, Derivative Instruments) with a notional amount of $287.5 million to hedge the variable interest rate obligation, effectively converting the floating interest rate to fixed for the hedged portion. Thus, our exposure was limited to base interest rate risk on floating rate borrowings in excess of any amounts that are not hedged, or $287.5 million of our outstanding principal balance. 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 provided exposure of $0.7 million to our annual interest expense.

Refer to Note 11, Debt, in the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part 1, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for additional information regarding our outstanding debt obligations.

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As of March 1, 2022, we repaid in full and terminated our 2019 Credit Agreement. Refer to Note 17, Subsequent Events for more information on the termination.

2022 Credit Agreement

On March 1, 2022, FactSet Research Systems Inc. borrowed $1.0 billion under the 2022 Term Facility and $250.0 million under the 2022 Revolving Facility. The debt will bear interest on the outstanding principle at an applicable Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") rate plus a spread, using a debt leverage pricing grid. The variable rate of interest on our long-term debt creates exposure to interest rate volatility due to changes in SOFR. To mitigate this exposure, on March 1, 2022, we entered into the 2022 Swap Agreement. Refer to Note 17, Subsequent Events, in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for more information on these defined terms, our 2022 Term Facility, 2022 Revolving Facility and our 2022 Swap Agreement.

Current market events have not required us to modify materially or change our financial risk management strategies with respect to our exposures to foreign currency exchange risk and interest rate risk.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, including our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, 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 amended (the "Exchange Act"), as of the end of the 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 are effective as of the end of the period covered by this report.

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 three and six months ended February 28, 2022 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II – OTHER INFORMATION

ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

The information set forth under "Contingencies" in Note 12, Commitments and Contingencies, contained in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q is incorporated by reference in answer to this Item.

There were no material changes during the six months ended February 28, 2022 to the risk factors identified in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2021, except for the addition of certain language in the sections "Operational Risks - Operations outside the United States involve additional requirements and burdens that we may not be able to control or manage successfully" and "Legal & Regulatory Risks - Legislative and regulatory changes in the environments in which we and our clients operate" as set out below.

In addition, included below are risk factors related to the CGS acquisition, the offering of senior notes and the entrance into a new credit facility, which took place on March 1, 2022. Refer to Note 17, Subsequent Events for more information on these transactions.

Operational Risks

Operations outside the United States involve additional requirements and burdens that we may not be able to control or manage successfully

In fiscal 2021, approximately 40% of our revenue related to operations located outside the U.S. In addition, a significant number of our employees, approximately 78%, 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 our total revenue 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 lower-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 language; diverse or less stable political, operating and economic environments and market fluctuations; civil disturbances or other catastrophic events that reduce business activity, including the risk that the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia expands in a way that impacts our business and operations; 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 or manage the business effectively in markets outside the U.S., our business prospects and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.

Legal & Regulatory Risks

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

MiFID

In the European Union, the new version of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (recast), also known as "MiFID II" became effective in January 2018. Prior to the effectiveness of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union on January 1, 2021, the UK laws and regulations implementing MiFID II were modified to transpose aspects of EU law and address deficiencies that would have otherwise been created as a result of the withdrawal. MiFID II built upon many of the initiatives introduced through MiFID and is intended to help improve the functioning of the European Union single market by achieving a greater consistency of regulatory standards. MiFID originally became effective in 2007. 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 March 2022, the UK government announced proposed reforms to financial regulation in the UK, which would represent a divergence from the existing UK MiFID regime. Regulatory reform may impact some of our UK-regulated clients and may require them to devote more resource towards realigning their compliance measures, and in some cases ensuring compliance with both the UK and EU regimes. We continue to monitor the impact of UK regulatory change on our clients. We continue to monitor the impact of MiFID II on the investment process and trade lifecycle. We also continue to review the application of key MiFID II requirements and plan to work with our clients to navigate through them.

Risks Relating to the CGS Transaction

We may fail to realize the anticipated benefits of the CGS Transaction.

The success of our acquisition of the CGS business (the "CGS Business") will depend on, among other things, our ability to incorporate the CGS Business into our business in a manner that enhances our value proposition to clients and facilitates other growth opportunities. We must successfully include the CGS Business within our business in a manner that permits these growth opportunities to be realized. In addition, we must achieve the growth opportunities without adversely affecting current revenues and investments in other future growth. If we are not able to successfully achieve these objectives, the anticipated benefits of the acquisition of CGS (the "CGS Transaction") may not be realized fully, if at all, or may take longer to realize than expected. Additionally, management may face challenges in incorporating certain elements and functions of the CGS Business with the FactSet business, and this process may result in additional and unforeseen expenses. The CGS Transaction may also disrupt the CGS Business’s and FactSet’s ongoing business or cause inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures and policies that adversely affect our relationships with third party partners, employees, suppliers, customers and others with whom the CGS Business and FactSet have business or other dealings or limit our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits of the CGS Transaction. It is possible that our experience in operating the CGS Business will require us to adjust our expectations regarding the impact of the CGS Transaction on our operating results. If we are not able to successfully add the CGS Business to the existing FactSet business in an efficient, effective and timely manner, anticipated benefits, including the opportunities for growth we expect from the CGS Transaction, may not be realized fully, if at all, or may take longer to realize than expected, and our cash flow and financial condition may be negatively affected.

We will incur significant transaction costs in connection with the CGS Transaction.

We have incurred a number of non-recurring costs associated with the CGS Transaction. These costs and expenses include financial advisory, legal, accounting, consulting and other advisory fees and expenses, filing fees and other related charges. There is also a large number of processes, policies, procedures, operations, technologies and systems that must be integrated in connection with the CGS Transaction. While we have assumed that a certain level of expenses would be incurred in connection with the CGS Transaction and related transactions, there are many factors beyond our control that could affect the total amount or the timing of the integration and implementation expenses.

There may also be additional unanticipated significant costs in connection with the CGS Transaction that we may not recoup. These costs and expenses could reduce the benefits and additional income we expect to achieve from the CGS Transaction. Although we expect that these benefits will offset the transaction expenses and implementation costs over time, this net benefit may not be achieved in the near term or at all.

Third parties may terminate or alter existing contracts or relationships with FactSet or the CGS Business.

The CGS Business has contracts with customers, licensors and other business partners which may require the CGS Business to obtain consent from these other parties in connection with the CGS Transaction. If these consents cannot be obtained, the CGS Business may suffer a loss of potential future revenue and may lose rights that are material to the CGS Business. In addition, third parties with which we or the CGS Business currently have relationships may terminate or otherwise reduce the scope of their relationships with us following the CGS Transaction. Any such disruptions could limit our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits of the CGS Transaction.

FactSet and the CGS Business may have difficulty attracting, motivating and retaining key personnel and other employees in light of the CGS Transaction.

The CGS Business’s success after the CGS Transaction will depend in part on its ability to attract and retain key personnel and other employees. Following the CGS Transaction, FactSet and the CGS Business may lose key personnel or may be unable to attract, retain and motivate qualified individuals, or the associated costs may increase. If the CGS Business cannot retain employees of the CGS Business because of uncertainty relating to the CGS Transaction or the difficulty of integration or for any other reason, the CGS Business’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the CGS Transaction could be reduced, and it may have a material adverse impact on the business and operations of the CGS Business.

Risks Relating to our Debt

Our indebtedness may impair our financial condition and prevent us from fulfilling our obligations under the senior notes and our other debt instruments.

As of March 1, 2022, giving effect to the issuance of the senior notes and the incurrence of borrowings under the 2022 Credit Facilities and the repayment of the 2019 Revolving Facility, the total outstanding debt of FactSet was $2.25 billion, none of which is secured. Under the 2022 Revolving Facility, we have $250 million of unused commitments and an option to increase the size of the facility by an additional $750 million.

Our indebtedness could have important consequences to investors, including:

a.making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations;

b.limiting our ability to borrow additional amounts to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our growth strategy and other purposes;

c.requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to pay interest on our debt and scheduled amortization on the 2022 Term Facility, which would reduce availability of our cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, execution of our strategy and other general corporate purposes;

d.making us more vulnerable to adverse changes in general economic, industry and government regulations and in our business by limiting our flexibility in planning for, and making it more difficult for us to react quickly to, changing conditions;

e.placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared with those of our competitors that have less debt; and

f.exposing us to risks inherent in interest rate fluctuations because some of our borrowings are at variable rates of interest, which could result in higher interest expense in the event of increases in market interest rates.

In addition, we may not be able to generate sufficient cash flow from our operations to repay our indebtedness when it becomes due and to meet our other cash needs. If we are not able to pay our debts as they become due, we will be required to pursue one or more alternative strategies, such as selling assets, refinancing or restructuring our indebtedness or selling additional debt or equity securities. We may not be able to refinance our debt or sell additional debt or equity securities or our assets on favorable terms, if at all, and if we must sell our assets, it may negatively affect our ability to generate revenues.

Despite current indebtedness levels, we may still incur more debt. The incurrence of additional debt could further exacerbate the risks associated with our indebtedness.

Subject to certain limitations, the 2022 Credit Agreement and the indenture governing the senior notes permit us and our subsidiaries to incur additional debt. If new debt is added to our or any such subsidiary’s current debt levels, the risks described above in the previous risk factor could intensify.

The restrictive covenants in our debt may affect our ability to operate our business successfully.

The 2022 Credit Agreement contains, and our future debt instruments may contain, various provisions that limit our ability to, among other things: incur liens; incur additional indebtedness, guarantees or other contingent obligations; enter into sale and leaseback transactions; engage in mergers and consolidations; make investments and acquisitions; change the nature of our business; and make sales, transfers and other dispositions of property and assets. The indenture governing the senior notes also contains various provisions that limit our ability to, among other things: incur liens; enter into sale and leaseback transactions; engage in mergers and consolidations; and make sales, transfers and other dispositions of property and assets. These covenants could adversely affect our ability to finance our future operations or capital needs and pursue available business opportunities.

In addition, the 2022 Credit Agreement requires us to maintain specified financial ratios and satisfy certain financial condition tests. Events beyond our control, including changes in general economic and business conditions, may affect our ability to meet those financial ratios and financial condition tests. We cannot assure you that we will meet those tests or that the lenders will waive any failure to meet those tests. A breach of any of these covenants or any other restrictive covenants contained in the definitive documentation governing our indebtedness would result in a default or an event of default. If an event of default in respect of any of our indebtedness occurs, the holders of the affected indebtedness could declare all amounts outstanding, together with accrued interest, to be immediately due and payable, which, in turn, could cause the default and acceleration of the maturity of our other indebtedness. We expect we will be permitted to incur substantial amounts of secured debt under the covenants in the indenture governing the senior notes and the 2022 Credit Facilities. If, upon an acceleration, we were unable to pay amounts owed in respect of any such indebtedness secured by liens on our assets, then the lenders of such indebtedness could proceed against the collateral pledged to them.

Certain of our borrowings and other obligations are based upon variable rates of interest, which could result in higher expense in the event of increases in interest rates.

The 2022 Credit Agreement provides that (i) loans denominated in U.S. dollars, at our option, will bear interest at either one-month Term SOFR (with a 10 basis points credit spread adjustment and subject to a “zero” floor), Daily Simple SOFR (with a 10 basis points credit spread adjustment and subject to a “zero” floor) or an alternate base rate, (ii) loans denominated in Pounds Sterling will bear interest at Daily Simple Sterling Overnight Index Average ("SONIA") (subject to a “zero” floor) and (iii) loans denominated in Euros will bear interest at Euro Interbank Offered Rate ("EURIBOR") (subject to a “zero” floor), in each case, plus an applicable interest rate margin. An increase in the alternate base rate, Term SOFR, Daily Simple SOFR, SONIA or EURIBOR would increase our interest payment obligations under the 2022 Credit Facilities and could have a negative effect on our cash flow and financial condition.

To mitigate this exposure, on March 1, 2022, we entered into an interest rate swap agreement with a notional amount of $800.0 million to hedge the variable interest rate obligation on a portion of our outstanding balance under the 2022 Credit Agreement. However, as the interest rate swap agreement covers only a portion of our outstanding balance under the 2022 Credit Agreement, a substantial portion of our outstanding balance under the 2022 Credit Agreement continues to be exposed to interest rate volatility. An increase in the applicable rates would increase our interest payment obligations under the 2022 Credit Agreement and could have a negative effect on our cash flow and financial condition.

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ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

Items 2(a) and (b) are not applicable as there have been no unregistered sales of equity securities.

(i)Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities (in thousands, except share and per share data)

The following table provides a month-to-month summary of the share repurchase activity during the three months ended February 28, 2022:

*(1)*Includes 675 shares repurchased to satisfy withholding tax obligations due upon the vesting of stock-based awards.

*(2)*Beginning in the second quarter of fiscal 2022, we suspended our share repurchase program through at least the second half of fiscal 2023, with the exception of potential minor repurchases to offset dilution from grants of equity awards or repurchases to satisfy withholding tax obligations due upon the vesting of stock-based awards. The suspension of our share repurchase program allows us to prioritize the repayment of debt under the 2022 Credit Agreement. Refer to Note 17, Subsequent Events for more information on the 2022 Credit Agreement.

ITEM 3. DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES

None.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

None.

(a)EXHIBITS

(b)The information required by this Item is set forth below.

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.