CEO’S LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS

In fiscal 2019, we continued our impressive trajectory of 39 consecutive years of top-line growth, 23 consecutive years of adjusted diluted EPS growth, and 14 consecutive years of dividend increases. We exercised prudent discretionary expense management, increase workforce productivity, and make important operational improvements to enhance our infrastructure resulting in improved margins. And we successfully launched a number of new products that have garnered excitement and momentum as we head into 2020.

Our streamlined solutions provide clients with the tools they need to both drive efficiency and unlock value. We offer smarter, connected datasets and portfolio analytics alongside industry-leading customer service that truly sets us apart. Moreover, we believe that the future of our industry lies in open technology that offers our clients the flexibility they need and want to pursue their investment goals. FactSet is quickly taking steps to become an increasingly open platform that offers more APIs, unique and personalized insights driven by new data, and faster speed to market for clients.

These initiatives would not be possible without the collective efforts of the talented people at FactSet, who work every day to help our clients see more, think bigger, and do their best work. We are committed to supporting our team and growing our worldview through continued Diversity and Inclusion efforts. 2019 marked the launch of our first ever employee-led and company-sponsored Business Resource Groups, focused on empowering professional development, furthering recruitment and retention, and fostering an inclusive culture of community throughout our organization. In addition, twice as many employees in 2019 volunteered at least once compared to the prior year, contributing nearly 16,000 hours served across 475 volunteer events.

2019 continued our long history of steady growth, which we have been able to maintain due to our relentless dedication to innovation, our outstanding team, and our relentless commitment to expand the universe of knowledge that clients trust. Our ability to surface insights and share intelligence how, when, and where clients want it will continue to set us apart. Our content and technology will help them discover new ideas, uncover efficiencies, and ultimately, drive results. As we look to the future, we are confident that our offering across the entire investment portfolio lifecycle, as well as our open and flexible platform, will continue to resonate in the marketplace.

We believe we will continue to win market share by doing what we do best – rolling up our sleeves, nimbly and thoughtfully building upon our winning strategy for growth, and empowering our team to drive market-leading results.

We are excited about the opportunity in front of us and we thank you for your continued commitment to the future of FactSet.

Phil Snow
Chief Executive Officer