Ending cash and marketable securities balance was $186 million, down $3 million over the past three months due to returning excess capital to shareholders.

- During the quarter, the company invested $46 million to repurchase common stock.
- At quarter end there was $57 million in remaining share repurchase authorization.
- Shares outstanding at August 31 were $48.3 million.
- The company paid a dividend of $5.9 million, up from $3 million in the third quarter.

Revenue was $129.5 million, up 23.1% versus a year ago.

- Excluding currency, the revenue growth rate was 22%.
- Operating income advanced 28% to $42.7 million.
- Net income rose 31% to $30.7 million in the fourth quarter.

The growth rate of operating income was aided by redundant real estate costs incurred only in the year ago quarter.

- In addition to higher operating income, net income was favorably impacted by other income and a lower tax rate.
- Other income rose 66% to $2.4 million.
- Effective tax rate declined 68 basis points to 31.8% from last year.

Subscriptions increased $27.7 million during the quarter, and were up $27 million, excluding currency.

- On a constant currency basis, subscriptions advanced $92.5 million over the last 12 months, up 22%.
- Professionals using FactSet increased to $35,000, up from $33,300 at the beginning of the quarter.
- Client count was 1,953, as of August 31, a net increase of 39 clients during the quarter.

The U. S. business produced revenues $91.1 million in the fourth quarter.

- Excluding non-subscription revenues, its growth rate improved 300 basis points to 22% over the year ago quarter.
- Applications such as Marquee 3.0 and IBCentral were the catalyst to increase in the number of FactSet users.

Demand for advanced services in computing power related to risks, quantitative and portfolio analysis continuing throughout the client base. At quarter end client using the portfolio analysis workstation increased to 540, representing approximately 4,700 users.

Revenues from overseas increased to $38 million.

- New clients and incremental sales of the portfolio analytic suite of products were key revenue drivers.
- Excluding currency and non-subscription revenue, the growth rate from the non-U.S. operations was 21.6%.

By region, quarterly revenues from the company’s European and Pacific Rim operations were $31 million and $7 million respectively.

- Subscriptions by non-U.S. base clients were $157 million, representing 30% of the company wide total.
- Client retention remained above 95%, once again confirming the high quality of the company’s product suite and client base.

Operating expenses were $86.9 million and operating margin was 32.9%, up 50 basis points from the third quarter.

The margin increase from the third quarter is temporary, and primarily the result of workstations sold to summer interns only in the fourth quarter.

Cost of sales as a percentage of revenues was up 120 basis points over the prior year. Higher compensation and data cost were partially negated by lower amortization of intangible. The increase in compensation was driven by new employees. Data costs rose from incremental royalty payments to data suppliers and expanding the company’s coverage of proprietary content. The decrease in amortization expense was caused by a decline in acquisition activities compared to previous years.

SG&A expense expressed as a percentage of revenues, declined 250 basis points year-over-year.

This decrease was driven by lower occupancy expense, compensation costs, marketing and professional fees as a percentage of revenues. Lower occupancy costs was caused by redundant office space in the prior year, during the time the company’s European headquarters was under construction. Excluding this item, occupancy costs were consistent with the year ago period as a percentage of revenues.

The reduction of compensation cost relates to the timing of accruing variable compensation.