FactSet Research Systems Inc. hired a finance veteran as its next chief financial officer, a move that comes as the information provider looks to expand its business.
The Norwalk, Conn.-based company, whose offerings include analytics and data products, on Tuesday said Linda Huber would lead its finance function, starting in early October.
Ms. Huber brings to the role 15 years of experience as a public company CFO and is set to succeed Helen Shan, who has served as FactSet’s finance chief since 2018. Ms. Shan in April was named the company’s chief revenue officer.
Ms. Huber most recently served as finance chief at index provider MSCI.
Photo: MSCI
Ms. Huber served as CFO of index provider MSCI Inc. from May 2019 until September 2020. Before that, she headed up the finances of ratings firm Moody’s Corp. She also worked as assistant treasurer at PepsiCo Inc., among other finance roles.
FactSet generates a large chunk of its revenue by selling subscriptions to its customers. The company in recent years invested in new technology and product offerings, including cloud solutions, its analytics and wealth platform, and services related to measuring businesses’ environmental, social and governance performance.
“Linda brings a lot of capabilities in this space to FactSet,” said Owen Lau, an executive director at investment bank Oppenheimer & Co., pointing to her experience with ESG-related offerings at MSCI and Moody’s. Ms. Huber’s role would be to allocate funds for new products and to identify new investment opportunities, Mr. Lau said.
FactSet’s operating margin decreased to 29.5% in the quarter ended May 31, down from 32.5% in the prior-year period, in part driven by its multiyear investment plan. Revenue increased 6.8% to $399.6 million during the quarter, compared with $374.1 million a year before. The company last year increased some prices, outgoing CFO Ms. Shan said in an interview in June 2020.
Annual subscription value—a metric that captures forward-looking revenues for the coming 12 months from subscription services currently supplied to clients—and professional service revenues from consulting and other services rose to $1.6 billion as of May 31, up from $1.5 billion in the year-earlier period, with an organic growth rate of 5.8%.
One of Ms. Huber’s priorities in the new role should be to help increase annual subscription value, said Hamzah Mazari, a managing director at investment bank Jefferies Group LLC. “The entire goal at FactSet…is to get back to high single-digit and double-digit ASV growth, something the company did several years ago before growth slowed due to integration of several deals which took time and investment spend that could have come earlier,” Mr. Mazari said.
FactSet said it plans to spend roughly $15 million a year as part of its three-year investment plan.
The company declined to comment on Ms. Huber’s appointment beyond its press release.
—Allison Prang contributed to this article.
Write to Nina Trentmann at Nina.Trentmann@wsj.com
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