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Gartner 10-K 2015
Commission file number: 1-14443
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
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 þ No o
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes o No þ
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 þ No o
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 þ No o
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K 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. þ
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer" and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o No þ
As of June 30, 2014, the aggregate market value of the registrant's common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $6,067,265,349 based on the closing sale price as reported on the New York Stock Exchange.
The number of shares outstanding of the registrant's common stock was 87,522,468 as of January 31, 2015.
Gartner, Inc. ("Gartner") (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. We deliver the technology-related insight necessary for our clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to supply chain professionals, digital marketing professionals and technology investors, we are the valuable partner to clients in 9,958 distinct enterprises. We work with clients to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual roles. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and as of December 31, 2014, had 6,758 associates, including 1,556 research analysts and consultants, and clients in over 90 countries.
The foundation for all Gartner products and services is our independent research on IT and supply chain issues. The findings from this research are delivered through our three business segments – Research, Consulting and Events:
For more information regarding Gartner and our products and services, visit gartner.com.
References to "the Company," "we," "our," and "us" are to Gartner, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.
Technological innovations are changing how businesses and organizations work and what they do at an increasingly rapid pace. Today, everyone is living and working in the midst of a technological revolution. The nexus of four powerful forces – social, mobile, cloud and information, coupled with the "Internet of things" – are blurring the line between the physical and digital worlds, creating unprecedented change on a scale not seen before facing every organization around the world, from business enterprises and units within enterprises of every size, to governments and government agencies, as well as other organizations. This change falls into three categories: optimizing the use of technology to improve performance across every function in the organization; managing disruptive technology-based innovation; and protecting the organization from security threats. This technology revolution will remain vibrant for decades to come.
Information technology (IT) is critical to supporting increased productivity, service and performance improvement, revenue growth and cyber-security. As the costs of IT solutions continue to rise, IT executives and professionals have realized the importance of making well-informed decisions and increasingly seek to maximize their returns on IT capital investments. As a result, every IT investment decision in an enterprise is subject to increased financial scrutiny, especially in the current challenging economic climate. In addition, today's IT marketplace is dynamic and complex. Technology providers continually introduce new products with a wide variety of standards and features that are prone to shorter life cycles. Users of technology – a group that encompasses nearly all organizations – must keep abreast of new developments in technology to ensure that their IT systems are reliable, efficient, secure, and meet both their current and future needs.
Given the strategic and critical nature of technology decision-making and spending, business enterprises, governments and their agencies, and other organizations turn to Gartner for guidance in order to make the right decisions to maximize the value of their IT investments.
We provide IT decision makers with the insight they need to understand where – and how – to successfully harness technology to achieve their mission critical priorities. We employ a diversified business model that utilizes and leverages the breadth and depth of our intellectual capital. The foundation of our business model is our ability to create and distribute our proprietary research content as broadly as possible via published reports and briefings, consulting and advisory services, and our events, including Gartner Symposium/ITxpo.
We have 1,021 analysts located around the world who create compelling, relevant, independent and objective research and fact-based analysis on every major IT initiative and all aspects of the IT industry, including supply chain and digital marketing. Through our robust product portfolio, our global research team provides thought leadership and technology insights that CIOs, supply chain professionals, digital marketing professionals, executives and other technology practitioners need to make the right decisions, every day. In addition to our analysts, we have 535 experienced consultants who combine our objective, independent research with a practical business perspective focused on the IT industry. Finally, our events are the largest of their kind, gathering highly qualified audiences of CIOs, other senior business executives and IT professionals, supply chain leaders, and purchasers and providers of technology and supply chain products and services.
Our diversified business model provides multiple entry points and synergies that facilitate increased client spending on our research, consulting services and events. A critical part of our long-term strategy is to increase business volume with our most valuable clients, identifying relationships with the greatest sales potential and expanding those relationships by offering strategically relevant research and advice. We also seek to extend the Gartner brand name to develop new client relationships, augment our sales capacity, and expand into new markets around the world. In addition, we seek to increase our revenue and operating cash flow through more effective pricing of our products and services. These initiatives have created additional revenue streams through more effective packaging, campaigning and cross-selling of our products and services.
Our principal products and services are delivered via our Research, Consulting and Events segments:
Consulting solutions capitalize on Gartner assets that are invaluable to IT decision making, including: (1) our extensive research, which ensures that our consulting analyses and advice are based on a deep understanding of the IT environment and the business of IT; (2) our market independence, which keeps our consultants focused on our clients' success; and (3) our market-leading benchmarking capabilities, which provide relevant comparisons and best practices to assess and improve performance.
Gartner Consulting provides solutions to CIOs and other IT executives, and to those professionals responsible for IT applications, enterprise architecture, go-to-market strategies, infrastructure and operations, program and portfolio management, and sourcing and vendor relationships. Consulting also provides targeted consulting services to professionals
in specific industries. Finally, we provide actionable solutions for IT cost optimization, technology modernization and IT sourcing optimization initiatives.
Gartner events attract high-level IT and business professionals who seek in-depth knowledge about technology products and services. Gartner Symposium/ITxpo events are large, strategic conferences held in various locations throughout the world for CIOs and other senior IT and business professionals. Gartner Summit events focus on specific topics, technologies and industries including supply chain and digital marketing, providing IT professionals with the insight, solutions and networking opportunities to succeed in their job role. Finally, we offer targeted events for CIOs and IT executives, such as CIO Leadership Forum.
We believe that the principal factors that differentiate us from our competitors are the following:
Notwithstanding these differentiating factors, we face competition from a significant number of independent providers of information products and services. We compete indirectly with consulting firms and other information providers, including electronic and print media companies. These indirect competitors could choose to compete directly with us in the future. In addition, we face competition from free sources of information that are available to our clients through the Internet. Limited barriers to entry exist in the markets in which we do business. As a result, new competitors may emerge and existing competitors may start to provide additional or complementary services. While we believe the breadth and depth of our research assets position us well versus our competition, increased competition could result in loss of market share, diminished value in our products and services, reduced pricing, and increased sales and marketing expenditures.
Our success has resulted in part from proprietary methodologies, software, reusable knowledge capital and other intellectual property rights. We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, confidentiality, non-compete and other contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property rights. We have policies related to confidentiality, ownership, and the use and protection of Gartner's intellectual property. We also enter into agreements with our employees as appropriate that protect our intellectual property, and we enforce these agreements if necessary. We recognize the value of our intellectual property in the marketplace and vigorously identify, create and protect it. Additionally, we actively monitor and enforce contract compliance by our end users.
We had 6,758 employees as of December 31, 2014, an increase of 13% compared to the prior year end as we continued to invest for future growth. We have 1,291 employees located at our headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut and a nearby office in Trumbull, Connecticut; 2,605 employees located elsewhere in the United States in 30 offices; and 2,862 employees located outside of the United States in 65 offices. Our employees may be subject to collective bargaining agreements at a company or industry level, or works councils, in those foreign countries where this is part of the local labor law or practice. We have experienced no work stoppages and consider our relations with our employees to be favorable.
Our Internet address is www.gartner.com and the Investor Relations section of our website is located at www.investor.gartner.com. We make available free of charge, on or through the Investor Relations section of our website, printable copies of our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act") as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC").
Also available at www.investor.gartner.com, under the "Corporate Governance" link, are printable and current copies of our (i) CEO & CFO Code of Ethics which applies to our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Controller and other financial managers, (ii) Global Code of Conduct, which applies to all Gartner officers, directors and employees, wherever located, (iii) Board Principles and Practices, the corporate governance principles that have been adopted by our Board and (iv) charters for each of the Board's standing committees: Audit, Compensation and Governance/Nominating.
We operate in a highly competitive and rapidly changing environment that involves numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. In addition, we and our clients are affected by global economic conditions. The following sections discuss many, but not all, of the risks and uncertainties that may affect our future performance, but is not intended to be all-inclusive. Any of the risks described below could have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows, and could therefore have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock. Additionally risks not currently known to us or that we now deem immaterial may also harm us and negatively affect your investment.
Risks related to our business
Our operating results could be negatively impacted by global economic conditions. Our business is impacted by general economic conditions and trends, in the U.S and abroad. U.S. economic data continues to be mixed, but the overall economy continues to grow and unemployment continues to fall. However, economic growth continues to be uneven globally, with continuing weakness across Europe and emerging markets, as recent geopolitical events add to the uncertainty. These conditions could negatively and materially affect future demand for our products and services. Such difficulties could include the ability to maintain client retention, wallet retention and consulting utilization rates, achieve contract value and consulting backlog growth, attract attendees and exhibitors to our events or obtain new clients. Such developments could negatively impact our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
We face significant competition and our failure to compete successfully could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows. We face direct competition from a significant number of independent providers of information products and services, including information available on the Internet free of charge. We also compete indirectly against consulting firms and other information providers, including electronic and print media companies, some of which may have greater financial, information gathering and marketing resources than we do. These indirect competitors could also choose to compete directly with us in the future. In addition, low barriers to entry exist in the markets in which we do business. As a result, new competitors may emerge and existing competitors may start to provide additional or complementary services. Additionally, technological advances may provide increased competition from a variety of sources.
There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully compete against current and future competitors and our failure to do so could result in loss of market share, diminished value in our products and services, reduced pricing and increased marketing expenditures. Furthermore, we may not be successful if we cannot compete effectively on quality of research and analysis, timely
delivery of information, customer service, and the ability to offer products to meet changing market needs for information and analysis, or price.
We may not be able to maintain the quality of our existing products and services. We operate in a rapidly evolving market, and our success depends upon our ability to deliver high quality and timely research and analysis to our clients. Any failure to continue to provide credible and reliable information that is useful to our clients could have a material adverse effect on future business and operating results. Further, if our data, viewpoints, or predictions prove to be wrong or are not substantiated by appropriate research, our reputation may suffer and demand for our products and services may decline. In addition, we must continue to improve our methods for delivering our products and services in a cost-effective manner, including via the Internet and mobile applications. Failure to maintain state of the art electronic delivery capabilities could adversely affect our future business and operating results.
We may not be able to enhance and develop our existing products and services, or introduce the new products and services that are needed to remain competitive. The market for our products and services is characterized by rapidly changing needs for information and analysis on the IT industry as a whole. The development of new products is a complex and time-consuming process. Nonetheless, to maintain our competitive position, we must continue to anticipate the needs of our client organizations, develop, enhance and improve our existing as well as new products and services to address those needs, deliver all products and services in a timely, user-friendly and state of the art manner, and appropriately position and price new products and services relative to the marketplace and our costs of developing them. Any failure to achieve successful client acceptance of new products and services could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial position. Additionally, significant delays in new product or services releases or significant problems in creating new products or services could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial position.
We depend on renewals of subscription-based services and sales of new subscription-based services for a significant portion of our revenue, and our failure to renew at historical rates or generate new sales of such services could lead to a decrease in our revenues. A large portion of our success depends on our ability to generate renewals of our subscription-based research products and services and new sales of such products and services, both to new clients and existing clients. These products and services constituted 72% and 71% of our total revenues for 2014 and 2013, respectively. Generating new sales of our subscription-based products and services, both to new and existing clients, is a challenging, costly, and often time consuming process. If we are unable to generate new sales, due to competition or other factors, our revenues will be adversely affected.
The majority of our research subscription agreements are for twelve months. However, we do enter into multi-year agreements, which have been increasing in frequency. Our ability to maintain contract renewals is subject to numerous factors, including the following:
Additionally, as we continue to adjust our products and service offerings to meet our clients' continuing needs, we may shift the type and pricing of our products which may impact client renewal rates. While our Research enterprise client retention rate was 85% at December 31, 2014 and 83% at December 31, 2013, there can be no guarantee that we will continue to maintain this rate of client renewals.
We depend on non-recurring consulting engagements and our failure to secure new engagements could lead to a decrease in our revenues. Consulting segment revenues constituted 17% of our total revenues in 2014 and 18% in 2013. Consulting engagements typically are project-based and non-recurring. Our ability to replace consulting engagements is subject to numerous factors, including the following:
Any material decline in our ability to replace consulting arrangements could have an adverse impact on our revenues and our financial condition. In addition, revenue in our contract optimization business can fluctuate from period to period.
The profitability and success of our conferences, symposia and events could be adversely affected by external factors beyond our control. The market for desirable dates and locations for conferences, symposia and events is highly competitive. If we cannot secure desirable dates and suitable venues for our conferences, symposia and events their profitability could suffer, and our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected. In addition, because our events are scheduled in advance and held at specific locations, the success of these events can be affected by circumstances outside of our control, such as labor strikes, transportation shutdowns and travel restrictions, economic slowdowns, reductions in government spending, geo-political crises, terrorist attacks, weather, natural disasters, communicable diseases, and other occurrences impacting the global, regional, or national economies, the occurrence of any of which could negatively impact the success of the event. We also face the challenge of procuring venues that are sizeable enough at a reasonable cost to accommodate some of our major events.
Our sales to governments are subject to appropriations and may be terminated. We derive significant revenues from research and consulting contracts with the U.S. government and its respective agencies, numerous state and local governments and their respective agencies, and foreign governments and their agencies. At December 31, 2014 and 2013, approximately $310.0 million and $283.0 million, respectively, of our total contracts were attributable to government entities. We believe substantially all of the amounts attributable to government entities at December 31, 2014 will be filled in 2015. Our U.S. government contracts are subject to the approval of appropriations by the U.S. Congress to fund the agencies contracting for our services. Additionally, our contracts at the state and local levels, as well as foreign government contracts, are subject to various governmental authorizations and funding approvals and mechanisms. In general, most if not all of these contracts may be terminated at any time without cause or penalty ("termination for convenience"). Similarly, contracts with U.S. federal, state and local, and foreign governments and their respective agencies are subject to increasingly complex bidding procedures, compliance requirements and intense competition. Should appropriations for the governments and agencies that contract with us be curtailed, or should our government contracts be terminated for convenience, we may experience a significant loss of segment and consolidated revenues.
We may not be able to attract and retain qualified personnel which could jeopardize our future growth plans, as well as the quality of our products and services. Our success depends heavily upon the quality of our senior management, research analysts, consultants, sales and other key personnel. We face competition for qualified professionals from, among others, technology companies, market research firms, consulting firms, financial services companies and electronic and print media companies, some of which have a greater ability to attract and compensate these professionals. Recent improvements in the U.S economy have heightened this competition. Additionally, some of the personnel that we attempt to hire are subject to non-compete agreements that could impede our short-term recruitment efforts. Any inability to retain key personnel, or to hire and train additional qualified personnel to support the evolving needs of clients or the projected growth in our business, could adversely affect the quality of our products and services, as well as future business and operating results.
We may not be able to maintain the equity in our brand name. We believe that our "Gartner" brand, including our independence, is critical to our efforts to attract and retain clients and that the importance of brand recognition will increase as competition increases. We may expand our marketing activities to promote and strengthen the Gartner brand and may need to increase our marketing budget, hire additional marketing and public relations personnel, and expend additional sums to protect our brand and otherwise increase expenditures to create and maintain client brand loyalty. If we fail to effectively promote and maintain the Gartner brand, or incur excessive expenses in doing so, our future business and operating results could be adversely impacted.
Our international operations expose us to a variety of operational risks which could negatively impact our future revenue and growth. We have clients in over 90 countries and a substantial amount of our revenues is earned outside of the U.S. Our operating results are subject to the risks inherent in international business activities, including general political and economic conditions in each country, changes in market demand as a result of tariffs and other trade barriers, challenges in staffing and managing foreign operations, changes in regulatory requirements, compliance with numerous foreign laws and regulations, differences between U.S. and foreign tax rates and laws, and the difficulty of enforcing client agreements, collecting accounts receivable and protecting intellectual property rights in international jurisdictions. Furthermore, we rely on local distributors or sales agents in some international locations. If any of these arrangements are terminated by our agent or us, we may not be able to replace the arrangement on beneficial terms or on a timely basis, or clients of the local distributor or sales agent may not want to continue to do business with us or our new agent.
We are exposed to volatility in foreign currency exchange rates from our international operations. Revenues earned outside the U.S. are typically transacted in local currencies, which may fluctuate significantly against the U.S. dollar. While we may use forward exchange contracts to a limited extent to seek to mitigate foreign currency risk, our revenues and results of operations could be adversely affected by unfavorable foreign currency fluctuations. Additionally, our effective tax rate is increased as the U.S dollar strengthens against foreign currencies, which could impact our operating results.
Natural disasters or geo-political events may disrupt our business. A major weather event, terrorist attack, earthquake, flood, volcanic activity, or other catastrophic disaster could significantly disrupt our operations. Such events could cause delays in initiating or completing sales, impede delivery of our products and services to our clients, disrupt other critical client-facing and business processes, or dislocate our critical internal functions and personnel. Our corporate headquarters is located approximately 30 miles from New York City, and we have an operations center located in Ft. Myers, Florida, a hurricane-prone area. We also operate in numerous international locations, and we have offices in a number of major cities across the globe. Abrupt political change, terrorist activity, communicable diseases, and armed conflict pose a risk of general economic disruption in affected countries and regions, which may negatively impact our sales and increase our operating costs. Additionally, these conditions also may add uncertainty to the timing and budget decisions of our clients. Such events could significantly harm our ability to conduct normal business operations and negatively impact our financial condition and operating results.
Privacy concerns could damage our reputation and deter current and potential clients from using our products and services or attending our events. Concerns relating to global data privacy have the potential to damage our reputation and deter current and prospective clients from using our products and services or attending our events. In the ordinary course of our business and in accordance with applicable laws, we collect personal information (i) from our employees (ii) from the users of our products and services, including event attendees; and (iii) from prospective clients. We collect only basic personal information from our clients and prospects (name, email address, job title) and do not as a rule collect sensitive personal information like SSNs and credit card numbers.
Even if unfounded, concerns about our practices with regard to the collection, use, disclosure, or security of this personal information or other data privacy related matters, could damage our reputation and adversely affect our operating results. In addition, because many of our products and services are web-based, the amount of data we store on our servers (including personal information) has been increasing. Any systems failure or compromise of our security that results in the disclosure of our users' personal data could seriously limit the consumption of our products and services and the attendance at our events, as well as harm our reputation and brand and, therefore, our business.
In addition, while we are a Safe Harbor certified company and while we have implemented a company-wide privacy compliance program, regulatory authorities around the world continue to adopt new laws, regulations and penalties concerning data privacy. The interpretation and application of these laws in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere are often uncertain, inconsistent and ever changing. It is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our data privacy practices. Complying with these various laws could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices in a manner adverse to our business.
Internet and critical internal computer system failures, cyber-attacks, or compromises of our systems or security could damage our reputation and harm our business. A significant portion of our business is conducted over the Internet and we rely heavily on computer systems to conduct our operations. Individuals, groups, and state-sponsored organizations may take steps that pose threats to our operations, our computer systems, our employees, and our customers. They may develop and deploy malicious software to gain access to our networks and attempt to steal confidential information, launch distributed denial of service attacks, or attempt other coordinated disruptions. These threats are constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated, thereby increasing the difficulty of detecting and successfully defending against them. A cyber-attack, widespread Internet failure, or disruption of our critical information technology systems through denial of service, viruses, or other events could cause delays in initiating or completing sales, impede delivery of our products and services to our clients, disrupt other critical client-facing or business processes, or dislocate our critical internal functions. Such events could significantly harm our ability to conduct normal business operations and negatively impact our financial results.
We take steps to secure our management information systems, including our computer systems, intranet, proprietary websites, email and other telecommunications and data networks, and we carefully scrutinize the security of outsourced website and service providers prior to retaining their services. However, the security measures implemented by us or by our outside service providers may not be effective and our systems (and those of our outside service providers) may be vulnerable to theft, loss, damage and interruption from a number of potential sources and events, including unauthorized access or security breaches, cyber-attacks, computer viruses, power loss, or other disruptive events. Our reputation, brand, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected if, as a result of a significant cyber event or other technology-related catastrophe, our operations are disrupted or shutdown; our confidential, proprietary information is stolen or disclosed; we incur costs or are required to pay fines in connection with stolen customer, employee, or other confidential information; we are required to dedicate significant resources to system repairs or increase cyber security protection; or we otherwise incur significant litigation or other costs as a result of these occurrences.
We may experience outages and disruptions of our online services if we fail to maintain an adequate operations infrastructure. Our increasing user traffic and complexity of our products and services demand more computing power. We have spent and expect
to continue to spend substantial amounts to maintain data centers and equipment, to upgrade our technology and network infrastructure to handle increased traffic on our websites, and to deliver our products and services through emerging channels, such as mobile applications. However, any inefficiencies or operational failures could diminish the quality of our products, services, and user experience, resulting in damage to our reputation and loss of current and potential users, subscribers, and advertisers, potentially harming our financial condition and operating results.
Our outstanding debt obligation could impact our financial condition or future operating results. We have a credit arrangement that provides for a five-year, $400.0 million term loan and a $1.1 billion revolving credit facility (the "2014 Credit Agreement"). In addition, the credit arrangement contains an expansion feature by which the term loan and revolving facility may be increased, at our option and under certain conditions, by up to an additional $500.0 million in the aggregate. At December 31, 2014, we had a total of $400.0 million outstanding under the term loan of the 2014 Credit Agreement.
The affirmative, negative and financial covenants of the 2014 Credit Agreement could limit our future financial flexibility. Additionally, a failure to comply with these covenants could result in acceleration of all amounts outstanding under the arrangement, which would materially impact our financial condition unless accommodations could be negotiated with our lenders. No assurance can be given that we would be successful in doing so in this current financial climate, or that any accommodations that we were able to negotiate would be on terms as favorable as those presently contained in the credit arrangement. The associated debt service costs of this credit arrangement could impair our future operating results. The outstanding debt may limit the amount of cash or additional credit available to us, which could restrain our ability to expand or enhance products and services, respond to competitive pressures or pursue future business opportunities requiring substantial investments of additional capital.
We may require additional cash resources which may not be available on favorable terms or at all. We believe that our existing cash balances, projected cash flow from operations, and the borrowing capacity we have under our revolving credit facility will be sufficient to fund our plans for the next 12 months and the foreseeable future.
However, we may require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions, implementation of our strategy and stock repurchase program, to repay indebtedness or to pursue future business opportunities requiring substantial investments of additional capital, including acquisitions. If our existing financial resources are insufficient to satisfy our requirements, we may seek additional borrowings or issue debt. Prevailing credit and debt market conditions may negatively affect debt availability and cost, and, as a result, financing may not be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. In addition, the incurrence of additional indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could require us to agree to operating and financial covenants that would further restrict our operations.
If we are unable to enforce and protect our intellectual property rights our competitive position may be harmed. We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, trade secret, patent, confidentiality, non-compete and other contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property rights. Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights, unauthorized third parties may obtain and use technology or other information that we regard as proprietary. Our intellectual property rights may not survive a legal challenge to their validity or provide significant protection for us. The laws of certain countries, particularly in emerging markets, do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Accordingly, we may not be able to protect our intellectual property against unauthorized third-party copying or use, which could adversely affect our competitive position. Additionally, there can be no assurance that another party will not assert that we have infringed its intellectual property rights.
Our employees are subject to non-compete agreements to the extent permitted under applicable law. When the non-competition period expires, former employees may compete against us. If a former employee chooses to compete against us prior to the expiration of the non-competition period, we seek to enforce these non-compete provisions but there is no assurance that we will be successful in our efforts.
We have grown, and may continue to grow, through acquisitions and strategic investments, which could involve substantial risks. We have made and may continue to make acquisitions of, or significant investments in, businesses that offer complementary products and services or otherwise support our growth objectives. The risks involved in each acquisition or investment include the possibility of paying more than the value we derive from the acquisition, dilution of the interests of our current stockholders should we issue stock in the acquisition, decreased working capital, increased indebtedness, the assumption of undisclosed liabilities and unknown and unforeseen risks, the ability to retain key personnel of the acquired company, the inability to integrate the business of the acquired company, the time to train the sales force to market and sell the products of the acquired business, the potential disruption of our ongoing business and the distraction of management from our day to day business. The realization of any of these risks could adversely affect our business. Additionally, we face competition in identifying acquisition targets and consummating acquisitions.
We face risks related to litigation. We are, and in the future may be, subject to a variety of legal actions, such as employment, breach of contract, intellectual property-related, and business torts, including claims of unfair trade practices and misappropriation of trade secrets. Given the nature of our business, we are also subject to defamation (including libel and slander), negligence, or other claims relating to the information we publish. Regardless of the merits and despite vigorous efforts to defend any such claim can affect our reputation, and responding to any such claim could be time consuming, result in costly litigation and require us to enter into settlements, royalty and licensing agreements which may not be offered or available on reasonable terms. If a claim is made against us which we cannot defend or resolve on reasonable terms, our business, brand, and financial results could be materially and adversely affected.
We face risks related to taxation. We are a global company with operations and clients in over 90 countries. A substantial amount of our earnings is generated outside of the U.S. and taxed at rates significantly less than the U.S. statutory federal income tax rate. Our effective tax rate, financial position and results of operations could be adversely affected by earnings being higher than anticipated in jurisdictions with higher statutory tax rates and, conversely, lower than anticipated in jurisdictions that have lower statutory tax rates, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and/or by changes in tax laws or accounting principles and their interpretation by relevant authorities.
At the present time, the United States and other countries where we do business have either changed or are actively considering changes in their tax, accounting and other related laws. In the United States, proposed tax law changes, particularly those directed at taxing unremitted and future foreign earnings, could increase our effective tax rate. In addition, Ireland recently modified its tax residency rules. While, at the present time, these changes are not effective until 2020 for many companies with Irish resident operations, including Gartner, the new rules could increase our effective tax rate at that future date. Likewise, certain international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation, are actively considering proposals, certain of which, if enacted by foreign governments, could significantly increase our tax obligations in many countries where we do business. These actual, potential, and other changes, both individually and collectively, could materially increase our effective tax rate and negatively impact our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.
In addition, our tax filings for various years are subject to examination by domestic and international taxing authorities and, during the ordinary course of business, we are under audit by tax authorities. Although we believe that our tax filings and related accruals are reasonable, the final resolution of tax audits may be materially different from what is reflected in our historical tax provisions and accruals and could have a material adverse effect on our effective tax rate, financial position, results of operations, and cash flows, particularly in major taxing jurisdictions including, but not limited to: the United States, Ireland, India, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, France, and Italy.
Our corporate compliance program cannot guarantee that we are in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. We operate in a number of countries, including emerging markets, and as a result we are required to comply with numerous, and in many cases, changing international and U.S. federal, state and local laws and regulations. As a result, we have developed and instituted a corporate compliance program which includes the creation of appropriate policies defining employee behavior that mandate adherence to laws, employee training, annual affirmations, monitoring and enforcement. However, if any employee fails to comply with, or intentionally disregards, any of these laws, regulations or our policies, a range of liabilities could result for the employee and for the Company, including, but not limited to, significant penalties and fines, sanctions and/or litigation, and the expenses associated with defending and resolving any of the foregoing, any of which could have a negative impact on our reputation and business.
Risks related to our Common Stock
Our operating results may fluctuate from period to period and may not meet the expectations of investors or the financial guidance we have given, which may cause the price of our Common Stock to decline. Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate in the future as a result of many factors, including the timing of the execution of research contracts, the extent of completion of consulting engagements, the timing of symposia and other events, the amount of new business generated, the mix of domestic and international business, currency fluctuations, changes in market demand for our products and services, the timing of the development, introduction and marketing of new products and services, and competition in the industry. An inability to generate sufficient earnings and cash flow, and achieve our forecasts, may impact our operating and other activities. The potential fluctuations in our operating results could cause period-to-period comparisons of operating results not to be meaningful and may provide an unreliable indication of future operating results. Furthermore, our operating results may not meet the expectations of investors or the financial guidance we have previously provided. If this occurs, the price of our Common Stock could decline.
Our stock price may be impacted by factors outside of our control and you may not be able to resell shares of our Common Stock at or above the price you paid. The price of our Common Stock is subject to significant fluctuations in response to, among other factors, developments in the industries in which we do business, general economic conditions, general market conditions, geo-
political events, changes in the nature and composition of our stockholder base, changes in securities analysts' recommendations regarding our securities and our performance relative to securities analysts' expectations for any quarterly period, as well as other factors outside of our control including any and all factors that move the securities markets generally. These factors may adversely affect the market price of our Common Stock.
Future sales of our Common Stock in the public market could lower our stock price. Sales of a substantial number of shares of Common Stock in the public market by our current stockholders, or the threat that substantial sales may occur, could cause the market price of our Common Stock to decrease significantly or make it difficult for us to raise additional capital by selling stock. Furthermore, we have various equity incentive plans that provide for awards in the form of stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units and other stock-based awards which have the effect of adding shares of Common Stock into the public market. At the present time, we are executing against a board-approved share repurchase program to reduce the number of outstanding shares of our Common Stock. At December 31, 2014, $413.3 million remained available for share purchases under this program. No assurance can be given that we will continue these activities in the future when the program is completed, or in the event that the price of our Common Stock reaches levels at which repurchases are not accretive.
As of December 31, 2014, the aggregate number of shares of our Common Stock issuable pursuant to outstanding grants and awards under these plans was approximately 2.9 million shares (approximately 0.6 million of which have vested). In addition, at the present time, approximately 8.0 million shares may be issued in connection with future awards under our equity incentive plans. Shares of Common Stock issued under these plans are freely transferable and have been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), except for any shares held by affiliates (as that term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act) which are subject to certain limitations. We cannot predict the size of future issuances of our Common Stock or the effect, if any, that future issuances and sales of shares of our Common Stock will have on the market price of our Common Stock.
Interests of certain of our significant stockholders may conflict with yours. To our knowledge, as of the date hereof, and based upon publicly-available SEC filings, four institutional investors each presently hold over 5% of our Common Stock. While no stockholder or institutional investor individually holds a majority of our outstanding shares, these significant stockholders may be able, either individually or acting together, to exercise significant influence over matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, amendment of our certificate of incorporation, adoption or amendment of equity plans and approval of significant transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, consolidations and sales or purchases of assets. In addition, in the event of a proposed acquisition of the Company by a third party, this concentration of ownership may delay or prevent a change of control in us. Accordingly, the interests of these stockholders may not always coincide with our interests or the interests of other stockholders, or otherwise be in the best interests of us or all stockholders.
Our anti-takeover protections may discourage or prevent a change of control, even if a change in control would be beneficial to our stockholders. Provisions of our restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law may make it difficult for any party to acquire control of us in a transaction not approved by our Board of Directors. These provisions include:
These provisions could discourage or prevent a change of control or change in management that might provide stockholders with a premium to the market price of their Common Stock.
The Company has no unresolved written comments that were received from the SEC staff 180 days or more before the end of our fiscal year relating to our periodic or current reports under the Exchange Act.
We currently lease 32 domestic and 65 international offices and we have a significant presence in Stamford, Connecticut; Ft. Myers, Florida; and Egham, the United Kingdom. The Company does not own any properties.
Our corporate headquarters is located in 213,000 square feet of leased office space in three buildings located in Stamford. This facility also accommodates research and analysis, marketing, sales, client support, production, corporate services, and administration. The Company's lease on the Stamford facility expires in 2028 and we have three options to renew the lease at fair market value for five years each.
Our Ft. Myers operations are currently located in 120,000 square feet of leased office space in one building for which the lease will expire in 2026. We have also leased an additional 132,000 square feet of space in Ft. Myers in an adjoining building, which is under construction. We currently anticipate this facility will open in mid-2015, and the lease will expire in 2030. Our Egham location has approximately 72,000 square feet of leased office space located in two separate buildings. However, we recently exercised our rights to early termination of one of the Egham leases, and we have entered into agreements with the landlord to occupy under lease a new 120,000 square foot building in the location of one of the existing buildings. Our other domestic and international locations support our research, consulting, domestic and international sales efforts, and other functions.
Our existing and planned facility expansions are adequate for our currently anticipated needs. However, we expect to continue to invest in our business by adding headcount. As a result, we may need additional office space in various locations. Should additional space be necessary, we believe that it will be available and at reasonable terms.
We are involved in various legal and administrative proceedings and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business. The outcome of these individual matters is not predictable at this time. However, we believe that the ultimate resolution of these matters, after considering amounts already accrued and insurance coverage, will not have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows in future periods.
Not applicable.
Our Common Stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IT. As of January 31, 2015, there were 1,493 holders of record of our Common Stock. Our 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders will be held on May 28, 2015 at the Company's corporate headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. We did not submit any matter to a vote of our stockholders during the fourth quarter of 2014.
The following table sets forth the high and low sale prices for our Common Stock as reported on the New York Stock Exchange for the periods indicated:
We currently do not pay cash dividends on our Common Stock. In addition, our 2014 Credit Agreement contains a negative covenant which may limit our ability to pay dividends.
The equity compensation plan information set forth in Part III, Item 12 of this Form 10-K is hereby incorporated by reference into this Part II, Item 5.
The Company has an $800.0 million share repurchase program, of which $413.3 million remained available for repurchases as of December 31, 2014. The Company may repurchase its common stock from time-to-time in amounts and at prices the Company deems appropriate, subject to the availability of stock, prevailing market conditions, the trading price of the stock, the Company's financial performance and other conditions. Repurchases may be made through open market purchases, private transactions, or other transactions and will be funded from cash on hand and borrowings under the Company's credit agreement. Repurchases may also be made from time-to-time in connection with the settlement of the Company's share-based compensation awards.
The following table summarizes the repurchases of our Common Stock in the three months ended December 31, 2014 pursuant to our $800.0 million share repurchase authorization and pursuant to the settlement of share-based compensation awards:
The fiscal years presented below are for the respective twelve-month period from January 1 through December 31. Data for all years was derived or compiled from our audited consolidated financial statements included herein or from submissions of our Form 10-K in prior years. The selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The following items impact the comparability and presentation of our consolidated data:
The purpose of the following Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") is to help facilitate the understanding of significant factors influencing the operating results, financial condition and cash flows of Gartner, Inc. Additionally, the MD&A also conveys our expectations of the potential impact of known trends, events or uncertainties that may impact future results. You should read this discussion in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this report. Historical results and percentage relationships are not necessarily indicative of operating results for future periods. References to "the Company," "we," "our," and "us" are to Gartner, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.
In addition to historical information, this Annual Report on Form 10-K contains certain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are any statements other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, hopes, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "expect," "should," "could," "believe," "plan," "anticipate," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," or other words of similar meaning.
Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, those discussed in Part 1, Item 1A, Risk Factors. Readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's opinion only as of the date on which they were made. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation to review or update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances as they occur. Readers should review carefully any risk factors described in other reports we filed with the SEC.
Gartner, Inc. is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company that helps executives use technology to build, guide and grow their enterprises. We offer independent and objective research and analysis on the information technology, computer hardware, software, communications and related technology industries. We provide comprehensive coverage of the IT industry to thousands of client organizations across the globe. Our client base consists primarily of CIOs and other senior IT and executives from a wide variety of business enterprises, government agencies and the investment community.
We have three business segments: Research, Consulting and Events.
We believe the following business measurements are important performance indicators for our business segments:
We have executed a consistent growth strategy since 2005 to drive double-digit annual revenue and earnings growth. The fundamentals of our strategy include a focus on creating extraordinary research content, delivering innovative and highly differentiated product offerings, building a strong sales capability, providing world class client service with a focus on client engagement and retention, and continuously improving our operational effectiveness.
We had total revenues of $2.021 billion in 2014, an increase of 13% over 2013 on a reported basis and 14% adjusted for foreign exchange impact. Diluted earnings per share increased by $.10 per share, or 5%, to $2.03 per share in 2014.
Research revenues rose 14% year-over-year, to $1.445 billion in 2014, and the contribution margin was 69%, the same as 2013. At December 31, 2014, Research contract value was $1.603 billion, an increase of 13% over December 31, 2013 on a reported basis and 14% adjusted for the impact of foreign exchange. Enterprise client retention was 85% and enterprise wallet retention was 106% at December 31, 2014.
Consulting revenues in 2014 increased 11% when compared to 2013, while the gross contribution margin was 34%, the same as 2013. Consultant utilization was 68% for 2014 compared to 64% in 2013, and we had 535 billable consultants at December 31, 2014 compared to 509 at year-end 2013. Backlog decreased 3% year-over-year, to $102.6 million at December 31, 2014.
Events revenues increased 14% year-over-year, to $227.7 million, and 16% adjusted for foreign currency impact. The segment contribution margin was 49% in 2014, a 3 point increase over 2013. We held 61 events in 2014 compared to 64 in 2013, while the number of attendees increased 9% year-over-year, to over 49,000.
For a more detailed discussion of our results, see the Segment Results section below.
Cash flow from our operating activities was $346.8 million in 2014, an increase of 10% compared to 2013. We continue to focus on maximizing shareholder value, and in 2014 we repurchased 5.9 million of our outstanding common shares. We ended 2014 with $365.3 million in cash and cash equivalents. We refinanced our existing credit facility during the fourth quarter of 2014 to take advantage of favorable market conditions, provide for additional liquidity, and extend the maturity of our debt. Our total borrowing capacity under the new arrangement is $1.5 billion, which consists of a $400.0 million term loan and a $1.1 billion revolving credit arrangement. The new facility has a five year maturity. At December 31, 2014, approximately $1.1 billion was available for borrowing under the revolver. We believe that we have adequate liquidity to meet our currently anticipated needs.
The Company completed three business acquisitions in 2014 (the "2014 Acquisitions"). These include Software Advice, Inc., which assists customers with software purchases; Market Visio Oy, a Finnish company and former sales agent for Gartner research in Finland and Russia; and SircleIT, Inc., a provider of cloud-based search technology that identifies subject-matter experts. Note 2 - Acquisitions in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K provides additional information regarding the 2014 Acquisitions. The operating results of these acquisitions have been included in our consolidated and segment operating results beginning on their respective dates of acquisition. The results of these businesses were not material to our consolidated or segment results for the year ended December 31, 2014.
Our quarterly and annual revenue, operating income, and cash flow fluctuate as a result of many factors, including: the timing of our Symposium/ITxpo series, which are normally held during the fourth calendar quarter, as well as other events; the timing and amount of new business generated; the mix between domestic and international business; changes in market demand for our products and services; changes in foreign currency rates; the timing of the development, introduction and marketing of our new products and services; competition in the industry; general economic conditions; and other factors which are beyond our control. The potential fluctuations in our operating income could cause period-to-period comparisons of operating results not to be meaningful and could provide an unreliable indication of future operating results and cash flows.
The preparation of financial statements requires the application of appropriate accounting policies and the use of estimates. Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 1 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. Management considers the policies discussed below to be critical to an understanding of our financial statements because their application requires complex and subjective management judgments and estimates. Specific risks for these critical accounting policies are described below.
The preparation of our financial statements also requires us to make estimates and assumptions about future events. We develop our estimates using both current and historical experience, as well as other factors, including the general economic environment and actions we may take in the future. We adjust such estimates when facts and circumstances dictate. However, our estimates may involve significant uncertainties and judgments and cannot be determined with precision. In addition, these estimates are based on our best judgment at a point in time and as such these estimates may ultimately differ from actual results. On-going changes in our estimates could be material and would be reflected in the Company's financial statements in future periods.
Our critical accounting policies are as follows:
Revenue recognition — Revenue is recognized in accordance with the requirements of U.S. GAAP and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 104, Revenue Recognition ("SAB 104"). Revenue is only recognized once all required criteria for revenue recognition have been met. Revenue by significant source is accounted for as follows:
The majority of research contracts are billable upon signing, absent special terms granted on a limited basis from time to time. All research contracts are non-cancelable and non-refundable, except for government contracts that may have cancellation or fiscal funding clauses. It is our policy to record the entire amount of the contract that is billable as a fee receivable at the time the contract is signed with a corresponding amount as deferred revenue, since the contract represents a legally enforceable claim.
Uncollectible fees receivable — We maintain an allowance for losses which is composed of a bad debt allowance and a sales reserve. Provisions are charged against earnings, either as a reduction in revenues or an increase to expense. The measurement of likely and probable losses and the allowance for losses is based on historical loss experience, aging of outstanding receivables, an assessment of current economic conditions and the financial health of specific clients. This evaluation is inherently judgmental and requires estimates. These valuation reserves are periodically re-evaluated and adjusted as more information about the ultimate collectability of fees receivable becomes available. Circumstances that could cause our valuation reserves to increase include changes in our clients' liquidity and credit quality, other factors negatively impacting our clients' ability to pay their obligations as they come due, and the effectiveness of our collection efforts.
The following table provides our total fees receivable and the related allowance for losses (in thousands):
Goodwill and other intangible assets — The Company evaluates recorded goodwill in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 350, which requires goodwill to be assessed for impairment at least annually and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. In addition, an impairment evaluation of our amortizable intangible assets may also be performed on a periodic basis should events or circumstances indicate potential impairment. If we determine that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its related carrying amount, we must recognize an impairment charge against earnings. Among the factors we consider important that could trigger an impairment review are the following:
The annual assessment of the recoverability of recorded goodwill can be based on either a quantitative or qualitative assessment or a combination of the two. Both methods require the use of estimates which in turn contain judgments and assumptions regarding future trends and events. As a result, both the precision and reliability of the resulting estimates are subject to uncertainty. In 2014, we completed the required annual goodwill impairment test utilizing a qualitative approach. Based on this assessment, the Company believes the fair values of the Company's reporting units continue to exceed their respective carrying amounts. See Note 1 — Business and Significant Accounting Policies in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional discussion.
Accounting for income taxes — The Company uses the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes. We estimate our income taxes in each of the jurisdictions where we operate. This process involves estimating our current tax expense together with assessing temporary differences resulting from differing treatment of items for tax and accounting purposes. These differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, which are included within our consolidated balance sheets. In assessing the realizability of deferred tax assets, management considers if it is more likely than not that some or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. We consider the availability of loss carryforwards, projected reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income, and ongoing prudent and feasible tax planning strategies in making this assessment. The Company recognizes the tax
benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not the tax position will be sustained based on the technical merits of the position.
Accounting for stock-based compensation — The Company accounts for stock-based compensation in accordance with FASB ASC Topics 505 and 718, as interpreted by SEC Staff Accounting Bulletins No. 107 ("SAB No. 107") and No. 110 ("SAB No. 110"). The Company recognizes stock-based compensation expense, which is based on the fair value of the award on the date of grant, over the related service period, net of estimated forfeitures (see Note 8 — Stock-Based Compensation in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding stock-based compensation).
Determining the appropriate fair value model and calculating the fair value of stock compensation awards requires the input of certain complex and subjective assumptions, including the expected life of the stock compensation award and the Company's Common Stock price volatility. In addition, determining the appropriate amount of associated periodic expense requires management to estimate the rate of employee forfeitures and the likelihood of achievement of certain performance targets. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of stock compensation awards and the associated periodic expense represent management's best estimates, but these estimates involve inherent uncertainties and the application of judgment. As a result, if factors change and the Company deems it necessary in the future to modify the assumptions it made or to use different assumptions, or if the quantity and nature of the Company's stock-based compensation awards changes, then the amount of expense may need to be adjusted and future stock compensation expense could be materially different from what has been recorded in the current period.
Restructuring and other accruals — We may record accruals for severance costs, costs associated with excess facilities that we have leased, contract terminations, asset impairments, and other costs as a result of on-going actions we undertake to streamline our organization, reposition certain businesses and reduce ongoing costs. Estimates of costs to be incurred to complete these actions, such as future lease payments, sublease income, the fair value of assets, and severance and related benefits, are based on assumptions at the time the actions are initiated. These accruals may need to be adjusted to the extent actual costs differ from such estimates. In addition, these actions may be revised due to changes in business conditions that we did not foresee at the time such plans were approved.
We also record accruals during the year for our various employee cash incentive programs. Amounts accrued at the end of each reporting period are based on our estimates and may require adjustment as the ultimate amount paid for these incentives are sometimes not known with certainty until after year end.
Consolidated Results
The following table presents the changes in selected line items in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the two years ended December 31, 2014 (in thousands):
TOTAL REVENUES for the twelve months ended December 31, 2014 increased $237.2 million, or 13%, compared to the twelve months ended December 31, 2013. Total revenues increased 14% excluding the unfavorable impact of foreign currency. Revenues increased in all three of our business segments and across all geographic regions.
The following table presents total revenues by geographic region for the twelve months ended (in thousands):
The following table presents our revenues by segment for the twelve months ended (in thousands):
Please refer to the section of this MD&A below entitled "Segment Results" for a further discussion of revenues and results by segment.
COST OF SERVICES AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ("COS") expense increased 12% in 2014 compared to 2013, or $84.4 million, to $797.9 million compared to $713.5 million in 2013. The impact of foreign currency exchange for the full year was not significant. The increase was primarily due to higher payroll and related benefits costs from additional headcount, which increased 12%. The headcount increase reflects our continued investment in our Research business and includes the additional employees resulting from the 2014 Acquisitions. COS as a percentage of revenues was 39% in the 2014 period compared to 40% in the 2013 period.
SELLING, GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ("SG&A") expense increased by $115.6 million in 2014, or 15%, to $876.1 million compared to $760.5 million in 2013. Excluding the favorable impact of foreign currency exchange, SG&A expense increased 16% year-over-year. The increase was primarily due to higher payroll and related benefits costs from additional headcount, higher sales commissions, and merit salary increases. The increased headcount includes our investment in additional quota-bearing sales associates, which increased to 1,881 at December 31, 2014, a 14% increase over year-end 2013.
DEPRECIATION expense increased 8% in 2014 compared to 2013, which reflects our additional investment in fixed assets.
AMORTIZATION OF INTANGIBLES increased 51% year-over-year due to the intangibles arising from the 2014 Acquisitions.
ACQUISITION AND INTEGRATION CHARGES was $21.9 million in 2014 compared to $0.3 million in 2013. These charges are directly-related to our acquisitions and primarily include amounts accrued for payments contingent on the achievement of certain employment conditions, legal, consulting, and severance costs.
OPERATING INCOME increased $10.7 million year-over-year, or 4%, to $286.2 million in 2014 from $275.5 million in 2013. The increased operating income was attributable to higher segment contributions from our Research and Events businesses. Operating income as a percentage of revenues was 14% in 2014 and 15% in 2013.
INTEREST EXPENSE, NET increased 23% year-over-year due to additional borrowings in the 2014 period.
OTHER EXPENSE, NET was $0.6 million in 2014 and $0.2 million in 2013. These expenses primarily consisted of net foreign currency exchange gains and losses.
PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES was $90.9 million in 2014 compared to $83.6 million in 2013 and the effective tax rate was 33.1% for 2014 compared to 31.4% for 2013. The higher effective tax rate in 2014 was primarily due to the impact of certain favorable items in 2013, as well as the unfavorable mix of pretax income by jurisdiction in 2014 which was partially offset by foreign tax credit benefits in 2014. The favorable items in 2013 included the enactment of certain beneficial legislation in 2013, the release of tax reserves due to audit settlements, and increased tax exempt income.
During 2014, the Internal Revenue Service closed its audit of the Company's 2011 and 2010 federal income tax returns. The resolution of the audit did not have a material adverse effect on the Company's consolidated financial position, cash flows, or results of operations.
NET INCOME was $183.8 million in 2014 and $182.8 million in 2013, an increase of 1%, as the increased operating income in 2014 was substantially offset by additional income tax charges. Diluted earnings per share increased 5% year-over-year, to $2.03 in 2014, primarily due to a lower number of weighted-average shares outstanding.
The following table presents the changes in selected line items in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the two years ended December 31, 2013 (in thousands):
TOTAL REVENUES for the twelve months ended December 31, 2013 increased $168.4 million, or 10%, compared to the twelve months ended December 31, 2012. Total revenues increased 11% excluding the unfavorable impact of foreign currency. Revenues increased in all three of our business segments and across all of our geographic regions.
The following table presents total revenues by geographic region for the twelve months ended (in thousands):
The following table presents our revenues by segment for the twelve months ended (in thousands):
Please refer to the section of this MD&A below entitled "Segment Results" for a further discussion of revenues and results by segment.
COST OF SERVICES AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ("COS") expense increased 8% in 2013 compared to 2012, or $54.4 million, to $713.5 million compared to $659.1 million in 2012. The increase was primarily due to higher payroll and related benefits costs from additional headcount as we continued to invest to support the growth in our business, and to a lesser extent, merit salary increases. We also had higher conference costs due to an increase in the number of events, a double-digit increase in the number of exhibitors at our events, and the upgrading of facilities in several locations to support anticipated growth in the
events business. These additional costs were partially offset by the favorable impact of foreign currency. COS as a percentage of revenues was 40% in the 2013 period compared to 41% in the 2012 period.
SELLING, GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ("SG&A") expense increased by $81.6 million in 2013, or 12%, to $760.5 million compared to $678.8 million in 2012. The increase was primarily due to higher payroll and related benefits costs, which was partially offset by favorable foreign currency impact. The higher payroll and benefit cost was primarily driven by our investment in additional headcount, and to a lesser extent, higher sales commissions and merit salary increases. The increased headcount includes additional quota-bearing sales associates, which increased to 1,643 at December 31, 2013, a 16% increase over year-end 2012.
DEPRECIATION expense increased 14% in 2013 compared to 2012, primarily due to additional depreciation on leasehold improvements from two renovated buildings on our Stamford headquarters campus being placed into service during 2013.
AMORTIZATION OF INTANGIBLES increased 24% year-over-year due to a full year of amortization in 2013 of the intangible assets recorded from the Ideas International acquisition in mid-2012.
ACQUISITION AND INTEGRATION CHARGES was $0.3 million in 2013 compared to $2.4 million in 2012. These charges are directly-related to our acquisitions and primarily include legal, consulting, and severance costs.
OPERATING INCOME increased $29.8 million year-over-year, or 12%, to $275.5 million in 2013 from $245.7 million in 2012. The increased operating income was primarily attributable to a substantially higher segment contribution from our Research segment. Operating income as a percentage of revenues was 15% for both periods.
INTEREST EXPENSE, NET was flat year-over-year.
OTHER EXPENSE, NET was $0.2 million in 2013 and $1.3 million in 2012. These expenses primarily consisted of net foreign currency exchange gains and losses.
PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES was $83.6 million in 2013 compared to $69.7 million in 2012 and the effective tax rate was 31.4% for 2013 compared to 29.6% for 2012. The higher effective tax rate in 2013 was primarily attributable to a change in the annual mix of pre-tax income by jurisdiction as well as the impact of certain state tax credits recognized in 2012.
In 2013 the Company closed the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") audit of its 2008 and 2009 federal income tax returns. The resolution of the audit did not have a material adverse effect on the consolidated financial position, cash flows, or results of operations of the Company. In late 2013 the Company received notice that the IRS would conduct an audit of the Company's 2010 and 2011 tax years.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the "2012 Tax Act") was enacted in January of 2013 and contained beneficial tax provisions for the Company which applied retroactively to 2012. However, since the 2012 Tax Act was passed in 2013, approximately $1.5 million of tax benefits relating to its retroactive application were recorded by the Company in early 2013.
NET INCOME was $182.8 million in 2013 and $165.9 million in 2012, an increase of $16.9 million, or 10%, primarily due to the higher operating income, which was partially offset by higher income tax charges. Diluted earnings per share increased 12% year-over-year due to the higher net income and to a lesser extent a lower number of weighted-average shares outstanding.
We evaluate reportable segment performance and allocate resources based on gross contribution margin. Gross contribution is defined as operating income excluding certain Cost of services and product development charges, SG&A, Depreciation, Acquisition and integration charges, and Amortization of intangibles. Gross contribution margin is defined as gross contribution as a percentage of revenues.
The following sections present the results of our three business segments.
The following table presents the financial results and business measurements of our Research segment as of and for the twelve months ended December 31:
Research segment revenues in 2014 increased 14% compared to 2013. The impact of foreign exchange translation was not significant. The segment gross contribution margin was 69% for both periods. Contribution margin remained at 69% in spite of a 16% increase in segment headcount, which includes the additional employees from the 2014 Acquisitions.
Research contract value increased 13% in 2014 to $1.603 billion, and increased 14% year-over-year adjusted for the impact of foreign currency translation. Our growth in contract value was broad-based, with every region, industry segment, and client size growing at double-digit rates compared to 2013. The number of our research client enterprises increased by 10% in 2014, to 9,958. Both enterprise client retention and wallet retention remained strong, at 85% and 106% as of December 31, 2014, respectively.
Research segment revenues in 2013 increased 12% compared to 2012. The impact of foreign exchange translation was not significant. The segment gross contribution margin increased by 1 point, to 69%, driven by the operating leverage in this business. Contribution margin improved in spite of an 8% increase in segment headcount. Research contract value increased 13% in 2013 to $1.423 billion, and increased 12% year-over-year adjusted for the impact of foreign currency translation. Our growth in contract value was broad-based, with almost every region, industry segment, and client size growing at double-digit rates compared to 2012. Enterprise client retention and wallet retention were 83% and 104% at December 31, 2013, respectively.
The following table presents the financial results and business measurements of our Consulting segment as of and for the twelve months ended December 31:
Consulting revenues increased 11% year-over-year and 12% when adjusted for the impact of foreign exchange. The increase was primarily due to higher core consulting revenues and to a lesser extent, higher contract optimization revenues. Contract optimization revenues can fluctuate from period to period but are generally about 10-15% of total annual Consulting segment revenues. The gross contribution margin was 34% for both periods. Backlog decreased $3.5 million, or 3%, year-over-year, to $102.6 million at December 31, 2014.
Consulting revenues increased 3% year-over-year and 4% when adjusted for the impact of foreign exchange. The increase was due to higher contract optimization revenue. The increased contract optimization revenues were partially offset by slightly lower core consulting and strategic advisory ("SAS") revenues. The gross contribution margin declined by 2 points due to higher payroll and benefit costs from additional headcount and merit salary increases, and to a lesser extent, lower utilization in core consulting. Backlog increased $3.4 million, or 3%, year-over-year, to $106.1 million at December 31, 2013.
The following table presents the financial results and business measurements of our Events segment as of and for the twelve months ended December 31:
Events revenues increased $28.8 million when comparing 2014 to 2013, or 14%. Excluding the impact of foreign currency translation, revenues increased 16% year-over-year. We held 61 events in 2014, consisting of 59 ongoing events and 2 new events, compared to 64 events in 2013. Five events that were held in 2013 were discontinued in 2014. The year-over-year revenue increase was primarily attributable to higher exhibitor revenue at our ongoing events and to a lesser extent, higher attendee revenue. The overall number of attendees increased 9%, while the number of exhibitors increased 10%. Average revenue per attendee rose 6% and average revenue per exhibitor increased 9%. The gross contribution margin increased 3 points year-over-year.
Events revenues increased $25.2 million when comparing 2013 to 2012, or 14%, but excluding the impact of foreign currency translation, revenues increased 15% year-over-year. We held 64 events in 2013, consisting of 58 ongoing events and 6 new events, compared to 62 events in 2012. The year-over-year revenue increase was primarily attributable to higher exhibitor revenue at our ongoing events. The overall number of attendees declined slightly while the number of exhibitors increased 11%. Average revenue per attendee rose 15% and average revenue per exhibitor increased 6%. The gross contribution margin was flat year-over-year at 46%.
We finance our operations primarily through cash generated from our operating activities. For 2014, we had operating cash flow of $346.8 million, which was the highest in the Company's history and represented an increase of 10% over 2013. Our operating cash flow has been continuously enhanced by the leverage characteristics of our subscription-based business model as well as our focus on operational efficiencies. Revenues in our Research segment, which increased 14% in 2014 compared to 2013, constituted 72% and 71% of our total revenues in 2014 and 2013, respectively. The majority of our research contracts renew annually and typically are paid in advance, and combined with a strong customer retention rate and high incremental margins, has generally resulted in strong growth in operating cash flow each year. Our cash flow generation has also benefited from our continuing efforts to improve the operating efficiencies of our businesses as well as a focus on the optimal management of our working capital as we increase our sales volume.
We had over $365.0 million of cash and cash equivalents at year-end 2014. We refinanced our debt in 2014 to take advantage of favorable market conditions and we had approximately $1.1 billion of available borrowing capacity under our revolving credit facility at year-end 2014. We believe that our consistently strong operating cash flow, as well as our existing cash balances and our available borrowing capacity, provide us with adequate liquidity to meet our currently anticipated needs.
Our cash and cash equivalents are held in numerous locations throughout the world. At December 31, 2014, $305.0 million of our cash and cash equivalents was held outside the U.S. Approximately 61% of the cash and cash equivalents held overseas represents unremitted earnings of our non-U.S subsidiaries. Under U.S. accounting rules, no provision for income taxes that may result from the remittance of such earnings is required if the Company intends to reinvest such funds overseas. Our current plans do not demonstrate a need to repatriate these undistributed earnings to fund our U.S. operations or otherwise satisfy the liquidity needs of our U.S operations. We intend to reinvest these earnings in our non-U.S. operations, except in instances in which the repatriation of these earnings would result in minimal additional tax. As a result, the Company has not recognized additional income tax expense that may result from the remittance of these earnings. However, should our liquidity needs change or we decide to repatriate some or all of these unremitted earnings, we may be required to accrue additional taxes which could have a material effect on our consolidated financial position, cash flows, and results of operations.
Changes in cash and cash equivalents
The following disclosure summarizes and explains the changes in our cash and cash equivalents for the three years ended December 31, 2014 (in thousands):
Operating cash flow increased by $31.1 million, or 10%, when comparing 2014 to 2013. The increase was primarily due to additional cash collections in our Research and Events businesses and other positive working capital changes. Partially offsetting the additional collections were higher cash payments for bonuses, commissions, and income taxes.
We used an additional $126.3 million of cash in our investing activities in 2014 compared to 2013, principally due to the 2014 Acquisitions, in which we paid a total of $109.9 million (net of the cash acquired), and an additional $14.4 million was placed in escrow. The Company used both existing cash and additional borrowings to finance the 2014 Acquisitions. We also used an additional $2.0 million in cash for capital expenditures in the 2014 period.
We used $208.7 million of cash in our financing activities during 2014 compared to $153.9 million of cash used in 2013. During 2014, the Company used $432.0 million of cash for share repurchases, which was partially offset by $195.4 million of net proceeds from debt issuance and related debt issuance costs and $28.0 million from employee share-based activity. During 2013 the Company used $182.0 million of cash for share repurchases and $4.0 million for debt refinancing fees, which was partially offset by $32.0 million from employee share-based activities.
Operating cash flow increased by $35.8 million, or 13%, when comparing 2013 to 2012. The increase was primarily due to higher net income in the 2013 period, as well as additional receivable collections and other positive working capital changes. These increases were partially offset by additional cash payments in the 2013 period for bonus, commissions, and income taxes, and we also had lower cash reimbursements in the 2013 period related to the completion of the renovation of our Stamford headquarters facility.
Cash used in our investing activities declined by $18.2 million in 2013 compared to 2012. The decrease was primarily due to $10.3 million of cash used in 2012 for the acquisition of Ideas International and to a lesser extent, higher capital expenditures in 2012.
Capital expenditures were $36.5 million in 2013 compared to $44.3 million in 2012, which included $7.7 million and $17.0 million, respectively, that were paid for the renovation of our Stamford headquarters facility. The Company's total expenditures on the renovation were approximately $34.2 million. The Company received a total of $25.0 million of reimbursements from the facility landlord for the renovation, of which $3.0 million was received in 2013, $13.0 million in 2012, and $9.0 million in 2011, which were recorded in operating cash flows.
We used $154.0 million of cash in our financing activities in 2013 compared to $73.0 million in 2012, an increase in cash used of $81.0 million, primarily due to share repurchases. We used $182.0 million of cash in 2013 for share repurchases compared to $111.0 million in 2012. We also had lower cash proceeds from employee share-based activity in the 2013 period, and we also paid $4.0 million of fees related to our debt refinancing in the 2013 period.
2014 Credit Agreement
The Company has a five-year credit arrangement that it entered into in December 2014 that provides for a $400.0 million term loan and a $1.1 billion revolving credit facility (the "2014 Credit Agreement"). Under the revolving credit facility, amounts may be borrowed, repaid, and re-borrowed through the maturity date of the agreement in December 2019. The term and revolving facilities may be increased, at the Company's option, by up to an additional $500.0 million in the aggregate. As of December 31, 2014, the Company had $400.0 million outstanding under the term facility and zero under the revolver. See Note 5 - Debt in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the 2014 Credit Agreement.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
Through December 31, 2014, we have not entered into any off-balance sheet arrangements or transactions with unconsolidated entities or other persons.
Contractual Cash Commitments
The Company has certain contractual commitments that require future cash payments. The following table summarizes these contractual cash commitments due after December 31, 2014 (in thousands):
The following tables present our quarterly operating results for the two-year period ended December 31, 2014:
Accounting rules issued by the various U.S. standard setting and governmental authorities that have not yet become effective and may impact our Consolidated Financial Statements in future periods are described below, together with our assessment of the potential impact they may have on our Consolidated Financial Statements and related disclosures in future periods:
Revenue Recognition
In May 2014, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers" ("ASU No. 2014-09"). ASU No. 2014-09 is intended to clarify the principles for recognizing revenue by: removing inconsistencies and weaknesses in revenue recognition requirements; providing a more robust framework for addressing revenue issues; improving comparability of revenue recognition practices across entities, industries, jurisdictions and capital markets; and providing more useful information to users of financial statements through improved revenue disclosure requirements. The provisions of the new rule are effective for Gartner on January 1, 2017. Early adoption is not permitted. We continue to evaluate the impact of ASU No. 2014-09.
Discontinued Operations
In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-08, Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity ("ASU 2014-08"), which changes the criteria for determining which disposal transactions can be presented as discontinued operations and modifies related disclosure requirements. Under the new guidance, a discontinued operation is defined as a disposal of a component or group of components that is disposed of or is classified as held for sale and represents a strategic shift that has (or will have) a major effect on an entity's operations and financial results. The Company adopted the new rule on January 1, 2015 and it did not have an impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.
The FASB also continues to work on a number of significant accounting rules which may impact the Company's accounting and disclosures in future periods. Since these rules have not yet been issued, the effective dates and potential impact are unknown.
The Company's 2014 Credit Agreement provides for a five-year, $400.0 million term loan and a $1.1 billion revolving credit facility. We have exposure to changes in interest rates arising from borrowings under the 2014 Credit Agreement since amounts borrowed are based on a floating base rate of interest. At December 31, 2014, we had $400.0 million outstanding under the term portion of the 2014 Credit Agreement and zero under the revolver. We have an interest rate swap contract which effectively converts the floating base rate on the first $200.0 million of our borrowings to a 2.26% fixed rate. Since the Company only hedges the base interest rate risk on the first $200.0 million of its outstanding borrowings, we are exposed to interest rate risk on floating rate borrowings in excess of $200.0 million. Assuming the Company borrowed the entire $1.5 billion under the 2014 Credit Agreement as of December 31, 2014, a 25 basis point increase or decrease in interest rates could change pre-tax annual interest expense by approximately $3.3 million.
For both the fiscal years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, approximately 45% of our revenues were derived from sales outside of the U.S. As a result, we conduct business in numerous currencies other than the U.S dollar. Among the major foreign currencies in which we conduct business are the Euro, the British Pound, the Japanese Yen, the Australian dollar, and the Canadian dollar. This foreign currency exposure results in both translation risk and transaction risk:
Translation Risk
We are exposed to foreign currency translation risk since the functional currencies of our foreign operations are generally denominated in the local currency. Translation risk arises since the assets and liabilities that we report for our foreign subsidiaries are translated into U.S. dollars at the exchange rates in effect at the balance sheet dates, and these exchange rates fluctuate over time. For accounting purposes, these foreign currency translation adjustments are deferred and are recorded as a component of stockholders' equity and do not impact our operating results.
A measure of the potential impact of foreign currency translation on our Consolidated Balance Sheets can be determined through a sensitivity analysis of our cash and cash equivalents. At December 31, 2014, we had over $365.0 million of cash and cash equivalents, with a substantial portion denominated in foreign currencies. If the foreign exchange rates of the five major foreign currencies in which we operate changed in comparison to the U.S. dollar by 10%, the amount of cash and cash equivalents we would have reported on December 31, 2014 could have increased or decreased by approximately $24.0 million.
Because our foreign subsidiaries generally operate in a local functional currency that differs from the U.S. dollar, revenues and expenses in these foreign currencies translate into higher or lower revenues and expenses in U.S. dollars as the U.S. dollar continuously weakens or strengthens against these other currencies. Therefore, changes in exchange rates may affect our consolidated revenues and expenses (as expressed in U.S. dollars) from foreign operations. Historically, this impact on our consolidated earnings has not been material since foreign currency movements in the major currencies in which we operate tend to impact our revenues and expenses fairly equally.
Transaction Risk
We also have foreign exchange transaction risk since foreign subsidiaries typically enter into transactions in the normal course of business that are denominated in foreign currencies that differ from the local functional currency in which the foreign subsidiary operates. We may enter into foreign currency forward exchange contracts to mitigate the effects of foreign currency transaction risk. These contracts are normally short term in duration and both realized and unrealized gains and losses are recognized in current period earnings. At December 31, 2014, we had 77 outstanding foreign currency forward contracts with a total notional amount of approximately $45.6 million and an immaterial net unrealized gain. Substantially all of these contracts matured by the end of January 2015.
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk consist primarily of short-term, highly liquid investments classified as cash equivalents, accounts receivable, and an interest rate swap contract. The majority of the Company's cash and cash equivalents and its interest rate swap contract are with large investment grade commercial banks. Accounts receivable balances collectible from customers have limited concentration of credit risk due to our diverse customer base and geographic dispersion.
Our consolidated financial statements for 2014, 2013, and 2012, together with the reports of KPMG LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, are included herein in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Management conducted an evaluation, as of December 31, 2014, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures, (as such term is defined in Rules 13a- 15(e) and 15d- 15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act")) under the supervision and with the participation of our chief executive officer and chief financial officer. Based upon that evaluation, our chief executive officer and chief financial officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective in alerting them in a timely manner to material Company information required to be disclosed by us in reports filed or submitted under the Act.
Gartner management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f). Gartner's 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 accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. In addition, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions and that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2014. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth in the Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Management's assessment was reviewed with the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.
Based on its assessment of internal control over financial reporting, management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2014, Gartner's internal control over financial reporting was effective.
The effectiveness of management's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2014 has been audited by KPMG LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which is included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K in Part IV, Item 15.
There were no changes in our internal controls over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2014 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal controls over financial reporting.
Not applicable.
The information required to be furnished pursuant to this item will be set forth under the captions "Proposal One: Election of Directors," "Executive Officers," "Corporate Governance," "Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance" and "Miscellaneous — Available Information" in the Company's Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC no later than April 30, 2015. If the Proxy Statement is not filed with the SEC by April 30, 2015, such information will be included in an amendment to this Annual Report filed by April 30, 2015. See also Item 1. Business — Available Information.
The information required to be furnished pursuant to this item is incorporated by reference from the information set forth under the caption "Executive Compensation" in the Company's Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC no later than April 30, 2015. If the Proxy Statement is not filed with the SEC by April 30, 2015, such information will be included in an amendment to this Annual Report filed by April 30, 2015.
The information required to be furnished pursuant to this item will be set forth under the caption "Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management" in the Company's Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC by April 30, 2015. If the Proxy Statement is not filed with the SEC by April 30, 2015, such information will be included in an amendment to this Annual Report filed by April 30, 2015.
The information required to be furnished pursuant to this item will be set forth under the captions "Transactions With Related Persons" and "Corporate Governance — Director Independence" in the Company's Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC by April 30, 2015. If the Proxy Statement is not filed with the SEC by April 30, 2015, such information will be included in an amendment to this Annual Report filed by April 30, 2015.
The information required to be furnished pursuant to this item will be set forth under the caption "Principal Accountant Fees and Services" in the Company's Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC no later than April 30, 2015. If the Proxy Statement is not filed with the SEC by April 30, 2015, such information will be included in an amendment to this Annual Report filed by April 30, 2015.
(a) 1. and 2. Consolidated Financial Statements and Schedules
The reports of our independent registered public accounting firm and consolidated financial statements listed in the Index to Consolidated Financial Statements herein are filed as part of this report.
All financial statement schedules not listed in the Index have been omitted because the information required is not applicable or is shown in the consolidated financial statements or notes thereto.
3. Exhibits