富蘭克林資源 (BEN) 2026 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Franklin Resources Earnings Conference Call for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2025. Hello. My name is Rob, and I'll be your call operator today. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

歡迎參加富蘭克林資源公司截至2025年12月31日季度的財報電話會議。你好。我叫羅伯，今天由我來為您接聽電話。再次提醒，本次會議正在錄影。（操作說明）

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Selene Oh, Head of Investor Relations for Franklin Resources. You may begin.

現在我謹將會議交給主持人，富蘭克林資源公司投資者關係主管 Selene Oh。你可以開始了。

Good morning and thank you for joining us today to discuss our quarterly results. Statements made in this conference call regarding Franklin Resources, Inc., which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

早安，感謝各位今天蒞臨我們中心，共同探討季度業績。本次電話會議中有關 Franklin Resources, Inc. 的陳述，如果不是歷史事實，則屬於 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》意義上的前瞻性陳述。

These forward-looking statements involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

這些前瞻性陳述涉及許多已知和未知的風險、不確定性和其他重要因素，這些因素可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述所表達或暗示的任何未來結果有重大差異。

These and other risks, uncertainties and other important factors are just described in more detail in Franklin's recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the Risk Factors and the MD&A sections of Franklin's most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q filings.

這些以及其他風險、不確定性和其他重要因素在富蘭克林最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中均有更詳細的描述，包括富蘭克林最新的 10-K 表格和 10-Q 表格中的“風險因素”和“管理層討論與分析”部分。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Jenny Johnson, our Chief Executive Officer.

現在我想把電話交給我們的執行長珍妮·約翰遜。

Thank you, Selene. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us today as we review Franklin Templeton's first fiscal quarter results. I'm joined today by Matt Nicholls, our Co-President and CFO; and Daniel Gamba, our Co-President and Chief Commercial Officer. We'll answer your questions momentarily, but before we do that, I'd like to review some key themes.

謝謝你，塞琳娜。歡迎各位，感謝大家今天與我們一起回顧富蘭克林鄧普頓第一財季的業績。今天與我一同出席的有我們的聯合總裁兼財務長馬特·尼科爾斯，以及我們的聯合總裁兼首席商務官丹尼爾·甘巴。我們稍後會回答您的問題，但在回答之前，我想先回顧一些關鍵主題。

We are operating in a period of continued transition for investors, marked by significant market turbulence globally, resulting from heightened geopolitical trade policy and, consequently, economic uncertainty. Markets are adjusting to a more persistently volatile environment, shifting capital flows and a growing need for resilience in portfolios.

我們正處於投資人持續轉型期，全球市場動盪不安，這是由於地緣政治貿易政策加劇以及由此導致的經濟不確定性所致。市場正在適應更持續波動的環境，資本流動也在發生變化，對投資組合韌性的需求日益增長。

Across regions and client segments, investors are focused on the same fundamental questions: how to generate durable returns, how to manage risk through uncertainty, and how to position portfolios for long-term outcomes rather than short-term noise. That environment is reshaping what clients expect from asset managers.

無論來自哪個地區和客戶群體，投資者都關注相同的基本問題：如何獲得持久的回報，如何在不確定性中管理風險，以及如何建立投資組合以實現長期收益而不是短期波動。這種環境正在重塑客戶對資產管理公司的期望。

Over the past few months, I've traveled overseas across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. And in my conversations with clients, it's clear they are no longer looking for individual products in isolation. They're looking for partners who can help them construct portfolios across public and private markets, deliver personalization at scale, and navigate complexity with discipline and insight.

過去幾個月裡，我遊歷了歐洲、中東和亞洲各地。在與客戶的交流中，我清楚地感受到，他們不再孤立地尋找單一產品。他們正在尋找能夠幫助他們在公共和私人市場建立投資組合、大規模提供個人化服務，並以嚴謹的態度和深刻的洞察力應對複雜局面的合作夥伴。

Franklin Templeton is well positioned for this moment. Over years of deliberate planning combined with the strength of a global brand, we have earned the trust of investors around the world. At Franklin Templeton, we bring together specialized investment expertise across public markets, private markets and digital assets, supported by a global platform with reach in more than 150 countries.

富蘭克林鄧普頓目前已做好充分準備。經過多年的精心規劃，再加上強大的全球品牌影響力，我們贏得了世界各地投資者的信任。富蘭克林鄧普頓匯集了公開市場、私募市場和數位資產的專業投資知識，並依托覆蓋 150 多個國家的全球平台提供支援。

Clients are increasingly engaging with us across multiple asset classes, reflecting a shift towards integrated solutions and long-term strategic relationships. This alignment between client needs and our capabilities is driving growth. Our diversified platform continued innovation and focus on scale and efficiency position us to capture opportunities across market cycles and deliver long-term value for our clients and shareholders.

客戶越來越多地與我們開展跨多個資產類別的合作，這反映出市場正在轉向綜合解決方案和長期策略合作關係。客戶需求與我們能力的這種契合正在推動成長。我們多元化的平台不斷創新，並專注於規模和效率，這使我們能夠抓住市場週期中的機遇，並為我們的客戶和股東創造長期價值。

Now turning to our results for the quarter, which marked another important step forward with tangible progress across the firm. We continue to deepen client partnerships, broaden our investment in solutions capabilities and strengthen our global platform, key priorities that remain central to our strategy.

現在來看看我們本季的業績，這標誌著公司在各方面都取得了實際進展，又向前邁出了重要一步。我們將繼續深化與客戶的合作關係，擴大對解決方案能力的投資，並加強我們的全球平台，這些都是我們策略的核心重點。

Our first fiscal quarter continued the momentum we built last year with strong client activity across Franklin Templeton's diversified global platform with positive net flows in both public and private markets. We had record long-term inflows of $118.6 billion, up 40% from the prior quarter and 22% from the prior-year quarter.

我們第一財季延續了去年取得的良好勢頭，富蘭克林鄧普頓多元化的全球平台客戶活動強勁，公開市場和私募市場均實現了正淨流入。我們獲得了創紀錄的長期資金流入，達到 1,186 億美元，比上一季成長 40%，比上年同期成長 22%。

Long-term net inflows were $28 billion with record AUM and positive net flows across equity, multi-asset and alternative strategies, as well as ETFs, retail SMAs and Canvas. Excluding Western Asset Management, long-term net inflows totaled $34.6 billion, nearly double the prior year quarter, extending our track record to a ninth consecutive quarter of positive flows on a comparable basis.

長期淨流入資金達 280 億美元，資產管理規模創歷史新高，股票、多元資產和另類策略以及 ETF、零售 SMA 和 Canvas 均實現正淨流入。除西部資產管理公司外，長期淨流入總額為 346 億美元，幾乎是去年同期的兩倍，使我們連續第九個季度在可比較基礎上實現正流入。

Assets under management ended the quarter at $1.68 trillion. AUM increased from the prior quarter due to long-term net inflows and the acquisition of Apera, partially offset by the impact of net market change, distributions and other. Excluding Western Asset, long-term net inflows were $34.6 billion, compared to $17.9 billion in the prior-year quarter, with nine consecutive quarters of positive net flows.

本季末，資產管理規模為1.68兆美元。由於長期淨流入和收購 Apera，本季較上一季有所成長，但部分被淨市場變化、分紅和其他因素的影響所抵消。剔除西部資產後，長期淨流入為 346 億美元，而上年同期為 179 億美元，連續九季實現正淨流入。

We continue to see strong momentum across our platform with record AUM in three of our four asset classes. Public markets remain a key strength and an important source of growth. Equity, multi-asset and alternatives generated positive net flows totaling $30.4 billion for the quarter. And excluding Western Asset, fixed income delivered its eighth consecutive quarter of positive net flows.

我們的平台持續保持強勁的成長勢頭，四大資產類別中有三個類別的資產管理規模創下歷史新高。公開市場仍然是關鍵優勢和重要的成長來源。本季度，股票、多元資產和另類投資產生了總計 304 億美元的正淨流入。剔除西方資產管理公司後，固定收益市場連續第八個季度實現淨流入。

Equity net inflows were $19.8 billion for the quarter, including reinvested distributions of $24.6 billion. We saw positive net flows across large cap value and core, all cap growth and value sector, international equity, equity income and infrastructure strategies.

本季股權淨流入為 198 億美元，其中包括 246 億美元的再投資分紅。我們看到大盤價值股和核心股、所有市值成長股和價值股、國際股票、股票收益和基礎設施策略均出現正淨流入。

Fixed income net outflows were $2.4 billion. Excluding Western assets, fixed income net inflows were $2.6 billion, driven by Franklin Templeton fixed income. Positive momentum continued in multi-sector, municipal, highly customized, stable value, government and emerging market strategies.

固定收益淨流出為24億美元。剔除西方資產後，固定收益淨流入為 26 億美元，主要由富蘭克林鄧普頓固定收益基金推動。多領域、市政、高度客製化、穩定價值、政府和新興市場策略均保持積極動能。

Our institutional pipeline of one but unfunded mandates remain strong at $20.4 billion, underscoring sustained demand for our investment capabilities. The pipeline remains diversified by asset class and across our specialist investment teams.

我們目前擁有的未註資的機構投資項目儲備仍然強勁，達到 204 億美元，這凸顯了市場對我們投資能力的持續需求。我們的投資項目在資產類別和專業投資團隊方面保持多元化。

Turning to private markets. Franklin Templeton is a leading manager of alternative assets with $274 billion in alternative AUM. Alternative fundraising has been a key contributor to our growth with $10.8 billion raised during the quarter, including $9.5 billion in private market assets.

轉向私人市場。富蘭克林鄧普頓是領先的另類資產管理公司，管理著 2,740 億美元的另類資產。另類融資一直是公司成長的關鍵因素，本季共籌集了 108 億美元，其中包括 95 億美元的私募市場資產。

Fundraising was diversified across our alternative specialist investment managers and reflected client demand in secondary private equity, alternative credit, real estate and venture capital from institutions as well as from the wealth channel. Aggregate realizations and distributions were $4.8 billion.

籌資活動涵蓋了我們各個另類專業投資經理，反映了來自機構和財富管道的客戶對二級私募股權、另類信貸、房地產和風險投資的需求。總計實現和分配金額為 48 億美元。

Lexington Co-Investment Partners VI, one of the largest dedicated global co-investment funds closed in October with $4.6 billion in committed capital, today, Lexington's AUM stands at $83 billion, up 46% since its acquisition in 2022.

Lexington Co-Investment Partners VI 是全球最大的專款共同投資基金之一，於 10 月完成募集，承諾資本達 46 億美元。截至目前，Lexington 的資產管理規模已達 830 億美元，自 2022 年收購以來成長了 46%。

In addition, we continue to expand our private credit platform with the October 1 closing of the Apera Asset Management acquisition. This strategic acquisition enhances our direct lending capabilities in Europe, growing lower middle market. In January, BSP Real Estate Opportunistic Debt Fund II closed with $10 billion of investable capital, including related vehicles and anticipated leverage across $3 billion of equity commitments.

此外，隨著 10 月 1 日對 Apera Asset Management 的收購完成，我們將繼續擴大我們的私人信貸平台。此次策略性收購增強了我們在歐洲的直接貸款能力，並促進了中低端市場的發展。1 月，BSP 房地產機會債務基金 II 完成募集，可投資資本達 100 億美元，其中包括相關工具和預計 30 億美元的股權承諾槓桿。

Franklin Templeton's U.S. and European alternative credit businesses are now aligned under an updated Benefit Street Partners brand with $95 billion in private credit AUM at quarter-end. Clarion Partners continues to be well positioned with a large, diversified portfolio and positive returns despite a challenging capital-raising environment.

富蘭克林鄧普頓的美國和歐洲另類信貸業務現已整合到更新後的 Benefit Street Partners 品牌下，截至季末，其私募信貸資產管理規模達 950 億美元。儘管融資環境充滿挑戰，但 Clarion Partners 憑藉龐大、多元化的投資組合和正收益，仍保持著良好的市場地位。

Capital flows remain well below historic averages, largely due to clients seeking more liquidity in private equity overall. Recent M&A activity in the industry underscores the importance of alternative assets, reinforcing the strategic rationale behind our acquisitions and investments, and further highlights our ability to grow our alternative asset platform at scale.

資本流動仍遠低於歷史平均水平，這主要是由於客戶整體上尋求私募股權更高的流動性。近期產業內的併購活動凸顯了另類資產的重要性，強化了我們收購和投資背後的策略理由，並進一步突顯了我們大規模發展另類資產平台的能力。

Franklin Templeton Private Markets, our alternative wealth management offering, continues to gain traction and generated over $1 billion in sales for the quarter, underscoring the strength of our global distribution partnerships and client reach. Lexington Partners, Benefit Street Partners and Clarion Partners each have scaled perpetual funds totaling $6.7 billion in AUM.

富蘭克林鄧普頓私人市場（Franklin Templeton Private Markets）是我們提供的另類財富管理服務，持續獲得市場認可，本季銷售額超過 10 億美元，凸顯了我們全球分銷合作夥伴關係和客戶覆蓋範圍的強大實力。Lexington Partners、Benefit Street Partners 和 Clarion Partners 各自管理的永久基金規模總計達 67 億美元。

These are semiliquid perpetual vehicles opened to ongoing subscriptions, giving investors efficient access to long-term private market exposure. Taken together, these capabilities are driving increased client adoption and strengthening our position as demand for private market solutions continues to grow globally.

這些是半流動性永續基金，允許持續認購，使投資者能夠有效率地獲得長期私募市場投資機會。綜合來看，這些能力正在推動客戶更多地採用我們的產品和服務，並隨著全球對私有市場解決方案的需求持續成長，鞏固了我們的地位。

As investors continue to seek enhanced diversification and differentiated sources of return, private assets have taken on a more prominent role within traditional mutual fund structures. We've been incorporating private assets into traditional mutual funds for over a decade.

隨著投資人不斷尋求更多元化的投資和差異化的回報來源，私募資產在傳統的共同基金結構中扮演了更重要的角色。十多年來，我們一直將私人資產納入傳統共同基金。

Today, we manage approximately 60 products, representing about $160 billion in traditional mutual fund assets that have exposure to private markets. Liquidity is closely and continuously monitored to ensure these products remain aligned with our traditional fund objectives.

目前，我們管理約 60 種產品，代表約 1,600 億美元的傳統共同基金資產，這些產品均投資於私募市場。我們會密切持續地監控流動性，以確保這些產品始終符合我們傳統的基金目標。

Multi-asset AUM is nearly $200 billion and had net inflows of $4 billion during the quarter, the 18th consecutive quarter of positive net flows, led by Franklin Income Investors, Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions and Canvas.

多資產管理規模接近 2,000 億美元，本季淨流入 40 億美元，連續第 18 季實現正淨流入，主要由富蘭克林收益投資者、富蘭克林鄧普頓投資解決方案和 Canvas 引領。

These flows underscore clients increasing preference for outcome-oriented, diversified solutions across public and private asset classes, an area that Franklin Templeton continues to focus on and evolve through innovation.

這些資金流動凸顯了客戶越來越傾向於選擇以結果為導向、涵蓋公共和私人資產類別的多元化解決方案，而富蘭克林鄧普頓將繼續專注於這一領域，並透過創新不斷發展。

Clients are increasingly turning to Franklin Templeton for a broad and differentiated set of investment vehicles, and we're seeing that demand translate into sustained growth across our platform with record AUM across ETFs, retail SMAs, Canvas and investment solutions.

客戶越來越傾向於選擇富蘭克林鄧普頓，以獲得廣泛且差異化的投資工具。我們看到，這種需求正在轉化為我們平台的持續成長，ETF、零售SMA、Canvas和投資解決方案的資產管理規模均創歷史新高。

Our ETF platform continues to grow at a faster rate than the industry and reached a new high with $58 billion in AUM and generated $7.5 billion in net flows, marking its 17th consecutive positive quarter. The net flows were inclusive of $3.5 billion in mutual fund conversions.

我們的 ETF 平台持續以高於產業平均的速度成長，資產管理規模達到 580 億美元，創歷史新高，淨流入資金達 75 億美元，連續第 17 季實現正成長。淨流入包括 35 億美元的共同基金轉換。

Our focus on active ETFs produced strong results this quarter. Active ETF net flows were $5.5 billion or approximately 70% of total net flows. Today, we have 15 ETFs that exceed $1 billion in AUM. The industry conversation continues to shift toward delivering personalization at scale, and we see this as a durable long-term opportunity.

本季我們對主動型ETF的關注取得了強勁的成果。主動式 ETF 淨流入資金為 55 億美元，約佔總淨流入資金的 70%。目前，我們有 15 檔 ETF 的資產管理規模超過 10 億美元。產業討論的焦點持續轉向大規模實現個人化，我們認為這是一個持久的長期機會。

Advancements in technology are allowing features of separately managed accounts such as tax loss harvesting, which were historically underutilized, to be implemented efficiently and consistently across a broad client base. We are well positioned in retail SMAs with our breadth of capabilities along with our custom indexing technology, Canvas.

技術進步使得以往未充分利用的獨立管理帳戶功能（例如稅損收割）能夠在廣泛的客戶群中得到高效、一致的實施。憑藉我們廣泛的能力以及我們定制的索引技術 Canvas，我們在零售 SMA 領域佔據了有利地位。

As a leader in retail SMAs, AUM increased to $171 billion, with $2.4 billion in net inflows driven by Putnam, Franklin Fixed Income and Canvas. Canvas generated $1.4 billion in net flows and reached $18 billion in AUM, reflecting strong client interest in personalization and tax efficiency. Canvas has been net flow positive since its acquisition in 2022.

作為零售獨立管理帳戶領域的領導者，AUM 增至 1,710 億美元，其中 Putnam、Franklin Fixed Income 和 Canvas 推動淨流入 24 億美元。Canvas 創造了 14 億美元的淨流入，資產管理規模達到 180 億美元，反映出客戶對個人化和稅務效率的濃厚興趣。Canvas 自 2022 年收購以來一直保持淨流入為正。

We are also seeing increased demand for multi-asset model solutions, including portfolios that combine both public and private asset classes. This trend is extending into retirement channels where investors are increasingly seeking diversification, income and risk management through more holistic portfolio construction.

我們也看到對多資產模型解決方案的需求不斷增長，包括將公共和私人資產類別結合的投資組合。這一趨勢正在蔓延到退休領域，投資者越來越傾向於透過更全面的投資組合建構來實現多元化、收入和風險管理。

Investment Solutions leverage our capabilities across public and private asset classes to pursue strategic partnerships. This quarter, Investment Solutions enterprise AUM surpassed $100 billion. Digital assets also continue to play an important role in modernizing financial infrastructure, and Franklin Templeton remains at the forefront.

投資解決方案部門利用我們在公共和私人資產類別方面的能力，尋求策略夥伴關係。本季，投資解決方案企業資產管理規模突破1,000億美元。數位資產在金融基礎設施現代化進程中繼續發揮重要作用，而富蘭克林鄧普頓始終處於領先地位。

Earlier this month, the State of Wyoming debuted the nation's first state-issued stable token with Franklin Templeton Managed Reserves, further demonstrating our leadership in blockchain-enabled investment solutions. Our digital asset AUM is $1.8 billion, inclusive of approximately $900 million in tokenized funds and approximately $800 million in crypto ETFs.

本月初，懷俄明州與富蘭克林鄧普頓管理儲備基金合作，推出了美國首個州政府發行的穩定代幣，進一步證明了我們在區塊鏈投資解決方案領域的領先地位。我們的數位資產管理規模為 18 億美元，其中包括約 9 億美元的代幣化基金和約 8 億美元的加密 ETF。

Turning to artificial intelligence. We've made significant progress in advancing our AI efforts. Yesterday, we announced the launch of Intelligence Hub, a modular AI-driven distribution platform powered by Microsoft Azure. Building on the advanced financial AI initiatives announced in April 2024, Intelligence Hub delivers our vision for U.S. distribution by modernizing core activities improving sales effectiveness and enhancing the client experience.

轉向人工智慧。我們在推動人工智慧方面取得了顯著進展。昨天，我們宣布推出 Intelligence Hub，這是一個由 Microsoft Azure 提供支援的模組化 AI 驅動分發平台。以 2024 年 4 月宣布的先進金融人工智慧計畫為基礎，智慧中心透過現代化核心活動、提高銷售效率和增強客戶體驗，實現了我們對美國分銷的願景。

One of Franklin Templeton's strength is our global presence, and international markets are an integral part of our growth strategy. We currently operate in over 30 countries, and our international business continues to expand with positive net flows for the quarter with strength in EMEA.

富蘭克林鄧普頓的優勢之一在於我們的全球佈局，國際市場是我們成長策略不可或缺的一部分。我們目前在 30 多個國家開展業務，國際業務持續擴張，本季淨流入為正，其中 EMEA 地區表現強勁。

Now in terms of investment performance, over half of our mutual fund and ETF AUM is outperforming its peer medium across the 3, 5 and 10-year periods. Similarly, over half of strategy composite AUM is outperforming its benchmarks over the same time periods.

就投資績效而言，我們超過一半的共同基金和 ETF 資產管理規模在 3 年、5 年和 10 年期間的表現均優於同類基金的平均水準。同樣，在同一時期內，超過一半的策略組合資產管理規模 (AUM) 的表現優於其基準。

Compared to the prior quarter, mutual fund investment performance increased in the 5 to 10-year periods and declined modestly in the one- and three-year periods due to select U.S. equity strategies. On the Strategy Composite side, investment performance improved in the 10 year period, was stable in the three year period and declined in the one and five year periods.

與上一季相比，共同基金投資績效在 5 至 10 年期間有所增長，而在 1 年和 3 年期間則略有下降，這主要是由於部分美國股票策略所致。從策略組合來看，投資績效在 10 年期間有所改善，在 3 年期間保持穩定，在 1 年和 5 年期間有所下降。

The one year decline was primarily driven by liquidity strategies. Overall, long-term performance remains competitive and continues to support both organic growth and client retention. Turning briefly to financial results. Adjusted operating income was $437.3 million, reflecting lower performance fees in the annual deferred compensation acceleration for retirement-eligible employees, partially offset by the impact of higher average AUM and realization of cost savings initiatives.

過去一年的下跌主要受流動性策略的影響。整體而言，長期業績保持競爭力，並持續支持內生成長和客戶留存。接下來簡單看一下財務業績。經調整後的營業收入為 4.373 億美元，反映出符合退休條件的員工年度遞延薪酬加速計劃中的績效費減少，但部分被平均資產管理規模增加和成本節約計劃的實現所抵消。

We remain disciplined in managing expenses while continuing to invest strategically in areas of growth and innovation for the benefit of all stakeholders. We are confident that our diversified business model, global scale and client-first culture positions us well to capture the long-term trends reshaping our industry across public and private markets.

我們將繼續嚴格控制支出，同時繼續在成長和創新領域進行策略性投資，以造福所有利害關係人。我們相信，我們多元化的商業模式、全球規模和以客戶為中心的文化，使我們能夠很好地掌握重塑公共和私人市場產業的長期趨勢。

Finally, in December, Franklin Templeton was once again recognized by pensions and investments as one of the best places to work in money management. I'm proud to lead such a talented and dedicated team, and I want to thank our employees for their continued hard work and commitment to serving our clients.

最後，在 12 月份，富蘭克林鄧普頓再次被退休金和投資業評為資金管理領域最佳工作場所之一。我很榮幸能夠領導這樣一支才華橫溢、盡職盡責的團隊，我要感謝我們的員工一直以來的辛勤工作和對服務客戶的奉獻精神。

Now let's open up the call to your questions. Operator?

現在我們進入問答環節，歡迎大家提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Bill Katz, Cowen and Company LLC.

Bill Katz，Cowen and Company LLC。

Okay. Thank you very much for taking the question and all the update. Thank you for the extra disclosure in the supplement around expenses. I think that was quite welcomed for sure. Maybe on that, just a two part question. To the extent that the markets were to be a bit under pressure as the year goes by, how much flex do you have to sort of bring that number down?

好的。非常感謝您回答問題並提供所有最新資訊。感謝您在補充文件中對費用的額外揭露。我認為這肯定很受歡迎。或許這個問題可以分成兩個部分。如果今年以來市場面臨一定壓力，那麼你有多少彈性來降低這個數字？

And then secondarily, I think in there, you sort of affirmed you're going to get to $200 million of cost savings. Could you speak to maybe the residual amount yet to be realized and the timeline against that? Thank you.

其次，我認為你在那篇文章中也肯定了你將實現 2 億美元的成本節約。您能否談談尚未實現的剩餘金額以及實現該金額的時間表？謝謝。

Yeah. Hi, Bill. Good morning. It's Matt. So as outlined on that page, thanks for highlighting it in the investor deck, at flat markets, as we mentioned, the assumptions and excluding performance fee comp, we do expect expenses to be in line with 2025. This is inclusive, again, as we also outlined on that slide, of our key investments that are essentially offset by the expense savings.

是的。你好，比爾。早安.是馬特。正如該頁所述（感謝您在投資者簡報中強調這一點），正如我們所提到的，在市場平穩的情況下，根據假設並排除業績報酬補償，我們預計支出將與 2025 年持平。正如我們在那張投影片上所概述的那樣，這其中也包括了我們的主要投資，這些投資基本上被節省的費用所抵消。

From a modeling perspective, if you take the guidance, which I can give on the second quarter, and then you add that to the first quarter, take those -- take that sort of combined number for expenses and then take the last two quarters and divide it roughly evenly between the last two, that will get you where we believe we'll be at this point in time.

從建模的角度來看，如果你採用我可以提供的第二季度的指導，然後將其與第一季相加，得出這些——得出這樣的綜合支出數字，然後將最後兩個季度大致平均分配，這將得出我們認為我們目前所處的階段。

It may be that the expense saves shift a little bit between the third and the fourth quarters, but that's how we expect things to play out in terms of our cost savings. And that is, of course, as I've mentioned in the past, in conjunction with margin expansion in particular going into the third and fourth quarter. So I think for the second quarter, you won't see much of margin expansion.

第三季和第四季之間的費用節省可能會略有變化，但這就是我們預期成本節省情況的發展方向。當然，正如我之前提到的，這與第三季和第四季利潤率的擴張密切相關。所以我認為第二季利潤率不會有太大的成長。

You'll see that going into the third and fourth quarters where we expect to be, again, given current markets, given current AUM levels, we expect our margin to be getting into the high 20s at that point from where we are today.

你會看到，進入第三季度和第四季度，我們預計，鑑於目前的市場狀況和目前的資產管理規模，屆時我們的利潤率將從目前的水平提升至 20% 以上。

Craig Siegenthaler, Bank of America.

克雷格·西根塔勒，美國銀行。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My first question is on the recent M&A activity. I know you've been very active, and I wanted to see if you had an update on potential contingent consideration liabilities. Because I see there's only about $20 million in the new 10-Q that you put out today, but I actually thought it was larger than that.

謝謝。各位早安。我的第一個問題是關於最近的併購活動。我知道您一直非常活躍，我想了解您關於潛在的或有對價負債的最新情況。因為我看到你們今天發布的 10-Q 文件中只有大約 2000 萬美元，但我以為實際金額會更大。

So is that really it? And -- or could there be more, especially with the deal you just closed last quarter?

這就完了？而且——或者說，是否還有更多？特別是考慮到你們上個季度剛完成的那筆交易？

No, that's the contingent consideration around specific transactions that we've done. So it's really virtually nothing at this stage. What that doesn't include is some compensation related to transactions. But that's all in the compensation line and all included in our guidance.

不，那是我們已完成的特定交易的或有對價。所以現階段這真的幾乎不算什麼。但這不包括與交易相關的一些補償。但這都屬於薪酬範疇，也都包含在我們的指導方針中。

So -- and some of that you can see in the GAAP versus non-GAAP disclosures for specifics. But transaction-related consideration, it's a very low number that's left. And that's probability weighted, Craig. So yes, nothing additional to report there.

所以——其中一些細節可以從 GAAP 與非 GAAP 的披露中看出。但就交易相關因素而言，剩下的部分已經非常少了。克雷格，這是機率加權後的數值。是的，這方面沒有其他需要報告的。

Okay. Thanks Matthew. And it's just one question, right?

好的。謝謝你，馬修。這只是個問題，對吧？

Yeah. Well, I think you had -- you wanted to ask something else about M&A. I think, Jenny, do you want to cover the M&A question?

是的。嗯，我想你原本想問一些關於併購的其他問題。珍妮，我想問你，你想談談併購方面的問題嗎？

Yeah, and then I --

是的，然後我--

Yeah. Do you want to just -- sorry, Craig, are you asking about what kind of our view is on M&A? Or what's your question on that?

是的。你只是想──抱歉，克雷格，你是想問我們對併購的看法嗎？或者你對此有什麼問題？

Actually, I did in the first part, but if you want to kind of update us on your M&A priorities, product gaps, kind of where you're looking, where you see kind of strategic benefits, that would be helpful too.

實際上，我在第一部分已經提到了，但如果您想向我們介紹一下您的併購重點、產品差距、您正在關注的方向以及您認為哪些方面具有戰略優勢，那也會很有幫助。

Yeah. So it hasn't really changed. I mean what we've always said is we do M&A for strategic purposes, and they're usually around whether we need to fill out an obvious product gap. Today, honestly, we are pretty full. I mean the one area that we had said was infrastructure. You need a lot of scale for infrastructure.

是的。所以其實並沒有改變。我的意思是，我們一直都說，我們進行併購是為了策略目的，通常是為了填補明顯的產品空白。說實話，今天我們已經很飽了。我的意思是，我們之前提到的一個領域是基礎設施。基礎設施需要很大的規模。

And we feel like we've filled that at least for now with the partnerships that we've done with the three infrastructure managers. And we're focused on the wealth channel there. Any kind of M&A we do going forward is going to really be in three areas. It will be, like what we did with Apera, which is to fill in a specific bolt-on area either geographically or capabilities to our alternatives manager.

我們感覺，至少目前我們已經透過與三家基礎設施管理公司建立的合作關係填補了這一空白。我們專注於那裡的財富管道。我們今後進行的任何併購活動都將主要集中在三個領域。就像我們之前對 Apera 所做的那樣，我們會從地理位置或能力方面為我們的替代方案管理工具填補一個特定的附加領域。

So in that case, they gave us European direct lending, which we are able to combine with Alcentra's direct lending group, I think we're now at $10 billion in European direct lending there. So that's kind of a bolt-on, both geographically and capability.

所以，在這種情況下，他們給了我們歐洲直接貸款業務，我們可以將其與 Alcentra 的直接貸款集團結合起來，我認為我們現在在歐洲的直接貸款規模已經達到 100 億美元。所以無論從地理位置或能力來說，這都是一種附加功能。

And then the second area would be if it somehow furthers distribution. So we've done either investments or actual M&A that help us, like a Putnam deal where we also brought with it some sort of distribution capability. And then the third area is really in high net worth. We said we want to grow -- we want to double the size of fiduciary in our five year plan. And that can be both -- that will be both organic as well as inorganic.

其次，它是否能以某種方式促進傳播也是需要考慮的因素。因此，我們透過投資或實際的併購來幫助我們，例如收購 Putnam，我們也從中獲得了某種分銷能力。第三個領域才是真正的高淨值人群。我們說過我們要發展壯大——在五年計畫中，我們希望將信託規模擴大一倍。它可以是兩者兼具──既可以是天然的，也可以是無機的。

So those are the kind of three areas that we're focused on.

所以，以上就是我們重點關注的三個領域。

And I'll just add something to this, Craig. It's almost reiterating what we said in the past. But look, what we've done in M&A as a company has transformed the business. It's almost 60% of our operating income that's been added over the last several years through M&A.

克雷格，我再補充一點。這幾乎是在重複我們過去說過的話。但你看，我們公司在併購方面所做的一切已經改變了整個業務。過去幾年，我們透過併購獲得的營業收入幾乎佔總營業收入的 60%。

And I think that we're a bit of a modest company at the end of the day, but the timing of our private markets acquisitions was quite good. And as you know, we've been growing the mobile down very substantially in terms of those transactions.

我認為，歸根究底，我們是一家規模不大的公司，但我們在私募市場進行收購的時機把握得相當不錯。如您所知，我們在行動端的交易量方面已經大幅下降了。

So we're very comfortable with M&A. And as Jenny mentioned, we've got some things that we're reviewing. We're kind of in the strategic flow, would probably be an understatement. But right now, the return on M&A is very important to us. We have high bars.

所以我們對併購非常熟悉。正如珍妮所提到的，我們正在審查一些東西。我們目前正處於策略發展的關鍵階段，說這一點可能都算是保守的說法了。但就目前而言，併購的回報對我們來說非常重要。我們要求很高。

And obviously, given where our equity is trading, the bar is even higher for M&A. So the first thing we look at is what's the return on buying back our shares relative to what we could get from M&A or providing more seed capital and these other things around capital management.

顯然，鑑於我們股票目前的交易情況，併購的門檻就更高了。因此，我們首先要考慮的是，相對於透過併購或提供更多種子資金以及其他資本管理方式所能獲得的收益，回購我們自己的股票的回報是多少。

Brennan Hawken, BMO Capital Markets.

Brennan Hawken，BMO資本市場。

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Matt, I don't think I heard it in the prepared remarks, so I figured I'd drill in. Would you have any expectations for EFR either both in the coming quarter? And then if you have a view maybe for the balance of the year. I know you've got the Lexington flag-raise is expected to start, I'm guessing that will help.

早安.謝謝您回答我的問題。馬特，我好像沒在準備好的演講稿裡聽到，所以我想補充一下。您對EFR在下一季的表現有何預期？如果你對今年剩餘時間有想法的話。我知道列剋星頓的升旗儀式預計即將開始，我猜這會有所幫助。

Yeah. I'd say that for the next quarter, we expect EFR to be stable where it is today. And then in the following two quarters, there could be some upside to that based on fundraising around alternative assets as you've just highlighted.

是的。我認為，在接下來的一個季度裡，我們預計 EFR 將保持穩定在目前的水平。然後，正如你剛才強調的那樣，在接下來的兩個季度裡，基於另類資產的融資，可能會有一些上漲空間。

Great. Thanks for taking my question.

偉大的。謝謝您回答我的問題。

Alexander Blostein, Goldman Sachs Group Inc

Alexander Blostein，高盛集團

Hey. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the question. Well, Matt, I was hoping you could expand the margin discussion a little bit longer term. Franklin has done a really nice job integrating a number of assets over the years. Good to see the expense flex come through.

嘿。各位早安。謝謝你的提問。馬特，我原本希望你能把利潤率的討論再延長一些。多年來，富蘭克林在整合各項資產方面做得非常出色。很高興看到費用彈性政策得以實施。

But when you think about the operating margins for the firm as a whole kind of running in the mid-20s, to your point, maybe entering high 20s towards the end of the year, where do you see the profitability over time? Many of your peers are well in the 30s, kind of mid-30s percent range.

但是，如果你考慮到公司的整體營業利潤率在 20% 左右，正如你所說，到年底可能會達到 20% 以上，那麼你認為公司長期的盈利能力會如何呢？你的很多同儕都在30%左右，大概在30%中段。

So knowing what you know about the business, knowing what else might be on the come with respect to integration of some of your managers, how should the Street think about profitability over kind of a multiyear basis? And what's kind of the goalpost there? And maybe just a clarification, I know you said high 20s margin exiting 2026. Is that with market or is that also assuming flat markets? Thank you.

所以，考慮到你對業務的了解，以及考慮到一些經理的整合可能還會帶來哪些其他變化，華爾街應該如何看待未來幾年的獲利能力？那最終的目標是什麼？還有一點要澄清，我知道你說過 2026 年底利潤率會達到 20% 以上。這是基於市場行情得出的結論，還是也假設市場行情平穩？謝謝。

The latter one is flat markets. So it's part of our guidance from where we are today. In terms of the first question, we put out there five year plan where -- and we've got four years -- well, 3.75 years to go of that plan. And we said we'd be in excess of 30% by the time that's finished.

後者指的是市場橫盤整理。所以，這是我們目前所處位置的指導原則的一部分。關於第一個問題，我們制定了一個五年計劃，而我們還有四年——確切地說，還有 3.75 年的時間來完成這個計劃。我們當時就說過，到那時完成率會超過30%。

The reality is we are well on our way to the 30% margin, all else remaining equal, going into 2027, let's say, fiscal 2027. So sometime in 2027, we'll be there.

現實情況是，在其他條件不變的情況下，我們很有可能在 2027 年（比如說 2027 財年）達到 30% 的利潤率。所以，到 2027 年的某個時候，我們就會到達那裡。

And then if all else remains equal around the market, as we've said, there isn't any other reason why we couldn't be somewhere between 30% and 35%, if we achieve all the goals that we put into our strategic plan that we've highlighted to the -- to all of you and as we highlighted where we're at against that at the end of last year.

然後，如果市場其他條件保持不變，正如我們所說，如果我們實現了戰略計劃中設定的所有目標（我們已經向大家強調過這些目標，並且在去年年底我們也強調了我們目前的進展情況），那麼我們沒有理由不能達到 30% 到 35% 的市場份額。

So yes, that's where we're at on the margin. As I mentioned, where we should end this year, all else remain equal in the high 29s. Going into 2027 fiscal, at some point we'd be 30. And then if the market stays where it is today, we should go in excess of that in future years where we thought we'd be more like 30%.

是的，這就是我們目前所處的境地。正如我之前提到的，如果其他條件不變，我們今年的最終排名應該在 29 歲以上。進入 2027 財年，到某個時候我們就滿 30 歲了。如果市場維持目前的水平，未來幾年我們應該會超過這個數字，我們原本預計會達到 30% 左右。

So we have some upside there. Remember as well, we do have the highly episodic situation around Western where we've been providing support to the Western expense structure since August 2024, which has had an impact on our overall margins, probably several points.

所以我們還有些上升空間。此外，我們還要考慮到西方公司的情況，自 2024 年 8 月以來，我們一直在為西方公司的支出結構提供支持，這給我們的整體利潤率帶來了影響，可能影響了好幾個百分點。

So we'd already be in the high 20s or 30% now excluding that. But we've done the right thing, in our opinion, by providing that support. And by definition, also supports future growth opportunities that we've highlighted in our five year plan.

如果排除這部分，我們現在的比例應該已經達到20%以上甚至30%了。但我們認為，提供這種支持是正確的做法。根據定義，這也有助於我們五年計畫中重點介紹的未來成長機會。

Yeah. All makes sense thanks so much.

是的。一切都說得通，非常感謝。

Glenn Shore, Evercore ISIS

格倫‧肖爾，Evercore ISIS

Thank you very much. Jenny, I felt like you had strong conviction in how you talked about -- you said something like no longer -- people -- clients are no longer looking for products in isolation. Curious how much you were leaning towards the institutional versus the wealth side.

非常感謝。珍妮，我覺得你說話的時候很有信心——你說過類似這樣的話：人們——客戶不再孤立地尋找產品了。很好奇你比較傾向機構投資人還是財富投資人。

And more importantly, how are you organizing around that? How do you deliver it? Is it your own model that is getting on other people's models? And is it also bigger, strategic, broader relationships with LPs? I'm just curious to flesh that out a little bit. Thank you.

更重要的是，你們是如何圍繞這一點進行組織的？你如何交付？是不是你自己的模型被用在別人的模型上了？而且，它是否也與有限合夥人建立了更大、更具策略性、更廣泛的關係？我只是想稍微詳細地了解一下。謝謝。

Yeah. Great question. So that comment is both a wealth comment as well as an institutional comment. So you talk to any of the big wealth platforms, and what they're basically saying is we -- there's more demand for their clients to offer truly what used to be just available to high net worth people. So it's financial planning, tax efficiency, education, education of the heirs.

是的。問得好。所以，這則評論既是關於財富的評論，也是關於制度的評論。所以，你去和任何一家大型財富管理平台談談，他們基本上都在說，現在客戶對真正提供以前只有高淨值人士才能享受到的服務的需求越來越大。所以，關鍵在於財務規劃、稅務效率、教育以及對繼承人的教育。

And so what their message is, look, we're going to consolidate to fewer managers, so we're going to look at the ones that have scale, that have breadth of capabilities and can offer these additional services to us. And part of that -- and I'll talk in first on the wealth side. And part of that on the wealth side is if you have traditional and private show me that you can support us on the education of the sale of our private.

所以他們的訊息是，我們將精簡管理人員，減少管理人員數量，因此我們將尋找那些規模較大、能力廣泛且能為我們提供這些額外服務的管理人員。其中一部分——我先從財富方面談起。財富方面的一部分是，如果你有傳統的和私人的，請向我證明你可以支持我們對私人銷售的教育。

So that's why we have 100 people whose sole job is to support our market leaders out there as they meet financial adviser by financial adviser from an education standpoint. And so really focusing on streamlining on the wealth channel. We're having the same discussions on the institutional side where the conversations are going. Okay, show me your broad breadth of capabilities.

所以，這就是為什麼我們有 100 人專門負責從教育的角度支持我們的市場領導者與財務顧問逐一會面。因此，我們真正專注於簡化財富管道。我們在機構層面也進行著同樣的討論，對話的方向也與此相同。好的，讓我看看你廣泛的能力。

I want to be able to second some of my more junior folks. Show me how you can build a program around that that goes cross-market, so fixed income, equity, secondaries, private -- like we want that education across, and that you will support those types of programs. And again, they're consolidating the number of managers.

我想能夠提攜一些資歷較淺的同事。請告訴我如何圍繞這一點建立一個跨市場的計劃，涵蓋固定收益、股票、二級市場、私募市場——我們希望這種教育能夠覆蓋所有市場，而你們會支持這些類型的計劃。他們再次精簡了管理人員的數量。

And you have to remember, you have a blow-up with one manager, it taints your firm's reputation. There's as much due diligence on a multitrillion dollar manager as there is on a single $20 billion manager. And so the amount of time that they have to do and do due diligence on the managers, making them want to consolidate, just use larger managers and expect more from the manager.

你要記住，如果你和一位經理發生衝突，就會損害公司的聲譽。對管理數萬億美元資產的基金經理人進行盡職調查，與對管理 200 億美元資產的單一基金經理進行盡職調查是一樣的。因此，他們需要花費大量時間對經理進行盡職調查，這使得他們想要合併，只聘用規模更大的經理，並對經理提出更高的要求。

So that's both, like I said, institutional retail. We've seen it on the insurance side where as they're looking -- you have this trend towards leveraging sub-advisers, they want broad breadth of capabilities there. So we're seeing it on, as you talk to retirement managers, show me the breadth of capabilities that you have and show me how you can help support the business.

所以就像我說的，這兩者都包括機構零售。我們在保險業方面已經看到了這種趨勢，他們正在尋求——你會看到一種利用子顧問的趨勢，他們希望在那裡擁有廣泛的能力。所以我們看到，當你與退休金管理者交談時，請向我展示你所擁有的能力範圍，並向我展示你如何幫助支持業務發展。

So I would say this trend has been going on for the last few years, and it continues. We feel really well positioned for it.

所以我認為這種趨勢已經持續了好幾年，而且還會繼續下去。我們感覺自己已經為此做好了充分的準備。

Thanks so much, Jenny.

非常感謝你，珍妮。

Hey Jenny. I wanted to add a comment into Glenn's comment on actually our success, especially on the wealth space, which you mentioned, we have over 100 all specialists that complement the field and the wealth people on the ground. And the success that we've seen actually over the past year alone, we've increased substantially the amount of AUM that we fund-raise in the wealth space.

嗨，珍妮。我想補充格倫關於我們實際取得的成功，特別是你提到的財富管理領域的成功，我們有超過 100 位各領域的專家，他們與實地的財富管理人員形成互補。事實上，僅在過去一年裡，我們就取得了顯著的成功，我們在財富管理領域籌集的資產管理規模大幅增加。

And we expect that that's going to be between 15% and 20% in 2026. But also importantly, 40% is I mean outside the U.S. So it's also growing outside the U.S., both in Europe and Asia. And we -- the other part that is important is over the past two years alone; we built seven perpetual funds that are close to $5 billion in fundraising.

我們預計到 2026 年，這一比例將在 15% 到 20% 之間。但同樣重要的是，40%指的是美國以外的地區。所以，它在美國以外的地區，包括歐洲和亞洲，也在成長。還有一點很重要，那就是在過去兩年裡，我們建立了七個永久基金，總募款金額接近 50 億美元。

And the fundraising is just going up every quarter. So this quarter is 50% higher than the quarter before, and the momentum continues because we continue to sign up new wealth groups. And to your question, Glenn, we're also starting to build those model portfolios of perpetual funds that will continue to accelerate the growth on the wealth.

而且每季的募款金額都在增加。因此，本季比上一季成長了 50%，而且這種成長勢頭仍在繼續，因為我們不斷吸引新的財富集團加入。至於你的問題，格倫，我們也開始建立永續基金的模型投資組合，這些基金將繼續加速財富成長。

So that's an area of focus and I think that's an area of a lot of success from Franklin. So I just wanted to add that to the conversation.

所以這是我們關注的領域，我認為富蘭克林在這個領域取得了巨大的成功。所以我想把這一點也補充到討論中。

And you just reminded me, Daniel, Glenn, you asked the question about do we also try to get other people's models? Yes, sure, we do. As other people are both CIO and they're open architecture, and we are in that case in people's models. So our goal is to meet the client however we can meet the client, whether it's whatever vehicle or vehicle-agnostic.

丹尼爾，格倫，你剛才提醒了我，你們問過我們是否也要嘗試取得其他人的模型？是的，當然，我們有。其他人既是資訊官，又是開放式架構，在這種情況下，我們也在人們的模型中。因此，我們的目標是盡我們所能滿足客戶的需求，無論客戶需要什麼類型的車輛，或與車輛類型無關。

I think that you would see that all of our flagship products are being sold in multiple vehicles. So some form of ETF, mutual fund, CIT, SMA, we're adding tax efficiency to our active SMAs. And so having that flexibility is really important as they select you as one of their core providers.

我認為你會發現，我們所有的旗艦產品都在多種車型上銷售。所以，透過某種形式的ETF、共同基金、CIT、SMA，我們正在為我們的主動型SMA增加稅收效率。因此，擁有這種靈活性非常重要，因為他們會選擇你作為他們的核心供應商之一。

Daniel Fannon, Jefferies LLC.

Daniel Fannon，Jefferies LLC。

Thanks, good morning. So Matt, I wanted to follow up on some of your comments around long-term margins and the expenses. So just thinking about expense growth beyond this year, are you -- can you give us a sense of how you're thinking about that? And do you anticipate in those longer-term targets for margins, additional cost savings and/or cost programs that will help you get there?

謝謝，早安。馬特，我想就你之前關於長期利潤率和費用的一些評論做個後續討論。那麼，考慮到今年以後的支出成長，您—您能跟我們說說您是如何考慮的嗎？您是否預計，在實現這些長期利潤目標的過程中，會有額外的成本節約和/或成本控制方案來幫助您達成目標？

I mean it's possible. We're deep in on AI. We're deep in on how to maximize our presence that we have in India and Poland, for example, where we've got very large operational capabilities and great talent in these places. We're working on meaningful integration across the firm to maximize and capitalize on what we've got here.

我的意思是，這並非不可能。我們正在深入研究人工智慧。例如，我們正在深入研究如何最大限度地利用我們在印度和波蘭的業務，我們在這些地方擁有非常強大的營運能力和優秀的人才。我們正在努力實現公司內部的有效整合，以最大限度地利用我們現有的資源。

Every time when we progress down one of those paths, we find other places that can, frankly, absorb areas that we need to invest, at least absorb. What we're demonstrating this year is a meaningful increase in margin, all else remaining equal, and an acceleration of our plan to get to 30% plus.

每次我們沿著這些道路前進時，我們都會發現其他地方可以，坦白說，可以吸收我們需要投資的領域，至少可以吸收這些領域。今年我們所展現的是利潤率的顯著增長，在其他條件不變的情況下，並且我們實現 30% 以上利潤率目標的計劃正在加速推進。

And we're doing that through very disciplined expense management whilst continuing to invest in the business at the same time as the market going up. So we've got meaningful investments for growth, we've got the market that's meaningfully up, yet our expenses are staying flat to last year.

我們透過嚴格的費用管理來實現這一目標，同時在市場上漲的同時，也持續對業務進行投資。因此，我們進行了有意義的成長投資，市場也大幅上漲，但我們的支出卻與去年持平。

I think going into 2027, obviously, look, we're only a quarter through 2026 fiscal. But I feel confident that going into 2027, that a lot of the other initiatives we have going on will help to continue to absorb the additional expenses that are required to grow and invest in our business.

我認為，展望 2027 年，很明顯，你看，我們現在才剛度過了 2026 財年的四分之一。但我相信，進入 2027 年，我們正在進行的許多其他舉措將有助於我們繼續吸收業務成長和投資所需的額外費用。

But obviously, we can't comment yet reliably on fiscal 2027 when we're not even through '26. But I hope through these comments, when you look at how we've performed from an expense perspective, '25 versus '24, and now what we're guiding in '26 versus '25, that we've mostly achieved what we said we're going to achieve even with upward momentum in the market.

但很顯然，2026 財年都還沒結束，我們還無法對 2027 財年做出可靠的評論。但我希望透過這些評論，當你們從支出角度來看我們2025年與2024年的表現，以及我們現在對2026年與2025年的預期，就會發現，即使市場處於上升勢頭，我們也基本上實現了我們所說的目標。

So I do think we've got some room in the numbers in terms of the cost saves going into fiscal '27 based on everything that we know. But right now, we're focused on delivering on fiscal '26 as we've highlighted.

所以我認為，根據我們目前掌握的所有信息，到 2027 財年，我們在成本節約方面還有一些提升空間。但目前，我們的重點是實現我們先前強調的 2026 財年目標。

Yeah. And I'm just going to add, Matt, look, when we think about where is there upside opportunity on margin, I'm going to throw it into kind of three categories in the shorter term, but for '27 and beyond. One is streamlining the products.

是的。我還要補充一點，馬特，你看，當我們考慮利潤率方面有哪些上漲機會時，短期內我會將其分為三類，但對於 2027 年及以後的情況則不同。一是簡化產品線。

We've done a lot around. I think, almost one third of our products we've looked at and either repositioned, merged, a few cases closed, and some, when we think about repositioning, it's like turning them into ETFs, we did big ETFs conversion where we think they'll get more upside potential. So as we determine that, there's opportunity there.

我們做了很多事。我認為，我們已經審視了近三分之一的產品，並對其進行了重新定位、合併，一些案例已經結束，而對於一些產品，當我們考慮重新定位時，就像是將它們變成 ETF 一樣，我們已經對一些我們認為更有上漲潛力的大型 ETF 進行了轉換。所以，當我們確定這一點時，就存在著機會。

The second is it always takes a lot longer, and you think about all the acquisitions that we've done, we kind of say, I think, 11 acquisitions in the last five or six years, the reality of Legg Mason was like an acquisition of five companies or six companies, not one company, because they were all on their own systems. They had own versions of CRM, different CRM systems.

第二點是，收購總是需要更長的時間。想想我們過去五、六年完成的所有收購，我們大概說，11 次收購，而 Legg Mason 的收購實際上相當於收購了五到六家公司，而不是一家公司，因為它們都有自己的系統。他們有自己版本的CRM，不同的CRM系統。

That is ongoing. And those -- and some of that's built into the predictions that we have. But some of it, you continue to uncover more opportunities there as you integrate, and it takes multiple years to do the full integration, and so that's still working,

這項工作仍在進行中。而這些——其中一些已經融入我們的預測中。但隨著整合的進行，你會不斷發現更多機會，而完全整合需要數年時間，所以這種方法仍然有效。

And then finally, like AI and technology, we think blockchain is going to be a great efficiency adder as it's adopted out there. But like AI, just you may have seen that we announced this Intelligence Hub. It's one area that we're working on AI to make our distribution people more effective.

最後，就像人工智慧和技術一樣，我們認為區塊鏈隨著其應用範圍的擴大，將大大提高效率。但就像人工智慧一樣，您可能已經看到我們發布了這個智慧中心。這是我們正在利用人工智慧提高配送人員效率的領域之一。

What we saw is the time to finalize call lists dropped 90% when we rolled this out. Now what is that? It went from three to four hours to 15 minutes. And the prepping for meetings dropped from six hours to two hours or something per week. Those are small little incremental cost savings or, hopefully, more importantly, what it's done is actually added 9% to 10% increase in the number of meetings that our distribution team has.

我們發現，推出這項措施後，完成通話清單所需的時間減少了 90%。那是什麼？時間從三、四個小時縮短到了15分鐘。會議準備時間也從每週六小時減少到兩小時左右。這些都是一些微小的增量成本節約，或者，更重要的是，它實際上使我們的分銷團隊的會議數量增加了 9% 到 10%。

So hopefully, that translates into more sales. But think about that as you're rolling it out. We've already talked in the past about AI and the improvement in our RFPs, we're doing a lot of work on our investment side, it will either translate into growth opportunities or it will translate into cost savings.

希望這能轉化為更多的銷量。但在推廣過程中要考慮到這一點。我們過去已經討論過人工智慧以及它如何改進我們的 RFP，我們在投資方面做了很多工作，這要么會轉化為成長機會，要么會轉化為成本節約。

But honestly, it's a bit hard today to build that into direct cost savings opportunities that expand into margin. But those are big opportunities, we think, going forward. And we are very focused, and we think on the AI side, we're actually the leaders in that space.

但說實話，如今要把這些轉化為能夠轉化為利潤的直接成本節約機會，有點難。但我們認為，這些都是未來發展的大機會。我們非常專注，而且我們認為在人工智慧領域，我們實際上是該領域的領導者。

So I just want to add that to kind of Matt's comments.

所以我想補充Matt的評論。

And then finally, Jenny, thank you for that, and then finally, most of the stated growth areas that you can see, as demonstrated by our positive flows in them, are scaling. They're scaling up. And in particular, ETFs, Canvas and Solutions, for example, each of those three areas for us, obviously, they're lower fee, and when there's smaller AUM when you're growing, overall as a business, you have a lower margin as a result of that investing to grow the business to a scaled position.

最後，珍妮，謝謝你。最後，正如我們在這些領域取得的積極成果所證明的那樣，大多數已確定的成長領域都在擴大規模。他們正在擴大規模。特別是 ETF、Canvas 和解決方案，例如，這三個領域對我們來說，顯然費用較低，而且當資產管理規模較小時，作為一家企業，整體而言，由於需要投資才能將業務發展到一定規模，因此利潤率也會較低。

What's happening now in terms of ETFs, Canvas and solutions, in particular, notwithstanding the lower fee rate associated with those vehicles, those businesses, let's call it, they're getting to the point now where the size of them, and certainly going into later into '26, '27, all else remaining equal, we expect the scaling of those businesses to create higher margins overall. So you have a lower fee rate.

就 ETF、Canvas 和解決方案而言，目前的情況尤其如此。儘管這些工具的費用率較低，但這些業務（我們姑且稱之為業務）的規模正在擴大，而且可以肯定的是，到 2026 年和 2027 年，在其他條件不變的情況下，我們預計這些業務的規模擴大將帶來更高的整體利潤率。所以你的收費標準會更低。

I know everybody is very focused on the fee rate. But at a certain point when you get above a certain AUM, expenses are very managed, because you've done all the investments, you've got the team you need, and then you could be 2, 3 times the size of AUM and, therefore, have a much higher margin.

我知道大家都很關注收費標準。但是，當資產管理規模超過一定程度後，費用就能得到很好的控制，因為你已經完成了所有的投資，擁有了所需的團隊，那麼你的資產管理規模可以達到原來的 2 到 3 倍，因此，你的利潤率也會高得多。

Similarly, in our alts area, as we continue to grow significantly across all three of our -- three, four of our primary alternative assets businesses, we're getting more margin from that. I mean the $10 billion that Jen talked about earlier on, the $9.5 billion of fundraising doesn't include, for example, Lexington Fund XI. So it's important to note that.

同樣，在我們的另類投資領域，隨著我們三大（或四大）主要另類資產業務的持續顯著增長，我們從中獲得了更大的利潤。我的意思是，Jen 之前提到的 100 億美元，95 億美元的募款金額並不包括，例如，列剋星敦基金 XI。所以這一點很重要。

Ken Worthington, JP Morgan.

Ken Worthington，摩根大通。

Hi. I guess pressing AI further, Jenny, you've been in the press talking about the impact that AI has on asset management, suggesting that it could drive if not accelerate more consolidation in the asset management industry.

你好。珍妮，我想進一步推動人工智慧的發展吧。你一直在媒體上談論人工智慧對資產管理的影響，認為它可能會推動甚至加速資產管理產業的進一步整合。

So maybe one, how does AI drive consolidation? And then two, from Franklin's perspective, how would AI sort of alter your ability and willingness to do the M&A transactions and fill in the gaps that you mentioned sort of earlier in the call?

那麼，第一個問題可能是：人工智慧如何推動產業整合？其次，從富蘭克林的角度來看，人工智慧將如何改變你進行併購交易的能力和意願，並填補你在電話會議前面提到的空白？

Yeah. So a couple of things. So one of my comments on M&A consolidation has been really what I said is, look, if you have a -- if you're a traditional manager and you haven't already purchased scale in alternative managers, it is going to be really difficult to compete going forward, especially because, one, that comment on distributors trying to consolidate, sort of demanding more from you.

是的。有兩件事。所以，我對併購整合的評論之一是，如果你是一家傳統的基金經理，而且你還沒有收購其他基金經理的規模，那麼未來將很難與之競爭，尤其是因為，一方面，分銷商試圖整合，並向你提出更高的要求。

Two is, as Matt pointed out, we're fortunate that we are very early in these acquisitions. Traditional alternative managers have gotten incredibly expensive since we did our acquisition of BSP and Clarion, and it will be very, very difficult to be able for a traditional manager to be able to go out and acquire.

第二點，正如 Matt 指出的那樣，我們很幸運，目前還處於這些收購的早期階段。自從我們收購了 BSP 和 Clarion 以來，傳統的另類投資管理人已經變得非常昂貴，傳統管理人想要出去收購將會非常非常困難。

Number two, this convergence, particularly in fixed income, you're going to see that across the board with products that are -- that have -- that contain both private and public in them, if you don't have that under the same roof, we don't think you're going to get the same kind of just synergies that you get from learning and managing in research.

第二，這種整合，尤其是在固定收益領域，將會普遍出現在那些包含私募和公募資金的產品中。如果你不把它們放在同一個屋簷下，我們認為你就無法獲得像在研究中學習和管理那樣的協同效應。

We have over 50 products between Western, ClearBridge and Franklin. Franklin has been doing private markets in their traditional mutual funds for over a decade. So over 50 products actually have privates in them today. So we have that in our mutual funds. So one is in the alternative space.

Western、ClearBridge 和 Franklin 旗下共有 50 多種產品。富蘭克林在其傳統共同基金中開展私募市場業務已有十餘年。所以現在有超過 50 種產品都含有私密部位。所以，我們的共同基金裡也有這類基金。所以，其中一人處於另類空間。

The second is AI. AI, the amount of data required to truly train a model is really significant. And if you're a smaller manager, one is you won't be able to buy -- you won't be able to buy the kind of -- data, we spend hundreds of millions of dollars on data.

第二點是人工智慧。人工智慧領域，真正訓練模型所需的資料量非常龐大。如果你是一家規模較小的管理公司，那麼你將無法購買——你將無法購買那種——數據，我們每年在數據上花費數億美元。

And so to be able to scale that data plus the data you generate internally across all of your different capabilities, it's really important in training models. And it's just going to be hard to compete on training those models if you don't have a scale.

因此，要能夠擴展這些數據以及您在所有不同能力範圍內內部產生的數據，對於訓練模型來說非常重要。如果沒有規模，訓練這些模型就很難與之競爭。

So that's where -- why my comment was I think that's going to drive some consolidation because I think over time -- we're already seeing, look, any time you have technology breakthroughs, first thing people do is just make more efficient what they do today. That's why we give you quotes like, hey, we're more efficient on the calls because it's hard to measure the actual value-added output because that doesn't happen right away.

所以這就是——我之所以評論說我認為這將推動一些整合，是因為我認為隨著時間的推移——我們已經看到，你看，每當有技術突破時，人們做的第一件事就是提高他們今天所做的事情的效率。這就是為什麼我們會給出這樣的評價：嘿，我們的通話效率更高了，因為很難衡量實際的增值產出，因為這不會立即發生。

It doesn't happen until you start to put in the hands of your people so that they can build those ideas. I'd say it's like when the iPhone came out, we all looked at it as this is a pretty cool camera and flashlight and whatever. It was unleashing in the hands of the public that came up with all these creative applications.

只有當你把這些想法交到人民手中，讓他們去實現它們時，這一切才會發生。我覺得這就像iPhone剛問世的時候一樣，我們都覺得它是一台很酷的相機、手電筒之類的東西。正是將科技交給大眾使用，才催生了所有這些創意的應用。

As you start to train your workforce on how to leverage agentic AI, which we were very early adopters of broadly rolling out ChatGPT, and we do trainings on how to create agentic AI, we do hackathons with our investment teams, and it's a cross-functional hackathons. We put people together that are across various teams to say, go build agentic AI.

當你開始培訓員工如何利用智能體人工智慧時（我們很早就廣泛採用了 ChatGPT），我們會進行如何創建智能體的培訓，我們會與投資團隊一起舉辦黑客馬拉松，而且這是一個跨職能的黑客馬拉松。我們將來自不同團隊的人員聚集在一起，讓他們建立智能體人工智慧。

And they're doing things that are built one on top of the other, and then we take them and we test them across others. So to me, the ability to do that and compete is going to be very difficult if you are small, and in particular, if you are singly focused on kind of one area of the capital stack.

他們所做的一切都是層層遞進的，然後我們再將這些成果應用到其他事物上進行測試。所以在我看來，如果你規模較小，尤其是如果你只專注於資本結構中的某個領域，那麼做到這一點並參與競爭將會非常困難。

Got it. Okay. Thank you. That's very helpful.

知道了。好的。謝謝。那很有幫助。

Michael Cyprys, Morgan Stanley & Co Ltd.

Michael Cyprys，摩根士丹利有限公司

I just wanted to come back to some of your commentary, Jenny, on blockchain and tokenization. Just curious if you could talk about your strategic objectives for that over the next couple of years. What steps are you looking to take here in '26 to enhance your positioning to help improve adoption, for example, of your existing tokenized funds?

珍妮，我只是想回應你之前關於區塊鏈和代幣化的一些評論。我很好奇您能否談談未來幾年在這方面的策略目標。為了提升市場地位，例如提高現有代幣化基金的普及率，您計劃在 2026 年採取哪些措施？

And then to your point on efficiency, I guess how do you see blockchain contributing to improve efficiency at Franklin? How much lower cost is it to operate tokenized funds versus your traditional funds and --

至於您提到的效率問題，您認為區塊鏈將如何幫助富蘭克林提高效率？營運代幣化基金的成本比傳統基金低多少？--

Sure. So I'll tell you, like this is just an incredibly efficient technology. And my -- the best example to give you an idea of how it becomes -- how I think it's -- from a cost-saving standpoint, how significant it is. I'll start there, and then kind of what the opportunities and the hurdles are to more broad adoption.

當然。所以我要告訴你，這真是一項極為有效率的技術。而我的──最好的例子就是，從節省成本的角度來看，它有多重要。我先從這裡開始，然後再談談更廣泛採用所面臨的機會和障礙。

So the first thing is when the SEC approved our money market fund, they had a parallel process. It was something like we did over a six-month period between our old transfer agency system, and our blockchain system. And we were one of the few firms that were still running the transfer agency systems in-house. So we got to see that comparison.

首先，當美國證券交易委員會批准我們的貨幣市場基金時，他們採用了一種平行流程。這就像我們在六個月的時間裡，從舊的轉帳代理系統過渡到區塊鏈系統一樣。我們是少數幾家仍自行營運轉帳代理系統的公司之一。所以我們看到了這種對比。

And we did about 50,000 transactions that cost us about $1.50 per transaction, cost us $1.13 to run it total, to run those 50,000 transactions on (inaudible). We picked the right chain. There's a lot that goes into that. But it showed us the dramatic difference in cost.

我們進行了大約 5 萬筆交易，每筆交易成本約為 1.50 美元，總共運行這 5 萬筆交易的成本為 1.13 美元。（聽不清楚）我們選對了鏈條。這其中涉及很多方面。但這讓我們看到了成本上的巨大差異。

And today, if you open an old money market fund, you need $500 to open up because, below that, we probably lose money and the other shareholders subsidize you. In the case of blockchain, you could open a Ben-G, you downloaded the Ben-G app and open the market fund, you would -- you only need $20. We could probably go less than that.

而如今，如果你想開立一支老式的貨幣市場基金，你需要至少 500 美元才能開戶，因為低於這個數額，我們可能會虧損，其他股東會補貼你。以區塊鏈為例，你可以開一個 Ben-G 帳戶，下載 Ben-G 應用程式並開立市場基金，你只需要 20 美元。我們或許可以做得更少。

So it's cost savings. The second thing is there's a huge amount of cost in financial services; it's just reconciling data between your own systems and then reconciling with your counterparty. All that goes away when you have a single source of truth that is updated immediately. So that's where you're going to have cost savings, which is why I believe it will fundamentally replace all of the rails.

所以這可以節省成本。第二點是金融服務成本很高；只是核對你自己的系統之間的數據，然後再與交易對手進行核對，就需要大量的成本。當你擁有一個能夠即時更新的單一資訊來源時，所有這些問題都會迎刃而解。所以，這就是節省成本的地方，也是我認為它將從根本上取代所有鐵軌的原因。

There's a lot of toll takers in the system today that will slow that down as much as they can because it threatens their business model. But water once downhill, no matter how many obstacles you put in it, it will become very significant. So why the slow adoption? You cannot hold a tokenized product without having what's called a wallet, okay?

如今系統中有很多收費方會盡可能地拖延這個過程，因為它威脅到他們的商業模式。但是水一旦順流而下，無論你設置多少障礙，它都會變得非常重要。那麼，為什麼普及速度如此緩慢呢？如果沒有錢包，你就無法持有代幣化產品，懂嗎？

Now it's a blockchain wallet, it's merely an encryption key that's your own personal one. But you can't hold any of those. And in the U.S. in particular where you had -- you didn't have regulatory clarity until the Genius Act came in, there was no point in any of these big wealth advisers on the traditional side to even think about it because it was kind of like the third rail from a regulatory.

現在它是一個區塊鏈錢包，它只是一個加密金鑰，一個屬於你自己的加密金鑰。但你不能持有這些東西。尤其是在美國，在《天才法案》出台之前，監管方面一直沒有明確的規定，因此傳統意義上的大型財富顧問根本沒有理由考慮這個問題，因為這就像是觸碰了監管的第三條軌道。

I can tell you, this year, I feel like it's completely changed. You now have the large crypto exchanges interested in trying to offer traditional types of funds, ETFs and others that would be tokenized. And you have the big traditional managers who are saying, can you please educate us on how we access the space, how do we build a wallet, what's required there?

我可以告訴你，今年我覺得一切都徹底改變了。現在，大型加密貨幣交易所對提供傳統類型的基金、ETF 和其他代幣化產品很感興趣。而那些大型傳統基金經理人則表示，能否請您指導我們如何進入這個領域，如何建構錢包，以及需要哪些條件？

And so I think you're going to start to see much greater convergence to be tracked via DeFi. We -- our tokenized money market fund, what we see is, if anybody has been involved in securities lending, that people will move, they'll borrow where they can get the highest collateral return even if it's a basis point.

所以我認為，你會看到更多可以透過 DeFi 追蹤的融合趨勢。我們——我們的代幣化貨幣市場基金——看到的是，任何參與過證券借貸的人都會知道，人們會轉移，他們會去能獲得最高抵押品回報的地方借錢，即使回報只是一個基點。

Why would you keep this $300 billion in stablecoins? Why would you park your money in a stablecoin that doesn't give you yield when you could move into a Benji money market fund, earn that yield, and when you want to do a payment transactions, convert into a stablecoin.

為什麼要把這3000億美元投資到穩定幣上？為什麼要把錢放在不產生收益的穩定幣裡，而不能投資 Benji 貨幣市場基金來賺取收益，然後在需要進行支付交易時再兌換成穩定幣呢？

We think by the end of March, we will have the ability for somebody who has a stablecoin where Benji has been integrated with multiple different stablecoins. where on these crypto platforms, we announced a partnership with Binance, we have with OKX and [ Kraken ] and others, where you'll be able to convert from your stablecoin into our money market fund, and on a Saturday, convert out if you want to leverage it for payment and earn that yield.

我們認為到三月底，持有穩定幣的用戶將能夠使用 Benji，因為 Benji 已與多種不同的穩定幣進行了整合。在這些加密平台上，我們宣布與幣安、OKX 和 Kraken 等平台建立合作關係，屆時用戶可以將持有的穩定幣兌換成我們的貨幣市場基金。如果您想利用該基金進行支付並賺取收益，可以在周六將其兌換回穩定幣。

And again, because it's on blockchain, we actually pay you that yield in your account every day. If you're a corporate treasurer, and you can get use of those funds every day versus occurring and waiting for that capital to be paid to you at the end of the month on a market fund, that's going to be a benefit. And so that's where we think there's an opportunity. But Benji is just the beginning of where we think this goes.

而且，因為它是基於區塊鏈的，所以我們每天都會將收益支付到您的帳戶中。如果你是一名公司財務主管，能夠每天使用這些資金，而不是像投資市場基金一樣，等到月底才收到這筆資金，那將是一件好事。所以我們認為這裡存在著機會。但本吉只是我們認為事情發展方向的開始。

Great. Thank so much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

Patrick Davitt, Bernstein Autonomous LLP

派崔克戴維特，伯恩斯坦自治有限責任合夥公司

Hi, good morning, everyone. Following up on the expense guide, I don't think you've ever talked about the scale of this third-party performance-related expenses you're excluding. Could you give how much that runs each year? And then I think, Matt, you hinted, you have a detailed rundown of next quarter expenses you can give? Thank you.

大家早安。關於費用指南，我認為你從未談到你所排除的第三方績效相關費用的規模。請問每年的營運成本是多少？然後我想，馬特，你暗示過，你可以提供一份下一季詳細支出明細嗎？謝謝。

Thanks Patrick. That should be -- the third-party piece should be relatively small. I'll check with the team quickly just in case. But that was a -- that larger that larger performance fee that we had to run through G&A last quarter was associated with a large performance fee on BSP, and it was for previous employees. But I'll get what that number could be going forward.

謝謝你，派崔克。應該是這樣——第三方部分應該相對較小。我稍後會和團隊確認一下，以防萬一。但那是一筆——那筆數額較大的績效費，我們上個季度不得不通過一般及行政費用來支付，它與 BSP 的一筆數額較大的績效費有關，而且是支付給以前員工的。但我會了解未來這個數字可能會是多少。

In terms of -- but definitely be smaller. In terms of the third quarter -- or sorry, second quarter guide, I already mentioned EFR, we expect it to be in line with this quarter. And as I mentioned, the last two quarters, we have some upside potential in EFR related to potential fundraisings in alternative assets.

就……而言，但肯定要小一些。至於第三季——或者抱歉，是第二季業績指引，我已經提到了EFR，我們預計它將與本季保持一致。正如我之前提到的，在過去的兩個季度裡，EFR 在另類資產方面存在一些上漲潛力，這可能與潛在的募資有關。

Comp and benefits we expect to be around $860 million. This includes $30 million of calendar year resets for the 401(k), payroll, salary increases and so on. It also assumes $50 million of performance fees and a 55% performance fee compensation ratio on that.

預計薪資和福利總額約為 8.6 億美元。這包括 3000 萬美元的年度重置，用於 401(k) 計劃、工資、薪資增長等等。它還假設有 5000 萬美元的業績報酬，並且業績報酬補償率為 55%。

IS&T we expect to be $155 million, consistent with last quarter. Occupancy, $70 million, again, consistent with last quarter and as we've guided in the past. G&A, $190 million to $195 million, again, in line with the previous quarter. This assumes a little bit higher fundraising expenses and a little bit higher professional fees.

我們預計IS&T部門的營收為1.55億美元，與上一季持平。入住率達到 7,000 萬美元，與上一季一致，也符合我們先前的預期。一般及行政費用為 1.9 億美元至 1.95 億美元，與上一季持平。這假設籌款費用和專業服務費會略高一些。

And then the tax rate we guided last time, for the year, 26% to 28%. We're keeping that guide, but we're now on the lower end of the guide or low to mid, let's say, in that guide. So we're bringing the guide down on taxes for the year from the higher end, which I think I said last quarter to the lower to mid part of that guide.

然後，我們上次給出的年度指導稅率是 26% 到 28%。我們會繼續遵循那份指南，但我們現在處於指南的較低水平，或者說，處於中低水平。因此，我們將今年的稅收指導方針從較高的水平（我想我上個季度說過）下調到中低水平。

And then really importantly, I just want to reiterate for '26, because I know you'll be calculating back what should how do we -- so the flat expense guide, all remaining equal and excluding performance fees and the other assumptions we put in the deck, how do we get to that guide?

然後，非常重要的一點是，我想再次強調一下 2026 年的情況，因為我知道你們會反過來計算，那麼我們應該如何——所以，在所有條件不變的情況下，不包括演出費和我們在演示文稿中提出的其他假設，我們該如何得出固定費用指南？

I would add the quarter I just gave you to the first quarter and then look at the last two quarters and just spread the expense savings over those two quarters. We recognized about 20% of the $200 million in the first quarter, and expect to spread the rest of it out over the next three, but there'll be larger amounts of it in the last two quarters.

我會把剛才給你的那個季度加到第一個季度裡，然後再看看最後兩個季度，把節省的費用分攤到這兩個季度。我們在第一季確認了 2 億美元中的約 20%，預計將在接下來的三個季度中分攤剩餘部分，但最後兩個季度的確認金額會更大。

And again, we expect to end the year in a very similar expense position as we were to '25, notwithstanding all the investments that we've talked about making in the company, and at a higher margin, as I mentioned when I answered Alex's question.

再次強調，儘管我們已經談到對公司進行了大量投資，但我們預計今年的支出狀況將與 2025 年非常相似，而且利潤率會更高，正如我在回答 Alex 的問題時提到的那樣。

Benjamin Budish, Barclays Services Corp.

Benjamin Budish，巴克萊服務公司

Hi. I was wondering if you could maybe talk a little bit about the equity flows in the quarter. I know calendar Q4 is typically seasonally stronger. And obviously, there's been a trend of improvement over the last couple of years, but this quarter looked particularly strong. Anything unusual or onetime to call out? Or was it more broad-based?

你好。我想請您談談本季的股權流動情況。我知道日曆年第四季通常是季節性成長較快的季度。顯然，過去幾年一直呈改善趨勢，但本季表現尤為強勁。有什麼不尋常或一次性的情況需要特別說明嗎？還是它的影響範圍更廣？

And I know it's still little bit earlier in the fiscal year, but any thoughts on how the rest of the year may shake out, would be helpful. Thank you.

我知道現在距離財年結束還有一段時間，但任何關於今年剩餘時間可能走向的想法都將很有幫助。謝謝。

I'll start, and then I know Daniel want to jump in. I mean obviously, it's a quarter that you have a strong reinvested dividends. So that is part of the flows, which is important. But I have to tell you on the Putnam, Putnam continues to have excellent performance and continues to have very, very strong flows. And honestly, that has even continued into January.

我先開始，然後我知道丹尼爾也想加入。我的意思是，很明顯，這是一個股息再投資額很高的季度。所以這是流程的一部分，這很重要。但我必須告訴你，普特南河依然表現出色，水流依然非常強勁。說實話，這種情況甚至持續到了1月。

I don't want to steal the thunder here and January hasn't closed yet, but we actually are looking like we will be positive net flows inclusive of Western, which has been a long time since that in January. Now again, I caveat that since it hasn't actually closed today. But part of that has just been the strike in Putnam.

我不想搶風頭，而且一月份還沒結束，但我們看起來實際上將實現淨正流入（包括西部地區），這是自一月份以來第一次出現這種情況。不過我再次聲明，因為今天它實際上還沒有關門。但其中一部分原因只是普特南的罷工。

Daniel, do you want to add?

丹尼爾，你想補充什麼嗎？

I think it -- I think you got it. I will say it's a combination of Putnam, clearly on large cap value, on research. Also on emerging markets, we got some institutional flows from our Templeton markets capability which is very, very encouraging.

我覺得——我覺得你明白了。我會說這是 Putnam 的研究成果與大盤價值股研究成果的結合。此外，在新興市場方面，我們透過鄧普頓市場平台獲得了一些機構資金流入，這非常令人鼓舞。

And I will also say our ETF franchise had excellent results, especially on the active ETFs, which is also a combination of the results from our Boston affiliate, but also a couple of ClearBridge funds did also very well on that.

我還要說，我們的 ETF 產品線取得了優異的成績，尤其是主動式 ETF，這既得益於我們波士頓分公司的業績，也得益於 ClearBridge 旗下幾隻基金的出色表現。

And the momentum continue to be -- on ETFs, we had a great quarter. 75% of the quarter was on active ETFs. So it's continued to actually show that that's where the industry is going. And we have a very ambitious plan to continue that growth.

而且這股動能仍在持續——在ETF方面，我們度過了一個非常棒的季度。該季度75%的交易額都來自主動式ETF。所以，這實際上持續表明，這就是產業的發展方向。我們制定了一項雄心勃勃的計劃，以繼續保持這種成長勢頭。

All right. Thank you very much.

好的。非常感謝。

Bill Katz, TD Cowen.

比爾·卡茨，TD Cowen。

Great. Thanks for taking the extra question. Just a couple of cleanups for me. One, can you just remind us what the variable expenses against net asset value or how to think about the incremental margin on market action?

偉大的。感謝您回答這個額外的問題。我只需要做一些收尾工作。第一，您能否提醒我們可變費用與淨值之間的關係，或是如何看待市場波動帶來的增量利潤？

Number two, maybe just on the [ WAMCO ] side, I haven't asked about this in a while, but it seems like volumes there are stabilizing. How are conversations progressing with the investment community given that some but not all, the overhang with the regulatory investigation is sort of winding down?

第二點，也許只是關於 [ WAMCO ] 這邊，我已經有一段時間沒問過這個問題了，但那裡的交易量似乎正在趨於穩定。鑑於監管調查帶來的部分（但並非全部）影響正在逐漸消退，與投資界的對話進展如何？

And then finally, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about broadly you mentioned that Lexington was not in this most recent quarter. How do we think about maybe the pace of opportunity on Lexington and maybe broadly where you see the big opportunities for growth in fiscal '26? Thank you.

最後，我想請您大致談談您提到的萊剋星頓不在最近這個季度的情況。我們如何看待萊剋星頓的發展機遇，以及您認為 2026 財年最大的成長機會在哪裡？謝謝。

Great. So I'll take the Western alts and then I'll turn it back to Matt on the variable expense there. So just one on Western, I mean, it helped a lot, obviously. The DOJ came out and said that they're not going to pursue criminal charges and it will be resolved through a disposition, and acknowledged, I think this was also important, that the additional time needed would not due to Western. So I think that gave clients a little bit of a breather of an uncertainty.

偉大的。所以我先拿下西方的替代貨幣，然後再把那部分變動費用轉交給 Matt。所以，就西方那邊來說，我的意思是，這顯然很有幫助。司法部出面表示，他們不會提起刑事訴訟，此事將透過和解解決，並承認（我認為這一點也很重要），所需的額外時間並非由於西方國家造成的。所以我覺得這讓客戶們稍微緩解了一些不確定感。

And you have the benefit -- the investment team is incredibly stable. They have very, very good performance. We've been integrating the corporate functions. We've been integrating the institutional sales and the client service, that's going very well. And so I think that with clients, that is, essentially, it's calmed them a bit.

而且你還能享受這樣的好處──投資團隊非常穩定。他們的表現非常非常出色。我們一直在整合公司各項職能。我們一直在整合機構銷售和客戶服務，目前進展非常順利。所以我覺得，從本質上講，這讓客戶們安心了一些。

I mean we did -- while there's still in outflows, they did have, I think it was $6.6 billion in gross sales in the last quarter. So there's obviously clients that are still allocating to Western. With respect to alts, as Matt said, so we had a very strong quarter. Our target for the year is 25 to 30. We're going to -- it's still early, so we're going to maintain that target.

我的意思是，雖然仍有資金流出，但上個季度他們的總銷售額達到了 66 億美元。顯然，仍有一些客戶選擇向西方投資。關於另類投資，正如 Matt 所說，我們本季表現非常強勁。我們今年的目標是25到30人。現在還為時過早，所以我們將繼續保持這個目標。

But obviously, at $9.5 billion coming into the private markets, and that is across all private credit, secondaries, real estate and ventures, so it's nice and diverse, a little over half of it is in the private credit area. None of it was Lexington's flagship Fund XI.

但顯然，流入私人市場的資金高達 95 億美元，涵蓋所有私人信貸、二級市場、房地產和風險投資，因此市場多元化程度很高，其中略多於一半的資金用於私人信貸領域。其中沒有一個是萊剋星頓的旗艦基金 XI。

Lexington did have -- it was a combination of flex, middle market. There were over 33 vehicles that had inflows in our private markets this quarter. So tells you it's really broadly distributed, which for us is exciting. Lex flagship Fund X, they're -- or XI, they're actively fundraising in the market right now. Their target is to be about where they were on their last fund.

列剋星敦確實有——它是靈活型和中端市場的結合。本季度，我們私人市場共有超過 33 輛車出現了資金流入。這說明它的分佈非常廣泛，這對我們來說令人興奮。Lex 的旗艦基金 X，或者說 XI，目前正在市場上積極募款。他們的目標是達到上一期基金的水準。

They would expect to first close this year, but it will depend -- secondary continues to be just a great space to be. Last year was a record number in secondary transactions. Lexington is considered one of those trusted and long-term partners with experience, and they're not affiliated to any single PE firm.

他們預計今年會完成首筆交易，但這要視情況而定——二級市場仍然是一個非常好的投資領域。去年二級市場交易量創下歷史新高。Lexington 被認為是值得信賴的長期合作夥伴之一，擁有豐富的經驗，而且他們不隸屬於任何一家私募股權公司。

So that also gives them an advantage. So they're having very good strong conversations. But we're pleased to see the extent of inflows and growth even without the Lexington flagship fund. So Matt, and I'll turn it over to you to answer the last part of that.

所以這也給了他們優勢。所以他們正在進行非常深入的對話。但即便沒有萊剋星頓旗艦基金，我們也欣喜地看到資金流入和成長的規模。那麼，馬特，接下來就交給你來回答最後一部分問題了。

Sure. Thanks, Jenny. So Bill, on the variable question about -- between 35% and 40% of our expenses are variable. And I'm sorry, I didn't address the -- I remembered you asked this question at the end of your previous question where you said if the market goes down, do we have flexibility in our expense base? The answer is yes.

當然。謝謝你，珍妮。所以比爾，關於可變支出的問題——我們35%到40%的支出是可變的。很抱歉，我沒有回答——我記得您在上一個問題的最後問過這個問題，您說如果市場下跌，我們的支出基礎是否有彈性？答案是肯定的。

We always have variability in our expense base in the event the market goes down. So that's the answer to that. And then to answer another expense question that Patrick had, Patrick, just to make sure I fully answer your question. As it relates to the geography of performance fee related compensation. First of all, we would always guide to apply 55% to the number of performance fee overall.

市場下跌時，我們的支出基礎總會有相對應的調整空間。這就是答案。然後，為了回答派崔克提出的另一個費用問題，派崔克，為了確保我完全回答了你的問題。就績效報酬相關的補償的地域性而言。首先，我們始終建議將績效費總額的 55% 應用於績效費總額。

So 55% is the correct application, whether it's in our compensation line or the G&A line. And we do, as I mentioned in the answer to the question initially, we expect that number to be quite low in the G&A segment. The G&A segment is just literally for former employees that where we have -- where we're paying a portion of the compensation out that they own.

所以，無論是在薪資支出項下或在一般及行政費用項下，55% 都是正確的應用比例。正如我在最初的回答中提到的那樣，我們預計一般及行政費用部分的這個數字會相當低。G&A 部分實際上是為前員工支付他們應得的一部分補償金。

But that's de minimis at this point. It was just larger that one quarter. I think it was $24 million to be specific last quarter, and that was because it was a large order fund that had a number of folks that are no longer -- they're retired from the company, that had interest in the performance fees.

但這在目前來說只是微不足道的小事。它比四分之一美元的硬幣要大一些。我記得上個季度具體是 2,400 萬美元，那是因為這是一個大型訂單基金，其中有不少人已經從公司退休，他們對業績費感興趣。

Thank you. This concludes today's Q&A session. I would now like to hand the call back over to Jenny Johnson, Franklin's President and CEO, for final comments.

謝謝。今天的問答環節到此結束。現在我想把電話轉回給富蘭克林總裁兼執行長珍妮·約翰遜，請她做最後的總結發言。

Great. Well, I'd like to thank everybody for participating in today's call. And more importantly, once again, we'd like to thank our employees for their hard work and dedication to delivering this strong quarter. And we look forward to speaking with all of you again next quarter. Thanks, everybody.

偉大的。好的，我要感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。更重要的是，我們再次感謝全體員工的辛勤工作和奉獻精神，正是他們的努力使得本季業績表現強勁。我們期待下個季度再次與各位交流。謝謝大家。

Thank you this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

謝謝，今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線了。