Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc (BR) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Broadridge First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) And please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Edings Thibault, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Broadridge 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此事件正在記錄中。我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係主管 Edings Thibault。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Cole. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Broadridge's First Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Call. Our earnings release and the slides that accompany this call may be found on the Investor Relations section of broadridge.com.

謝謝你，科爾。大家早上好，歡迎參加 Broadridge 2023 財年第一季度財報電話會議。我們的收益發布和本次電話會議隨附的幻燈片可在 Broadridge.com 的投資者關係部分找到。

Joining me on the call this morning are Tim Gokey, our CEO; and our CFO, Edmund Reese. Before I turn the call over to Tim, a few standard reminders. One, we will be making forward-looking statements on today's call regarding Broadridge that involve risks. A summary of these risks can be found on the second page of the slides and a more complete description on our annual report on Form 10-K. Two, we'll also be referring to several non-GAAP measures, which we believe provide investors with a more complete understanding of Broadridge's underlying operating results. An explanation of these non-GAAP measures and reconciliations to their comparable GAAP measures can be found in the earnings release and presentation.

今天早上和我一起參加電話會議的是我們的首席執行官 Tim Gokey；和我們的首席財務官 Edmund Reese。在我把電話轉給蒂姆之前，一些標準的提醒。第一，我們將對今天有關涉及風險的 Broadridge 電話會議做出前瞻性陳述。這些風險的摘要可以在幻燈片的第二頁找到，更完整的描述可以在我們的 10-K 表格年度報告中找到。第二，我們還將提到一些非公認會計原則的措施，我們相信這些措施可以讓投資者更全面地了解 Broadridge 的基本經營業績。可以在收益發布和演示文稿中找到對這些非公認會計原則措施的解釋以及與其可比公認會計原則措施的對賬。

Additionally, on September 26, we filed an 8-K announcing changes to our segment reporting regarding the impact of foreign exchange rates on our business. This change is the final step in aligning our foreign currency reporting with industry standards and is reflected in our first quarter report. From this point forward, our earnings materials were referenced recurring revenue growth percentages on a constant currency basis, both for our results and our forward-looking guidance. Please reference our filings and investor materials for the corresponding reconciliations.

此外，在 9 月 26 日，我們提交了一份 8-K，宣布對我們的分部報告進行更改，以了解匯率對我們業務的影響。這一變化是使我們的外幣報告與行業標准保持一致的最後一步，並反映在我們的第一季度報告中。從這一點開始，我們的收益材料在固定貨幣基礎上參考了經常性收入增長百分比，用於我們的結果和我們的前瞻性指導。請參考我們的文件和投資者材料以獲取相應的對賬。

With that out of the way, let me now turn the call over to Tim Gokey. Tim?

有了這個，現在讓我把電話轉給 Tim Gokey。蒂姆？

Edings, thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. I am pleased to be here to discuss our strong start to fiscal '23. There's a lot to cover. So I'll walk through our strong results for the quarter, provide a business overview and then share some thoughts on why Broadridge is well positioned to drive profitable growth over the balance of fiscal '23 and beyond.

艾丁斯，非常感謝。大家，早安。我很高興來到這裡討論我們對 23 財年的強勁開端。有很多東西要講。因此，我將介紹我們本季度的強勁業績，提供業務概覽，然後分享一些想法，說明為什麼 Broadridge 能夠在 23 財年及以後的餘額中推動盈利增長。

Before I start, I think it's helpful to provide some context given the volatile conditions the market and economy are experiencing. Despite market declines, we have seen continued growth in investor positions. Given our forward testing, we have visibility about 6 months ahead, which puts us well into the busy part of proxy season, and we see continued solid growth in investor positions over that period. Our conversations with our large broker-dealer and asset manager clients also continue to be positive as our clients continue to drive to modernize their technology.

在我開始之前，鑑於市場和經濟正在經歷的動盪狀況，我認為提供一些背景信息是有幫助的。儘管市場下跌，但我們看到投資者頭寸持續增長。鑑於我們的前瞻性測試，我們可以提前 6 個月看到，這使我們很好地進入了代理季節的繁忙部分，我們看到在此期間投資者頭寸持續穩健增長。隨著我們的客戶繼續推動其技術現代化，我們與大型經紀交易商和資產管理公司客戶的對話也繼續積極。

With that as a backdrop, let's start with our strong results. Recurring revenues rose 9% on a constant currency basis, with strong growth across both our segments. Adjusted EPS was $0.84, down year-over-year, but modestly ahead of our expectations. All in all, a strong start to the year.

以此為背景，讓我們從我們的強勁業績開始。按固定匯率計算，經常性收入增長了 9%，我們的兩個部門都實現了強勁增長。調整後每股收益為 0.84 美元，同比下降，但略高於我們的預期。總而言之，今年開局強勁。

Second, as I mentioned, demand for our solutions remains strong. We continue to benefit from increasing investor participation, which is fueling very healthy stock record growth. After a record sales year in fiscal '22, we're off to a good start to fiscal '23, keeping us on track to deliver on our closed sales guidance.

其次，正如我所提到的，對我們解決方案的需求依然強勁。我們繼續受益於越來越多的投資者參與，這推動了非常健康的股票創紀錄增長。在 '22 財年創紀錄的銷售年之後，我們在 '23 財年有了一個良好的開端，使我們能夠實現我們的封閉式銷售指導。

Third, we continue to drive long-term growth across our 3 franchises. In governance, we're enabling increasing shareholder engagement for our fund clients. In capital markets, we're delivering on trading innovation and global simplification. And in wealth, we're seeing a growing pipeline for a powerful suite of modular solutions.

第三，我們繼續推動我們三個特許經營權的長期增長。在治理方面，我們正在為我們的基金客戶增加股東參與度。在資本市場，我們提供交易創新和全球簡化。在財富方面，我們看到一套強大的模塊化解決方案正在不斷增長。

Fourth, remember that our fiscal year extends 6 months into calendar '23. Today, we are reaffirming our guidance for that full period, including 6% to 9% constant currency recurring revenue growth, continued margin expansion and 7% to 11% adjusted EPS growth. That puts us on track to deliver at or above the higher end of our growth objectives for the 3-year period ending next June. When we do, it will be the fourth consecutive 3-year period covering 12 years in total that we've delivered on our recurring revenue and adjusted EPS objectives.

第四，請記住，我們的財政年度延長了 6 個月到日曆 '23。今天，我們重申對整個期間的指導，包括 6% 至 9% 的固定貨幣經常性收入增長、持續的利潤率擴張和 7% 至 11% 的調整後每股收益增長。這使我們有望在截至明年 6 月的 3 年期間實現或高於增長目標的高端。當我們這樣做時，這將是我們連續 3 年共 12 年實現我們的經常性收入和調整後的每股收益目標的第四年。

Fifth and last, we remain well-positioned to deliver continued growth in the years ahead even as the economy faces growing uncertainty. Providing mission-critical services that power investing in governance positions us to deliver resilient growth through the ups and downs of the financial cycle. Our visibility into position growth and our $430 million backlog gives us confidence in our outlook for this year, and our investments which are attracting growing interest from clients, positioned Broadridge to deliver increasing returns and long-term growth well into the future.

第五，也是最後一點，即使經濟面臨越來越大的不確定性，我們仍處於有利地位，可以在未來幾年實現持續增長。提供支持治理投資的關鍵任務服務使我們能夠在金融週期的起伏中實現彈性增長。我們對頭寸增長的可見性和 4.3 億美元的積壓使我們對今年的前景充滿信心，我們的投資吸引了客戶越來越多的興趣，使 Broadridge 能夠在未來實現不斷增長的回報和長期增長。

Now let's turn to Slide 4 for an update on our business. I'll begin with our ICS or governance business, which had another strong quarter. The biggest driver of that growth was new sales, especially in our Fund Solutions and Customer Communications businesses. Position growth remains robust despite market headwinds, rising 9% for equities in the smallest quarter for equity proxies and 11% for funds. This growth is being driven by continued activity in managed accounts on the equity side and by continued strong demand for passive investments on the fund side.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 4，了解我們業務的最新情況。我將從我們的 ICS 或治理業務開始，該業務有另一個強勁的季度。這一增長的最大推動力是新銷售，尤其是在我們的基金解決方案和客戶通信業務中。儘管市場逆風，頭寸增長依然強勁，股票在最小的季度增長了 9%，基金增長了 11%。這種增長是由股票方面管理賬戶的持續活動以及基金方面對被動投資的持續強勁需求推動的。

Beyond the first quarter, we're now seeing increasing visibility into position growth for the seasonally more meaningful second half of our fiscal year, and the outlook remains very healthy.

在第一季度之後，我們現在看到對本財年下半年更具季節性意義的頭寸增長的可見性越來越高，前景仍然非常健康。

As you know, we continue to drive innovation and governance, especially around digital solutions. Last year, we rolled out end-to-end vote confirmation for nearly 3,000 public companies. We pioneered pass-through voting for funds, updated our proxy vote app and delivered nearly 2,500 virtual shareholder meetings. This year, we're continuing to innovate. Last month, Charles Schwab announced it is leveraging our network capability to query a sample of retail shareholders to help guide Schwab's voting and select Schwab funds and ETFs. We're seeing similar interest in pass-through voting, including for retail fund shareholders from several of our largest asset management clients.

如您所知，我們將繼續推動創新和治理，尤其是圍繞數字解決方案。去年，我們為近 3,000 家上市公司推出了端到端的投票確認。我們開創了基金的傳遞投票，更新了我們的代理投票應用程序，並舉辦了近 2,500 場虛擬股東大會。今年，我們將繼續創新。上個月，嘉信理財宣布將利用我們的網絡能力查詢零售股東樣本，以幫助指導嘉信理財的投票並選擇嘉信理財基金和 ETF。我們看到對傳遞投票的類似興趣，包括來自我們幾個最大資產管理客戶的零售基金股東。

Beyond our regulatory solutions, we saw growth across our other product lines. Customer Communications revenue rose 11%, driven by both print and digital. One digital contributor was the launch of our omnichannel wealth and focused solution with Cetera. Today, wealth clients may receive as many as 120 communications a year from their wealth manager.

除了我們的監管解決方案，我們還看到其他產品線的增長。在印刷和數字的推動下，客戶通信收入增長了 11%。一個數字貢獻者是我們與 Cetera 推出的全渠道財富和專注的解決方案。如今，財富客戶每年可能會從他們的財富經理那裡收到多達 120 條通信。

Wealth and focus consolidates the critical information across various client and regulatory communications. Creating a single simple communication simplifies the investor experience while providing advisers with new communications opportunities, all at lower cost. Following our early rollout, nearly 90% of participants prefer the new solution. It's an exciting example of how our digital capabilities are creating increased engagement at lower cost.

財富和專注整合了各種客戶和監管溝通中的關鍵信息。創建單一的簡單溝通可簡化投資者體驗，同時以更低的成本為顧問提供新的溝通機會。在我們早期推出之後，近 90% 的參與者更喜歡新的解決方案。這是一個令人興奮的例子，說明我們的數字能力如何以更低的成本創造更多的參與度。

Before I leave our governance business, I want to update you on a new SEC regulation on tailored shareholder reports for funds and ETF that was announced last week. Many of you recall, we first highlighted this regulation when it was initially proposed in August 2020, and we've been providing occasional updates since. The SEC voted 5-0 last week to implement a measure that replaces the existing long-form annual and semiannual reports with a shorter 2- to 3-page summary document.

在我離開我們的治理業務之前，我想向您介紹上周宣布的針對基金和 ETF 量身定制的股東報告的新 SEC 規定。你們中的許多人都記得，我們在 2020 年 8 月最初提出該法規時首先強調了該法規，此後我們一直在提供不定期的更新。美國證券交易委員會上週以 5 票對 0 票通過了一項措施，用更短的 2 至 3 頁摘要文件取代現有的長式年度和半年度報告。

The SEC is aiming to use these shorter reports to provide key information in a more digestible format to keep investors better informed and more engaged at lower cost than long-form reports. We're still studying the full implications of the new rule, but let me offer some thoughts. There is no question that the shorter reports will create a better investor experience overall and especially for digital delivery. They will also create a path to even further digitization, which, as you know, is currently about 80%. Long term, that's positive for funds and for Broadridge.

SEC 的目標是使用這些較短的報告以更易於理解的格式提供關鍵信息，以使投資者以比長報告更低成本的方式獲得更好的信息和更多的參與。我們仍在研究新規則的全部含義，但讓我提供一些想法。毫無疑問，較短的報告將總體上創造更好的投資者體驗，尤其是在數字交付方面。他們還將創造一條進一步數字化的道路，如您所知，目前數字化率約為 80%。從長遠來看，這對基金和 Broadridge 都是有利的。

On the other hand, our fund clients are concerned about the cost and complexity of the new rule because they'll have to compose both long-form and short-form reports. And we estimate the impact on Broadridge, assuming no offset from new services would be a $30 million reduction in recurring revenue phasing in over our fiscal '25 and '26. Just as we did with 30e-3 which also had its complexities, we will work with our clients to create a cost-effective industry solution, which will be good for investors and good for funds.

另一方面，我們的基金客戶擔心新規則的成本和復雜性，因為他們必須同時撰寫長篇和短篇報告。我們估計對 Broadridge 的影響，假設新服務不會抵消我們 25 和 26 財年的經常性收入逐步減少 3000 萬美元。正如我們對同樣具有復雜性的 30e-3 所做的那樣，我們將與我們的客戶一起創建一個具有成本效益的行業解決方案，這對投資者和基金都有好處。

Moving to capital markets. Revenues rose 14% constant currency, driven by strong growth from Broadridge trading and connectivity solutions and from new sales. BTCS continues to perform well. with strong sales and very positive client conversations about simplifying global trading and longer term, driving front to back. We also saw strong growth in the rest of our capital markets business powered by new sales and increased fixed income trading. We achieved a key milestone with the implementation of our next-gen global post-trade platform across the North American fixed income operations of a major U.S.-based bank, and we've already begun the next phase, which will extend to unified global equities and fixed income.

轉向資本市場。在 Broadridge 交易和連接解決方案以及新銷售的強勁增長的推動下，收入增長了 14%（固定匯率）。 BTCS 繼續表現良好。憑藉強勁的銷售和非常積極的客戶對話，就簡化全球交易和長期而言，從前到後推動。在新銷售和固定收益交易增加的推動下，我們的其他資本市場業務也實現了強勁增長。我們在一家美國主要銀行的北美固定收益業務中實施了我們的下一代全球交易後平台，實現了一個重要的里程碑，我們已經開始了下一階段，該階段將擴展到統一的全球股票和固定收益。

Turning to Wealth Management. Revenues rose 5%, driven by revenue from new sales. I'm pleased to report that our wealth sales pipeline is growing substantially, up 25% year-on-year as we begin to bring to market completed modular solutions from our new wealth platform. We're now demoing live solutions to our clients, which is creating a much deeper level of engagement, and we're seeing real client interest. We're confident that our sales of module solutions from the new platform are on track to meaningfully contribute to our FY '23 closed sales with an even bigger impact in FY '24.

轉向財富管理。在新銷售收入的推動下，收入增長了 5%。我很高興地報告，隨著我們開始從我們的新財富平台向市場推出完整的模塊化解決方案，我們的財富銷售渠道正在大幅增長，同比增長 25%。我們現在正在向我們的客戶演示實時解決方案，這正在創造更深層次的參與，我們看到了真正的客戶興趣。我們相信，我們通過新平台銷售的模塊解決方案有望為我們的 23 財年完成銷售做出有意義的貢獻，並在 24 財年產生更大的影響。

These modular solutions are part of the broader wealth platform we're creating with UBS as an anchor client, and UBS has been a fantastic partner. We're now making very exciting progress in that broader solution. We're development complete on 26 of our 29 platform areas, with the remaining 3 to be complete this month.

這些模塊化解決方案是我們以瑞銀作為主要客戶創建的更廣泛財富平台的一部分，而瑞銀一直是出色的合作夥伴。我們現在在更廣泛的解決方案中取得了非常令人興奮的進展。我們的 29 個平台區域中的 26 個已完成開發，其餘 3 個將在本月完成。

On the testing side, we're completing the fourth of 5 integrated testing cycles with integration testing largely complete by the end of the calendar year. So it's great progress that keeps us on track for full rollout. And as Edmund will outline, we are now through the peak of our investment in this key program.

在測試方面，我們正在完成 5 個集成測試週期中的第四個，集成測試在日曆年年底前基本完成。所以這是一個巨大的進步，讓我們走上了全面推出的軌道。正如 Edmund 將概述的那樣，我們現在正處於對這個關鍵項目的投資高峰期。

With that, let me take a step back and put our growth strategy in context. The parts of wealth management technology and operations that we touch are a $16 billion addressable market and wealth managers face a pressing need to modernize and digitize through operations.

有了這個，讓我退後一步，把我們的增長戰略放在上下文中。我們接觸的財富管理技術和運營部分是一個價值 160 億美元的潛在市場，財富管理機構面臨著通過運營實現現代化和數字化的迫切需求。

We expect that the wealth management platform and the suite of module solutions we are building, will put Broadridge in position to be a leading provider in the growing wealth space for the next decade and beyond. That position taken together with the benefits we're already seeing to our product and technology capability across Broadridge should strengthen our ability to build an increasingly strong, profitable and high-return business going forward.

我們預計，我們正在構建的財富管理平台和模塊解決方案套件將使 Broadridge 成為未來十年及以後不斷增長的財富領域的領先提供商。這一立場與我們已經看到的整個 Broadridge 的產品和技術能力的優勢相結合，應該會增強我們建立日益強大、盈利和高回報業務的能力。

I'll close my remarks on Slide 5. As we move from more uncertain macroeconomic outlook, Broadridge's resilience becomes an even greater strength. Demand for the critical services we provide has remained strong, giving us confidence in this year, are forward-looking to investor participation in the next 6 months and our $430 million backlog gives us good visibility. As a result, we are reaffirming our guidance for fiscal '23 and will deliver at the high end of our 3-year objectives. Longer term, we're serving a $60 billion market with growth driven by long-term secular trends.

我將結束我對幻燈片 5 的評論。隨著我們擺脫更加不確定的宏觀經濟前景，布羅德里奇的韌性變得更加強大。對我們提供的關鍵服務的需求一直很強勁，這讓我們對今年充滿信心，對未來 6 個月的投資者參與具有前瞻性，我們 4.3 億美元的積壓工作讓我們獲得了良好的知名度。因此，我們重申我們對 '23 財年的指導，並將在我們 3 年目標的高端實現。從長遠來看，我們正在服務於一個 600 億美元的市場，其增長受到長期長期趨勢的推動。

FinTech innovation is forcing banks to digitize and innovations like managed accounts, 0 commission trading, direct indexing and pass-through voting are continuing to drive investor participation. As our clients seek to reduce costs partly in response to macroeconomic trends, their need for Broadridge's low-cost platform solutions increases.

金融科技創新正迫使銀行數字化，管理賬戶、零佣金交易、直接索引和傳遞投票等創新正在繼續推動投資者參與。隨著我們的客戶尋求部分降低成本以響應宏觀經濟趨勢，他們對 Broadridge 的低成本平台解決方案的需求也在增加。

Third, we've built a strong and resilient business model, focusing on recurring revenues and sustained growth. Excluding our distribution revenues, fully 93% of our revenues are recurring, covered by multiyear contracts across all 3 of our franchises. This revenue is supported by our long history of putting our clients first, which has driven a 98% revenue retention rate. At the same time, growth enables us to drive scale efficiencies, compelling our margins and funding additional investments to help drive additional growth going forward.

第三，我們建立了強大而有彈性的商業模式，專注於經常性收入和持續增長。不包括我們的分銷收入，我們 93% 的收入是經常性的，涵蓋了我們所有 3 個特許經營權的多年合同。這一收入得益於我們將客戶放在首位的悠久歷史，這推動了 98% 的收入保留率。與此同時，增長使我們能夠提高規模效率，提高我們的利潤率並為額外投資提供資金，以幫助推動未來的額外增長。

Fourth, as we look beyond fiscal '23, the investments we have made and are making in our digital capabilities and our wealth and other technology platforms and extending our capital markets business leave us better positioned than ever to drive long-term profitable growth with increasing returns through this cycle and beyond.

第四，當我們展望 23 財年之後，我們已經和正在對我們的數字能力、財富和其他技術平台進行的投資以及擴展我們的資本市場業務使我們比以往任何時候都更有能力推動長期盈利增長通過這個循環及以後返回。

Finally, to support this long-term growth, we are also driving forward on sustainability. We recently released our latest sustainability report highlighting our commitment to drive sustainable growth, engage our talent and diverse associates and reduce our and our clients' emissions. I encourage you to go to our site and review our progress.

最後，為了支持這種長期增長，我們也在推動可持續發展。我們最近發布了最新的可持續發展報告，強調了我們對推動可持續增長、吸引人才和多元化員工以及減少我們和客戶排放的承諾。我鼓勵您訪問我們的網站並查看我們的進度。

Before I turn the call over to Edmund, let me take a moment to thank our associates. None of what we do is easy and none of it would be possible without their focus on clients, on creating the future and on delivering results today. Thank you.

在我將電話轉給 Edmund 之前，讓我花點時間感謝我們的同事。我們所做的一切都不容易，如果沒有他們對客戶、創造未來和今天交付成果的關注，這一切都是不可能的。謝謝你。

Now I'll turn the call over to Edmund to review our financials. Edmund?

現在我將把電話轉給 Edmund 來審查我們的財務狀況。埃德蒙?

Thank you, Tim, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to be here to discuss the results from another strong quarter, where both top line growth and earnings were modestly ahead of our expectations. Though a seasonally small quarter, our first quarter results represent a strong start to the year and continued conversion of our sales backlog to revenue, our outlook for continued robust demand trends and the operating leverage, coupled with our disciplined expense management and the challenging macroeconomic environment gives us the confidence to reaffirm our fiscal '23 guidance.

謝謝蒂姆，大家早上好。我很高興來到這裡討論另一個強勁季度的結果，該季度的收入增長和收益均略高於我們的預期。雖然是一個季節性較小的季度，但我們的第一季度業績代表了今年的強勁開局，我們的銷售積壓持續轉化為收入，我們對持續強勁的需求趨勢和經營槓桿的展望，再加上我們嚴格的費用管理和充滿挑戰的宏觀經濟環境讓我們有信心重申我們的 '23 財年指導方針。

As you can see from the financial summary on Slide 6, recurring revenues rose to $806 million, up 9% on a constant currency basis, all organic. Adjusted operating income decreased 15%, driven by lower event-driven revenue and carryover impact of investments we made last year.

正如您從幻燈片 6 的財務摘要中看到的那樣，經常性收入增至 8.06 億美元，按固定匯率計算增長 9%，全是有機的。調整後的營業收入下降了 15%，原因是事件驅動的收入下降以及我們去年進行的投資的結轉影響。

AOI margins of 11.7% were also impacted by the continued drag from higher distribution revenues and adjusted EPS was $0.84. Finally, and as Tim noted, we delivered closed sales of $29 million. Our first quarter results benefited from strong position growth across both equities and funds and continued strength from BTCS. I'll also note that while higher interest rates offset operating income, the interest rate impact to Broadridge is offset by higher float income in our ICS segment.

11.7% 的 AOI 利潤率也受到更高分銷收入的持續拖累，調整後每股收益為 0.84 美元。最後，正如蒂姆所說，我們實現了 2900 萬美元的最終銷售額。我們的第一季度業績得益於股票和基金的強勁頭寸增長以及 BTCS 的持續強勢。我還要指出，雖然較高的利率抵消了營業收入，但利率對 Broadridge 的影響被我們 ICS 部門的較高浮動收入所抵消。

Let's get into the details of these results, starting with recurring revenue on Slide 7. Recurring revenues grew to $806 million in Q1 '23 or 9% coming in at the top end of our full year guidance range of 6% to 9%. Our recurring revenue growth was all organic, again, keeping us on track to exceed our 5% to 7% 3-year growth objective.

讓我們詳細了解這些結果，從幻燈片 7 上的經常性收入開始。經常性收入在 23 年第一季度增長到 8.06 億美元，或 9% 進入我們全年指導範圍 6% 至 9% 的上限。我們的經常性收入增長都是有機的，再次使我們有望超過我們 5% 至 7% 的 3 年增長目標。

Let's now turn to Slide 8 to look at the growth across our ICS and GTO segments. We continue to see strong growth in both of our segments. ICS recurring revenue grew to $443 million or 9% with double-digit growth across 3 of our product lines.

現在讓我們轉向幻燈片 8，看看我們的 ICS 和 GTO 細分市場的增長情況。我們繼續看到我們兩個細分市場的強勁增長。 ICS 經常性收入增長到 4.43 億美元或 9%，我們的 3 個產品線實現了兩位數的增長。

Regulatory revenues rose 4% and were driven by strong fund position growth. Proxy revenue growth was impacted by the timing of certain annual meetings which can have a disproportionate impact in what is seasonally our smallest quarter for proxies. More importantly, equity position growth of 9% remains strong and in line with our expectations as I'll detail in a moment.

在基金頭寸強勁增長的推動下，監管收入增長了 4%。代理收入增長受到某些年度會議時間的影響，這可能對我們代理業務最小的季度產生不成比例的影響。更重要的是，9% 的股票頭寸增長仍然強勁，符合我們的預期，稍後我將詳細說明。

Data-driven fund solutions grew 13%, driven by new client wins across our mutual fund trade processing and our data and analytics business as well as the impact of higher interest rates on our float income. Our issuer business increased by 16% as we continue to see growth in our disclosure products. And finally, our customer communications business grew by 11% driven by continued demand for print and high single-digit digital growth.

數據驅動的基金解決方案增長了 13%，這得益於我們在共同基金交易處理和數據和分析業務中贏得的新客戶，以及更高的利率對我們浮動收入的影響。由於我們的披露產品繼續增長，我們的發行人業務增長了 16%。最後，在對印刷品的持續需求和高個位數數字增長的推動下，我們的客戶通信業務增長了 11%。

Turning to GTO. Recurring revenues grew to $363 million or 10% driven by continued strength in capital markets, including BTCS, and revenue from sales and wealth management.

轉向 GTO。經常性收入增長至 3.63 億美元或 10%，這得益於包括 BTCS 在內的資本市場持續走強，以及來自銷售和財富管理的收入。

Capital Markets revenue grew 14%, propelled by strong growth from BTCS, new sales and higher fixed income trading volumes. BTCS revenue growth benefited from the removal of the deferred revenue haircut, excluding that impact. BTCS revenues grew at a high single-digit rate. Wealth and Investment Management grew by 5%, driven by revenue from new sales.

受 BTCS 的強勁增長、新銷售和更高的固定收益交易量的推動，資本市場收入增長了 14%。 BTCS 收入增長受益於遞延收入扣減的取消，不包括這種影響。 BTCS 收入以高個位數的速度增長。在新銷售收入的推動下，財富和投資管理業務增長了 5%。

Looking forward to Q2, we expect continued strong revenue growth from sales in Wealth Management to be offset by growing over an uptick in fiscal '22 license revenues from large client renewals.

展望第二季度，我們預計財富管理業務銷售收入的持續強勁增長將被 22 財年大型客戶續訂許可收入的增長所抵消。

Now let's turn to Slide 9 for a closer look at volume trends. As you can see by our results, investor participation in financial markets has continued to increase despite the market volatility. Q1 '23 position growth was strong across both equities and funds. Equity position growth was 9% on the back of double-digit growth in managed accounts and mid-single-digit growth at self-directed accounts. Our testing of position growth continues to prove reliable as Q1 was in line with our July testing.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 9 來詳細了解成交量趨勢。從我們的結果可以看出，儘管市場波動，投資者對金融市場的參與度仍在繼續增加。 23 年第一季度股票和基金的頭寸增長強勁。由於管理賬戶的兩位數增長和自主賬戶的中個位數增長，股票頭寸增長了 9%。我們對頭寸增長的測試繼續證明是可靠的，因為第一季度與我們 7 月份的測試一致。

We have now extended our testing into the seasonally critical second half of the year, and those results are giving us increased confidence in our forecast from mid- to high single-digit growth for the full year. Mutual fund position growth has also been consistently strong, reaching 11% driven by growth in passive funds.

現在，我們已將測試擴展到季節性關鍵的下半年，這些結果使我們對全年從中到高個位數增長的預測更有信心。共同基金頭寸增長也一直強勁，在被動基金增長的推動下達到 11%。

And turning the trade volumes on the bottom of the slide, trade volumes grew 6% on a blended basis in Q1, driven by a fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in fixed income volumes. Equity volumes were flat as higher trading by institutional investors more than offset the lower activity at our retail wealth management clients.

將貿易量轉為下滑底部，在固定收益交易量連續第五個季度實現兩位數增長的推動下，第一季度貿易量混合增長了 6%。股票交易量持平，因為機構投資者的交易量增加抵消了我們零售財富管理客戶活動的減少。

Let's now move to Slide 10, where we summarize the drivers of recurring revenue growth. Recurring revenue growth was all organic. Organic growth was balanced between net new business contributing 5 points and internal growth, primarily volume and expanding our relationships with existing clients also contributing 5 points.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 10，我們在其中總結了經常性收入增長的驅動因素。經常性收入增長都是有機的。有機增長在淨新業務貢獻 5 分和內部增長之間取得平衡，主要是數量和擴大我們與現有客戶的關係也貢獻 5 分。

Our recurring revenue retention rate remained at 98%. Foreign exchange impacted recurring revenue by 2%, with the bulk of that impact coming in our GTO business, as you can see on the table at the bottom of the slide.

我們的經常性收入保留率保持在 98%。正如您在幻燈片底部的表格中所見，外匯對經常性收入的影響為 2%，其中大部分影響來自我們的 GTO 業務。

I'll finish the discussion on revenue with a view of total revenue on Slide 11. Total revenue grew 8% in Q1 to $1.3 billion. Recurring revenue was the largest contributor, driving 6 points of growth. Low to no margin distribution revenue increased by 13%, consistent with our outlook for low double-digit growth and it contributed 4 points to total revenue. We continue to see higher volumes in our customer communications business as well as the impact of another postal rate increase in July.

我將以幻燈片 11 上的總收入來結束關於收入的討論。第一季度總收入增長 8% 至 13 億美元。經常性收入是最大的貢獻者，推動了 6 個百分點的增長。低利潤或無利潤分銷收入增長了 13%，與我們對兩位數低增長的預期一致，它為總收入貢獻了 4 個百分點。我們繼續看到我們的客戶通信業務量增加，以及 7 月份再次提高郵政費率的影響。

Elevated growth in distribution revenue and the mix of distribution revenue from customer communications continues to have a dilutive impact on our reported adjusted operating income margin, which I'll discuss in more detail shortly. Event-driven revenues were above our 7-year quarterly average and reached $63 million, $14 million lower than an unusually high Q1 '22.

分銷收入的增長以及來自客戶通信的分銷收入的混合繼續對我們報告的調整後營業利潤率產生攤薄影響，我將在稍後更詳細地討論這一點。事件驅動的收入高於我們 7 年的季度平均水平，達到 6300 萬美元，比 22 年第一季度異常高的低 1400 萬美元。

We continue to expect full year event-driven revenue to be in the $240 million to $260 million range, in line with recent years. Changes in FX lowered reported revenues by 1 point.

我們繼續預計全年事件驅動的收入將在 2.4 億美元至 2.6 億美元之間，與最近幾年一致。外匯變化使報告的收入降低了 1 個百分點。

Turning now to margins on Slide 12. Adjusted operating income margin was down 310 basis points from prior year to 11.7% in Q1. The positive impact of strong incremental margin on recurring revenue growth was offset by 3 items: first, elevated low to no margin distribution revenue. For the full year, we expect 45 to 50 basis points impact on adjusted operating income margin with no impact on adjusted EPS. Second, rate inflation on our material expense, which we passed through at a 1- to 2-month lag. And finally, the carryover impact of investments that we began in fiscal '22. As we enter the second quarter, we expect to see increased margin expansion from the targeted cost initiatives that we initiated in Q4 '22. These actions along with the operating leverage inherent in our business model, give us confidence that we will meet our earnings growth objectives even in this period of macroeconomic uncertainty.

現在轉向幻燈片 12 的利潤率。第一季度調整後的營業收入利潤率比去年下降 310 個基點至 11.7%。強勁的增量利潤率對經常性收入增長的積極影響被 3 項抵消：首先，提高了低至無利潤率的分銷收入。對於全年，我們預計調整後的營業利潤率將受到 45 至 50 個基點的影響，而調整後的每股收益則沒有影響。其次，對我們的材料費用進行通貨膨脹率，我們延遲了 1 到 2 個月。最後，我們在 22 財年開始的投資的結轉影響。隨著我們進入第二季度，我們預計將看到我們在 22 年第四季度啟動的目標成本計劃增加了利潤率。這些行動以及我們商業模式中固有的經營槓桿，讓我們有信心即使在宏觀經濟不確定的時期也能實現盈利增長目標。

Let's move ahead to closed sales on Slide 13. Closed sales of $29 million were essentially flat year-over-year. We were encouraged to see strong closed sales across both ICS and GTO with strong contribution from BTCS. And as Tim noted, our pipeline remains strong, and we remain confident in our full year closed sales guidance of between $270 million to $310 million.

讓我們繼續討論幻燈片 13 的完成銷售額。2900 萬美元的完成銷售額與去年同期基本持平。我們很高興看到 ICS 和 GTO 的強勁銷售業績以及 BTCS 的強勁貢獻。正如蒂姆所指出的，我們的管道仍然強勁，我們對 2.7 億美元至 3.1 億美元的全年封閉銷售指導仍然充滿信心。

I'll now turn to cash flow and capital allocation on Slide 14. I'll start with a reminder that Broadridge's cash flow generation is typically negative in the fiscal first quarter and strengthened throughout the year. Q1 '23 free cash flow was negative $218 million, down from negative $151 million last year. Total client platform spend for Q1 '23 was $163 million with the wealth platform accounting for the most significant part of that investment. We expect client platform investment to decline for the balance of fiscal '23.

我現在將在幻燈片 14 上轉向現金流和資本分配。我將首先提醒您，Broadridge 的現金流產生通常在第一財季為負數，並在全年加強。 23 年第一季度的自由現金流為負 2.18 億美元，低於去年的負 1.51 億美元。 23 年第一季度的客戶平台總支出為 1.63 億美元，其中財富平台佔該投資的最重要部分。我們預計客戶平台投資將在 23 財年的餘額中下降。

And for the full year, we expect client platform investment to be lower than our fiscal '22 peak year of investment. We project fiscal year '23 free cash flow conversion to be higher than fiscal year '22 and will return to more historical levels in fiscal year '24.

全年，我們預計客戶平台投資將低於我們 22 財年的投資高峰年。我們預計 23 財年的自由現金流轉換將高於 22 財年，並將在 24 財年恢復到更多的歷史水平。

Given the significance of the wealth platform investment and the importance to our franchise growth, I want to share some additional insight on the impact to Broadridge margins and earnings growth as well as the expected return on investment. As Tim noted, our progress on the platform is strong, and we continue to expect to go live in mid-calendar '23. As we previously discussed, we expect to begin to recognize revenue and amortize the investment spend when the platform goes live.

鑑於財富平台投資的重要性以及對我們特許經營增長的重要性，我想分享一些關於對 Broadridge 利潤率和收益增長以及預期投資回報的影響的額外見解。正如 Tim 所說，我們在平台上的進展非常強勁，我們繼續期待在 23 年中期上線。正如我們之前所討論的，我們希望在平台上線時開始確認收入並攤銷投資支出。

Based on the existing and in-flight client agreements, we project average annualized revenue to be approximately $100 million, with average amortization cost per year of approximately $65 million. The addition of the servicing and infrastructure costs will make the initial platform rollout modestly dilutive to Broadridge AOI margins. We are confident that the operating leverage and ability to prioritize other investments inherent in our business model will allow us to mitigate this dilution and continue to deliver on our earnings growth objectives.

根據現有和正在進行的客戶協議，我們預計年均收入約為 1 億美元，平均每年攤銷成本約為 6500 萬美元。服務和基礎設施成本的增加將使最初的平台推出適度稀釋 Broadridge AOI 利潤。我們相信，我們的業務模式中固有的運營槓桿和優先考慮其他投資的能力將使我們能夠減輕這種稀釋並繼續實現我們的盈利增長目標。

Beyond the agreements noted above and as Tim noted, our pipeline for wealth management sales is strong and growing, giving us confidence that we will bring on $20 million to $30 million in new wealth sales per year at accretive incremental margins. Together, we expect the combination of existing clients in new sales will drive a return on invested capital that is higher than our cost of capital and along with the continued performance in our core business, drive Broadridge ROIC to mid- to high teens within our next 3-year performance period.

除了上述協議之外，正如 Tim 所指出的，我們的財富管理銷售渠道強勁且不斷增長，這讓我們相信，我們將以遞增的利潤率每年帶來 2000 萬至 3000 萬美元的新財富銷售。總之，我們預計現有客戶在新銷售中的組合將推動投資資本回報率高於我們的資本成本，並且隨著我們核心業務的持續表現，在我們的下一個階段將 Broadridge ROIC 推向中高水平3年的業績期。

Let's now turn to Slide 15 to review our fiscal '23 guidance, followed by some final thoughts on our first quarter results. We are reaffirming our full year guidance on all of our key financial metrics. We continue to expect 6% to 9% recurring revenue growth, approximately 50 basis points of adjusted operating income margin expansion, adjusted EPS growth of 7% to 11% and closed sales of between $270 million to $310 million.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 15 來回顧我們的 23 財年指導，然後對我們的第一季度業績提出一些最終想法。我們重申對所有關鍵財務指標的全年指導。我們繼續預計經常性收入增長 6% 至 9%，調整後的營業收入利潤率增長約 50 個基點，調整後的每股收益增長 7% 至 11%，最終銷售額在 2.7 億美元至 3.1 億美元之間。

Additionally, we expect approximately 75% of our earnings to be generated in the second half of the year, with 25% in the first half, in line with our performance over the last 10 years. As a reminder, our fiscal '23 guidance extends into the first half of calendar year 2023. Despite a challenging macro environment, we have confidence in our guidance given the visibility into our forward-looking recurring revenue. Our fiscal '23 recurring revenue growth will be driven by our strong sales backlog, which was $430 million at the end of fiscal '22. And by our equity and fund position growth, where our latest testing supports mid- to high single-digit position growth.

此外，我們預計下半年將產生約 75% 的收益，上半年將產生 25%，與我們過去 10 年的表現一致。提醒一下，我們的 '23 財年指導將延長至 2023 年上半年。儘管宏觀環境充滿挑戰，但鑑於我們對前瞻性經常性收入的可見性，我們對我們的指導充滿信心。我們的 23 財年經常性收入增長將受到我們強勁的銷售積壓的推動，在 22 財年末為 4.3 億美元。通過我們的股票和基金頭寸增長，我們最新的測試支持中高個位數的頭寸增長。

And as I noted earlier, the inherent operating leverage in our business and the targeted cost initiatives that we initiated at the end of last year will help us meet our earnings objectives.

正如我之前提到的，我們業務中固有的運營槓桿以及我們在去年底發起的目標成本計劃將幫助我們實現盈利目標。

Finally, let me reiterate my key messages. Broadridge delivered strong Q1 financial results. Demand for our services remains strong and our testing is showing continued equity and fund position growth into the second half of the fiscal year.

最後，讓我重申我的主要信息。 Broadridge 發布了強勁的第一季度財務業績。對我們服務的需求依然強勁，我們的測試顯示本財年下半年股票和基金頭寸持續增長。

We expect our capital investment to decline improved free cash flow conversion in fiscal '23 and to return to more historical free cash flow conversion levels in fiscal '24. We have a resilient business and financial model that performs through the economic cycle, and we are confident in reaffirming our fiscal year '23 guidance.

我們預計我們的資本投資將在 '23 財年減少改進的自由現金流轉換，並在 '24 財年恢復到更多的歷史自由現金流轉換水平。我們擁有貫穿整個經濟周期的彈性業務和財務模式，我們有信心重申我們的 23 財年指導方針。

With that, let's take your questions. Operator?

有了這個，讓我們來回答你的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) And our first question today will come from David Togut with Evercore ISI.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題將來自 Evercore ISI 的 David Togut。

Given the divergence between the strong revenue growth of 8% and the 15% decline in operating income, could you dig into your investment spending plans for this year, particularly as they affect both the income statement and the cash flow statement and the pacing of those plans. So we get a better sense of kind of the margin and quarterly earnings cadence throughout the year.

鑑於 8% 的強勁收入增長和 15% 的營業收入下降之間的差異，您能否深入了解今年的投資支出計劃，特別是因為它們會影響損益表和現金流量表以及這些計劃的節奏計劃。因此，我們對全年的利潤率和季度收益節奏有了更好的了解。

Sure. I'll just make a comment here, Dave, and then I will let Edmund take that on in some detail. First of all, thank you for the question. I think I just want to reiterate that our results today were -- this quarter were very much in line with our expectations, a little bit above. And we made investments at the end of last year that we knew would make the expense growth for this quarter a little bit stronger. And so we don't see any surprise here. We do see a more evenly paced year this year, but I'll let Edmund comment on that.

當然。戴夫，我將在這裡發表評論，然後讓埃德蒙詳細介紹一下。首先，謝謝你的提問。我想我只是想重申一下，我們今天的業績——本季度非常符合我們的預期，略高於我們的預期。我們在去年年底進行了投資，我們知道這將使本季度的費用增長更加強勁。所以我們在這裡看不到任何驚喜。我們確實看到今年的節奏更加均衡，但我會讓 Edmund 對此發表評論。

David, thank you for the question. I want to reiterate a few points to add on to what Tim just said. First, if I think specifically about Q1, as Tim said, it was modestly better than our expectations.

大衛，謝謝你的問題。我想重申幾點以補充蒂姆剛才所說的內容。首先，如果我具體考慮 Q1，正如蒂姆所說，它略好於我們的預期。

As you think about the divergence between revenue and the adjusted operating income decline, the key drivers there, as I noted in my earlier script, was the year-over-year growth in event-driven revenue. We had a very strong quarter, higher than our 7-year average at $63 million, but we're coming off an unusually high Q1 '22. That's the first item. And the second item was the carryover of the investments, which we will continue to do as we think about driving revenue growth in each of our businesses, the carryover of those investments into fiscal '23.

當您考慮收入與調整後營業收入下降之間的差異時，正如我在之前的腳本中指出的那樣，主要驅動因素是事件驅動收入的同比增長。我們有一個非常強勁的季度，高於我們 6300 萬美元的 7 年平均水平，但我們正在擺脫 22 年第一季度異常高的水平。這是第一項。第二項是投資的結轉，我們將繼續這樣做，因為我們考慮推動每項業務的收入增長，將這些投資結轉到 23 財年。

As you look out for the rest of the year, first -- the key point that I want to make is that -- as you know, over 75% of our earnings have historically come in the second half of the year. The first half is a much smaller portion of our overall earnings, that we are an annual business that the noise in between the quarters, I do not think -- we certainly run the company as an annual company. We think about our earnings overall. That said, I do expect margin expansion into second, third and fourth quarters. And I will reiterate the 50 basis points of margin expansion that we have as part of our guidance. We're coming off a very tough economic environment in the last 2 years and drove 60 basis points of margin expansion. So I continue to be very confident in our ability to hit the margin expansion and to deliver earnings growth in the 7% to 11% range.

當你展望今年餘下的時間時，首先——我想說的關鍵點是——如你所知，歷史上我們超過 75% 的收入來自下半年。上半年是我們整體收益的一小部分，我們是一個年度業務，在兩個季度之間的噪音，我不認為 - 我們當然將公司作為年度公司經營。我們從整體上考慮我們的收益。也就是說，我確實預計利潤率將擴大到第二、第三和第四季度。我將重申我們作為指導的一部分將利潤率擴大 50 個基點。在過去的兩年中，我們擺脫了非常艱難的經濟環境，並推動了 60 個基點的利潤率擴張。因此，我繼續對我們實現利潤率擴張和實現 7% 至 11% 範圍內的盈利增長的能力充滿信心。

And I just might add on all of that, which is the -- that we're expecting 25% of earnings in the first half.

我可能會補充所有這些，這是我們預計上半年收益的 25%。

Appreciate that. Just as a quick follow-up. Edmund, you talked about the client platform investments, and that's really the #1 incoming investor question I get on Broadridge, which is expected returns on the large investments in the wealth management tech business. Can you shed any additional light on the pipeline? Any line of sight you have into other large signings beyond UBS a few years ago?

感謝。就像快速跟進一樣。 Edmund，你談到了客戶平台投資，這確實是我在 Broadridge 上得到的第一個投資者問題，這是對財富管理技術業務的大規模投資的預期回報。你能對管道有更多的了解嗎？幾年前，您對瑞銀以外的其他大型簽約有任何看法嗎？

That's a great question. Let me make 1 or 2 comments, and I'll turn it over to Tim to maybe talk about the pipeline because as he said, we have a strong pipeline here. First, I think the key thing for me David, is that when we make these types of investments, particularly large platform investments to grow the franchise, they are initially going to come on dilutive to the margins. but we have a track record of making these types of investments and using our scale and other levers in our business to be able to ensure that they become accretive and drive towards Broadridge's returns. That is what gives me confidence that we're making the right investment in this platform and the progress that we've seen with it going live and the pipeline that Tim can speak about is giving me confidence in being accretive to Broadridge and driving us back to the types of historical returns that we've had before. But let me turn it over to Tim.

這是一個很好的問題。讓我發表 1 或 2 條評論，然後我將把它交給 Tim，也許可以談談管道，因為正如他所說，我們在這裡有一個強大的管道。首先，我認為大衛的關鍵是，當我們進行這些類型的投資，特別是大型平台投資以發展特許經營權時，它們最初會稀釋利潤。但我們在進行此類投資以及利用我們的規模和業務中的其他槓桿來確保它們能夠增值並推動 Broadridge 的回報方面有著良好的記錄。這讓我相信我們在這個平台上進行了正確的投資，我們看到它上線所取得的進展以及蒂姆可以談論的管道讓我有信心增加 Broadridge 並推動我們回歸到我們以前擁有的歷史回報類型。但是讓我把它交給蒂姆。

Yes. Look, we continue to see the wealth platform as very much as a long-term positive for Broadridge. It is -- it's doing 3 things for us. First of all, it's definitely deepening our relationship with UBS, who we view as a long-term global winner. They've been a long-term partner. It says a lot about the work that we're doing together that at this point in the work the relationship is deeper than ever. That's not always the case. It's really setting us up to be a leading provider in the $16 billion wealth tech market, which obviously is why we're doing this.

是的。看，我們繼續將財富平台視為 Broadridge 的長期利好。它是——它為我們做三件事。首先，這無疑加深了我們與瑞銀的關係，我們認為瑞銀是長期的全球贏家。他們一直是長期的合作夥伴。它充分說明了我們正在一起做的工作，在工作的這一點上，這種關係比以往任何時候都更深。情況並非總是如此。這確實使我們成為 160 億美元財富科技市場的領先提供商，這顯然是我們這樣做的原因。

Wealth tech is a rapidly growing space. I saw some recent research in which 70% of wealth management firms are planning to increase their technology spend in the next 2 years. Others are investing, but we believe we have some real advantages, and it's key part of our transformation as a company to being a modern SaaS provider. All this work is in the cloud. The key components like the workstation API gateway integration layer are foundational to our overall tech road map. So that's we're excited about the progress that we're reporting today.

財富科技是一個快速增長的領域。我看到最近的一些研究，其中 70% 的財富管理公司計劃在未來 2 年內增加他們的技術支出。其他人正在投資，但我們相信我們有一些真正的優勢，這是我們作為一家公司轉型為現代 SaaS 提供商的關鍵部分。所有這些工作都在雲端。工作站 API 網關集成層等關鍵組件是我們整體技術路線圖的基礎。這就是我們對今天報告的進展感到興奮。

And David, we really are seeing this as client discussions move from talking to showing. And when you're able to show real live software, it makes very much of a difference in the conversation. I'm just -- I'm thinking of a client conversation we're involved with now where the clients asked us to set up a sandbox with their data to have them be able to play with the applications, and we're able to do that in a matter of weeks. And that makes a big difference in the conversations. That's why we're seeing the 25% increase in pipeline.

大衛，隨著客戶討論從談話轉向展示，我們確實看到了這一點。而且，當您能夠展示真實的實時軟件時，對話會產生很大的不同。我只是 - 我正在考慮我們現在參與的客戶對話，客戶要求我們使用他們的數據設置一個沙箱，讓他們能夠使用應用程序，我們能夠在幾週內做到這一點。這在對話中產生了很大的不同。這就是為什麼我們看到管道增加了 25%。

And so as we look forward here, I think the markers of success are going to be going live with UBS, seeing sustained growth over time in our wealth management business. Now these sales will start to convert to revenue not in this year. So we're not talking about this year, we're talking about beginning next year. And then also, the progress in our overall technology road map. I think those are some of the markers that investors should look for, and we're confident we're going to get good returns here.

因此，正如我們在這裡展望的那樣，我認為成功的標誌將與瑞銀一起上線，隨著時間的推移，我們的財富管理業務將持續增長。現在，這些銷售額將開始轉化為今年的收入。所以我們不是在談論今年，而是在談論明年開始。然後是我們整體技術路線圖的進展。我認為這些是投資者應該尋找的一些標誌，我們相信我們將在這裡獲得良好的回報。

And our next question will come from Puneet Jain with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題將來自摩根大通的 Puneet Jain。

Can you comment on velocity of deals in the pipeline, specifically for large deals? Are you seeing any kind of pause or delays from clients given like the macro uncertainty in signing on new work?

您能否評論正在籌備中的交易速度，特別是大宗交易？您是否看到客戶出現任何形式的暫停或延遲，例如簽約新作品時的宏觀不確定性？

Yes, Puneet, it's Tim. Thanks for that question, and it is an interesting one. I think that we are seeing a strong appetite for continued digitization and for moving platforms forward. I think we're also seeing a real healthy balance between internal builds versus mutualization. I think that as the world moves to more agile, people are thinking less about large-scale multiyear transformational projects and more about how they can step into things in ways that take -- are quicker to come on and add value in a way that they can see. And I think we're seeing that both in North America and in Europe.

是的，Puneet，是蒂姆。感謝您提出這個問題，這是一個有趣的問題。我認為我們看到了對持續數字化和推動平台發展的強烈需求。我認為我們也看到了內部構建與相互化之間的真正健康平衡。我認為隨著世界變得更加敏捷，人們越來越少考慮大規模的多年轉型項目，而更多地考慮如何以他們能夠更快地進入並以他們的方式增加價值的方式進入事物可以看到。我認為我們在北美和歐洲都看到了這一點。

When you look at our mix of sales last year, which was a record. It didn't have any of those large transformational deals in it. So I think we are -- and I think that's what we're seeing now is some nice chunky deals, but we are seeing not large-scale transformational ones. I think the exception to that a little bit is in Customer Communications where there are still significant players that have in-house platforms where they're trying to think about that. And some of those could be larger. But on the technology side, it tends to be a sequence of really nice deals, and we like the velocity of that versus the bigger ones.

當您查看我們去年的銷售組合時，這是創紀錄的。它沒有任何大型轉型交易。所以我認為我們是 - 我認為我們現在看到的是一些不錯的大宗交易，但我們沒有看到大規模的轉型交易。我認為在客戶溝通方面有一點例外，那裡仍然有重要的參與者擁有內部平台，他們正在嘗試考慮這一點。其中一些可能更大。但在技術方面，它往往是一系列非常好的交易，我們喜歡它的速度與更大的交易。

I'll just add one point to quantify and help emphasize the point that Tim made, Puneet and that is that roughly about 3/4 of our deals are less than $2 million deals, and that's been a trend that we've seen stay consistent over the past couple of years. And I think, as Tim just said, we feel good about the velocity, the fact that it shows interest across our different product lines. So nothing has changed there.

我將添加一點來量化並幫助強調蒂姆提出的觀點，Puneet，即我們大約 3/4 的交易不到 200 萬美元，這是我們看到的保持一致的趨勢在過去的幾年裡。而且我認為，正如蒂姆剛才所說，我們對速度感覺很好，事實上它顯示了我們對不同產品線的興趣。所以那裡什麼都沒有改變。

Got it. And how is your appetite to do large deals changed, especially the deals that require costs sitting on your balance sheet? How has your appetite changed as a result of rising rate environment? Should we expect any changes in number or types of deals you pursue as a result of that?

知道了。您進行大宗交易的意願發生了怎樣的變化，尤其是那些需要在資產負債表上記錄成本的交易？由於利率上升的環境，您的胃口發生了怎樣的變化？我們是否應該預期您所追求的交易數量或類型會因此而發生變化？

Yes. I think, Puneet, what I would say is, certainly, if you think about the work we're doing with UBS, I think that is something that is truly exceptional is to put us into a whole space and not something that we are thinking about something that is like that. It is -- and having built the platform and built the technology, we see additional deals being able to come on with much, much lower incremental investment.

是的。我認為，Puneet，我要說的是，當然，如果你考慮一下我們與瑞銀合作的工作，我認為真正與眾不同的事情是將我們置於一個完整的空間中，而不是我們正在考慮的事情關於類似的事情。它是——並且在建立了平台和技術之後，我們看到更多的交易能夠以低得多的增量投資來實現。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question will come from Darrin Peller with Wolfe Research.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題將來自 Wolfe Research 的 Darrin Peller。

Listen, maybe we start off just with the growth in the regulatory side and the position growth trends I guess, first of all, I was a little confused, maybe I missed it in the beginning of the call to see the revenue growth rate on the regulatory side at 4% versus position growth, which was I think it was 9% for equity or 11% for mutual fund. It looks pretty decent on the side on that trend line. And I'd love to hear your latest thoughts on the sustainability of position growth. I know it's always hard to tell for sure. But given what we're seeing with retail investors and some of the changing trends. Just curious your thoughts medium term on that for us.

聽著，也許我們只是從監管方面的增長和我猜的頭寸增長趨勢開始，首先，我有點困惑，也許我錯過了在電話會議開始時看到的收入增長率監管方面為 4%，而頭寸增長，我認為股票為 9%，共同基金為 11%。在那條趨勢線上，它看起來相當不錯。我很想听聽您對職位增長可持續性的最新想法。我知道總是很難確定。但鑑於我們在散戶投資者身上看到的情況以及一些不斷變化的趨勢。只是好奇你對我們的中期想法。

Yes. On the -- just on the variance between position growth and revenue, there's just some timing in there. And I'll let Edmund expound on that, but that's not, Darrin, I think something that is anything significant inside that. But on the bigger question around position growth, it remains robust based on long-term trends and recent innovations that we believe are here to stay.

是的。關於 - 只是關於職位增長和收入之間的差異，那裡只是一些時間安排。我會讓 Edmund 解釋一下，但那不是，Darrin，我認為這裡面有什麼重要的東西。但在圍繞頭寸增長的更大問題上，基於長期趨勢和我們認為將繼續存在的近期創新，它仍然保持強勁。

So it certainly starts with the long-term trend of increasing investor participation and diversification, which, as you know, is based on historically falling costs, ongoing innovation, including ETFs, managed accounts, and that's what's driven sort of the high single-digit growth that we've seen over the last decade. Obviously, we've seen in the last couple of years, innovations around free trading and app-based investing in a new generation of investors, which has caused a real step change in the past 2 years.

因此，它肯定始於投資者參與度和多樣化的長期趨勢，正如你所知，這是基於歷史上不斷下降的成本、包括 ETF、管理賬戶在內的持續創新，這就是推動高個位數的原因我們在過去十年中看到的增長。顯然，在過去的幾年裡，我們已經看到，圍繞自由交易和基於應用程序的投資對新一代投資者的創新，這在過去 2 年中引起了真正的進步。

We do think that's a change that is here to stay. And now we see the next generation of innovation like direct indexing and pass-through voting to support continued albeit what we think will be a more normalized growth going forward. So it is -- I think we have -- all have had a question about as we move into a different investing environment, what would we see with the position growth. But as we have increasing visibility into the second half of the fiscal year, we're seeing this very normalized mid- to high single-digit growth.

我們確實認為這是一個持續存在的變化。現在我們看到了下一代創新，如直接索引和傳遞投票，以支持繼續，儘管我們認為未來的增長將更加正常化。所以——我認為我們有——所有人都有一個問題，當我們進入一個不同的投資環境時，我們會看到頭寸增長是什麼。但隨著我們對本財年下半年的可見度越來越高，我們看到了這種非常正常的中高個位數增長。

Just tactically on the first part of your question, in terms of the position growth at 9% and the regulatory revenues at a lower percentage. The way I think about position growth, Derek, is -- Darrin, is same-store sales. If you went to proxy in Q1 last year and you went Q1 this year, then you're in that position growth number, if you went Q1 last year, but Q2 this year, you're not in the quarterly position number, you would be in the full year position growth number. And that's what matters to us because from a revenue standpoint, it doesn't matter which quarter you're coming in, we're going to have the benefit from that. So that's the difference between the position growth and the revenue that we see.

就您問題的第一部分而言，僅從戰術上講，頭寸增長率為 9%，而監管收入的百分比較低。德里克，我對職位增長的看法是——達林，是同店銷售。如果你去年 Q1 去代理，今年 Q1，那麼你的職位增長數，如果你去年 Q1，但今年 Q2，你不在季度職位數，你會處於全年職位增長數。這對我們來說很重要，因為從收入的角度來看，無論您進入哪個季度，我們都會從中受益。這就是我們看到的職位增長和收入之間的差異。

Okay. That's really helpful. Just one quick follow-up on the earlier question on margins and really just free cash as well. Some of the dynamics on distribution, obviously, is a lower margin and I guess, event-driven revenue timing could have an impact as well. But what do you see really changing other than the timing of investments, and it's a small seasonal quarter. So it's probably not worth extrapolating too much. But what do you see changing that really helps the operating margin from here when considering that distribution costs will remain high, but I guess the scale, the operating leverage of some of the business should kick in also. So maybe you could just help us with the puts and takes.

好的。這真的很有幫助。只是對先前關於利潤的問題的快速跟進，實際上也只是免費現金。顯然，分銷的一些動態是較低的利潤率，我猜，事件驅動的收入時機也可能產生影響。但是，除了投資時機之外，您認為真正發生了什麼變化，而且這是一個小的季節性季度。因此，可能不值得過多推斷。但是，考慮到分銷成本仍將居高不下，你認為真正有助於提高營業利潤率的變化是什麼，但我想規模，一些業務的經營槓桿也應該發揮作用。所以也許你可以幫助我們處理看跌期權。

Yes. I do -- and remember, distribution, we have elevated distribution revenue last year. Again, that impacted the margins by nearly 50 basis points last year. The same thing we expect this year here with double-digit growth in distribution. I think what you will see is exactly what you just said. First, the initiatives that we initiated at the end of last quarter, we have executed on those, so we'll see benefit from that. And then the scale, the natural operating leverage in our business as we go through the quarter and get into our seasonally heavier quarters with more revenue coming on, those things are coming on with incremental margins, and we see the expansion in the overall adjusted operating income margin as we move forward through the 3 quarters.

是的。我確實 - 請記住，分銷，我們去年的分銷收入增加了。同樣，這對去年的利潤率造成了近 50 個基點的影響。我們預計今年也會出現同樣的情況，分銷將實現兩位數的增長。我想你會看到的正是你剛才所說的。首先，我們在上個季度末發起的舉措，我們已經執行了這些舉措，因此我們會從中受益。然後是規模，我們業務的自然運營槓桿，因為我們經歷了這個季度並進入我們季節性較重的季度，收入更多，這些事情正在隨著利潤率的增加而增加，我們看到整體調整後的運營擴張隨著我們前進三個季度的收入利潤率。

And our next question will come from Patrick O'Shaughnessy with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Patrick O'Shaughnessy 和 Raymond James。

So the wealth management sales pipeline that you've been speaking to, can you give some more color on how much of that pipeline is for the entire comprehensive wealth management tech stack versus some of these component solutions that you're bringing to market?

因此，您一直在談論的財富管理銷售渠道，您能否就整個綜合財富管理技術堆棧與您要推向市場的一些組件解決方案相比，該渠道有多少？

Sure, Patrick. It's a mix of both. I would say it is more on the component side. There are some firms that aren't of the same size and scale of someone like a UBS that are looking at full solutions. And we would imagine those, again, stepping in more in a sequential kind of way than in the past. But then there are also larger firms looking at the components. And I think if you're to look across the entire pipeline, it would be much more weighted to the component side.

當然，帕特里克。這是兩者的混合。我會說它更多的是在組件方面。有些公司的規模和規模與瑞銀這樣的公司不同，它們正在尋找完整的解決方案。我們會再次想像，與過去相比，這些人以一種順序的方式介入。但也有更大的公司在關注這些組件。而且我認為，如果您要查看整個管道，那麼組件方面的權重會更大。

And I think -- and if I can just add on to that, which is I think one of our real learnings over the couple of years that the years we've been building this is, as we've built this in a very open way with all API-driven. And the original vision, as you recall, was really to create based on our back office, very open data layer, being able to then take modules on top of that would be built either by us, by a client or by other third parties and be able to have that work seamlessly together. And so that vision is really more and more appropriate for what people want today. And so the ability for us to -- whether it's the back office or whether it's the integration layer out to help people tie together what they're doing and then take some of our applications on top of that is, I think, a real opportunity.

而且我認為 - 如果我可以補充一點，我認為我們在這幾年中真正學到的東西之一是，我們一直在構建它，因為我們已經在一個非常開放的環境中構建了它所有API驅動的方式。正如您所記得的，最初的願景實際上是基於我們的後台、非常開放的數據層創建，然後能夠在其上使用由我們、客戶或其他第三方構建的模塊，並且能夠無縫地協同工作。因此，這種願景確實越來越適合當今人們的需求。所以我們的能力——無論是後台還是集成層，以幫助人們將他們正在做的事情聯繫在一起，然後在此基礎上使用我們的一些應用程序，我認為，這是一個真正的機會.

Got it. Appreciate that detail. And then as free cash flow improves over the remainder of fiscal 2023, how are you guys thinking about deploying that cash, whether it's debt reduction, share repurchases, M&A, et cetera?

知道了。欣賞那個細節。然後隨著自由現金流在 2023 財年剩餘時間內的改善，你們如何考慮部署這些現金，無論是減債、股票回購、併購等等？

Yes. I mean, we continue to have a very consistent capital allocation policy, where we're balancing return to -- return of capital to shareholders with our investments for growth with continuing to maintain an investment-grade credit rating. So as I think about the near-term with leverage rates that are higher than where we've historically been, we obviously stay very close to the rating agencies and have an objective to bring that debt down to a more sustainable leverage ratio, I would say, in the near term, we're focused on that. But as free cash flow conversion increases going into fiscal '24, I think it gives us more capacity to return capital to shareholders to think about other investments, whether internal or external on the -- back in line with what our historical practice has been, smaller types of acquisitions, I think that's going to be the focus for us with the free cash flow conversion.

是的。我的意思是，我們繼續有一個非常一致的資本分配政策，我們正在平衡回報——股東的資本回報與我們的投資以促進增長，並繼續保持投資級信用評級。因此，當我考慮到近期槓桿率高於歷史水平時，我們顯然與評級機構保持密切聯繫，並有目標將債務降至更可持續的槓桿率，我會比如說，在短期內，我們專注於這一點。但是隨著進入 24 財年的自由現金流轉換增加，我認為它使我們有更多的能力將資本返還給股東，以考慮其他投資，無論是內部還是外部 - 與我們的歷史慣例一致，較小類型的收購，我認為這將成為我們自由現金流轉換的重點。

And this will conclude our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

這將結束我們的問答環節。我想將會議交回管理層，以便發表任何結束語。

Yes, it's Tim. I want to thank everyone for joining today. I want to just reiterate how pleased we are with the strong results for the first quarter, strong outlook for the remaining of the year, the fact we're making good progress on our key investments, that our business is resilient in an uncertain environment and really just most important, our confidence in long-term growth, strong cash flows and strong returns for our shareholders. So thank you very much. We look forward to continuing the conversation and seeing you next quarter.

是的，是蒂姆。我要感謝大家今天的加入。我想重申我們對第一季度的強勁業績、今年剩餘時間的強勁前景、我們在關鍵投資方面取得良好進展、我們的業務在不確定的環境中具有彈性以及真正最重要的是，我們對長期增長、強勁現金流和股東豐厚回報的信心。所以非常感謝。我們期待繼續對話並在下個季度見到您。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines at this time.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。你現在可以在這個時候斷開你的線路。