Factset Research Systems Inc (FDS) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to FactSet's Second Fiscal Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised today's conference being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 FactSet 2024 年第二財季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意今天的會議正在錄製。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Ali Van Nes. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人阿里·範·內斯 (Ali Van Nes)。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to FactSet's Second Fiscal Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. Before we begin, the slides we reference during this presentation can be found through the webcast on the Investor Relations section of our website at factset.com.

謝謝大家，大家早安。歡迎參加 FactSet 2024 年第二財季財報電話會議。在開始之前，我們在本次簡報中引用的幻燈片可以透過我們網站factset.com 投資者關係部分的網路廣播找到。

A replay of today's call will be available on our website. After our prepared remarks, we will open the call to questions from investors. The call is scheduled to last for 1 hour. (Operator Instructions)

今天電話會議的重播將在我們的網站上提供。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將開始接受投資人提問。通話預計為期 1 小時。 （操作員說明）

Before we discuss our results, I encourage all listeners to review the legal notice on Slide 2, which explains the risks of forward-looking statements and the use of non-GAAP financial measures. Additionally, please refer to our Forms 10-K and 10-Q for a discussion of risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

在我們討論我們的結果之前，我鼓勵所有聽眾查看投影片 2 上的法律聲明，其中解釋了前瞻性陳述的風險以及非 GAAP 財務指標的使用。此外，請參閱我們的表格 10-K 和 10-Q，以了解可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述有重大差異的風險因素的討論。

Our slide presentation and discussions on this call will include certain non-GAAP financial measures. For such measures, reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are in the appendix to the presentation and in our earnings release issued earlier today.

我們在本次電話會議上的投影片簡報和討論將包括某些非公認會計準則財務指標。對於此類衡量標準，與最直接可比較的公認會計準則衡量標準的對帳位於簡報的附錄和我們今天早些時候發布的收益報告中。

Joining me today are Phil Snow, Chief Executive Officer; and Linda Huber, Chief Financial Officer. We will also be joined by Helen Shan, Chief Revenue Officer, for the Q&A portion of today's call.

今天加入我的是執行長菲爾·斯諾 (Phil Snow)；和財務長 Linda Huber。首席營收長 Helen Shan 也將參加今天電話會議的問答部分。

I will now turn the discussion over to Phil Snow.

我現在將討論轉交給菲爾·斯諾。

Thank you, Ali, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. In the second quarter, we grew organic ASV plus professional services by 5.4% year-over-year, delivering adjusted diluted EPS of $4.22 and an adjusted operating margin of 38.3%.

謝謝阿里，大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。第二季度，我們的有機 ASV 加上專業服務年增 5.4%，調整後稀釋每股收益為 4.22 美元，調整後營業利潤率為 38.3%。

Given challenging industry factors and continued market uncertainty, our results this quarter were mixed. You may recall that we anticipated the softer top line growth from our December call.

鑑於具有挑戰性的行業因素和持續的市場不確定性，我們本季的業績好壞參半。您可能還記得，我們​​在 12 月的電話會議中預計收入成長會放緩。

We ended this quarter with more than 8,000 clients, adding 75 net new logos. And our user count was 206,478, down 605 in the quarter mostly due to consolidation following UBS' acquisition of Credit Suisse. In addition, please note that the ASV reduction impact of Credit Suisse is not reflected in our second quarter results. While we cannot share details about ongoing business discussions, our full year guidance continues to assume a conservative view of the Credit Suisse reduction as we indicated last quarter.

截至本季末，我們擁有超過 8,000 名客戶，淨增加 75 個新商標。我們的用戶數為 206,478 人，本季減少了 605 人，主要原因是瑞銀收購瑞士信貸後進行了整合。此外，請注意，瑞士信貸 ASV 削減的影響並未反映在我們第二季的業績中。雖然我們無法分享有關正在進行的業務討論的詳細信息，但我們的全年指引繼續對瑞士信貸的削減採取保守的看法，正如我們上季度所指出的那樣。

Overall, ASV retention remained greater than 95%, and client retention was 90%. In terms of market conditions, client caution continued to delay purchasing decisions. We saw increased pressure on client headcount as they seek further efficiency gains. As a result, we saw a higher erosion this quarter.

整體而言，ASV 保留率維持在 95% 以上，客戶保留率為 90%。就市場狀況而言，客戶的謹慎態度繼續推遲了購買決定。我們發現，隨著客戶尋求進一步提高效率，他們的員工數量面臨越來越大的壓力。因此，本季我們看到了更高的侵蝕。

We had fewer large deals in Q2 and saw a lower impact from our price increase, both of which contributed to a slower growth rate. However, industry cost cutting appears to be stabilizing, and we are starting to see pockets of recovery.

第二季我們的大宗交易減少，價格上漲的影響也較小，這兩者都導致了成長率放緩。然而，行業成本削減似乎正在穩定，我們開始看到一些復甦。

As we signaled in our December call, anticipation of softer top line growth drove our own difficult but necessary cost cuts, including headcount reductions during the quarter. Continued careful expense management will allow us to maintain margins of EPS growth along with investment in new products to drive future performance. Currently, we expect to finish the fiscal year at the lower end of our ASV growth guidance range of 5% to 7%.

正如我們在 12 月的電話會議中所暗示的那樣，對營收成長疲軟的預期推動了我們艱難但必要的成本削減，包括本季的員工人數削減。持續謹慎的費用管理將使我們能夠保持每股收益的成長幅度以及對新產品的投資，以推動未來的績效。目前，我們預計本財年結束時 ASV 成長指引範圍的下限為 5% 至 7%。

Turning now to our performance by region. Americas ASV growth decelerated by 200 basis points from the prior quarter to 5.9% mainly due to a large wealth cancellation as well as banking erosion and lower price realization. The wealth cancellation resulted from a client decision to move a custom nonstandard workflow solution in-house, following a change in its business strategy.

現在談談我們按地區劃分的表現。美洲 ASV 成長較上一季下降 200 個基點至 5.9%，主要是由於大量財富註銷、銀行業務侵蝕和價格實現較低。財富取消是由於客戶決定在其業務策略變更後將客製化的非標準工作流程解決方案轉移到內部。

In EMEA, ASV growth decelerated 40 basis points to 5% mainly due to headwinds from the lighter institutional asset management renewals, partially offset by new business acceleration. In Asia Pacific, ASV growth decelerated 240 basis points to 5.6%. Softer banking expansion, coupled with a larger institutional asset manager loss, offset wins with asset owners. While new business accelerated modestly across regions, it was offset by greater reductions in both retention and expansion.

在歐洲、中東和非洲地區，ASV 成長減速 40 個基點至 5%，主要是由於機構資產管理續訂較輕帶來的阻力，但新業務加速成長部分抵銷了這種阻力。在亞太地區，ASV 成長下降 240 個基點至 5.6%。銀行業擴張疲軟，加上機構資產管理公司損失擴大，抵銷了資產所有者的勝利。雖然各地區的新業務略有加速，但其成長被保留和擴張的大幅減少所抵消。

On the institutional buy side, we saw headwinds across all firm types due to cost-cutting and continued headcount reduction. For example, in 2023, passive funds surpassed active funds in total assets under management. As a result, our institutional asset management clients are seeing continued increased fee pressure. To help offset this pressure, we have expanded our capabilities to address users' needs, including in the front office.

在機構購買方面，由於成本削減和持續裁員，我們看到所有類型的公司都面臨阻力。例如，到2023年，被動型基金的管理總資產將超過主動式基金。因此，我們的機構資產管理客戶面臨持續增加的費用壓力。為了幫助抵消這種壓力，我們擴大了滿足用戶需求的能力，包括在前台。

Our managed services business is growing as our clients outsource more of their middle office workflows to FactSet. This helped drive some gains with asset owners. We have invested in our platform to reduce clients' total cost of ownership or TCO. Given our ability to help clients do more with less, they are increasing their reliance on us despite fee pressure. As a result, we are investing in managed services, given our growth in this area.

隨著我們的客戶將更多的中台工作流程外包給 FactSet，我們的託管服務業務正在不斷成長。這有助於為資產所有者帶來一些收益。我們投資我們的平台是為了降低客戶的總擁有成本或 TCO。鑑於我們有能力幫助客戶事半功倍，儘管面臨費用壓力，他們對我們的依賴仍在增加。因此，鑑於我們在這一領域的成長，我們正在投資託管服務。

We are leveraging our strength in the middle office to further power front office solutions. This quarter, we displaced a front office incumbent in asset management in Asia. And we did this by connecting the client's entire workflow, including both OMS and EMS capabilities. We also won that business on the strength of our open platform.

我們正在利用我們在中台的優勢來進一步增強前台解決方案。本季度，我們取代了亞洲資產管理部門的現任前台辦公室。我們透過連結客戶的整個工作流程（包括 OMS 和 EMS 功能）來做到這一點。我們也憑藉開放平台的優勢贏得了這項業務。

Simultaneously, we are developing gen AI enhanced tools and copilots for portfolio managers and fundamental research analysts, which we believe will significantly reduce their time to insight. In dealmakers, we saw a higher erosion in banking and lower retention in private equity and venture capital. However, corporates are starting to see good momentum with Investor Relations users.

同時，我們正在為投資組合經理和基礎研究分析師開發新一代人工智慧增強工具和副駕駛，我們相信這將大大縮短他們獲得洞察力的時間。在交易撮合者中，我們看到銀行業受到更大的侵蝕，而私募股權和創投的保留率則更低。然而，企業開始看到投資者關係用戶的良好勢頭。

At the same time, expectations are high around the effect generative AI will have on our industry. Initial client feedback has been extremely positive on our new gen AI solutions, including FactSet Mercury, a conversational way to generate answers and insights from documents and structured data sets that is in beta release as part of our FactSet Explorer program. We see early signs that large language models, working with our deep repository of well curated data in our open platform, can power accelerated workflows for our clients.

同時，人們對生成式人工智慧對我們產業的影響抱有很高的期望。最初的客戶回饋對我們的新一代人工智慧解決方案非常積極，其中包括FactSet Mercury，這是一種從文件和結構化資料集中產生答案和見解的對話方式，該解決方案作為我們FactSet Explorer 計劃的一部分處於測試版版本。我們看到了早期跡象，表明大型語言模型與我們開放平台中精心策劃的深層資料儲存庫配合使用，可以為我們的客戶加速工作流程。

While we foresee that this trend will drive future growth, these initiatives need time to gain commercial momentum.

雖然我們預計這一趨勢將推動未來的成長，但這些舉措需要時間來獲得商業動力。

In banking, our gen AI banker efficiency tools are gaining users. We had more than 200 gen AI meetings with our banking clients in Q2. Beta products and testing with clients include Job Creator and investment banking office refresh API, which allows clients to automate cloud model updates. This is our first client-facing off-platform solution for banker automation, and we believe it can drive a new revenue stream.

在銀行業，我們的新一代人工智慧銀行家效率工具正在贏得用戶。第二季度，我們與銀行客戶舉行了 200 多次人工智慧會議。 Beta 產品和客戶測試包括 Job Creator 和投資銀行辦公室刷新 API，讓客戶可以自動更新雲端模型。這是我們第一個面向客戶的銀行自動化平台外解決方案，我們相信它可以帶來新的收入來源。

Finally, Transcript Assistant, our gen AI-powered chatbot, is in full release as announced last week. Transcript Assistant accelerates analysis of earnings call transcripts with a conversational interactive interface. Clients have the freedom to ask their own custom questions or choose from a FactSet-provided prompt.

最後，我們新一代的人工智慧聊天機器人 Transcript Assistant 已於上周宣布全面發布。成績單助理透過對話互動介面加速財報電話會議成績單的分析。客戶可以自由提出自己的自訂問題或從 FactSet 提供的提示中進行選擇。

User uptake has been strong. We are now expanding event coverage and comparative analysis in parallel with the FactSet Mercury integration. You can read more about Transcript Assistant in our press release from last week.

用戶的接受度一直很高。我們現在正在與 FactSet Mercury 整合同時擴大事件覆蓋範圍和比較分析。您可以在我們上週的新聞稿中閱讀有關成績單助理的更多資訊。

Turning to wealth. Activity was more subdued this quarter, given one large cancellation and no large deals. However, wealth partnerships are creating stronger connections with portfolio and business development workflows, in turn, increasing senior executive level of client engagement.

轉向財富。由於有大量訂單被取消且沒有大宗交易，本季的活動更加疲軟。然而，財富合作夥伴關係正在與投資組合和業務開發工作流程建立更緊密的聯繫，進而提高客戶參與度的高階主管水準。

We have recently driven major changes in the organization to position ourselves for future growth, including moving to our firm type focus and reducing costs. Given this rapid pace of change, I am extremely proud of how the company has risen to the occasion. This change process may have been challenging in the short run but has positioned us well for a market upturn.

我們最近推動了組織的重大變革，以便為未來的成長做好準備，包括轉向我們的公司類型重點和降低成本。鑑於如此快速的變化速度，我對公司能夠應對這種情況感到非常自豪。這個變革過程在短期內可能具有挑戰性，但使我們為市場好轉做好了準備。

Finally, I want to highlight our FOCUS client event in Miami at the end of April. This event brings together top thought leaders, industry experts and key decision makers from the finance and tech sectors. Our theme for 2024 is the revolution of an ecosystem, discussing the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Attendees can expect a thoughtfully curated agenda with inspiring speakers, educational sessions and opportunities for meaningful connections. Registration information can be found at focus.factset.com.

最後，我想強調一下四月底在邁阿密舉行的 FOCUS 客戶活動。這項活動匯集了來自金融和科技領域的頂級思想領袖、行業專家和關鍵決策者。我們 2024 年的主題是生態系統的革命，討論人工智慧和機器學習的潛力。與會者可以期待精心策劃的議程、鼓舞人心的演講者、教育課程和有意義的聯繫機會。註冊資訊可在 focus.factset.com 上找到。

I'll now turn it over to Linda to discuss our second quarter performance in more detail.

我現在將把它交給琳達，更詳細地討論我們第二季的業績。

Thanks, Phil, and hello to everyone. As you've seen from our press release this morning, despite slower ASV growth, we improved margins and EPS in the second quarter. Second quarter organic ASV grew 5.4%, while adjusted operating margin improved 130 basis points to 38.3% and adjusted diluted EPS rose 11% to $4.22.

謝謝菲爾，大家好。正如您從今天早上的新聞稿中看到的，儘管 ASV 成長放緩，但我們第二季度的利潤率和每股收益有所提高。第二季有機 ASV 成長 5.4%，調整後營業利益率提高 130 個基點至 38.3%，調整後稀釋每股盈餘成長 11% 至 4.22 美元。

I'll now share some additional details on our fiscal second quarter performance. As Ali noted, a reconciliation of our adjusted metrics to comparable GAAP figures is included at the end of our press release.

我現在將分享有關我們第二財季業績的一些其他細節。正如阿里指出的那樣，我們的調整後指標與可比較公認會計準則數據的調節包含在我們新聞稿的末尾。

For the quarter, GAAP revenue increased 6% to $546 million on sales to asset owners, corporates, hedge funds and private equity and venture capital clients. For our geographic segment, organic revenues grew by 6.5% in the Americas, 4.8% in EMEA and 6.4% in Asia Pacific.

本季度，資產所有者、企業、對沖基金以及私募股權和創投客戶的銷售收入成長了 6%，達到 5.46 億美元。就我們的地理區域而言，美洲的有機收入成長了 6.5%，歐洲、中東和非洲地區成長了 4.8%，亞太地區成長了 6.4%。

Turning now to expenses. GAAP operating expenses increased 5% year-over-year to $364 million. This was driven by higher employee expense, net of a $7 million decrease to our bonus accrual as well as by increased intangible asset amortization. Compared to the previous year, GAAP operating margin increased by nearly 50 basis points to 33%. This was due to increased revenues, partially offset by higher personnel expenses, including an approximately $11 million restructuring charge. On an adjusted basis, operating expenses grew 4%.

現在轉向費用。 GAAP 營運費用年增 5%，達到 3.64 億美元。這是由於員工費用增加（扣除應計獎金減少 700 萬美元）以及無形資產攤提增加所致。與前一年相比，GAAP 營運利潤率成長近 50 個基點，達到 33%。這是由於收入增加，但部分被人事費用增加所抵消，其中包括約 1,100 萬美元的重組費用。調整後的營運費用增加了 4%。

Looking at each of our 4 major cost buckets in turn. As we've frequently discussed, technology continues to be our main area of expense growth. Specifically, technology costs increased 11% year-over-year. Technology costs now represent about 8.4% of revenue, consistent with our medium-term outlook.

依序查看我們的 4 個主要成本類別。正如我們經常討論的那樣，技術仍然是我們支出成長的主要領域。具體來說，技術成本年增11%。技術成本目前約佔收入的 8.4%，與我們的中期前景一致。

In contrast, employee expenses grew only 1% year-over-year driven by increased compensation expenses, partially offset by the lower bonus accrual. This small increase reflects some of the cost reduction efforts we took during the second quarter.

相較之下，由於薪酬費用增加，員工費用較去年同期僅增加 1%，但部分被應計獎金減少所抵銷。這一小幅成長反映了我們在第二季採取的一些成本削減措施。

Next, our third-party content costs increased 3% due to higher variable fee expenses. And finally, real estate expenses saw an 8% decrease year-over-year as we took early and significant steps to reduce this expense bucket.

其次，由於變動費用支出增加，我們的第三方內容成本增加了 3%。最後，由於我們儘早採取重大措施來減少房地產支出，因此房地產支出比去年同期下降了 8%。

We believe we have now rightsized our real estate footprint. As we have mentioned before, thoughtful expense management is positioning the company for future growth while allowing us to continue to invest in technology and strategic initiatives.

我們相信我們現在已經調整了我們的房地產足跡。正如我們之前提到的，深思熟慮的費用管理為公司未來的成長奠定了基礎，同時使我們能夠繼續投資於技術和策略性舉措。

Turning now to margin. Adjusted operating margin improved by 130 basis points to 38.3%. This was due to lower personnel expenses, given the lower bonus accruals and higher capitalization benefit, partially offset by higher technology expenses and higher bad debt expense. As always, you'll find an expense block from revenue to adjusted operating income in the appendix of today's earnings presentation.

現在轉向保證金。調整後營業利益率提高 130 個基點，達到 38.3%。這是由於應計獎金較低和資本化效益較高，人員費用較低，但部分被較高的技術費用和較高的壞帳費用所抵消。像往常一樣，您會在今天收益報告的附錄中找到從收入到調整後營業收入的支出部分。

As a percentage of revenue, our cost of services was flat year-over-year on a GAAP basis and about 90 points lower on an adjusted basis. An SG&A as a percentage of revenue was 40 basis points lower year-over-year on a GAAP basis. The decrease was due to revenues outpacing the increase in SG&A expenses and lower compensation costs, partially offset by an increase in bad debt expense. SG&A was about 40 basis points lower on an adjusted basis.

以 GAAP 計算，我們的服務成本佔營收的百分比與去年同期持平，調整後下降約 90 個百分點。以 GAAP 計算，SG&A 佔營收的百分比年減 40 個基點。下降的原因是收入成長超過了銷售管理費用的成長以及補償成本的降低，但壞帳費用的增加部分抵消了這一影響。調整後的 SG&A 下降約 40 個基點。

Turning now to tax. Our tax rate for the quarter was 16.4% compared to last year's rate of 16.1%. This increase was due to higher taxable income, offset by higher stock option exercises and higher foreign credits, which reduced the tax rate.

現在轉向稅收。我們本季的稅率為 16.4%，而去年的稅率為 16.1%。這一增長是由於應稅收入增加，但被較高的股票選擇權行使和較高的外國信貸所抵消，從而降低了稅率。

Turning now to EPS. GAAP EPS increased 8% to $3.65 this quarter versus $3.38 in the prior year period. This was driven by higher revenues and margin expansion, partly offset by a higher tax rate. On an adjusted basis, EPS increased 11.1% to $4.22 also driven by revenue growth and margin expansion, partially offset by a higher tax rate.

現在轉向每股收益。本季 GAAP 每股收益成長 8%，達到 3.65 美元，去年同期為 3.38 美元。這是由較高的收入和利潤率擴張所推動的，但部分被較高的稅率所抵消。調整後的每股盈餘成長 11.1%，達到 4.22 美元，這也是受到收入成長和利潤率擴張的推動，但部分被較高的稅率所抵銷。

Adjusted EBITDA increased $218 million, up 9.2% year-over-year due to higher net income driven primarily by an increase in operating income, excluding the impact of depreciation and amortization and the impact of nonrecurring noncash expenses.

調整後 EBITDA 增加 2.18 億美元，年增 9.2%，主要由於營業收入增加推動淨利潤增加，不包括折舊和攤提以及非經常性非現金費用的影響。

Free cash flow, which we define as cash generated from operations less capital spending, was $122 million for the quarter, a decrease of 17% over the same period last year. This was due to the timing of remitted payroll taxes related to employee stock compensation and higher income taxes payable, which were seasonally higher in the second quarter.

自由現金流（我們將其定義為營運產生的現金減去資本支出）本季為 1.22 億美元，比去年同期下降 17%。這是由於與員工股票薪酬相關的工資稅繳納時間以及應付所得稅較高，第二季季節性較高。

Turning to share repurchases. For the quarter, we repurchased 113,050 shares for $52.3 million at an average share price of $462.23. Our fiscal 2024 share repurchase plan targets $250 million of repurchases. We have $188 million remaining for repurchases in the second half of fiscal 2024.

轉向股票回購。本季度，我們以 5,230 萬美元的價格回購了 113,050 股股票，平均股價為 462.23 美元。我們的 2024 財年股票回購計畫目標是回購 2.5 億美元。我們還有 1.88 億美元剩餘資金用於 2024 財年下半年的回購。

We remain disciplined in our buyback program and committed to returning long-term value to our shareholders. Combining our dividends and share repurchases, we returned $434.1 million to our shareholders over the last 12 months.

我們在回購計畫中保持嚴格，並致力於為股東回報長期價值。結合我們的股利和股票回購，我們在過去 12 個月內向股東返還了 4.341 億美元。

And regarding leverage during the second quarter, we paid down $62.5 million of our outstanding term loan, which brings our gross leverage down to 1.8x. This is consistent with our plan to repay that term loan in full by the second quarter of fiscal 2025.

關於第二季的槓桿率，我們償還了 6,250 萬美元的未償還定期貸款，這使我們的總槓桿率降至 1.8 倍。這與我們在 2025 財年第二季全額償還定期貸款的計劃是一致的。

Finally, as Phil mentioned, we've carefully managed our cost base while continuing to invest in gen AI and other strategic initiatives. We believe that we are well positioned for growth as the markets pick up.

最後，正如 Phil 所提到的，我們在繼續投資於人工智慧和其他策略措施的同時，也謹慎地管理了我們的成本基礎。我們相信，隨著市場的回暖，我們已經做好了實現成長的準備。

We are now ready for your questions. Operator?

我們現在已準備好回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Faiza Alwy with Deutsche Bank.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Faiza Alwy。

Yes. So I wanted to talk a little bit about the pipeline and what you're seeing from here. Phil, I think you said that industry cost cutting appears to be stabilizing, and you're seeing some pockets of recovery. So maybe just start there and give us a sense of what you're hearing from your clients.

是的。所以我想談談管道以及您從這裡看到的內容。菲爾，我想你說過行業成本削減似乎正在穩定，並且你看到了一些復甦。所以也許就從這裡開始，讓我們了解一下您從客戶那裡聽到的情況。

Yes. Well, from -- Faiza, yes, from my conversations with clients, it feels way more constructive in the last 3 months than it did towards the last 3 months of last year. So just being out there with the clients talking to salespeople, it definitely feels like activity is picking up.

是的。嗯，從 - Faiza 來看，是的，從我與客戶的對話來看，過去 3 個月的感覺比去年最後 3 個月更有建設性。因此，只要與客戶與銷售人員交談，就肯定會感覺到活動正在增加。

We are seeing, I think, increased pressure on headcount of clients, in particular. But I would say our more enterprise solutions and our platform solutions is showing some good strength there. So I'm cautiously optimistic here that as we move into the second half, we'll probably have a weaker Q3, but I'm cautiously optimistic that Q4 will be stronger than last year.

我認為，我們尤其看到客戶人數的壓力越來越大。但我想說，我們更多的企業解決方案和我們的平台解決方案在那裡顯示出了一些良好的實力。因此，我對此持謹慎樂觀態度，隨著進入下半年，第三季可能會較弱，但我對第四季將比去年更強持謹慎樂觀態度。

I'm going to turn it over to Helen now for a bit more detail.

我現在要把它交給海倫了解更多細節。

Sure. Thanks for your question. Yes, we're seeing sort of a health -- we are seeing a healthier pipeline in H2 versus H1. We're seeing higher deal volume. I would say that the pipeline is more along the lines of last year, if not a little bit stronger. The makeup is about half of it is coming from buy side, 20% in the dealmakers or banking, 20% wealth and the rest in partnerships.

當然。謝謝你的提問。是的，我們看到了某種健康狀況——與上半年相比，我們看到下半年的管道更加健康。我們看到交易量增加。我想說的是，管道與去年的情況更加相似，甚至更強。其中約一半來自買方，20% 來自交易撮合者或銀行業，20% 來自財富，其餘來自合夥企業。

So we're seeing the pipeline accelerate since the beginning of the calendar year, really the strength in data solutions, in the middle office and in Quants solutions. But as Phil was just saying, timing on decisions is a little bit difficult to gauge. And more of our pipeline, I would say, are in the later stages of the funnel, which gives us more confidence, but many of them are really more into the fourth quarter.

因此，我們看到自年初以來管道正在加速成長，這確實是數據解決方案、中台和量化解決方案的優勢。但正如菲爾剛才所說，決策的時機有點難以衡量。我想說，我們的更多管道處於漏斗的後期階段，這讓我們更有信心，但其中許多實際上更多地進入了第四季度。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Manav Patnaik。

So I just wanted to touch on the managed services comments you made, I think. If you could just help elaborate exactly what you were referring to in investing more in the managed services. What percentage of your revenues today is managed services? And is it fair to assume that's a lower-margin business? Just I was hoping you could elaborate more on that.

我想我只是想談談您對託管服務的評論。如果您能協助詳細說明您所指的在託管服務上進行更多投資的話。您目前的收入中有多少比例來自託管服務？假設這是一項利潤率較低的業務是否公平？我只是希望你能詳細說明這一點。

Sure, Manav. Thanks for the question. You're right. It is a much smaller piece of our business, and we're really stressing sort of the subscription part of FactSet. I think that's who we are as a company and how we continue.

當然，馬納夫。謝謝你的提問。你說得對。這是我們業務中較小的一部分，我們真正強調的是 FactSet 的訂閱部分。我認為這就是我們作為一家公司的定位以及我們繼續發展的方式。

But what we have observed is as we've become more of an enterprise solution for clients, and we're delivering more mission-critical services for them, particularly with analytics and off-platform that you need sort of another level there to sort of help the clients. So we do think that there's a good opportunity for clients to outsource solutions to FactSet and leave it up to us to do what we do best.

但我們觀察到的是，我們已經成為客戶的企業解決方案，我們正在為他們提供更多的關鍵任務服務，特別是在分析和平台外方面，您需要另一個層級來解決這些問題。幫助客戶。因此，我們確實認為客戶有一個很好的機會將解決方案外包給 FactSet，並讓我們來做我們最擅長的事情。

And a good example of that was last -- at the end of last year, we had that very large outsourced performance deal with one of our clients, where we really invested heavily in this group to build that out. And I think we're seeing continued momentum and interest in this.

最後一個很好的例子是——去年年底，我們與一位客戶達成了非常大的外包績效協議，我們在這個團隊上投入了大量資金來建立這個協議。我認為我們看到了對此的持續勢頭和興趣。

So it's a piece of our business that we think is necessary. You're right, it is typically, I think, a lower-margin business. But we think overall, combined with the solutions that we're including with it, which is the main part of the sale, that it's a good opportunity for us.

因此，我們認為這是我們必要的業務之一。你是對的，我認為這通常是利潤率較低的業務。但我們認為總體而言，結合我們所包含的解決方案（這是銷售的主要部分），這對我們來說是一個很好的機會。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Kelsey Zhu with Autonomous.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Autonomous 的 Kelsey Zhu。

I was wondering if you can share a little bit more color on how much pricing, cross-selling and new logo drove Q2 ASP growth, and how much do you expect them to drive growth for the full year?

我想知道您是否可以分享更多關於定價、交叉銷售和新徽標在多大程度上推動了第二季度平均售價增長的信息，以及您預計它們將在多大程度上推動全年增長？

It's Helen. Thanks for that question. So this year's growth in the price increase on the Americas, it was $25 million this quarter, which is in line with FY '22, although lower than last year as we were able to take advantage of some of the inflation and CPI on last year's situation. But the overall price increase continues to provide that uplift.

是海倫。謝謝你提出這個問題。因此，今年美洲的價格漲幅成長為本季 2,500 萬美元，與 22 財年一致，儘管低​​於去年，因為我們能夠利用去年通膨和 CPI 的一些優勢情況。但整體價格上漲繼續帶來這種提升。

I would say the price realization against our rate card is about flat to last year. It does vary across firm types, plus or minus a few percentage points. As noted before, our price realization in new business is lower than last year, I think, reflecting that more competitive environment.

我想說的是，根據我們的價目表實現的價格與去年持平。它確實因公司類型而異，加減幾個百分點。如前所述，我認為我們新業務的價格實現低於去年，反映了競爭更加激烈的環境。

But we've actually seen total new business ASV increase. So we've had higher new logos, although average -- a bit smaller on the average price. So I do think that it's continuing to provide that sort of same growth rate that we've seen in the past.

但我們實際上看到新業務 ASV 總量有所增加。因此，我們有更高的新徽標，儘管是平均價格 - 比平均價格小一些。所以我確實認為它會繼續提供與我們過去看到的相同的成長率。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Heather Balsky with Bank of America.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Heather Balsky。

I was hoping you could talk about your expense cadence for the rest of the year. You had really strong margins this quarter. So just curious, your expectations around OpEx for the back half, and was there any timing shift from 2Q into the back half?

我希望你能談談今年剩餘時間的開支節奏。本季你們的利潤率非常高。所以只是好奇，您對後半段營運支出的期望，以及從第二季到後半段的時間安排是否有任何變化？

Thank you, Heather. It's Linda. We had talked about how our expenses tend to ramp up as we move through the calendar year. So I think it's fair to say that margins we've been fortunate enough to put up in Q1 and Q2 will decrease a bit as we move through the back half of the year.

謝謝你，希瑟。是琳達。我們討論過隨著日曆年的推移，我們的開支會如何增加。因此，我認為可以公平地說，隨著下半年的到來，我們有幸在第一季和第二季獲得的利潤率將略有下降。

So we did adjusted operating margin of 37.6 in Q1 and 38.3 in Q2. So I think it would be fair to expect arithmetically something closer to 35 for the back half of the year to get us to the midpoint of our guidance of 36.5. And again, it is our intention to hit the midpoint of that guidance on adjusted operating margin despite a slightly softer top line.

因此，我們調整後的第一季營業利潤率為 37.6，第二季為 38.3。因此，我認為，從算術上看，預計今年下半年接近 35 的數字將使我們達到 36.5 指導值的中點，這是公平的。同樣，儘管營收略有疲軟，但我們仍打算達到調整後營業利潤率指引的中點。

So you should expect a little bit of the technology cost to continue to move up as we go through the year. And of course, we've taken some actions to ensure that we have the appropriate headcount and appropriate location for our employees going forward.

因此，您應該預計，隨著這一年的發展，技術成本將繼續上升。當然，我們已經採取了一些行動，以確保我們為未來的員工提供適當的人數和適當的地點。

So we think we're in a good place, and we are prepared to deal with the cost base so that it works for the lower end of the revenue range. So we've got all that in the mix and so a little bit lower in the back half of the year.

因此，我們認為我們處於一個好的位置，並且我們準備好處理成本基礎，以便它適用於收入範圍的低端。所以我們已經把所有這些都混合在一起了，所以今年下半年的價格會稍微低一些。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Alex Kramm with UBS.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 UBS 的 Alex Kramm。

Phil, would love to come back to some of the commentary you made for the third quarter and fourth quarter outlook. It sounds like third quarter, you said fairly soft relative to last year. So maybe you can just flush out if that's, again, lower pricing expectations or just lower net sales.

菲爾，很想回到您對第三季和第四季展望的一些評論。您說，聽起來第三季相對於去年相當疲軟。因此，如果價格預期降低或淨銷售額降低，你也許可以直接退出。

And then on the fourth quarter, you sound pretty optimistic. So maybe you can just back that up a little bit because I think you made a comment that hiring was actually an area that's still pretty soft from what you can see, and I think the fourth quarter is very dependent on hiring. So it maybe flushes out, maybe you just have a great pipeline of non-hiring-related 4Q expectations. So a little bit more color would be great.

然後在第四季度，你聽起來相當樂觀。因此，也許您可以稍微支持這一點，因為我認為您曾評論過，從您所看到的情況來看，招聘實際上是一個仍然相當疲軟的領域，而且我認為第四季度非常依賴招募。所以它可能會被淘汰，也許你只是有一個與招聘無關的第四季度預期的巨大管道。所以顏色再多一點就更好了。

Sure. Yes, I'll start, and I'm sure Helen will have some additional comments. Thanks, Alex. Yes, I mean, Q3 is typically a smaller quarter for us anyway. What I can sort of point to is that we have a large number of 7-figure deals in the pipeline and probably a higher number than we had this time last year.

當然。是的，我會開始，我相信海倫會有一些額外的評論。謝謝，亞歷克斯。是的，我的意思是，無論如何，第三季對我們來說通常是一個較小的季度。我可以指出的是，我們有大量 7 位數的交易正在醞釀中，而且數量可能比去年同期還要多。

So there's certainly an appetite out there for large enterprise solutions with all types of different firm types. So I mean, in your reports, you sort of point to the hiring on the buy side and the sell side, and it's certainly come down in both areas.

因此，對於各種類型的不同公司類型的大型企業解決方案肯定有需求。所以我的意思是，在您的報告中，您提到了買方和賣方的招聘情況，這兩個領域的招聘人數肯定都有所下降。

The sell side was weak last Q4. I'm not sure that we're expecting anything different than that this year. But if rates do get cut and the banks feel optimistic, we could see a tailwind from that. But I'm not sure it's any more of a headwind, frankly, than we saw last year.

上個季度賣方表現疲軟。我不確定我們預計今年會有什麼不同。但如果利率確實下調並且銀行感到樂觀，我們可能會從中看到一股順風。但坦白說，我不確定這是否比我們去年看到的更加不利。

On the buy side, I think we're going to continue to see increased pressure on headcount as we move forward, particularly with generative AI. But that's all baked into our thesis in terms of our enterprise solutions and what we're doing to product.

在買方方面，我認為隨著我們的前進，特別是在生成式人工智慧方面，我們將繼續看到員工數量面臨更大的壓力。但這一切都融入了我們的企業解決方案和我們對產品所做的工作的論文中。

And despite that, we've got 200,000 seats approximately today. There might be 9 or 10x that many seats out there in the industry. So we're -- we've doubled the number of seats on FactSet in the last 5 years or so. And we still feel even with increased pressure on headcount, there's a good opportunity for us to tie the front office to the middle office to the back office.

儘管如此，我們今天大約有 20 萬個座位。該行業的席位數量可能是這個數字的 9 倍或 10 倍。因此，在過去 5 年左右的時間裡，我們將 FactSet 上的席位數量增加了一倍。我們仍然認為，即使員工人數壓力增加，我們仍然有一個很好的機會將前台、中台和後台連結起來。

And particularly on the buy side, we have the portfolio holdings of our clients. That's one of our key differentiators. And the firms that are going to win are the ones, I think, that can help the large firms continue to consolidate with a very good TCO conversation, which we're leaning way more into than we have in the past. Helen?

尤其是在買方方面，我們擁有客戶的投資組合。這是我們的關鍵區別之一。我認為，那些將獲勝的公司能夠透過良好的 TCO 對話幫助大公司繼續進行整合，我們比過去更傾向於這種對話。海倫？

Yes. No, that's exactly right. Thanks for your question, Alex. As I mentioned, we do have a healthy H2 pipeline. Phil focused on the 7-figure deals. I focus on 6- and 7-figure deals. So that's up year-over-year, I'd say, almost sort of 5% in terms of total numbers. So I think that gives us some greater visibility and confidence.

是的。不，完全正確。謝謝你的提問，亞歷克斯。正如我所提到的，我們確實擁有健康的氫氣管道。菲爾專注於七位數的交易。我專注於 6 位數和 7 位數的交易。我想說，就總數而言，這一數字比去年同期增長了近 5%。所以我認為這給了我們更大的知名度和信心。

And because of these total -- these TCO conversations, a lot of the pipeline is focused on competitive displacements, which has been strong for us. So the ability for us to convert those will be important. The strength of the markets, both capital markets and flow of deals are important as you know, especially as it relates to banking and wealth.

由於這些總體擁有成本對話，許多管道都集中在競爭性替代品上，這對我們來說很重要。因此，我們轉換這些內容的能力非常重要。如你所知，市場的實力、資本市場和交易流量都很重要，特別是因為它與銀行業和財富有關。

For right now, we're just -- we're not assuming that banking is all of a sudden going to pop up with sort of flat to last year, although we'll know more, as you know, in the Q3 and Q4.

目前，我們只是——我們不會假設銀行業會突然與去年持平，儘管我們會在第三季度和第四季度了解更多信息。 。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Andrew Nicholas of William Blair.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自威廉布萊爾的安德魯尼古拉斯。

I wanted to ask about budgets and maybe cyclical sensitivity from like a business line or maybe even product-type perspective. It sounds like you've seen some stabilization. There's some pockets of recovery.

我想從業務線甚至產品類型的角度詢問預算以及週期性敏感度。聽起來你已經看到了一些穩定性。有一些恢復的地方。

But I'm just curious, are clients maybe more apt to push off platform or workstation purchases or decisions than they are on the data side or on the middle office side? Just curious if there's a difference in the way that people are prioritizing their budgets and their spend at that level or from that perspective.

但我只是好奇，與數據方面或中台方面相比，客戶是否更容易推遲平台或工作站的購買或決策？只是好奇人們在該級別或從該角度優先考慮預算和支出的方式是否存在差異。

Yes, I'll take that. That's a great question. So let me try to touch on that. I would look at it maybe not necessarily on firm type, but maybe even size. So in our premier book, which is our most key large accounts, make up about 41% of our total, then they're really looking for the ability to -- they have flat budgets. And so they're really looking for the ability to make some room to invest in gen AI themselves. And so I think that's where making large decisions becomes a little bit tougher.

是的，我會接受的。這是一個很好的問題。那麼讓我試著談談這一點。我可能不一定會根據公司類型來考慮，甚至可能會根據規模來考慮。因此，在我們的首要書籍中，這是我們最關鍵的大客戶，約占我們總數的 41%，那麼他們真正尋求的是能力——他們的預算是固定的。因此，他們確實在尋找能夠騰出一些空間來投資新一代人工智慧的能力。所以我認為這就是做出重大決策變得有點困難的地方。

We're seeing a lot of demand. Part of the growth in our H2 is on the data solutions side, and I think that reflects some of what you would expect in the market. So I think what we're seeing is yes, the larger deals are related to platform. We have a good pipeline of them. We need clients to feel comfortable enough to be able to act on it. And -- but data continues to be a strong point and we think will drive our second half.

我們看到了很大的需求。我們下半年的成長部分來自數據解決方案方面，我認為這反映了您對市場的一些期望。所以我認為我們看到的是，較大的交易與平台有關。我們有很好的管道。我們需要客戶感到足夠舒適才能採取行動。而且——但數據仍然是一個強項，我們認為這將推動我們下半年的發展。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Toni Kaplan with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的東尼卡普蘭。

Helen, you just mentioned a couple of questions ago the pipeline focusing on the competitive displacements and how that's been very strong. Is that directionally, I guess, stronger than it has been? And just any changes in the competitive environment maybe because of the challenges in the market has -- has it been a little bit more competitive when you're sort of up against other players.

海倫，您剛才提到了幾個問題，重點是競爭性替代品的管道以及它是如何非常強大的。我想，這在方向上是否比以前更強？競爭環境的任何變化可能是因為市場的挑戰——當你與其他參與者競爭時，它的競爭力是否更強。

Yes. No, thank you, Toni. So yes, I would say a couple of things. The type of total cost of ownership conversations is definitely higher. We've had a lot of C-suite conversations, which I would say is probably more than we've had in the past. And the need to find, I'll say, new alternatives is on top of clients' minds. So I'd say yes to that.

是的。不，謝謝你，托尼。所以，是的，我想說幾件事。這種類型的總擁有成本對話肯定更高。我們與最高管理層進行了很多對話，我想說這可能比我們過去的對話還要多。我想說的是，尋找新的替代方案是客戶最關心的問題。所以我對此表示同意。

As it relates to the pricing, as mentioned on new business, we're seeing greater pressure there. Is pricing overall coming down? I would say it depends on the firm type of large deals. I think you're seeing more of that leverage coming through. But so far, our price realization has been flat to last year.

正如在新業務中提到的那樣，這與定價有關，我們在那裡看到了更大的壓力。整體價格會下降嗎？我想說這取決於大型交易的公司類型。我認為你會看到更多的槓桿作用。但到目前為止，我們的價格實現與去年持平。

To add to this, Toni, that I think we're in a very strong position competitively. When I think about the buy side and the fact that we've got portfolios on the system and clients want to work more with us, it's really giving us a good opportunity with these TCO conversations. And I'm seeing, for the first time in my career, much more of a top-down push for cost savings and giving some of the users a little less choice than they had in the past, which I think, in many cases, is tipping things in our favor.

除此之外，東尼，我認為我們在競爭中處於非常有利的地位。當我想到買方以及我們在系統上擁有投資組合並且客戶希望與我們進行更多合作這一事實時，這確實為我們提供了進行這些 TCO 對話的好機會。我在職業生涯中第一次看到，更多的是自上而下地推動成本節約，並為一些用戶提供了比過去更少的選擇，我認為，在許多情況下，正在讓事情對我們有利。

We're also seeing that some of our competitors' platforms are becoming -- are less flexible and less able to scale, which we're taking advantage of. So that's on the buy side.

我們也看到，我們的一些競爭對手的平台變得越來越不靈活，擴展能力也越來越差，而我們正在利用這一點。這就是買方的情況。

On the wealth, we're doing incredibly well there. We had that one-off thing this quarter, which I wouldn't be concerned about if you're thinking about sort of the longer-term trends for wealth. We still have a lot of large opportunities in front of us, some good ones in the pipeline. And we're beginning to expand the workflows that we're addressing for wealth, including things like prospecting and proposal generation. So I see a lot of opportunity on the wealth side.

在財富方面，我們做得非常好。本季我們遇到了一次性的事情，如果你考慮的是財富的長期趨勢，我不會擔心這一點。我們面前仍然有很多巨大的機會，其中一些很好的機會正在醞釀中。我們開始擴展我們正在解決的財富工作流程，包括勘探和提案生成等工作。所以我在財富方面看到了很多機會。

And then with our continued investment in content around deep sector, private markets and the technology investment we're making now around generative AI, I think there's a massive opportunity for us not just across banking, but across some of the smaller firm types that we deal with like private equity, corporates and even hedge funds where we may not have played as much in the past. So I think we're set up very nicely here. And I think -- when the market turns, I think we'll really be able to capitalize on this.

然後，隨著我們對深層內容、私人市場的持續投資以及我們現在圍繞生成人工智慧的技術投資，我認為我們不僅在銀行業，而且在我們所從事的一些小型公司類型中都擁有巨大的機會。與私募股權、企業甚至對沖基金等打交道，而我們過去可能很少涉足這些領域。所以我認為我們在這裡的設置非常好。我認為，當市場轉變時，我認為我們真的能夠利用這一點。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Owen Lau with Oppenheimer.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Owen Lau 和 Oppenheimer。

So I'm trying to reconcile some of the commentaries here. Could you please talk about the reason of anticipating lower ASV -- organic ASV growth and GAAP revenue to land at the lower end of the guidance?

所以我試著協調這裡的一些評論。您能否談談預期 ASV 較低的原因——有機 ASV 成長和 GAAP 收入將落在指引值的下限？

And I mean your comments about the pipeline was quite constructive, especially for the fourth quarter. I mean you said because of the UBS-Credit Suisse deal that lead you to lower your expectation. Or is there any specific event that drives your decision?

我的意思是，您對管道的評論非常有建設性，特別是對於第四季度。我的意思是，你說的是因為瑞銀與瑞士信貸的交易導致你降低了預期。或是有什麼具體事件促使您做出決定？

And then one more, it's about your outlook, your updated expectation about the capital markets recovery. Could you please talk about how you incorporate that into your guidance right now?

還有一點，這是關於你的前景，你對資本市場復甦的最新預期。您能談談您現在如何將其納入您的指導嗎？

Sure. Owen, I'll touch a bit on that. So I think there's a couple of things that we've taken into account. Yes, we do have a very strong pipeline, as mentioned.

當然。歐文，我會稍微談一下這一點。所以我認為我們考慮了一些事情。是的，正如前面提到的，我們確實擁有非常強大的管道。

That being said, we also have the impact of the CS-UBS merger. We talked a little bit about that on our last call. Timing of that, of course, is not in our -- we don't control that. So that's being reflected in our lower end of the guidance.

話雖這麼說，我們也受到了瑞銀與瑞銀合併的影響。我們在上次通話中對此進行了一些討論。當然，時間安排不屬於我們──我們無法控制。這反映在我們指南的下端。

We also had the large wealth -- cancel that Phil just mentioned there. That is a one-off, but that also plays into our view as well. And we are a little more conservative in how we're looking at the environment. I'll let Linda talk about the capital markets piece, but we don't try to build in a bounce back into our numbers.

我們也擁有巨額財富——取消菲爾剛才提到的這一點。這是一次性的，但這也符合我們的觀點。我們對環境的看法更加保守。我會讓琳達談談資本市場的問題，但我們不會試圖讓我們的數據反彈。

Yes. So Owen, just to be absolutely clear, in planning for this year's continuing revenue outlook, we have included what is going on with the Credit Suisse situation. We cannot tell what quarter that will occur, and there are ongoing business discussions. So stay tuned. We'll see how it plays out, but we've been conservative, and we have included that in our guidance.

是的。因此，歐文，要絕對明確的是，在規劃今年的持續收入前景時，我們已經考慮了瑞士信貸的情況。我們無法確定這將發生在哪一個季度，並且正在進行的業務討論。所以請繼續關注。我們將看看結果如何，但我們一直很保守，並且我們已將其納入我們的指導中。

So now regarding capital markets, things changed again yesterday. Chairman Powell was quite dovish in his comments. As of today, the June rate cut probability is north of 70% for 25 basis points of cutting in June.

那麼現在資本市場方面，昨天又發生了變化。鮑威爾主席的言論相當鴿派。截至今天，6 月降息 25 個基點的可能性超過 70%。

The Fed is looking at 3 rate cuts over the course of the remaining calendar year. The probability of the June cut went up 15 percentage points from where we were Tuesday.

聯準會正在考慮在剩餘的日曆年內進行 3 次降息。 6 月降息的可能性比周二上升了 15 個百分點。

So if you think about it, I think of Chairman Powell is metaphorically driving the family station wagon. And we keep asking, are we there yet, are we there yet for rate cuts? And he says, we're not quite there yet. So we're waiting.

因此，如果你仔細想想，我認為鮑威爾主席正在比喻駕駛家庭旅行車。我們一直在問，還沒有降息嗎？他說，我們還沒有完全做到這一點。所以我們在等待。

The trends are very positive. The Swiss National Bank cut interest rates by 25 bps this morning. The Bank of England held constant. And we saw some IPOs yesterday, the Astera IPO traded way up yesterday, which is a good sign. And Reddit priced at the high end of its range, which was $31 to $34 priced at $34.

趨勢非常積極。瑞士央行今早將利率調降 25 個基點。英格蘭銀行保持不變。昨天我們看到了一些 IPO，Astera IPO 昨天的交易量大幅上漲，這是一個好兆頭。 Reddit 的定價處於其區間的高端，即 31 美元至 34 美元，定價為 34 美元。

So seeing IPOs is a really good sign, and we are seeing better information on the timing of rate cuts. We now wait with a bit of a lag as to when that impacts our business.

因此，首次公開募股確實是一個好兆頭，我們正在看到有關降息時機的更好資訊。現在，我們等待這件事何時影響我們的業務，但有一點滯後。

So again, there is a bit of a lag. So that's why Phil had talked about the third quarter, we're not hugely optimistic about that, but the fourth quarter is certainly starting to look much better. So hope that's helpful to you. And we keep asking the same question, are we there yet on the rate cuts, but we're going to have to wait.

再說一遍，有一點滯後。這就是菲爾談到第三季的原因，我們對此並不是非常樂觀，但第四季肯定開始看起來好多了。所以希望這對你有幫助。我們一直在問同樣的問題，我們是否已經降息了，但我們必須等待。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Jeff Silber。

Wanted to focus on your client count growth. User count growth was really strong, but we're seeing client count growth slowing. Is there anything specifically going on there? Or is it just tough comps? Or any color would be great.

希望專注於您的客戶數量成長。用戶數量成長確實強勁，但我們看到客戶數量成長放緩。那裡有什麼特別的事嗎？或只是艱難的比較？或者任何顏色都會很棒。

Sure. This is Helen. So yes, I think a lot of our client count growth is driven by new business. So I think you're seeing a bit of that take place right now as you're seeing that come down. But I don't think there's anything in particular that we're looking at.

當然。這是海倫。所以，是的，我認為我們的許多客戶數量成長都是由新業務推動的。所以我認為，當你看到這種情況下降時，你現在就看到了一些這種情況的發生。但我認為我們沒有特別關注什麼。

Typically, that's driven by corporates and wealth. This quarter, we actually saw some good growth in partners, which is a little bit more on the fintech side. So I don't -- we're not looking at the client count as something that -- to be focused on necessarily.

通常，這是由企業和財富驅動的。本季度，我們實際上看到了合作夥伴的一些良好成長，其中金融科技方面的成長更多一些。所以我不——我們不把客戶數量視為——必須關注的事情。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Craig Huber with Huber Research Partners.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Huber Research Partners 的 Craig Huber。

Linda, I want to go back to the question on the ramp for cost if we could in the back half of the year. It seems to me just looking at your guidance here, your revenue guidance, your operating profit guidance for the year that it's gutted you up quite significantly your cost in the back half of the year by roughly $60 million over the 6 months versus the first half of the year and stuff.

琳達，如果可以的話，我想在今年下半年回到關於成本的問題。在我看來，只要看看你們的指導，你們的收入指導，你們今年的營業利潤指導，就可以看出，與上半年相比，下半年的成本在6 個月內大幅增加了約6000 萬美元今年的事情。

And if I got that math right, why is that? I mean obviously, in recent years, your fourth quarter has ticked up the cost versus what you reported in the second quarter. But prior to the last 2 years, that was not necessarily the case. So I just want to hear a little bit more color on that, please.

如果我的數學是正確的，那是為什麼呢？我的意思是，顯然，近年來，與第二季報告的成本相比，第四季的成本有所上升。但在過去兩年之前，情況不一定如此。所以我只是想聽聽更多關於這一點的看法。

Do I have that right, you are expecting cost up significantly in the second half versus the first half, which does seem a little strange to me. One more thing if I could add because you have had a pretty large restructuring charge in the second quarter, one of the larger ones you've had in recent years. That should help the cost of anything, obviously. So any thoughts, I'd appreciate.

我說得對嗎，你預計下半年的成本會比上半年顯著增加，這對我來說確實有點奇怪。我還可以補充一點，因為你們在第二季度承擔了相當大的重組費用，這是近年來較大的重組費用之一。顯然，這應該有助於降低任何成本。所以任何想法，我都會很感激。

Craig, you're right. We will see a ramp in the back half of the year. Total expenses for the second quarter, $337 million, and we do expect that those will ramp. This is mostly driven by the technology cost.

克雷格，你是對的。我們將在今年下半年看到成長。第二季的總支出為 3.37 億美元，我們預計這些支出將會增加。這主要是由技術成本所驅動的。

And Craig, what we're seeing is we have to build in more cloud costs as gen AI takes off and as we get increased demand on that front. So most of this comes from the technology budget.

克雷格，我們看到的是，隨著新一代人工智慧的起飛以及我們在這方面的需求增加，我們必須增加更多的雲端成本。所以大部分來自技術預算。

Personnel costs will remain quite flat. As we had said, we have rightsized those, and we reduced our bonus accrual by about $7 million. So the bonus accruals went for the first quarter, it was $30 million with some adjustment going on, $20 million in the second quarter. You should probably pencil in the low 20s for the third and fourth quarter, given what we're seeing now. And keep in mind that our employees are paid sort of half on top line growth and half on margin. So the margin piece is about where we want it.

人員成本將保持相當穩定。正如我們所說，我們對這些進行了調整，並將應計獎金減少了約 700 萬美元。因此，第一季的應計獎金為 3,000 萬美元，經過一些調整後，第二季為 2,000 萬美元。鑑於我們現在所看到的情況，你可能應該將第三季和第四季的業績預測定在 20 多歲左右。請記住，我們員工的薪水一半來自於營收成長，一半來自於利潤。所以邊距部分就在我們想要的地方。

The top line piece, we're anticipating a little bit of slowness. So we've adjusted that down for the bonus calculation.

最重要的是，我們預計速度會有點慢。因此，我們針對獎金計算進行了調整。

On real estate, we've done quite well, bringing those costs down. And third-party data costs are about flat. So mostly it is about increases in the tech budget driven by increased amortization as that moves through and also the cloud expense as we look to fuel the gen AI efforts of the company and our clients. So hope that helps you there, Craig.

在房地產方面，我們做得很好，降低了這些成本。第三方數據成本基本持平。因此，主要是隨著攤銷的增加而導致技術預算的增加，以及雲端費用的增加，因為我們希望推動公司和客戶的新一代人工智慧努力。希望這對你有幫助，克雷格。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Russell Quelch with Redburn Atlantic.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Redburn Atlantic 的 Russell Quelch。

We're starting to hear from some management teams in the sector around internal efficiency opportunities from generative AI. I was wondering if you could talk to how big an opportunity that might be for FactSet and when we might expect to see that in the P&L. I'm wondering if the opportunity is similar in size to peers or maybe a little smaller, given you have the majority of employees already in low-cost centers.

我們開始收到業界一些管理團隊關於生成式人工智慧帶來的內部效率機會的意見。我想知道您是否可以談談這對 FactSet 來說可能有多大的機會，以及我們什麼時候可以在損益表中看到這個機會。我想知道這個機會的規模是否與同行相似，或者可能小一些，因為你的大多數員工已經在低成本中心。

Russell, it's Phil, and I'll start and I'm sure Linda has some additional comments. So yes, we've been talking about 3 areas there where we've been focused. So as you can imagine, there's a lot of developers at FactSet. So they are currently being armed with tools that look very good in terms of being able to increase the efficiency of producing code.

拉塞爾，我是菲爾，我開始，我確信琳達還有一些補充意見。是的，我們一直在討論我們重點關注的 3 個領域。正如您可以想像的那樣，FactSet 有很多開發人員。因此，他們目前配備的工具在提高程式碼產生效率方面看起來非常好。

The question is like how do we apply that? Do we apply it to more product? Or do we apply it in other ways? So I think we're getting a good handle on what those efficiency gains could be and which parts of our tech stack and product it makes sense to apply them.

問題是我們如何應用它？我們是否將其應用到更多產品中？或者我們以其他方式應用它？因此，我認為我們正在很好地了解這些效率提升可能是什麼，以及我們的技術堆疊和產品的哪些部分應用它們是有意義的。

We're also looking at content collection. But as you mentioned, we have quite a large number of our employees in low-cost locations. So we've done a lot to automate workflows for content collection over the years. This adds, I think, some more juice to that even. So there's some good opportunity there. Although people costs there are much lower, so the efficiency gains may not be as high as they are with engineering, for example.

我們也在關注內容收集。但正如您所提到的，我們在低成本地區擁有大量員工。因此，多年來我們在內容收集工作流程自動化方面做了很多工作。我認為，這甚至增加了更多的活力。所以那裡有一些很好的機會。例如，儘管人員成本要低得多，但效率提升可能不如工程方面那麼高。

And then there's a big opportunity for us in terms of just supporting clients. So FactSet is a very good tool. Some people use it in different ways. Some people use it in a programmatic way. So there's a lot of coding that's involved if you really want to customize your workflow. So I think it can really help both clients and people that support those clients internally.

在支持客戶方面，我們有一個巨大的機會。所以FactSet是一個非常好的工具。有些人以不同的方式使用它。有些人以程式設計方式使用它。因此，如果您確實想要自訂工作流程，則需要進行大量編碼。所以我認為它確實可以幫助客戶和內部支持這些客戶的人員。

So those are 3 of the bigger buckets. We do see opportunity. And we're going to be looking very hard at how we can apply that in our rolling 3-year plan. So we're just beginning our efforts there to think about a budget for next year and the following years, and this will certainly be part of that equation.

這是 3 個較大的桶子。我們確實看到了機會。我們將非常努力地研究如何將其應用到我們的三年滾動計劃中。因此，我們剛開始考慮明年和接下來幾年的預算，這肯定會成為該等式的一部分。

Yes. Russell, it's Linda. You should look for those efficiency gains in our FY '25 guidance. We've only given these new tools to our engineers relatively recently. They're reporting good things, but it's a little early to put a number on it.

是的。拉塞爾，這是琳達。您應該在我們的 25 財年指南中尋找這些效率提升。我們最近才向我們的工程師提供這些新工具。他們報告了一些好事，但現在給出數字還為時過早。

We think the biggest advantage from this will be cost avoidance as we bend the cost curve. And perhaps as the engineers get more efficient, we can sort of ramp down some of our hiring. So we think that, that's a bright spot, but we're going to look to first direct gen AI efforts outwardly to make sure that we're able to generate ASV with those efforts, and you'll see more of that at our FOCUS conference.

我們認為，這樣做的最大優勢是在彎曲成本曲線時避免成本。也許隨著工程師效率的提高，我們可以減少一些招募。所以我們認為，這是一個亮點，但我們將著眼於第一代直接人工智慧的向外努力，以確保我們能夠透過這些努力產生 ASV，你會在我們的焦點上看到更多這樣的內容會議。

And then in FY '25, the focus will turn more constructively to internal cost savings. We've been managing the cost of the company pretty darn effectively, I would say, and we're looking to ensure that we are able to continue to do that, but gen AI is only a portion of that. So thanks for the question.

然後在 25 財年，重點將更具建設性地轉向內部成本節約。我想說，我們一直非常有效地管理公司的成本，我們希望確保我們能夠繼續這樣做，但人工智慧只是其中的一部分。謝謝你的提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Keith Housum with Northcoast Research.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Keith Housum。

Linda, a question for you on capitalized costs. It seems like the amortization cost is going up, the capitalized costs have been going up year-over-year as well. I guess can you give us a little bit of color about what you expect it to be in 2024 versus '23? And then how long are you amortizing this cost for?

琳達，有一個關於資本化成本的問題。攤銷成本似乎在上升，資本化成本也逐年上升。我想你能給我們一些關於 2024 年與 23 年相比的預期嗎？那你要攤提這筆費用多久呢？

Yes, great question. We are -- we've added some automation to our time tracking, which has helped us be more accurate. And I think for the year, we're looking somewhere between $80 million and $85 million, which is better than we did last year. I don't have that number right at hand, but it has grown.

是的，很好的問題。我們在時間追蹤中添加了一些自動化功能，這有助於我們更加準確。我認為今年我們的目標是 8,000 萬至 8,500 萬美元，這比去年好。我手頭上沒有這個數字，但它已經成長了。

So you're going to see some more coming through in terms of that capitalization. It probably has not peaked out quite yet. But we feel pretty good about what we're doing there and that it's very helpful to everyone involved that we spread these costs generally over 3 years would be the normal situation there. So pretty much right down the middle of the road in terms of how you would think about the time period over which we spread those costs.

所以你會看到更多的資本化。它可能還沒有達到頂峰。但我們對我們在那裡所做的事情感覺非常好，這對所有參與者都非常有幫助，我們將這些成本分攤到三年內，這將是那裡的正常情況。因此，就您如何看待我們分攤這些成本的時間段而言，這幾乎就在中間。

So I think that should help you a little bit. As we move forward, we'll probably look at that capitalization percent of revenues kind of moving up to 3% to 4% of revenues. I think we have previously said sort of 2.5 to 3. But again, with automated tools, we are doing a better job of tracking the cost of building software and then moving that through in a capitalized manner.

所以我認為這應該對你有一點幫助。隨著我們的前進，我們可能會看到收入的資本化百分比上升到收入的 3% 到 4%。我認為我們之前說過 2.5 到 3 左右。但同樣，借助自動化工具，我們在追蹤建立軟體的成本方面做得更好，然後以資本化的方式進行轉移。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 George Tong。

You mentioned earlier that price realization against your rate card is about flat versus last year, and that price realization in new business is a bit lower, reflecting a more competitive environment. Can you talk a little bit about where you're seeing the most competition come from? And how would you describe pricing trends among your competitors?

您之前提到，您的價目表的價格實現與去年基本持平，而新業務的價格實現要低一些，反映出競爭更加激烈的環境。您能談談您認為競爭最多的地方嗎？您如何描述競爭對手的定價趨勢？

George, it's Helen. Yes, let me get to that. So I would say it depends, right? So I think when you're talking about some of the smaller deals, maybe in PVC and in some cases, in banking, it might be a little bit more competitive.

喬治，是海倫。是的，讓我來談談。所以我想說這要看情況，對吧？所以我認為，當你談論一些較小的交易時，也許是在聚氯乙烯領域，在某些情況下，在銀行業，它可能會更具競爭力。

I think some of the competitors sometimes leverage like we do on some of their stronger enterprise deals if they're able to do so. I think we're seeing benefit actually in places like in asset owners where our packages from a value perspective are really resonating.

我認為一些競爭對手有時會像我們一樣利用他們一些更強大的企業交易，如果他們能夠這樣做的話。我認為我們實際上在資產所有者等地方看到了好處，從價值角度來看，我們的方案確實引起了共鳴。

So I do think it depends. We're not seeing again any huge differences as much as everyone is just fighting hard for trying to get that new logo.

所以我認為這要看情況。我們沒有再看到任何巨大的差異，因為每個人都在努力爭取新標誌。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Shlomo Rosenbaum with Stifel.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Shlomo Rosenbaum。

Linda, I just want to focus a little bit more on the expense control. You've gotten nicely ahead of things. So even though revenues coming in softer, you're still going to hit the EPS range likely at the high end of that. I was just wondering if this environment continues for longer than you expected and let's say we're still sitting here in this few quarters and saying, are we there yet, you've done a lot of real estate. There's squeeze down on the bonus pool.

琳達，我只是想多關註一下費用控制。你已經做得很好了。因此，儘管收入疲軟，但每股盈餘仍可能達到其上限。我只是想知道這種環境持續的時間是否比你預期的要長，假設我們在這幾個季度仍然坐在這裡說，我們到了嗎，你已經做了很多房地產。獎金池受到擠壓。

But what -- operationally, what are the next steps that you take to kind of continue to move the margin up and invest in the generative AI and frankly, the product development that you're going to need to drive the top line? Like what do you focus on after this?

但是，在營運方面，您接下來要採取哪些步驟來繼續提高利潤並投資於生成式人工智慧，坦白說，您需要推動收入的產品開發？例如這之後你會關注什麼？

Yes. Shlomo, it's a great question and one that we discussed with our Board of Directors earlier this week. I think we've done a pretty good job on all the cost buckets.

是的。 Shlomo，這是一個很好的問題，我們本週早些時候與董事會討論過這個問題。我認為我們在所有成本方面都做得很好。

You're right, we wanted to plan to take these charges at midyear. So we adjust our expense rate in some areas down as we go through the rest of the year. So over the past few years, unfortunately, we've had to take 3 sort of different rounds of personnel actions, and we want very much for those to be done.

你是對的，我們想計劃在年中收取這些費用。因此，我們在今年剩餘時間下調了某些領域的費用率。因此，不幸的是，在過去的幾年裡，我們必須採取三輪不同的人事行動，我們非常希望這些行動能夠完成。

We consider those to be done with the possible exception of a huge geopolitical event that we haven't planned. So we want to think that we have the cost cuts well in hand.

我們認為，除了我們尚未計劃的重大地緣政治事件之外，這些工作都可以完成。因此，我們認為我們已經很好地控制了成本削減。

And I think what we're looking for as we move into FY '25 is we have to look at closer to flat personnel growth. So we're going to try to ensure that we've got that model right. I think we've got our offshore balance about correct, which is about 68% right now. But we did want to get the expenses right for the rest of the year in keeping with the lower end of the range on the top line so everything comes out well.

我認為，當我們進入 25 財年時，我們所尋求的是我們必須更加關注人員的平穩增長。因此，我們將盡力確保我們的模型是正確的。我認為我們的離岸餘額大致正確，目前約為 68%。但我們確實希望今年剩餘時間的支出與營收範圍的下限保持一致，這樣一切都會順利進行。

From here, I think we're in a pretty good place. I think we've done what we need to do. And we're hoping that are we there yet that we do get there soon enough that we can see some help from the top line. But we've got the costs well in hand, and I think we've thought it through and executed pretty well. So thank you for that, Shlomo. That's great.

從這裡開始，我認為我們處於一個非常好的位置。我認為我們已經做了我們需要做的事情。我們希望我們能夠盡快到達那裡，以便我們能夠從高層得到一些幫助。但我們已經掌握了成本，而且我認為我們已經仔細考慮並執行得很好。所以謝謝你，什洛莫。那太棒了。

And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Phil Snow for any closing remarks.

目前我不會提出任何進一步的問題。我想將電話轉回給菲爾·斯諾（Phil Snow），讓其發表結束語。

Thanks, operator. So in closing, while results this quarter were mixed, actions taken this quarter position us well to capitalize on market shifts. Our focus at FactSet is on innovating for our clients' long-term efficiency, and that's the reason we really remain an anchor partner for them. And I'm confident in our ability to execute on the opportunities we talked about in the pipeline for the second half. Operator, that ends today's call.

謝謝，接線生。因此，總而言之，雖然本季的業績好壞參半，但本季採取的行動使我們能夠很好地利用市場變化。 FactSet 的重點是為客戶的長期效率進行創新，這就是我們真正仍然是他們的主要合作夥伴的原因。我對我們在下半年抓住機會的能力充滿信心。接線員，今天的通話到此結束。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect, and have a wonderful day.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，今天的演講到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接，並度過美好的一天。