Factset Research Systems Inc (FDS) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the third quarter FactSet earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加第三季 FactSet 財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Ali van Nes, Head of IR, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給今天的第一位發言人，投資者關係投資者關係主管阿里·範·內斯 (Ali van Nes)。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to FactSet’s third fiscal quarter 2024 earnings call. Before we begin, the slides we referenced during this presentation can be found through the webcast on the investor relations section of our website at factset.com. A replay of today's call will be available on our website.

謝謝大家，大家早安。歡迎參加 FactSet 2024 年第三財季財報電話會議。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。今天電話會議的重播將在我們的網站上提供。

After our prepared remarks, we will open the call to questions from investors. The call is scheduled to last for one hour. To be fair to everyone, please limit yourself to one question. You may re-enter the queue for additional follow-up questions, which we will take if time permits.

在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將開始接受投資人提問。通話預計可持續一小時。為了對每個人都公平，請限制自己回答一個問題。您可以重新進入佇列以獲取其他後續問題，如果時間允許，我們將進行處理。

Before we discuss our results, I encourage all listeners to review the legal notice on slide two, 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第二張投影片上的法律聲明，其中解釋了前瞻性陳述和使用非公認會計原則財務指標的風險。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, reconciliation 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 Philip 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.

今天與我一起出席的是執行長 Philip 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. Before I speak about this quarter's results, I just want to point out that we scheduled today's call on a Friday to allow for observant of the Juneteenth holiday earlier this week. We finished our third quarter with organic ASV and professional services growth of 5%. Adjusted diluted EPS rose to $4.37 for the quarter, and our adjusted operating margin was 39.4%.

謝謝阿里，大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。在談論本季的業績之前，我只想指出，我們將今天的電話會議安排在周五，以便在本週早些時候慶祝六月節假期。我們第三季的有機 ASV 和專業服務成長了 5%。本季調整後攤薄每股收益升至 4.37 美元，調整後營業利益率為 39.4%。

This quarter, we continued to see the impact of clients, tightening budgets, and cost rationalization. Trends w e highlighted last quarter that were echoed by others in the industry. These pressures extend decision-making and lengthened sales cycles. Also, as you may recall, the third quarter is seasonally our weakest of the year. Against this backdrop, we continue to build on FactSet's history of 44 consecutive years of revenue growth and 28 consecutive years of adjusted EPS growth.

本季度，我們繼續看到客戶、預算緊縮和成本合理化的影響。我們上季度強調的趨勢得到了業內其他人的回應。這些壓力延長了決策時間並延長了銷售週期。此外，您可能還記得，第三季是我們今年季節性最弱的季度。在此背景下，我們繼續鞏固 FactSet 連續 44 年營收成長和連續 28 年調整後每股盈餘成長的歷史。

And in these 44 years, we have successfully navigated through even more difficult market conditions than we face right now. Despite challenged end markets, t his is an exciting time in our industry, particularly for technology companies with valuable data assets. We are harnessing the power of gen AI to build cutting-edge solutions and capture market share.

在這 44 年裡，我們成功地度過了比現在更困難的市場條件。儘管終端市場面臨挑戰，但這是我們行業的一個令人興奮的時刻，特別是對於擁有寶貴數據資產的科技公司而言。我們正在利用新一代人工智慧的力量來建立尖端的解決方案並佔領市場份額。

For example, we held our 11th client symposium in Miami in April, showcasing new products and the value they bring to clients. These new products are driving requests for hundreds of product demonstrations, creating new leads for our sales team. Returning now to our third quarter, we concluded with 8,029 clients and nine net new logos. Our user count exceeded 208,000. Overall ASP retention remained higher than 95% and c lient retention was 90%.

例如，我們於 4 月在邁阿密舉辦了第 11 屆客戶研討會，展示了新產品及其為客戶帶來的價值。這些新產品推動了數百次產品展示的需求，為我們的銷售團隊創造了新的潛在客戶。現在回到第三季度，我們獲得了 8,029 名客戶和 9 個淨新標誌。我們的用戶數量超過 208,000。整體 ASP 保留率仍高於 95%，客戶保留率為 90%。

Currently, w e expect to finish the fiscal year with annual organic ASV plus professional services growth between 4% and 5.5%. Linda will provide further updates to guidance in a few minutes. Turning now to our performance by region. We saw slower growth in the third quarter due to continued market headwinds and the effect of the cancellation from the Credit Suisse-UBS merger, which impacted all of our regions.

目前，我們預計本財年結束時，有機 ASV 加上專業服務的年度成長率將在 4% 至 5.5% 之間。琳達將在幾分鐘內提供進一步的指導更新。現在談談我們按地區劃分的表現。由於持續的市場逆風以及取消瑞士信貸與瑞銀合併的影響，我們看到第三季的成長放緩，這影響了我們所有的地區。

Overall, as cancellation accounted for approximately 30 basis points or two-thirds of our ASV deceleration quarter over quarter. In the Americas, gains from asset owners and wealth managers were offset by continued client cost rationalization and the Americas regions' o rganic ASV growth rate was 5.7%. In the EMEA region, growth was driven by a price increase, sales to asset owners, and higher ASV from the analytics products suite. The EMEA region's organic ASV growth rate was 4.4%. And in the Asia-Pacific region, we saw acceleration from buy-side firms driven by front office solutions and growing transactional revenues. The Asia Pacific regions organic ASV growth rate was 6.1%.

總體而言，取消約占我們 ASV 季度環比減速的 30 個基點或三分之二。在美洲，資產所有者和財富管理機構的收益被持續的客戶成本合理化所抵消，美洲地區的 ASV 有機成長率為 5.7%。在歐洲、中東和非洲地區，成長是由價格上漲、對資產所有者的銷售以及分析產品套件更高的 ASV 所推動的。 EMEA 地區的有機 ASV 成長率為 4.4%。在亞太地區，我們看到在前台解決方案和不斷增長的交易收入的推動下，買方公司的發展加速。亞太地區有機ASV成長率為6.1%。

Looking now at trends by firm types, on the institutional buy side, we had a notable win this quarter, displacing a competitor at a large asset manager in the US. This win was driven by our advanced fixed income analytics. We took an enterprise sales approach and the client chose our portfolio performance solutions and analytics capabilities.

現在看看按公司類型劃分的趨勢，在機構買方方面，我們本季取得了顯著的勝利，取代了美國一家大型資產管理公司的競爭對手。這場勝利是由我們先進的固定收益分析所推動的。我們採用企業銷售方法，客戶選擇了我們的產品組合績效解決方案和分析功能。

We had another significant win with a global asset manager. It moved to a multiyear agreement, including middle office portfolio services. This contract aligns with the client strategy to consolidate vendors and to reduce total cost of ownership. These victories demonstrate our ability to provide tailored high-value solutions to our clients. These clients also recognize that our ongoing management of their complex portfolio holdings positioned us well to do more for them.

我們與一家全球資產管理公司取得了另一場重大勝利。它轉向了一項多年期協議，包括中台組合服務。該合約符合客戶整合供應商並降低總擁有成本的策略。這些勝利證明了我們有能力為客戶提供量身定制的高價值解決方案。這些客戶也認識到，我們對其複雜投資組合的持續管理使我們能夠為他們做更多的事情。

In banking, we saw a decline from the Credit Suisse cancellation. This segment is still impacted by cautious hiring and a wait-and-see attitude toward the overall capital market conditions. In wealth management, a lthough growth was modest this quarter, the sector remains a tremendous opportunity for FactSet, g iven our active pipeline. We're committed to enhancing our offerings to capture future growth and deliver compelling value to wealth advisors and their clients.

在銀行業，我們看到瑞士信貸取消的影響造成的下滑。該細分市場仍受到謹慎招聘和對整體資本市場狀況觀望的態度影響。在財富管理領域，儘管本季成長不大，但考慮到我們活躍的產品線，該行業對於 FactSet 來說仍然是一個巨大的機會。我們致力於增強我們的產品，以抓住未來的成長，並為財富顧問及其客戶提供令人信服的價值。

A great example of this is our recent investments in Aidentified, which was announced last week. By incorporating Aidentified's relationship management data into FactSet's intelligent prospecting solution, we're able to accelerate new client acquisitions for wealth advisors. This brings us to the fast-evolving technology landscape where FactSet is well positioned to lead. We have more than 40 years of meticulously curated and connected data. We are trusted by institutional asset managers and retail wealth advisors with 16 million portfolios on our system, representing more than $30 trillion in assets.

一個很好的例子是我們最近對 Aidentified 的投資，該投資於上周宣布。透過將 Aidentified 的關係管理資料整合到 FactSet 的智慧勘探解決方案中，我們得以加速財富顧問的新客戶獲取速度。這將我們帶入快速發展的技術領域，FactSet 處於領先地位。我們擁有 40 多年精心整理和互聯的資料。我們深受機構資產管理公司和零售財富顧問的信賴，我們的系統上有 1,600 萬個投資組合，代表超過 30 兆美元的資產。

And on the sell side, FactSet is well established as the platform of choice for fundamental research workflows. For users on both the buy-side and sell-side, FactSet has a unique breadth of data curated for their specific-use cases. Our rich data ecosystem is a singularly robust and safe foundation for harnessing the power of generative AI, specifically our clients benefit from the combination of our data, our knowledge of clients' workflows, and our new generative AI tools. Together, they are producing unique insights and efficiencies for our clients.

在賣方方面，FactSet 已成為基礎研究工作流程的首選平台。對於買方和賣方的用戶來說，FactSet 擁有針對其特定用例精心策劃的獨特資料廣度。我們豐富的資料生態系統是利用生成式人工智慧的強大和安全的基礎，特別是我們的客戶受益於我們的資料、我們對客戶工作流程的了解以及我們新的生成式人工智慧工具的結合。他們共同為我們的客戶提供獨特的見解和效率。

At FactSet, we are energized to help our clients find new ways to surface insights to set them apart from their peers. We're doing this with live demonstrations of our new products that are available right now. As a result, FactSet is the trusted partner of choice, g iven that accuracy requires both seasoned judgments and traceable data sources. At FactSet, we have both.

在 FactSet，我們致力於幫助客戶找到新的方法來表達見解，使他們在同行中脫穎而出。我們正在透過現場演示我們現已上市的新產品來做到這一點。因此，鑑於準確性需要經驗豐富的判斷和可追溯的資料來源，FactSet 是值得信賴的合作夥伴。在 FactSet，我們兩者都有。

A prime example is our portfolio commentary product released last month, which generates complete detailed investment performance summaries in about a minute. Portfolio commentary combines our comprehensive data and deep domain expertise to provide tailored and highly efficient outputs. We also launched the new portfolio manager hub, an end-to-end solution that integrates all elements of our portfolio managers workflow from news and research to analysis and trade simulation.

一個典型的例子是我們上個月發布的投資組合評論產品，它可以在大約一分鐘內產生完整詳細的投資績效摘要。投資組合評論結合了我們全面的數據和深厚的領域專業知識，提供量身定制的高效輸出。我們還推出了新的投資組合經理中心，這是一個端到端解決方案，整合了從新聞和研究到分析和交易模擬的投資組合經理工作流程的所有要素。

PM Hub adds a gen AI-backed chatbot called Portfolio Assistant to tap into our data to provide precise, traceable answers, all without leaving the platform. Enthusiastic client response at the Portfolio Commentary and PM Hub give us confidence that we can extend our buy-side middle office presence to front office users.

PM Hub 增加了一個名為 Portfolio Assistant 的人工智慧支援的聊天機器人，可以利用我們的數據提供精確、可追蹤的答案，所有這些都無需離開平台。客戶對投資組合評論和 PM Hub 的熱情反應讓我們相信我們可以將買方中台業務擴展到前台用戶。

And on the sell side, FactSet Mercury optimizes the company research workflow for junior bankers. Using a single trusted conversational interface, we are working towards producing pitch books and charts on-demand. We expect users to save another 10 hours per week using this tool in addition to the 5 to 10 hours per week that they said they saved with FactSet b efore we released Mercury. If banking conditions improve, we are confident that bankers will seek out FactSet Mercury to give them better speed, accuracy and efficiency.

在賣方方面，FactSet Mercury 為初級銀行家優化了公司研究工作流程。使用單一可信賴的對話介面，我們正在努力按需製作宣傳手冊和圖表。我們預計，在我們發布 Mercury 之前，用戶使用 FactSet 每周可以節省 5 到 10 個小時，而使用此工具每周可以節省 10 個小時。如果銀行業狀況有所改善，我們相信銀行家將尋求 FactSet Mercury 來為他們提供更好的速度、準確性和效率。

Looking ahead, we have a multi-year strategic investment plan built on three key pillars. First, we are expanding our market data for deep sector, private markets, alternatives, and real-time applications. With real-time market data, f or example, we aim to compete for market share by transitioning to cloud-based solutions.

展望未來，我們制定了基於三個關鍵支柱的多年策略投資計畫。首先，我們正在擴展深度產業、私人市場、替代品和即時應用程式的市場數據。例如，利用即時市場數據，我們的目標是透過過渡到基於雲端的解決方案來爭奪市場份額。

By enhancing our [pick up] plans' cloud capabilities and expanding content coverage, w e can offer more scalable, reliable, and cost-efficient data services. We're well positioned to capture market share when clients demand modern cloud-based infrastructure. Secondly, client workflow. Beyond our middle office business, we are heavily invest testing in our process capabilities covering both fundamental and quantitative research.

透過增強我們的 [pick up] 計劃的雲端功能並擴大內容覆蓋範圍，我們可以提供更具可擴展性、可靠且更具成本效益的數據服務。當客戶需要基於雲端的現代化基礎設施時，我們已做好充分準備來佔領市場份額。其次，客戶工作流程。除了中台業務之外，我們還大力投資測試我們的流程能力，涵蓋基礎研究和定量研究。

Our offerings for the sell side, particularly in banking automation and gaining traction with top global banks and boutique firms. Our wealth franchise also continues to grow with significant new opportunities in the pipeline. Thirdly, generative AI. This foundational and strategic initiative we believe will begin delivering incremental ASV in fiscal 2025.

我們為賣方提供的產品，特別是在銀行自動化方面，並受到全球頂級銀行和精品公司的青睞。我們的財富特許經營權也在不斷增長，並不斷湧現重大新機會。第三，生成式人工智慧。我們相信這項基礎性策略舉措將在 2025 財年開始提供增量 ASV。

As we mentioned on new Portfolio Commentary and FactSet Mercury are already driving demand. And last week, we announced our off-platform AI solutions for technologists. These include a new generative AI data package, a conversational API powered by FactSet Mercury and a new AI partner program to bring fintechs and AI start-ups onto FactSet's platform. Together, we expect to see ASV growth from tech savvy financial firms and hedge funds.

正如我們在新的投資組合評論和 FactSet 中提到的，水星已經在推動需求。上週，我們宣布了面向技術人員的平台外人工智慧解決方案。其中包括新的生成人工智慧資料包、由 FactSet Mercury 支援的電話 API 以及新的人工智慧合作夥伴計劃，旨在將金融科技公司和人工智慧新創公司引入 FactSet 的平台。我們預計，精通科技的金融公司和對沖基金將帶來 ASV 的成長。

In summary, I am extremely excited about our competitive opportunity. The demand for traceable quality data grows, particularly for financial decision-making, we're adding critical AI tools to deliver real advantages for our clients. Our partnership-focused approach has made FactSet a preferred provider and positions us well for even greater success when market conditions improve.

總之，我對我們的競爭機會感到非常興奮。對可追溯的品質數據的需求不斷增長，特別是對於財務決策而言，我們正在添加關鍵的人工智慧工具，以便為我們的客戶提供真正的優勢。我們以合作夥伴為中心的方法使 FactSet 成為首選供應商，並使我們能夠在市場狀況改善時取得更大的成功。

I will now hand 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, d espite slower ASV growth in the third quarter, we improved margins and EPS, and we are increasing guidance on both of these for the fiscal year. I'll say more about that later. First, our results for this quarter. As Ali noted, our usual reconciliation of our adjusted metrics to comparable GAAP figures is included at the end of our press release.

謝謝菲爾，大家好。正如您從今天早上的新聞稿中看到的，儘管第三季度 ASV 增長放緩，但我們的利潤率和每股收益有所提高，並且我們正在增加本財年對這兩個方面的指導。稍後我會詳細介紹這一點。首先，我們本季的業績。正如阿里所指出的那樣，我們通常將調整後的指標與可比較的公認會計準則數據進行核對，包含在我們新聞稿的末尾。

For the third quarter, organic ASV grew 5%, while adjusted operating margin improved 340 basis points to 39.4%, and adjusted diluted EPS rose 15% to $4.37. For the quarter, GAAP revenue increased 4% to $553 million on sales to institutional asset managers, asset owners, partners, and corporate. For our geographic segments, organic revenues grew by 5.5% in the Americas, 2.4% in EMEA, and 3% in Asia Pacific.

第三季度，有機 ASV 成長 5%，調整後營業利潤率提高 340 個基點至 39.4%，調整後稀釋每股收益成長 15% 至 4.37 美元。本季度，向機構資產管理公司、資產所有者、合作夥伴和企業的銷售收入按 GAAP 原則增長 4%，達到 5.53 億美元。對於我們的地理細分市場，美洲的有機收入成長了 5.5%，歐洲、中東和非洲地區成長了 2.4%，亞太地區成長了 3%。

Turning now to expenses. GAAP operating expenses decreased 2% year over year to $350 million. This was driven by lower compensation expense, mainly due to a reduction of $8 million to our annual bonus accrual, as well as the reduction in salary expenses and payroll taxes, partially offset by higher intangible amortization and cloud-related costs.

現在轉向費用。 GAAP 營運費用年減 2% 至 3.5 億美元。這是由於薪資費用減少所致，主要是由於我們的年度獎金應計減少了 800 萬美元，以及工資費用和工資稅的減少，部分被無形攤銷和雲端相關成本的增加所抵消。

Compared to the previous year, GAAP operating margin increased by approximately 420 basis points to 36.6%. This was due to increased revenues combined with reduced operating expenses as a result of lower compensation expense. On an adjusted basis, operating expenses decreased 1.2%. And now looking at each of our four major cost buckets in turn, first, as we have frequently discussed, technology continues to be our main area of expense growth. Specifically, technology costs increased 26% year over year. Technology costs now represent about 9.5% of revenue.

與前一年相比，GAAP 營業利潤率增加約 420 個基點，達到 36.6%。這是由於收入增加以及補償費用減少導致營運費用減少。經調整後，營業費用下降1.2%。現在依次看看我們的四個主要成本類別，首先，正如我們經常討論的那樣，技術仍然是我們費用成長的主要領域。具體來說，技術成本年增26%。目前，技術成本約佔收入的 9.5%。

Secondly, in contrast, employee expenses fell 8.6% year over year, driven by lower compensation expenses due to earlier cost reduction efforts and lower bonus accrual. Third, our third-party content costs increased by 9% due to the timing of changes in variable fee expenses. And finally, real estate and related expenses saw 15% decrease year over year. It's because of the benefits of early and significant steps we took to reduce the expense bucket.

其次，相較之下，員工費用較去年同期下降 8.6%，這是由於早期成本削減措施和應計獎金減少導致薪酬費用減少。第三，由於變動費用支出的時間變化，我們的第三方內容成本增加了 9%。最後，房地產及相關費用年減 15%。這是因為我們為減少開支而採取的早期重大措施所帶來的好處。

As we've mentioned before, thoughtful expense management is positioning the company for future growth while allowing us to continue to invest in technology and strategic initiatives. Turning now to margin. Adjusted operating margin improved by 340 basis points to 39.4%. This was primarily due to an adjustment to the bonus accrual, a one-time payroll tax adjustment, and lower salary expense. The bonus accrual was reduced by about $8 million for the fiscal year, g iven our lower ASV achievement. This change added about 160 basis points to our adjusted operating margin in the quarter.

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。現在轉向保證金。調整後營業利潤率提高了 340 個基點，達到 39.4%。這主要是由於對應計獎金的調整、一次性工資稅調整以及工資支出的降低。鑑於我們的 ASV 成就較低，本財年的應計獎金減少了約 800 萬美元。這項變更使我們本季調整後的營業利潤率增加了約 160 個基點。

Additionally, earlier cost rationalization efforts resulted in another 130 basis points of the 340 basis point adjusted operating margin improvement. And as always, you will find an expense block from revenue to adjusted operating income in the appendix of today's earnings presentation. As a percentage of revenue, our cost of services declined by 90 basis points year over year o n a GAAP basis.

此外，早期的成本合理化努力使調整後的營業利潤率提高了 340 個基點，另外又提高了 130 個基點。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。以 GAAP 計算，我們的服務成本佔收入的百分比年減了 90 個基點。

Cost of services was approximately 40 basis points lower on an adjusted basis. The decrease was primarily due to lower compensation expense, partially offset by an increase in intangible amortization and cloud related costs. And in SG&A, as a percentage of revenue, it was 320 basis points lower year over year o n a GAAP basis. SG&A was approximately 300 basis points lower on an adjusted basis. The decrease was primarily due to lower compensation expense, a reduction in bad debt expense, and lower facilities costs.

調整後的服務成本降低了約 40 個基點。減少的主要原因是補償費用減少，但部分被無形攤銷和雲端相關成本的增加所抵消。 SG&A 佔營收的百分比以 GAAP 計算年減 320 個基點。調整後，SG&A 下降約 300 個基點。減少的主要原因是補償費用減少、壞帳費用減少、設施成本下降。

Turning now to tax. Our tax rate for the quarter was 17% compared to last year's rate of 16.9%. This slight increase was primarily due to higher pretax income, partially offset by increased utilization of foreign tax credits and additional tax benefits from stock-based compensation. Turning now to EPS. GAAP EPS increased 18.2% to $4.09 this quarter versus $3.46 in the prior year period. This was driven by higher revenues, margin expansion, and a lower share count, partially offset by higher interest expense.

現在轉向稅收。我們本季的稅率為 17%，而去年的稅率為 16.9%。這一小幅成長主要是由於稅前收入增加，部分被外國稅收抵免的利用增加和股票薪酬帶來的額外稅收優惠所抵消。現在轉向每股收益。本季 GAAP 每股收益成長 18.2%，達到 4.09 美元，去年同期為 3.46 美元。這是由收入增加、利潤率擴張和股份數量減少所推動的，但部分被利息支出增加所抵消。

On an adjusted basis, EPS increased 15.3% to $4.37, also driven by revenue growth and margin expansion as well as reduced share count, partially offset by higher interest expense. EBITDA increased to $240 million, up 16.9% year over year due to higher net income. Free cash flow, which we define as cash generated from operations less capital spending, was $217 million for the quarter, an increase of 13% of the same period last year. This was primarily driven by higher net cash from operating activities and reduced spending, property equipment and leasehold improvements. FactSet continues to be a strong producer of free cash flow.

調整後的每股盈餘成長 15.3%，達到 4.37 美元，這也是受到收入成長和利潤率擴張以及股票數量減少的推動，但部分被利息支出增加所抵消。由於淨利潤增加，EBITDA 增至 2.4 億美元，年增 16.9%。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 2.17 億美元，比去年同期成長 13%。這主要是由於經營活動產生的淨現金增加以及支出、財產設備和租賃改善的減少所致。 FactSet 仍然是自由現金流的強大生產者。

And turning now to share repurchases f or the quarter, we repurchased 135,150 shares for approximately $60 million and an average share price of $442.12. Our fiscal 2024 share repurchase plan targets $250 million of repurchases. As of May 31, 2024, we had $128.1 million remaining for repurchases in fiscal 2024. Also, yesterday, we paid a quarterly dividend of $1.04 per share, which represented a 6% increase in the regular quarterly dividend from the previous quarter. This marks the 25th consecutive year we have increased dividends on a stock split adjusted basis.

現在轉向本季的股票回購，我們以約 6,000 萬美元的價格回購了 135,150 股股票，平均股價為 442.12 美元。我們的 2024 財年股票回購計畫目標是回購 2.5 億美元。截至2024 年5 月31 日，我們還有1.281 億美元可供2024 財年回購。 %。這標誌著我們連續 25 年在股票分割調整的基礎上增加股利。

We remain disciplined in our buyback program and committed to returning long-term value to our shareholders. Combining our dividends and share repurchases, w e returned $430.1 million to our shareholders over the last 12 months. And during the third quarter, we paid down $62.5 million of our term loan, which brings our gross leverage down to 1.7 times. This is consistent with our plan to repay the term loan in full by the second quarter of fiscal 2025.

我們在回購計畫中保持紀律，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 4.301 億美元。第三季度，我們償還了 6,250 萬美元的定期貸款，這使我們的總槓桿率降至 1.7 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。

As Phil mentioned earlier, given the delayed recovery in our end markets, we are now guiding to incremental organic ASV plus professional services growth of $85 million to $120 million for the fiscal year, reflecting 4.8% growth at the midpoint, down from our recent guide to approximately 5%. Revenues are now expected to be in the range of $2.18 billion to $2.19 billion for the year.

正如菲爾之前提到的，鑑於我們終端市場的延遲復甦，我們現在指導本財年有機ASV 加上專業服務的增量增長為8500 萬美元至1.2 億美元，反映了中點4.8% 的增長，低於我們最近的指導至約5%。目前預計今年的營收將在 21.8 億美元至 21.9 億美元之間。

On the other hand, our expectations for margin and EPS growth for the year have gone up. Specifically, GAAP operating margin is expected to be in the range of 33.7% to 34%, up approximately 100 basis points from prior guidance. And adjusted operating margin is expected to be in the range of 37% to 37.5%, up 70 to 80 basis points from prior guidance. Adjusted EPS is now expected to be $0.40 higher than prior guidance in the range of $16 to $16.40.

另一方面，我們對今年利潤率和每股盈餘成長的預期有所上升。具體來說，GAAP 營業利潤率預計在 33.7% 至 34% 之間，比先前的指引高出約 100 個基點。調整後的營業利潤率預計在 37% 至 37.5% 範圍內，比先前的指導提高 70 至 80 個基點。目前預計調整後每股收益將比先前的指引高出 0.40 美元，範圍為 16 美元至 16.40 美元。

The effective tax rate guidance remains unchanged in the range of 16.5% to 17.5%. In closing, we continue to manage our cost base carefully so that we can deliver value to our shareholders while maintaining investment in gen AI and other strategic initiatives. We believe that we are well positioned for growth as the markets pick up. We're now ready for your questions. Operator?

有效稅率指引維持在16.5%至17.5%的範圍內不變。最後，我們繼續謹慎管理我們的成本基礎，以便我們能夠為股東創造價值，同時保持對人工智慧和其他策略性舉措的投資。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。我們現在已準備好回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Toni Kaplan, Morgan Stanley.

（操作員指示）Toni Kaplan，摩根士丹利。

Terrific. Thank you so much. I wanted to ask regarding ASV. The guidance seems pretty wide in terms of the range. Are there sort of a wide range of -- array of outcomes that could happen? I think the midpoint sort of assumes that things maybe stays -- are flat sequentially. And so, therefore, that would maybe be a little bit better than the last few quarters. So just wanted to get a sense of, you know, you talked about the challenging environment, like any green shoots there and how we should be thinking about that. Thanks.

了不起。太感謝了。我想問一下關於ASV的問題。該指導意見的範圍似乎相當廣泛。是否會發生各種各樣的結果？我認為中點假設事情可能會保持平穩。因此，這可能會比過去幾季好一些。所以只是想了解一下，你知道，你談到了充滿挑戰的環境，就像那裡的任何萌芽，以及我們應該如何思考這一點。謝謝。

Thanks, Toni. It's Phil. I'll start, and I think Helen will have a bit more detail here. So yeah, we definitely have more visibility now on Q4. 4.75 is the mid-range now -- mid of the range that we just gave you. We wanted to make sure we de-risked sort of the low end. So the low end is at four. So we feel really confident about this range and feel confident about the middle of the range. There are, though -- I mean, it is our biggest quarter and there are a lot of swing deals in the quarter. A lot of seven-figure opportunities.

謝謝，托尼。是菲爾.我要開始了，我想海倫會在這裡提供更多細節。所以，是的，我們現在在第四季肯定有更多的知名度。 4.75 現在是中間範圍－我們剛剛給你的範圍的中間。我們希望確保降低低端風險。所以低端是四。因此，我們對這個範圍非常有信心，並對範圍的中間部分充滿信心。不過，我的意思是，這是我們最大的季度，該季度有很多搖擺交易。很多七位數的機會。

So you never really know until the quarter is over whether or not you're going to get all of those. But I do think there's reason for optimism here. As I mentioned in my comments, we have some very nice wins in Q3 that was strategic. New kinds of wins for us across the portfolio life cycle are really helping clients with total cost of ownership. So I'm becoming more encouraged in our ability to go out, help clients save money with the existing portfolio life cycle set of products as well as the tools that we're now building for generative AI.

因此，直到本季結束之前，你永遠不會真正知道自己是否會得到所有這些。但我確實認為這裡有理由樂觀。正如我在評論中提到的，我們在第三季度取得了一些非常好的策略性勝利。我們在整個投資組合生命週期中取得的新勝利確實幫助客戶降低了整體擁有成本。因此，我對我們走出去的能力越來越感到鼓舞，利用現有的產品組合生命週期集以及我們現在為生成人工智慧構建的工具來幫助客戶節省資金。

Yeah. No, I think as Phil had mentioned, we had some very good wins earlier in Q3. And so when we take a look at Q4, we've also had a number of deals that have longer decision cycles, and that's moved us a bit as well. But if I look at the weighted pipeline for Q4, it's in line with last year, and we've been able to sell at the same pace. That's really the end market that's been impacting us from an erosion perspective and cost decision. So that's why we've gone for a wider range to allow for that. But we're very confident right now at this point that we have derisked it.

是的。不，我認為正如菲爾所提到的，我們在第三季早些時候取得了一些非常好的勝利。因此，當我們看第四季時，我們也有一些決策週期較長的交易，這也讓我們有些感動。但如果我看一下第四季度的加權管道，它與去年一致，並且我們能夠以相同的速度銷售。這確實是從侵蝕角度和成本決策影響我們的終端市場。因此，我們選擇了更廣泛的範圍來實現這一點。但我們現在非常有信心我們已經消除了這種風險。

Alex Kramm, UBS.

亞歷克斯·克拉姆，瑞銀集團。

Yes, hey, hello, everyone. Phil, you talked about adding three areas of investments here that you're excited about or that you're focused on rather. If I go back a few years ago, I think we found ourselves in the same kind of situation. Growth has come down maybe from the environment and you felt like you need to spend a little bit more to get the growth going again. So when you talk about these investments, if I think about the next couple of years, do you think the company needs another kind of boost of investments? Or do you think you can do orders in the current cost base that you have in front of you? Thanks.

是的，嘿嘿，大家好。菲爾，您談到在這裡添加您感到興奮或您關注的三個投資領域。如果我回到幾年前，我想我們會發現自己處於同樣的境地。成長可能會因環境而下降，你覺得需要多花一點錢才能再次成長。所以當你談論這些投資時，如果我想想未來幾年，你認為公司是否需要另一種投資推動？或者您認為您可以在當前的成本基礎上完成訂單嗎？謝謝。

That's a fair question. Thank you, Alex. So, you know, I think the reason is for optimism. We have a lot of ongoing multiyear initiatives that are still being built out and we expect to drive growth in the future. So that would be deep sects of private markets more recently real time, so bit of an old advantage. So those things are still chugging along quite nicely and are promising. And in the last 18 months or so, we really have done a good job of freeing up incremental dollars to invest in generative AI and the data platform.

這是一個公平的問題。謝謝你，亞歷克斯。所以，你知道，我認為原因是樂觀。我們有許多正在進行的多年計劃仍在實施中，我們預計將推動未來的成長。因此，這將是最近實時的私人市場的深層部分，所以有點古老的優勢。所以這些事情仍然進展順利並且充滿希望。在過去 18 個月左右的時間裡，我們在釋放增量資金來投資生成人工智慧和數據平台方面確實做得很好。

And I think we've unleashed another wave of innovation at the company, honestly, in terms of how we've approached this. So I do feel optimistic. It is a fair question, though. So as we go through Q4 and we do our rolling three-year plan, I think we are going to evaluate whether or not there are some things that we'd want to invest more in. But we can't really give you any real guidance on that until the September call. But it's a good question.

老實說，我認為就我們的應對方式而言，我們已經在公司掀起了另一波創新浪潮。所以我確實感到樂觀。不過，這是一個公平的問題。因此，當我們進入第四季度並製定滾動三年計劃時，我認為我們將評估是否有一些我們想要投入更多的東西。對此提供指導。但這是一個好問題。

Kelsey Zhu, Autonomous.

朱凱爾西，自治。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So the industry data we track suggest that there are some early signs of capital markets activity recovery. So just curious, what are you hearing from your sell side customers? And when do you expect sell side ASV growth to reaccelerate?

早安.感謝您提出我的問題。因此，我們追蹤的行業數據表明，資本市場活動出現了一些復甦的早期跡象。所以只是好奇，您從賣方客戶那裡聽到了什麼？您預計賣方 ASV 成長何時會重新加速？

Well, thanks, Kelsey. So I think we certainly are seeing more activity on the M&A front with the bankers. I think we're seeing a little bit better hiring than we did. Helen might have some more comments on this. And I think if you look at the trends historically as banking fees go up, historically, banking hiring has followed that, and then historically FactSet ASV on the sell side follows that. So historical trends remain true, no guarantees. I think there are some reasons to be optimistic there.

嗯，謝謝，凱爾西。因此，我認為我們肯定會看到銀行家在併購方面開展更多活動。我認為我們的招募情況比以前要好一些。海倫可能對此有更多評論。我認為，如果你從歷史上看銀行費用上漲的趨勢，從歷史上看，銀行招聘會緊隨其後，然後歷史上賣方的 FactSet ASV 也會隨之上漲。所以歷史趨勢仍然真實，沒有保證。我認為有一些理由保持樂觀。

Yeah, I'll add a little bit to that. I think what we're seeing from the large investment banks and universal banks, the hiring has been pretty muted. So they're being more conservative themselves. We're seeing higher numbers from the middle market bank, the boutiques. So I would say that right now, seasonal hiring for the quarter is for the first quarter this -- for the first time this year higher than the previous year. But I would -- we're not necessarily building that in as a big recovery until our Q4 numbers.

是的，我會補充一點。我認為我們從大型投資銀行和全能銀行看到的招聘情況相當冷淡。所以他們自己變得更保守。我們看到來自中間市場銀行、精品銀行的數字更高。所以我想說，現在本季的季節性招募是今年第一季的——今年首次高於去年。但我認為，在第四季的數據公佈之前，我們不一定會將其視為一次大的復甦。

Manav Patnaik, Barclays.

馬納夫·帕特奈克，巴克萊銀行。

Thank you. Good morning. I guess I just had a little bit of a run rate question and kind of a two part. One on the top line. Is the UBS-CS impact now fully in the run rate? Did you anticipate more impact? And then just specific to expenses as well, you know, all the headcount efforts and stuff you've made thus far, is there more to flow through? Just trying to appreciate the dynamics in those two.

謝謝。早安.我想我只是有一點運行率問題和兩個部分的問題。一個在頂行。 UBS-CS 的影響現在已完全體現在運作率中嗎？您預計會產生更多影響嗎？然後，具體到支出方面，你知道，到目前為止你所做的所有人員統計工作和工作，還有更多需要處理嗎？只是想欣賞這兩個人的動態。

Sure, Manav. It's Helen. I'll take the first part. So I would say the majority of the impact from that transaction is reflected in this quarter. There's a little bit less than Q4, but it's much smaller.

當然，馬納夫。是海倫。我將採取第一部分。因此，我想說該交易的大部分影響反映在本季。比Q4少一點點，但是也小很多。

Yeah. And Manav, looking at the margin improvement, I want to try to go through the detail of this. So everyone understands what's one-time and what continues. So the total good guys on the margin improvement side, and this is adjusted operating margin, were about 540 basis points, and then the negatives were about 200 basis points. So let me go through these.

是的。馬納夫，考慮到利潤率的提高，我想嘗試詳細說明這一點。所以每個人都明白什麼是一次性的，什麼是持續的。因此，利潤率改善方面（調整後的營業利潤率）方面的總積極因素約為 540 個基點，而消極因素約為 200 個基點。讓我來回顧一下這些。

The lower bonus accrual of $8 million to get our annual bonus accrual in line, contributed about 160 basis points to the good for third quarter, and that will not be repeated. In other words, we had to do that adjustment. Lower salaries added about 130 basis points, and that will continue. Lower payroll taxes added about 120. And that's a one-time thing, that's based on the CARES Act. It's a refundable tax credit for keeping people on payroll during COVID. Lower facilities expenses added 60 basis points. That will continue. A higher capitalization added 40, which will also continue, and lower stock based comp amortization added 20. That one has caught up and will not continue.

為了使我們的年度獎金應計額保持一致，應計獎金減少了 800 萬美元，為第三季度的業績貢獻了約 160 個基點，這種情況不會重複。換句話說，我們必須進行調整。較低的工資增加了約 130 個基點，而且這種情況還將持續下去。較低的工資稅增加了約 120 美元。這是一項可退還的稅收抵免，用於在新冠疫情期間讓人們繼續領取工資。較低的設施支出增加了 60 個基點。這將繼續下去。較高的資本總額增加了 40，這也將繼續下去，而較低的股票攤銷則增加了 20。

So out of the 540 basis points, about 280 are one-timers. And then on the negative side, we had higher technology costs for 170 basis points and higher third-party data and other expenses for 30 basis points. And so 340 basis points overall improvement. And on the good guys side, about half of that will continue as we move through the year. Hope that helps.

因此，在 540 個基點中，大約 280 個基點是一次性的。另一方面，我們的技術成本增加了 170 個基點，第三方數據和其他費用增加了 30 個基點。整體改善了 340 個基點。在好人方面，隨著我們今年的發展，其中大約一半將繼續下去。希望有幫助。

Faiza Alwy, Deutsche Bank.

Faiza Alwy，德意志銀行。

Yes, hi, thank you. Good morning. So I wanted to ask about the competitive environment, and I'm curious what you're seeing from competitors. It seems that over the last couple of years, you've seen competitors invest as well, relative to what had been the case previously. And I know you talked about price competition for new business. So just give us a sense of how you would assess the competitive dynamics at this point.

是的，嗨，謝謝。早安.所以我想問競爭環境，我很好奇你從競爭對手身上看到了什麼。與之前的情況相比，在過去幾年中，您似乎也看到了競爭對手的投資。我知道您談到了新業務的價格競爭。請讓我們了解一下您目前將如何評估競爭動態。

Yeah. Thanks, Faiza. So on the institutional buy side, I would say we have two key competitors there and the name of the game is really total cost of ownership. So we feel very well positioned with the portfolio analytics that we have on FactSet, but even better position now that we have invested in our front office tools. So I mentioned that we launched PM Hub, which really connects very nicely the middle office solutions that we have with the front office. So I feel really good about our competitive position on the buy side. And those firms really have -- I think, feeling the most cost pressure and the ones taking costs out. So I think the firms that have portfolio analytics solutions are the ones that have the right to compete on the buyer side. And I think we're in good shape there.

是的。謝謝，法伊札。因此，在機構購買方面，我想說我們有兩個主要競爭對手，而遊戲的名稱實際上是總擁有成本。因此，我們覺得 FactSet 上的投資組合分析處於非常有利的位置，但現在我們已經投資了前台工具，因此處於更好的位置。所以我提到我們推出了 PM Hub，它確實很好地連接了我們的中台解決方案與前台。所以我對我們在買方的競爭地位感到非常滿意。我認為，這些公司確實感受到了最大的成本壓力，並且正在削減成本。因此，我認為擁有投資組合分析解決方案的公司才有資格在買方方面競爭。我認為我們在那裡狀況良好。

In wealth, similarly, we have, you know, the portfolios on the system. We've done an amazing job with our wealth advisor product and Advisor Dashboard. And you heard me talk about another workflow today, which is the CRM workflow. So we're really focused very heavily now on building out additional work flows for the wealth space, but we couldn't feel better positioned in the wealth space.

在財富方面，類似地，我們在系統上有投資組合。我們的財富顧問產品和顧問儀表板做得非常出色。您今天聽到我談論另一個工作流程，即 CRM 工作流程。因此，我們現在確實非常專注於為財富領域建立額外的工作流程，但我們在財富領域感覺沒有更好的定位。

I think within banking, private equity, corporates, the hedge funds, that space admittedly is getting a bit more crowded. So there's lots of us in there with fundamental analysts products. I think the work we've done with deep sector with private markets, the tools that we're building with generative AI, all of those, I think give us a very nice position there on the competitive front.

我認為，在銀行、私募股權、企業、對沖基金中，這個空間無疑正變得更加擁擠。因此，我們有很多人擁有基本面分析師的產品。我認為我們在私人市場的深度部門所做的工作，我們用產生人工智慧建立的工具，所有這些，我認為讓我們在競爭方面處於非常好的位置。

And I'll just comment on your point around pricing. As we mentioned before, there is some price pressure on new logos, but they're not widespread. Really when it happens is when we're displacing competitors where we may need to reduce price to help match budgets, for example. But the good thing is that we are almost always in multiyear contracts. So we recapture the price and improve our price realization as a contract matures.

我將僅評論您關於定價的觀點。正如我們之前提到的，新徽標存在一些價格壓力，但並不普遍。事實上，當我們取代競爭對手時，我們可能需要降低價格以幫助匹配預算。但好處是我們幾乎總是簽訂多年合約。因此，隨著合約到期，我們重新獲得價格並提高我們的價格實現。

Surinder Thind, Jefferies.

蘇林德·辛德，傑弗里斯。

Thank you. The question about gen AI and just the integration of the tools and the feature set, as clients begin to adopt more and use more, how does that impact the technology costs for you guys? Any color there would be helpful.

謝謝。關於一代人工智慧以及工具和功能集的整合的問題，隨著客戶開始採用更多和使用更多，這對你們的技術成本有何影響？任何顏色都會有幫助。

Great question. Thank you. It's a bit unknown at this point, as Linda has spoken about, you know, what technology expenses are going up. And that's for good reason because we're investing here. But yeah, as clients use more of these tools, it's going to cost in terms of compute. So of course, we're thinking carefully about that. We have fantastic engineers at FactSet, they're monitoring this, and that will be baked into how we end up charging for these products. So it's an equation, a little have to be figured out over time. But if we're delivering enough value in terms of saving clients time, which is really what we're focused on, it should outweigh the added expense that we or they would be incurring from the compute.

很好的問題。謝謝。目前還有點未知，正如琳達所說，你知道，技術費用正在上漲。這是有充分理由的，因為我們在這裡投資。但是，是的，隨著客戶使用更多這些工具，計算成本將會增加。當然，我們正在仔細考慮這一點。我們在 FactSet 擁有出色的工程師，他們正在監控這一點，並且這將融入我們最終對這些產品的收費方式中。所以這是一個方程式，需要隨著時間的推移才能弄清楚。但是，如果我們在節省客戶時間方面提供了足夠的價值（這正是我們真正關注的重點），那麼它應該超過我們或他們因計算而產生的額外費用。

Ashish Sabadra, RBC.

阿什什·薩巴德拉，加拿大皇家銀行。

Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to clarify on the CS-UBS headwind. Was that just the negative impact? Or how do we think about like any potential cross-sell opportunity? Was there any cross-sell opportunity which lowered that impact? And then maybe just a quick clarifying question on revenue versus ASV growth in the fourth quarter. If my math is right, I get at the midpoint of the revenue guidance, less than 2% revenue growth in the second -- in the fourth quarter, which is almost a three-point lower than the ASV growth at the midpoint. What's causing that delta? And how do we think about the exit revenue run rate and going into next year? Thanks.

感謝您提出我的問題。我只是想澄清一下 CS-UBS 的逆風。這只是負面影響嗎？或者我們如何看待任何潛在的交叉銷售機會？是否有任何交叉銷售機會可以降低這種影響？然後也許只是快速澄清有關第四季度收入與 ASV 成長的問題。如果我的數學正確的話，我得到的收入指引的中點是第二季和第四季的收入成長不到 2%，這比中點的 ASV 成長幾乎低了三個百分點。是什麼導致了這個三角洲？我們如何看待退出收入運行率以及進入明年的情況？謝謝。

Sure. Hi, this is Helen. Let me address the first part and then I'll turn this to Linda. As it relates to the Credit Suisse and UBS merger, what we were talking about is on a net basis. So we were able to capture some of the cancellation back in selling to UBS. So that's a positive from our perspective.

當然。嗨，這是海倫。讓我談談第一部分，然後我將把這個問題轉給琳達。由於它涉及瑞士信貸和瑞銀的合併，因此我們討論的是淨值。因此，我們能夠在向瑞銀出售產品時收回部分取消訂單。所以從我們的角度來看，這是正面的。

Yeah. And Ashish, you right, it's Linda. Generally revenue lags ASV. We had an unusual one-time acceleration of CUSIP revenues in the third quarter of last year. That increased the revenue attributed to Q3 of ‘23 and by comparison, because that's a tough lap, the Q3 ‘24 looks lower. So some of it is timing. And I think it is fair to note that in the third quarter, while we don't break out CUSIP, because it is core to our business, we had very strong performance from CUSIP, both in terms of growth and margins. So we're very pleased with how that business is doing. But it's -- you're correct, but it is a lapping effect that's causing that.

是的。阿什什，對了，是琳達。一般來說，收入落後於 ASV。去年第三季度，我們的 CUSIP 營收出現了異常的一次性成長。這增加了 23 年第三季的收入，相較之下，因為這是一個艱難的一圈，所以 24 年第三季的收入看起來更低。所以有些是時機。我認為公平地說，在第三季度，雖然我們沒有突破 CUSIP，因為它是我們業務的核心，但我們從 CUSIP 中獲得了非常強勁的業績，無論是在成長還是利潤率方面。因此，我們對該業務的進展感到非常滿意。但你是對的，但這是一種研磨效應造成的。

Sorry, I was wondering if you could comment on the fourth quarter as well. That was helpful color on the third quarter.

抱歉，我想知道您是否也可以對第四季度發表評論。這對第三季很有幫助。

Thank you. And the run rate exit at the fourth quarter, Ashish, we are not going to give guidance on that. So we'll see what it looks like when we get there. I speak to you about it in September.

謝謝。第四季的運行率退出，Ashish，我們不會就此給出指導。所以當我們到達那裡時，我們會看到它是什麼樣子。我在九月和你談過這件事。

George Tong, Goldman Sachs.

喬治唐，高盛。

Hi, thanks. Good morning. I wanted to get some additional clarity around the assumptions behind the updated ASV guide. Are you basically assuming that the sales cycles are elongating, so it's basically a matter of timing of when the deals get closed? Or does it reflect increased client events where the business is essentially structurally lost?

你好謝謝。早安.我想進一步澄清更新後的 ASV 指南背後的假設。您是否基本上假設銷售週期正在延長，因此這基本上是交易完成時間的問題？或者這反映了客戶事件的增加，導致業務在結構上基本上喪失了？

And then secondly, can you talk a little bit about international pricing. I believe fiscal 3Q is typically when you push through your pricing actions and how does that pricing compare to the prior year?

其次，您能談談國際定價嗎？我認為第三財季通常是您推行定價行動的時候，該定價與前一年相比如何？

Sure. Hey George, it's Helen. Let me try to answer. I'll do the pricing one first. So the international pricing increased. You're right, we do it every year in Q3. It was 16 versus 16.8 last year. So you can see that we were able to capture pretty much as the same as last year. And that reflects an increase in the number of clients that we're able to capture. So we feel very good about that. And it's in line with our expectations. So we believe our pricing realization and value that we're giving clients remain the same.

當然。嘿喬治，我是海倫。讓我試著回答一下。我先做一下定價。因此國際定價上漲。你是對的，我們每年第三​​季都會這樣做。去年是 16 比 16.8。所以你可以看到我們捕獲的數據與去年幾乎相同。這反映出我們能夠吸引的客戶數量增加。所以我們對此感覺非常好。這符合我們的預期。因此，我們相信我們為客戶提供的定價實現和價值保持不變。

When we think about the Q4, the reason that we moved some of this as we think about the pipeline is that we are seeing deals continue to move, especially on the analytics the buy side in particular. So they're not falling out is a term that we use. So they're not lost. But since they've moved a number of quarters, because the larger the deals until clients have greater certainty about the end markets, and sometimes our own bandwidth, quite frankly, is more constrained. We're seeing that continue to move. So that's part of the reason.

當我們考慮第四季度時，我們在考慮管道時移動其中一些的原因是我們看到交易繼續發生變化，特別是在買方的分析方面。所以我們用的一個術語是「他們不會鬧翻」。所以他們並沒有迷路。但由於他們已經轉移了幾個季度，因為交易規模越大，直到客戶對終端市場有更大的確定性，坦白說，有時我們自己的頻寬受到更多限制。我們看到這種情況繼續發展。這就是部分原因。

And I do want to make one point again, which I made earlier. If we look at what we expect for the year, the underlying demand for our products remains steady. On a gross basis, we are in line with last year. So we're selling as much as we were last year. So it's not a demand problem. But that being said, we have had a number of one-time cancels that we've talked about. So the impact has been on higher erosion, which we believe is in part obviously driven by market.

我確實想再次強調我之前說過的一點。如果我們看看今年的預期，我們產品的潛在需求仍然穩定。從總量上看，我們與去年持平。所以我們的銷售量和去年一樣多。所以不是需求問題。但話雖這麼說，我們已經討論過許多一次性取消的情況。因此，影響是侵蝕加劇，我們認為這在某種程度上顯然是由市場驅動的。

Andrew Nicholas, William Blair.

安德魯尼古拉斯、威廉布萊爾。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Phil, I think you mentioned that you believe AI will drive incremental ASV in 2025. I appreciate all the color there. But I'm just curious on kind of the other side of the coin, maybe in terms of internal cost savings. Is that something that you would also expect to materialize at least at some point in 2025? Or should we still be thinking about this primarily being kind of breakeven cost effort on the expense front. Thank you.

早安.感謝您提出我的問題。 Phil，我想你提到你相信人工智慧將在 2025 年推動增量 ASV。但我只是對硬幣的另一面感到好奇，也許是在內部成本節約方面。您是否也期望至少在 2025 年的某個時候實現這一目標？或者我們是否仍然應該考慮這主要是在費用方面的損益平衡成本努力。謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks, Andrew. Great question. So as you could expect, like many firms, we've been looking at this, and I think there are good opportunities for efficiency and client service, quality assurance, content collection, even just engineer -- just code editing, code writing, so we're evaluating that closely. I think we will get efficiencies. The real question is do we reinvest those in products, sort of going back to Alex's earlier question. So there certainly will be efficiencies that we'll get. We're seeing that. It's just a question of what we choose to do with that in the end.

是的。謝謝，安德魯。很好的問題。因此，正如您所期望的那樣，像許多公司一樣，我們一直在關注這一點，我認為在效率和客戶服務、品質保證、內容收集、甚至只是工程師方面有很好的機會——只是程式碼編輯、程式碼編寫，所以我們正在仔細評估這一點。我認為我們會提高效率。真正的問題是我們是否將這些資金重新投資於產品，有點回到亞歷克斯之前的問題。因此，我們肯定會提高效率。我們正在看到這一點。這只是我們最終選擇做什麼的問題。

Shlomo Rosenbaum, Stifel.

什洛莫·羅森鮑姆，斯蒂菲爾。

Hi. Thank you for taking my question here. I wanted to ask a little bit just to clarify first on the questions that were asked before in terms of like CS and UBS, the fourth quarter guidance implies a down quarter in revenue, which is notable. I don't think we've seen this in about five years on a sequential basis. And want to know if you were to exclude what's going on with the UBS-CS, license is going away, would you show growth sequentially in revenue if were to kind of normalize for that? I'm trying to understand if there's an environment thing or you're being overly burdened by that.

你好。感謝您在這裡提出我的問題。我想先問一點，先澄清先前在 CS 和 UBS 等方面提出的問題，第四季的指導意味著收入下降，這是值得注意的。我認為我們已經連續五年沒有看到這種情況了。想知道如果排除 UBS-CS 的情況，許可證即將消失，如果要對此進行正常化，您會顯示收入連續增長嗎？我想了解是否有環境問題，或者您是否因此負擔過重。

And then just in general, there's been a slowdown in revenue growth, and Linda I've asked you this before, but you've pulled a lot of levers in terms of expenses, and we're continuing to see the environment kind of meander around. And what's left on the board for you in terms of if we don't see kind of a pickup. We're kind of hoping to see a little bit more, I think, from some green shoots that we noted last quarter. But if those don't materialize soon, what other levers would you pull?

總的來說，收入成長放緩，琳達，我以前問過你這個問題，但你在支出方面使用了很多槓桿，我們繼續看到環境有點曲折大約。如果我們看不到某種回升，董事會還剩下什麼。我認為，我們希望從上個季度注意到的一些萌芽中看到更多。但如果這些不能很快實現，您還會採取哪些其他手段？

Sure. Let me take a little bit of that first, and I'll turn this over to Linda. As it relates to CS, let me talk through, in particular, we mentioned this in our script around the impact, if we take that out as a one-time impact, that would be around 30-plus basis points. Now that's not going to impact revenue right away. That's over the period of time. If I take a look at some of the other one-time items that we've talked about in the past, I think it was back last quarter, that, that one large cancel that's helping to explain that delta.

當然。讓我先講一點，然後我會把它交給琳達。因為它涉及CS，我特別講一下，我們在腳本中提到了這一點，關於影響，如果我們把它作為一次性影響，那就是30多個基點左右。現在這不會立即影響收入。就這樣過了一段時間了。如果我看一下我們過去討論過的其他一些一次性項目，我認為上個季度又出現了一次大規模取消，這有助於解釋這一增量。

But yes, it is, in my view, again, let me go back, what we're selling is in line with how we've seen it in the past. There are some one-time items that are impacting the erosion and so I do not view this as an issue with our underlying business, but rather more market, or again, some things that are a bit out of our control, Shlomo.

但是，是的，在我看來，讓我再說一遍，我們所銷售的產品與我們過去的看法是一致的。有一些一次性項目正在影響侵蝕，所以我不認為這是我們基礎業務的問題，而是更多的市場問題，或者再說一遍，有些事情有點超出我們的控制範圍，什洛莫。

So Shlomo, thank you for recognizing that despite the meandering market, which is a good adjective for it, we like that, we have been focused -- (technical difficulty)

所以什洛莫，感謝您認識到儘管市場曲折，這是一個很好的形容詞，但我們喜歡這樣，我們一直專注於——（技術難度）

Hey, Linda, we can't hear you here.

嘿，琳達，我們在這裡聽不到你的聲音。

Thank you. One moment for our next question.

謝謝。請稍等一下我們的下一個問題。

One second, operator. I don't believe Linda was done yet. One second.

等一下，接線生。我不相信琳達已經完成了。一秒。

Okay.

好的。

-- the cost basis. And so our people costs are down 10% year over year in the third quarter, and our real estate cost down 14%, that offsets an increase of 26% in our technology costs and third-party data up a little bit unusually in the third quarter. So we feel like we've got all our lines pretty well under control. The thing that was flattering to the margin in the third quarter was the reduction of our bonus accrual. And of course, that bonus accrual will match our performance with our ASV completion. So we've got a few more things that we can do.

——成本基礎。 And so our people costs are down 10% year over year in the third quarter, and our real estate cost down 14%, that offsets an increase of 26% in our technology costs and third-party data up a little bit unusually in the third四分之一.所以我們覺得我們已經很好地控制了所有的線路。第三季令人欣慰的是我們應計獎金的減少。當然，應計獎金將與我們的 ASV 完成情況相符。所以我們還有一些事情要做。

I think we've managed very, very carefully. But I don't think we see any major cost-cutting actions coming along. We're pretty happy with where we are. And we planned this all through to match what Helen is seeing for the revenue line for the fourth quarter. So we think we're in a pretty good place. And as you saw, our guidance for adjusted operating margin has gone up 70 to 80 basis points for the rest of the year. So we feel pretty good about our actions. And sorry about the audio issues here.

我認為我們處理得非常非常謹慎。但我認為我們不會看到任何重大的成本削減行動。我們對自己所處的位置非常滿意。我們計劃了這一切，以匹配海倫所看到的第四季度的收入線。所以我們認為我們處於一個非常好的位置。正如您所看到的，我們對今年剩餘時間調整後營業利潤率的指導已上升 70 至 80 個基點。所以我們對自己的行為感覺很好。對於這裡的音訊問題，我們深表歉意。

Craig Huber, Huber Research Partners.

克雷格·胡貝爾，胡貝爾研究夥伴。

Thank you. Back to just a broad question here. How would -- again, your thoughts here on the sell side and buy side customers that you have out there in the marketplace. Do you sort of feel like you're just sort of bouncing along at the bottom here that the worst is behind you? How you -- just broadly, again, how would you describe what you're going through right now? I mean, in other words, are you feeling like you're at the very bottom here, and it's just a matter of time before things start re-accelerating.

謝謝。回到這裡的一個廣泛的問題。再說一遍，您對市場上的賣方和買方客戶的想法如何。你是否感覺自己正處於谷底，最糟糕的時刻已經過去了？再說一遍，你會如何描述你現在正在經歷的事情？我的意思是，換句話說，你是否感覺自己正處於谷底，事情開始重新加速只是時間問題。

It's hard to predict that, Craig, I'll start, and I think Helen may have some comments here. I think for a lot of companies 2024 was sort of positioned as the year of cost cuts. So I think a lot of budgets were kind of set late last year and a lot of firms in a lot of industries, including ours, people were taking out costs. It does feel that things are getting more constructive with the clients. In my conversations with salespeople and clients, it feels like those projects that were paused are beginning to come back to life. But I'm not sure I would bank on that any sort of -- real sort of tailwinds from the end markets until potentially next calendar year. I think what we're observing now, I kind of would handicap continuing through the end of the calendar year. Helen?

很難預測，克雷格，我會開始，我想海倫可能會在這裡發表一些評論。我認為對許多公司來說，2024 年被定位為削減成本的一年。所以我認為很多預算是在去年年底制定的，很多行業的很多公司，包括我們的公司，都在削減成本。確實感覺與客戶的事情變得更有建設性了。在我與銷售人員和客戶的交談中，感覺那些暫停的項目開始恢復生機。但我不確定在明年之前我是否會指望來自終端市場的任何真正的推動力。我認為我們現在所觀察到的情況，我會妨礙到今年年底的持續進行。海倫？

Yeah. No, I would agree. It's hard to predict, obviously, market conditions. But I think the softness in banking and the high erosion due to cost consolidations from clients, and then, of course, the delay in some of the larger projects. Right now, we're assuming that, that's going to remain through the rest of the year, as Phil just said. I will say, as I said before, this is the first quarter that we've actually seen net seasonal hiring banking be higher than the previous year, but I'm not sure we look at that and call it -- make it a call at the bottom.

是的。不，我同意。顯然，很難預測市場狀況。但我認為銀行業的疲軟和客戶成本合併造成的高侵蝕，當然還有一些較大專案的延遲。現在，我們假設這種情況將持續到今年剩餘時間，正如菲爾剛才所說。我想說，正如我之前所說，這是我們實際上看到的淨季節性招聘銀行業務高於去年的第一季度，但我不確定我們是否會考慮這一點並稱之為——讓它成為一個電話在底部。

Linda, could you just quickly give us a housekeeping question I have for you here. Just your bonus accruals, what was it each of the first three quarters this year? I think it was $24 million to $25 million quarterly last year. What was it the first three quarters this year? Sorry for the housekeeping question. Thank you.

琳達，您能快速向我們提出一個我要問您的內務問題嗎？只是您的應計獎金，今年前三個季度各是多少？我認為去年每季的銷售額為 2,400 萬至 2,500 萬美元。今年前三季情況如何？抱歉，關於家政問題。謝謝。

That's okay, Craig. And I've just had my microphone replaced. I feel like Taylor Swift. So hopefully, it works. Our first quarter bonus accrual was $30 million. That included a $3 million top-up to sort of catch up a bit from 2023. Second quarter, Craig, was $20 million. Third quarter is $18 million. And the fourth quarter, we're thinking it should be in the range of $15 million, $16 million depending on how we finish with ASV.

沒關係，克雷格。我剛剛更換了麥克風。我感覺像泰勒絲。所以希望它能起作用。我們第一季的應計獎金為 3000 萬美元。其中包括 300 萬美元的充值，以彌補 2023 年的一些不足。第三季為 1800 萬美元。第四季度，我們認為應該在 1500 萬美元到 1600 萬美元之間，具體取決於我們如何完成 ASV。

So roughly $83 million for bonus for the whole year. Last year, we were running sort of $105 million for bonus for the full year. So the unfortunate trend here is that we have to adjust bonus based on ASV achievement, which is about two-thirds of our bonus calculation and margin is the other third. So I hope that gives you the detail you're looking for, Craig.

全年獎金約為 8300 萬美元。去年，我們的全年獎金約為 1.05 億美元。因此，不幸的趨勢是我們必須根據 ASV 成就來調整獎金，這大約占我們獎金計算的三分之二，保證金是另外三分之一。所以我希望這能為您提供您正在尋找的詳細信息，克雷格。

Russell Quelch, Redburn.

拉塞爾·奎爾奇，雷德伯恩。

Yeah, hi Phil and Linda. Just wanted to drill down into the private market space a little bit. A lot of your competitors are also targeting this area for growth. So could you just a favor and just detail your product ambitions here, how you're going to win against the other guys who are targeting growth. And the other angle to this question is it was recently rumored that one of the big incumbents in the space is for sale. So is this something you might look at to accelerate your positioning growth in the area?

是的，嗨菲爾和琳達。只是想深入了解私人市場空間。您的許多競爭對手也瞄準了這一領域的成長。所以，請您幫個忙，在這裡詳細說明您的產品雄心，您將如何戰勝其他以成長為目標的人。這個問題的另一個角度是，最近有傳言稱該領域的一位大型企業正在出售。那麼，這是您可能會考慮的事情，以加速您在該領域的定位成長嗎？

Yeah. Thanks, Russell. So yeah, we've not been shy about talking about this. And we have been investing steadily since 2019 in private markets. We've built out, I believe, our coverage from around $4 million to $8 million or $9 million. So we've doubled that. The quality is getting higher. We acquired Cobalt, which you'll remember. And we're just continuing to work with a lot of partners in the ecosystem. So I think this is an important area. Private credit, obviously, is important and something that we're taking a look at. And obviously, we can't comment on any transactions that may or may not be out there right now.

是的。謝謝，拉塞爾。所以，是的，我們並不羞於談論這件事。自 2019 年以來，我們一直在私募市場穩步投資。我相信，我們的承保範圍已經從 400 萬美元擴大到 800 萬美元或 900 萬美元。所以我們把這個數字增加了一倍。品質越來越高了。我們收購了 Cobalt，您一定會記得。我們將繼續與生態系統中的許多合作夥伴合作。所以我認為這是一個重要的領域。顯然，私人信貸很重要，也是我們關注的問題。顯然，我們無法對目前可能存在或不存在的任何交易發表評論。

Heather Balsky, Bank of America.

希瑟‧巴爾斯基，美國銀行。

Hi. Thank you so much. I want to first ask with regards to ASV growth, if you could provide some color in terms of what you're seeing with regards to price versus volume right now and how that tracks versus, I guess, what you expected in the year. And then the other question, bigger picture, and I realized you just talked about kind of that potentially the malaise we're seeing persist until the end of the year. I know this has been a really tough environment to kind of get visibility, but when you think about the recovery here, based on what you've been seeing, how do you think things recover? Or do you think we can have a U- or V-shape recovery? Do you get the sense that your clients are going to move very gradually, just given all the uncertainty in pad? Just any insight you have would be helpful.

你好。太感謝了。我想先詢問關於 ASV 成長的問題，您是否可以提供一些關於您現在所看到的價格與數量的情況以及它如何追蹤（我猜）您今年的預期的資訊。然後是另一個問題，更大的前景，我意識到你剛剛談到了我們所看到的不適可能會持續到今年年底。我知道這是一個非常艱難的環境，很難獲得知名度，但是當你考慮這裡的復甦時，根據你所看到的情況，你認為情況會如何復甦？或者您認為我們可以實現 U 型或 V 型復甦嗎？考慮到 pad 中的所有不確定性，您是否感覺到您的客戶將非常緩慢地採取行動？您所擁有的任何見解都會有所幫助。

Sure. I'll start with that one, Heather, thanks. This is Helen. Thanks for the question. So overall, part of the reason that we see some of the deals that get delayed is because of their size. So when I think about volume and pricing, actually, interestingly, our volume, meaning number of transactions, is considerably higher this year than last year. And I would say, in the low to mid figures is where we're seeing the biggest pickup, probably as high as 20% higher as we think about the end of the year.

當然。我將從那個開始，希瑟，謝謝。這是海倫。謝謝你的提問。總的來說，我們看到一些交易被推遲的部分原因是它們的規模。因此，當我考慮交易量和定價時，實際上，有趣的是，我們今年的交易量（即交易數量）比去年高得多。我想說的是，在中低數字中，我們看到了最大的回升，我們認為到年底可能會高出 20%。

So what that would mean on average, the volume is down in terms of the size of the transaction. So as you might guess, in order to grow that, you need larger deals. So these larger transactions, which we have a very high number of opportunities, but if they don't sort of convert them in that quarter, that's where we're seeing that right now. So I think that all ties together, higher volume at an average price that's lower right now in terms of just opportunity size.

那麼這意味著平均而言，交易量在交易規模上有所下降。正如您可能猜到的那樣，為了實現成長，您需要更大的交易。因此，這些較大的交易，我們有很多機會，但如果他們沒有在該季度將其轉化，那就是我們現在看到的情況。所以我認為所有這些都是聯繫在一起的，平均價格更高的交易量，而就機會規模而言，目前的平均價格更低。

As it relates to a little bit of where do we end up in the bottom, it's very hard to say. I think it varies by firm type. Typically, we've seen banking being the quickest to respond. I think we had thought that, that would be better in the second-half of this year. We're not seeing that. So we'll have to see how that goes, as mentioned by Phil before, if capital markets picks up, where we end up in that. But technology is very much the driver right now. And so as clients are looking to upgrade and as we saw post-COVID, once they're ready to spend the decisions tend to move more quickly. So I think it's going to be very much dependent on the market conditions.

因為它關係到我們最終會在底部的什麼位置，所以很難說。我認為這因公司類型而異。通常情況下，我們看到銀行業的反應速度最快。我想我們曾想過，今年下半年情況會更好。我們沒有看到這一點。因此，我們必須看看事情會如何發展，正如菲爾之前提到的，如果資本市場回升，我們最終會走向何方。但目前技術在很大程度上是驅動力。因此，當客戶尋求升級時，正如我們在新冠疫情後看到的那樣，一旦他們準備好花錢，他們的決策往往會更快。所以我認為這將在很大程度上取決於市場狀況。

I do want to kind of add on and point out that it's up to us to make our own tailwinds here. Regardless of the end markets, we have a $28 billion total addressable market, the way it's been defined historically. $8 billion of that is beginning to open up to us now with the feed products that we're creating. And then to build on what Helen just said, I think because firms look to outsource more from a technology and even managed services standpoint, I think that addressable market grows. So there's no shortage, honestly, of addressable market. And I think the companies that are positioned well moving into this can create some of their own tailwinds despite what the market is giving us.

我確實想補充一點，並指出我們有責任在這裡創造自己的順風車。不管終端市場如何，依照歷史上的定義，我們的潛在市場總額為 280 億美元。其中 80 億美元現在開始透過我們正在創造的飼料產品向我們開放。然後，以海倫剛才所說的為基礎，我認為，由於公司希望從技術甚至管理服務的角度進行更多外包，我認為潛在市場將會成長。因此，老實說，並不缺乏潛在市場。我認為，無論市場給了我們什麼，那些處於有利地位的公司可以創造一些自己的順風車。

Guru Sidaarth, Oppenheimer.

大師西達斯，奧本海默。

Hi. This is Guru on for Owen and thank you so much for taking my questions. I wanted to ask about the deep sector offering. I think the last major update was back in Q1 when it helped displace a competitor in banking. So any updates here? Because this really seems like it could be a solid driver give behind AI. So any updates or insights over here?

你好。這是歐文的大師，非常感謝您回答我的問題。我想問一下深度部門的產品。我認為最後一次重大更新是在第一季度，當時它幫助取代了銀行業的競爭對手。那這裡有什麼更新嗎？因為這看起來確實可以成為人工智慧背後的堅實驅動力。那麼這裡有什麼更新或見解嗎？

A little bit, Guru. Thanks for the question. So yeah, we're certainly chipping away here. I believe we now have eight sectors with some good coverage and over 80 reports within the workstation. And I believe we're also building out some feed deals. So there's an active pipeline, and it is an important aspect of what most banks want to see now when things come up for renewal. So I think there's just one or two of us in the market, honestly, that have this in banking.

一點點，古魯。謝謝你的提問。所以，是的，我們肯定會在這裡努力。我相信我們現在有 8 個部分，在工作站內有一些良好的覆蓋範圍和 80 多份報告。我相信我們也在建立一些飼料交易。因此，有一個活躍的管道，這是大多數銀行現在希望在更新時看到的一個重要方面。所以說實話，我認為市場上只有一兩個人在銀行業擁有這種能力。

Scott Wurtzel, Wolfe Research.

史考特‧沃策爾，沃爾夫研究中心。

Hey, good morning, guys, and thanks for squeezing me in here. Just wanted to go back to the wealth segment. I'm wondering if you can maybe sort of characterize the overall demand on the wealth side relative to what you're seeing on institutional buy side and sell side. I know you talked about modest growth this quarter, but I would love to just kind of hear characterization of the overall demand and compared to some of the other end markets you operate in.

嘿，早上好，夥計們，謝謝你們把我擠到這裡。只是想回到財富領域。我想知道您是否可以相對於機構買方和賣方所看到的情況來描述財富方面的整體需求。我知道您談到了本季的溫和成長，但我很想聽聽整體需求的特徵以及與您所在的其他一些終端市場的比較。

I think it's the healthiest one for us, honestly, Scott. Thanks for the question. So we have a very active pipeline there of deals of various sizes. And we're beginning to build out some interesting workflows beyond sort of what we've been providing over the last few years. And with the introduction of some of these AI tools, I think we're in very good shape. So I'm very optimistic about wealth and our ability to accelerate from here.

老實說，我認為這對我們來說是最健康的，斯科特。謝謝你的提問。因此，我們在那裡有一個非常活躍的各種規模交易的管道。我們開始建立一些有趣的工作流程，超越了我們過去幾年提供的工作流程。隨著其中一些人工智慧工具的引入，我認為我們的狀況非常好。因此，我對財富以及我們從這裡加速發展的能力非常樂觀。

Great, thank you.

太好了謝謝。

Summary, we believe we are well positioned in terms of both our strategy and product portfolio to capitalize on the ongoing mega trends in our industry and for when the end markets become more constructive. Thank you all for your great questions today. We'll see you all in September. Operator, this ends today's call.

總之，我們相信我們在策略和產品組合方面都處於有利位置，可以利用我們行業持續的大趨勢以及終端市場變得更具建設性的機會。謝謝大家今天提出的好問題。我們九月見。接線員，今天的通話到此結束。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。程式到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。