明晟 (MSCI) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the MSCI Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would like to know -- I'm sorry, I would like to now turn the call over to Jeremy Ulan, Head of Investor Relations and Treasurer. You may now begin.

女士們先生們，美好的一天，歡迎來到 MSCI 2022 年第四季度收益電話會議。提醒一下，此通話正在錄音中。 （操作員說明）我想知道——對不起，我現在想把電話轉給投資者關係主管兼財務主管 Jeremy Ulan。你現在可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. Good day, and welcome to the MSCI Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our results for the fourth quarter of 2022. This press release, along with an earnings presentation, will be referenced on this call as well as a brief quarterly update, are available on our website, msci.com, under the Investor Relations tab.

謝謝你，運營商。美好的一天，歡迎來到 MSCI 2022 年第四季度收益電話會議。今天上午早些時候，我們發布了一份新聞稿，宣布了我們 2022 年第四季度的業績。本次電話會議將參考本新聞稿和收益報告，以及簡短的季度更新，可在我們的網站 msci 上獲取.com，在“投資者關係”選項卡下。

Let me remind you that this call contains forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made and are governed by the language and on the second slide of today's presentation. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, please see the risk factors and forward-looking statements disclaimer in our most recent Form 10-K and in our other SEC filings.

讓我提醒您，本次電話會議包含前瞻性陳述。請注意不要過分依賴前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅在發表之日發表，並受語言和今天演示文稿第二張幻燈片的約束。有關其他風險和不確定性的討論，請參閱我們最新的 10-K 表格和我們其他提交給 SEC 的文件中的風險因素和前瞻性聲明免責聲明。

During today's call, in addition to results presented on the basis of U.S. GAAP, we also refer to non-GAAP measures, including, but not limited to, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA expenses, adjusted EPS and free cash flow. We believe our non-GAAP measures facilitate meaningful period-to-period comparisons and provide insight into our core operating performance. You'll find a reconciliation to the equivalent GAAP measures in the earnings materials and an explanation of why we deem this information to be meaningful as well as how management uses these measures in the appendix of the earnings presentation.

在今天的電話會議中，除了根據美國公認會計原則提出的結果外，我們還參考了非公認會計原則指標，包括但不限於調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的 EBITDA 費用、調整後的每股收益和自由現金流。我們相信我們的非 GAAP 措施有助於進行有意義的期間比較，並提供對我們核心運營績效的洞察力。您會在收益材料中找到與等效 GAAP 衡量標準的對賬，並在收益報告的附錄中找到我們認為此信息有意義的原因以及管理層如何使用這些衡量標準的解釋。

We will also discuss run rate, which estimates at a particular point in time the annualized value of the recurring revenues under our client agreements for the next 12 months subject to a variety of adjustments and exclusions that we detail in our SEC filings. As a result of those adjustments and exclusions, the actual amount of recurring revenues we will realize over the following 12 months will differ from run rate. We, therefore, caution you not to place undue reliance on run rate to estimate or forecast recurring revenues. We will also discuss organic growth figures, which exclude the impact of changes in foreign currency and the impact of any acquisitions or divestitures.

我們還將討論運行率，它估計在特定時間點根據我們的客戶協議在未來 12 個月內經常性收入的年化價值，但會受到我們在美國證券交易委員會備案文件中詳述的各種調整和排除。由於這些調整和排除，我們將在接下來的 12 個月內實現的經常性收入的實際金額將與運行率不同。因此，我們提醒您不要過分依賴運行率來估計或預測經常性收入。我們還將討論有機增長數據，其中不包括外匯變動的影響以及任何收購或資產剝離的影響。

On the call today are Henry Fernandez, our Chairman and CEO; Baer Pettit, our President and COO; and Andy Wiechmann, our Chief Financial Officer. Finally, I would like to point out that members of the media may be on the call this morning in a listen-only mode. With that, let me now turn the call over to Henry Fernandez. Henry?

今天接聽電話的是我們的董事長兼首席執行官 Henry Fernandez；我們的總裁兼首席運營官 Baer Pettit；和我們的首席財務官 Andy Wiechmann。最後，我想指出，媒體成員今天上午可能會以只聽的方式接聽電話。有了這個，現在讓我把電話轉給亨利·費爾南德斯。亨利？

Thank you, Jeremy. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. In the face of significant global headwinds, MSCI delivered strong fourth quarter results to cap off another successful year. Among our fourth quarter highlights, we posted organic revenue growth of 7%, including organic subscription revenue growth of 16% despite a reduction in our AUM-linked revenue. This growth, combined with our intense focus on expense management, drove adjusted EPS growth of 13%.

謝謝你，傑里米。歡迎大家，感謝您今天加入我們。面對重大的全球逆風，MSCI 第四季度業績強勁，為又一個成功的年度畫上了句號。在我們第四季度的亮點中，我們公佈了 7% 的有機收入增長，其中包括 16% 的有機訂閱收入增長，儘管我們的 AUM 相關收入有所減少。這種增長，加上我們對費用管理的高度關注，推動調整後每股收益增長 13%。

In terms of capital management, we repurchased more than $70 million worth of MSCI shares. You would also note that our Board of Directors has approved increasing the dividend by 10% to $1.38 per share. For 2022 as a whole, we posted organic revenue growth of 9%, including organic subscription revenue growth of 15%. We also achieved adjusted EPS growth of 15%, and our share repurchases totaled nearly $1.3 billion.

在資本管理方面，我們回購了價值超過 7000 萬美元的 MSCI 股票。您還會注意到，我們的董事會已批准將股息提高 10% 至每股 1.38 美元。對於整個 2022 年，我們公佈了 9% 的有機收入增長，其中包括 15% 的有機訂閱收入增長。我們還實現了 15% 的調整後每股收益增長，我們的股票回購總額接近 13 億美元。

We delivered these results despite historic levels of market volatility, which makes us cautiously optimistic about the year ahead. MSCI continues to benefit from our diversified all-weather franchise, which allows us to thrive in all environments. In 2022, over 97% of our revenue came from 3 recurring revenue streams, including recurring subscription revenue, which was about 74% of the total; recurring AUM-linked revenue, which was 21%; and recurrent listed futures and options transaction-based revenue, which was about 3%.

儘管市場波動處於歷史水平，但我們仍取得了這些成果，這使我們對未來一年持謹慎樂觀態度。 MSCI 繼續受益於我們多元化的全天候特許經營權，這使我們能夠在所有環境中蓬勃發展。 2022 年，我們超過 97% 的收入來自 3 個經常性收入來源，其中包括經常性訂閱收入，約佔總收入的 74%；與 AUM 相關的經常性收入，為 21%；經常性上市期貨和期權交易收入，約為 3%。

While the external environment created headwinds and more variability for AUM, our subscription and transaction-based derivatives businesses performed well through difficult operating conditions. We have once again demonstrated the balance, adaptability and resilience of our franchise, which has enabled us to continue making critical investments in long-term secular growth areas. These investments are helping MSCI expand and enhance our solutions to meet the needs of an increasingly diversified and diverse client base.

儘管外部環境給資產管理規模帶來了不利因素和更多可變性，但我們的訂閱和基於交易的衍生品業務在艱難的經營條件下表現良好。我們再次展示了我們特許經營權的平衡性、適應性和彈性，這使我們能夠繼續在長期長期增長領域進行關鍵投資。這些投資正在幫助 MSCI 擴展和增強我們的解決方案，以滿足日益多樣化和多樣化的客戶群的需求。

Baer will talk about our solutions in greater detail. For now, I would like to explore the strategic backdrop for both our 2022 results and our 2023 priorities. MSCI continues to see enormous growth opportunities across product lines, asset classes and client segments. At times like this, investors become even more reliant on high-quality data, models, analytics and research to help them understand fast-moving market changes.

Baer 將更詳細地討論我們的解決方案。現在，我想探討一下我們 2022 年成果和 2023 年優先事項的戰略背景。 MSCI 繼續在產品線、資產類別和客戶群中看到巨大的增長機會。在這樣的時候，投資者變得更加依賴高質量的數據、模型、分析和研究來幫助他們了解快速變化的市場變化。

MSCI is constantly monitoring for signs of pressure that our clients could face from reduced budgets and longer sales cycles to increased layoffs and fewer new fund raises. That being said, we are cautiously optimistic on the path forward. Our strategy continues to capture major structural shifts in the investment world.

MSCI 一直在監控我們的客戶可能面臨的壓力跡象，包括預算減少、銷售週期延長、裁員增加和新融資減少。話雖如此，我們對前進的道路持謹慎樂觀的態度。我們的戰略繼續捕捉投資領域的重大結構性轉變。

For starters, indexed investing is increasingly popular across regions, asset classes and investor types. The reason is simple. Indexed investing gives investors an efficient mechanism to express their investment thesis and preferences and to focus on asset allocation.

首先，指數化投資在各個地區、資產類別和投資者類型中越來越受歡迎。原因很簡單。指數投資為投資者提供了一種有效的機制來表達他們的投資主題和偏好，並專注於資產配置。

During periods of financial turmoil, the unique strength of MSCI's Index business become even more salient. We can offer one-stop shop for different types of indices across many layers, including asset classes, exposures, styles and investment themes.

在金融風暴時期，MSCI 指數業務的獨特優勢更加凸顯。我們可以為多個層次的不同類型指數提供一站式服務，包括資產類別、風險敞口、風格和投資主題。

I have spoken before about the massive potential of direct indexing in particular. I want to emphasize that MSCI dramatically strengthened our direct indexing market position in 2022. For the full year, we increased our total number of direct indexing clients by 200%. The index investing trend reflects a broader shift to our outcome-oriented investment strategies. ESG investing is a big part of that. As you know, ESG has become a hot button political issue, especially in the United States. However, political noise is different from investment reality. And the reality is that ESG risks are financial risks. That is why even as the parties and the bank gets louder, investors continue to make ESG integration a priority.

我之前特別談到過直接索引的巨大潛力。我想強調的是，MSCI 在 2022 年顯著加強了我們的直接指數市場地位。全年，我們的直接指數客戶總數增加了 200%。指數投資趨勢反映了我們向以結果為導向的投資策略的更廣泛轉變。 ESG 投資是其中的重要組成部分。如您所知，ESG 已成為一個熱點政治問題，尤其是在美國。然而，政治噪音與投資現實不同。而現實情況是，ESG 風險是金融風險。這就是為什麼即使各方和銀行的聲音越來越大，投資者仍然將 ESG 整合作為優先事項。

For example, the Index Industry Association recently surveyed investment fund companies across the U.S., U.K., Germany and France. An overwhelming majority of the respondents said that ESG has become more important to their investment strategy between 2021 and 2022. These findings are reinforced by client demand for MSCI's ESG solutions, which has remained strong.

例如，指數行業協會最近對美國、英國、德國和法國的投資基金公司進行了調查。絕大多數受訪者表示，從 2021 年到 2022 年，ESG 對他們的投資策略變得更加重要。客戶對 MSCI 的 ESG 解決方案的需求一直很強勁，這進一步證實了這些發現。

No single issue has done more to elevate ESG than climate change. In 2022, climate risk became increasingly visible as countries around the world suffer from record heat waves, record drought conditions and record flooding. What is true of ESG risk in general is true of climate risks, in particular. There can be material financial risks. Investors understand that.

沒有任何一個問題比氣候變化更能提升 ESG 的影響力。 2022 年，隨著世界各國遭受創紀錄的熱浪、創紀錄的干旱和洪災，氣候風險變得越來越明顯。 ESG 風險的一般情況適用於氣候風險，尤其如此。可能存在重大財務風險。投資者明白這一點。

For example, in a recent Deutsche Bank investor survey, more than 3/4 of respondents said that climate change either is already having a severely negative impact on the global economy or will have such an impact over the next 10 years if left unchecked. Investors recognize that climate change is also not only a risk but an opportunity.

例如，在德意志銀行最近的一項投資者調查中，超過 3/4 的受訪者表示，氣候變化要么已經對全球經濟產生嚴重的負面影響，要么如果任其發展，將在未來 10 年內產生這種影響。投資者認識到氣候變化不僅是一種風險，也是一種機遇。

Consider a recent report from the International Energy Agency on renewable technologies. The IEA now projects that the world will have "as much renewable power in the next 5 years as it did in the past 20." MSCI is determined to become the undisputed leader in climate-related investment tools.

考慮一下國際能源署最近關於可再生技術的報告。國際能源署現在預測，世界將“在未來 5 年擁有與過去 20 年一樣多的可再生能源”。 MSCI 決心成為氣候相關投資工具領域無可爭議的領導者。

To support these ambitions, we continue to make key investments across asset classes and geographies. As a result, MSCI is now well positioned to help all types of clients achieve their net zero pledges. In 2022, we saw especially strong growth in climate sales among nontraditional client segments, especially corporates, banks and traders, wealth managers and hedge funds. We have also developed innovative climate tools for private assets, an area where we continue to see tremendous possibilities for growth. One example is the carbon footprinting of private equity and private debt funds tool that we launched with Burgiss towards the end of 2021.

為了支持這些雄心壯志，我們繼續進行跨資產類別和地域的關鍵投資。因此，MSCI 現在可以很好地幫助所有類型的客戶實現其淨零承諾。 2022 年，我們看到非傳統客戶群的氣候銷售額增長尤其強勁，尤其是企業、銀行和交易商、財富管理機構和對沖基金。我們還為私人資產開發了創新的氣候工具，我們繼續在這個領域看到巨大的增長潛力。一個例子是我們在 2021 年底與 Burgiss 共同推出的私募股權和私募債務基金碳足跡工具。

The key enablers for all of this remain our data and technology. MSCI's ongoing tech-driven data transformation is helping us improve the client experience in so many different ways. Last month, we expanded our strategic partnership with Microsoft to support our new MSCI ONE technology platform, which is built on Microsoft Azure. Just last week, MSCI announced another strategic partnership with Google Cloud to build an investment data acquisition and development platform. This new platform will make it easier for ourselves and our clients to translate world data into actionable insights.

所有這一切的關鍵推動因素仍然是我們的數據和技術。 MSCI 正在進行的技術驅動的數據轉換正在幫助我們以多種不同方式改善客戶體驗。上個月，我們擴大了與微軟的戰略合作夥伴關係，以支持我們基於微軟 Azure 構建的全新 MSCI ONE 技術平台。就在上週，MSCI 宣布與穀歌云建立另一項戰略合作夥伴關係，以構建投資數據採集和開發平台。這個新平台將使我們自己和我們的客戶更容易將世界數據轉化為可操作的見解。

As I mentioned earlier, the importance of our data, models, analytics and research only increases during periods of market turmoil. Our solutions play an essential role in helping investors navigate today's volatile landscape and build better portfolios. At the same time, MSCI's resilient, all-weather franchise continues to allow us to invest for the future while maintaining strong profitability growth.

正如我之前提到的，我們的數據、模型、分析和研究的重要性只會在市場動盪時期增加。我們的解決方案在幫助投資者駕馭當今動蕩的形勢和建立更好的投資組合方面發揮著至關重要的作用。與此同時，MSCI 富有彈性的全天候特許經營權繼續讓我們能夠為未來進行投資，同時保持強勁的盈利增長。

Just one final note before I turn the call over to Baer. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing that Baer has been appointed to the MSCI Board of Directors effective immediately. I would like to congratulate him on his well-deserved appointment.

在我將電話轉給 Baer 之前，請注意最後一點。今天上午早些時候，我們發布了一份新聞稿，宣布貝爾已被任命為 MSCI 董事會成員，立即生效。我要祝賀他當之無愧的任命。

As many of you know, Baer and I have been close business partners for 23 years, and he has been instrumental in building MSCI into what it is today. Baer's unique skills, experience and strategic thinking will significantly strengthen the Board's effectiveness and ability to continue to create shareholder value.

正如你們許多人所知，Baer 和我在 23 年的時間裡一直是親密的商業夥伴，他在將 MSCI 發展成為今天的成就方面發揮了重要作用。 Baer 獨特的技能、經驗和戰略思維將顯著增強董事會的有效性和持續創造股東價值的能力。

I would also like to be clear that my role is not changing at all. I have no plans or timetable to retire or step down as CEO or Chairman of the Board. I remain extremely engaged and energized by the company's tremendous growth prospects.

我還想明確一點，我的角色根本沒有改變。我沒有退休或辭去首席執行官或董事會主席職務的計劃或時間表。公司巨大的發展前景讓我非常投入並充滿活力。

If anything, I am more excited today about our significant opportunities that I have been at any time in the 27 years that I've been leading this business. I look forward to continuing to partner very closely with Baer for many more years as CEO and President and now as fellow Board members. Again, congratulations to Baer, whom I now will turn the call over to. Baer?

如果有的話，我今天對我們在領導這項業務的 27 年中任何時候遇到的重大機遇感到更加興奮。我期待著繼續與 Baer 密切合作多年，擔任首席執行官和總裁，現在擔任董事會成員。再次祝賀貝爾，我現在將把電話轉交給他。貝爾？

Thank you, Henry. I'm excited to join the Board and serve our shareholders in this very important role. MSCI is in the midst of many strategic transformations. As President and Chief Operating Officer, I've developed the operational insights and strategic vision that I believe will bring a new dimension to the Board to help MSCI drive shareholder value and deliver on our growth initiatives.

謝謝你，亨利。我很高興加入董事會並以這個非常重要的角色為我們的股東服務。 MSCI 正處於許多戰略轉型之中。作為總裁兼首席運營官，我制定了運營洞察力和戰略願景，我相信這將為董事會帶來新的層面，幫助 MSCI 推動股東價值並實現我們的增長計劃。

Now I will turn to my comments on our quarterly performance. I'll begin by going over some of the highlights for the quarter, the steps that we took to manage in the current environment and some of our priorities for 2023. MSCI's continued ability to deliver strong organic growth and resilient retention during the quarter is directly linked to the investments that we have consistently made over the years, both in good markets and in less supportive ones.

現在我將談談我對我們季度業績的評論。我將首先回顧本季度的一些亮點、我們在當前環境下採取的管理措施以及我們 2023 年的一些優先事項。MSCI 在本季度持續實現強勁有機增長和彈性保留的能力直接與我們多年來在良好市場和不太支持的市場中一貫進行的投資有關。

As we had indicated to you previously, with the backdrop of unprecedented market headwinds and volatility, we aggressively managed the pace of our discretionary spend and also made select head count realignments to best position MSCI for 2023 and beyond and to preserve our ability to deploy our investments to the greatest opportunities guided by client demand.

正如我們之前向您指出的那樣，在前所未有的市場逆風和動蕩的背景下，我們積極地控制了可自由支配支出的步伐，並進行了部分人員調整，以在 2023 年及以後處於最佳位置 MSCI，並保持我們部署我們的能力投資於以客戶需求為導向的最大機會。

For our 2023 investment plan, these areas continue to include climate, ESG, client design indexes, fixed income and the ongoing modernization of the client experience. To further illustrate the success of our approach, I will spotlight specific accomplishments during the quarter in Index, Analytics and Climate. In Index, we delivered 12% organic recurring subscription revenue growth and 95% retention, which was certainly reflective of the strength of our franchise, our strong client relationships and the investments we've made.

對於我們的 2023 年投資計劃，這些領域繼續包括氣候、ESG、客戶設計指數、固定收益和客戶體驗的持續現代化。為了進一步說明我們方法的成功，我將重點介紹本季度在指數、分析和氣候方面取得的具體成就。在 Index 中，我們實現了 12% 的有機經常性訂閱收入增長和 95% 的保留率，這無疑反映了我們特許經營權的實力、我們強大的客戶關係以及我們所做的投資。

In custom indexes, our subscription run rate grew 15% as we continue to invest heavily in the development of our models, software and data to deliver custom indexes at scale. These investments have increased our index building capabilities, reduced turnaround time and strengthened our global support model, positioning us well to capture the enormous opportunities that we see ahead.

在自定義索引方面，我們的訂閱運行率增長了 15%，因為我們繼續大力投資開發我們的模型、軟件和數據以大規模提供自定義索引。這些投資提高了我們的指數構建能力，縮短了周轉時間並加強了我們的全球支持模式，使我們能夠很好地把握未來的巨大機遇。

We are also benefiting from continued investments into our index derivatives franchise. In listed futures and options, we've delivered record full year revenue of $61 million, where we're benefiting from new product launches for Paris-aligned climate action and low carbon target indexes with exchanges driven by ongoing asset owner demand to facilitate the net zero transition.

我們還受益於對指數衍生品專營權的持續投資。在上市期貨和期權方面，我們的全年收入創下了 6100 萬美元的記錄，我們受益於針對巴黎氣候行動和低碳目標指數的新產品發布，以及受資產所有者持續需求推動的交易，以促進淨零過渡。

In addition, sales of structured products linked to our indexes were $23 million, growing more than 60% year-on-year for the full year. We remain excited by the opportunities in fixed income indexes, another long-term investment area for MSCI, especially in the current period where investors are focused on credit allocations now that they can earn higher yields with less duration.

此外，與我們指數掛鉤的結構性產品銷售額為2300萬美元，全年同比增長超過60%。我們仍然對固定收益指數的機會感到興奮，這是 MSCI 的另一個長期投資領域，尤其是在當前時期，投資者關注信貸配置，因為他們可以在更短的期限內獲得更高的收益率。

At the end of December, fixed income ETF AUM linked to MSCI's proprietary and partner indexes was $46 billion, after attracting more than $19 billion of inflows during 2022. We believe our flanking strategy, where we play to MSCI's strengths in ESG and climate, as well as our ability to forge partnerships with key players in the fixed income space have all been growth enablers.

在 2022 年吸引了超過 190 億美元的資金流入後，截至 12 月底，與 MSCI 的專有和合作夥伴指數掛鉤的固定收益 ETF 資產管理規模為 460 億美元。我們相信我們的側翼戰略，即發揮 MSCI 在 ESG 和氣候方面的優勢，因為以及我們與固定收益領域的主要參與者建立夥伴關係的能力都是增長的推動力。

Let me now turn to Analytics, where we drove 7% subscription run rate growth, excluding FX. New subscription sales were lower versus a strong fourth quarter in 2021 while also experiencing higher cancels which were not so much reflective of higher cancel volumes, but rather from a few concentrated large client events.

現在讓我談談分析，我們推動了 7% 的訂閱運行率增長，不包括外匯。與 2021 年第四季度的強勁勢頭相比，新訂閱銷售額有所下降，同時取消量也有所增加，這並不是因為取消量增加，而是因為一些集中的大客戶活動。

It's important to remember what MSCI is trying to achieve in Analytics. We already have a large business in enterprise risk and performance, which drove about 60% of our new subscription sales. These tools can serve as large operating systems for investors to help investors in asset allocation decisions and in calculating and understanding their risk and performance attribution.

重要的是要記住 MSCI 試圖在分析中實現的目標。我們在企業風險和績效方面已經擁有大量業務，這推動了我們新訂閱銷售額的約 60%。這些工具可以作為投資者的大型操作系統，幫助投資者進行資產配置決策以及計算和理解他們的風險和績效歸因。

We also offer tools for more targeted use cases such as our equity models and portfolio construction tools that clients can integrate into their investment processes and third-party vendors can integrate into their platforms. These offerings comprise roughly 1/3 of our new recurring sales during the quarter.

我們還為更有針對性的用例提供工具，例如我們的股權模型和投資組合構建工具，客戶可以將這些工具集成到他們的投資流程中，第三方供應商可以集成到他們的平台中。這些產品約佔本季度新經常性銷售額的 1/3。

Throughout 2022, our Analytics growth came from both types of tools, and we believe the same will be true in 2023. The investments MSCI has made in modern, flexible distribution channels are enabling us to chip away at new opportunities, including with front office investment professionals and increasingly for climate use cases where we see a strong pipeline for the upcoming year. These include our investments in platforms such as Climate Lab Enterprise, where we have delivered over 15,000 climate reports throughout the year for our Analytics' clients since our launch in late 2021.

整個 2022 年，我們的分析增長都來自這兩種工具，我們相信 2023 年也是如此。MSCI 在現代、靈活的分銷渠道上的投資使我們能夠抓住新的機會，包括前台投資專業人士和越來越多的氣候用例，我們看到來年有強大的管道。其中包括我們對 Climate Lab Enterprise 等平台的投資，自 2021 年底推出以來，我們全年為我們的 Analytics 客戶提供了超過 15,000 份氣候報告。

Our unique position of having our clients' portfolios loaded in maps represents a competitive differentiator. It has allowed us to help clients understand all the carbon emissions as well as physical and transition risks associated with their holdings. As Henry indicated, climate remains one of the most attractive and tangible opportunities for MSCI as a firm to help the investment industry.

我們將客戶的投資組合加載到地圖中的獨特地位代表了競爭優勢。它使我們能夠幫助客戶了解所有碳排放量以及與其資產相關的物理和轉型風險。正如亨利指出的那樣，氣候仍然是 MSCI 作為一家幫助投資行業的公司最具吸引力和最切實的機會之一。

Across all MSCI product lines, we delivered $79 million of run rate, growing around 80% year-over-year, with momentum across all client segments and regions. Back in June, we launched our total portfolio footprinting tool, which helps clients measure portfolio-wide emissions across asset classes, including equities, munis, corporate bonds, sovereigns and private assets.

在所有 MSCI 產品線中，我們實現了 7900 萬美元的運行率，同比增長約 80%，在所有客戶群和地區都保持增長勢頭。早在 6 月，我們就推出了我們的總投資組合足跡工具，該工具可幫助客戶衡量跨資產類別的整個投資組合排放量，包括股票、市政債券、公司債券、主權和私人資產。

Since then, it's been a key enabler for closing several strategic deals with asset managers, banks, insurance companies and others. It's also enabled us to help clients align with emerging PCAP standards. We also continue to drive new wins with large asset manager and asset owner clients to help them with specific use cases, including TCFD reporting, climate stress testing and scenario analysis.

從那時起，它一直是與資產管理公司、銀行、保險公司和其他公司達成多項戰略交易的關鍵推動因素。它還使我們能夠幫助客戶與新興的 PCAP 標准保持一致。我們還繼續推動與大型資產管理公司和資產所有者客戶的新勝利，以幫助他們處理特定用例，包括 TCFD 報告、氣候壓力測試和情景分析。

Following the recent launch of MSCI ONE, I wanted to make a few clarifying observations as to what we're trying to accomplish. It is not a new product or a stand-alone new platform to replace other products. It is instead a vehicle for integrating MSCI's world-leading content and analytics using software powered by Azure. We are now providing clients with a common entry point to access some of our key products and applications that they rely on day-to-day, including climate lab, RiskManager, ESG manager and others, which we believe will also enable self-servicing, self-discovery and upsell opportunities.

在最近推出 MSCI ONE 之後，我想就我們正在努力實現的目標做一些澄清的觀察。它不是替代其他產品的新產品或獨立的新平台。相反，它是使用由 Azure 提供支持的軟件來集成 MSCI 世界領先的內容和分析的工具。我們現在為客戶提供一個共同的入口點，以訪問他們日常依賴的一些關鍵產品和應用程序，包括氣候實驗室、RiskManager、ESG 管理器等，我們相信這也將實現自助服務，自我發現和追加銷售機會。

In summary, the high-returning investments we made in 2022 and our rigorous financial management helped us execute successfully during the year. Our success provides a template for how MSCI will continue to operate and thrive in 2023 and the years ahead. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Andy. Andy?

總而言之，我們在 2022 年進行的高回報投資和嚴格的財務管理幫助我們在這一年取得了成功。我們的成功為 MSCI 如何在 2023 年及未來幾年繼續運營和繁榮提供了模板。有了這個，我會把電話轉給安迪。安迪？

Thanks, Baer, and hi, everyone. As Henry mentioned, we completed 2022 by delivering organic subscription revenue growth nearly 16% for the quarter and 15% for the full year, outperforming our long-term target of low double-digit growth. In the face of market headwinds, our results reflect the durability of our franchise and the benefits of the consistent investments we've made into attractive high-growth areas.

謝謝，貝爾，大家好。正如 Henry 所提到的，我們在 2022 年實現了本季度近 16% 的有機訂閱收入增長和全年 15% 的有機訂閱收入增長，超過了我們低兩位數增長的長期目標。面對市場逆風，我們的業績反映了我們特許經營權的持久性以及我們對有吸引力的高增長領域進行的持續投資的好處。

In Index, subscription run rate growth was 12% in the quarter, our 36th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. We've seen tremendous traction and healthy growth within our market cap-weighted modules as our buy-side clients broaden their usage of our indexes. And we continue to see the utility of our index content expand across a wide range of high-growth segments. Across our Index subscription base, asset managers and asset owners together had subscription run rate growth of 10%, while hedge funds, broker-dealers and wealth managers together grew 17%.

在 Index 中，本季度訂閱運行率增長率為 12%，這是我們連續第 36 個季度實現兩位數增長。隨著我們的買方客戶擴大對我們指數的使用，我們在市值加權模塊中看到了巨大的吸引力和健康的增長。我們繼續看到我們索引內容的效用在廣泛的高增長細分市場中擴展。在我們的指數認購基礎上，資產管理公司和資產所有者的認購率合計增長了 10%，而對沖基金、經紀自營商和財富管理公司合計增長了 17%。

We also saw continued momentum in our investment thesis index offerings with nonmarket cap index modules collectively achieving a subscription run rate growth of 14%. From the end of September through year-end, market appreciation contributed approximately $119 billion to AUM balances of equity ETFs linked to MSCI indexes, although for the full year, we saw a net decline of $284 billion in AUM balances. Additionally, we were encouraged by the $23 billion of cash inflows into ETFs linked to our equity indexes during the quarter with roughly $15 billion of inflows into emerging market exposures and over $9 billion into developed market exposures.

我們還看到我們的投資主題指數產品與非市值指數模塊的持續增長勢頭共同實現了 14% 的訂閱率增長。從 9 月底到年底，市場升值為與 MSCI 指數掛鉤的股票 ETF 的 AUM 餘額貢獻了約 1190 億美元，儘管全年來看，我們看到 AUM 餘額淨減少 2840 億美元。此外，本季度有 230 億美元的現金流入與我們的股票指數掛鉤的 ETF，其中約 150 億美元流入新興市場敞口，超過 90 億美元流入發達市場敞口，這令我們感到鼓舞。

Equity ETFs linked to MSCI ESG and climate indexes experienced inflows of $6.5 billion, representing approximately 70% market share. Flows into ETFs linked to MSCI factor indexes were more muted, but still positive with investor appetite more focused on yield and income where we have less presence than on other factors where indexes are more widely used, such as momentum and minimum volatility.

與 MSCI ESG 和氣候指數掛鉤的股票 ETF 流入 65 億美元，約佔市場份額的 70%。流入與 MSCI 因子指數掛鉤的 ETF 的資金較為溫和，但仍然積極，因為投資者的興趣更關注收益率和收入，我們較少關注這些因素，而不是動量和最小波動率等指數使用更廣泛的其他因素。

During the fourth quarter, the run rate basis points on AUM paid to us by ETF clients was flat year-over-year, supported by a mix shift out of lower fee products. Despite the steady levels over the last year, we continue to believe the average basis points on AUM paid to us by ETF clients will gradually decline over time, although we expect the declines will be more than offset by strong growth in assets.

在第四季度，ETF 客戶支付給我們的 AUM 運行率基點同比持平，這得益於較低費用產品的組合轉移。儘管去年水平穩定，但我們仍然相信 ETF 客戶支付給我們的 AUM 平均基點將隨著時間的推移逐漸下降，儘管我們預計下降將被資產的強勁增長所抵消。

In listed futures and options, we once again saw some of the natural hedges embedded in our asset-based fee revenue line as traded volumes showed healthy growth against the choppy market backdrop. Looking ahead, if market levels continue to rebound and stabilize, we would hope this would be constructive to AUM-linked revenues from ETFs and non-ETF passive. At the same time, futures and options volume and revenues may decline compared to the volatile period a year ago. We continue to believe our opportunity is significant in licensing indexes for both AUM-linked ETF and non-ETF passive products as well as in transaction-based listed derivatives products.

在上市期貨和期權中，我們再次看到一些自然對沖嵌入到我們基於資產的費用收入線中，因為交易量在動蕩的市場背景下顯示出健康增長。展望未來，如果市場水平繼續反彈並企穩，我們希望這將對 ETF 和非 ETF 被動資產管理規模相關收入產生建設性影響。與此同時，與一年前的波動時期相比，期貨和期權的交易量和收入可能會下降。我們仍然相信，我們在與 AUM 掛鉤的 ETF 和非 ETF 被動產品以及基於交易的上市衍生產品的許可指數方面的機會很大。

In Analytics, subscription run rate growth was nearly 7%, excluding FX. As Baer mentioned, we continue to gain traction in front-office use cases, supported by tremendous strength in our factor analytics and our climate tools in recent quarters. Additionally, our growth has been supported by firm-wide enhancements to our interfaces and progress in delivering broader, more flexible access to our content. However, as we have previously noted, we expect some lumpiness in the segment across both sales and cancels given the broad range of clients and use cases that we support.

在 Analytics 中，訂閱運行率增長率接近 7%，不包括外匯。正如 Baer 所提到的，我們在最近幾個季度的因素分析和氣候工具方面的巨大實力支持下，我們繼續在前台用例中獲得牽引力。此外，我們的增長得到了全公司範圍內界面增強的支持，以及在提供更廣泛、更靈活的內容訪問方面取得的進展。然而，正如我們之前指出的那樣，鑑於我們支持的客戶和用例範圍廣泛，我們預計銷售和取消的細分市場會出現一些波動。

In our ESG and Climate segment, new recurring subscription sales grew 64% from the third quarter as we saw some rebound in large-ticket deals in both ESG research and in Climate and tremendous traction in closing deals in EMEA. Climate remains one of the most attractive growth engines for MSCI. Our firm-wide climate run rate reached $79 million, an increase of 80% from a year ago, reflecting exceptional growth across geographies, product offerings and client segments. Across all of our segments, we continue to see strong secular demand for mission-critical must-have tools, and we continue to see a strong sales pipeline, although we remain cautious given the market backdrop.

在我們的 ESG 和氣候領域，新的經常性訂閱銷售額比第三季度增長了 64%，因為我們看到 ESG 研究和氣候領域的大額交易有所反彈，並且在 EMEA 的交易中有巨大的吸引力。氣候仍然是 MSCI 最具吸引力的增長引擎之一。我們全公司的氣候運行率達到 7900 萬美元，比一年前增長 80%，反映出跨地域、產品供應和客戶群的非凡增長。在我們所有的細分市場中，我們繼續看到對任務關鍵型必備工具的強勁長期需求，並且我們繼續看到強勁的銷售渠道，儘管我們在市場背景下仍然保持謹慎。

As we have mentioned previously, in past periods of sustained equity market pullbacks, we can sometimes see slightly elevated levels of cancels and lengthening of sales cycles. In connection with our downturn playbook, we continue to identify efficiencies to aggressively reposition our expense base to drive attractive profitability growth while preserving investments in the most critical growth opportunities.

正如我們之前提到的，在過去股市持續回調的時期，我們有時會看到取消水平略有上升和銷售週期延長。結合我們的低迷策略，我們繼續確定效率以積極重新定位我們的費用基礎以推動有吸引力的盈利增長，同時保留對最關鍵增長機會的投資。

As part of our regular review of our talent and our expense base in the fourth quarter, we took proactive actions to recalibrate our employee footprint, resulting in a $16 million severance charge, which was roughly $13 million higher than a year ago. These tough actions have allowed us to preserve and even enhance our investment spending in certain key areas. This expense discipline, coupled with our subscription revenue growth, has enabled us to drive strong growth in adjusted EPS even through tough environments.

作為我們在第四季度對我們的人才和費用基礎進行定期審查的一部分，我們採取了積極行動來重新調整我們的員工足跡，從而產生了 1600 萬美元的遣散費，比一年前增加了約 1300 萬美元。這些強硬措施使我們能夠保持甚至增加在某些關鍵領域的投資支出。這種支出紀律，加上我們的訂閱收入增長，使我們能夠在艱難的環境中推動調整後每股收益的強勁增長。

The tremendous growth in our subscription base has been supported by doing more for our clients, continuing to penetrate newer, large addressable markets and capturing price increases enabled by the continuous enhancements to our products and client experience. During the fourth quarter, price increases contributed about 35% of our new subscription sales firm-wide across all products and more than 40% within index.

通過為我們的客戶做更多的事情，繼續滲透更新的，更大的潛在市場以及通過不斷增強我們的產品和客戶體驗來獲得價格上漲，支持了我們訂閱基礎的巨大增長。在第四季度，價格上漲占我們公司所有產品新訂閱銷售額的 35% 左右，在指數中佔 40% 以上。

We ended the year with a cash balance of $994 million, of which well over $600 million is readily available. Free cash flow came in slightly below the low end of our previous guidance. We saw a small slowdown in client collection cycles as a result of extra approvals within certain clients, which we believe is related to the market backdrop. But we believe overall collections remain healthy, and we see no issues around collectability.

年底我們的現金餘額為 9.94 億美元，其中有超過 6 億美元可以隨時使用。自由現金流略低於我們之前指導的低端。由於某些客戶的額外批准，我們發現客戶收款週期略有放緩，我們認為這與市場背景有關。但我們相信整體收藏保持健康，並且我們認為在可收藏性方面沒有問題。

Our capital allocation framework, which is focused on maximizing shareholder returns, remained unchanged. We will continue to deploy our investment dollars towards the highest returning organic growth areas, return capital through a steady dividend that increases with adjusted EPS, opportunistically capitalize on share repurchases and pursue value-generative MP&A.

我們專注於最大化股東回報的資本配置框架保持不變。我們將繼續將我們的投資資金部署到回報率最高的有機增長領域，通過隨著調整後的每股收益而增加的穩定股息返還資本，機會主義地利用股票回購併追求產生價值的 MP&A。

As Henry indicated earlier, we have decided to increase our dividend in the first quarter. We are not making any changes to our dividend policy or a broader approach to capital allocation. We have decided to shift our annual dividend increase from the third quarter, where we have historically announced the increase to the first quarter in order to more closely align with our annual planning process.

正如亨利之前指出的那樣，我們已決定在第一季度增加股息。我們不會對我們的股息政策或更廣泛的資本配置方法做出任何改變。我們已決定將我們的年度股息增長從第三季度轉移到第一季度，以便更緊密地與我們的年度規劃流程保持一致。

Lastly, I want to underscore that we also continue to actively evaluate and source bolt-on M&A opportunities, particularly in areas of unique content and differentiating capabilities such as private assets, climate and ESG as well as fixed income. Lastly, I would like to turn to our 2023 guidance, which we published earlier this morning. Our guidance ranges reflect the assumption of continued volatility in financial markets with overall equity market levels down slightly from current levels during the first half of the year and gradually recovering in the second half of the year. Our expense guidance range reflects the efficiency actions we have taken in recent months and captures the investments we will continue to make in order to deliver growth. We expect normal seasonality in our expenses with $15 million to $20 million of elevated benefits and compensation-related expenses in the first quarter.

最後，我想強調的是，我們還將繼續積極評估和尋找補強併購機會，尤其是在具有獨特內容和差異化能力的領域，例如私有資產、氣候和 ESG 以及固定收益。最後，我想談談我們今天上午早些時候發布的 2023 年指南。我們的指導範圍反映了假設金融市場持續波動，整體股市水平在上半年略低於當前水平，並在下半年逐漸恢復。我們的費用指導範圍反映了我們最近幾個月採取的效率行動，並涵蓋了我們將繼續進行的投資以實現增長。我們預計我們的支出會出現正常的季節性變化，第一季度福利和薪酬相關支出將增加 1500 萬至 2000 萬美元。

I also want to highlight that our CapEx guidance reflects a continued high level of software capitalization as we continue to enhance our platforms and interfaces across product lines. Our tax rate guidance highlights that we expect our effective tax rate to increase slightly year-over-year primarily reflecting that we expect to receive a smaller windfall benefit in the first quarter as a result of where the share price is relative to the price at grant as well as based on the amount of awards vesting.

我還想強調，隨著我們繼續增強跨產品線的平台和界面，我們的資本支出指南反映了持續高水平的軟件資本化。我們的稅率指引強調，我們預計我們的實際稅率將同比略有上升，主要反映出我們預計第一季度將獲得較少的意外收益，因為股價相對於授予價格而言以及基於獎勵歸屬的數量。

There could be pressure on year-over-year adjusted EPS growth in the first quarter due to the higher tax rate and the significant decline in average ETF AUM levels relative to the average levels during Q1 of last year. Lastly, I want to highlight that our free cash flow guidance reflects the expectation of higher cash tax payments in 2023 as well as a slight degree of caution on client collection cycles based on the environment, consistent with what we saw in the fourth quarter.

由於較高的稅率和平均 ETF AUM 水平相對於去年第一季度的平均水平顯著下降，第一季度調整後的每股收益同比增長可能面臨壓力。最後，我想強調的是，我們的自由現金流指引反映了 2023 年現金稅支付的預期，以及基於環境對客戶收款週期的輕微謹慎，這與我們在第四季度看到的情況一致。

Overall, we're well positioned for the year ahead, and we're excited to continue to drive growth and differentiation. In periods of volatility and uncertainty, we believe MSCI is uniquely positioned to help our clients capitalize on unique opportunities and drive value creation. These are the times when MSCI thrives. We look forward to keeping you all posted on our progress. And with that, operator, please open the line for questions.

總的來說，我們為來年做好了準備，我們很高興能繼續推動增長和差異化。在動盪和不確定的時期，我們相信 MSCI 具有獨特的優勢，可以幫助我們的客戶利用獨特的機會並推動價值創造。這些是 MSCI 蓬勃發展的時代。我們期待讓大家了解我們的進展。那麼，接線員，請打開問題熱線。

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

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自瑞銀的 Alex Kramm。

Starting off maybe on the retention side for a second here, that dropped, I guess, from the 3Q to 4Q pretty decently relative to the last couple of years. I think if I look at history, it's probably more seasonal, but I'm just wondering if there's anything that you saw that gives you any sort of pause into this year. You mentioned the things on the Analytics side. But outside of that, anything that gives you a little bit more pause if you think about the sustainability of results?

從保留方面開始，我猜，與過去幾年相比，從第三季度到第四季度的下降幅度相當可觀。我想如果我回顧一下歷史，它可能更具季節性，但我只是想知道你是否看到了任何讓你對今年有所停頓的事情。你提到了分析方面的事情。但除此之外，如果您考慮結果的可持續性，還有什麼會讓您多一點停頓？

Yes. Alex, it's Andy. So we -- as you know and you alluded to, we typically do have slightly lower retention rates in the fourth quarter, given that it's our largest period of renewals. I would say, outside of Analytics, and you can see this, the retention rates were reasonably strong. And if you look at full year retention rates even for Analytics but across all product segments, the retention rates were actually quite healthy. I'd say it continues to highlight that our products really do benefit from the fact that they are mission-critical in areas of long-term secular growth, which does create some resiliency.

是的。亞歷克斯，是安迪。所以我們 - 正如你所知和你提到的那樣，我們通常在第四季度的保留率略低，因為這是我們最大的續訂期。我會說，在 Analytics 之外，您可以看到這一點，保留率相當高。如果你看一下全年的保留率，即使是分析，但在所有產品領域，保留率實際上是相當健康的。我想說它繼續強調我們的產品確實受益於它們在長期長期增長領域的關鍵任務這一事實，這確實創造了一些彈性。

And I think you see that heavily in the retention rates for the full year. However, I would say we do remain cautious. As I've alluded to in the past, when we see a few quarters of sustained market pullback, we tend to see a pickup in client events, things like fund closures, desk closures, restructurings, other mergers. So despite the overall strong retention rates for the year, we are proceeding with a degree of caution and are pretty sober that we might see some clients pulling back a little bit in certain areas. So we are cautious moving forward here.

而且我認為你在全年的保留率中看到了這一點。但是，我想說我們確實保持謹慎。正如我過去提到的那樣，當我們看到幾個季度的持續市場回調時，我們往往會看到客戶事件的增加，例如基金關閉、櫃檯關閉、重組和其他合併。因此，儘管今年總體保留率很高，但我們仍保持一定程度的謹慎，並且非常清醒，我們可能會看到一些客戶在某些領域有所退縮。所以我們在這裡謹慎前進。

Okay. And then secondly, and this is somewhat related, but first of all, thanks for clarifying some of the moving pieces on free cash flow. I think some people are trying to read too much into what that means on the revenue side, which is kind of like my question. I know you don't guide revenues, but you highlighted again the long-term targets and history of delivering double-digit, I guess, subscription growth, look at the asset side for a minute -- as a base side for a minute. Anything that would change your view on that low double digits as we think about 2023 given some of the starting off points and some of the cautionary comments you've potentially made a little bit just now?

好的。其次，這有點相關，但首先，感謝您澄清自由現金流的一些變化。我認為有些人試圖過分解讀收入方面的含義，這有點像我的問題。我知道你不指導收入，但你再次強調了實現兩位數的長期目標和歷史，我想，訂閱增長，看看資產方面一分鐘——作為基礎方面一分鐘。考慮到一些起點和您剛才可能發表的一些警示性評論，有什麼會改變您對 2023 年低兩位數的看法的嗎？

So Alex, Henry. Not at all. I mean, obviously, on a tactical short-term basis in 2023, we've done well in 2022. We have a strong pipeline going into 2023. But there is the prospect of a global recession -- global softness. There is war going on in Europe. There is disruption in many markets, including the energy markets. We have to see if there is a real reopening of China or a return to lockdown. So we remain cautious in the very short term.

所以亞歷克斯，亨利。一點也不。我的意思是，很明顯，在 2023 年的短期戰術基礎上，我們在 2022 年做得很好。我們有一個強大的管道進入 2023 年。但是存在全球經濟衰退的前景——全球經濟疲軟。歐洲正在發生戰爭。許多市場都出現了混亂，包括能源市場。我們必須看看中國是否真正重新開放或恢復封鎖。因此，我們在極短期內保持謹慎。

Beyond that, we remain extremely positive. The number of opportunities that we see at MSCI is increasing exponentially pretty much every day, whether it's custom indices, which we have high demand for, whether it is direct indexing, whether it's climate risk in the context of Analytics. Clearly, ESG, climate as a whole, the work that we're beginning to do in private asset classes, enormous. So that should bode well for a continuation of our growth trajectory for the company in the years to come.

除此之外，我們仍然非常樂觀。我們在 MSCI 看到的機會數量幾乎每天都在呈指數級增長，無論是我們需求量很大的自定義指數，還是直接指數化，還是分析背景下的氣候風險。顯然，ESG、氣候作為一個整體，我們開始在私人資產類別中開展的工作是巨大的。因此，這預示著公司未來幾年將繼續保持增長軌跡。

Our next question comes from Toni Kaplan from Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Toni Kaplan。

I wanted to take a step back and look at margins within the Analytics business, really stepped up a lot this year. I guess, how are you thinking about investment in that business? Are you investing enough there? Just maybe talk about the drivers of the margin expansion and basically investment needs or growth opportunities?

我想退後一步，看看分析業務的利潤率，今年確實提高了很多。我想，您是如何考慮對該業務的投資？你在那裡投資夠嗎？只是談談利潤擴張的驅動因素，基本上是投資需求或增長機會？

Yes. So similar to recent quarters, there have been several factors that have been contributing to the high Analytics margin. I would point out that we have been capitalizing a higher level of expenses related to the development work that we've been doing around things like our Climate Lab Enterprise, Risk Insights, broader enhancements that we're making to the capabilities and analytics.

是的。與最近幾個季度相似，有幾個因素導致了高分析利潤率。我要指出的是，我們一直在利用與開發工作相關的更高水平的費用，這些費用與我們一直在圍繞我們的氣候實驗室企業、風險洞察力、我們正在對能力和分析進行的更廣泛的增強等所做的開發工作相關。

I would also highlight that many of the downturn actions that we've been taking end up hitting analytics. And that's not just directly within the segment. But when we take actions in corporate functions, a meaningful portion of those expenses are allocated to Analytics. And then I would highlight that the Analytics has benefited from the strong U.S. dollar as well. Given the size of the expense base, a lot of the FX benefits that we've been getting have hit Analytics. And so there are a bunch of those more, I'll call it, technical or tactical factors that have impacted the Analytics' margin and caused it to run up a bit here.

我還要強調的是，我們一直在採取的許多低迷行動最終都會影響分析。這不僅僅是直接在細分市場中。但是，當我們在公司職能中採取行動時，這些費用中有很大一部分分配給了分析。然後我要強調的是，Analytics 也受益於強勢美元。考慮到費用基數的規模，我們已經獲得的很多外匯收益都影響了分析。因此，還有很多其他因素，我稱之為技術或戰術因素，這些因素影響了分析的利潤率並導致它在這裡有所上升。

But to your question around investments, listen, we continue to be very targeted with our investments in analytics. So we are investing there. It is not one of our top investment areas. I think you're familiar with those areas where we are heavily focused on. But within analytics, we are focused on investing on those -- in those capabilities that support the broader MSCI franchise as well as continuing to focus on investments in areas like the front office, so front office content, including our factor models, how we go to the office on the equity and fixed income front office capabilities as well as some of the broader interfaces and applications that not only benefit the Analytics' users but also the broader MSCI franchise.

但是對於你關於投資的問題，聽著，我們繼續非常有針對性地投資分析。所以我們在那裡投資。它不是我們的首要投資領域之一。我認為您熟悉我們重點關注的那些領域。但在分析方面，我們專注於投資那些支持更廣泛的 MSCI 特許經營權的能力，並繼續專注於前台等領域的投資，所以前台內容，包括我們的因素模型，我們如何去向辦公室介紹股票和固定收益前台功能以及一些更廣泛的界面和應用程序，這些界面和應用程序不僅有利於 Analytics 的用戶，也有利於更廣泛的 MSCI 特許經營權。

I would like to add, Toni, if you don't mind, the -- clearly, there are parts of analytics that we're putting heavy investments on like Climate Lab Enterprise, fixed income, portfolio analytics, equity portfolio analytics and some of the content. But also for the benefit of everyone in this call, we also run a very disciplined, very rigorous triple crown investment process in the company, in which each one of the product areas, each one of the client segment areas and some of the support areas, when they come to -- in front of this investment process, they have to demonstrate elements of the triple crown. One is high return, high IRR, shorter-term paybacks and in areas of high multiple valuations for the company.

我想補充一點，托尼，如果你不介意的話，很明顯，我們正在對分析的某些部分進行大量投資，比如氣候實驗室企業、固定收益、投資組合分析、股票投資組合分析和一些內容。而且為了這次電話會議中每個人的利益，我們還在公司中運行了一個非常有紀律、非常嚴格的三冠王投資流程，其中每個產品領域、每個客戶細分領域和一些支持領域，當他們來到——在這個投資過程面前，他們不得不展示三冠王的元素。一是高回報、高內部收益率、短期回報以及公司估值高的領域。

So in the case of Analytics, they've been able to rationalize investment in some of the areas that I mentioned but not in other areas. So they haven't gotten capital from us because of that. And other areas like climate and ESG and custom indices and the like have gotten the capital.

因此，就 Analytics 而言，他們已經能夠合理化我提到的某些領域的投資，但在其他領域卻沒有。因此，他們沒有從我們這裡獲得資金。氣候和 ESG 以及自定義指數等其他領域也獲得了資金。

Perfect. I wanted to ask my follow-up on MSCI ONE. I know you recently launched that. Maybe just clarify -- I know you said it's not really supposed to replace an old product or be sort of a new stand-alone platform to replace other products. So I guess maybe help us with who the main users are there, what the opportunity is there because I think it seems meaningful. And I just want to understand it a little bit better?

完美的。我想問一下我對 MSCI ONE 的後續行動。我知道你最近推出了那個。也許只是澄清 - 我知道你說過它真的不應該取代舊產品或者是一種新的獨立平台來取代其他產品。所以我想也許可以幫助我們了解那裡的主要用戶是誰，那裡有什麼機會，因為我認為這似乎很有意義。我只是想更好地理解它？

Sure, Toni. Baer here. So look, I think the way to think about it is through a few different layers. One is we clearly have a diverse range of calculation engines, which create kind of state-of-the-art analytics of various kind and outputs, which are distributed throughout the firm and different asset classes, et cetera. Then we have some traditional platforms and other distribution methods through files, et cetera, that we've had. And then we have sort of newer content that we're building.

當然，托尼。貝爾在這裡。所以看，我認為考慮它的方法是通過幾個不同的層次。一是我們顯然擁有各種各樣的計算引擎，它們創建了各種類型和輸出的最先進的分析，這些分析分佈在整個公司和不同的資產類別等。然後我們有一些傳統的平台和其他通過文件的分發方法，等等，我們已經有了。然後我們有一些我們正在構建的新內容。

So the way to -- the best thing -- way to think about MSCI ONE is a combination of those traditional outputs of our -- if you like, our calculation factory and sort of industry standard software that allows those to be presented in a more user-friendly way and brought together in a similar type of platform, which in turn improves both the user experience and users' ability to manipulate that data to do -- to have greater flexibility in how they present it, et cetera.

因此，考慮 MSCI ONE 的最佳方法是結合我們的傳統輸出——如果你願意的話，我們的計算工廠和某種行業標準軟件，允許這些輸出以更以用戶友好的方式並彙集在類似類型的平台中，這反過來又改善了用戶體驗和用戶操縱數據的能力——在他們如何呈現數據等方面具有更大的靈活性。

So for sure, we think we're on a very important path forward here. It's incremental. As we move forward during the course of 2023, we think that the client impact of that will increase. And we hope -- definitely hope and intend to continue to give you positive news and update around all of that.

所以可以肯定的是，我們認為我們正走在一條非常重要的前進道路上。它是漸進的。隨著我們在 2023 年的過程中向前邁進，我們認為這對客戶的影響將會增加。我們希望 - 絕對希望並打算繼續為您提供積極的消息並圍繞所有這些更新。

So I think there is maybe a -- how should we put it, a risk that we're understating this somewhat. And that's what I try to -- wanted to make some comments about it today. At the same time, we want to make sure that we are the delivery department and not the promise department in this area.

所以我認為可能存在——我們應該怎麼說，我們在某種程度上低估了這一點。這就是我想做的——今天想對此發表一些評論。同時，我們要確保我們是這個領域的交付部門，而不是承諾部門。

So as the year progresses, we'll make sure that, as we bring out new functionality, new capabilities, new ways of integrating and our clients start using those more, we'll keep you abreast of that. But we're certainly very positive about it. And we think that, over time, this will really be a way that our clients start to think of MSCI in a different way as regards the flexibility and the ease of use of their day-to-day working with our content.

因此，隨著時間的推移，我們將確保，隨著我們推出新功能、新功能、新集成方式，我們的客戶開始更多地使用這些，我們會讓您及時了解。但我們當然對此非常積極。我們認為，隨著時間的推移，這將真正成為我們的客戶開始以不同的方式思考 MSCI 的方式，因為他們在日常工作中使用我們的內容具有靈活性和易用性。

Our next question comes from Manav Patnaik from Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Manav Patnaik。

Andy, I just wanted to get back to the retention rate comments you made, the drop, I guess, particularly in Analytics. Can you just give us some color around, I guess, where those cancellations or the drop came from? And were they more kind of onetime closures in nature? I know you said you're being a little bit more cautious going into '22. But just trying to understand how -- what that is and how that might continue into '23?

安迪，我只想回到你發表的保留率評論，我想，下降，尤其是在分析方面。你能給我們一些顏色嗎，我猜，這些取消或下降是從哪裡來的？它們本質上更像是一次性關閉嗎？我知道你說過你在進入 22 世紀時會更加謹慎。但只是想了解如何——那是什麼以及它如何持續到 23 年？

Sure, sure. Yes. Thanks, Manav. So Baer noted this in his prepared remarks, but the cancels weren't so much reflective of a higher frequency of cancels across the Board in the segment, but rather a concentration of a few large ones. On those few large ones, there were some competitive dynamics and some client event-related dynamics at play. And as we've mentioned in the past, we do expect some continued lumpiness in both sales and cancels within Analytics and potentially some impact from the environment.

一定一定。是的。謝謝，馬納夫。因此，貝爾在他準備好的發言中指出了這一點，但取消並沒有反映出該部門整個董事會取消的頻率更高，而是集中了一些大的取消。在這幾個大公司中，有一些競爭動態和一些與客戶事件相關的動態在起作用。正如我們過去提到的那樣，我們確實預計 Analytics 中的銷售和取消會持續出現波動，並且可能會受到環境的影響。

So more broadly, we are really encouraged by the momentum and improving competitive position. We continue to see in the strategic focus areas that we're focused on in analytics like equity and fixed income portfolio management tools or climate tools or enhancements to content and capabilities. And we are committed to the long-term growth targets that we've got for the segment of high single digits, which, actually, we're quite close to in the fourth quarter, the subscription run rate growth on an organic basis, close to 7%. And the revenue was 9.5%, excluding FX. So it was a quarter that demonstrated some of the lumpiness. But overall, we continue to be encouraged by the momentum we see in the segment.

因此，更廣泛地說，我們真的對這種勢頭和不斷提高的競爭地位感到鼓舞。我們繼續看到我們在分析中關注的戰略重點領域，例如股票和固定收益投資組合管理工具或氣候工具或內容和功能的增強。我們致力於實現我們為高個位數部分獲得的長期增長目標，實際上，我們在第四季度非常接近，訂閱運行率有機增長，關閉到 7%。收入為 9.5%，不包括外匯。因此，這是一個表現出一些腫塊的四分之一。但總的來說，我們繼續為我們在該領域看到的勢頭感到鼓舞。

Got it. And then Henry or Baer, I guess just a broader question. Just trying to -- I mean I think I have somewhat carried out but I thought I'd take the opportunity. Just trying to understand the cloud and technology strategy here, the recent Google announcement versus your key partnerships you already have with Microsoft. Just trying to appreciate the differences in each of those agreements and what to look forward to?

知道了。然後是 Henry 或 Baer，我想這只是一個更廣泛的問題。只是想——我的意思是我認為我已經完成了一些工作，但我想我會抓住這個機會。只是想了解這裡的雲和技術戰略，最近的谷歌公告與你已經與微軟建立的重要合作夥伴關係。只是想了解每項協議的差異以及期待什麼？

Thank you, Manav. So the -- first of all, I mean, one of the major impetus and investment in our firm is in our data and technology platforms. MSCI, in the past -- in the distant past was a very large data processing company. We took third-party data and run it through risk models, factor models, indices and the like, index methodologies and the like, where MSCI has become, starting with the ESG business, now with climate and private assets and so on and so forth, is a large data building in our company in addition to data processing company.

謝謝你，馬納夫。所以 - 首先，我的意思是，我們公司的主要推動力和投資之一是我們的數據和技術平台。 MSCI，在過去——在遙遠的過去是一家非常大的數據處理公司。我們獲取第三方數據，並通過風險模型、因子模型、指數等、指數方法等運行它，MSCI 已經成為，從 ESG 業務開始，現在是氣候和私人資產等等，是我們公司除了數據處理公司之外的大數據建設。

So we are now the original source of a lot of data in addition to sourcing data from third parties. And all of that needs to be distributed to our clients in a very effective way. So we have basically 3 partnerships that we're trying to work and expand and specialize on. The first one clearly has been the Microsoft partnership in Azure, in which they're helping us with the data processing part, processing large amounts of data, especially in our risk systems and all of that, index systems, et cetera.

所以我們現在除了從第三方採購數據外，還是很多數據的原始來源。所有這些都需要以非常有效的方式分發給我們的客戶。所以我們基本上有 3 個合作夥伴關係，我們正在努力工作、擴展和專注於這些合作夥伴關係。第一個顯然是微軟在 Azure 中的合作夥伴關係，他們在數據處理部分幫助我們處理大量數據，尤其是在我們的風險系統和所有這些系統、索引系統等方面。

And the partnership there also will help, helping us on their software and how do we use their software to build products like in power behind. Obviously, we announced the MSCI ONE as a partnership with them, et cetera. So that is Microsoft, and that continues to deepen and strengthen.

那裡的合作夥伴關係也將有所幫助，幫助我們開發他們的軟件，以及我們如何使用他們的軟件來構建產品，如在背後的力量。顯然，我們宣布 MSCI ONE 與他們合作，等等。這就是微軟，並且會繼續深化和加強。

The second one that we announced is Google and the Google Cloud. That partnership is about Google helping on build data, collect data, organize data, index data in this data building transformation that we're going through and then run all of that data through their cloud as well. So that is definitely -- there's always a component of cloud computing, but the push here is data building. As you know, Google is one of the largest data building and data processing companies in the world. Everyone focuses on the search engine, but their search engine won't be as good at all without the (inaudible) data.

我們宣布的第二個是谷歌和谷歌云。這種合作關係是關於谷歌在我們正在經歷的這個數據構建轉換中幫助構建數據、收集數據、組織數據、索引數據，然後也通過他們的雲運行所有這些數據。所以這絕對是——雲計算總是有一個組成部分，但這裡的推動力是數據構建。如您所知，Google 是世界上最大的數據構建和數據處理公司之一。每個人都專注於搜索引擎，但如果沒有（聽不清）數據，他們的搜索引擎就不會那麼好。

And the third partnership is South Lake which is in the distribution of (inaudible) our beta in a very effective way with our clients. So we're trying to strengthen and deepen that with our relationship with South Lake.

第三個合作夥伴是南湖，它以非常有效的方式與我們的客戶一起分發（聽不清）我們的測試版。因此，我們正努力通過與南湖的關係來加強和深化這一點。

And now we have a question from Alexander Hess from JPMorgan.

現在我們有來自摩根大通的 Alexander Hess 的問題。

I'd like to step back and maybe look at the firm-wide ESG and climate run rate growth, which remained pretty resilient despite the U.S. political headlines and then maybe in Europe, some of the SFTR implementation noise. I wanted to know maybe stepping back high level, what do you see sort of as the big opportunities, the big sort of regulatory and market tailwinds and headwinds as well and how we should think about maybe ESG and climate's ability to grow over the next few years?

我想退後一步，也許看看公司範圍內的 ESG 和氣候運行率增長，儘管美國政治頭條新聞，然後可能在歐洲，一些 SFTR 實施噪音，但它仍然非常有彈性。我想知道也許退後一步，你認為什麼是大機遇，監管和市場的順風和逆風，以及我們應該如何考慮 ESG 和氣候在未來幾年的增長能力年？

So let me provide some quick comments and then pass it on to Baer. First of all, as I said in my prepared remarks, there is a lot of political football here going on, on ESG. And eventually, we'll get to climate as well. And -- but the first point is our ESG business has nothing to do with political ideology or political philosophies. Our ESG business is totally grounded on the fact that ESG or nonfinancial risks are material investment risks and material financial risks in a company, think about that right now. Corporate governance, right? The governance of the company and the auditors and all of that and $60-plus-billion market cap now. If somebody tells you that's political and that's not investment risk, then I don't know what it is investment risk.

因此，讓我提供一些簡短的評論，然後將其傳遞給 Baer。首先，正如我在準備好的發言中所說，這裡有很多關於 ESG 的政治足球。最終，我們也會談到氣候。而且 - 但第一點是我們的 ESG 業務與政治意識形態或政治哲學無關。我們的 ESG 業務完全基於這樣一個事實，即 ESG 或非金融風險是公司的重大投資風險和重大財務風險，現在就考慮一下。公司治理，對嗎？公司和審計師的治理以及所有這些以及現在超過 600 億美元的市值。如果有人告訴你那是政治的，那不是投資風險，那我不知道那是什麼投資風險。

So that is very clear what we're doing. And therefore, we don't know of any single client in the world that -- at least we haven't heard of that they're not looking to integrate this nonfinancial risk environment in governance and social issues into our investment processes. And we are the preferred provider of tools to them.

所以這很清楚我們在做什麼。因此，我們不知道世界上有任何單一客戶 - 至少我們沒有聽說過他們不打算將這種非金融風險環境在治理和社會問題中整合到我們的投資流程中。我們是他們首選的工具供應商。

Secondly, clearly, there is a lot of regulations around the world, and a lot of our clients are trying to figure out how do they respond to that regulation, especially in Europe by far but also in the U.S. with the SEC proposals. So there is a little bit of a pause by clients and certain purchases as to -- because they're trying to determine what are the right sets of data and tools and risk that they need to do to incorporate into their products. So that's been a little bit of the blip that you see in the sales, much less so the political component. But Baer, anything else on this?

其次，很明顯，世界各地有很多法規，我們的很多客戶都在試圖弄清楚他們如何應對這些法規，尤其是在歐洲，但在美國也有美國證券交易委員會的提議。因此，客戶和某些購買略有停頓——因為他們正試圖確定哪些是正確的數據和工具集，以及他們需要將哪些風險整合到他們的產品中。所以這是你在銷售中看到的一點點，更不用說政治因素了。但是貝爾，關於這個還有什麼嗎？

I think you've covered it well, Henry. I think the only other element is clearly the -- you mentioned the regulatory element on our clients, which has been notably a complex one for funds in Europe in the EU. So that is something that we're very focused on, on working with our clients on. Equally, there will doubtless be an increase of regulation on the providers of data information ratings of ESG clearly which would include us.

我認為你講得很好，亨利。我認為唯一的其他因素顯然是——你提到了我們客戶的監管因素，這對於歐盟的歐洲基金來說尤其複雜。所以這是我們非常關注的事情，與我們的客戶合作。同樣，毫無疑問，對 ESG 數據信息評級提供商的監管也會增加，其中包括我們。

And I think in that instance, we don't view that as something which is a particular risk to the business. We believe that we run a very high-quality business that we've been structured with a view that, as an index, some form of further regulation could come to us. And as a reminder, our legal entity in the U.S. that issued ESG ratings is already a registered investment adviser, and we're confident about the way that, that is run and I'm actually getting in contact with regulators related to that.

我認為在那種情況下，我們不會將其視為對企業構成特殊風險的事情。我們相信，我們經營的是一家高質量的企業，我們的結構是基於這樣一種觀點，即作為一種指數，我們可能會受到某種形式的進一步監管。提醒一下，我們在美國發布 ESG 評級的法人實體已經是註冊投資顧問，我們對其運作方式充滿信心，我實際上正在與相關監管機構取得聯繫。

So I think overall, it's clearly an environment which is very noisy and complex from a number of grounds, but that doesn't, in any way, compromise the scale of the opportunity which remains very real. And in many regards, precisely, this regulatory complexity is something which we believe we can benefit from as a provider of high-quality data and adjacent research and services.

所以我認為總的來說，從許多方面來看，這顯然是一個非常嘈雜和復雜的環境，但這並沒有以任何方式損害仍然非常真實的機會的規模。在許多方面，準確地說，這種監管的複雜性是我們相信作為高質量數據和相關研究和服務的提供者可以從中受益的東西。

And then as a quick follow-up, maybe can you speak a little bit to the opportunity in Paris Aligned benchmarks and climate transition benchmarks with the index franchise? Is that a meaningful opportunity going forward?

然後作為快速跟進，也許你能談談巴黎對齊基準和氣候轉型基準與指數專營權的機會嗎？這是一個有意義的機會嗎？

Absolutely. So we're clearly benefiting from our leadership role, both in ESG and climate and our market share in such indexing and related ETF products is very high, and it's been consistently so. There are some questions related to flows in the short run, but we're -- if you look at -- I'm very confident that if you look back on this in a number of years' time, that this will be a moment that passes.

絕對地。因此，我們顯然受益於我們在 ESG 和氣候方面的領導作用，我們在此類指數和相關 ETF 產品中的市場份額非常高，而且一直如此。短期內有一些與流量相關的問題，但我們 - 如果你看 - 我非常有信心，如果你在多年後回顧這一點，這將是一個時刻那過去了。

And the fact of the matter is that, with all categories of investors globally, this is an enormous transition they have to go through. They will clearly do so through active management. But equally, they will need to do so by allocating capital on a timely basis through rule -- through indexes, through rules-based portfolios that indexes serve as a benchmark and underlying for. So we only see this category as growing. And you mentioned certain specific methodologies, those will continue to grow as will many customized versions of things which serve specific investors' specific need. So we certainly view it as an important and growing category.

事實上，對於全球所有類別的投資者來說，這是他們必須經歷的巨大轉變。他們顯然會通過積極的管理來做到這一點。但同樣，他們需要通過規則及時分配資本來做到這一點——通過指數，通過以指數為基準和基礎的基於規則的投資組合。所以我們只看到這個類別在增長。你提到了某些特定的方法，這些方法將繼續增長，許多定製版本的東西也將繼續增長，以滿足特定投資者的特定需求。因此，我們當然將其視為一個重要且不斷增長的類別。

Our next question comes from Owen Lau from Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自 Oppenheimer 的 Owen Lau。

I want to go back to your guidance. Could you please talk about your assumption about the market trend to come up with your free cash flow guidance? Do you expect the market to go up -- stay flat or to go lower from here? And then on the expense side, could you please talk about the walk of the adjusted EBITDA expense build from 2022 to 2023? And what does it take to go to the low end of the guidance? And also what does it take to get to the high end of the guidance?

我想回到你的指導。您能否談談您對市場趨勢的假設，以提出您的自由現金流指導？您預計市場會上漲——保持平穩還是從這裡走低？然後在費用方面，您能否談談調整後的 EBITDA 費用從 2022 年到 2023 年的變化？到達指南的低端需要什麼？以及達到指導的高端需要什麼？

Sure. Sure. Yes. So a lot in there. I'll try to unpack it in a logical fashion here. So firstly, on the market assumptions that underlie all of our guidance. So we are assuming that market levels decline slightly from their current levels through the first half of the year and then rebound in the second half of the year. And so that assumption is underlying every piece of our guidance. You alluded to free cash flow. I do want to make a comment around our free cash flow guidance more generally, just to underscore that we are being cautious on it. If you look at the full year of 2022 relative to 2021 and even the fourth quarter of 2022 relative to the fourth quarter of '21, we saw a pretty healthy growth in free cash flow. Although if you remember, after the third quarter, we actually increased our free cash flow guidance. We made that change feeling confident about the strong momentum we had seen in collections.

當然。當然。是的。裡面那麼多。我將嘗試在這里以合乎邏輯的方式解壓縮它。因此，首先，基於我們所有指導的市場假設。因此，我們假設市場水平在今年上半年從目前的水平略有下降，然後在下半年反彈。因此，這一假設是我們每一條指導方針的基礎。你提到了自由現金流。我確實想更廣泛地圍繞我們的自由現金流指導發表評論，只是為了強調我們對此持謹慎態度。如果你看看 2022 年全年相對於 2021 年的情況，甚至 2022 年第四季度相對於 2021 年第四季度的情況，我們看到自由現金流的增長非常健康。不過，如果你還記得的話，在第三季度之後，我們實際上增加了自由現金流量指導。我們對我們在系列中看到的強勁勢頭充滿信心，做出了這一改變。

To be frank, we probably got a bit ahead of ourselves on that one, and we actually saw a bit of a slowdown in collection cycles in the fourth quarter. And so we are making that same assumption of caution around collection cycles for 2023. And as a result, we have a degree of caution on our cash flow guidance for this year.

坦率地說，我們在這方面可能有點超前，我們實際上看到第四季度的收款週期有所放緩。因此，我們對 2023 年的收款週期做出同樣的謹慎假設。因此，我們對今年的現金流量指引持一定程度的謹慎態度。

On the expense guidance piece, I don't want to get too specific here, but I want to underscore that -- and you saw this in the fourth quarter, actually the last 6 months or so, we have been taking very tough actions in our expenses and identifying efficiencies to be able to continue to invest. So we are being very measured on our pace of expense growth. We're continuing to find efficiencies. You saw we took some significant actions on the severance front in the fourth quarter. And so that has a meaningful impact on the expense base, although we are continuing to invest in key areas.

關於費用指導，我不想在這裡說得太具體，但我想強調——你在第四季度看到了這一點，實際上在過去 6 個月左右，我們一直在採取非常強硬的行動我們的開支和確定效率，以便能夠繼續投資。因此，我們對費用增長的速度非常謹慎。我們正在繼續尋找效率。你看到我們在第四季度在遣散費方面採取了一些重大行動。因此，儘管我們繼續在關鍵領域進行投資，但這對費用基礎產生了重大影響。

And so despite those efficiencies and continued actions on the head count front, we are planning to grow our investment spend in 2023 by 13%, and that's more than double the overall expense growth. And so we are, in our guidance, assuming that we continue to be quite disciplined in a number of areas, especially for the first half of the year. But we are continuing to grow head count and invest in those key investment areas -- those key growth areas for us as a firm.

因此，儘管提高了效率並在人數方面持續採取行動，我們仍計劃在 2023 年將投資支出增長 13%，這是總體支出增長的兩倍多。因此，在我們的指導中，我們假設我們在許多領域繼續遵守紀律，尤其是在今年上半年。但我們將繼續增加員工人數並投資於這些關鍵投資領域——這些對我們公司來說是關鍵增長領域。

Got it. That's super helpful. And then I want to go back to the Google partnership, the Google Cloud partnership. Henry, could you please talk about maybe the potential incremental revenue and expense opportunity for this partnership? I mean it would be great if you can even give us some more specific examples so that we can better understand the value creation of this partnership?

知道了。這非常有幫助。然後我想回到谷歌合作夥伴關係，谷歌云合作夥伴關係。亨利，你能談談這種合作夥伴關係的潛在增量收入和支出機會嗎？我的意思是，如果你能給我們一些更具體的例子，這樣我們就能更好地理解這種夥伴關係的價值創造，那就太好了？

So look, I can't, at this point, give you any numeric analysis of the revenue or profit or any of that. Too early to tell. What is very key is that in us becoming a very large data building company, we need to use the most advanced methods and protocols and technologies and all of that and this partnership with Google will give us that.

所以看，在這一點上，我不能給你任何收入或利潤的數字分析。現在下結論還為時過早。非常關鍵的是，在我們成為一家非常大的數據構建公司的過程中，我們需要使用最先進的方法、協議和技術，所有這些，而與穀歌的合作將為我們提供這一點。

And for example, one specific area that we're focused on right now is asset locations. So in order for us to be the best, undisputed leader in climate, we need to have understanding of every manufacturing facility, every mine, every office of every single company in the world, whether it's private or public company. So being able to work with Google in gathering that information through Google maps and Google's geospatial services and the like will put us at a significant advantage there. That would be clearly one example of that.

例如，我們現在關注的一個特定領域是資產位置。因此，為了讓我們成為氣候領域最優秀、無可爭議的領導者，我們需要了解世界上每家製造工廠、每座礦山、每家公司的每個辦公室，無論是私營公司還是上市公司。因此，能夠與穀歌合作，通過谷歌地圖和谷歌的地理空間服務等收集這些信息，將使我們在這方面處於顯著優勢。這顯然是其中的一個例子。

Another example clearly is the -- in the work that we're doing in our private assets, there is a lot of data that we're collecting from GPs and LPs and all of that, and we need to figure out how we index the data, organize it and the like. So the way to think about us, if you want to compare us to -- obviously, to the work that Google does is that everyone focuses on the search engine of Google, right? And that's at the top.

另一個例子顯然是——在我們對私人資產所做的工作中，我們從普通合夥人和有限合夥人等那裡收集了大量數據，我們需要弄清楚我們如何索引這些數據數據，組織它等等。所以考慮我們的方式，如果你想將我們與 - 顯然，谷歌所做的工作進行比較，就是每個人都專注於谷歌的搜索引擎，對嗎？那是在頂部。

But on this search engine is clearly data. So think about our investment tools, whether it's indices, methodologies and ratings and risk models and the stress testing models and all that, the equivalent of search engines, right, the equivalent of algorithms. And then underneath that, there have to be a base of data that is large, whether it's third-party data or our own data that is large, and that's what we're trying to build with that.

但是在這個搜索引擎上顯然是數據。所以想想我們的投資工具，無論是指數、方法論、評級、風險模型和壓力測試模型等等，相當於搜索引擎，對，相當於算法。然後在此之下，必須有一個大數據基礎，無論是第三方數據還是我們自己的大數據，這就是我們試圖用它來構建的。

And we have a question now from George Tong from Goldman Sachs.

我們現在有來自高盛的 George Tong 的問題。

You mentioned it's possible you'll see higher cancels and longer sales cycles during protracted periods of market volatility. Can you elaborate on where in your subscription businesses you're seeing most sensitivity to the macro environment and, conversely, where you're seeing most resilience?

您提到在長期的市場波動期間，您可能會看到更高的取消率和更長的銷售週期。您能否詳細說明您在訂閱業務中對宏觀環境最敏感的地方，以及相反，您最有彈性的地方？

Yes. I mean it's very much a general comment that I made. You can see in the retention rates that, with the exception of the lumpiness we saw in Analytics in the fourth quarter, actually, retention rates have remained quite resilient. I think you've heard us make comments in -- particularly last quarter, that we saw some slowdown in sales cycle and in ESG.

是的。我的意思是這是我所做的非常籠統的評論。您可以在保留率中看到，除了我們在第四季度在分析中看到的起伏不定外，實際上，保留率仍然非常有彈性。我想你已經聽過我們發表評論——尤其是上個季度，我們看到銷售週期和 ESG 有所放緩。

I'd say that the point that I would underscore is it's going to be dynamic across the Board. So I don't think it will be necessarily concentrated in one product area or region or client segment, but these are things that just as the environment remains choppy and volatile and large financial organizations start to implement cost controls, it can cause slowdowns across the Board.

我要說的是，我要強調的一點是，它將在整個董事會中充滿活力。所以我認為它不一定會集中在一個產品領域或地區或客戶群，但這些事情就像環境仍然動盪不安和大型金融機構開始實施成本控制一樣，它可能會導致整個行業的放緩木板。

And so we're just baking in our color and our commentary here, a degree of caution, although I do want to underscore that our pipeline is -- it remains quite healthy and the overall size of the pipeline is quite large, and we are having an active dialogue and engagement and healthy discussion with our clients. It's just we've seen in past cycles that we should be prudent and cautious in our outlook.

因此，我們只是在這裡烘烤我們的顏色和我們的評論，一定程度的謹慎，儘管我確實想強調我們的管道 - 它仍然非常健康並且管道的整體規模非常大，而且我們是與我們的客戶進行積極的對話和參與以及健康的討論。只是我們在過去的周期中看到，我們應該謹慎對待我們的前景。

Got it. That's helpful. You've taken actions to recalibrate head count and expenses as part of your downturn playbook. Can you talk about how much further runway you have for expense reduction, what kind of levers you have remaining? And would you say the majority of your cost rightsizing actions are now behind you?

知道了。這很有幫助。作為經濟低迷手冊的一部分，您已採取行動重新調整人數和費用。您能談談您在削減開支方面還有多遠的跑道，您還剩下什麼樣的槓桿？你會說你的大部分成本合理化行動現在都已經過去了嗎？

Yes. I would say, and I alluded to this in a prior question, it's important to really underscore that the tough actions we've been taking are really to enable investment. And so as I alluded to, we plan to continue to invest at a pretty healthy rate in those key investment areas, and we're going to continue to have an intense focus on efficiencies throughout the year. Beyond the proactive actions that we took in -- on the severance front, and I alluded to this in the past, we've continued to slow down and even stop hiring in certain less critical areas. We've been very selective about the areas where we are adding people. We've imposed certain expense controls in areas like T&E and other professional fees. But it is important to underscore, we have numerous levers at our disposal, and we haven't fully flexed the downturn playbook nor does our guidance reflect that we're flexing fully our downturn playbook.

是的。我想說的是，我在之前的一個問題中提到過，重要的是要真正強調我們一直在採取的強硬行動實際上是為了促進投資。因此，正如我提到的那樣，我們計劃繼續在這些關鍵投資領域以相當健康的速度進行投資，並且我們將在全年繼續高度關注效率。除了我們採取的積極行動——在遣散費方面，我過去曾提到過這一點，我們還在繼續放緩甚至停止在某些不太重要的領域招聘。我們對增加人員的領域非常有選擇性。我們在 T&E 和其他專業費用等方面實施了某些費用控制。但重要的是要強調，我們有許多可用的槓桿，我們還沒有完全改變經濟低迷的策略，我們的指導意見也沒有反映出我們正在充分利用經濟低迷的策略。

We can stop hiring in certain areas, implement hiring freeze is closing backfills. We have degrees of freedom on the noncomp side. As you know, our incentive compensation will move with the performance of the business. So it is a constant calibration and something that we're going to continue to proactively manage. But we are being cautious in implementing cost controls, but we do have many more levers if we need to flex down further, including slowing down investment, which hopefully we don't have to do, but that clearly can help us manage expenses.

我們可以停止在某些領域招聘，實施招聘凍結以關閉回填。我們在非補償方面有自由度。如您所知，我們的激勵性薪酬將隨著業務表現而變化。所以這是一個持續的校準，我們將繼續主動管理。但我們在實施成本控制方面持謹慎態度，但如果我們需要進一步降低成本，我們確實有更多的槓桿，包括放慢投資，希望我們不必這樣做，但這顯然可以幫助我們管理開支。

Now we have a question from Faiza Alwy from Deutsche Bank.

現在我們有來自德意志銀行的 Faiza Alwy 的問題。

So I wanted to talk a little bit more about ESG. Give us a sense of the new subscription sales that you signed on this quarter. How much of that is just a seasonal acceleration from 3Q to 4Q? Or are you seeing sort of sales cycles? Andy, as you alluded to, the last quarter that those had increased a little bit? Are you seeing further increase in those sales cycles? Or are things sort of normalizing from your perspective?

所以我想多談談 ESG。讓我們了解一下您在本季度簽署的新訂閱銷售情況。其中有多少只是從第三季度到第四季度的季節性加速？或者您是否看到某種銷售週期？安迪，正如你提到的那樣，上個季度那些增加了一點？您是否看到這些銷售週期進一步增加？或者從你的角度來看事情正在正常化？

Yes. And I think you could see this in the past, and this is the case across most product areas. But as you alluded to, the fourth quarter does tend to be a strong quarter for us. I would underscore that ESG and Climate had a very strong year overall. And when you drill into it, and we've alluded to this, Climate within there continues to grow at an incredible growth rate and is making a more meaningful contribution to the overall segment. And so that is something that is helping to fuel some momentum.

是的。而且我認為您過去可以看到這一點，大多數產品領域都是這種情況。但正如你提到的，第四季度對我們來說確實是一個強勁的季度。我要強調的是，ESG 和氣候總體上表現非常強勁。當你深入研究它時，我們已經提到了這一點，那裡的氣候繼續以令人難以置信的速度增長，並且正在為整個細分市場做出更有意義的貢獻。因此，這有助於推動一些勢頭。

Just to put a finer point on that, $45 million of the $79 million of Climate run rate is actually within the ESG and Climate segment, and that is growing at close to 80%. So that's helping to drive some of the momentum we've seen. As Henry alluded to earlier, there are many layers and dimensions of growth in ESG and climate across a wide range of solutions serving various objectives and a wide range of use cases. And we're seeing that the thinking around how to integrate ESG continues to evolve. The regulations continue to evolve. And as a result, investors in spots are being more measured in their buying decisions. And so I think there is some element of that. There's some element of the market backdrop that are helping to contribute to the fact that the pace of sales in ESG and Climate is likely to fluctuate up and down based on all those dimensions that I alluded to.

更確切地說，7900 萬美元的氣候運行率中有 4500 萬美元實際上屬於 ESG 和氣候部分，並且增長接近 80%。所以這有助於推動我們看到的一些勢頭。正如 Henry 之前提到的那樣，ESG 和氣候在服務於各種目標和廣泛用例的廣泛解決方案中有許多層次和維度的增長。我們看到圍繞如何整合 ESG 的思考在不斷發展。法規不斷發展。因此，現貨投資者在購買決策時更加慎重。所以我認為其中有一些因素。市場背景的某些因素有助於促成這樣一個事實，即 ESG 和氣候的銷售速度可能會根據我提到的所有這些維度上下波動。

Overall, we continue to see very healthy growth and strong demand. But for those reasons, we think the growth rate will be a little bit dynamic and the sales could be a little bit dynamic quarter-to-quarter. I would highlight that, because you asked about it, some of those sales that we did see slip from the third quarter that we alluded to on the last call, we were successfully able to close a lot of those, and we had particular strength within EMEA. I think that just speaks to some of those dynamics that will fluctuate up and down over time. But overall, we continue to be very, very encouraged about the overall demand for the products. It's just a very dynamic engagement discussion with our clients.

總體而言，我們繼續看到非常健康的增長和強勁的需求。但出於這些原因，我們認為增長率會有點動態，而且每個季度的銷售額可能會有點動態。我要強調的是，因為你問過，我們在上次電話會議上提到的第三季度確實看到了一些銷售下滑，我們成功地關閉了其中的很多，而且我們在內部有特別的實力歐洲、中東和非洲。我認為這只是說明了隨著時間的推移會上下波動的一些動態。但總的來說，我們對產品的整體需求繼續感到非常非常鼓舞。這只是與我們的客戶進行的非常活躍的參與討論。

Understood. And then just a follow-up on, I guess, capital allocation. Are you assuming -- I think your interest expense guide is a little bit higher than I was anticipating. And I'm curious if you're expecting to maybe incur higher debt to buy back shares? Or sort of what's embedded in your free cash flow guide as it relates to capital allocation?

明白了。然後只是跟進，我想，資本配置。你假設 - 我認為你的利息支出指南比我預期的要高一點。我很好奇你是否期望可能承擔更高的債務來回購股票？或者你的自由現金流指南中嵌入的與資本配置相關的內容？

Yes. So the interest expense guidance does not assume any incremental financings for the year. One thing that is driving the interest expense slightly higher is our floating rate term loan A. So we have a $350 million term loan A, which is floating rate. And so we do have some expectation of rate increases and higher rates for the year, which factors into that interest expense guidance.

是的。因此，利息支出指南不假設該年度有任何增量融資。導致利息支出略高的一件事是我們的浮動利率定期貸款 A。因此我們有 3.5 億美元的浮動利率定期貸款 A。因此，我們確實對今年的加息和更高利率抱有一些預期，這會影響利息支出指引。

So that's what's embedded in our guidance. But I'd say, more broadly, no change to our approach to capital allocation. We are mindful of the overall financing market and rate market. And so we will, over time, as our leverage starts to come down, look for opportunities to raise capital. But given where rates are right now, we're not in a rush to do that. And we think we're in a strong capital position to continue to be very opportunistic on the MP&A front as well as on the repurchase front if there continues to be volatility in the market.

這就是我們指南中的內容。但我要說的是，更廣泛地說，我們的資本配置方法沒有改變。我們關注整體融資市場和利率市場。因此，隨著時間的推移，隨著我們的影響力開始下降，我們將尋找籌集資金的機會。但考慮到目前的利率，我們並不急於這樣做。而且我們認為，如果市場繼續波動，我們將在 MP&A 方面以及回購方面繼續保持非常機會主義的資本狀況。

We have a question from Craig Huber from Huber Research Partners. Craig, please go ahead.

Huber Research Partners 的 Craig Huber 向我們提出了一個問題。克雷格，請繼續。

I wanted to focus first if we could on the recurring subscription part of your business in indexes. Obviously, the numbers continue to be extremely strong there. But maybe just talk a little further, if you would, about the sales cycles there, your sales pipeline, client budgets? So I mean, is there anything there that you're feeling a little less positive about the stuff, particularly sales cycle?

如果我們可以在索引中處理您業務的定期訂閱部分，我想首先關注。顯然，那裡的數字仍然非常強勁。但是，如果您願意，也許可以進一步談談那裡的銷售週期、您的銷售渠道、客戶預算？所以我的意思是，有沒有什麼是你對這些東西感覺不太積極的，尤其是銷售週期？

Yes. I would say you've actually seen remarkable strength on the index subscription business that we have with the index subscription revenue line. It's been quite encouraging given the backdrop, to your point, where we've been having very constructive discussions within our more established client segments like asset owners and asset managers. And I mentioned we saw subscription run rate growth within that segment of 10%, which is quite healthy. And we've also seen -- continue to see strong dialogue and engagement with hedge funds, wealth managers, broker-dealers, where we saw that elevated growth that I alluded to.

是的。我想說你實際上已經看到我們在指數訂閱收入線方面的指數訂閱業務的顯著實力。考慮到您的觀點，我們在資產所有者和資產管理者等更成熟的客戶群中進行了非常有建設性的討論，這是非常令人鼓舞的。我提到我們看到該部分的訂閱運行率增長了 10%，這是非常健康的。我們還看到——繼續看到與對沖基金、財富管理公司、經紀自營商的強有力的對話和接觸，我們在這些地方看到了我提到的加速增長。

Similarly, from a product lens standpoint, we are having strong momentum within our market cap modules. So our market cap modules actually had strong growth of about 11% in subscription run rate. And we saw outsized growth within some of our non-market cap modules relative to that. And so across the Board, we've seen a healthy dialogue and momentum. And it's not only with these newer high-growth segments but doing more for existing clients. And so at this point, we haven't seen a lot of impact from the environment, although we are conscious that the index segment tends to have a shorter sales cycle. And so there could be some impact. But right now, it's overall a very, very healthy dialogue.

同樣，從產品角度來看，我們在市值模塊中的發展勢頭強勁。因此，我們的市值模塊實際上在訂閱運行率方面實現了約 11% 的強勁增長。相對於此，我們在一些非市值模塊中看到了超額增長。因此，在整個董事會中，我們看到了健康的對話和勢頭。而且它不僅針對這些較新的高增長細分市場，而且還為現有客戶做更多的事情。因此，在這一點上，我們還沒有看到環境的太大影響，儘管我們意識到指數部分的銷售週期往往較短。因此可能會有一些影響。但現在，總體而言，這是一次非常、非常健康的對話。

Great. My follow-up question. You talked a lot about the enhancement you guys made in the Analytics products. So I'd like to hear further on the fixed income side of things, what you guys are -- the investor is spending to do in there, were you really focused on within the fixed income area, please?

偉大的。我的後續問題。你們談了很多關於你們在 Analytics 產品中所做的改進。所以我想進一步了解固定收益方面的情況，你們是什麼——投資者在那里花錢做什麼，你們真的專注於固定收益領域嗎？

Sure. So look, this has clearly been a multiyear effort where we have continuously improved everything that we're doing, where we've had some important wins on fixed income in the last few quarters. And clearly, we can't go into individual client names here because it's not what we do. But we're, I think, at a really important inflection point where we have some pretty significant deals in the pipeline, and those deals are ones which we hope if we can get a few of them done, they should have really positive knock-on effects for our credibility in this asset class and then hopefully become kind of a virtuous circle.

當然。所以看，這顯然是一項多年的努力，我們不斷改進我們所做的一切，在過去幾個季度中我們在固定收益方面取得了一些重要的勝利。很明顯，我們不能在這裡進入單個客戶名稱，因為這不是我們所做的。但我認為，我們正處於一個非常重要的轉折點，我們有一些非常重要的交易正在籌備中，這些交易是我們希望的，如果我們能完成其中的一些，它們應該會產生非常積極的影響——對我們在這一資產類別中的信譽產生影響，然後有望成為一種良性循環。

So I would say that, across the teams, people have never felt more positive than today about what we're doing in fixed income. As you know, this has not been a fast thing. This has been more of an oil tanker than a speed boat. But I really hope, and I think I've got good grounds for believing so, that during the course of this coming year, we should be able to really show that we're making a lot of progress in fixed income and starting to win some pretty serious investors over to our fixed income analytics.

所以我想說，在所有團隊中，人們對我們在固定收益方面所做的事情從未像今天這樣積極。如您所知，這並不是一件很快的事情。這更像是一艘油輪而不是快艇。但我真的希望，而且我認為我有充分的理由相信，在來年的過程中，我們應該能夠真正表明我們在固定收益方面取得了很大進展並開始贏得勝利一些非常認真的投資者轉向我們的固定收益分析。

So in short, I don't think it's one thing. I think it's a compound over various sub asset classes in fixed income, different types of analytics. So it's what we're doing across the Board. And I really do think we're in a great place to have a strong year for 2023 in fixed income.

所以簡而言之，我不認為這是一回事。我認為它是固定收益、不同類型分析中各種子資產類別的複合體。這就是我們正在全面開展的工作。而且我確實認為我們處於一個很好的位置，可以在 2023 年的固定收益方面表現強勁。

Our next question comes from Russell Quelch from Redburn Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自 Redburn Partners 的 Russell Quelch。

Yes. I just wanted to come back to the Analytics business to start. Can you pin down exactly what's driven the heightened growth in the last couple of quarters? I know you've made a few comments to this already, but is it new products? Is it tech enhancements to existing products? Is it pricing? I'm trying to get a bit of a sense as to is this structural or cyclical growth? Just kind of linked to that, how does it get decided if climate-related product revenues get booked in ESG and Climate or Analytics? So I just want to check, there's been no shift in the revenue allocation, which is flattering the growth in the Analytics segment?

是的。我只是想回到分析業務開始。您能否準確說明是什麼推動了過去幾個季度的高速增長？我知道您已經對此發表了一些評論，但這是新產品嗎？它是對現有產品的技術改進嗎？是定價嗎？我想弄清楚這是結構性增長還是周期性增長？與此相關的是，如何確定氣候相關產品收入是否計入 ESG 和氣候或分析？所以我只想檢查一下，收入分配沒有發生變化，這有利於分析部門的增長嗎？

Look, in sum, the Analytics product line, we have been revamping their strategy. And the hub on the core is continued work on enterprise risk and performance. And we make some little progress there, but the growth rates are not dramatically different than they were before.

總之，分析產品線，我們一直在改進他們的戰略。核心的樞紐是在企業風險和績效方面的持續工作。我們在那裡取得了一些小進展，但增長率與以前並沒有太大的不同。

The growth areas are in 3 elements that we're pivoting towards. One is the front office so equity portfolio analytics and fixed income portfolio analytics along the lines of what Baer was mentioning, those are high growth areas for us. Secondly it's climate risk with Climate Lab Enterprise. And the third area, which we just launched a whole bunch of products, is more content. We launched a protocol insights and the like. And so we're hoping that the 60% of the run rate, which is central risk, continues to grow at a reasonable pace, but the acceleration of the growth will come from those 3 pivots that I mentioned.

增長領域是我們正在轉向的 3 個要素。一個是前台，所以股票投資組合分析和固定收益投資組合分析就像貝爾提到的那樣，這些對我們來說是高增長領域。其次是氣候實驗室企業的氣候風險。第三個領域，我們剛剛推出了一大堆產品，內容更多。我們推出了協議見解等。因此，我們希望 60% 的運行率（即中心風險）繼續以合理的速度增長，但增長的加速將來自我提到的這 3 個支點。

And Russell, there's no shifting of run rate from ESG and Climate to the Analytics segment. There are some Climate and ESG focus tools that are Analytics tools that are showing up in the segment like our Climate Lab Enterprise and some of our ESG reporting capabilities, but those are not shifting. Those have always been there.

羅素，運行率沒有從 ESG 和氣候轉移到分析領域。有一些氣候和 ESG 重點工具是分析工具，它們出現在該細分市場中，例如我們的氣候實驗室企業和我們的一些 ESG 報告功能，但這些工具並沒有改變。那些一直都在那裡。

Okay. Okay. And then just as a short follow-up, the basis point fee charge on the AUM in the Index business, that was notably up in Q4 versus Q3 to 2.54. Is that a lagged effect from lower AUM in previous quarters? I'm just wondering, should we expect that to fall again as AUM stays higher in Q1?

好的。好的。然後作為一個簡短的後續行動，指數業務中 AUM 的基點費用在第四季度與第三季度相比顯著上升至 2.54。這是前幾個季度 AUM 較低的滯後效應嗎？我只是想知道，隨著第一季度 AUM 保持較高水平，我們是否應該期望它再次下降？

Yes. I would say it was impacted by flows out of lower fee products. So there was that mix impact. We saw a very small impact from a positive fee adjustment as well. Despite the steadiness that you've seen over the last year, I do want to underscore that we do expect the average basis points to continue to decline gradually over time as we've seen over the last, call it, 8 to 10 years or so, although we do expect the assets to increase at a faster growth rate and continue to be bullish about the growth in the ETF front. But we do expect fees to gradually come down over time.

是的。我會說這是受到低費用產品流出的影響。所以有混合影響。我們也看到積極的費用調整帶來的影響非常小。儘管你在去年看到了穩定，但我確實想強調，我們確實預計平均基點將隨著時間的推移繼續逐漸下降，就像我們在過去 8 到 10 年或因此，儘管我們確實預計資產將以更快的速度增長，並繼續看好 ETF 方面的增長。但我們確實希望費用會隨著時間的推移逐漸下降。

We have a question from Greg Simpson from BNP Paribas.

法國巴黎銀行的 Greg Simpson 向我們提出了一個問題。

I think you mentioned price increases being 35% to 40% of new subscription sales firm-wide in the fourth quarter. Could you provide some color around how this compares versus history? Do you get the impression that you're increasing pricing more or less or similar to some of your competitors in Index and ESG?

我想你提到了第四季度全公司新訂閱銷售額的 35% 到 40% 的價格上漲。您能否提供一些關於這與歷史比較的顏色？您是否覺得您正在或多或少地提高價格，或者與您在指數和 ESG 方面的一些競爭對手相似？

Sure. Yes. I don't want to comment on what our competitors are doing. But I would say that, yes, we are generally increasing prices more than we have in the past. The 35% contribution from pricing to new subscription sales across the subscription base and the 40%-plus that we are seeing in Index, the contribution within index from price increases, those are about 5-plus percentage points higher than what we've seen in the recent past.

當然。是的。我不想評論我們的競爭對手在做什麼。但我要說的是，是的，我們總體上比過去提高了價格。定價對整個訂閱群的新訂閱銷售的貢獻為 35%，我們在指數中看到的 40% 以上，價格上漲對指數的貢獻，比我們看到的高出約 5 個百分點在最近的過去。

And so yes, price is contributing more than it has in the past. I would just underscore that we are -- in our price increases, we are heavily focused on delivering value together with the price increases. And so we're continuing to enhance the content that we deliver to our clients, the capabilities, the functionality and the overall client service that they are getting. We do recognize that our growth is heavily going to come from our existing clients and we want to do it in a constructive fashion. But given the overall pricing environment and cost environment, we are increasing prices more than we have in the past.

所以是的，價格的貢獻比過去更大。我只想強調，我們 - 在我們的價格上漲中，我們非常專注於在價格上漲的同時提供價值。因此，我們將繼續增強我們向客戶提供的內容、能力、功能以及他們獲得的整體客戶服務。我們確實認識到我們的增長在很大程度上將來自我們現有的客戶，我們希望以建設性的方式做到這一點。但考慮到整體定價環境和成本環境，我們的漲價幅度比過去要大。

Great. And then just quickly on the real estate business. New sales were down year-over-year. Is there anything in particular to call out in what is maybe a trickier backdrop for real estate? And more broadly, how is RCA progressing since your acquisition?

偉大的。然後迅速開展房地產業務。新銷售額同比下降。在房地產可能更棘手的背景下，有什麼特別需要指出的嗎？更廣泛地說，自您收購 RCA 以來，RCA 進展如何？

Yes. I mean it's similar message to what we've seen in the past, which is, things are progressing well in the segment. I would highlight that our -- some of our portfolio services are getting a lot of traction and a lot of interest. Investors, in particular, are focused on understanding what is driving the performance and the risk in their portfolios. And so we're seeing strong engagement there.

是的。我的意思是，這與我們過去看到的信息類似，即該領域的事情進展順利。我要強調的是，我們的一些投資組合服務受到了很大的關注和興趣。投資者尤其關注了解是什麼推動了他們投資組合的業績和風險。因此，我們在那裡看到了強烈的參與。

On the data side, including the RCA data, we do see some pressure from the backdrop, to your point. There are aspects of the RCA business and the data that we have that are used as part of transactions in the real estate space, and we have seen a slowdown in transaction volumes across the space. But you can see the overall growth rate on an organic basis at 12% is still pretty good, and we think there are some environmental impacts going on given the backdrop in the real estate space, but we continue to be quite encouraged about the long-term opportunity there.

在數據方面，包括 RCA 數據，我們確實從背景中看到了一些壓力。 RCA 業務的某些方面和我們擁有的數據被用作房地產領域交易的一部分，我們已經看到整個領域的交易量放緩。但你可以看到 12% 的整體有機增長率仍然相當不錯，而且我們認為在房地產領域的背景下會產生一些環境影響，但我們仍然對長期的 -那裡的長期機會。

And we have a question from Simon Clinch from Atlantic Equities.

Atlantic Equities 的 Simon Clinch 提出了一個問題。

I wanted to just get your perspectives, please, on, I guess, the opportunity in the futures and options line, which today they're still relatively small in the context of your overall index business. I mean how should we think about the structural growth opportunity here for that? Obviously, the larger it is, the more diversified benefits you'll see during times of risk. And now I imagine that's quite a desirable thing to have?

我想听聽你的看法，我想，期貨和期權線的機會，今天它們在你的整體指數業務的背景下仍然相對較小。我的意思是我們應該如何考慮這裡的結構性增長機會？顯然，它越大，您在風險時期看到的收益就越多樣化。現在我想這是一件非常令人嚮往的事情？

Yes. So there are 3 legs of any large and successful index business, the active management; the fees that we charge to active managers, what we call the subscription business; the fees that we charge to passive managers, both in any (inaudible) ETF or institutional pass or other forms of mutual funds. And the third leg is the licensing of indices into all sorts of derivative products. Some of them are listed by futures and options, and some of them are unlisted such as swaps and options and structured products that investment banks make.

是的。因此，任何大型且成功的指數業務都有 3 條腿，即主動管理；我們向主動管理人收取的費用，我們稱之為訂閱業務；我們以任何（聽不清）ETF 或機構通證或其他形式的共同基金向被動經理收取的費用。第三條腿是將指數授權到各種衍生產品中。有的是期貨和期權上市的，有的是非上市的，比如掉期和期權，還有投資銀行做的結構性產品。

We are very, very intent and focused on building up their leg. What you see and that we comment on is the listed features and options, and there's still a lot of runway for us to continue to grow in new products. We have a lot of listed futures. We're now focused on our listed options franchise and are pushing new initiatives in that front. More to come on that.

我們非常非常專注於建立他們的腿。你看到的和我們評論的是列出的功能和選項，我們還有很多跑道可以繼續發展新產品。我們有很多上市期貨。我們現在專注於我們的上市期權特許經營權，並正在這方面推動新舉措。還有更多內容。

And while you don't hear us often, although there were comments earlier today on this, is the structured products and the other forms of OTC derivatives. And that is -- those are growing very nicely, and there's still the ground floor where we can achieve it.

雖然你不經常聽到我們的聲音，但今天早些時候對此有評論，是結構化產品和其他形式的場外交易衍生品。那就是 - 這些增長非常好，而且我們仍然可以實現它。

Okay. That's really useful. And then I guess, just lastly, on the environment for M&A and bolt-on acquisitions, could you just give us a sense of how rapidly that's changing? And thus, I guess, just to give us a sense of the opportunities you have ahead of you?

好的。這真的很有用。然後我想，就在最後，關於併購和補強收購的環境，您能否讓我們了解一下這種變化的速度有多快？因此，我想，只是為了讓我們了解您面前的機會？

Yes. Yes. So listen, you know -- and you see this on the repurchase front, we are an organization that likes to be contrarian and opportunistic. And so in these environments, there are potentially opportunities to acquire companies that otherwise wouldn't be available. And so we are seeing some early-stage companies that need growth capital. They're finding that the growth capital is more expensive or tougher to find than it was in the past. And so as a result, they are open to partnerships, investments, even acquisitions in certain instances.

是的。是的。所以聽著，你知道——你在回購方面看到了這一點，我們是一個喜歡逆勢和機會主義的組織。因此，在這些環境中，有潛在的機會收購原本無法獲得的公司。因此，我們看到一些需要成長資本的早期公司。他們發現增長資本比過去更昂貴或更難找到。因此，在某些情況下，他們對合作、投資甚至收購持開放態度。

And so we're being very proactive in looking for those opportunities and think they can be instrumental in helping to accelerate those strategic opportunities in our key focus areas that we've talked about in areas like private assets, climate, ESG, fixed income, broader technology and data capabilities. So yes, it's an intense focus for us right now.

因此，我們非常積極地尋找這些機會，並認為它們有助於加速我們在私人資產、氣候、ESG、固定收益等領域討論過的關鍵重點領域的戰略機會，更廣泛的技術和數據能力。所以是的，這是我們現在的一個重點。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to MSCI's Chairman and CEO, Mr. Henry Fernandez. Please go ahead.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給 MSCI 主席兼首席執行官亨利費爾南德斯先生。請繼續。

Well, thank you, everyone, for joining. As you can hear in our commentary, we continue to see strong demand for our solutions. We continue to invest significantly in large growth opportunities that are ahead of us and preserve and enhance profitability growth in the company. We're very excited about this momentum, especially in such areas like Climate, where we are determined to become the undisputed leader. Thank you, everyone, and we look forward to a continued dialogue with all of you.

嗯，謝謝大家的加入。正如您在我們的評論中所聽到的那樣，我們繼續看到對我們的解決方案的強勁需求。我們繼續大量投資於我們面前的巨大增長機會，並保持和提高公司的盈利增長。我們對這種勢頭感到非常興奮，尤其是在像氣候這樣的領域，我們決心成為無可爭議的領導者。謝謝大家，我們期待與大家繼續對話。

Thank you. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。