明晟 (MSCI) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the MSCI First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Jeremy Ulan, Head of Investors Relations and Treasurer. You may begin.

女士們、先生們，美好的一天，歡迎參加 MSCI 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。提醒一下，此通話正在錄音。 （操作員說明）我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係主管兼財務主管 Jeremy Ulan。你可以開始了。

Thank you. Good day, and welcome to the MSCI First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our results for the first quarter of 2024. This press release, along with an earnings presentation and brief quarterly update are available on our website, msci.com, under the Investor Relations tab.

謝謝。美好的一天，歡迎參加 MSCI 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。今天早上早些時候，我們發布了一份新聞稿，宣布2024 年第一季的業績。下查看。

Let me remind you that this call contains forward-looking statements, which are governed by the language on the second slide of today's presentation. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made, are based on current expectations and current economic conditions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.

讓我提醒您，本次電話會議包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受今天簡報第二張投影片上的語言管轄。請您注意不要過度依賴前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅代表發布之日的情況，基於當前的預期和當前的經濟狀況，並受到可能導致實際結果有所不同的風險和不確定性的影響這些前瞻性陳述中預期的結果具有重大意義。

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. During today's call, in addition to results presented on the basis of U.S. GAAP, we also refer to non-GAAP measures. You will find a reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures to the equivalent GAAP measures in the appendix of the earnings presentation. We will also discuss operating metrics such as run rate and retention rate.

有關其他風險和不確定性的討論，請參閱我們最新的 10-K 表格和其他 SEC 文件中的風險因素和前瞻性聲明免責聲明。在今天的電話會議中，除了根據美國公認會計準則公佈的結果外，我們還參考了非公認會計準則的衡量標準。您可以在收益報告的附錄中找到我們的非公認會計準則衡量標準與同等公認會計準則衡量標準的調整表。我們還將討論運行率和保留率等營運指標。

Important information regarding our use of operating metrics such as run rate and retention rate are available in the earnings presentation. On the call today are Henry Fernandez, our Chairman and CEO; and Baer Pettit, our President and COO; and Andrew Wiechmann, our Chief Financial Officer. As a final housekeeping item, I want to remind our analysts to ask one question at a time during the Q&A portion of our call. We do encourage you to ask more questions by adding yourselves back to the queue.

有關我們使用營運指標（例如運行率和保留率）的重要資訊可在收益演示中找到。今天參加電話會議的是我們的董事長兼執行長亨利‧費爾南德斯 (Henry Fernandez)；以及我們的總裁兼營運長貝爾佩蒂特 (Baer Pettit)；以及我們的財務長安德魯‧維赫曼 (Andrew Wiechmann)。最後一項整理事項，我想提醒我們的分析師在電話問答部分一次提出一個問題。我們鼓勵您將自己重新添加到隊列中來提出更多問題。

With that, let me now turn the call over to Henry Fernandez. Henry?

現在，讓我將電話轉給亨利·費爾南德斯。亨利？

Thank you, Jeremy. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us. In the first quarter, MSCI delivered solid financial results that demonstrate the resilience of our business and our ability to maintain profitable growth supported by durable secular trends. Our operating metrics included some key product and segment milestones. But new recurring sales were flat from last year's levels and reflect the lagging effect of market pressures on client budgets and cancels were meaningfully elevated in some concentrated areas.

謝謝你，傑瑞米。大家好，感謝您加入我們。第一季度，摩根士丹利資本國際 (MSCI) 公佈了穩健的財務業績，證明了我們業務的彈性以及我們在持久的長期趨勢的支持下保持盈利增長的能力。我們的營運指標包括一些關鍵產品和細分市場的里程碑。但新的經常性銷售與去年的水平持平，反映出市場壓力對客戶預算的滯後影響，並且在一些集中地區取消訂單顯著增加。

On the financial side, MSCI achieved organic revenue growth of 10%, adjusted earnings per share growth of 12% and free cash flow growth of 14%. Meanwhile, our ABF revenue grew by 13%, powered by record AUM balances in both ETFs and non-listed products linked to MSCI indices. We consider AUM levels in MSCI index-linked products as a leading indicator of improving client conditions. Operationally, we delivered our highest Q1 recurring sales in Analytics in a decade at $40 million. Our best ever Q1 of recurring sales among hedge funds at nearly $11 million. And another quarter of double-digit subscription run rate growth of 11% among asset owners, driven by index and Analytics.

在財務方面，MSCI 實現有機收入成長 10%，調整後每股收益成長 12%，自由現金流成長 14%。同時，我們的 ABF 收入成長了 13%，這得益於與 MSCI 指數掛鉤的 ETF 和非上市產品創紀錄的 AUM 餘額。我們將 MSCI 指數掛鉤產品的資產管理規模水準視為改善客戶狀況的領先指標。在營運方面，我們在分析方面實現了十年來最高的第一季經常性銷售額，達到 4000 萬美元。我們對沖基金第一季的經常性銷售額創歷史新高，接近 1,100 萬美元。在指數和分析的推動下，資產所有者的訂閱運行率在另一個季度實現了 11% 的兩位數成長。

Nonrecurring sales of $18 million were up 16%. At the same time, our first quarter results show the lingering impact of market volatility, changes in interest rate expectations and pressures on investment and financial firms, especially active equity managers. Notably, MSCI witnessed elevated cancels which reflected a concentration of unusual client events. Roughly $7 million worth of cancels came from a single client event, a historic merger of 2 major global banks in Europe that affected us across Index, ESG and Analytics. While some client pressures may continue, we do not expect this high level of cancels to continue.

非經常性銷售額為 1,800 萬美元，成長 16%。同時，我們第一季的業績顯示出市場波動、利率預期變化以及投資和金融公司（尤其是主動股票管理公司）面臨的壓力的揮之不去的影響。值得注意的是，摩根士丹利資本國際 (MSCI) 見證了取消數量的增加，反映出異常客戶事件的集中。價值約 700 萬美元的取消來自一次客戶事件，即歐洲兩家主要全球銀行的歷史性合併，影響了我們的指數、ESG 和分析。雖然一些客戶壓力可能會持續，但我們預計這種高水準的取消不會持續下去。

In fact, we remain greatly encouraged by our high levels of engagement across all client segments and all geographies. Despite the tough Q1 operating environment for us, we delivered double-digit organic subscription run rate growth among asset owners, hedge funds, wealth managers and corporates. Among asset managers, redemption, outflow and fee pressures continue to weigh on fund managers, but we were able to deliver 7% organic subscription run rate growth with that segment.

事實上，我們在所有客戶群和所有地區的高水準參與仍然讓我們深受鼓舞。儘管第一季的營運環境嚴峻，但我們在資產所有者、對沖基金、財富管理機構和企業中實現了兩位數的有機訂閱運行率成長。在資產管理公司中，贖回、流出和費用壓力繼續給基金管理公司帶來壓力，但我們能夠在該細分市場中實現 7% 的有機認購運行率成長。

In addition, we achieved 39% climate run rate growth across our product lines, driven by APAC and EMEA regions. Likewise, APAC and EMEA helped stabilize our ESG run rate growth at 12%, amid continued tailwinds in the Americas. Meanwhile, amid a strong U.S. dollar, the benefits of our non-dollar expenses helped offset FX-related revenue headwinds. MSCI's all-weather franchise supports our financial resilience. Our diverse mix of clients, products and geographies helped stabilize our performance in difficult environments as we experienced in the first quarter.

此外，在亞太地區和歐洲、中東和非洲地區的推動下，我們整個產品線的氣候運作率增加了 39%。同樣，在美洲持續順風的情況下，亞太地區和歐洲、中東和非洲幫助我們將 ESG 運作率成長率穩定在 12%。同時，在美元走強的情況下，我們的非美元支出的好處幫助抵消了與外匯相關的收入阻力。 MSCI 的全天候特許經營權支持我們的財務彈性。正如我們在第一季所經歷的那樣，我們多樣化的客戶、產品和地理組合幫助我們在困難的環境中穩定了業績。

Looking ahead [to the extent] equity markets and high AUM balances and liquidity levels remain supportive that should mitigate certain pressures that have weighed on client spending on MSCI products. We remain keenly focused on capitalizing on the biggest secular trends reshaping our industry such as portfolio customization and indexation, the growth of increasing allocations to private assets and the global sustainability revolution.

展望未來，股票市場以及高資產管理規模餘額和流動性水準仍然具有支撐性，這應該會減輕影響 MSCI 產品客戶支出的某些壓力。我們仍然熱衷於利用重塑我們行業的最大長期趨勢，例如投資組合客製化和指數化、私人資產配置的增加以及全球永續發展革命。

Just last week, we closed our acquisition of the London-based index provider Foxberry. This will give us a new technology platform to accelerate custom index production while providing simulation and back testing capabilities for the creation of indices for institutional investors and intermediaries.

就在上週，我們完成了倫敦指數提供商 Foxberry 的收購。這將為我們提供一個新技術平台，以加速客製化指數的生產，同時為機構投資者和中介機構創建指數提供模擬和回測功能。

Turning to our other recent acquisitions, combining the Fabric platform with MSCI factor risk models, ESG and climate data and indices, has dramatically enhanced our capabilities and solutions for the wealth segment. Finally, the MSCI carbon markets team, formerly Trove Research has expanded our climate solutions and deepened our engagement with existing and prospective clients beyond institutional investors, such as corporates, trading desks and banks.

談到我們最近的其他收購，將 Fabric 平台與 MSCI 因子風險模型、ESG 以及氣候數據和指數相結合，大大增強了我們在財富領域的能力和解決方案。最後，MSCI 碳市場團隊（前身為 Trove Research）擴展了我們的氣候解決方案，並加深了我們與機構投資者以外的現有和潛在客戶（如企業、交易部門和銀行）的接觸。

Considering the lagging effect of market volatility that our clients and MSCI [are faced], we expect our all-weather franchise to continue to withstand external challenges such as the client events we saw in Q1. This makes us confident that MSCI can maintain high levels of revenue growth and profitability in 2024 and beyond.

考慮到我們的客戶和 MSCI [面臨] 的市場波動的滯後效應，我們預計我們的全天候業務將繼續承受外部挑戰，例如我們在第一季看到的客戶事件。這讓我們相信 MSCI 能夠在 2024 年及以後保持高水準的收入成長和獲利能力。

And with that, let me turn the call over to Baer. Baer?

接下來，讓我把電話轉給貝爾。貝爾？

Thank you, Henry, and greetings, everyone. In my remarks today, I will discuss some of the key sources of strength in our first quarter results at both the product and segment levels while putting our results in a broader strategic perspective. First, I would like to expand a bit on Henry's comments about our elevated cancels. As you noted, the vast majority of our first quarter cancels stem from client events such as industry consolidation, cost pressures, fund closures and reorganization. Excluding the single client event from a bank merger, our Q1 retention rate across MSCI was 94%.

謝謝你，亨利，並向大家問好。在今天的演講中，我將討論我們第一季業績在產品和細分市場層面的一些關鍵優勢來源，同時從更廣泛的策略角度看待我們的業績。首先，我想擴展一下亨利關於我們取消訂單增加的評論。正如您所指出的，我們第一季的絕大多數取消訂單都是由於行業整合、成本壓力、基金關閉和重組等客戶事件造成的。排除銀行合併中的單一客戶事件，我們第一季 MSCI 的保留率為 94%。

Clients who use multiple MSCI product lines account for 85% of our total subscription run rate. The Q1 retention of those clients on average is 93% or higher. Turning to our product and segment results. As demand for Index investments continues to grow, the product ecosystem linked to MSCI Indexes remains a competitive advantage, especially as more and more investors push for customized products. In the first quarter, assets under management in equity ETF products linked to MSCI indexes hit a new record high of $1.58 trillion, while AUM in non-listed products linked to MSCI indexes also set a record of $3.23 trillion.

使用多個 MSCI 產品線的客戶占我們總認購運作率的 85%。第一季這些客戶的平均保留率為 93% 或更高。轉向我們的產品和細分結果。隨著指數投資需求的持續成長，與 MSCI 指數相關的產品生態系統仍然具有競爭優勢，特別是隨著越來越多的投資者尋求客製化產品。一季度，與MSCI指數掛鉤的股票ETF產品管理資產再創新高，達到1.58兆美元，與MSCI指數掛鉤的非上市產品管理資產規模也創下3.23兆美元的歷史新高。

We also delivered index subscription run rate growth of 9.3%, including 12% growth in Asia Pacific and 24% growth among hedge funds. The 24% subscription run rate growth in index among hedge funds was driven primarily by our Float Data Product and custom index sales. Meanwhile, our custom and special index run rate growth was 19%. MSCI's recent acquisition of Foxberry will further enhance our wide range of custom index solutions and provide a new client-centric interactive experience. The trend towards greater customization cuts across all product lines and client segments.

我們的指數認購運行率也實現了 9.3% 的增長，其中亞太地區增長了 12%，對沖基金增長了 24%。對沖基金指數訂閱運行率成長 24% 主要是由我們的浮動數據產品和客製化指數銷售推動的。同時，我們的客製化和特殊指數運行率成長了 19%。 MSCI 最近收購了 Foxberry，將進一步增強我們廣泛的客製化指數解決方案，並提供以客戶為中心的全新互動體驗。更大程度的客製化趨勢貫穿所有產品線和客戶群。

For example, wealth managers increasingly want to customize their client portfolios using advanced technology platforms. That is what motivated MSCI's acquisition of Fabric whose platform is now part of our analytics offering. Combined with our total portfolio toolkit, the Fabric platform has already boosted our ability to serve the wealth segment and the feedback from clients has been extremely positive. Our run rate among wealth managers has now surpassed $100 million, growing over 15% year-on-year. The push for customization is closely related to another shift in the analytics space. Clients have always depended on us for risk and performance attribution tools but they now want highly specialized insights and deeply integrated content, all supported by leading-edge technology, including generative AI.

例如，財富管理機構越來越希望使用先進的技術平台來客製化其客戶投資組合。這就是 MSCI 收購 Fabric 的原因，Fabric 的平台現在是我們分析產品的一部分。結合我們的整體投資組合工具包，Fabric 平台已經提高了我們服務財富領域的能力，並且客戶的回饋非常積極。目前，我們財富管理機構的營運率已突破1億美元，年增超過15%。客製化的推動與分析領域的另一個轉變密切相關。客戶一直依賴我們的風險和績效歸因工具，但現在他們需要高度專業的見解和深度整合的內容，所有這些都得到包括產生人工智慧在內的領先技術的支援。

Our Analytics team has met its demand through products such as our multi-asset class factor models, our risk insights and risk manager solutions and our MSCI ONE platform built on Microsoft Azure. As we have recently seen, these tools can become even more relevant amid market volatility, cyclical pressures and geopolitical uncertainty. In the first quarter, Analytics posted revenue growth of 12% and our highest Q1 in a decade for recurring new sales.

我們的分析團隊透過多元資產類別因子模型、風險洞察和風險管理解決方案以及基於 Microsoft Azure 建置的 MSCI ONE 平台等產品滿足了其需求。正如我們最近所看到的，在市場波動、週期性壓力和地緣政治不確定性的情況下，這些工具可能變得更加重要。第一季度，Analytics 公佈的營收成長了 12%，這是十年來第一季經常性新銷售的最高水準。

At the product level, recurring sales of our RiskManager tool were up by 60% and included a large strategic win with a major global alternative asset manager facilitated by our Risk Insights offering. At the segment level, Analytics achieved recurring sales growth of 27% among banks, 20% among hedge funds and 15% among asset owners.

在產品層面，我們的 RiskManager 工具的經常性銷售額成長了 60%，其中包括在我們的風險洞察產品的推動下，與一家主要的全球另類資產管理公司取得了重大策略勝利。在細分市場層面，Analytics 在銀行、對沖基金和資產所有者中實現了 27%、20% 和 15% 的經常性銷售成長。

Rising demand for highly specialized analytics tools intersects with growing client needs for climate and sustainability regulatory solutions. This represents an attractive opportunity for MSCI, and we have doubled down on our efforts to capture it. Our first quarter run rate growth for ESG Regulatory Solutions was 33%. To build on this momentum, we have enhanced our solutions for the EU sustainable finance disclosure regulation while developing a new solution with Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, or CSRD.

對高度專業化分析工具不斷增長的需求與客戶對氣候和永續發展監管解決方案不斷增長的需求相交叉。這對 MSCI 來說是一個有吸引力的機會，我們加倍努力來抓住這個機會。我們第一季 ESG 監管解決方案的運作率成長率為 33%。為了鞏固這一勢頭，我們增強了針對歐盟可持續財務揭露監管的解決方案，同時根據企業永續發展報告指令（CSRD）開發了新的解決方案。

In addition, we will continue exploring untapped opportunities in APAC, where we achieved 18% ESG run rate growth in the first quarter. In MSCI Private Capital Solutions, we achieved a run rate growth of 17% over Burgiss' performance in the same period last year prior to the acquisition and a retention rate of close to 96%. We had early momentum in EMEA, which accounted for over half of new client wins in the product segment. We continue to drive new recurring sales of key existing products such as private capital transparency data and total plan portfolio management.

此外，我們將繼續探索亞太地區尚未開發的機會，第一季我們在該地區實現了 18% 的 ESG 運行率成長。在 MSCI Private Capital Solutions 中，我們的運作率比去年收購前同期 Burgiss 的業績成長了 17%，保留率接近 96%。我們在歐洲、中東和非洲地區取得了早期勢頭，佔該產品領域新客戶數量的一半以上。我們繼續推動現有關鍵產品的新經常性銷售，例如私人資本透明度數據和總體計劃投資組合管理。

We're also making progress on our integrated product road map, including evaluated pricing for LPs and GPs, leveraging MSCI's data, models and research. In summary, MSCI remains laser focused on translating our long-term strategy into near-term delivery while harnessing competitive advantages and secular trends. And with that, let me turn the call over to Andy. Andy?

我們也在綜合產品路線圖上取得進展，包括利用 MSCI 的數據、模型和研究對 LP 和 GP 進行評估定價。總之，MSCI 仍專注於將我們的長期策略轉化為近期交付，同時利用競爭優勢和長期趨勢。接下來，讓我把電話轉給安迪。安迪？

Thanks, Baer, and hi, everyone. In the first quarter, we delivered double-digit organic revenue growth, 11% adjusted EBITDA growth and 12% adjusted EPS growth. We delivered 10% organic revenue growth as well as record asset-based fee revenue driven by record AUM balances in ETF and non-ETF products linked to MSCI indexes. The solid financial performance highlights the resilience of our business model, even in the face of headwinds reflected in our operating metrics.

謝謝貝爾，大家好。第一季度，我們實現了兩位數的有機收入成長、調整後 EBITDA 成長 11%、調整後每股盈餘成長 12%。在與 MSCI 指數掛鉤的 ETF 和非 ETF 產品創紀錄的 AUM 餘額的推動下，我們實現了 10% 的有機收入增長以及創紀錄的基於資產的費用收入。穩健的財務表現凸顯了我們業務模式的彈性，即使面對我們的營運指標所反映的不利因素。

As we have mentioned previously, we are seeing the impacts of a slow-moving business cycle as the prolonged period of muted flows into active equity strategies have resulted in a lengthening of sales cycles. And in this quarter, a concentration of client events on top of what is typically a seasonally softer quarter for us. To provide a bit more color, if we compare our cancels to the first quarter of 2023, the 2 product segments with the biggest increases were index and ESG and climate.

正如我們之前提到的，我們看到了商業週期緩慢的影響，因為長期流入主動股權策略的資金停滯導致銷售週期延長。在本季度，除了我們通常季節性疲軟的季度之外，客戶活動也集中起來。為了提供更多信息，如果我們將取消與 2023 年第一季度進行比較，增幅最大的 2 個產品領域是指數、ESG 和氣候。

Within index, nearly the entirety of the increase were roughly $7 million of the increase related to a higher contribution from corporate events. From a client segment (inaudible) index, $5.2 million of the year-over-year increase in cancels came within the broker-dealer and hedge fund client segments, including roughly $4 million from the previously mentioned large global bank merger. Similarly, within ESG and climate, nearly $4 million or 80% of the increase in cancels came from a higher level of corporate events, including $2.5 million from the large global bank merger event. The large majority of cancels related to this global bank merger occurred in Q1, although there could be some smaller items that come through in future quarters as the integration is completed.

在指數中，幾乎全部成長約為 700 萬美元，這與企業活動的較高貢獻有關。從客戶細分（聽不清楚）指數來看，年比取消成長的 520 萬美元來自經紀自營商和對沖基金客戶細分，其中約 400 萬美元來自先前提到的大型全球銀行合併。同樣，在 ESG 和氣候方面，近 400 萬美元（即取消增加的 80%）來自更高級別的企業活動，其中包括來自大型全球銀行合併活動的 250 萬美元。與此次全球銀行合併相關的絕大多數取消發生在第一季度，儘管隨著整合完成，未來幾季可能會出現一些較小的項目。

Across all product segments, the retention rate with asset owners and asset managers was 95% and 97%, respectively. While we do expect some elevated levels of client events to continue in the near term, we do not expect to see cancels continue at this level in the coming quarters, and we expect retention rates to rebound through the year.

在所有產品領域，資產所有者和資產管理人的保留率分別為 95% 和 97%。雖然我們確實預計短期內客戶活動的數量將繼續增加，但我們預計未來幾季取消訂單的情況不會繼續保持在這個水平，並且我們預計保留率將在全年反彈。

Additionally, we have a solid pipeline of new sales opportunities. In Index, we had 8% subscription run rate growth in our market cap weighted modules and 19% growth in custom indexes and special packages.

此外，我們還有大量新的銷售機會。在指數方面，我們的市值加權模組的訂閱運行率增長了 8%，自訂指數和特殊套餐的訂閱運行率增長了 19%。

As a reminder, in Q2 of last year, we had a large nonrecurring revenue item related to unlicensed usage of our indexes, which drove an unusually large level of nonrecurring revenue. ABF revenues were up 13% year-over-year, benefiting from about $21 billion of cash inflows and about $93 billion of market appreciation so far in 2024 with an ETF linked to MSCI equity indexes. Most of the MSCI-linked ETF flows were in developed markets outside the U.S. and emerging markets products, which together were over $22 billion.

提醒一下，去年第二季度，我們有一個很大的非經常性收入項目與未經許可使用我們的指數有關，這導致了異常高的非經常性收入水平。 ABF 營收年增 13%，受益於 2024 年迄今約 210 億美元的現金流入和約 930 億美元的市場升值（與 MSCI 股票指數掛鉤的 ETF）。大部分與 MSCI 掛鉤的 ETF 流量都流向美國以外的已開發市場和新興市場產品，總價值超過 220 億美元。

In Analytics, organic subscription run rate growth was 7%, which reflects the benefits from the investments we've made in the innovations such as our next-gen models and our Insights offering. These have helped us to drive strong sales and enterprise risk and multi-asset class models across client segments. We also had several client wins in fixed income analytics. Analytics revenue this quarter included a large contribution from catch-up revenue items, much of which related to large client implementations.

在 Analytics 中，有機訂閱運行率成長率為 7%，這反映了我們在下一代模式和 Insights 產品等創新方面進行的投資所帶來的收益。這些幫助我們在客戶群中推動強勁的銷售和企業風險以及多元資產類別模式。我們也在固定收益分析領域贏得了多位客戶。本季的分析收入包括來自追趕收入項目的巨大貢獻，其中大部分與大型客戶實施相關。

In our ESG and Climate reportable segment, organic run rate growth was 13%, which excludes about $4.8 million of run rate from Trove and the impact of FX and run rate growth for the reportable ESG and Climate segment was nearly 18% within Europe and close to 22% in Asia, while the Americas growth was 9%. In real assets, run rate growth was about 4% with subdued net new subscription sales continuing to reflect lower transaction activity and other commercial real estate pressures.

在我們的ESG 和氣候可報告細分市場中，有機運行率增長率為13%，其中不包括來自Trove 的約480 萬美元的運行率，以及外匯的影響，可報告的ESG 和氣候細分市場的運作率成長在歐洲範圍內接近18%，接近18%。在實體資產方面，營運率成長率約為 4%，新認購淨銷售額持續低迷，反映出交易活動減少和其他商業房地產壓力。

We continue to be pleased with our progress on the integration of Burgiss, which, as a reminder, is referred to as the Private Capital Solutions operating segment within our all other private assets reportable segment. Retention was strong at nearly 96% and contributed over $24 million of revenue for the quarter. We continue to have a vigilant focus on disciplined capital allocation and our cash balance at the end of March was over $500 million, including readily available cash in the U.S. of over $200 million.

我們仍然對 Burgiss 的整合進度感到滿意，提醒一下，該業務在我們所有其他私人資產可報告部門中被稱為私人資本解決方案營運部門。保留率高達近 96%，為本季貢獻了超過 2,400 萬美元的收入。我們繼續密切關注嚴格的資本配置，截至 3 月底，我們的現金餘額超過 5 億美元，其中在美國的可用現金超過 2 億美元。

Last week, we closed on the acquisition of Foxberry for approximately $22 million of upfront consideration. The transaction also has the potential for additional performance-related payments tied to the achievement of key milestones.

上週，我們以約 2,200 萬美元的預付款完成了對 Foxberry 的收購。該交易還有可能獲得與關鍵里程碑的實現相關的額外績效相關付款。

Our 2024 guidance across all categories remains unchanged and assumes that AUM declines slightly in Q2 and rebounds gradually in the second half of the year. I would note that our first quarter effective tax rate of 13.5% benefited from favorable discrete items and higher excess tax benefits recognized on stock-based comp vested in the period.

我們對所有類別的 2024 年指引保持不變，並假設資產管理規模在第二季小幅下降，並在下半年逐漸反彈。我要指出的是，我們第一季的有效稅率為 13.5%，這得益於有利的離散項目以及該期間基於股票的補償所確認的更高的超額稅收優惠。

For the remainder of the year, we expect the quarterly effective tax rate of 21% to 22% each quarter before any discrete items. Overall, our client centricity and multiyear investments, position us well to drive growth throughout 2024, and we look forward to keeping you posted on our progress.

在今年剩餘時間裡，我們預計不計任何離散項目的季度有效稅率為 21% 至 22%。總體而言，我們以客戶為中心和多年投資使我們能夠很好地推動 2024 年的成長，我們期待隨時向您通報我們的進展。

With that, operator, please open the line for questions.

那麼，接線員，請開通提問線路。

(Operator Instructions) And your first question comes from the line of Toni Kaplan with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的托尼卡普蘭（Toni Kaplan）。

I wanted to talk about the closures. Thank you for giving the segment breakout for the large client event. Just it sounds to me like that is now in the numbers, but I wanted to just confirm that there isn't going to be more. And just more in general around the non UBS event. It sounded like maybe there were more closures of asset managers that you saw in the quarter. So do you expect that to improve throughout the year?

我想談談關閉的事情。感謝您為大型客戶活動提供細分。在我看來，現在的數字已經包含在內，但我只是想確認不會有更多的數字。更籠統地說是圍繞著非瑞銀活動。聽起來本季可能有更多資產管理公司倒閉。那麼您預計這一情況全年會有所改善嗎？

Sure. Toni, it's Andy. On the large global bank merger, as we mentioned, the large bulk of the cancels related to that merger occurred in Q1. We did have some small items in previous quarters. And there could be some smaller items that trickle through as the integration continues later in the year, but we don't expect it to be anywhere close to what we saw in Q1 here.

當然。東尼，這是安迪。關於大型全球銀行合併，正如我們所提到的，與該合併相關的大部分取消發生在第一季。前幾個季度我們確實有一些小物品。隨著今年稍後整合的繼續，可能會出現一些較小的項目，但我們預計它不會接近我們在第一季看到的情況。

Just more generally, I would underscore that retention rates among asset managers and asset owners remain healthy, so at 95% and 97%, respectively. And maybe I can provide a little bit more color on the elevation in cancels that we saw in Q1 in addition to what I mentioned on the prepared remarks here. So of the $7.6 million increase we saw in index, $7 million, so the large majority of that came from client events or these corporate events that we alluded to, $4 million of that attributable to this global bank merger.

更一般地說，我想強調資產管理者和資產所有者的保留率仍然保持健康，分別為 95% 和 97%。除了我在此處準備好的評論中提到的內容之外，也許我可以為我們在第一季看到的取消中的高程提供更多的顏色。因此，在我們看到的指數增加的 760 萬美元中，有 700 萬美元，其中大部分來自客戶活動或我們提到的這些公司活動，其中 400 萬美元歸因於這次全球銀行合併。

Beyond that, we did see a concentration of hedge fund-related events. So strategy changes, closures, team departures that all came together in the first quarter here. Similarly, the other area where we saw an increase in cancels year-over-year was ESG and climate. And as I mentioned, 80% of the increase year-over-year came from higher level of corporate events, including $2.5 million from the global bank merger that we've been alluding to. And so there really was this acute bunching of events that occurred during the first quarter here. And as we alluded to, we don't expect this level of cancels to continue going forward.

除此之外，我們確實看到了與對沖基金相關的事件集中發生。因此，策略變化、關閉、團隊離職，所有這些都在第一季匯集在一起。同樣，我們看到取消數量逐年增加的另一個領域是 ESG 和氣候。正如我所提到的，年成長的 80% 來自更高層級的企業活動，其中包括我們一直提到的全球銀行合併帶來的 250 萬美元。因此，第一季確實發生了一系列嚴重的事件。正如我們所提到的，我們預計這種取消程度不會持續下去。

Your next question comes from the line of Alex Kramm with UBS.

您的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Alex Kramm。

At the risk of kind of almost asking the same thing, wondering in particular, as it comes to the asset management end market, which is still your largest client set, what you're seeing and what gives you confidence that things are getting better? I mean it sounds like markets are getting better, and that should be a leading indicator. But at the same time, it seems like you guys have historically said that you're doing really, really well with the largest asset managers, but there's a smaller set that I think continues to really struggle with flows and just the overall environment.

冒著幾乎問同樣問題的風險，特別想知道，當涉及到資產管理終端市場時，這仍然是您最大的客戶群，您所看到的是什麼以及是什麼讓您有信心事情正在變得更好？我的意思是，聽起來市場正在好轉，這應該是一個領先指標。但同時，你們似乎一直在說，你們與最大的資產管理公司合作得非常非常好，但我認為還有一小部分資產管理公司繼續在資金流動和整體環境方面陷入困境。

So I guess the question is, why are you not worried that, that smaller end of the asset management market is structurally challenged and could structurally hit you and that it comes back. I mean you talked to a lot of the clients all the time. So just wondering what you're hearing.

所以我想問題是，為什麼你不擔心資產管理市場的較小端受到結構性挑戰，可能會結構性地打擊你，然後它會捲土重來。我的意思是你一直在和很多客戶交談。所以只是想知道你聽到了什麼。

Sure. Yes. And so as we've mentioned before, Alex, budgets were set for this year last year when it was a tough environment. And so we are seeing the impacts of tighter budgets on sales cycles, buying decisions and the overall selling environment on top of what is typically a seasonally soft quarter for us in Q1.

當然。是的。正如我們之前提到的，亞歷克斯，去年的預算是在環境艱難的時候制定的。因此，除了第一季通常出現的季節性疲軟季度外，我們還看到預算收緊對銷售週期、購買決策和整體銷售環境的影響。

As we've alluded to, we are seeing strong engagement among asset managers, and we are focused on helping them where we can, which means selling more to them. And so we continue to view them as a key opportunity for us in a key area where we see attractive growth as they reposition their business models for the future. And you can see that in the elevated growth in areas like our custom and special packages, and so we continue to have the steady growth of 8% with asset managers. And when you look at across the module types, we've got the outsized growth in some of these key areas that asset managers are moving towards.

正如我們所提到的，我們看到資產管理公司的積極參與，我們致力於盡可能地幫助他們，這意味著向他們出售更多產品。因此，我們繼續將它們視為我們在關鍵領域的關鍵機會，隨著他們重新定位未來的業務模式，我們看到了有吸引力的成長。你可以看到我們的客製化和特殊套餐等領域的高速成長，因此我們與資產管理公司的合作繼續保持 8% 的穩定成長。當你縱觀整個模組類型時，你會發現資產管理公司正在朝著的一些關鍵領域取得了巨大的成長。

So we would expect, as you alluded to, sustained momentum in equity markets to be a positive factor and be something that continues to be constructive to buying behavior. But this has been a slow moving cycle, and I think, it will take some time to work through. But I would also highlight that we see large and growing demand across other segments. And we see that with new solutions and existing solutions, and we hope that will continue to build as well.

因此，正如您所提到的，我們預計股市的持續勢頭將成為一個積極因素，並繼續對購買行為產生建設性影響。但這是一個緩慢的周期，我認為需要一些時間才能完成。但我還要強調的是，我們看到其他領域的需求龐大且不斷成長。我們透過新的解決方案和現有的解決方案看到了這一點，我們希望這種情況也能繼續發展。

Your next question comes from the line of Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

你的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的馬納夫·帕特奈克（Manav Patnaik）。

I guess my question is broadly on visibility. So maybe just a 2-parter. First, all these elevated cancellations that occurred in the first quarter, when, I guess, did you guys know that was going to happen. Like how much in advance do they typically give you notice? And then similarly, like looking ahead, you talked about a lot of client engagement, selling them new business, but then you also talked about lengthening sales cycles. So maybe just your thoughts on when we could see these engagements convert to bookings and show a pickup in the numbers.

我想我的問題主要是關於可見性。所以也許只是兩個人。首先，所有這些取消都發生在第一季度，我想你們知道這會發生嗎？例如他們通常會提前多久通知您？同樣，就像展望未來一樣，您談到了很多客戶參與，向他們推銷新業務，但您也談到了延長銷售週期。因此，也許只是您對我們何時可以看到這些互動轉化為預訂並顯示數字上升的想法。

Yes. So on the first point about visibility, listen, we do have some visibility into the overall level of activity. And so as we've alluded to in the past, we've been seeing some elevated levels of pressure from our clients. And we've been expecting an elevated contribution from client events. But the exact timing of when they occur, we don't always know. And so we did not expect this type of concentration in the first quarter here. We had this bunching of cancels that ended up occurring altogether.

是的。因此，關於可見性的第一點，聽著，我們確實對整體活動水平有一定的了解。正如我們過去提到的，我們已經看到來自客戶的壓力增加。我們一直期待客戶活動的貢獻更大。但它們發生的確切時間，我們並不總是知道。因此，我們沒想到第一季會出現這種類型的集中。我們經歷了一系列的取消，最終完全發生了。

And as a result, we don't expect this level of cancels to continue going forward. We do expect some elevated level of client activity just given the environment, but we are expecting retention rates to rebound through the year here and move more towards what we saw last year as we move towards the latter part of this year. In terms of outlook on the sales side and visibility into the longer-term pipeline, listen, as I mentioned, we do have a solid pipeline.

因此，我們預期這種取消程度不會持續下去。考慮到當前的環境，我們確實預計客戶活動水平會有所提高，但我們預計保留率將在今年反彈，並在進入今年下半年時更加接近去年的水平。就銷售方面的前景和對長期管道的可見性而言，正如我所提到的，我們確實擁有堅實的管道。

We've got solid engagement from clients. And at the same time, we are seeing just longer sales cycles and these budget constraints. And so to the extent and when the pressures begin to alleviate that should translate through into, I think, encouraging growth for us. And as I alluded to in the last question, it's not just in our core products, but we do see opportunities in newer solutions that we have as well as in many of these client segments that are a little less exposed to some of the cyclical dynamics that we're talking about.

我們得到了客戶的積極參與。同時，我們看到銷售週期更長以及預算限制。因此，我認為，當壓力開始減輕時，這應該轉化為鼓勵我們的成長。正如我在上一個問題中提到的，這不僅存在於我們的核心產品中，而且我們確實看到了我們擁有的更新解決方案以及許多受某些週期性動態影響較小的客戶群中的機會。我們正在談論的。

Your next question comes from the line of Alexander Hess with JPMorgan.

您的下一個問題來自摩根大通的亞歷山大‧赫斯 (Alexander Hess)。

I was wondering if you could break down the growth in index subscription run rate year-on-year into sort of pricing, upsell, cross-sell, new business wins? And then maybe some comments on what you expect for those line items as the year progresses.

我想知道您是否可以將指數訂閱運行率同比增長分解為定價、追加銷售、交叉銷售、新業務獲勝等方面？然後也許會發表一些關於隨著時間的推移您對這些訂單項目的期望的評論。

Sure. Sure. Alex. So on the pricing front, I would highlight that we, and we've alluded to this in the past, that we had a lower contribution on a dollar amount and on a percentage level from price increases within new subscription sales. It's important to underscore that we continue to be very measured with our increases. It is an important lever for us, and we do want to make sure we're capturing the value that we are delivering to clients, but we do factor in the overall pricing environment as well as client health.

當然。當然。亞歷克斯.因此，在定價方面，我要強調的是，我們過去已經提到過，我們對新訂閱銷售中價格上漲的美元金額和百分比水準的貢獻較低。需要強調的是，我們對成長仍然非常謹慎。這對我們來說是一個重要的槓桿，我們確實希望確保我們能夠獲得為客戶提供的價值，但我們確實考慮了整體定價環境以及客戶健康狀況。

And so the contribution from price increase was a little bit more modest relative to what we saw last year. The balance of new subscription sales was largely related to what we would call cross-selling or upselling. So delivering more solutions to existing clients that is the bulk of sales in the quarter, and we believe a key to our growth going forward. And so that strong engagement with clients is encouraging because we do believe we can continue to sell more to them.

因此，與我們去年看到的相比，價格上漲的貢獻要小一些。新訂閱銷售的餘額很大程度上與我們所謂的交叉銷售或追加銷售有關。因此，向現有客戶提供更多解決方案是本季銷售額的大部分，我們相信這是我們未來成長的關鍵。因此，與客戶的密切互動令人鼓舞，因為我們確實相信我們可以繼續向他們銷售更多產品。

As we've alluded to, when you break down the components of growth here, we saw 8% growth within our market cap modules. We saw 19% growth in custom and special packages. And we saw across client segments outsized growth, continue to see outsized growth with asset owners and wealth managers and very strong growth despite this bunching of some hedge fund events despite that bunching, we continue to see strong growth among hedge funds as well. So the growth is multifaceted, and I think many of the drivers of long-term opportunity.

正如我們所提到的，當你分解這裡的成長組成部分時，我們看到我們的市值模組成長了 8%。我們看到客製化和特殊套餐成長了 19%。我們看到各個客戶群都出現了大幅增長，資產所有者和財富管理機構也繼續看到了大幅增長，儘管一些對沖基金事件不斷發生，但我們仍然看到對沖基金的強勁增長。因此，成長是多方面的，我認為許多驅動因素都是長期機會。

Your next question comes from the line of Ashish Sabadra with RBC Capital.

您的下一個問題來自 RBC Capital 的 Ashish Sabadra。

I just wanted to drill down further on the ESG and Climate segment. I was wondering if you could talk about how some of the new regulations in Europe, particularly CSRD could potentially help influence the demand for the products going forward. But also, have you seen any incremental headwinds of politicization of ESG in the U.S.? And lastly, on the climate side, how should we think about the growth momentum there.

我只是想進一步深入了解 ESG 和氣候領域。我想知道您是否可以談談歐洲的一些新法規，特別是 CSRD 可能如何幫助影響未來產品的需求。而且，您是否看到美國 ESG 政治化帶來的任何阻力？最後，在氣候方面，我們應該如何看待那裡的成長勢頭。

(inaudible) is a very important tailwind for us notably in EMEA. But where it is the broadest and a variety of directors are coming in, which affect our clients but it's also in many other jurisdictions, notably, there's been news in Australia about the regulator being very focused on disclosure and ESG and climate. And I won't go through a laundry list of jurisdictions, but this is a very important continued driver for growth.

（聽不清楚）對我們來說是一個非常重要的推動力，尤其是在歐洲、中東和非洲地區。但在範圍最廣泛的地方，各種各樣的董事都會加入，這會影響我們的客戶，但在許多其他司法管轄區也是如此，值得注意的是，澳大利亞有消息稱監管機構非常關注披露、ESG和氣候。我不會列出一系列司法管轄區，但這是一個非常重要的持續成長動力。

And for sure, not merely is it not going away, but we see it increasing with new regulations appearing in different jurisdictions, and we're convinced that we can add a lot of value there. The second thing is, we want to put a great emphasis that in our ESG, we're focused on financial materiality which is not a political issue. And as we go into the rest of this year and notably with our sales and marketing in the United States, (inaudible) central to our communication with clients in the market. And we're confident that we can bring a lot of value to investors with these type of insights. So those are my observations, both related to regulation and the way that we want to bring our ESG focus back to financial materiality where it started.

可以肯定的是，它不僅不會消失，而且隨著不同司法管轄區出現新法規，它的數量也在增加，我們相信我們可以在那裡增加很多價值。第二件事是，我們要強調的是，在我們的 ESG 中，我們關注的是財務重要性，這不是一個政治議題。隨著我們進入今年剩餘時間，特別是我們在美國的銷售和行銷，（聽不清楚）是我們與市場客戶溝通的核心。我們相信，透過這些見解，我們可以為投資者帶來許多價值。這些是我的觀察，既與監管有關，也與我們希望將 ESG 重點帶回最初的財務重要性的方式有關。

Your next question comes from the line of Owen Lau with Oppenheimer.

你的下一個問題來自劉歐文和奧本海默的台詞。

So going back to Slide 9, and thank you for putting together this slide. It mentioned that 85% of subscription run rate subscribing to multiple product lines. Could you please talk about the historical pattern for this percentage? Has it been going up or down or relatively flat. Also, what does it take to increase the engagement with your clients to increase the product line from one product to, let's say, more than one?

回到投影片 9，感謝您整理這張投影片。它提到85%的訂閱運行率訂閱了多個產品線。您能談談這個百分比的歷史模式嗎？是上漲還是下跌還是相對持平？此外，如何增加與顧客的互動，將產品線從一種產品增加到（例如）多種產品？

Yes. I would say, Owen, that we have historically seen outsized retention with our largest clients as well as those clients that are subscribing to multiple products. It's a key part of our strategy and has been a key part of our strategy for many years. As you're probably aware, we have had a more strategic selling effort with these large accounts. We have what we call senior account managers and key account managers across the organization where we agree -- we engage holistically with them. And so we're engaging typically at the C levels of these organizations, talking to them about what their objectives are and how MSCI can help them achieve those objectives. And that not only leads to higher engagement and retention rates over time, but it also leads to additional selling opportunities. And so the beauty of MSCI is, our solutions are interoperable.

是的。歐文，我想說的是，我們歷來都看到我們最大的客戶以及訂閱多種產品的客戶擁有大量的保留率。這是我們策略的關鍵部分，多年來一直是我們策略的關鍵部分。您可能知道，我們對這些大客戶進行了更具策略性的銷售工作。我們在整個組織內都有我們所謂的高級客戶經理和大客戶經理，我們同意與他們進行全面合作。因此，我們通常會與這些組織的 C 級人員接觸，與他們討論他們的目標是什麼以及 MSCI 如何幫助他們實現這些目標。隨著時間的推移，這不僅會帶來更高的參與度和留任率，還會帶來額外的銷售機會。 MSCI 的優點在於，我們的解決方案具有互通性。

We run an integrated franchise where our indexes are built on the same framework as our risk models and our ESG ratings and research. And so we can more effectively help these clients achieve their investment objectives over time and help them operate more efficiently.

我們經營綜合特許經營權，我們的指數與我們的風險模型以及 ESG 評級和研究建立在相同的框架上。因此，我們可以更有效地幫助這些客戶隨著時間的推移實現他們的投資目標，並幫助他們更有效率地運作。

And so this strategic selling effort has been integral to that. And as you can see by the figures that we put on Slide 9 here, it's critical to driving that higher level of retention and continued growth among these larger organizations around the globe.

因此，這種策略銷售努力是其中不可或缺的一部分。正如您從我們在投影片 9 上提供的資料中看到的那樣，對於推動全球這些大型組織實現更高水準的保留和持續成長至關重要。

Your next question comes from the line of Kelsey Zhu with Autonomous Research.

您的下一個問題來自 Autonomous Research 的 Kelsey Zhu。

I want to talk about custom index products for a second. This segment saw a really strong run rate growth of 19%. I was wondering if we can get your thoughts around the total addressable market for this product and kind of medium-term run rate growth for this segment.

我想談談客製化指數產品。該細分市場的運作率成長非常強勁，達到 19%。我想知道我們是否可以了解您對該產品的總潛在市場以及該細分市場的中期運行率增長的想法。

Yes. I don't have an exact number for total addressable market in front of me right now. But what I would say is that the range of use cases for customization is very broad. It ranges from asset owners of various different descriptions who require customized benchmarks for their portfolios. And in turn, those could be very different depending on the client type, whether it's an insurance company or a pension fund or an endowment.

是的。我現在沒有總目標市場的確切數字。但我想說的是，客製化的用例範圍非常廣泛。它的範圍包括各種不同描述的資產所有者，他們需要為其投資組合定制基準。反過來，根據客戶類型的不同，無論是保險公司、退休基金或捐贈基金，這些都可能會大不相同。

It then, of course, links to asset managers both for those institutional mandates and for mutual funds. There is a very large market for structured products which in turn is linked to our wealth segment strategy. So it's really the structured products where the investment banks are building products for wealth distribution. And so when we look across the entire sort of ecosystem this demand for customization is driven by different client types, different use cases, but also by different underlying ingredients.

當然，它會與機構授權和共同基金的資產管理公司聯繫起來。結構性產品有一個非常大的市場，這又與我們的財富細分策略有關。因此，投資銀行實際上正在建構用於財富分配的結構性產品。因此，當我們縱觀整個生態系統時，這種客製化需求是由不同的客戶類型、不同的用例以及不同的底層要素驅動的。

And so as we have more components, different asset classes, different types of content, such as ESG and climate and different types of strategies, there's a very large upside here. We're very excited by this and our relatively modest-sized acquisition of Foxberry, which we think will be a great addition is going to help us accelerate that by building on our sort of our great industry quality and reputation with a nimble new software interface, which will help us bring product to market even faster.

因此，由於我們有更多的組成部分、不同的資產類別、不同類型的內容（例如 ESG 和氣候）以及不同類型的策略，因此存在非常大的優勢。我們對此感到非常興奮，我們對Foxberry 的規模相對較小的收購，我們認為這將是一個很好的補充，它將透過靈活的新軟體介面建立我們偉大的行業品質和聲譽，從而幫助我們加速這一進程。

Your next question comes from the line of George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

你的下一個問題來自高盛的喬治唐（George Tong）。

This question is for Henry. Henry, can you discuss how you're strategically balancing reinvestments to support long-term growth initiatives with near-term margin performance, specifically, to what extent do you believe MSCI will be entering a new investment cycle that could fuel strong pursuit of new growth initiatives at the potential expense of near-term margins?

這個問題是問亨利的。亨利，您能否討論一下您如何在戰略上平衡再投資以支持長期增長計劃與近期利潤表現，具體來說，您認為MSCI 將在多大程度上進入一個新的投資週期，從而推動對新增長的強烈追求以犧牲近期利潤為代價的舉措？

That's definitely the key balancing act that we [take] at MSCI every year. How do we balance continued high levels of profitability for our shareholders with investments that are going to drive significant revenue growth in the future. So the first thing that we do, George, is that -- the first thing we try to do is we try to keep the level of investment every year despite any headwinds, and we do that by creating even more efficiency and at some point, hitting our compensation expenses to keep that high level of investment within the year.

這絕對是我們每年在 MSCI 採取的關鍵平衡措施。我們如何平衡股東持續高水準的獲利能力和未來將推動收入顯著成長的投資。因此，喬治，我們要做的第一件事是——我們嘗試做的第一件事是，儘管有任何阻力，我們仍努力保持每年的投資水平，我們透過創造更高的效率來做到這一點，並在某個時候，削減我們的補償費用，以在年內保持高投資水平。

The second thing that we do is that we try to increase that level of rate of growth of investment on a year-over-year basis at a rate, say, double the noninvestment expenses in the company. So that we continue to [feed] the funding of significant growth opportunities we have ahead of us. The third thing that we do is, we believe that having short-term pressures and having short term, meaning within a year or so within a few quarters or a year, discipline of maintaining higher levels of profitability is actually a positive, not a negative. Because it helps us focus on the highest return investment on the ones that are going to be paying off shorter term rather than long term and making sure that the whole company is mobilizing to continue to do what we currently do, not what we're investing in, but what we currently do much more efficiently and much more productively.

我們做的第二件事是，我們嘗試提高投資成長率水平，例如，將公司非投資費用增加一倍。這樣我們就可以繼續為我們面前的重大成長機會提供資金。我們做的第三件事是，我們認為，有短期壓力，有短期，即在一年左右的幾個季度或一年內，保持較高盈利水平的紀律實際上是積極的，而不是消極的。因為它幫助我們專注於那些短期而不是長期回報的最高回報投資，並確保整個公司都動員起來繼續做我們目前正在做的事情，而不是我們正在投資的事情，但我們目前所做的事情更加有效和富有成效。

So that's kind of the balancing act. So I don't think that, that's going to dramatically change given it's almost like a dual mandate, if you (inaudible), employment and inflation is a little bit of that. We have a dual mandate to maintain high levels of short-term profitability versus long-term growth. Now there are outside possibilities that we have discarded.

這就是一種平衡行為。所以我不認為這會發生巨大的變化，因為它幾乎就像一個雙重任務，如果你（聽不清楚），就業和通貨膨脹只是其中的一點點。我們肩負著維持高水準的短期獲利能力和長期成長的雙重使命。現在我們已經放棄了一些外在可能性。

We're not going to run the EBITDA margin significantly higher in the company unless there is an incredible amount of money that flows through the P&L because of higher equity values in our indexing products. And on the other hand, we're not going to meaningfully lower at all the levels of margins that we currently have. So that's the objective that we have so far.

我們不會大幅提高公司的 EBITDA 利潤率，除非由於我們的指數產品的股本價值較高而有大量資金流經損益表。另一方面，我們不會大幅降低目前的所有利潤水準。這就是我們迄今為止的目標。

Your next question comes from the line of Heather Balsky with Bank of America.

您的下一個問題來自美國銀行的希瑟‧巴爾斯基 (Heather Balsky)。

I just wanted to piggyback on the last question and just ask you, as you think about areas of investment and areas where you'd like to accelerate investment to drive growth longer term, where are you most focused? What type of products, what segments of your business?

我只是想藉用最後一個問題問您，當您考慮投資領域以及您希望加速投資以推動長期成長的領域時，您最關注哪些領域？什麼類型的產品，您的業務領域是什麼？

There are a number of areas. I mean, pretty much everything that we do at MSCI has a tail in this back and incredible long-term potential. We're very fortunate about that. Now some things materialize faster in the short term and some things are going to take a few quarters, maybe a few years to materialize in a big way.

有很多領域。我的意思是，我們在 MSCI 所做的幾乎所有事情都有一個尾巴，並且具有令人難以置信的長期潛力。我們對此感到非常幸運。現在，有些事情在短期內會更快實現，而有些事情將需要幾個季度，甚至幾年才能大規模實現。

The first thing that we always focus on is the continued growth of our [index] franchise because despite what some people think about indexation, whether it's benchmarking, indices sold to active managers, active equity managers or the pace of growth of passive investing. We see enormous possibilities of derivative products, both listed, options, with futures and structured products with the enormous potential for non-market cap indices in ESG, in thematic, in climate, in factors and all of that. And now we have a new wave of growth coming from direct indexing in wealth management, which is an ability to basically customize an individual portfolio in a way that is scalable with indices rather than active management.

我們始終關注的第一件事是我們[指數]特許經營權的持續增長，因為儘管有些人對指數化有什麼看法，無論是基準測試、出售給主動經理人、主動股票經理的指數還是被動投資的增長速度。我們看到衍生性商品（包括上市產品、選擇權、期貨和結構性產品）的巨大可能性，以及 ESG、主題、氣候、因素等非市值指數的巨大潛力。現在，財富管理領域的直接指數化帶來了新的成長浪潮，這種能力基本上可以透過指數而不是主動管理來擴展個人投資組合。

And on top of that -- that's the equity part. And on top of that, we see a lot of potential in fixed income indexation. So this is all part of the barbell in the investment world. On one hand, is high levels of systematic investing in which index investing is part of that. And the other part is very high levels of active management, which obviously private asset management is the most important one, but also concentrated portfolios and things like that. So that's where we're positioned in the company. So we start with definitely index. Then we look at the next level, which is sustainability and within sustainability ESG, obviously, but climate, we think ESG will continue to grow.

最重要的是──這是股權部分。最重要的是，我們看到固定收益指數化的巨大潛力。所以這都是投資界槓鈴的一部分。一方面，是高水準的系統性投資，其中指數投資是其中的一部分。另一部分是非常高水準的主動管理，顯然私人資產管理是最重要的，但也包括集中的投資組合之類的。這就是我們在公司的定位。所以我們從絕對索引開始。然後我們著眼於下一個層面，即永續性和永續性 ESG 範圍內，顯然，但在氣候方面，我們認為 ESG 將繼續成長。

ESG is not a political philosophy, it is not -- is the investment risk and investment opportunity. No matter what people say, what people politicizes or whatever is part of the fabric of investing as to how you're going to manage the portfolio with respect to all these factors in addition to financial factors and other market factors. So that we're in obviously down cycle on that given the political situation in the U.S., given the reset of regulations in Europe, but we're beginning to see significant growth of that in Asia. So that's a second component.

ESG不是一種政治哲學，它不是－投資風險和投資機會。無論人們怎麼說，人們將什麼政治化，或者無論什麼是投資結構的一部分，除了財務因素和其他市場因素外，你將如何管理投資組合。因此，考慮到美國的政治局勢和歐洲法規的重置，我們顯然處於下行週期，但我們開始看到亞洲的顯著增長。這是第二個組成部分。

The third component, which we're now positioning ourselves enormously is our ability to be a large provider of transparency and performance and risk tools and benchmark indices and asset allocation, et cetera, in the private assets. The biggest revolution going on in the world right now is private credit. It's going from balance sheet-driven things, on the balance sheet of banks and balance sheet of insurance companies to a fund structure. So if that revolution in private credit into a fund structure has an investor in it, whether it's an institutional or wealth management individual investor, they're going to need transparency tools.

第三個組成部分，我們現在對自己的定位非常重要，是我們有能力成為私人資產中透明度、績效、風險工具、基準指數和資產配置等的大型提供者。目前世界上正在發生的最大革命是私人信貸。它從資產負債表驅動的東西，銀行的資產負債表和保險公司的資產負債表轉向基金結構。因此，如果私人信貸向基金結構的革命吸引了投資者，無論是機構投資者還是財富管理個人投資者，他們都將需要透明度工具。

They're going to have to understand performance and risk and all of that, which will be a lot different than on the balance sheet of a bank or an insurance company, and this is where we come in. Those are 3 big areas that we're focused on. There are other areas that, obviously, our role in fixed income portfolio management is a big one, our role in providing even more tools to the analytics, insights, for example, and [some] portfolios and climate risk within analytics. So those are basically the broad areas that we're focusing on, on the product side.

他們必須了解績效和風險以及所有這些，這與銀行或保險公司的資產負債表有很大不同，這就是我們的切入點。顯然，在其他領域，我們在固定收益投資組合管理中的作用也很重要，我們在為分析、見解以及分析中的[一些]投資組合和氣候風險提供更多工具方面發揮著重要作用。因此，這些基本上是我們在產品方面關注的廣泛領域。

Of course, all of that has a huge corollary of the areas that we're expanding into the client side beyond active managers. As it was said before, you'll hear quite often the balance sheet of bank, the hedge funds, the corporates, the asset owners, and so on and so forth. Those are on the client side, we see enormous growth opportunities in the non-asset management segment. So that's a little bit of an overview.

當然，所有這些都有一個巨大的推論，即我們正在擴展到主動式管理基金以外的客戶端領域。如同之前所說，你會經常聽到銀行、對沖基金、公司、資產所有者等等的資產負債表。這些是在客戶端，我們看到非資產管理領域存在巨大的成長機會。這只是一個概述。

Your next question comes from the line of Scott Wurtzel with Wolfe Research.

您的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Scott Wurtzel。

Just wanted to touch on the basis point fees within the Index segment and kind of seeing that steadily decline over the last few quarters. Are there any mix dynamics there we should be aware of as it relates to the current market environment? And how should we be thinking about that basis point fee going forward?

只是想談談指數部分的基點費用，並看到在過去幾季中穩步下降。是否存在與當前市場環境相關的我們應該注意的混合動態？我們該如何考慮未來的基點費用？

Sure. Yes. So we did see a modest decline in the basis points from the prior quarter from 2.50 down to 2.48 basis points. That was driven almost entirely by mix shift. Most of that resulted from a lower contribution of higher fee international products and a higher contribution AUM from lower fee products with U.S. exposure. I would say there's nothing new to call out here. There can be some dynamics with AUM levels.

當然。是的。因此，我們確實看到基點較上一季略有下降，從 2.50 降至 2.48 個基點。這幾乎完全是由混合轉變所驅動的。其中大部分是由於費用較高的國際產品的貢獻較低，以及美國業務的費用較低的產品的資產管理規模較高。我想說這裡沒有什麼新鮮的。 AUM 水準可能存在一些動態變化。

And you saw this when AUM levels dropped, there was more stability in the fees. So there are some fee arrangements we have where the fees do step up at lower AUM levels and vice versa, they step down at higher AUM levels. And so that can be one small factor to point out, but I'd say nothing out of the ordinary or nothing new relative to what we've seen in the past. We do expect over time fees to gradually come down, driven by mix shift although we expect the growth in assets and the tremendous opportunity we have across so many different frontiers to more than offset that decline, which is what we've seen.

當資產管理規模水準下降時，您會看到這一點，費用更加穩定。因此，我們有一些費用安排，在 AUM 水平較低時，費用會增加，反之亦然，在 AUM 水平較高時，費用會降低。因此，這可能是需要指出的一個小因素，但我想說，與我們過去所看到的情況相比，沒有什麼不尋常的或沒有什麼新的。我們確實預計，隨著時間的推移，在混合轉型的推動下，費用將逐漸下降，儘管我們預計資產的增長以及我們在許多不同領域擁有的巨大機會將足以抵消這種下降，這就是我們所看到的。

And as you can tell by the healthy overall ETF revenue contribution, but also the overall ABF revenue growth. And so I would highlight that within non-ETF passive, the fee dynamics have been much more stable there. And that's going back to the question about custom indexes in the non-ETF passive category. That is an area where we see tremendous engagement and growth around areas like custom indexes and many times, those can be higher fee type mandates that we see.

正如您可以從健康的整體 ETF 收入貢獻以及整體 ABF 收入成長中看出的那樣。因此，我要強調的是，在非被動型 ETF 中，費用動態穩定得多。這又回到了關於非 ETF 被動類別中的自訂指數的問題。在這個領域，我們看到自訂索引等領域的巨大參與和成長，很多時候，這些可能是我們看到的更高費用類型的要求。

Your next question comes from the line of Craig Huber with Huber Research Partners.

您的下一個問題來自 Craig Huber 和 Huber Research Partners 的電話。

Can you touch on AI and the benefits that you can see going forward here to benefit your products over time, you could potentially sell at significantly higher price point? What excites you on that front? And also touch on, if you would, the cost-cutting opportunity going forward on that front?

您能否談談人工智慧以及您在這裡看到的好處，隨著時間的推移，您的產品將受益，您可能會以更高的價格出售產品？在這方面什麼讓你興奮？如果您願意的話，還可以談談這方面未來的成本削減機會嗎？

Sure. I'll make a few observations on that. So I'll start with the first point, which is about efficiencies. So I think we prefer to see it as efficiencies rather than cost-cutting per se because a lot of our goal is to try to get things done faster and to reinvest a lot of that in these growth opportunities that we're talking about.

當然。我將對此發表一些看法。所以我將從第一點開始，也就是關於效率。因此，我認為我們更願意將其視為效率而不是削減成本本身，因為我們的許多目標是嘗試更快地完成工作，並將大量資金重新投資於我們正在談論的這些成長機會。

But we're very focused on that aspect of things across a variety of projects that we have going on. So in turn, we're also working to apply AI in a variety of product areas. We have, actually, a launch coming up during the course of this quarter on Analytic Insights where we, in essence, take an enormous amount of complex data for clients, which they normally would have to parse through in rather inefficient ways and bring the direct insights using AI. So I think that will just be the beginning of that.

但我們在正在進行的各種專案中都非常關注這方面的事情。因此，我們也努力將人工智慧應用到各種產品領域。實際上，我們將在本季度推出“分析洞察”，本質上，我們為客戶獲取大量複雜的數據，他們通常必須以相當低效的方式解析這些數據，並帶來直接的結果。見解。所以我認為這只是一切的開始。

We have to really be focused on thinking about this in a competitive environment. And so as we go forward, I think, the real benefit of AI for us is that we are a very data-rich environment. And our clients are always trying to get greater insights out of all of those capabilities that we deliver to them. And so in terms of new product development, that's where we'll definitely be keeping you -- have more news during the rest of this year as we bring out, as I said, both in this quarter and quarters ahead, capabilities about bringing our clients greater insight and faster and differentiated calculations using AI.

我們必須在競爭環境中真正集中精力思考這個問題。因此，當我們前進時，我認為人工智慧對我們的真正好處是我們是一個數據非常豐富的環境。我們的客戶總是試圖從我們提供給他們的所有這些功能中獲得更深刻的見解。因此，就新產品開發而言，這就是我們肯定會讓您在今年剩餘時間內獲得更多消息的地方，正如我所說，在本季度和未來幾個季度，我們將推出我們的能力使用人工智慧為客戶提供更深入的洞察力以及更快且差異化的運算。

Your next question comes from the line of Faiza Alwy with Deutsche Bank.

您的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Faiza Alwy。

I wanted to touch on capital allocation, just given what the stock has been doing over the last year and more recently, I'm curious if your views on capital allocation have evolved and how you would prioritize share buybacks versus potential M&A opportunities and other things?

我想談談資本配置，考慮到該股票在過去一年和最近的表現，我很好奇您對資本配置的看法是否發生了變化，以及您將如何優先考慮股票回購與潛在的併購機會和其他事情？

Sure. Yes. So I'd say, generally, our approach to capital allocation has not changed. So we pay a steady dividend that grows with EPS of the company. And then we look to generate value with excess capital and cash beyond that. And so we are continually looking for opportunities to do that. While we do monitor the market for potentially strategic attractive MP&A, sometimes the best opportunity for us for creating value is investing in MSCI, so buying our stock back. And so we are long-term believers in the company and the future value. And so our approach to share repurchases has not changed, and we'll look to use available cash when we see attractive opportunities in the stock.

當然。是的。所以我想說，總的來說，我們的資本配置方法沒有改變。因此，我們支付穩定的股息，該股息隨著公司每股收益的增長而增長。然後我們希望用多餘的資本和現金創造價值。因此，我們不斷尋找機會來做到這一點。雖然我們確實監控市場中具有潛在戰略吸引力的 MP&A，但有時我們創造價值的最佳機會是投資 MSCI，因此回購我們的股票。因此，我們長期相信公司和未來價值。因此，我們回購股票的方法並沒有改變，當我們看到股票中有吸引力的機會時，我們將考慮使用可用現金。

Your next question comes from the line of Russell Quelch with Redburn Atlantic.

您的下一個問題來自拉塞爾·奎爾奇 (Russell Quelch) 與雷德本大西洋月刊 (Redburn Atlantic) 的對話。

Your next question comes from the line of Greg Simpson with BNP Paribas.

您的下一個問題來自法國巴黎銀行的格雷格辛普森 (Greg Simpson)。

I just wanted to check in on private markets. Can you talk about the run rate growth of Burgiss. And if you think the 20% top line growth you talked about for 2024 and beyond still looks on track? Or are there any challenges in the sales environment within private markets?

我只是想了解私人市場。您能談談 Burgiss 的運轉率成長嗎？您是否認為您談到的 2024 年及以後 20% 的營收成長看起來仍然步入正軌？或者私募市場的銷售環境是否有任何挑戰？

Sure. Yes. So as Baer alluded to, we saw 17% run rate growth in private capital solutions. I would say generally, our integration is largely on track from both a go-to-market and a technology and data infrastructure standpoint. We have seen encouraging signs in the areas where we think we can add value. So we've seen outsized growth in EMEA and getting good traction in Asia. So areas where I think MSCI can help on the go-to-market, I would say more generally, we continue to be optimistic about the long-term opportunity across private capital solutions and continue to see big long-term opportunities there.

當然。是的。正如貝爾所提到的，我們看到私人資本解決方案的運作率成長了 17%。我想說，總的來說，從進入市場以及技術和數據基礎設施的角度來看，我們的整合基本上已經步入正軌。在我們認為可以增加價值的領域，我們看到了令人鼓舞的跡象。因此，我們看到了歐洲、中東和非洲地區的巨大成長，並在亞洲獲得了良好的吸引力。因此，我認為 MSCI 可以幫助進入市場的領域，我想說的是，更籠統地說，我們繼續對私人資本解決方案的長期機會持樂觀態度，並繼續看到那裡的巨大長期機會。

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Henry Fernandez, Chairman and CEO of MSCI.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我現在將會議轉回 MSCI 董事長兼執行長亨利·費爾南德斯 (Henry Fernandez)。

Thank you for joining us today and for those very insightful questions that you asked. As we have said in the past, our operating structure at MSCI is to continue to be a long-term compounder of our earnings and our share price and our revenues and all of that. And there is absolutely no change in our objectives to achieve that.

感謝您今天加入我們並提出那些非常有見地的問題。正如我們過去所說，我們在 MSCI 的營運結構將繼續成為我們獲利、股價、營收等等的長期複合因素。我們實現這目標的目標絕對沒有改變。

Despite the operating environment challenges that we have had in the last few quarters, we remain conscious in the secular tailwinds and opportunities that we see ahead and that will continue to power our business. The elevated cancels we experienced in the first quarter were as a result of a concentration of client events that we do not expect to continue at these levels in quarters to come. And as we've said, our level of engagement with clients is unparalleled, is at a record high. The level of things that they want us to do, solutions that they want us to come up with is totally unparalleled, and it is increasing pretty much every day, every week, every quarter.

儘管我們在過去幾季遇到了營運環境挑戰，但我們仍然意識到我們未來看到的長期順風和機遇，這將繼續為我們的業務提供動力。我們在第一季經歷的取消數量增加是由於客戶活動集中造成的，我們預計未來幾季不會繼續保持這樣的水平。正如我們所說，我們與客戶的互動程度是無與倫比的，處於歷史最高水準。他們希望我們做的事情、他們希望我們提出的解決方案的水平是無與倫比的，而且每天、每週、每季幾乎都在增加。

And therefore, we are very committed in helping them achieve those objectives, whether it's capitalizing on opportunities or dealing with problems in their portfolios. Therefore, our all-weather franchise is pretty resilient, and it supports the business through good times and bad times. And we would like to thank you again for joining us this morning, and we look forward to speaking with you in the next few days and weeks.

因此，我們非常致力於幫助他們實現這些目標，無論是利用機會還是處理投資組合中的問題。因此，我們的全天候特許經營權具有相當的彈性，無論順境或逆境，它都能為業務提供支援。我們再次感謝您今天早上加入我們，我們期待在接下來的幾天和幾週內與您交談。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。