標普全球 (SPGI) 2020 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to S&P Global's Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. I'd like to inform you that this call is being recorded for broadcast. (Operator Instructions)

各位早安，歡迎參加 S&P Global 2020 年第二季財報電話會議。我想提醒各位，本次通話將被錄音以供播出。（接線員指示）

I would now like to introduce Mr. Chip Merritt, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations for S&P Global. Sir, you may begin.

現在我想介紹 S&P Global 投資人關係資深副總裁 Chip Merritt 先生。先生，您可以開始了。

Thank you for joining us today for S&P Global's second quarter earnings call. Presenting on today's call are Doug Peterson, President and CEO; and Ewout Steenbergen, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

感謝各位今天加入 S&P Global 第二季財報電話會議。今天出席並發言的有總裁兼執行長 Doug Peterson，以及執行副總裁兼財務長 Ewout Steenbergen。

As COVID-19 remains a concern, we are all calling in remotely instead of hosting this call together from our headquarters. If you notice any delays, we thank you for your understanding.

由於 COVID-19 仍令人擔憂，我們所有人都以遠端方式撥入，而非在總部共同主持本次會議。如您注意到任何延遲，敬請見諒。

We issued a news release with our second quarter 2020 results earlier today. If you need a copy of the release and financial schedules, they can be downloaded at investor.spglobal.com.

我們今天稍早已發布 2020 年第二季業績新聞稿。如您需要新聞稿與財務附表，可至 investor.spglobal.com 下載。

In today's earnings release and during the conference call, we're providing adjusted financial information. This information is provided to enable investors to make meaningful comparisons of the corporation's operating performance between periods and to view the corporation's business from the same perspective as management's.

在今天的財報新聞稿以及本次電話會議中，我們提供調整後（adjusted）的財務資訊。提供此資訊旨在讓投資人能在不同期間之間對公司營運表現進行有意義的比較，並以與管理層相同的視角來檢視公司的業務。

The earnings release contains exhibits that reconcile the difference between the non-GAAP measures and the comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. This call, especially the discussion of our outlook and associated scenarios, contains statements about expected future events that are forward-looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations can be found in our filings with the SEC and on our website.

財報新聞稿包含附表，用以調節非 GAAP 指標與依照美國 GAAP 計算之可比財務指標之差異。本次通話，特別是我們對展望及相關情境的討論，包含對預期未來事件的陳述，屬於前瞻性陳述，並受風險與不確定性影響。可能導致實際結果與預期存在重大差異的因素，請參閱我們向 SEC 提交的文件以及我們的網站。

Before we begin, I need to provide certain cautionary remarks about forward-looking statements. Except for historical information, the matters discussed in the teleconference may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including projections, estimates and descriptions of future events. Any such statements 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 results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.

在開始之前，我需要就前瞻性陳述提供若干警示性說明。除歷史資訊外，本次電話會議所討論事項可能包含《1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法》所定義的前瞻性陳述，包括預測、估計及對未來事件的描述。任何此類陳述均基於目前預期與當前經濟狀況，並受風險與不確定性影響，可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述所預期的結果存在重大差異。

In this regard, we direct listeners to the cautionary statements contained in our Form 10-Ks, 10-Qs and other periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. I would also like to call your attention to European regulation. Any investor who has or expects to obtain ownership of 5% or more of S&P Global should give me a call to better understand the impact of this legislation on the investor and, potentially, the company.

就此，我們請聽眾參閱我們在 Form 10-K、10-Q 及其他向美國證券交易委員會定期提交之報告中所載的警示性陳述。我也想提醒各位注意歐洲法規。任何已持有或預期取得 S&P Global 5% 或以上所有權的投資人，請與我聯繫，以更了解該立法對投資人以及（可能對）公司造成的影響。

We're aware that we do have some media representatives with us on the call. However, this call is intended for investors, and we would ask that questions for the media be directed to Dave Guarino at (212) 438-1471.

我們知道本次通話中也有一些媒體代表。不過，本次通話旨在面向投資人，我們請媒體的提問改向 Dave Guarino（電話：(212) 438-1471）提出。

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Doug Peterson. Doug?

此刻，我想把電話交給 Doug Peterson。Doug？

Thank you, Chip. Good morning, and welcome to today's earnings call. I'm going to begin by talking about our second quarter financial highlights, but I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for our people at S&P Global for their dedication and commitment in this extremely challenging time. I'm very proud of our teams and their resilience.

謝謝你，Chip。各位早安，歡迎參加今天的財報電話會議。我將先談談第二季的財務重點，但我想先花點時間，對 S&P Global 的同仁在這段極具挑戰的時期所展現的投入與承諾表達感謝。我為我們的團隊及其韌性深感自豪。

As we enter the second half of the year that none of us could have predicted, S&P Global and our people remain focused on supporting each other, our customers and our communities through this ongoing pandemic. We're still largely all working from home. We have developed plans to return to the office in a way that best suits our business and our employees when conditions permit.

當我們進入這個誰也無法預料的下半年，S&P Global 與我們的同仁仍專注於在這場持續的疫情中彼此支持，並支持我們的客戶與社區。我們目前仍大多在家工作。我們已制定返回辦公室的計畫，並將在條件允許時，以最符合我們業務與員工需求的方式推進。

Because we're fortunate enough to be able to work remotely and continue to deliver the highest value to our customers, we will only move forward with these plans when we're comfortable and confident in our ability to support all of our employees and clients in a safe environment. More to come on how we were doing this.

由於我們很幸運能夠遠端工作並持續為客戶提供最高價值，我們只會在確信且有把握能在安全環境中支持所有員工與客戶時，才會推進這些計畫。後續我們將提供更多關於我們如何推動此事的資訊。

Now let me begin with our second quarter financial highlights. A surge in liquidity-driven bond issuance resulted in exceptional second quarter results. Not only was the performance of the Ratings business strong, all 4 divisions delivered revenue and adjusted operating profit growth.

現在讓我先從第二季財務重點開始。由流動性驅動的債券發行激增，帶來了卓越的第二季業績。不僅評級（Ratings）業務表現強勁，四大事業部門的營收與調整後營業利益皆實現成長。

During our first quarter earnings call, we explained the expense controls we were putting in place to prudently manage through the pandemic. These efforts resulted in a 3% decline in total adjusted expenses during the second quarter and demonstrate the company's ability to reduce costs in a difficult environment. The combination of revenue growth, cost reductions and the reduction of shares outstanding resulted in adjusted diluted EPS growth of 40%.

在第一季財報電話會議中，我們說明了為審慎因應疫情而採取的費用控管措施。這些努力使第二季總調整後費用下降 3%，並展現公司在艱困環境中降低成本的能力。營收成長、成本下降以及流通在外股數減少的綜合效應，使調整後稀釋每股盈餘（EPS）成長 40%。

I'd also like to share some additional highlights from the second quarter. Most importantly, the company continued to successfully operate despite the COVID-19 pandemic. We completed the $100 million productivity program that we initiated at Investor Day in May of 2018 and achieved a run rate of $120 million in savings. Ewout will provide more details on that during his remarks as well as review our increased 2020 guidance.

我也想分享第二季的其他重點。最重要的是，公司在 COVID-19 疫情期間仍持續成功營運。我們完成了在 2018 年 5 月投資人日啟動的 1 億美元生產力計畫，並達成每年化（run rate）1.2 億美元的節省。Ewout 將在他的發言中提供更多細節，並回顧我們上調後的 2020 年指引。

We also continued our investment growth initiatives and launched several new products. I'll share information on these in a moment. And we introduced a new internal initiative [called Reimagine]. Over the next few months, we will reimagine and design the future of our workplace focusing on technology to transform how we serve our customers, where we work and how we work.

我們也持續投資成長計畫並推出數項新產品。我稍後會分享相關資訊。此外，我們推出了一項新的內部倡議（稱為 [Reimagine]）。在接下來幾個月，我們將重新想像並設計未來的工作場所，聚焦於以科技轉型我們如何服務客戶、在哪裡工作以及如何工作。

During these unprecedented times, our goal, first and foremost, was to support our people, [our clients] and our communities. To help our employees, we have increased benefits and introduced flexible work schedules to help them juggle hectic home lives and work. We've also introduced programs to elevate employees' understanding of racial injustice.

在這些前所未有的時期，我們的首要目標是支持我們的同仁、[我們的客戶] 與我們的社區。為了協助員工，我們提高了福利並推出彈性工時安排，幫助他們在忙碌的居家生活與工作之間取得平衡。我們也推出計畫，以提升員工對種族不公議題的理解。

Our efforts for diversity extend to our supply chain and business partners, where we strive to partner with minority, women, veteran and LGBTQ-owned businesses. We do not tolerate any discriminations at S&P Global and are taking the time to listen and learn from each other and ensure that we are part of the solution and are advocates of change.

我們在多元方面的努力也延伸至供應鏈與商業夥伴，我們致力於與少數族裔、女性、退伍軍人及 LGBTQ 擁有的企業合作。S&P Global 不容忍任何歧視，我們也花時間彼此傾聽與學習，確保我們是解決方案的一部分，並成為變革的倡議者。

In April, we added a question to our NPS survey, asking our customers how we were supporting them during the COVID-19 crisis. Our customers have expressed overwhelmingly positive feedback, acknowledging the increased frequency and availability of our research and insights related to COVID-19 via weekly calls, webinars and robust online content.

4 月，我們在 NPS 調查中新增了一個問題，詢問客戶在 COVID-19 危機期間我們如何支持他們。客戶給予壓倒性的正面回饋，肯定我們透過每週電話會議、網路研討會以及豐富的線上內容，提高了與 COVID-19 相關研究與洞見的發布頻率與可取得性。

Similarly, visitors across all our public websites have expressed a strong appetite for insights and research during the first half of the year. We've reached record levels of website visitors, time spent on our sites and content consumed in our thought leadership pieces, webinars and virtual events.

同樣地，在今年上半年，我們所有公開網站的訪客也展現出對洞見與研究的強烈需求。我們的網站訪客數、停留時間，以及在思想領導文章、網路研討會與線上活動中所消費的內容量，皆達到創紀錄水準。

In line with our commitment to give back and support our communities, the company was also able to make an additional $6 million contribution to the S&P Global Foundation in Q2. In 2020, the foundation is scheduled to make at least $11 million in contributions to support organizations in line with COVID-19 relief, racial equity and social justice, economic inclusion, environmental sustainability, gender equality and other organizations supporting our communities.

秉持回饋社會並支持社區的承諾，公司在第二季也額外向 S&P Global Foundation 捐助 600 萬美元。2020 年，基金會預計至少捐助 1,100 萬美元，以支持符合 COVID-19 紓困、種族平權與社會正義、經濟包容、環境永續、性別平等，以及其他支持我們社區之組織。

Our foundation grants during the COVID-19 pandemic have been used to help organizations connect 0.5 million people to local nutritious food distribution in the United States, distribute PPE kits to vulnerable families in many locations in Brazil and to feed 1 million people hot meals across parts of India.

在 COVID-19 疫情期間，我們基金會的補助款已用於協助相關組織在美國讓 50 萬人連結到在地營養食品配送；在巴西多地向弱勢家庭發放個人防護裝備（PPE）套組；並在印度部分地區為 100 萬人提供熱食。

To recap the financial results for the second quarter, revenue increased 14% to $1.9 billion. Our adjusted operating profit increased 31%, and our adjusted operating profit margin increased 740 basis points to 58.7%. As you know, we measure and track adjusted operating profit margin on a trailing 4-quarter basis, which increased 410 basis points to 53.6%. In addition, shares outstanding declined 2% over the past year, contributing to the 40% increase in adjusted diluted EPS.

回顧第二季財務結果，營收成長 14% 至 19 億美元。調整後營業利益成長 31%，調整後營業利益率提升 740 個基點至 58.7%。如各位所知，我們以過去 4 季（trailing 4-quarter）為基礎衡量並追蹤調整後營業利益率，該指標提升 410 個基點至 53.6%。此外，過去一年流通在外股數下降 2%，也促成調整後稀釋 EPS 成長 40%。

One of the strengths of S&P Global is the resilience of our business model. In 2019, over 70% of our revenue came from either subscriptions from the nontransaction portion of our Ratings business or from asset-linked fees, primarily in Indices. In addition, much of the transaction-based revenue in Ratings is driven by the refinancing of debt as it reaches maturity on a known and predictable schedule.

S&P Global 的優勢之一在於我們商業模式的韌性。2019 年，我們超過 70% 的營收來自訂閱收入（包括評級業務中非交易部分的訂閱）或資產連結費用（asset-linked fees），主要來自指數（Indices）。此外，評級業務中相當一部分以交易為基礎的營收，係由債務在已知且可預測的到期時程下進行再融資所驅動。

Another strength of our company is the wide range of sectors that we serve. In addition to financial institutions, we serve numerous industries, including utilities, technology, integrated oil and gas as well as governments. And because of this diversity of revenue, no 1 industry and certainly no 1 customer represents a majority of our business. In fact, nonfinancial corporates and industrial categories represent almost 60% of our revenue.

公司另一項優勢是我們服務的產業範圍廣泛。除金融機構外，我們也服務眾多產業，包括公用事業、科技、綜合性油氣，以及政府部門。也因為營收來源多元，沒有任何單一產業——更不用說單一客戶——占我們業務的大多數。事實上，非金融企業與工業類別合計約占我們營收的近 60%。

Each quarter, we highlight a few key drivers to our business and important projects underway. This quarter, let's start with the Ratings issuance trends.

每一季，我們都會重點說明幾項業務的關鍵驅動因素，以及正在推進的重要專案。本季，我們先從評級發行趨勢開始。

During the second quarter, global bond issuance increased 36%. If we also include bank loan ratings volume, total global issuance increased 31%. U.S. led the way with quarterly records for both investment-grade and high-yield issuance. Companies poured into the market to enhance their cash positions.

在第二季，全球債券發行量增加36%。若同時納入銀行貸款評等量，全球總發行量增加31%。美國領先創下投資級與高收益發行的單季紀錄。企業大量湧入市場以強化其現金部位。

While it's not unusual for large banks to tap the bond market several times during the quarter, it's unusual for corporates to do so. However, between the third week of March and the end of June, there were over 50 corporations that came to the market with multiple bond offerings.

大型銀行在一季內多次進入債券市場並不罕見，但企業這麼做則不常見。然而，在3月第三週至6月底之間，有超過50家企業以多檔債券發行多次進入市場。

What was also interesting was the way that companies approached issuance. Some came straight to the market. Some tapped their revolvers, and then several weeks later, termed out their debt with new issuance and repaid the revolvers, as you see on the next slide. And finally, some companies who are frequent issuers of commercial paper turned the bond market with new debt as the commercial paper market experienced a period of great volatility.

同樣有趣的是企業進行發行的方式。有些公司直接進入市場；有些先動用其循環信貸額度（revolver），然後在數週後透過新發行將債務轉為定期（term out），並償還循環信貸，如下一張投影片所示。最後，一些經常發行商業本票的公司，因商業本票市場經歷一段高度波動期，轉而到債券市場以新債融資。

Turning to the data. In the U.S., bond issuance in aggregate increased 57% as investment grade increased 135%, high yield increased 115%, public finance increased 9% and structured finance decreased 56%, with large declines in every asset class. European bond issuance increased 36% as investment grade increased 63%, high yield decreased 28% and structured finance decreased 21% due to declines across every asset class except ABS.

接著看數據。在美國，整體債券發行量增加57%，其中投資級增加135%、高收益增加115%、公共融資增加9%，而結構性融資下降56%，各資產類別均出現大幅下滑。歐洲債券發行量增加36%，其中投資級增加63%、高收益下降28%，結構性融資下降21%，原因是除ABS外，各資產類別皆下滑。

In Asia, bond issuance increased 16% overall, and Ratings issued 3 new domestic ratings in China. As China recovers from the pandemic, lockdowns are ending, and we have reopened our Chinese offices. While the pipeline of prospects continues to grow, meeting clients in person should help to advance the business.

在亞洲，整體債券發行量增加16%，而評等業務在中國新增發出3項國內評等。隨著中國自疫情中復甦，封控措施正在結束，我們也已重新開放中國辦公室。雖然潛在客戶管線持續成長，與客戶面對面會談應有助於推進業務。

As mentioned, here, you can see how corporations drew down these revolvers in March and April. And on the right-hand side of this slide, you see the dramatic increase of issuers during the quarter, with over 500 compared to 300 last year.

如前所述，在此可看到企業於3月與4月如何動用這些循環信貸額度。而在本投影片右側，可看到本季發行人數大幅增加，超過500家，相較去年為300家。

One of the first questions investors ask whenever there is a strong quarter of issuance is, "How much of this was pull forward?" Because of the unprecedented level of issuance, we thought we'd try to address this with some data.

每當發行量出現強勁季度時，投資人首先會問的問題之一是：「其中有多少是提前拉動（pull forward）？」由於本次發行量達到前所未有的水準，我們認為應嘗試用一些數據來回應。

On this slide, we analyze upcoming maturity data from different points in time. As you can see, the upcoming maturities in the second half of this year and the next few years have not changed much in the past 6 months. So despite the flurry of issuance in the last few months, there doesn't appear to have been much pull-forward activity.

在這張投影片中，我們分析不同時間點的即將到期（maturity）數據。如你所見，今年下半年及未來幾年的到期量在過去6個月並未有太大變化。因此，儘管近幾個月發行活動頻繁，似乎並沒有太多提前拉動的行為。

Next, we look at the total amount of global debt outstanding. As you can see, it's been growing every year by an average of $884 billion or approximately 5%. In the first 6 months of this year, the amount of global debt outstanding increased by $781 billion, clearly, a significant increase.

接著，我們觀察全球未償債務總額。如你所見，其每年平均增加8840億美元，約為5%。今年前6個月，全球未償債務總額增加7810億美元，顯然是相當顯著的增幅。

So we conclude that the level of pull-forward activity is not unusual. Instead, we have a surge in new issuance that has created an uptick in the growth of total global corporate debt.

因此我們的結論是，提前拉動的程度並不異常。相反地，是新發行的激增帶動全球企業債務總量成長加速。

Bank loan rating activity is not captured in issuance data. However, since it's an important element of Ratings revenue, we like to disclose bank loan rating revenue each quarter. In the second quarter, it decreased 47% from the prior period to $45 million. High-yield bonds were clearly the preferred option for issuers this quarter.

銀行貸款評等活動未被納入發行數據。然而，由於其是評等收入的重要組成，我們每季都會揭露銀行貸款評等收入。第二季該收入較前期下降47%至4,500萬美元。本季對發行人而言，高收益債顯然是較偏好的選項。

ESG is a major emphasis across the company, and we continue to strengthen our footprint. In Ratings, 15 ESG evaluations were completed or in progress during the quarter and 80 year-to-date. We also completed 3 Green Evaluations during the quarter, with 79 to date. In addition, we launched the S&P Global ESG scores based on the SAM data that we acquired earlier this year.

ESG是公司整體的重點，我們持續強化布局。在評等業務方面，本季完成或進行中的ESG評估有15項，年初至今累計80項。我們本季也完成3項綠色評估（Green Evaluations），累計至今79項。此外，我們推出了以今年稍早收購的SAM數據為基礎的S&P Global ESG分數。

Trucost climate data has been integrated into portfolio analytics, enabling investment professionals to analyze ESG factors for an enhanced portfolio view. The Trucost Metals and Mining Climate Competitiveness dataset was launched on our Data Marketplace. The dataset covers 1,400 mining assets owned by more than 500 public and private companies located in 78 countries. In Indices, ESG ETF AUM continues to climb, reaching $6.6 billion at the end of June.

Trucost氣候數據已整合至投資組合分析工具，使投資專業人士能分析ESG因素，以獲得更完整的投資組合視角。Trucost金屬與礦業氣候競爭力資料集已在我們的Data Marketplace上線。該資料集涵蓋1,400項礦業資產，資產所有者為位於78個國家的500多家上市與非上市公司。在指數業務方面，ESG ETF資產管理規模（AUM）持續攀升，至6月底達66億美元。

And Platts launched 3 new daily spot price assessments for the U.S. post-consumer PET bottle bales, adding transparency to the trade -- recycled material. In addition, Platts Analytics Scenario Planning Service, SPS, and World Energy Demand have been gaining traction with annual contract value growth of over 70% at the end of the second quarter compared to a year ago.

此外，Platts針對美國消費後（post-consumer）PET寶特瓶瓶磚（bales）推出3項新的每日現貨價格評估，為再生材料交易增添透明度。另方面，Platts Analytics情境規劃服務（Scenario Planning Service, SPS）與World Energy Demand的市場接受度持續提升，截至第二季末，其年度合約價值較一年前成長超過70%。

SPS, underpinned by the market-leading World Energy Demand, offers clients a view of the medium- and long-term trajectories of energy and commodity markets as well as insights into the interconnected nature of market fundamentals, technology, policy and consumer preferences. This comprehensive service gives access to the data and tools needed to respond to the risk and opportunities presented in the energy transition.

SPS以市場領先的World Energy Demand為基礎，為客戶提供能源與大宗商品市場中長期走勢的觀點，並洞察市場基本面、技術、政策與消費者偏好之間的相互連結。這項全面性的服務可讓客戶取得在能源轉型中因風險與機會所需回應的數據與工具。

Platts has been operating in the energy transition space for over 15 years, with valuable analytics in the form of price assessments, news and analytical services across a variety of environmental markets and related commodities.

Platts在能源轉型領域已深耕超過15年，透過價格評估、新聞與分析服務，於多種環境市場及相關商品提供具價值的分析。

We think that the launch of S&P Global ESG score is a significant milestone for the company. These scores are based on 20 years of SAM data. This dataset we provide includes sustainability scores that have an impact on the company's business value drivers, including growth, profitability, capital efficiency and risk exposure for more than 7,000 companies. A qualitative screening evaluates a company's response to critical sustainability issues that may arise during the year and full data history dating back to 2013.

我們認為推出S&P Global ESG分數是公司的一個重要里程碑。這些分數以20年的SAM數據為基礎。我們提供的此資料集包含永續性分數，會影響公司商業價值驅動因素，包括成長、獲利能力、資本效率與風險曝險，涵蓋超過7,000家公司。質性篩選會評估公司對年度中可能出現之關鍵永續議題的回應，並提供可追溯至2013年的完整歷史數據。

The scores are available as data feeds and can be found on the Data Marketplace that we described to you last quarter. In fact, these scores have quickly become the most sought-after dataset of our Data Marketplace. A sample of the data for an industrial company is depicted on the right side of this slide, with the total ESG score in the top row and the scoring components underneath.

這些分數可透過資料串流（data feeds）取得，並可在我們上季向各位介紹的Data Marketplace上找到。事實上，這些分數已迅速成為我們Data Marketplace中最受追捧的資料集。本投影片右側展示了一家工業公司的資料樣本，最上列為總ESG分數，下方則為各項評分構成。

I'm particularly pleased that with all the distractions that our employees faced during this pandemic, they continue to innovate and launch new products. Let me highlight just a few of these. Machine-readable filings by Market Intelligence is a new data offering that applies cleansing and parsing techniques to generate machine-readable text extracted from SEC regulatory filings. This might be of interest to many of you.

我特別欣慰的是，儘管員工在疫情期間面臨各種干擾，他們仍持續創新並推出新產品。我簡要重點介紹其中幾項。Market Intelligence推出的「機器可讀申報文件」（Machine-readable filings）是一項新數據產品，運用清理與解析技術，從SEC監管申報文件中擷取並生成機器可讀文字。這可能會讓在座許多人感興趣。

Our Indices business has partnered with IHS Markit to create multi-asset class indices. We'll use the S&P 500 and IHS Markit's iBoxx bond indices and CDX in iTraxx credit indices to construct new multi-asset benchmarks. In the first phase of the collaboration, the companies are working to design a liquid, multi-asset allocation strategy.

我們的指數業務已與IHS Markit合作建立多資產類別指數。我們將使用S&P 500、IHS Markit的iBoxx債券指數，以及CDX與iTraxx信用指數來建構新的多資產基準。在合作的第一階段，雙方正著手設計一套具流動性的多資產配置策略。

As we continue to ramp up our Chinese operations, we launched the first Mandarin-language release of Ratings360.

隨著我們持續擴大在中國的營運，我們推出了Ratings360的首個中文（普通話）版本發布。

As part of the broader efforts of contributing to the digitalization of commodity markets, Platts has introduced APIs for 2 important datasets, the world refinery database and Platts' oil inventory. Platts work with selected clients in the development phase of these APIs. These new APIs are the beginning of a multi-year effort to provide fundamental commodity insights and data from our highly valued analytical services, to direct machine consumption and customer back-end systems and quantitative model.

作為推動大宗商品市場數位化更廣泛努力的一部分，Platts已為兩個重要資料集推出API：全球煉油廠資料庫與Platts石油庫存。Platts在這些API的開發階段與部分客戶合作。這些新API是一項多年計畫的起點，旨在將我們高價值分析服務中的大宗商品基本面洞察與數據，提供給機器直接使用，以及客戶後端系統與量化模型。

Lastly, I want to share that Kensho is now making its entity-linking capability available to our customers. It's called Kensho Link, and it's a machine learning model, which minimizes the time it takes to onboard new datasets and organize entity data. We've even seen clients use Kensho Link to manage data in their CRM system.

最後，我想分享Kensho現已將其實體連結（entity-linking）能力提供給客戶使用，名為Kensho Link。這是一個機器學習模型，可將導入新資料集並整理實體資料所需的時間降至最低。我們甚至看到客戶使用Kensho Link來管理其CRM系統中的資料。

There's just one more new product launch I want to feature. It's called RiskGauge. Small- and medium-sized enterprises account for approximately 90% of global businesses. Financials for many of these companies, however, are difficult to find.

另外還有一項新產品發布我想介紹，名為RiskGauge。中小企業約占全球企業的90%。然而，許多這些公司的財務資料並不容易取得。

RiskGauge offers credit information on more than 50 million global companies. With its significant SME coverage, RiskGauge reports allow the streamlining of counterparty credit risk assessment by helping them cover risks and deteriorations in payment behavior. Clients can now access a detailed company credit risk profile that contains relative performance benchmarks and insightful commentary.

RiskGauge提供超過5,000萬家全球公司的信用資訊。憑藉其對中小企業（SME）的廣泛覆蓋，RiskGauge報告可協助精簡交易對手信用風險評估，並協助掌握風險與付款行為惡化情況。客戶現在可取得詳細的公司信用風險概況，其中包含相對績效基準與具洞見的評論。

In addition to company profiles, a RiskGauge Score and Probability of Default commentary, we offer PaySense, which allows identification of an entity's trade payment behavior and potential liquidity risk based on our statistical model; and MaxLimit, a framework that recommends maximum exposure limits by incorporating multiple risk dimensions, user risk appetite and macroeconomic elements.

除公司概況、RiskGauge分數（RiskGauge Score）與違約機率（Probability of Default）評論外，我們也提供PaySense，可依據我們的統計模型辨識實體的貿易付款行為與潛在流動性風險；以及MaxLimit，一套透過納入多重風險維度、使用者風險偏好與總體經濟因素，來建議最大曝險限額的架構。

Each year, S&P Dow Jones Indices releases the annual survey of assets. This chart depicts the highlights of that survey for 2019. Asset levels and actively managed funds that benchmark against our indices increased 21% to $9.3 trillion. Assets in passive funds invested in products index to our indices increased 33% to $6.4 trillion.

每年，S&P Dow Jones Indices 都會發布年度資產調查。本圖表呈現該調查在 2019 年的重點。我們的指數作為基準的資產規模以及主動管理基金資產增加 21%，達到 9.3 兆美元。投資於追蹤我們指數之產品的被動基金資產增加 33%，達到 6.4 兆美元。

Numerous indices underlie the $6.4 trillion, including the S&P 500, the largest with $4.6 trillion in assets. Other categories include smart beta and fixed income, which both increased; and ESG, which increased 37% to $11 billion in 2019. We anticipate that new ESG products launched by UBS, DWS, State Street and BlackRock will create further growth in this category.

這 6.4 兆美元由眾多指數所支撐，其中最大的是 S&P 500，資產規模達 4.6 兆美元。其他類別包括智慧貝塔與固定收益，兩者皆成長；以及 ESG，2019 年成長 37% 至 110 億美元。我們預期 UBS、DWS、State Street 與 BlackRock 推出的新 ESG 產品將帶動此類別進一步成長。

Next, I would like to provide additional information around our outlook for 2020. Let me start with our issuance outlook. The correlation between GDP and issuance has been upended by the surge in liquidity-driven issuance after central banks initiated bond purchase programs to support market liquidity. This windfall in issuance has resulted in our expectation for a 5% increase in global issuance, excluding international public finance, versus a decline of 10% in our previous forecast.

接下來，我想就我們對 2020 年的展望提供更多資訊。先從我們的發行展望談起。由於各國央行啟動債券購買計畫以支持市場流動性，流動性驅動的發行激增，顛覆了 GDP 與發行量之間的相關性。這波發行量的意外增加，使我們預期全球發行量（不含國際公共融資）將成長 5%，相較於我們先前預測的下滑 10%。

The fastest-growing area is nonfinancial corporates, which we expect to increase 20%. The weakest area is structured finance, which we expect to contract 30%.

成長最快的領域是非金融企業，我們預期將增加 20%。最疲弱的領域是結構性融資，我們預期將萎縮 30%。

Early this month, our economists updated their global GDP forecast due to a deeper downturn than initially anticipated in emerging markets, notably in India. The forecast now calls for 3.8% contraction to global GDP in 2020.

本月初，由於新興市場（尤其是印度）出現比原先預期更深的衰退，我們的經濟學家更新了全球 GDP 預測。目前預測顯示 2020 年全球 GDP 將萎縮 3.8%。

The effects of extended lockdowns, unemployment and consumer confidence also means that recovery will take longer than previously expected into 2021 to 2023, with a permanent loss in output. We continue to maintain a close watch on the macroeconomic and other factors that impact our business.

延長封鎖、失業與消費者信心的影響也意味著復甦將比先前預期更久，延伸至 2021 至 2023 年，並伴隨永久性的產出損失。我們將持續密切關注影響我們業務的總體經濟及其他因素。

We're in unprecedented times, and there's a great deal of uncertainty in our ability to predict how geopolitical and macroeconomic forces might react and behave in times with very little historic precedent. We continue to monitor the developments in global political and economic scenarios and hope to gain better visibility and clarity into their impact on the global business climate and our company as we get further into the year.

我們正處於前所未有的時期，在幾乎沒有歷史先例的情況下，要預測地緣政治與總體經濟力量將如何反應與運作，存在高度不確定性。我們將持續監測全球政治與經濟情勢的發展，並希望隨著今年進一步推進，能更清楚掌握其對全球商業環境及本公司的影響。

I'll now turn the call over to Ewout Steenbergen, who's going to provide additional insights into our financial performance and outlook. Ewout?

接下來我把電話交給 Ewout Steenbergen，他將就我們的財務表現與展望提供更多洞見。Ewout？

Thank you, Doug, and good morning to all of you on the call. Let me start with our second quarter financial results. Doug covered the highlights of strong revenue and adjusted earnings per share growth. I will take a moment to cover a few other items.

謝謝你，Doug，也向所有參與電話會議的各位道早安。我先從第二季財務結果開始。Doug 已說明營收強勁以及調整後每股盈餘成長的重點。我將花點時間補充幾個其他項目。

While some of the segments have a difference between reported and organic revenue growth, in aggregate, they are the same at 14%. Adjusted total expenses declined 3%. This is the result of our productivity programs, but also due to the management actions we have taken in response to COVID-19. These included a hiring freeze, reductions in T&E, lower advertising and promotions and reduced use of outside professional services. However, the increase in spending in growth initiatives continued.

雖然部分事業部門在揭露的營收成長與有機營收成長之間存在差異，但整體而言兩者皆為 14%。調整後總費用下降 3%。這是我們生產力計畫的成果，也反映我們因應 COVID-19 所採取的管理措施，包括凍結招募、降低差旅與娛樂（T&E）支出、減少廣告與促銷，以及降低外部專業服務的使用。不過，對成長計畫的投入仍持續增加。

Adjusted operating profit margin improved 740 basis points based on strong revenue growth and lower expenses. The adjusted effective tax rate improved to 21.7% due primarily to the successful resolution of tax examinations in various jurisdictions.

在營收強勁成長與費用降低的帶動下，調整後營業利益率提升 740 個基點。調整後有效稅率改善至 21.7%，主要因為我們在多個司法管轄區成功解決稅務查核。

During the quarter, changes in foreign exchange rates had a positive impact on adjusted EPS of $0.02. The only meaningful impact was in Ratings, where revenue was negatively impacted by $7 million.

本季外匯匯率變動對調整後 EPS 產生 0.02 美元的正面影響。唯一顯著的影響出現在 Ratings，該部門營收受到 700 萬美元的負面影響。

The non-GAAP adjustments this quarter collectively generated a pretax loss of $39 million. They included $6 million in restructuring charges in Corporate and a U.K. pension adjustment, $1 million in gains from the disposition of an IR web hosting business in Market Intelligence, $2 million for Kensho retention-related expenses and $32 million in deal-related amortization.

本季非 GAAP 調整項目合計產生稅前損失 3,900 萬美元。其中包括：Corporate 的 600 萬美元重整費用與英國退休金調整；Market Intelligence 出售 IR 網站代管業務帶來的 100 萬美元處分利益；Kensho 留任相關費用 200 萬美元；以及交易相關攤銷 3,200 萬美元。

This quarter, all 4 divisions delivered increased revenue and adjusted operating profit, with Ratings delivering tremendous gains. On a trailing 4-quarter basis, adjusted operating profit margin increased for all divisions, except Market Intelligence, where a large portion of our investment spending is taking place. I'll provide color on the individual business results in a moment.

本季四大事業部門皆實現營收與調整後營業利益成長，其中 Ratings 表現大幅提升。以過去四季合計來看，除 Market Intelligence 外，各部門的調整後營業利益率皆上升；而我們相當大一部分的投資支出正發生在 Market Intelligence。我稍後會就各業務結果提供更多說明。

Now turning to the balance sheet. Our balance sheet has low leverage and ample liquidity. We have cash and cash equivalents of $2.7 billion, debt of $4 billion, an undrawn revolver capacity of $1.2 billion and no commercial paper outstanding.

接著看資產負債表。我們的資產負債表槓桿偏低且流動性充裕。我們持有現金及約當現金 27 億美元、負債 40 億美元、未動用的循環信貸額度 12 億美元，且沒有任何商業本票未償餘額。

Our debt ratios declined slightly versus the end of last year. In light of the attractive new issue rates, we may undertake an opportunistic refinancing of a portion of our bond debt during the third quarter, subject to market conditions and Board approval.

相較去年底，我們的負債比率略為下降。鑑於新發行利率具吸引力，我們可能在第三季視市場狀況及董事會核准情形，機會性地對部分公司債務進行再融資。

Free cash flow, excluding certain items, reached $1.5 billion in the first half of this year, an increase of $551 million over the prior year period. No new share repurchases were made in the second quarter while our existing ASR program was in place. On July 27, this ASR program was completed.

今年上半年，扣除特定項目後的自由現金流達 15 億美元，較去年同期增加 5.51 億美元。第二季在既有 ASR（加速股票回購）計畫進行期間，未再進行新的股票回購。7 月 27 日，該 ASR 計畫已完成。

The average price of shares purchased under this program was approximately $292 per share. While we are not resuming share repurchases at this time, our Board of Directors may consider a potential resumption of our share repurchase program later in the year.

該計畫下回購股份的平均價格約為每股 292 美元。雖然我們目前不恢復股票回購，但董事會可能在今年稍晚考慮是否重新啟動股票回購計畫。

Including the ASR that was just completed, share repurchases totaled $1.15 billion in the first half of 2020. In addition, $323 million of dividends have been paid so far this year. This activity, along with anticipated dividends in the second half of the year, amount to approximately 66% of our anticipated free cash flow for the year.

包含剛完成的 ASR 在內，2020 年上半年股票回購總額為 11.5 億美元。此外，今年迄今已支付股利 3.23 億美元。上述活動加上預期下半年將支付的股利，合計約占我們全年預期自由現金流的 66%。

Now let's turn to the division results. Ratings revenue increased 26%. And excluding the acquisition of the ESG Ratings business from RobecoSAM and CRISIL's acquisition of Greenwich Associates, organic revenue increased 25%. This revenue growth was driven by the increase in issuance Doug already discussed.

接下來看各事業部門表現。Ratings 營收成長 26%。若排除自 RobecoSAM 收購 ESG Ratings 業務以及 CRISIL 收購 Greenwich Associates 的影響，有機營收成長 25%。此營收成長主要由 Doug 先前提到的發行量增加所帶動。

Adjusted expenses declined 5%. Excluding changes in foreign exchange rates, expenses declined 2% due primarily to management actions and the in-sourcing of IT resources that we discussed on our fourth quarter earnings call. This resulted in a 47% increase in adjusted segment operating profit and a 1,020 basis point increase in adjusted segment operating profit margin. On a trailing 4-quarter basis, adjusted segment operating profit margin increased 660 basis points to 63.1%.

調整後費用下降 5%。若排除外匯匯率變動，費用下降 2%，主要因管理措施以及我們在第四季法說會中提到的 IT 資源內製化。因此，調整後部門營業利益成長 47%，調整後部門營業利益率提升 1,020 個基點。以過去四季合計來看，調整後部門營業利益率提升 660 個基點至 63.1%。

Nontransaction revenue increased 1%. Transaction revenue increased 48% due to very strong bond investment-grade issuance globally and high-yield issuance in the U.S. partially offset by weakness in structured finance and decreased bank loan rating activity.

非交易型營收成長 1%。交易型營收成長 48%，主要受全球投資等級債券發行非常強勁以及美國高收益債發行增加所帶動，但部分被結構性融資疲弱與銀行貸款評等活動下降所抵銷。

This slide depicts Ratings revenue by its end markets. The largest contributor to the increase in Ratings revenue was the 38% increase in corporates. In addition, financial services revenue increased 24%, structured finance decreased 21%, government increased 24% and the CRISIL and other category increased 8%.

本頁投影片按終端市場呈現 Ratings 營收。Ratings 營收增加的最大貢獻來自企業類別成長 38%。此外，金融服務營收成長 24%，結構性融資下降 21%，政府類別成長 24%，CRISIL 與其他類別成長 8%。

On the right side of the slide, you can see the changes in revenue within structured products. The largest decreases were in ABS and CMBS.

在投影片右側，您可以看到結構性產品內部的營收變化。降幅最大的是 ABS 與 CMBS。

Turning to S&P Dow Jones Indices. This segment delivered 2% revenue growth due primarily to gains in exchange-traded derivatives. Excluding a nonrecurring benefit of approximately $11 million in the second quarter of 2019, primarily from contract renegotiations, revenue would have increased 7%.

接著看 S&P Dow Jones Indices。本部門營收成長 2%，主要來自交易所交易衍生品的增長。若排除 2019 年第二季約 1,100 萬美元的一次性利益（主要來自合約重新協商），營收將成長 7%。

In the second quarter, we reported a 5% improvement in adjusted expenses due primarily to management actions; 5% adjusted segment operating profit growth; and an adjusted segment operating profit margin of 71.9%, an increase of 210 basis points. On a trailing 4-quarter basis, the adjusted segment operating profit margin increased 150 basis points to 70.2%.

第二季，我們回報調整後費用改善 5%，主要因管理措施；調整後部門營業利益成長 5%；調整後部門營業利益率為 71.9%，提升 210 個基點。以過去四季合計來看，調整後部門營業利益率提升 150 個基點至 70.2%。

Revenue growth was led by exchange-traded derivatives during the quarter. Asset-linked fees decreased 4% due primarily to a nonrecurring benefit of approximately $11 million in the second quarter of 2019. Exchange-traded derivative revenue increased 20% on growth in trading volumes. Data and custom subscriptions increased 6% due to an increase in end-of-day and real-time ACV.

本季營收成長主要由交易所交易衍生品帶動。資產連結費用下降 4%，主要因 2019 年第二季約 1,100 萬美元的一次性利益。交易所交易衍生品營收因交易量成長而增加 20%。資料與客製化訂閱成長 6%，主要因日終與即時 ACV 增加。

For our Indices division, over the past year, ETF net inflows were $102 billion and market declines were $7 billion. This resulted in quarter-ending ETF AUM of $1.6 trillion, which is 6% higher compared to 1 year ago.

就我們的 Indices 事業部而言，過去一年 ETF 淨流入為 1,020 億美元，市場下跌為 70 億美元。因此，季末 ETF 資產管理規模（AUM）為 1.6 兆美元，較一年前高出 6%。

I want to make a clear distinction between average AUM and quarter-ending AUM. Our revenue is based on average AUM, which increased 2% year-over-year. We disclose quarter-ending figures because flows and market gains and losses are best depicted using quarter-end figures, as shown in the waterfall chart on the right.

我想清楚區分平均 AUM 與季末 AUM。我們的營收是以平均 AUM 為基礎，其年增 2%。我們揭露季末數字，是因為資金流向以及市場漲跌最適合用季末數字呈現，如右側的瀑布圖所示。

Sequentially, versus the first quarter of 2020, ETF net inflows associated with our Indices totaled $17 billion while market appreciation totaled $254 billion. Industry inflows into exchange-traded funds were $195 billion in the second quarter. The category with the largest gains was fixed income. Flows into U.S. equity funds were $59 billion.

依序而言，相較於2020年第一季，與我們指數相關的ETF淨流入合計為170億美元，而市場升值合計為2,540億美元。第二季全產業流入交易所交易基金的資金為1,950億美元。漲幅最大的類別為固定收益。流入美國股票基金的資金為590億美元。

I also want to point out that AUM in funds tracking our flagship S&P Kensho New Economies Composite Index have passed $1 billion, increasing ninefold year-to-date.

我也想指出，追蹤我們旗艦S&P Kensho New Economies Composite Index的基金資產管理規模（AUM）已超過10億美元，年初至今增加了九倍。

Activity at the CBOE declined in the second quarter, with S&P 500 Index options activity declining 9% and fixed futures and options activity declining 35%. This was in contrast to increased activity at the CME, where the equity complex volume increased 60%. The majority of the gain at the CME was due to the successful launch of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 futures. Excluding this product, the volumes at the CME equity complex increased 16%.

第二季CBOE的活動量下滑，S&P 500指數選擇權活動量下降9%，固定收益期貨與選擇權活動量下降35%。這與CME活動量增加形成對比，CME的股票複合產品成交量增加60%。CME增量的大部分來自Micro E-mini S&P 500期貨的成功推出。若排除此產品，CME股票複合產品成交量增加16%。

Market Intelligence delivered reported revenue growth of 6% and organic growth of 5%. The COVID-19 pandemic has lengthened sales cycles while driving record usage, particularly in the Market Intelligence Desktop, Panjiva, 451 Research and LCD. Adjusted expenses increased 3%, due primarily to acquisitions, increased headcount in the second half of 2019 and investment spending, partially offset by management actions. Much of the investment spending is on projects that are becoming more visible to you, including the launch of Data Marketplace last quarter and RiskGauge for the SME space this quarter.

Market Intelligence公布的營收成長6%，有機成長5%。COVID-19疫情拉長了銷售週期，同時帶動使用量創新高，尤其是在Market Intelligence Desktop、Panjiva、451 Research與LCD。調整後費用增加3%，主要由併購、2019年下半年人力增加以及投資支出所致，部分被管理層措施所抵銷。投資支出多數用於逐漸更清楚呈現在各位面前的專案，包括上季推出的Data Marketplace，以及本季面向中小企業（SME）市場的RiskGauge。

Adjusted segment operating profit increased 13%, and the adjusted segment operating profit margin increased 220 basis points to 34.4%. On a trailing 4-quarter basis, adjusted segment operating profit margin declined 100 basis points to 32.4%.

調整後分部營業利益增加13%，調整後分部營業利益率上升220個基點至34.4%。以過去4季滾動計算，調整後分部營業利益率下降100個基點至32.4%。

Looking across the Market Intelligence components, Desktop revenue grew 4%, excluding acquisitions and divestments, while active Desktop users grew 7%. Data Management Solutions revenue grew 5%, and Credit Risk Solutions revenue grew 8%. We continue to expect revenue for both of these categories to grow high single digit this year.

從Market Intelligence各組成項目來看，Desktop營收在排除併購與處分影響後成長4%，而Desktop活躍用戶成長7%。Data Management Solutions營收成長5%，Credit Risk Solutions營收成長8%。我們仍預期這兩個類別今年的營收將呈現高個位數成長。

And now turning to Platts. Reported revenue increased 2%. And on an organic basis, adjusting for the sale of RigData, revenue increased 3%, with core subscriptions and global trading services both growing 4%.

接著談Platts。公布營收增加2%。以有機基礎計算，並就出售RigData進行調整後，營收增加3%，其中核心訂閱與全球交易服務皆成長4%。

The impact from the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a $3 million decline to almost $0 in conference revenue this quarter. You have probably never heard us discuss the conference business because it has annual revenue of only about $10 million. However, because of COVID-19, the business largely evaporated during the quarter. Steps are being taken to shift some of the business to virtual conferences.

COVID-19疫情的影響使本季會議（conference）營收減少300萬美元，幾乎降至0。各位可能從未聽我們談論會議業務，因為其年營收僅約1,000萬美元。然而，由於COVID-19，該業務在本季大幅蒸發。我們正採取措施將部分業務轉向線上虛擬會議。

The recession has also reduced oil prices, putting enormous cost pressure on many of our customers. This has resulted in bankruptcy filings by 45 U.S. exploration and production and oil service firms year-to-date. Many of them are our customers, but a small part of our revenue. This will impact us in the future.

經濟衰退也壓低油價，對我們許多客戶造成巨大的成本壓力。年初至今，已有45家美國勘探與生產以及油田服務公司申請破產。其中許多是我們的客戶，但僅占我們營收的一小部分。這將在未來對我們造成影響。

Adjusted expenses decreased 7% due to the divestiture of RigData and management actions. Adjusted segment operating profit margin increased 400 basis points to 58.3%. The trailing 4-quarter adjusted segment operating profit margin increased 240 basis points to 54.2%.

調整後費用因處分RigData及管理層措施而下降7%。調整後分部營業利益率上升400個基點至58.3%。過去4季滾動的調整後分部營業利益率上升240個基點至54.2%。

Last quarter, Doug shared with you some initial success we had with Kensho and our Market-on-Close process. Kensho has enabled Platts to accelerate the assessment process and improve efficiencies for Platts' pricing reporters while adding significant time savings and analytical value for our customers.

上季Doug與各位分享了我們在Kensho與Market-on-Close流程上的一些初步成果。Kensho使Platts得以加速評估流程並提升Platts定價記者的效率，同時為客戶帶來顯著的時間節省與分析價值。

10 markets with a total of 35 assessments are now Kensho-powered. This has reduced the time between the market close and publishing by an average of 70%, which has already produced internal productivity gains for our editorial team.

目前共有10個市場、合計35項評估已由Kensho驅動。這使得從市場收盤到發布之間的時間平均縮短70%，並已為我們的編輯團隊帶來內部生產力提升。

Our efforts to discover the commercial value of faster assessments, and develop the analytics offering in collaboration with our customers, are ongoing. Growth in each of the categories was 3% to 4% during the quarter.

我們持續致力於發掘更快速評估的商業價值，並與客戶合作開發分析產品。本季各類別的成長為3%至4%。

And now I'm pleased to share that the $100 million productivity program that we announced at our Investor Day in May of 2018 has been achieved. In fact, we exceeded the original target and delivered $120 million in productivity savings.

我也很高興分享，我們在2018年5月投資人日宣布的1億美元生產力計畫已達成。事實上，我們超越原先目標，實現了1.2億美元的生產力節省。

Some of the key areas of improvement were in standardizing and centralizing processes, utilizing RPA to automate routine activities, reducing our real estate footprint and consolidating data centers. That being said, given what we have experienced through the COVID-19 period with virtual work and digital acceleration, we know there will be a change to how and where we work.

部分關鍵改善領域包括流程標準化與集中化、運用RPA自動化例行作業、縮減不動產使用面積以及整併資料中心。儘管如此，鑑於我們在COVID-19期間對虛擬工作與數位加速的體驗，我們知道工作方式與工作地點將會有所改變。

In our prior guidance, we had assumed that 15% of our discretionary savings from the impact of COVID-19 would be permanent in nature. As we more holistically analyze all the potential opportunities that have been illuminated over the past several months, we're framing a new productivity program of at least $100 million that we'll introduce later this year.

在先前的指引中，我們假設因COVID-19影響所帶來的可裁量節省中，有15%屬於永久性。隨著我們更全面地分析過去數月所顯現的各項潛在機會，我們正在規劃一項至少1億美元的新生產力計畫，並將於今年稍晚推出。

COVID-19 had a meaningful impact on our business. On this slide, we attempt to disclose the impact on revenue and expenses in each segment compared to our first quarter baseline scenario guidance.

COVID-19對我們的業務造成了顯著影響。在這張投影片中，我們嘗試揭露各分部相較於第一季基準情境指引之下，營收與費用所受的影響。

As we have mentioned earlier in the call, there was a surge of liquidity-driven issuance that increased Ratings revenue during the second quarter by $170 million to $190 million. There was a modest improvement in our Indices business as ETF AUM levels improved quicker than anticipated.

如同我們先前在電話會議中提到的，受流動性驅動的發行量激增，使第二季Ratings營收增加1.7億至1.9億美元。由於ETF的AUM水準改善速度快於預期，我們的Indices業務也出現小幅改善。

The impact on revenue in our other businesses was in line with previous guidance. However, I want to remind you that in our subscription businesses, any customer bankruptcies or cancellations that occur this year generally will not have a full impact on our revenue until 2021.

我們其他業務的營收影響與先前指引一致。不過我想提醒各位，在我們的訂閱型業務中，今年發生的任何客戶破產或取消訂閱，通常要到2021年才會對我們的營收產生完整影響。

From an expense impact, the management actions taken reduced expenses by an additional $10 million in the second quarter, above our previous guidance. Collectively, there was about $0.60 EPS benefit from these items in the second quarter. If we then combine this with an improved outlook for the second half of this year of about $0.20, we're increasing our 2020 adjusted diluted EPS guidance by $0.80 per share.

在費用影響方面，管理層採取的措施使第二季費用較先前指引再額外降低1,000萬美元。綜合而言，這些項目在第二季約帶來0.60美元的每股盈餘（EPS）助益。若再加上我們對今年下半年約0.20美元的展望改善，我們將2020年調整後稀釋EPS指引上調每股0.80美元。

Last quarter, we introduced 3 scenarios with different time frames for when the economy will begin to recover. The baseline scenario was based on a late third quarter recovery. This scenario remains our baseline and has been updated with our latest forecasts.

上季我們提出了3種情境，對應經濟開始復甦的不同時間框架。基準情境是以第三季末復甦為假設。此情境仍為我們的基準，並已依最新預測更新。

In addition, we have updated the late fourth quarter recovery scenario. We feel these as the key metrics, which will impact revenue in various parts of our company and are derived from various forecasts from our economic, credit, oil and other market specialists across S&P Global. Many of the inputs for these scenarios can be found on our divisional research and analytical platforms and are sourced accordingly.

此外，我們也更新了第四季末復甦情境。我們認為這些是關鍵指標，將影響公司各部分的營收，並源自S&P Global內部經濟、信用、石油及其他市場專家的各項預測。這些情境的許多輸入假設可在我們各事業部的研究與分析平台上找到，並據此取用。

In addition, there are 2 items that we are providing at this time to give additional color for these scenarios. The first is global issuance growth. In the baseline, the 5% increase in global issuance relates to market issuance, excluding international public finance. Under this scenario, billed investment-grade issuance growth is forecast to increase double digits while high yield is expected to be up in the high single-digit range.

另外，我們此時提供兩項資訊，以便為這些情境增添更多背景。第一項是全球發行量成長。在基準情境中，全球發行量增加5%係指市場發行量，不含國際公共融資。在此情境下，已計費的投資級發行量成長預估將達雙位數，而高收益預期將落在高個位數成長區間。

The second is exchange-traded derivative volume growth. The baseline of approximately 20% assumes elevated levels in the first half of this year, followed by low single-digit increases in the second half.

第二項是交易所交易衍生性商品成交量成長。基準情境約20%的假設，係基於今年上半年維持高檔水準，之後下半年為低個位數增幅。

While we are not predicting when the pandemic will end, we're using the late third quarter recovery scenario as our baseline and the basis for our new guidance. We think that it is important for our investors that we make a good-faith attempt to provide appropriately framed forward-looking information.

雖然我們不預測疫情何時結束，但我們以第三季末復甦情境作為基準，並作為新指引的依據。我們認為，對投資人而言，我們以善意嘗試提供適當框架的前瞻性資訊是重要的。

Despite our resilience and financial strength, we are not immune to structural risks arising from COVID-19. These include risks to the macroeconomic environment, to bonds and credit markets, to equity markets and to oil markets.

儘管我們具備韌性與財務實力，但我們並非不受COVID-19所引發的結構性風險影響。這些風險包括對總體經濟環境、債券與信用市場、股票市場以及石油市場的風險。

You could see a drop in bond issuance, weakness in new sales or subscription renewals or further drops in AUM amongst the many risks that could arise. We're staying close to the trends. The longer the pandemic continues, the greater the risks.

在眾多可能出現的風險中，你可能會看到債券發行量下滑、新增銷售或續約疲弱，或AUM進一步下降。我們正密切關注趨勢。疫情持續越久，風險就越大。

This slide depicts the scenarios with the typical guidance line items we normally disclose. The baseline column is our new 2020 GAAP guidance. And this slide depicts our adjusted figures. The third column is our new 2020 adjusted guidance based on the revised late third quarter recovery scenario.

這張投影片呈現了各情境以及我們通常揭露的指引項目。基準欄為我們新的2020年GAAP指引。而本投影片呈現的是我們的調整後數字。第三欄為我們基於修訂後第三季末復甦情境所提出的新的2020年調整後指引。

Now let me review our new adjusted guidance. We increased our revenue guidance to a mid- to high single-digit increase. Corporate unallocated expense has been increased by $20 million to a range of $135 million to $145 million due to increased incentive compensation accruals and the contribution to the S&P Global Foundation.

現在我來回顧我們新的調整後指引。我們將營收指引上調至中至高個位數成長。由於激勵薪酬提列增加以及對S&P Global Foundation的捐助，公司未分攤費用增加2,000萬美元，至1.35億至1.45億美元區間。

Operating profit margin is increased to a range of 51.5% to 52.5%. Interest expense net includes both interest income and interest expense. It has been reduced by $5 million due to our cross-currency swap derivatives, partially offset by lower interest income received on our cash balances.

營業利潤率上調至 51.5% 至 52.5% 的區間。淨利息費用同時包含利息收入與利息費用。由於我們的交叉貨幣互換衍生性商品，該項目減少了 500 萬美元，但部分被我們現金餘額所獲得的較低利息收入所抵銷。

The tax rate has been reduced due to the impact from equity compensation. These items result in a new adjusted diluted EPS guidance range of $10.75 to $10.95. Our expectations for free cash flow are a range of $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion.

稅率因股權薪酬的影響而下調。這些項目使調整後稀釋每股盈餘（EPS）指引區間更新為 10.75 美元至 10.95 美元。我們對自由現金流的預期為 27 億美元至 28 億美元的區間。

In conclusion, I'm very proud of the outstanding performance and execution that our team has delivered during this exceptional quarter. The financial results that we have delivered year-to-date demonstrate the resiliency of our businesses and the commitment of our leadership to control expenses and to apply the highest professional standards in managing the company through this period.

總結來說，我對我們團隊在這個非凡季度所交出的卓越表現與執行力感到非常自豪。我們今年迄今所交出的財務成果，展現了我們業務的韌性，以及我們領導團隊在此期間致力於控管費用並以最高專業標準管理公司的承諾。

While we continue to navigate through uncertainty, we remain committed to provide transparency for our investors, to deliver essential intelligence for our customers and to support sustainable development in our communities. And with that, let me turn the call back over to Chip for your questions.

在我們持續穿越不確定性的同時，我們仍致力於為投資人提供透明度、為客戶提供關鍵情報，並支持我們社區的永續發展。接下來，我把電話交回給 Chip 來回答各位的提問。

Thank you. Just a couple of instructions for our phone participants. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。先給電話與會者幾點說明。（接線員指示）

Operator, we will now take our first question.

接線員，我們現在開始進行第一個問題。

The first question comes from Toni Kaplan with Morgan Stanley.

第一個問題來自摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）的 Toni Kaplan。

Congratulations on the quarter. I wanted to ask about the Ratings margins. They're incredibly strong in the quarter. Does this make you rethink the high 50s over the medium term that you've mentioned previously, just given the operating leverage that seems to exist in the business? And just if you could give us some color around the sustainability of the margins going forward.

恭喜本季表現。我想問一下評級（Ratings）的利潤率。本季表現非常強勁。考量到業務似乎存在的營運槓桿，這是否會讓你重新思考你先前提到的中期「高 50%」目標？另外，能否請你談談未來利潤率可持續性的看法。

Toni, and thank you for your recognition of our results. Indeed, we are, of course, pleased to see the margins for Ratings going up so much now on a trailing 4-quarter basis at 63% level. We have decided not at this moment to make any changes with respect to our aspirational margin targets because we think this is not the right time to do that, given the external environment. And by the way, that's applicable for all of our divisions.

Toni，也謝謝你對我們成果的肯定。確實，我們當然很高興看到評級業務的利潤率在過去 4 個季度的滾動基礎上大幅上升至 63% 的水準。目前我們決定不調整我們的願景性利潤率目標，因為在目前外部環境下，我們認為現在不是做這件事的合適時機。順帶一提，這一點適用於我們所有事業部門。

What you should expect for Ratings is that margin should be somewhere around that 60% level for the full year. That's the best expectation. What we will do is we're going to work on this new productivity program, where we will provide you more details later this year.

對於評級業務，你可以預期全年利潤率大約會落在 60% 左右。這是我們目前最好的預期。我們接下來會推動一項新的生產力計畫，並在今年稍晚提供更多細節。

And most likely, we could attach new aspirational margin targets to that same moment and introduce that to you and the other analysts and investors. So not at this moment, but around that 60% level is the best expectation for Ratings margins for this year.

而且很可能我們會在同一時間點，為該計畫設定新的願景性利潤率目標，並向你以及其他分析師與投資人介紹。因此不是現在，但就今年而言，評級業務利潤率最好的預期大約在 60% 左右。

That's great. And the Reimagine workplace program that you mentioned in the early comments, is that program expected to result in cost savings? Is it related to that productivity program? Or is it different, and maybe it's just a reallocation of expenses? So I just wanted to get a little bit more color on what that means and if it's part of that program as well.

很好。你在前面提到的 Reimagine workplace（重塑工作場所）計畫，是否預期會帶來成本節省？它是否與那個生產力計畫相關？還是不同的計畫，可能只是費用的重新配置？我想更了解它的意涵，以及它是否也屬於那個計畫的一部分。

Yes, yes. Absolutely. And let me first explain a bit more what is Reimagine because that is an aspirational program to define the future of our operating model, so the way how we are going to work, how we are going to interact, make decisions, how we are going to accelerate our digital transformation, where we can find talents around the globe and, of course, that will also lead to a reduction in physical footprint. That will lead, as a consequence, to some expense savings is the expectation. And we are going to roll that up in our new productivity program.

是的，是的，完全正確。我先多解釋一下 Reimagine 是什麼：這是一個願景性計畫，用來定義我們未來的營運模式——也就是我們將如何工作、如何互動、如何做決策、如何加速數位轉型、我們可以在全球哪裡找到人才；當然，這也會帶來實體辦公空間的縮減。預期其結果將帶來一些費用節省。我們會把這些內容彙整到新的生產力計畫中。

So if you think about our new productivity program, the key elements of that will be a reduction in real estate, given that most likely we will be more in a mix of virtual work and working at the office; a reduction in travel, there will be probably a more permanent element to our travel reduction -- reduction in travel expenses; some further cleanup of some older technology infrastructure; and also, we will go after some of our procurement spend in the company. So those are the key elements.

因此，如果你思考我們新的生產力計畫，其關鍵要素包括：在多數情況下我們可能會採取虛擬工作與到辦公室工作的混合模式，因此將縮減不動產；降低差旅，差旅縮減可能會有更長期、較永久的成分——也就是降低差旅費用；進一步清理一些較舊的技術基礎設施；此外，我們也會針對公司採購支出著手改善。以上是主要要素。

So you're right that some of the outcomes from project Reimagine will be an input for the new productivity program.

所以你說得沒錯，Reimagine 專案的一些成果會成為新生產力計畫的輸入。

Our next question comes from Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊（Barclays）的 Manav Patnaik。

My first question was just around Platts. In your assumptions, you have a $10 to $40 oil price range. And just in that context, I just wanted to know what the current environment look like. And just some more color on whether you think this could be a little bit worse than what we saw in '15, '16 because that's a big range. Just curious on how we should think about the impact there.

我的第一個問題是關於 Platts。在你們的假設中，油價區間是 10 美元到 40 美元。在這樣的背景下，我想了解目前環境看起來如何。也想請你多談談，你是否認為情況可能會比 2015、2016 年更糟，因為那是一個很大的區間。我只是好奇我們應該如何看待其影響。

Manav, this is Doug. I'm actually pleased that you asked the question because we're looking right now at a price of oil in the range of $35 to $40. It might be a little bit above that right now. You've seen in the last few days that oil is in the $40 range.

Manav，我是 Doug。我其實很高興你問到這個問題，因為我們目前看到油價大約在 35 到 40 美元的區間，現在可能略高一些。你也看到過去幾天油價在 40 美元左右。

Clearly, there have been a lot of impacts on the -- in the industry overall from the dip -- the major dip that it took earlier this year. There have been bankruptcy filings by 45 U.S. E&P companies to date so far this year. We see also, on the other hand, there are some people that are starting to enter the market to pick up that capacity. So we're seeing more M&A and distressed activity taking place in the business.

很明顯，產業整體因今年稍早那次大幅下跌而受到許多影響。截至目前，今年已有 45 家美國勘探與生產（E&P）公司申請破產。另一方面，我們也看到有些人開始進入市場以承接那部分產能。因此我們看到更多併購（M&A）以及困境資產（distressed）相關活動在業務中發生。

What we have seen, as we mentioned last quarter, is that the sales cycle has lengthened. We -- at the very beginning, we obviously had a hard time being able to reach our customers, and everybody is working at home, both from our side and the customer side.

我們看到的情況，如同上季提到的，是銷售週期拉長。一開始，我們顯然很難聯繫到客戶，因為我們這邊與客戶那邊大家都在家工作。

But there has -- in the meantime, though, we've seen incredible engagement across all of our businesses, and especially Platts. We were able to put all of our regular seminars, the different organizations that we meet with, we will put all this online. The amount of people and the number of engagements we're having has increased dramatically, in some cases, up over 200%, 300% of people attending our webinars and going to our website traffic.

不過同時，我們也看到在所有業務中都有非常高的互動度，尤其是 Platts。我們把所有例行研討會、以及我們會面交流的各類組織活動都搬到線上。參與人數與互動次數大幅增加，在某些情況下，參加我們網路研討會的人數以及網站流量增加超過 200%、300%。

So we see a lot of engagement to customers. But we do expect it's a very difficult, volatile environment, even though we do feel that the price of oil settling in the $40 range is going to be beneficial.

因此我們看到與客戶之間有很多互動。但我們也預期這仍是非常艱難且波動的環境，儘管我們確實認為油價若能穩定在 40 美元左右將會帶來正面效益。

Got it. And you guys identified a lot of great new innovation. Maybe just to pick on one, the RiskGauge product, the whole SME space, private company space.

了解。而且你們也提出了許多很棒的新創新。或許就挑一個來談，RiskGauge 產品，以及整個中小企業（SME）領域、私人公司領域。

I mean it sounds like it's something that every company out there talks about and wants to get in. And I was hoping you could just help filter out maybe a little bit what target markets are you going after. Like what does that landscape or competitive set look like because it feels like everyone has some solution like this coming up?

聽起來這是每家公司都在談、也都想切入的方向。我希望你能協助我們釐清一下你們鎖定的目標市場是哪些。比如說，競爭版圖或競品組合看起來如何？因為感覺每個人都在推出類似的解決方案。

Yes. So the RiskGauge is something that we had identified a couple of years ago meeting with our customers. We heard this need for better, faster independent information about suppliers, about the supply chain. It's also credit. It's limits, it's credit, et cetera, the things that I talked about with RiskGauge.

是的。RiskGauge 是我們在幾年前與客戶會面時就辨識出的機會。我們聽到客戶需要更好、更快、且獨立的資訊，用於供應商、供應鏈的評估。這也涉及信用——授信額度、信用等，也就是我在談 RiskGauge 時提到的那些內容。

And so we've designed RiskGauge so it's a consistent approach, with a consistent model that's used globally. As you saw now, it's over 50 million companies with data that comes from multiple sources around the globe but then it's applied in a way that's consistent. And we're able to deliver this now with these 50 million companies into a company's workflow, whether it's a bank or it's a large global buyer of different parts and services, et cetera.

因此我們設計 RiskGauge，使其成為一種一致的方法，採用可在全球使用的一致模型。如你現在所見，它涵蓋超過 5,000 萬家公司，資料來自全球多個來源，但會以一致的方式加以應用。我們也能把這 5,000 萬家公司的資訊交付並嵌入到企業的工作流程中，不論是銀行，或是全球大型買家（採購各種零組件與服務等）。

So we see this as an area where companies need more faster, consistent data so that they can make decisions about their supply chain. And it's a space that we were very pleased that we could get into quickly. We've got multiple sources of data. We have great partners that we've been building this with. And then we can build it off of the back of our technology for our delivery as well as credit models that are time tested. So we're very pleased that we're getting into this space, and you should see more to come.

因此我們認為這是一個企業需要更快、更一致數據、以便對其供應鏈做出決策的領域。我們也很高興能快速切入這個市場。我們擁有多個資料來源，也有很棒的合作夥伴與我們一起建置；此外，我們也能以我們的技術交付能力為基礎，並結合經過時間驗證的信用模型來擴展。因此我們很高興能進入這個領域，未來你也會看到更多進展。

Our next question comes from Alex Kramm with UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀（UBS）的 Alex Kramm。

Going to the Ratings business, of course, here, you did a good job addressing the pull-forward question that people always ask, some of the data on the maturities still going up, debt outstanding going up. Obviously, all suggest that the algorithm growth for issuance is alive. But at the same time, I think you also said a lot of the debt raised here was liquidity reasons. So I think companies are generally flushed with cash.

談到評級業務，當然，在這裡你對大家總是會問的「提前發行（pull-forward）」問題回答得很好；一些到期結構的數據仍在上升、未償債務也在上升。顯然，這些都顯示發行量的演算法式成長仍然存在。但同時，我想你也提到，這裡籌到的很多債務是出於流動性原因。所以我認為企業整體上現金非常充裕。

So is there anything that you can point to that gives us a better confidence level that algorithm is alive and that is not going to be maybe a lower level of issuance in the last -- next couple of years just because companies are so flushed, and they don't really need to refi some of the maturities that are coming up?

那麼，有沒有什麼你可以指出的因素，能讓我們更有信心相信發行的演算法仍然有效、而且未來幾年不會因為企業現金太充裕、其實不太需要為即將到期的債務再融資，而導致發行量可能降到較低水準？

Alex, this is Doug. Let me take that one. So first of all, when we look at the issuance, as you can see, we've put a lot of analytics in this time. And clearly, there was a rush to the market for liquidity. There was no company that wasn't looking out to have a strong liquidity position as we entered what people were fearing was going to be a major recession.

Alex，我是 Doug。我來回答這題。首先，當我們看發行量時，如你所見，這次我們加入了很多分析。很明顯，市場出現了為了流動性而湧向市場的情況。當大家擔心即將進入可能是重大衰退時，沒有任何公司不希望在此時擁有強勁的流動性部位。

And so we saw that rush to get cash. And some companies, obviously, are spending that cash. They're going to continue to need to fill their coffers with new cash because they're spending it. There's also many who are out in the markets right now. They're looking at what they're going to do with the cash later on as the pandemic starts to resolve itself. We'll see if companies are going to use that additional cash to either do M&A deals, if they're going to use it to invest in their operations, are they going to use it to repay debt?

因此我們看到大家急著取得現金。有些公司顯然正在花這些現金；他們會持續需要用新的現金把金庫補滿，因為他們正在支出。也有很多公司目前仍在市場上，正在思考隨著疫情開始緩解，之後要如何運用這些現金。我們將觀察企業是否會用這些額外現金去做併購（M&A）、是否用來投資營運、或是用來償還債務。

We don't quite know yet exactly where that's going to -- where companies will come out of this because there is going to be some excess liquidity. You saw in the charts that we provided today that there were 300 -- typically about 300 issuers in a quarter. And this quarter, there were 500 issuers that went to the market, showing that companies were going to the market to raise liquidity.

我們目前還不完全清楚最終會走向哪裡——企業會如何走出這段期間，因為確實會有一些超額流動性。你在我們今天提供的圖表中看到，通常每季大約有 300 家發行人；而本季有 500 家發行人進入市場，顯示企業是為了籌措流動性而到市場融資。

Now clearly, this is -- because this is our core business, we're watching this very carefully. We're staying in touch with issuers, with investors, with investment banks to see what kind of a pipeline we think is going to be coming forward.

很明顯，這是我們的核心業務，因此我們非常密切地關注。我們也持續與發行人、投資人以及投資銀行保持聯繫，以了解我們認為未來會出現什麼樣的發行管線。

But even so, given the -- that we are in a very unusual environment with very low interest rates, with the potential recession that could go on longer than originally expected, we think that it's hard to actually predict what the behavior is going to be of companies. And we do see, though, still, over the next couple of years, one of the other slides we showed you, a very potential healthy pipeline of issuance, which will be based off of maturities of debt schedule that are coming up. And all the new debt that was just recently issued is going to go into that maturity schedule as well.

不過，即便如此，鑑於——我們正處於一個非常不尋常的環境：利率非常低、而且潛在的衰退可能比原先預期更久，我們認為其實很難預測企業的行為會是什麼。但我們仍然看到，在未來幾年，我們向各位展示的另一張投影片所示，基於即將到期的債務到期時程，發行仍有相當健康的潛在管線。而近期剛發行的新債也會納入那個到期時程之中。

So if you look at this quarter-by-quarter, we expect there's always going to be volatility. If you look at it over the long run, we see a healthy potential pipeline of all the maturities coming forward.

所以如果你逐季來看，我們預期波動總是會存在；但如果從長期來看，我們看到所有即將到期的債務帶來一個健康的潛在發行管線。

Okay. Helpful. And then just shifting gears quickly. You mentioned a couple of times now that in some of the other businesses, Market Intelligence and Platts, sales cycles are getting delayed, there's bankruptcies, and that we should be careful as we think about our model as this may have a delayed reaction. Any -- in terms of the numbers coming through. So any early looks, maybe, as you think about the base in 2021, as what that impact -- or negative impact may be as it stands today because of some of those sales cycles and bankruptcies?

好的，很有幫助。接著快速換個話題。你已經提到幾次，在其他一些業務中，Market Intelligence 和 Platts 的銷售週期正在延後、也有破產情況，我們在思考模型時要小心，因為這可能會有延遲反應——也就是數字反映出來的時間點。那麼，針對 2021 年的基期，你們是否有任何初步觀察：就目前而言，這些銷售週期延後與破產可能帶來的影響——或負面影響——會是什麼？

Alex, this is Ewout. Let me take that question. It's very hard to give you a precise indication of this. Where we are in our subscription businesses, Platts and Market Intelligence, is what we're seeing from a sales -- an impact on the book of business actually slightly better than the guidance we provided to you a quarter ago. So that's encouraging to see, that the impact is less severe than we expected, although still worse than what we thought at the beginning of the year.

Alex，我是 Ewout。我來回答。要給你一個精確的指引非常困難。就我們的訂閱型業務（Platts 與 Market Intelligence）而言，我們從銷售端看到、對業務存量（book of business）的影響，實際上略優於我們一季前提供給你的指引。這點令人鼓舞，代表影響沒有我們預期那麼嚴重，雖然仍然比我們年初所想的更差。

What is happening in the subscription business is that the full effect you see the following year because then you see 12 months of impact on your subscription revenue in the following year. So it will have some muted effect but, overall, slightly better than what we thought one quarter ago.

訂閱業務的情況是：完整的影響會在隔年才看得更清楚，因為隔年你會看到訂閱營收受到影響的 12 個月完整期間。因此會有一些較為溫和的影響，但整體而言，略優於我們一季前的看法。

Our next question comes from Craig Huber with Huber Research Partners.

下一個問題來自 Huber Research Partners 的 Craig Huber。

Yes. My first question, Doug, maybe you could just talk on the second half of the year what your thoughts are on high-yield issuance versus bank loans, which is sort of outlook there to maybe just take the U.S. I'll start there, please.

是的。我第一個問題，Doug，也許你可以談談今年下半年你對高收益債發行相對於銀行貸款的看法，這方面的展望如何？先以美國為例，麻煩你先從那裡開始。

Yes. The outlook for the rest of the year for high-yield issuance, I think of it in 2 different segments. One segment is the recently downgraded companies that had been BBB and are now BB companies. And we see a lot of potential robust issuance there.

好的。對於今年剩餘時間的高收益債發行展望，我把它分成兩個不同的區塊來看。一個區塊是近期被降評的公司——原本是 BBB，現在變成 BB。我們在那裡看到相當多、可能相當強勁的發行。

The Fed is continuing to support that area. We have to see if those companies still need the cash, if they're going to be going to the market. But that was an area that, as you know, in the second quarter, was a quite robust part of the issuance.

聯準會（Fed）仍在支持那個領域。我們必須觀察那些公司是否仍需要現金、是否會再到市場發行。但如你所知，在第二季，那一塊是發行中相當強勁的一部分。

There's another part of high yield, which would be the deeper risk credits, which are those that are in the deeper level, the Bs, the CCC companies. We expect that there's going to be a decline in the second half of those areas. And bank loan ratings have also -- we're expecting that there's going to be a decline in the second half of the year as well.

高收益的另一部分是更高風險的信用，也就是風險更深的那一層——B 級、CCC 級公司。我們預期下半年這些領域會下滑。銀行貸款評級相關的活動也——我們同樣預期下半年會下滑。

The pipeline is not that strong. Even though interest rates are low, spreads continue to be high. Recently, the spreads for the B were over 700 basis points. CCC were over 1,000 basis points. Typically, the -- recently, rates have been more in the 400 level instead of 700 and 800 versus 1,000.

發行管線並不強。即使利率很低，利差仍然偏高。最近 B 級的利差超過 700 個基點，CCC 超過 1,000 個基點。通常——最近的水準更接近 400，而不是 700、800 或 1,000。

So rates are still -- spreads are still high. So we're expecting a decrease in issuance overall, with the one question mark being about the BB sector itself that has seen a lot of robust issuance recently.

所以利率仍然——利差仍然偏高。因此我們預期整體發行會下降，而唯一的問號在於 BB 板塊本身，近期那裡出現了相當強勁的發行。

And my second question, Doug, maybe just investment-grade outlook for the second half of the year after the robust second quarter, please? Are you expecting a material dip at any juncture like the third quarter, for example?

我的第二個問題，Doug，投資級在下半年的展望如何？在第二季非常強勁之後，你是否預期在某個時間點會出現明顯下滑，例如第三季？

Not necessarily the third quarter itself, but we're expecting that the issuance of investment grade will not be as robust as it was during the first half of the year.

不一定是第三季本身，但我們預期投資級的發行不會像上半年那樣強勁。

But like still up for the second half, if you don't mind me asking? Or what is your preliminary thought on that?

但如果你不介意我追問一下，下半年仍然會成長嗎？或者你目前初步的想法是什麼？

Yes. Well, the total amount in our forecast is up about 5% for the year. And what -- we look at the total investment grade for the entire year. We -- if you look at the entire year, we are up. It's going to be up about 20%. But when you parse that out to look at what was in the first half versus the second half, that ends up being at up a few percent, maybe 5% in the second half of the year. But it's flat to up 5% is what the expectations are.

會的。我們的年度預測總量大約上調 5%。而且——我們看的是全年投資級總量。——如果看全年，將上升約 20%。但當你把它拆開來看上半年與下半年，下半年大概是小幅上升，可能 5% 左右。也就是持平到上升 5%，這是我們的預期。

Next question is from Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 Jeff Silber。

Wanted to shift gears a bit. We've got a fairly big election coming up in about 3 months or so. It looks more and more likely that we might have a regime change down in Washington, not only in the White House, but potentially in Congress as well. Are you hearing anything that could impact your business? And I'm specifically focused on potential movement against issuer pay on the Ratings side.

我想稍微換個話題。大約 3 個月左右就有一場相當重要的選舉。看起來華盛頓可能出現政權更迭的可能性越來越高，不僅是白宮，甚至國會也可能如此。你們有聽到任何可能影響你們業務的事情嗎？我特別關注的是評級業務這邊，可能針對「發行人付費（issuer pay）」模式的動作。

Sorry, I was just speaking with mic on mute. So first of all, we're watching, obviously, the election very closely to see what we could -- what could change in Washington. And we stay very close to what are some of the topics which are discussed in the policy areas.

抱歉，我剛剛麥克風靜音在講話。首先，我們當然非常密切地關注選舉，看看華盛頓可能會有哪些變化。我們也非常貼近政策領域中正在討論的一些議題。

We don't expect that there is going to be a robust discussion about issuer pay model or about the Ratings business. There's already been a lot of work that's been happening around that the last few years.

我們不預期會出現對發行人付費模式或評級業務的強烈討論。過去幾年在這方面已經做了很多工作。

And so if it is, we expect that it would be something that would take a while. It would have to go through the SEC. It'd have to go through Congress. We're members -- or we are active in our relationship with regulators or policymakers, with others, and we would expect that we could be part of that dialogue.

即便真的出現，我們也預期那會需要一段時間。它必須經過美國證券交易委員會（SEC），也必須經過國會。我們是成員——或者說，我們在與監管機構或政策制定者等各方的關係上一直很積極，我們也預期能成為該對話的一部分。

Finally, what I'd say is that if you look at the performance of our Ratings business, and I don't mean from the point of view of financial performance, I mean Ratings performance themselves, the way Ratings have performed, we have made a fantastic amount of investment over the last 10 years in the Ratings methodology, in our -- how we see this playing out. And we're seeing very high-quality performance right now.

最後，我想說的是，如果你看看我們評級業務的表現——我不是指財務表現，而是指評級本身的表現、評級的運作成果——我們在過去10年對評級方法論、以及我們如何看待這一切將如何發展，投入了非常大量的投資。而我們目前看到的是非常高品質的表現。

And we're hoping that the markets also recognize the quality of our Ratings performance during this period and that, that doesn't end up leading to a lot of noise. Anyway, we watch very carefully what could happen in Washington. But so far, nothing that we are very concerned about or doing a lot of specific work on.

我們也希望市場能夠認可我們在這段期間評級表現的品質，並且不至於因此產生很多雜音。總之，我們非常密切地關注華盛頓可能發生的事情。但到目前為止，沒有任何讓我們非常擔心、或需要投入大量特定工作的事情。

Okay. Great. That's good to hear. My follow-up question is regarding capital allocation, specifically on share repurchase. I think you said that the Board could consider resuming a share repurchase later this year. I'm not going to ask you to speak for the Board, but what do you think they might be looking for to determine that decision?

好的。很好。很高興聽到。我的追問是關於資本配置，特別是股票回購。我想你提到董事會可能會考慮在今年稍晚恢復股票回購。我不會要求你代表董事會發言，但你認為他們可能會看哪些因素來做出這個決定？

Yes. This is Ewout. Let me take that question. Of course, we cannot anticipate such a decision at this point in time. And as you said, we cannot really preempt the Board. Clearly, the decision last quarter not to enter into a new buyback program was purely driven by the external environment because if you look at our balance sheet, the quality of our assets, our liquidity position, the performance of the company, all of that, of course, points to a very strong situation.

是的。我是Ewout。我來回答這個問題。當然，我們目前無法預先判斷這樣的決定。而且如你所說，我們也無法真正搶在董事會之前做出定論。很明顯，上季決定不啟動新的回購計畫，純粹是由外部環境所驅動，因為如果你看看我們的資產負債表、資產品質、流動性狀況、公司的營運表現，這些當然都顯示我們處於非常強勁的狀態。

So none of that is, of course, an argument in such a decision. It's really driven by the external environment, what we are seeing in the world around us. But I would like to reemphasize that there is no change with respect to our long-term capital philosophy and targets. So the 75% return target remains in place. So this is really more a short-term consideration for management and the Board.

因此，這些因素當然都不是做出該決策的理由。真正的驅動因素是外部環境，也就是我們在周遭世界所看到的情況。但我想再次強調，我們的長期資本理念與目標沒有改變。因此，75%的回饋目標仍然維持不變。這其實更多是管理層與董事會的短期考量。

Our next question comes from Hamzah Mazari with Jefferies.

下一個問題來自Jefferies的Hamzah Mazari。

You touched a lot on ESG across your various segments. Could you maybe frame for us just how big ESG revenue is today? I think you did it on the Analyst Day a while back. Just curious how big that is, what the growth rate there is. How do you just think about that gaining critical mass over time?

你在各個事業部門談了很多ESG。你能否幫我們框架一下，目前ESG營收規模有多大？我記得你們在之前的分析師日提過。只是想了解現在有多大、成長率如何。你怎麼看它隨時間推移達到關鍵規模（critical mass）？

Hamzah, in the second quarter, approximately $15 million of revenue for ESG across the whole company. That corresponds with about 25% growth year-over-year. We're still committed to a 40% CAGR in the mid- and longer term. The reason why we are not there yet is that we are introducing several new ESG products, as we also mentioned during the prepared remarks.

Hamzah，第二季全公司ESG相關營收約1,500萬美元。這相當於年增約25%。我們仍然承諾在中長期達到40%的年複合成長率（CAGR）。我們目前還沒達到的原因是，我們正在推出多項新的ESG產品，正如我們在事先準備的發言中也提到的。

Think about the new ESG data and scores product for Market Intelligence. Think about the collaboration we have with several managers, like State Street, BlackRock, UBS, DWS with respect to ESG ETFs. So all of that is under development and, therefore, expect that the growth will go up in the future. But $15 million revenue for ESG was booked in the second quarter.

例如，Market Intelligence的新ESG資料與評分產品。再例如，我們與多家資產管理機構的合作，如State Street、BlackRock、UBS、DWS，在ESG ETF方面的合作。因此，這些都在開發中，預期未來成長會加速。不過，第二季ESG營收入帳為1,500萬美元。

Got it. My follow-up question is around U.S. tax reform going away potentially. Could you maybe talk about implications of that? Clearly, there's a direct implication with tax rate. But historically, with U.S. tax reform, it had been a headwind for you, and you had specific slides on that previously. And so more interested in what you think the indirect impact could be on bond issuance. And any thoughts there?

了解。我的追問是關於美國稅改可能取消（going away）。你能否談談其影響？顯然，稅率會有直接影響。但歷史上，美國稅改對你們而言曾是逆風，你們之前也有針對此做過特定投影片。因此我更關心你認為對債券發行的間接影響可能是什麼？你有什麼看法？

Yes. And I appreciate that you're asking this question from a holistic perspective because, indeed, the impact for the company is more than the direct tax rates. The impact on the overall economy and what that will do for the company is as important. So we are, of course, monitoring very closely what is happening in this respect, but it is premature to speculate what will be the outcome.

是的。我也很感謝你從整體角度提出這個問題，因為確實，對公司的影響不僅僅是直接的稅率。對整體經濟的影響，以及那將如何影響公司，同樣重要。因此，我們當然非常密切地監控這方面正在發生的事情，但現在就推測結果仍為時過早。

But what I can say is, ultimately, tax rates should be -- become attractive from a geopolitical competitive perspective for any country because it should stimulate business activities, create an attractive investment climate, create jobs and, ultimately, ensure a strong economy. And when we have a strong economy, that is ultimately good for our company. So that is obviously the most important with any tax code and any changes to a tax code in the future.

但我可以說的是，最終，從地緣政治的競爭角度來看，任何國家的稅率都應該——變得具有吸引力，因為這應能刺激商業活動、創造有吸引力的投資環境、創造就業，並最終確保經濟強勁。而當經濟強勁時，最終對我們公司是有利的。因此，對任何稅制以及未來對稅制的任何變更而言，這顯然是最重要的。

Next question comes from George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自Goldman Sachs的George Tong。

You mentioned that investment-grade issuance in the second half of the year won't be as robust as the first half. I think you mentioned up flat to 5%. Could you talk about whether that reflects diminishing marginal benefits from the Fed credit facilities that are supporting elevated investment-grade issuance? Or are you simply seeing reduced demand for liquidity prefunding by corporates?

你提到今年下半年投資級發行量不會像上半年那麼強勁。我想你提到大致持平到成長5%。你能否談談，這是否反映聯準會（Fed）信貸工具對高企投資級發行的邊際效益正在遞減？還是你只是看到企業對流動性預先融資（prefunding）的需求下降？

Yes. It's interesting you asked about the Fed liquidity program because when you look at the Fed liquidity program, this was a fantastic way that the Fed was -- and the government was able to show their support for the economy at a time when there was so much uncertainty.

是的。你問到聯準會的流動性計畫很有意思，因為當你看聯準會的流動性計畫時，這是聯準會——以及政府——在不確定性如此高的時期，展現對經濟支持的一個非常出色的方式。

And in the corporate bond, primary markets and secondary markets facilities, it's $750 billion of potential authority that they have. They've only actually used $12 billion of that authority as of last week. I'm not sure if they've done any more this week.

在公司債的一級市場與二級市場工具方面，他們擁有7,500億美元的潛在授權額度。但截至上週，他們實際只動用了其中的120億美元。我不確定這週是否又有更多動用。

And so it's interesting the way that, that provided so much backstop in support to the economy, just having the number out there and knowing the Fed could use this. What's been much more important for the Fed has been their -- the Paycheck Protection Program that's used -- that's been -- the lending facilities that are out there, and they can be forgiven.

因此很有意思的是，這如何透過提供如此強大的後盾來支持經濟——只要把這個數字擺在那裡，並讓大家知道聯準會可以動用它，就能提供很大的支撐。對聯準會而言，更重要的其實是他們的——薪資保護計畫（Paycheck Protection Program），也就是那些已經使用——已經推出的放款工具，而且可以被豁免（forgiven）。

So the actual bond market itself has been supported by the promise of the Fed, but the Fed has not been that active in direct bond purchases. We do think that having that firepower of up to $750 billion is very valuable for the market. The Fed has used it to purchase a little bit of ABS, a little bit of money markets and a little bit of the funding markets. And they've been involved with other global player -- global central banks to support the dollar with swap facilities and things like that.

所以，債券市場本身是由聯準會的承諾所支撐，但聯準會並沒有在直接買債方面非常積極。我們確實認為，擁有高達7,500億美元的火力對市場非常有價值。聯準會已用它買了一點ABS（資產擔保證券）、一點貨幣市場工具，以及一點資金市場工具。他們也與其他全球參與者——全球央行——合作，透過換匯機制（swap facilities）等方式支持美元。

Anyway, to your question then, we think that the investment-grade issuance is going to be driven more so by the needs of companies than what's going to happen in the market. And one of the things -- what's going to happen with the Fed, what I think will be interesting to see, though, is the evolution of rates. If they stay as low as they are, and if spread stays as low they are, that will be one of the other factors that might induce some companies to go back to the market to raise more debt.

總之，回到你的問題，我們認為投資級發行將更多由企業自身需求所驅動，而不是由市場會發生什麼所驅動。而其中一件事——至於聯準會會怎麼做，我認為值得觀察的是利率的演變。如果利率維持在目前這麼低的水準，且利差也維持在目前這麼低的水準，這將是另一個可能促使一些公司回到市場、發行更多債務的因素。

Got it. That's very helpful. And then as a follow-up, can you provide details on what segment revenue growth expectations are embedded in your updated full year 2020 guidance?

了解。這非常有幫助。接著追問，你能否提供你們更新後的2020全年指引中，各事業部門營收成長預期所隱含的細節？

Yes, of course. If you look at the guidance we provided and you compare it with the guidance from 1 quarter ago, we are seeing improvements in the revenue outlook in all of our 4 divisions. We have indicated on the one page in our slide deck, Page 43, that for the second quarter, there was an improvement for Ratings in quite a meaningful way, but also in the Index business based on the higher assets under management levels.

是的，當然。如果你看我們提供的指引，並與一季前的指引相比，我們看到四個事業部門的營收展望都有改善。我們在投影片簡報的一頁（第43頁）中指出，第二季評級（Ratings）的改善相當顯著；同時，指數（Index）業務也因資產管理規模（AUM）水準較高而有所改善。

But no impact for Market Intelligence and Platts, and that's more a bit due to the delayed effect that you see impacts in those subscription businesses. But we expect, for the next 2 quarters, also compared to our last guidance, also for Market Intelligence and Platts, so an improvement in revenue outlook for all 4 divisions.

但Market Intelligence與Platts沒有受到影響，這更多是因為你在那些訂閱型業務中看到影響會有些延遲。不過，我們預期在接下來兩季，相較於我們上一次的指引，Market Intelligence與Platts也會改善，因此四個事業部門的營收展望都會提升。

There is, of course, an offset because a part of the expense saves are related to performance correlation. So think about incentive compensation, variable compensation, commissions. So if revenue is higher, sales are higher, then, of course, the expense saves on that element are going to be lower, but that's for a good reason. The discretionary expense savings based on management's specific decisions and actions, we actually expect to outperform the guidance we provided to you last quarter.

當然，這之間會有抵銷，因為部分費用節省與績效連動。比如獎勵性薪酬、變動薪酬、佣金等。因此，如果營收更高、銷售更高，那麼在這一項上的費用節省當然會較少，但那是出於好的原因。至於基於管理層特定決策與行動的可控（discretionary）費用節省，我們實際上預期會優於上季提供給你們的指引。

Next question comes from Andrew Nicholas with William Blair.

下一個問題來自William Blair的Andrew Nicholas。

This is actually Trevor Romeo on for Andrew. First one, just on Market Intelligence. Now we have a full quarter of the COVID impact behind us, just wondering if you could update us on the competitive environment there. Have you seen any evidence of customers consolidating vendors or switching to more expensive data providers since the beginning of the pandemic? Or any other competitive changes that you'd mentioned?

我其實是代替Andrew的Trevor Romeo。第一個問題是關於Market Intelligence。現在我們已經走過一個完整季度的COVID影響，想請你更新一下那裡的競爭環境。自疫情開始以來，你是否看到任何客戶整併供應商、或轉向更昂貴的資料供應商的跡象？或是你提到的任何其他競爭變化？

We haven't seen anything -- by the way, welcome, Trevor. We haven't seen any major trends of customer consolidation or any kind of move across to move to new customers. Clearly -- I mean, to move to new service providers. Clearly, it's a very competitive market but the COVID impact hasn't really had any impact on that.

我們沒有看到任何情況——順帶一提，歡迎你，Trevor。我們沒有看到任何主要的客戶整併趨勢，或任何轉移、改換新客戶的動向。很明顯——我的意思是，改換新的服務供應商。很明顯，這是一個競爭非常激烈的市場，但 COVID 的影響並沒有真正對此造成任何影響。

What we have seen though is that in our own case, we're seeing a very high level of engagement with our customers. We were able to move quickly, almost immediately, to our own ability to work from home. And then the way we work with our Desktop as well as the ability to push out enhancements, new products, new services, things like you've heard us talk about Marketplace, all of these have allowed us to continue to engage with our customers at a higher level than in the past.

不過，我們確實看到的是，在我們自身的情況下，我們與客戶之間的互動參與度非常高。我們能夠迅速、幾乎立刻，轉換到我們自身的居家辦公能力。接著，我們在 Desktop 的運作方式，以及推送強化功能、新產品、新服務的能力——例如你們聽我們談到的 Marketplace——所有這些都讓我們得以持續以比過去更高的層級與客戶互動。

So competitive-wise, we think that we are being -- we're very competitive that we were able to get into our customers to allow them to work from home very quickly. But when it comes to competitive factors, clearly, there's people out looking, but we haven't seen any major sort of consolidation. We do see a tough competitive environment.

因此，就競爭面而言，我們認為我們——我們非常有競爭力，因為我們能夠很快進入客戶端，讓他們迅速開始居家辦公。但談到競爭因素時，很明顯，確實有人在外面尋找機會，但我們沒有看到任何重大的整併。我們確實看到一個艱困的競爭環境。

We also see customers themselves have some suffering and struggling with their own businesses and potentially asking for changes to their contracts or the sales cycle has slowed down. So some of those impacts we've talked about in the past, we continue to see, but we haven't heard this theme about customers consolidating.

我們也看到客戶本身在其業務上遭遇一些痛苦與掙扎，並可能要求調整合約條款，或是銷售週期放緩。因此，我們過去談過的一些影響仍然持續存在，但我們沒有聽到這種「客戶正在整併」的主題。

Okay. Great. That's helpful. And then one quick one on margins, maybe. I think you've talked in the past about gradually kind of shifting employees to lower-cost regions over time as a driver of margin improvement. Just wondering if you think the pandemic, and this exclusively virtual working environment we have, gives you the confidence or the ability to accelerate that trend going forward. I don't think I heard that mentioned as part of what could go into the new productivity program, so I was just curious to think if you still have room to continue that effort.

好的。很好。這很有幫助。接著關於利潤率再問一個很快的問題。我想你們過去談過，隨時間逐步把員工轉移到較低成本地區，作為推動利潤率改善的因素之一。我只是想知道，你們是否認為疫情，以及我們目前這種完全虛擬的工作環境，會讓你們更有信心或更有能力在未來加速這個趨勢。我不覺得我有聽到這點被提到、作為新生產力計畫的一部分，所以我只是好奇，你們是否仍有空間繼續推進這項努力。

Yes. That's a great point. Although I would like to say that our talent strategy is, first and foremost, based on trying to find the best staff, the best colleagues in different locations around the world. That is the main purpose. And of course, in a more virtual environment, that is opening up the room of possibilities because of the less need to be physically together, at least all the time, going forward.

是的。這是一個很好的觀點。不過我想先說，我們的人才策略，首要且最重要的是，基於在全球不同地點尋找最優秀的人才、最好的同事。這才是主要目的。當然，在更虛擬的環境中，這會打開更多可能性，因為未來至少不需要一直在物理上聚在一起。

So could that mean to finding more colleagues in the future at lower-cost locations? Yes, possibly. That might be the case. And having less job in higher-cost locations? Yes, that could definitely be possible. But again, I think we start not with our talent strategy from a cost perspective. We start with what are the skills and capabilities and background that we need to build this company out in the future and to be as successful as possible.

那麼，這是否意味著未來可能在較低成本地點找到更多同事？是的，有可能。那在較高成本地點的職位更少？是的，這也絕對有可能。但再說一次，我們的人才策略並不是從成本角度出發。我們是從未來要打造這家公司、並盡可能成功所需要的技能、能力與背景出發。

Next question comes from Owen Lau with Oppenheimer.

下一個問題來自 Oppenheimer 的 Owen Lau。

And congrats on a strong quarter. Can you please provide a bit more color and the assumption on the $0.20 improved second half outlook on Slide 43? Is it mainly driven by better issuance outlook? Or is there any other expense assumptions you want to call out?

恭喜你們交出強勁的一季。你們能否就投影片 43 中下半年展望上調 0.20 美元的假設，提供更多細節與說明？這主要是由較佳的發行展望所帶動嗎？還是還有其他你們想特別指出的費用假設？

Yes. It's a combination of all of that. And let me try to explain this in the following way. First, because we need to be very clear about what is the reference. The reference is the guidance that we provided last quarter. If we take that into account, so the late third quarter recovery baseline scenario that we provided to you last quarter, then we are looking at revenues that come in at a higher level than we expected at that time, again, Ratings, for obvious reasons; Market Intelligence and Platts, as I explained, because of the lower impact on the book of business than we anticipated before; and also the Index business looks a bit better.

是的。這是以上各項因素的組合。我用以下方式來解釋。首先，我們必須非常清楚參考基準是什麼。參考基準是我們上一季提供的指引。如果把那個納入考量，也就是我們上一季提供給你們的「第三季末復甦」基準情境，那麼我們看到營收水準高於當時的預期——同樣地，Ratings 的原因很明顯；Market Intelligence 與 Platts，如我所解釋，因為對既有業務存量（book of business）的影響低於我們先前預期；此外，Index 業務看起來也稍微更好。

Then if you look on expenses, and we provided to you $180 million of expense savings last time, in fact, there are 2 underlying components. We have the performance-related expenses, so those are the ones that are correlated with sales and revenues. Think about incentive compensation, commissions, sales-based royalties, obviously, the savings there are lower because we have higher revenues.

接著看費用部分，我們上次向你們提供了 1.8 億美元的費用節省，事實上其中有兩個底層組成。第一是與績效相關的費用，也就是與銷售與營收相關聯的費用。比如獎勵性薪酬、佣金、以銷售為基礎的權利金等。很明顯，由於營收較高，這部分的節省會比較少。

But then we have the second part of the expense save. These are the discretionary expense saves with respect to hiring, travel, consultants and so on. And there, we expect to outperform.

但第二部分是費用節省的另一塊：在招募、差旅、顧問等方面的可裁量性費用節省。而在這一塊，我們預期會優於原先假設。

So if you put that all together, net-net, we expect to be better by $0.20 in terms of outlook for the second half of the year, but we are overcoming in that $0.20, in fact, lower expense savings on those performance-related elements, like variable compensation and commission. So in fact, it's a net number. The growth number in terms of outperformance is a bit higher. I hope that clarifies it.

因此，把這些全部加總起來，淨額而言，我們預期全年下半年展望會改善 0.20 美元；但在這 0.20 美元之中，我們其實抵銷了與績效相關項目（例如變動薪酬與佣金）較低的費用節省。所以這確實是一個淨額數字。就超預期的成長幅度而言，其實更高一些。希望這樣能釐清。

Yes. Yes, I think it's very helpful. And then could you please give us an update on China? There are still lots of geopolitical tensions, as you mentioned. But during the quarter, I think one of your competitors, and at least 2 other financial institutions, got the approval to operate a fully owned business in China. It would be great if you can provide your updated view on that.

是的，是的，我覺得非常有幫助。接著你們能否更新一下中國的情況？如你們提到的，地緣政治緊張仍然很多。但在本季期間，我想你們的一位競爭對手，以及至少另外兩家金融機構，獲得了在中國以全資方式營運業務的核准。如果你們能提供你們對此的最新看法，那會很棒。

Owen, this is Doug. Yes. First of all, as you've heard from us all along, we're very pleased with our progress in China. And despite COVID and having to have our people work from home, we continue to engage very well with the market.

Owen，我是 Doug。是的。首先，一如你們一路以來聽到我們所說的，我們對在中國的進展非常滿意。儘管有 COVID、且我們的人必須居家辦公，我們仍持續與市場保持非常良好的互動。

As you know, we've reported 3 more ratings that we published since the last time we reported. We have a great team on the ground. We've been building a market share of -- a voice of market. We have a lot of people that are attending our webinars, et cetera.

如你所知，自上次我們報告以來，我們又發布了 3 個評級。我們在當地有一支很棒的團隊。我們一直在建立市占——建立市場聲量。我們有很多人參加我們的網路研討會等等。

But what's really important is that the overall market continues to develop. We've remained engaged with the regulators, with issuers, with investors. Having one of our other competitors in the market, we think, is going to help develop the market for the type of research and analysis that foreign rating agency in China on the ground are going to be doing. The rating agency, which also received a license, it's a more limited license than ours, but we welcome having another rating agency that's going to be using global-oriented criteria to the market.

但真正重要的是，整體市場仍在持續發展。我們一直與監管機構、發行人、投資人保持互動。我們認為，另一位競爭對手進入市場，將有助於發展市場，讓在中國落地的外資評級機構所做的那類研究與分析更被需要。那家同樣取得牌照的評級機構，其牌照範圍比我們更有限，但我們也歡迎另一家會採用全球導向準則的評級機構進入市場。

And so we continue to be committed to China. We think, in the long run, it is a very large bond market. We're also pleased and encouraged by the discussion that we continue to have with the Chinese regulators about reform of the financial markets overall.

因此，我們仍然致力於中國。我們認為，長期來看，這是一個非常龐大的債券市場。我們也對我們與中國監管機構持續就整體金融市場改革所進行的討論感到滿意並受到鼓舞。

So China is still there. It's really important for us. We're pleased that we're there, and we're the first one on the ground. And we're also pleased that the competition is starting to open up.

所以，中國仍然在那裡。這對我們非常重要。我們很高興我們已經在那裡，而且我們是第一個在當地落地的。我們也很高興競爭正在開始開放。

The next question comes from Judah Sokel with JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自 JPMorgan 的 Judah Sokel。

I wanted to ask a question on Market Intelligence. You guys mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic lengthened the sales cycle but also drove record usage. And so we talked about the sales cycle earlier in the Q&A. But in terms of that record usage, I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on to what do you owe that record usage, and perhaps whether it can and how long that might last. And perhaps round out the color with just how your contracts are structured in Market Intelligence so that you can best monetize, if we are looking at maybe more of a secular greater usage of those platforms?

我想問一個關於 Market Intelligence 的問題。你們提到 COVID-19 疫情拉長了銷售週期，但也帶動了創紀錄的使用量。我們在 Q&A 早些時候談過銷售週期。但就這個創紀錄的使用量而言，我想請你們多闡述一下：你們認為這個創紀錄使用量主要歸因於什麼？以及它可能會持續多久、或如何持續？另外，也想請你們補充一下 Market Intelligence 的合約結構是如何設計的，讓你們能夠在平台使用量可能出現更長期、結構性提升的情況下，最好地將其變現？

Yes, of course, Judah, and welcome to the call. If you look at usage, let me give you an example, the data feeds business. So the clients' interest in the data feeds business is at an all-time high. And we measure that, for example, with respect to downloads of data feeds at this moment. So that is a great example of where we see usage being very high.

好的，當然可以，Judah，也歡迎你加入這通電話。談到使用量，我舉個例子：資料饋送（data feeds）業務。客戶對資料饋送業務的興趣正處於歷史新高。我們會衡量，例如此刻資料饋送的下載量。因此，這是一個很好的例子，顯示我們看到使用量非常高。

We measure usage on our Desktop products, and we see the usage numbers being also at a very high level. So clearly, at this time, we see usage across the board in Market Intelligence being very high. That is not immediately translating in commercial benefit because the sales process has been lengthened. Those discussions take a longer period of time for obvious reasons.

我們也衡量 Desktop 產品的使用量，而我們看到使用量數據同樣處於非常高的水準。因此，很明顯，在這個時間點，我們看到 Market Intelligence 各方面的使用量都非常高。這並沒有立刻轉化為商業效益，因為銷售流程被拉長了。由於顯而易見的原因，這些討論需要更長的時間。

But the way how we look at it is this is very positive because if we can contribute and help our customers in this period of time, and we can prove even more the benefits of our products, ultimately, there were only going to be good things that come out of that. So overall, we're very pleased with what we see from an overall interaction with our customers and usage perspective in Market Intelligence.

但我們看待這件事的方式是：這非常正面，因為如果我們能在這段期間為客戶做出貢獻並提供協助，並且更進一步證明我們產品的效益，最終只會帶來好的結果。總體而言，從與客戶的整體互動以及 Market Intelligence 的使用量角度來看，我們對目前所見到的情況非常滿意。

Understood. Just one other question. When it comes to Ratings, obviously, we're all hoping that we don't see a major second wave, and this is not an elongated recession. But if we did go into a longer period of economic challenge, and we saw more defaults and bankruptcies, what would -- can you review with us what would happen to your revenue base? I'm thinking in terms of restructuring, perhaps new ratings when companies emerge from bankruptcy and, obviously, there's liquidation scenarios to think through as well.

了解。還有一個問題。談到評級（Ratings），顯然我們都希望不會出現重大的第二波疫情，而且這不會是一場拉長的衰退。但如果我們確實進入更長一段經濟挑戰期，並看到更多違約與破產，你能否回顧一下你們的營收基礎會發生什麼變化？我想到的是重整（restructuring）、公司破產後重新出現時可能需要的新評級，當然也要考量清算情境。

Yes. It's an interesting question because whenever there is a downturn, we always have said that one of the most important drivers of our business is GDP growth. And clearly, the last 4 months have been completely different. It's not your typical cycle where we've seen GDP slowdown, and we saw this huge increase in issuance.

是的。這是一個有趣的問題，因為每當出現景氣下行時，我們一直都說，我們業務最重要的驅動因素之一是 GDP 成長。而很明顯，過去 4 個月完全不同。這不是典型的循環——我們看到 GDP 放緩，同時又看到發行量大幅增加。

But at the same time, when you do see a down cycle, you see that sometimes companies go into bankruptcy, sometimes there's restructurings. But once a bond is a bond, it doesn't go away, unless it's a true liquidation. And the bond, it disappears.

但同時，當你確實看到下行週期時，有時公司會進入破產，有時會進行重整。不過，一旦債券就是債券，除非是真正的清算，否則它不會消失；若是清算，債券就會消失。

When you see companies that get taken over -- right now, we're expecting that there's -- we're seeing a pipeline of M&A activity in health care and in oil and gas, in particular. Some of the oil and gas M&A activity is actually distressed M&A activity. And because of that, we expect that once somebody draws down their revolver or has a bank loan to complete the deal that they're going to go back to the markets or they're going to actually restructure the debt directly.

當你看到公司被併購——目前我們預期會看到一條併購（M&A）活動的管線，特別是在醫療保健以及石油與天然氣領域。其中一些石油與天然氣的併購其實是困境併購（distressed M&A）。因此，我們預期一旦有人動用其循環信貸額度（revolver）或以銀行貸款完成交易，他們就會回到市場，或是直接對債務進行重整。

So we see that once debt is debt, it continues to stay debt, even if it's shrunk through restructuring. And it's -- so what we really look at is the number of issuers, the number of issuance, what the banks are seeing in their pipelines, GDP growth, industry growth, et cetera. And even in a downturn, there's -- many times, there's a lot of different types of debt instruments.

所以我們看到，一旦是債務就是債務，即使透過重整而縮減，它仍會以債務形式存在。因此我們真正關注的是發行人數量、發行量、銀行在其管線中看到的情況、GDP 成長、產業成長等等。即使在下行期，很多時候也會有許多不同類型的債務工具。

The final thing I'd say related to structured finance, structured finance, although you've seen it very, very low in the last 4 months, the structured finance activity has been down, overall, 42% globally in the last quarter. And in the U.S., it was down 56%. In fact, there were some asset class in Europe, there was not even one issuance of a CMBS transaction. So that's where we've seen the activity of a very weak structured finance cycle.

最後我想談一下結構性金融（structured finance）。雖然你在過去 4 個月看到它非常、非常低迷，結構性金融活動一直在下滑；整體而言，上一季全球下滑了 42%。在美國則下滑了 56%。事實上，在歐洲有些資產類別甚至連一筆 CMBS 交易的發行都沒有。這就是我們所看到的——結構性金融週期極為疲弱。

But we think, after a while, financial institutions, corporations, et cetera, are going to start wanting to manage their balance sheet. And we believe that there will be a recovery at some point, again, of structured finance as well. It's a really critical corporate finance asset management -- asset liability management tool. So again, even though it's been incredibly weak recently, we do think, eventually, structured finance also starts recovering again.

但我們認為，過一段時間之後，金融機構、企業等將會開始希望管理其資產負債表。我們相信結構性金融在某個時間點也會復甦。它是非常關鍵的公司財務資產管理——資產負債管理工具。因此，再次強調，儘管近期極度疲弱，我們確實認為最終結構性金融也會再次開始復甦。

We will now take our final question from Kevin McVeigh with Crédit Suisse.

我們現在將進行最後一個提問，來自 Crédit Suisse 的 Kevin McVeigh。

I wonder if you can give us a sense of where we are in the Kensho evolution across the enterprise. I guess, I know there's going to be outsized impact in both the revenue and expense side. But is there a way to think about where it is in the integration across S&P?

我想知道你能否讓我們了解 Kensho 在整個企業內部演進到什麼程度。我想，我知道它在營收端與費用端都會有超比例的影響。但是否有一種方式可以思考它在 S&P 內部整合的進展？

Yes. It's a great question, Kevin. And I always want to speak about Kensho with a lot of enthusiasm because, overall, that has been an acquisition for the company that is working out in a very positive way. It's really helping as a catalyst for innovation and change within the company.

是的。這是個很好的問題，Kevin。我總是很熱情地談 Kensho，因為整體而言，這對公司來說是一項非常正面的收購，進展非常順利。它確實正在成為公司內部創新與變革的催化劑。

And what you're hearing every call is that we are giving you a couple of examples of where Kensho is helping, if it is in the Data Marketplace, if it is with the entity linking, if it is in the Market-on-Close with Platts, Omnisearch. We have several initiatives going on in the Ratings business. And there are many, many examples where Kensho is helping the company.

而你在每次電話會議上聽到的是，我們會給你幾個 Kensho 正在提供協助的例子：無論是在 Data Marketplace、在實體連結（entity linking）、在與 Platts 的 Market-on-Close、Omnisearch。我們在評級（Ratings）業務也有數個計畫在進行中。Kensho 協助公司的例子非常、非常多。

What we have also keeping track of is the overall benefit and contribution of those initiatives. And what we said at year-end, and we have recently refreshed that, again, is that the overall net present value of all those initiatives that are in flight, the net present value of that really justify the overall acquisition price we paid for Kensho a bit over 2 years ago.

我們也在追蹤這些計畫的整體效益與貢獻。我們在年末所說的——而我們最近也再次更新——是所有這些正在推進中的計畫，其整體淨現值（net present value）確實足以合理化我們在兩年多前為 Kensho 支付的整體收購價格。

So very positive development. And I'll give you another example at the end, the Kensho Index, the new economy index, what we mentioned, that exceeded assets by over $1 billion right now. So many initiatives. And what we really like is all divisions take advantage of having this capability within the company.

所以這是非常正面的發展。我再舉一個例子：Kensho Index，也就是我們提到的新經濟指數（new economy index），目前資產規模已超過 10 億美元。所以有很多計畫。我們真正喜歡的是，各個事業部都能利用公司內部具備的這項能力。

That's helpful. And then just one quick follow-up. On the Corporate side, is there any way that you folks track anything around allocation towards M&A or buyback just as a proxy for the outlook for IG and maybe some of the other parts of the debt stack as we think about the back half of this year?

這很有幫助。接著再快速追問一個。在企業端（Corporate side），你們是否有任何方式追蹤資本配置（allocation）流向併購（M&A）或庫藏股回購（buyback）的情況，作為投資級（IG）前景、以及今年下半年我們在思考債務結構中其他部分時的一個代理指標？

Well, those are clearly some of the factors that we look at for understanding what the pipeline is. It's the ability of our teams to understand what are the needs of different companies in terms of their own capital allocation models, their M&A models as well as very important for us to stay close to what the financial institutions, the debt capital markets, desks on banks are seeing and how they believe the evolution is going to be of debt. And so these are many of the different tools we use to try to forecast what issuance is going to be.

嗯，這些顯然都是我們用來理解管線（pipeline）的一些因素。我們團隊需要了解不同公司在其資本配置模型、併購模型方面的需求；同時，對我們而言也非常重要的是，與金融機構保持密切聯繫，了解銀行的債務資本市場（debt capital markets）交易台看到什麼，以及他們認為債務演變將如何發展。因此，這些是我們用來嘗試預測發行量（issuance）的眾多工具之一。

We also look very closely at interest rates, and interest rates and spreads, not just both of them. And as we've recently seen some investment-grade companies issuing debt as low as 1.5% for 7- to 10-year debt, and we haven't seen debt that low for a long time.

我們也非常密切地關注利率——以及利率與利差（spreads），不只是其中之一。正如我們最近看到的，一些投資級公司發行 7 到 10 年期債務的利率低至 1.5%，我們已經很久沒有看到這麼低的債務成本了。

Just one other interest rate story. Recently, as you know, mortgage bonds were -- I mean mortgages were down to the lowest rate they've ever been, well below 3%, some mortgages even below 2%. And so interest rates, what corporations are doing with their cash, what financial institutions are doing to manage their balance sheet, what governments and municipalities are doing, how people are looking at their balance sheets when it comes to understanding the way they might use structured products, et cetera, those are all the different factors we look at to come up with our forecasts and to also allocate resources across the Ratings team.

再補充一個利率的故事。最近，如你所知，房貸債券——我是說房貸利率——降到史上最低，遠低於 3%，有些房貸甚至低於 2%。因此，利率、企業如何運用其現金、金融機構如何管理其資產負債表、政府與地方自治體在做什麼、以及人們在理解可能如何使用結構性產品（structured products）等方面時如何看待其資產負債表——這些都是我們用來形成預測、並在評級團隊內部分配資源的各種因素。

So with that, I want to thank everyone for joining the call today. And first of all, it's been great to see that the company performed so well this quarter. And I want to thank all of you on the call for supporting the company, the analysts who are on the call today for publishing your research and your opinions and for the excellent questions today.

那麼在此，我想感謝各位今天加入電話會議。首先，很高興看到公司本季表現如此出色。我也要感謝各位在電話會議上對公司的支持，感謝今天在線上的分析師發表你們的研究與觀點，也感謝今天提出的精彩問題。

But since our last call, COVID-19 and the risks that it poses to our health and our economies, it still is dominating the airwaves in corporate and government planning discussions. And there's frontline health care workers out there. They're battling the coronavirus every day. And I've been watching and listening with great hope to the epidemiologists, the pharmaceutical companies, public health officials, and watching how they develop vaccines and treatments that we know will eventually allow our communities to return to social contact and our office work and travel.

但自從我們上次的電話會議以來，COVID-19 以及它對我們健康與經濟所帶來的風險，仍然主導著媒體版面，也主導著企業與政府規劃討論。前線的醫護人員每天都在與冠狀病毒搏鬥。我一直帶著很大的希望在觀看與聆聽流行病學家、製藥公司與公共衛生官員，並關注他們如何研發疫苗與治療方法；我們知道，這些最終將使我們的社區能夠恢復社交接觸、回到辦公室工作並恢復旅行。

But I want a final -- I want to end the call by thanking again the employees of S&P Global. You've been dedicated, you've been committed, and you've been persevering during the pandemic. And you've continued to support each other and the markets. And despite the volatility, the uncertainty and the risk, you're all doing a fantastic job, and I want to thank you. And thank you again, everyone, for joining the call today.

但我想做最後的——我想以再次感謝 S&P Global 的員工來結束本次電話會議。你們一直很投入、很承諾，並在疫情期間堅持不懈。你們持續彼此支持，也支持市場。儘管波動、不確定性與風險並存，你們都做得非常出色，我要謝謝你們。也再次感謝各位今天加入電話會議。

That concludes this morning's call. A PDF version of the presenters' slides is available now for downloading from investor.spglobal.com. Replays of the entire call will be available in about 2 hours. The webcast with audio and slides will be maintained on S&P Global's website for 1 year. The audio-only telephone replay will be maintained for 1 month. On behalf of S&P Global, we thank you for participating, and wish you a good day.

今天上午的電話會議到此結束。簡報投影片的 PDF 版本現已可於 investor.spglobal.com 下載。完整電話會議的重播將在約 2 小時後提供。包含音訊與投影片的網路直播將在 S&P Global 網站上保留 1 年。僅音訊的電話重播將保留 1 個月。我們謹代表 S&P Global 感謝各位的參與，並祝各位有美好的一天。