標普全球 (SPGI) 2020 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to S&P Global's First Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. I'd like to inform you this call is being recorded for broadcast. (Operator Instructions) To access the webcast and slides, go to investor.spglobal.com. (Operator Instructions)

早安，歡迎參加 S&P Global 2020 年第一季財報電話會議。我想告知各位，本次電話會議將錄音以供轉播。（接線員指示）如需收看網路直播與投影片，請前往 investor.spglobal.com。（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 First Quarter Earnings Call. Presenting on today's call are Doug Peterson, President and CEO; and Ewout Steenbergen, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

感謝各位今天參加 S&P Global 第一季財報電話會議。今天出席並發言的有：總裁暨執行長 Doug Peterson，以及執行副總裁兼財務長 Ewout Steenbergen。

As you expect, we are calling remotely instead of hosting this call together from our headquarters. If you notice any delays, we thank you for your understanding.

如各位所預期，我們將以遠端方式進行本次電話會議，而非在總部共同主持。若您注意到任何延遲，敬請見諒並感謝您的理解。

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

我們已於今日稍早發布 2020 年第一季業績新聞稿。如您需要新聞稿與財務附表副本，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. This 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.

在今日的財報新聞稿及本次電話會議中，我們提供調整後（adjusted）的財務資訊。提供此資訊旨在使投資人能對公司各期間的營運表現進行有意義的比較，並以與管理階層相同的角度檢視公司的業務。本次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。

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, especially those relating to our outlook and associated scenarios regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, 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. 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.

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》所定義之前瞻性陳述，包括預測、估計及對未來事件之描述。任何此類陳述，特別是與我們的展望以及與 COVID-19 疫情影響相關之情境有關者，均係基於目前預期與當前經濟狀況，並受可能導致實際結果與該等前瞻性陳述所預期結果出現重大差異之風險與不確定性影響。就此，我們請聽眾參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交之 Form 10-K、10-Q 及其他定期報告中所載之警示性聲明。

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.

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% 或以上所有權之投資人，應致電與我聯繫，以更充分了解該立法對投資人以及可能對公司造成之影響。

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

我們知道本次電話會議中也有部分媒體代表與會。然而，本次電話會議係以投資人為對象；我們請媒體的提問改向 Dave Guarino（電話：(212) 438-1471）洽詢。

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

此刻，我想把電話會議交給 Doug Peterson。Doug？

Thank you, Chip. Good morning, and welcome to today's earnings call. I hope everyone has adjusted to your new working environment and is staying healthy and safe. The world is a completely different place than we have ever seen before. I want to start by acknowledging that this is a very challenging time for all of us, and our thoughts are with those most impacted by COVID-19. I want to especially thank first responders and essential employees who are on the front lines of the crisis.

謝謝你，Chip。早安，歡迎參加今天的財報電話會議。希望大家都已適應新的工作環境，並保持健康與安全。世界已變得與我們以往所見截然不同。我想先表示，這對我們所有人而言都是非常艱難的時刻，我們的心與受 COVID-19 影響最深的人同在。我也特別感謝在危機第一線的第一線應變人員與關鍵必要員工。

Today, I'd like to share with you what we are doing at S&P Global to support our employees and serve the market, our communities and our customers in this unprecedented and uncertain time. We're very proud of how quickly we've been able to move to remote work-from-home environment, and I'll share some of those examples with you today. We will also share with you how our company's financials could be impacted for the remainder of the year under a variety of scenarios.

今天，我想與各位分享在這個前所未有且充滿不確定性的時期，S&P Global 正在做些什麼來支持員工，並服務市場、社區與客戶。我們非常自豪能如此迅速地轉換到遠端居家工作環境，今天也會與各位分享其中一些例子。我們也將與各位說明，在多種情境下，公司今年剩餘期間的財務表現可能受到何種影響。

We are pleased to report strong first quarter financial results. Revenue increased 14% and adjusted diluted EPS increased 29%. We have a solid balance sheet and ample liquidity. We have spent a great deal of time positioning for an event like COVID-19 by enabling nearly all our employees to seamlessly work remotely. Putting our people first and keeping them safe and healthy informs all our decisions.

我們很高興報告第一季財務結果強勁。營收成長 14%，調整後稀釋每股盈餘（EPS）成長 29%。我們的資產負債表穩健，流動性充裕。我們花了大量時間為像 COVID-19 這樣的事件做好準備，使幾乎所有員工都能無縫遠端工作。以員工為先、確保他們安全與健康，是我們所有決策的核心。

We continue to actively engage with clients, regulators and governments, providing data, analytics, ratings and research in a timely and transparent manner. We are very pleased that we've been able to deliver uninterrupted product access across our businesses throughout the entire transition to our employees working from home.

我們持續積極與客戶、監管機構及政府互動，及時且透明地提供資料、分析、評級與研究。我們非常高興，在員工全面轉為居家工作期間，我們仍能在各項業務中提供不中斷的產品存取。

It's in uncertain times like these that our data, analytics, ratings and research are most important to our customers. Usage of many of our products have surged since early March. While none of our businesses are consumer-facing, our businesses are impacted by the health of both our corporate customers as well as the financial and commodity market. The health of many of our customers will be tested as the year progresses. Nevertheless, we believe that it's essential to continue to advance our growth investment and ongoing cost-reduction programs.

在像現在這樣充滿不確定性的時期，我們的資料、分析、評級與研究對客戶而言最為重要。自 3 月初以來，我們多項產品的使用量激增。雖然我們的業務並非面向消費者，但我們的業務會受到企業客戶健康狀況，以及金融與大宗商品市場狀況的影響。隨著今年進展，許多客戶的韌性將面臨考驗。儘管如此，我們仍認為持續推進成長投資與持續的成本降低計畫至關重要。

We are proactively analyzing the impact of the pandemic on our businesses and the management actions we need to take. Ewout will review these in a moment.

我們正主動分析疫情對各項業務的影響，以及我們需要採取的管理行動。Ewout 稍後將就此進行說明。

In response to COVID-19, we start with our employees. In putting our People First, we were an early adopter of work-from-home policies and travel restriction. We also retained a dedicated Chief Medical Officer as a consultant, increased mental and emotional health services and even began shipping meals to employees in India who are unable to secure them on their own.

面對 COVID-19，我們首先從員工著手。在落實「以員工為先」的理念下，我們很早就採行居家工作政策與差旅限制。我們也聘請專任首席醫療長擔任顧問，增加心理與情緒健康服務，甚至開始為印度無法自行取得餐食的員工寄送餐點。

As of now, it's not our intention to furlough or lay off employees because of COVID-19. We'll obviously evaluate that as scenarios play out. We're successfully operating with over 99% of our employees working from home. We shipped over 3,000 desktops to those employees' homes who did not have company laptops, provided significant technical support and expanded our VPN to accommodate a sixfold increase in usage.

截至目前，我們無意因 COVID-19 而讓員工放無薪假或裁員。我們當然會隨情境發展加以評估。我們已成功在超過 99% 員工居家工作的情況下維持營運。對於沒有公司筆電的員工，我們已將超過 3,000 台桌上型電腦寄送到其住處，提供大量技術支援，並擴充 VPN 以因應使用量增加至原先的六倍。

We have also reached out to help our communities. We've introduced a free COVID-19 website so that anyone can access our special research. We have provided complementary access to Panjiva's supply chain information to hospitals to track essential items. And we've donated 100,000 medical-grade face masks to first responders in various parts of the world. And the S&P Global Foundation has donated $4 million to support small businesses and other COVID-19 relief efforts.

我們也主動伸出援手協助社區。我們推出免費的 COVID-19 網站，讓任何人都能取得我們的專題研究。我們向醫院提供 Panjiva 供應鏈資訊的免費存取，以追蹤關鍵物資。我們也向世界各地的第一線應變人員捐贈 100,000 片醫療級口罩。此外，S&P Global Foundation 已捐贈 400 萬美元，以支持小型企業及其他 COVID-19 紓困工作。

Interactions with governments and regulators are also critical in times of market strain. We've had over 40 COVID-19-related interactions with roughly 20 different regulators, discussing our views of markets and economic condition. We have engaged with countless state and local governments, public health officials and universities to provide free access to various data platforms with supply chain and credit market information and engaged with central banks to discuss credit market conditions and emergency lending facilities.

在市場承壓時期，與政府及監管機構的互動同樣關鍵。我們已就 COVID-19 相關議題與約 20 個不同監管機構進行超過 40 次互動，討論我們對市場與經濟狀況的看法。我們也與無數州與地方政府、公共衛生官員及大學合作，提供多個資料平台的免費存取（包含供應鏈與信用市場資訊），並與各國央行交流，討論信用市場狀況與緊急放款機制。

We're acutely aware that our clients are facing challenges of working in new ways. It's been imperative that we continue to serve them during these difficult times.

我們深知客戶正面臨以新方式工作的挑戰。在這些艱難時期，持續為他們提供服務至關重要。

In Ratings, we've been deploying technologies which have helped ensure continuity of surveillance and facilitated the issuance over 2,000 new ratings in the quarter. And since the beginning of the year, we have taken over 1,300 negative rating actions, which included rating downgrades, credit watch changes and outlook revision.

在評級業務方面，我們部署了多項技術，協助確保監測工作的連續性，並促成該季度發行超過 2,000 個新評級。自年初以來，我們已採取超過 1,300 項負向評級行動，包括評級下調、信用觀察名單變更以及展望調整。

In Market Intelligence, our global operations centers remain fully operational, and we've delivered uninterrupted availability across our product suite. In fact, we have 90%-plus productivity in all core data and tech operations, which based on survey information for locations in India, is best in class.

在 Market Intelligence 方面，我們的全球營運中心仍維持全面運作，並在整個產品組合中提供不中斷的可用性。事實上，我們在所有核心資料與技術營運上的生產力均達 90% 以上；根據針對印度據點的調查資訊，這屬於同業最佳水準。

Platts' Market-on-Close process saw our teams from around the world step up to maintain accurate and timely price reporting despite our employees working from home.

Platts 的 Market-on-Close 流程中，來自全球各地的團隊挺身而出，即使員工居家工作，仍能維持準確且即時的價格報導。

Indices' real-time systems have maintained 100% uptime as it calculated critical market indicators, such as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, all under incredibly volatile market conditions.

Indices 的即時系統在極度波動的市場環境下，於計算關鍵市場指標（例如 S&P 500 與道瓊工業平均指數）時仍維持 100% 正常運作時間（uptime）。

We continue to serve the markets with research and analytics. Depicted on the right are examples of some of the many research papers we have made available. Much of this content is available from our free COVID-19 website I mentioned. I would highly recommend you visit the site. We've created deep content analysis covering the financial and commodity markets. We have seen a significant increase in engagement with our insights through webinars and digital/online offerings. You can see some of the usage statistics on this slide.

我們持續以研究與分析服務市場。右側展示的是我們已提供的眾多研究報告中的一些例子。我先前提到的免費 COVID-19 網站可取得其中多數內容。我強烈建議各位造訪該網站。我們已建立深入的內容分析，涵蓋金融與大宗商品市場。我們也看到透過網路研討會以及數位／線上服務，市場對我們洞見的互動顯著增加。您可以在這張投影片上看到部分使用統計數據。

We have endured economic downturns in the past, most notably the recent financial crisis in 2008. This chart depicts our revenue for the past 15 years. We included SNL data for the entire period, even though we didn't purchase it until 2015. We'll also note a jump in revenue in Indices in 2013 from the addition of Dow Jones Indices as part of the formation of the S&P Dow Jones Indices joint venture.

過去我們曾經歷經濟衰退，最值得注意的是 2008 年近期的金融危機。此圖表呈現我們過去 15 年的營收。我們納入了整個期間的 SNL 數據，儘管我們直到 2015 年才購入該數據。我們也會指出，2013 年指數（Indices）業務的營收出現跳升，原因是道瓊指數（Dow Jones Indices）加入，作為成立 S&P Dow Jones Indices 合資企業的一部分。

Any year that is declining revenue is depicted in dark blue. The most notable takeaway is that there were no revenue declines in any of the businesses except Ratings. And as a reminder, the vast majority of the decline in Ratings revenue in 2008 was related to structured finance in U.S. RBS in particular. While these may be interesting data points, we're not suggesting that the current pandemic-related economic downturn will have the same impact on revenue and performance as in past downturns because the circumstances around the global pandemic are new for all of us.

任何營收下滑的年度以深藍色呈現。最重要的結論是，除評級（Ratings）外，其他各項業務均未出現營收下滑。並提醒一下，2008 年評級營收下滑的絕大部分與結構性融資有關，尤其是美國 RBS。雖然這些可能是有趣的數據點，但我們並不表示當前與疫情相關的經濟衰退會對營收與表現造成與過去衰退相同的影響，因為全球疫情的情境對我們所有人而言都是全新的。

Despite our resilience and financial strength, we're not immune to structural risks arising from COVID-19. These include risks to the macroeconomic environment, to bond and credit markets, to equity markets and to oil markets. We could see low volumes in bond issuance, weak new sales and renewals for subscription and data product or further drops in AUMs amongst the many risks that could arise. We're staying close to the trends. The longer the pandemic continues, the greater the risks.

儘管我們具備韌性與財務實力，但我們並非不受 COVID-19 所引發之結構性風險影響。這些風險包括宏觀經濟環境、債券與信貸市場、股票市場以及石油市場的風險。我們可能會看到債券發行量偏低、訂閱與數據產品的新銷售與續約疲弱，或資產管理規模（AUM）進一步下滑等眾多可能出現的風險。我們正密切關注趨勢。疫情持續越久，風險就越大。

Now turning to the first quarter results. All 4 divisions delivered revenue and adjusted operating profit growth. We delivered significant margin improvement as revenue growth and productivity initiatives offset stepped-up investment spending associated with our growth initiatives. Our adjusted diluted EPS grew 29% in the quarter. We think that it's important to continue to invest in growth initiatives, such as ESG, China and marketplace, despite economic uncertainty as these projects are important elements of our future growth. We also launched several new products during the quarter, which I'll review with you in a moment.

接著看第一季業績。四大事業部門皆實現營收與調整後營業利益成長。由於營收成長與生產力提升措施抵銷了與成長計畫相關的投資支出增加，我們實現了顯著的利潤率改善。本季調整後稀釋每股盈餘（EPS）成長 29%。我們認為，即使在經濟不確定性下，仍持續投資於 ESG、中國與市場平台等成長計畫非常重要，因為這些專案是我們未來成長的重要要素。我們也在本季推出數項新產品，稍後我會與各位回顧。

And we named Dan Draper CEO of S&P Dow Jones Indices, replacing Alex Matturri effective mid-June. Alex has been the anchor of our Indices business for the past 12 years. His industry knowledge is unparalleled and he has been instrumental in overseeing Indices' transformation into the growing and leading global index provider it is today. Dan joins us from Invesco Distributors where he served as the company's Managing Director and Global Head of Exchange-Traded Funds.

此外，我們任命 Dan Draper 為 S&P Dow Jones Indices 的執行長（CEO），自 6 月中旬起接替 Alex Matturri。Alex 在過去 12 年一直是我們指數業務的中流砥柱。他的產業知識無人能及，並在監督指數業務轉型、使其成為今日成長且領先的全球指數提供者方面發揮了關鍵作用。Dan 加入我們之前任職於 Invesco Distributors，擔任公司董事總經理（Managing Director）暨全球 ETF（Exchange-Traded Funds）主管。

To recap the financial results for the first quarter, revenue increased 14% to almost $1.8 billion. Our adjusted operating profit increased 28%. And our adjusted operating profit margin increased 580 basis points to 53.1%. As you know, we measure and track adjusted margin on a trailing 4-quarter basis, which increased 260 basis points to 51.5%. In addition, we reduced shares outstanding by 2%, which contributed to the 29% increase in adjusted diluted EPS.

回顧第一季財務結果，營收成長 14% 至接近 18 億美元。調整後營業利益成長 28%。調整後營業利益率提升 580 個基點至 53.1%。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利潤率，該指標提升 260 個基點至 51.5%。此外，我們將流通在外股數減少 2%，也促成調整後稀釋 EPS 成長 29%。

Each quarter, we highlight a few key drivers to our business and important projects underway. This quarter, let's start with Ratings' issuance trend. During the first quarter, global bond issuance increased 11% with mixed performance from various geographies and asset classes. We also include bank loan ratings volume, total global issuance increased 10%. What's striking was how issuance unfolded with very strong high-yield issuance for the first 7 weeks, a 2-week lull and then a surge in liquidity-driven investment-grade issuance after the Federal Reserve initiated several credit facilities to support the economy and companies across industries enhance their cash positions.

每一季我們都會強調幾項業務的關鍵驅動因素與正在推進的重要專案。本季先從評級的發行趨勢談起。第一季全球債券發行量成長 11%，不同地區與資產類別表現不一。我們也納入銀行貸款評級量後，全球總發行量成長 10%。值得注意的是發行的展開方式：前 7 週高收益（high-yield）發行非常強勁，接著有 2 週的停滯，之後在聯準會啟動多項信貸工具以支撐經濟、並協助各產業公司提升現金部位後，出現由流動性驅動的投資級（investment-grade）發行激增。

In the U.S., bond issuance in aggregate increased 34% as investment-grade increased 54%, high-yield increased 9%, public finance increased 12%, while structured finance increased 16% with gains in CLOs, CMBS and RMBS, partially offset by a decrease in ABS volume.

在美國，整體債券發行量成長 34%，其中投資級成長 54%，高收益成長 9%，公共融資（public finance）成長 12%；結構性融資成長 16%，主要來自 CLO、CMBS 與 RMBS 的增長，但部分被 ABS 發行量下降所抵銷。

European bond issuance decreased 14% as investment grade decreased 17%, high-yield increased 20% and structured finance decreased 20% due to declines in covered bonds and CLOs, partially offset by gains in RMBS and ABS.

歐洲債券發行量下滑 14%，其中投資級下滑 17%，高收益成長 20%；結構性融資下滑 20%，原因是擔保債（covered bonds）與 CLO 下滑，但部分被 RMBS 與 ABS 的增長所抵銷。

In Asia, bond issuance increased 6% overall. During the quarter, Ratings issued 5 new domestic ratings in China. Despite working from home, our commercial team actively interacted with issuers, investors and intermediaries via phone and other digital media. The pipeline of prospects continues to progress.

在亞洲，債券發行量整體成長 6%。本季評級業務在中國發出 5 項新的境內評級。儘管居家辦公，我們的商務團隊仍透過電話與其他數位媒體，積極與發行人、投資人及中介機構互動。潛在客戶管線持續推進。

Bank loan rating activity is not captured in issuance data. However, since it is an important element of Ratings revenue, we like to disclose this bank loan rating revenue each quarter. And the first quarter increased 31% over the prior period to $87 million.

銀行貸款評級活動未反映在發行數據中。然而，由於其是評級營收的重要組成，我們每季都會揭露此銀行貸款評級營收。第一季較前期成長 31% 至 8,700 萬美元。

During the quarter, we had some new product launches I want to share with you on this slide. The Platts platform was launched in March. It's a digital environment that delivers real-time information wherever, whenever and however the user needs it. It consolidates content from companies like BENTEK and PIRA that we have acquired over the years into one location. We already have 130 corporate customers actively using the Platts platform, and the mobile app has been downloaded 1,300 times.

本季我們推出了一些新產品，想在這張投影片與各位分享。Platts 平台於 3 月上線。這是一個數位環境，可在使用者需要的任何地點、任何時間、以任何方式提供即時資訊。它將我們多年來收購的 BENTEK、PIRA 等公司的內容整合至同一處。我們已有 130 家企業客戶在積極使用 Platts 平台，行動 App 也已被下載 1,300 次。

Platts Market-on-Close is the process market reporters use to assess prices for crude oil, petroleum products and related swaps. Platts has been working with Kensho to accelerate the assessment process and improve efficiencies for Platts pricing reporters while adding analytical value for our customers. The first-ever Kensho-powered price assessment went live to the Platts production database this quarter.

Platts Market-on-Close 是市場記者用來評估原油、石油產品及相關掉期價格的流程。Platts 一直與 Kensho 合作，以加速評估流程並提升 Platts 定價記者的效率，同時為客戶增加分析價值。本季，首個由 Kensho 驅動的價格評估已上線至 Platts 生產資料庫。

ICE has launched a new version of its market data platform, ICE Connect, which is designed specifically for participants in the global oil market. Providing our data onto this site is a way for us to further monetize a rich body existing oil analytics asset.

ICE 推出了其市場數據平台 ICE Connect 的新版本，專為全球石油市場參與者設計。將我們的數據提供至該網站，是我們進一步將既有且豐富的石油分析資產變現的一種方式。

Indices launched the S&P GSCI Carbon Emission Allowance index. The new index, which is the first of its kind, provides investors with a reliable and publicly available investment performance benchmark for European Carbon Emission Allowances and is an expansion of the single commodity series of indices based on the S&P GSCI. Finally, we launched the Market Intelligence Marketplace. Ewout will discuss in a moment.

指數業務推出了 S&P GSCI 碳排放配額指數（Carbon Emission Allowance index）。此新指數為同類首創，為歐洲碳排放配額提供可靠且公開可得的投資績效基準，並擴展了基於 S&P GSCI 的單一商品系列指數。最後，我們推出了 Market Intelligence Marketplace。Ewout 稍後會進一步說明。

I want to give you a brief update on our efforts to continue to strengthen our footprint in the ESG marketplace. While there are numerous items on this slide, I'll just highlight a few. In Ratings, we've had 65 ESG evaluations that have been completed or in process. This is a combination of both published and private evaluation. There is a considerable appetite for companies to get an independent, forward-looking, qualitative and data-driven assessment of an entity's ESG performance and preparedness for future risks and opportunities. We have largely completed the integration of the ESG Ratings business of RobecoSAM into our Ratings business. This has brought an outstanding addition of talent, experience and expertise. I'm really pleased with the progress.

我想簡要更新我們持續強化在 ESG 市場版圖的努力。雖然這張投影片上有許多項目，我只強調幾點。在評級方面，我們已有 65 項 ESG 評估已完成或正在進行中，涵蓋已發布與私下（private）評估的組合。企業對於取得獨立、前瞻性、定性且以數據驅動的評估，以衡量主體的 ESG 表現以及對未來風險與機會的準備程度，具有相當強烈的需求。我們已大致完成將 RobecoSAM 的 ESG 評級業務整合至我們的評級業務中，這帶來了卓越的人才、經驗與專業能力的補強。我對進展非常滿意。

We recently entered into ESG ETF partnership with BlackRock to enable them to create sustainable investing options for U.S. equities based on our indices. And Platts recently expanded its suite of daily hydrogen price assessment to meet the needs of the marketplace and the growing interest in independent price references as the energy sector seeks to understand the dynamics of a clean energy future.

我們近期與 BlackRock 達成 ESG ETF 合作夥伴關係，使其能基於我們的指數為美國股票打造永續投資選項。此外，Platts 近期擴增其每日氫能價格評估套組，以滿足市場需求，以及在能源產業試圖理解潔淨能源未來動態之際，市場對獨立價格參考的日益濃厚興趣。

Next, I'd like to provide additional information about our evolving outlook for 2020. The longest U.S. economic expansion on record has ended with another record, the sharpest contraction in economic activity since World War II where COVID-19 has restricted the movement of more than 90% of the U.S. population. Our economists have recently updated the global GDP forecast in light of the rapidly advancing global pandemic and declining and volatile oil prices. They now expect global GDP to decline 2.4% in 2020. They note that the balance of risk remains on the downside as much can change on the health, economic and policy fronts.

接下來，我想就我們對 2020 年不斷演變的展望提供更多資訊。美國史上最長的經濟擴張已告終，並伴隨另一項紀錄：自第二次世界大戰以來最急劇的經濟活動收縮，COVID-19 限制了超過 90% 美國人口的流動。我們的經濟學家近期已根據全球疫情快速擴散，以及油價下跌且波動加劇的情況，更新全球 GDP 預測。他們目前預期 2020 年全球 GDP 將下滑 2.4%。他們指出，風險平衡仍偏向下行，因為在健康、經濟與政策層面仍可能出現許多變化。

We have compiled forecasts and analysis from our economic, credit, oil and other specialists across S&P Global. You can see key drivers of the economy and our business include: S&P 500 level, unemployment, issuance, defaults and oil prices. This includes a forecasted drop in U.S. real GDP of about 35% in the second quarter. We've used these forecasts to inform the financial scenarios that Ewout will discuss in a moment.

我們彙整了來自 S&P Global 旗下經濟、信用、石油及其他專家的預測與分析。您可以看到，影響經濟與我們業務的關鍵驅動因素包括：S&P 500 指數水準、失業率、發行量、違約率以及油價。其中包含對美國第二季實質 GDP 約下滑 35% 的預測。我們已運用這些預測來建構財務情境，Ewout 稍後將進一步說明。

In closing, these are trying times for everyone. I can only say that we have a resilient collection of businesses, and I'm proud and grateful to work with a group of exceptionally talented employees who, while supporting each other, are helping to navigate rapidly changing societal and economic landscapes.

最後，在這段艱難時期，對每個人而言都不容易。我只能說，我們擁有一組具韌性的業務組合；我也為能與一群格外優秀的員工共事而感到自豪並心懷感激。他們在彼此支持的同時，也正協助公司在快速變動的社會與經濟環境中前行。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Ewout Steenbergen who is going to provide additional insights into our financial performance and outlook. Ewout?

接下來我想把電話交給 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 first 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，也向各位與會者道早安。讓我先從第一季財務結果談起。Doug 已經說明了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, 14%. Adjusted operating profit margin improved 580 basis points based on strong revenue growth and ongoing productivity programs, partially offset by the impact of increased investment in growth initiatives. Stock-based compensation activity resulted in a tax benefit of $0.04 during the quarter, down from $0.07 in the first quarter of 2019. Share repurchases resulted in a 2% decline in our diluted weighted average shares outstanding. In February, we initiated a $1 billion ASR and a springing 10b5-1 stock purchase plan for up to $100 million.

雖然部分事業部門在申報（reported）與有機（organic）營收成長之間存在差異，但整體而言兩者相同，都是 14%。在強勁營收成長與持續推動生產力計畫的帶動下，調整後營業利益率提升 580 個基點，但部分被加大成長計畫投資的影響所抵銷。以股票為基礎的薪酬活動在本季帶來每股 0.04 美元的稅務利益，低於 2019 年第一季的 0.07 美元。庫藏股回購使稀釋後加權平均流通股數下降 2%。2 月我們啟動了 10 億美元的 ASR（加速股票回購），並設立一項可觸發的 10b5-1 股票購買計畫，金額上限為 1 億美元。

During the quarter, changes in foreign exchange rates had a positive impact on adjusted EPS of $0.06. The only meaningful impact was in Ratings, where revenue was negatively impacted by $5 million, and adjusted operating profit was positively impacted by $11 million.

本季外匯匯率變動對調整後每股盈餘（adjusted EPS）帶來 0.06 美元的正面影響。唯一具實質意義的影響出現在 Ratings：營收受到 500 萬美元的負面影響，而調整後營業利益則受到 1,100 萬美元的正面影響。

There were 4 non-GAAP adjustments this quarter that collectively generated a pretax loss of $36 million: $9 million in restructuring charges in corporate and Market Intelligence, $7 million in gains from the disposition of an IR web-hosting business in Market Intelligence, $5 million for Kensho retention-related expenses and $29 million in deal-related amortization.

本季共有 4 項非 GAAP 調整，合計產生稅前損失 3,600 萬美元：企業部門與 Market Intelligence 的重整費用 900 萬美元；Market Intelligence 處分一項 IR 網站代管業務的處分利益 700 萬美元；Kensho 的留任相關費用 500 萬美元；以及交易相關攤銷 2,900 萬美元。

This quarter, all 4 divisions delivered revenue growth, with Ratings and Indices delivering double-digit 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成長，其中 Ratings 與 Indices 皆達到雙位數增幅。以過去連續 4 季為基礎，除 Market Intelligence 外，各部門的調整後營業利益率皆提升；Market Intelligence 是我們投資支出較大的一個部門。我稍後會就各項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 billion, an undrawn revolver capacity of $1.2 billion and no commercial paper outstanding. We also generate considerable free cash flow with cash flow conversion of 75% in 2019. The first quarter is generally our weakest free cash flow quarter of the year due to the payout of our annual incentive compensation.

接著看資產負債表。我們的資產負債表槓桿偏低、流動性充裕。我們持有 20 億美元的現金及約當現金、12 億美元未動用的循環信貸額度，且沒有任何商業本票未償餘額。我們也能產生可觀的自由現金流，2019 年現金流轉換率為 75%。由於需支付年度獎酬，第一季通常是我們全年自由現金流最弱的一季。

Depicted on the bottom of the slide is our debt maturity profile. As you can see, we do not have any debt due until 2025, and the amounts are relatively evenly distributed.

投影片底部呈現的是我們的債務到期結構。如您所見，我們在 2025 年之前沒有任何到期債務，且到期金額分布相對平均。

Looking more closely at the figures. Our cash and cash equivalents declined by about $900 million from the end of the fourth quarter due primarily to funding of the $1 billion ASR. And our adjusted gross debt to adjusted EBITDA declined slightly. Free cash flow, excluding certain items, reached $618 million in the first quarter of this year, an increase of $312 million over the prior year period. Share repurchases totaled $1.15 billion in the first quarter through open-market repurchase of $150 million and an ASR that was initiated in February. In addition, $161 million of dividends were paid during the quarter.

更仔細看這些數字：我們的現金及約當現金較第四季末減少約 9 億美元，主要是因為支付 10 億美元 ASR 的資金需求。而我們的調整後總負債對調整後 EBITDA 比率則小幅下降。排除特定項目後，本年度第一季自由現金流達 6.18 億美元，較去年同期增加 3.12 億美元。第一季股票回購合計 11.5 億美元，其中包含公開市場回購 1.5 億美元，以及 2 月啟動的 ASR。此外，本季也支付了 1.61 億美元股利。

In these unprecedented times, notwithstanding the strength of our balance sheet and strong cash flow, our Board has determined at this time that it is prudent that the company not initiate any new share repurchase program following the conclusion of our current repurchase programs in July. With respect to the remainder of this year because the company initiated a $1 billion ASR program in February, we still anticipate achieving close to our 75% return of capital target to shareholders in 2020. The Board anticipates no changes to our existing dividend guidance.

在這些前所未有的時期，儘管我們的資產負債表強健且現金流強勁，董事會目前仍認為審慎起見，公司在 7 月現行回購計畫結束後，不宜再啟動任何新的股票回購計畫。就今年剩餘期間而言，由於公司已於 2 月啟動 10 億美元 ASR 計畫，我們仍預期在 2020 年可接近達成對股東 75% 的資本回饋目標。董事會預期不會調整既有的股利指引。

Now let's turn to the division results. You will notice that in each of the businesses, we're reporting March revenue. Monthly revenue will not be an ongoing disclosure, but because of the dramatic change in the economic environment, we thought that you might find it useful. I would caution, though, that individual monthly revenue has little variability in subscription businesses like Market Intelligence and Platts. In fact, we anticipate that, depending on the duration of the downturn, 2021 will likely be a more challenging year for these 2 businesses than 2020.

現在來看各事業部門的結果。您會注意到，我們在每項業務中都揭露了 3 月營收。每月營收不會成為例行性揭露項目，但由於經濟環境出現劇烈變化，我們認為這可能對您有幫助。不過我也要提醒，對於像 Market Intelligence 與 Platts 這類訂閱型業務，單月營收的變動性不大。事實上，我們預期視景氣下行持續時間而定，2021 年對這兩項業務而言可能會比 2020 年更具挑戰。

Ratings revenue increased 19%. And excluding the acquisition of the ESG Ratings business from RobecoSAM and CRISIL's acquisition of Greenwich Associates, organic revenue increased 18%. This revenue growth was driven by the increase in issuance that Doug already discussed. The impact from COVID-19 and the collapse in oil prices resulted in a temporary halt to the high-yield market and a surge of liquidity-driven investment-grade issuance.

Ratings 營收成長 19%。若排除自 RobecoSAM 收購的 ESG Ratings 業務，以及 CRISIL 收購 Greenwich Associates 的影響，有機營收成長為 18%。這項營收成長主要來自 Doug 先前提到的發行量增加。COVID-19 的影響與油價崩跌，導致高收益市場一度暫停，同時投資等級發行因流動性需求而激增。

Adjusted expenses declined 7%. Excluding changes in foreign exchange rates, expenses declined 2%, primarily due to the in-sourcing of IT resources that we discussed last quarter and reduced T&E expenses from the travel freeze. This resulted in a 41% increase in adjusted segment operating profit and a 1,010 basis point increase in adjusted segment operating profit margin. On a trailing 4-quarter basis, adjusted segment operating profit margin increased 400 basis points to 60.2%.

調整後費用下降 7%。若排除外匯匯率變動，費用下降 2%，主要因為我們在上季提到的 IT 資源內製化，以及因旅行凍結而降低的差旅與交際（T&E）費用。這使調整後部門營業利益增加 41%，調整後部門營業利益率提升 1,010 個基點。以過去連續 4 季為基礎，調整後部門營業利益率提升 400 個基點至 60.2%。

Non-transaction revenue increased 6%, primarily due to fees associated with surveillance and Rating Evaluation Service. Transaction revenue increased 33% due to very strong bonds rating activity, particularly in U.S. corporates, and increased bank loan rating activity.

非交易型營收成長 6%，主要來自監測（surveillance）與評等評估服務（Rating Evaluation Service）相關費用。交易型營收成長 33%，受惠於非常強勁的債券評等活動（尤其是美國企業），以及銀行貸款評等活動增加。

This slide depicts Ratings revenue by its end markets. The largest contributor to the increase in Ratings revenue was a 23% increase in corporates. In addition, financial services revenue increased 13%, structured finance increased 23%, governments increased 16% and the CRISIL and other category increased 3%. On the right side of the slide, you can see the changes in revenue within structured products. Most notable is the increase in structured credit that is primarily made up of CLOs. This was driven by a 37% increase in U.S. CLO issuance.

本投影片按終端市場呈現 Ratings 營收。Ratings 營收增加的最大貢獻來源是企業（corporates）成長 23%。此外，金融服務營收成長 13%，結構性融資成長 23%，政府成長 16%，CRISIL 與其他類別成長 3%。在投影片右側，您可以看到結構性產品內部的營收變化。其中最顯著的是結構性信用（structured credit）增加，主要由 CLO（擔保貸款憑證）構成；其背後動能來自美國 CLO 發行量成長 37%。

Investors frequently ask what the primary use of proceeds is for corporate bond issuance. This chart depicts the reasons U.S. investment-grade issuers have cited for their issuance. The light blue and dark blue are for general corporate purposes and refinancing. These are routine. Share repurchases, dividends and M&A represent a minority of issuance. These are the same for high yield. Once again, general corporate purposes and refinancing make up the majority of issuance.

投資人經常詢問企業債發行募集資金的主要用途是什麼。此圖表呈現美國投資等級發行人所引用的發行原因。淺藍與深藍代表一般公司用途與再融資，這些屬於例行性用途。股票回購、股利與併購（M&A）僅占發行的一小部分。高收益亦是如此：一般公司用途與再融資同樣占發行的大多數。

Turning to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The segment delivered 20% revenue growth with gains in each category. The impact from COVID-19 and the collapse in oil prices resulted in large decrease in AUM and a meaningful increase in exchange-traded derivative activity. In the first quarter, we reported 16% adjusted expense growth primarily due to a $4 million catch-up charge on past royalties, higher royalties driven by increased partner activity and additional headcount, 21% adjusted segment operating profit growth and an adjusted segment operating profit margin of 70.6%, an increase of 90 basis points. On a trailing 4-quarter basis, the adjusted segment operating profit margin increased 170 basis points to 69.7%.

接著看 S&P Dow Jones Indices。該部門營收成長 20%，各類別皆有增長。COVID-19 的影響與油價崩跌導致資產管理規模（AUM）大幅下降，同時交易所交易衍生品活動顯著增加。第一季我們申報調整後費用成長 16%，主要因為過往權利金的 400 萬美元追溯補提費用、因合作夥伴活動增加而帶動的較高權利金，以及新增人力；調整後部門營業利益成長 21%，調整後部門營業利益率為 70.6%，提升 90 個基點。以過去連續 4 季為基礎，調整後部門營業利益率提升 170 個基點至 69.7%。

Revenue in the various categories was up during the quarter. Asset-linked fees increased 11% due to AUM growth in ETF. Exchange-traded derivative revenue increased 59% on growth in trading volumes. Data & Custom subscriptions increased 15% due to a catch-up in real-time customer reporting and ACV growth.

本季各類別營收均有所成長。資產連結型費用因 ETF 的 AUM 成長而增加 11%。交易所交易衍生性商品營收因交易量成長而增加 59%。Data & Custom 訂閱因即時客戶報告的補進（catch-up）以及 ACV 成長而增加 15%。

For our Indices division, over the past year, ETF net inflows were $101 billion, and market declines were $215 billion. This resulted in quarter-ending ETF AUM of $1.3 trillion, which is 8% lower compared to 1 year ago. It's interesting to note that inflows into ETFs linked to our indices continued in a down market. This occurred during the most recent annual market declines in 2015 and 2018 as well.

就我們的指數（Indices）事業部而言，過去一年 ETF 淨流入為 1,010 億美元，而市場下跌為 2,150 億美元。這使得季末 ETF AUM 為 1.3 兆美元，較 1 年前低 8%。值得注意的是，在市場下跌的情況下，連結至我們指數的 ETF 仍持續有資金流入。在 2015 年與 2018 年最近幾次年度市場下跌期間也曾出現同樣情況。

I want to make a clear distinction between average AUM and quarter-ending AUM. Our revenue is based on average AUM, which increased 17% 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. With first quarter ending AUM of $1.3 trillion and second quarter 2019 average AUM of EUR 1.5 trillion, we could experience a reduction in ETF-related revenue in the second quarter unless U.S. equity markets continue to recover.

我想清楚區分平均 AUM 與季末 AUM。我們的營收是以平均 AUM 為基礎計算，年增 17%。我們揭露季末數字，是因為資金流向以及市場漲跌，用季末數字最能呈現，如右側瀑布圖所示。以第一季季末 AUM 1.3 兆美元，以及 2019 年第二季平均 AUM 1.5 兆歐元來看，除非美國股市持續回升，否則我們在第二季可能會面臨 ETF 相關營收下滑。

Sequentially versus the fourth quarter of 2019, ETF net inflows associated with our indices totaled $31 billion while market declines totaled $387 billion. Industry inflows into exchange-traded funds were $110 billion in the first quarter. The category with the largest gains was commodities and other. Flows into U.S. equity funds were $39 billion.

與 2019 年第四季相比（按季序列），與我們指數相關的 ETF 淨流入合計 310 億美元，而市場下跌合計 3,870 億美元。第一季全產業流入交易所交易基金的資金為 1,100 億美元。增幅最大的類別是商品及其他。流入美國股票基金的資金為 390 億美元。

This was an excellent quarter for exchange-traded derivatives volume, with key indicators generally exhibiting large increases in volume. S&P 500 Index options activity increased 37%, VIX futures and options activity increased 51% and activity at the CME equity complex increased 106%. Part 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 60%.

本季交易所交易衍生性商品成交量表現極佳，關鍵指標普遍呈現大幅增量。S&P 500 指數選擇權活動量增加 37%，VIX 期貨與選擇權活動量增加 51%，CME 股票複合產品（equity complex）活動量增加 106%。CME 的部分增幅來自 Micro E-mini S&P 500 期貨的成功推出。若排除此產品，CME 股票複合產品的成交量增加 60%。

Market Intelligence delivered reported revenue growth of 8% and organic growth of 7%. The impact from COVID-19 and the collapse in oil prices had a negligible impact on first quarter revenue. However going forward, it will impact the new sales of certain products like data feeds because implementations are much easier with physical presence. Also, in an economic downturn, renewals become more difficult as some customers' financial health deteriorates.

Market Intelligence 的報告營收成長 8%，有機成長 7%。COVID-19 與油價崩跌對第一季營收的影響可忽略不計。然而展望未來，將影響某些產品（如資料饋送 data feeds）的新銷售，因為在有實體到場的情況下導入（implementation）要容易得多。此外，在經濟下行時，隨著部分客戶財務狀況惡化，續約也會變得更具挑戰。

Adjusted expenses increased 9% due to increased investment spending for Data Marketplace, China and SME initiatives. Adjusted segment operating profit increased 5%, and the adjusted segment operating profit margin decreased 80 basis points to 30.9%. On a trailing 4-quarter basis, adjusted segment operating profit margin declined 100 basis points to 31.9%.

調整後費用增加 9%，主因為對 Data Marketplace、中國及 SME（中小企業）計畫的投資支出增加。調整後分部營業利益增加 5%，調整後分部營業利益率下降 80 個基點至 30.9%。以過去 4 季（trailing 4-quarter）計，調整後分部營業利益率下降 100 個基點至 31.9%。

Desktop revenue grew 4%, excluding acquisitions and divestments, while active Desktop users grew 8%. Data Management Solutions and Credit Risk Solutions continue to exhibit strong growth, each gaining 10%.

Desktop 營收成長 4%（排除併購與處分影響），而活躍 Desktop 使用者成長 8%。資料管理解決方案（Data Management Solutions）與信用風險解決方案（Credit Risk Solutions）持續展現強勁成長，兩者皆成長 10%。

One of the most exciting events in Market Intelligence this quarter was the launch of Marketplace. This new product allows our customers to access fundamental and alternative data sets and to seamlessly link data from different datasets. The product is accessible at marketplace.spglobal.com.

本季 Market Intelligence 最令人振奮的事件之一，是 Marketplace 的推出。這項新產品讓客戶可存取基本面與另類資料集，並可將不同資料集的資料無縫串接。產品可於 marketplace.spglobal.com 使用。

And now turning to Platts. Steady revenue growth continued at Platts, increasing 4%. On an organic basis, adjusting for the sale of RigData, revenue increased 5%. The impact from COVID-19 and the collapse in oil prices resulted in an increase in Global Trading Services during the first quarter. GTS increased 18% due mainly to increased trading volumes in LNG and iron ore. Platts delivered a 5% increase in core subscriptions with 4% in price reporting and 13% in analytics. U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela impacted revenue by about $2 million in the quarter. Adjusted expenses decreased 2%, leading to an adjusted segment operating profit margin of 52.9%, an improvement of 320 basis points. The trailing 4-quarter adjusted segment operating profit margin increased 200 basis points to 53.2%.

接著談 Platts。Platts 持續穩健的營收成長，增加 4%。以有機基礎計（調整 RigData 出售影響），營收增加 5%。COVID-19 與油價崩跌的影響，使第一季全球交易服務（Global Trading Services, GTS）增加。GTS 增加 18%，主要因 LNG 與鐵礦石交易量增加。Platts 核心訂閱成長 5%，其中價格報告（price reporting）成長 4%，分析（analytics）成長 13%。美國對伊朗與委內瑞拉的制裁使本季營收約減少 200 萬美元。調整後費用下降 2%，帶動調整後分部營業利益率達 52.9%，改善 320 個基點。以過去 4 季計，調整後分部營業利益率增加 200 個基點至 53.2%。

Power and gas delivered the largest rate of growth at 12% as our JKM Marker for LNG continues to drive both subscription and GTS activity. Petrochemicals grew 4% due mostly to growth in subscriptions. Metals and ag grew 11% due to increased iron ore derivative trading activity. Petroleum revenue increased 4%. On our first quarter earnings call last year, we discussed the launch of our low-sulfur marine fuel assessments. We're pleased to report that we have become the benchmark as our price is now being widely adopted.

電力與天然氣（Power and gas）以 12% 的成長率居冠，因我們的 LNG JKM 指標（JKM Marker）持續帶動訂閱與 GTS 活動。石化（Petrochemicals）成長 4%，主要來自訂閱成長。金屬與農產品（Metals and ag）成長 11%，因鐵礦石衍生性商品交易活動增加。石油（Petroleum）營收成長 4%。在去年第一季法說會上，我們討論了低硫船用燃料評估（low-sulfur marine fuel assessments）的推出。我們很高興地報告，我們已成為基準，因為我們的價格目前正被廣泛採用。

As we turn to the balance of the year, we're carefully managing the financial impact of the economic slowdown on our results. We have a number of management actions that are within our control. We have initiated a global hiring freeze with minimal exceptions. Travel and entertainment expenses have been frozen. Since we'll be hosting and attending fewer events, advertising and promotional spend will be reduced. There will be a reduction in the use of professional services. Incentive compensation and commissions are variable in nature and determined by our results. And we introduced a $100 million 3-year cost-reduction program at our Investor Day in May of 2018. We're now on track to achieve approximately $120 million in run rate savings by the end of 2020, an increase of $35 million over the end of 2019. What we're not going to do is stop investing in the business. As Doug mentioned earlier, it's very important to continue our $150 million investment in 2020 growth programs. These will largely continue with few modest adjustments.

展望今年剩餘期間，我們正審慎管理經濟放緩對業績的財務影響。我們有多項可由管理層掌控的措施。我們已啟動全球凍結招募，僅保留極少數例外。差旅與交際費用已凍結。由於我們將主辦與參與更少活動，廣告與促銷支出將降低。專業服務的使用也將減少。獎勵性薪酬與佣金屬於變動性質，並依我們的業績而定。此外，我們在 2018 年 5 月投資人日推出 1 億美元、為期 3 年的成本削減計畫。我們目前可望在 2020 年底前達成約 1.2 億美元的年化節省（run rate savings），較 2019 年底增加 3,500 萬美元。我們不會做的是停止對業務的投資。如 Doug 先前提到，持續在 2020 年成長計畫投入 1.5 億美元非常重要。這些計畫大致將持續進行，僅做少量溫和調整。

There are some expenses that will increase due to COVID-19. They include the expenses necessary to set up all our employees to be able to securely work from home and an increase in bad debt provisions, which will depend on how long the pandemic and low oil prices persist.

有些費用將因 COVID-19 而增加，包括讓所有員工能夠安全在家工作所需的建置費用，以及呆帳提列的增加；後者將取決於疫情與低油價持續的時間長短。

As we think about the uncertainty that lies ahead, we have developed 3 scenarios with different time frames for when the economy will begin to recover. The macro and market assumptions of the scenarios are outlined on this slide. We view these as the key metrics which will impact revenue in various parts of our company. As Doug referenced earlier, we have compiled forecasts from across our economic, credit, oil and other market specialists across S&P Global. Many of the inputs for these scenarios can be found in our divisional research and analytical platforms and are sourced accordingly.

在思考未來的不確定性時，我們制定了 3 種情境，分別對應經濟開始復甦的不同時間框架。各情境的總體與市場假設列於本頁。我們將其視為影響公司各部分營收的關鍵指標。如 Doug 先前所提，我們彙整了 S&P Global 內部經濟、信用、石油及其他市場專家的預測。這些情境的許多輸入可在我們各事業部的研究與分析平台中找到，並依其來源取得。

In addition, there are 2 items that we are providing at this time to give additional color for the scenarios. The first is billed issuance growth. In the baseline, the 9.9% decline in global issuance relates to market issuance in all sectors and issuance types except for international public finance. Our billed issuance forecast eliminates categories that are not major drivers of revenue for the company, such as China domestic, medium-term notes and issuance that is not rated by us. In the baseline, global billed issuance is forecast to decline mid-single digits.

此外，我們此時提供另外 2 項資訊，以便對各情境有更多說明。第一項是計費發行量（billed issuance）成長。在基準情境中，全球發行量下滑 9.9% 係指除國際公共融資（international public finance）外，各產業與各發行類型的市場發行量。我們的計費發行量預測會剔除對公司營收並非主要驅動因素的類別，例如中國境內發行、中期票據（medium-term notes）以及非由我們評等的發行。在基準情境中，全球計費發行量預估將下滑中個位數百分比。

The second is on exchange-traded derivative volume growth. The baseline of approximately 30% assumes elevated levels in the first half of this year, followed by mid-single-digit increases in the second half. While we're 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.

第二項是交易所交易衍生性商品成交量成長。基準情境約 30% 的假設，代表今年上半年維持高檔水準，下半年則為中個位數百分比的增幅。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，並作為我們新指引的依據。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很重要。

This slide attempts to outline the financial sensitivities to the company under the various scenarios. You can see that we depict the impact to revenue for each of the segments as well as potential expense savings from management actions and a few other items. With this modeling, we arrive at a baseline scenario, adjusted diluted EPS guidance of $9.95 to $10.15.

本頁嘗試概述在不同情境下，公司財務敏感度（financial sensitivities）的變化。您可以看到，我們呈現各分部營收的影響，以及管理措施與其他少數項目可能帶來的費用節省。透過此模型推估，我們得出基準情境下的調整後稀釋 EPS 指引為 9.95 至 10.15 美元。

This slide depicts the scenarios with the typical guidance line items that we normally disclose. The baseline column is our new 2020 GAAP guidance, and this slide depicts our adjusted figures. The baseline column is our new 2020 adjusted guidance.

本投影片呈現我們通常揭露之典型指引科目的各種情境。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。基準欄為我們新的 2020 年調整後指引。

Now let me review our new adjusted guidance. We lowered our revenue guidance to a low single-digit increase. Corporate unallocated expense has been reduced by $35 million due to management actions. Operating profit margin is unchanged as management actions have offset the impact from lower revenue growth. Interest expense net includes both interest income and interest expense. It has been increased by $15 million due to lower interest income on our cash balances. Tax rate has been reduced by 0.5 percent point due to favorable developments with various tax audits. These items result in a new adjusted diluted EPS guidance range of $9.95 to $10.15. Our expectations for free cash flow are a range of $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion.

現在讓我回顧我們新的調整後指引。我們將營收指引下調至低個位數成長。由於管理層採取行動，企業未分攤費用已減少 3,500 萬美元。營業利益率維持不變，因為管理行動已抵銷較低營收成長的影響。淨利息費用同時包含利息收入與利息費用。由於我們現金餘額的利息收入較低，該項增加了 1,500 萬美元。稅率因多項稅務稽核出現有利進展而下調 0.5 個百分點。上述項目使調整後稀釋每股盈餘（EPS）指引區間更新為 9.95 美元至 10.15 美元。我們對自由現金流的預期為 24 億美元至 25 億美元。

In conclusion, we delivered a strong start to the year with our first quarter results, but we recognize that the world is changing dramatically. Heading into this uncertainty, we have a solid balance sheet and ample liquidity. Our disciplined approach over the past few years with respect to productivity programs, operating leverage, process automation and other initiatives have further improved our financial strength. While we can't be sure about the length or depth of the economic downturn, we'll continue to actively monitor the macroeconomic environment, further evolve our scenario planning and take proactive management decisions in the best interest of our employees, shareholders, customers and other relevant stakeholders.

總結而言，我們以第一季業績為今年帶來強勁開局，但我們也認知到世界正在劇烈改變。在面對這些不確定性之際，我們擁有穩健的資產負債表與充裕的流動性。過去幾年我們在生產力計畫、營運槓桿、流程自動化及其他措施上的紀律性作法，進一步提升了我們的財務實力。雖然我們無法確定經濟下行的長度或深度，但我們將持續積極監測總體經濟環境，進一步演進情境規劃，並以員工、股東、客戶及其他相關利害關係人的最佳利益為依歸，做出前瞻性的管理決策。

With that, let me turn the call back over to Chip for your questions.

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'll now take our first question.

接線員，我們現在開始第一個問題。

The first question comes from Michael Cho with JPMorgan.

第一個問題來自摩根大通（JPMorgan）的 Michael Cho。

I certainly appreciate all the detail around the 2020 outlook scenarios. I guess I'll just start there. My first question is around Ratings revenues. When I look at the base case scenario of the $270 million COVID-19 impact for Ratings, is there any of that included in the first quarter? And just given the strength of first quarter Ratings revenue, I mean, how can we frame the primary sources of that revenue headwind for Ratings?

我非常感謝你們對 2020 年展望情境提供的所有細節。我想我就從這裡開始。我的第一個問題是關於評級（Ratings）營收。當我看你們基準情境中評級業務受到 COVID-19 影響 2.7 億美元時，其中是否有任何部分已反映在第一季？另外，考量第一季評級營收的強勁表現，我是說，我們該如何界定評級業務營收逆風的主要來源？

Michael, this is Doug. Let me take that question. First of all, welcome to the call. I hope everybody is safe, as I said at the beginning of the call, and finding ways to be able to work from home. So when we look at the full year issuance, as you know, we had a very, very strong first quarter. April has also had some interesting trends, especially when it comes to investment-grade issuance and some high yield of the companies that had just recently been downgraded. When we look at the full year, we take into account a whole series of factors. As you saw on Slide 20, we gave you some of the information about the forecast that our Chief Economist for the U.S. has looked at for the U.S. market as well as other markets around the world. We think that the GDP is the main driver of issuance in the long run.

Michael，我是 Doug。我來回答這個問題。首先，歡迎加入本次電話會議。如同我在會議一開始所說，希望大家都平安，也都能找到在家工作的方式。就全年發行量而言，如你所知，我們第一季非常、非常強勁。4 月也出現一些有趣的趨勢，特別是在投資級發行，以及部分近期剛被調降評等公司的高收益發行方面。當我們看全年時，我們會把一整系列因素納入考量。正如你在第 20 張投影片看到的，我們提供了一些資訊，說明我們美國首席經濟學家對美國市場以及全球其他市場的預測。我們認為，長期而言 GDP 是驅動發行量的主要因素。

And we see a lot of headwinds. We see -- we ask the question, is there going to be major capital expenditures? Is there going to be major M&A taking place? Is there going to be business expansion? Are people going to be financing dividends? Are they going to be financing share repurchases? Will there be structured finance business? What's going to happen with the leveraged loan market and the CLO market? So based on taking a look at all of those different markets under what we believe are going to be stressed scenarios, we have lowered our different forecasts for the rest of the year of issuance. And that's what you see flowing through in these different scenarios, which Ewout just went through.

而我們看到許多逆風。我們會問：是否會有大規模資本支出？是否會有大規模併購（M&A）發生？是否會有業務擴張？企業是否會為股利融資？是否會為庫藏股／股票回購融資？結構性融資業務會如何？槓桿貸款市場與 CLO 市場會發生什麼事？因此，基於我們在自認為將處於壓力情境下對上述各市場的檢視，我們下調了今年剩餘期間各項發行量的不同預測。這也就是你在這些不同情境中看到的結果，而 Ewout 剛剛也已逐一說明。

Okay. Great. That's great color. Just for my second question, just more on Market Intelligence and Platts specifically. I mean when you talk about economic disruptions impacting the end markets, I mean, just outside of fewer companies, I mean, can you talk through the nuances of how subscription renewals would impact revenue growth?

好的。很好。這些說明很有幫助。我的第二個問題想更聚焦在 Market Intelligence 與 Platts。當你們談到經濟中斷對終端市場的影響時，除了公司數量變少之外，你們能否談談訂閱續約如何在細節上影響營收成長？

Yes. Michael, let me take that one as well. So when we look at the subscription businesses, of course, one of the advantages of subscription businesses is that they've got some steadiness to their performance. And you can see the top line growth very steady. And you saw this quarter and through the rest of the year, a more steady approach to those businesses. But at the same time, when you think about some of the stress that the clients are going under right now, as an example, in Platts, you're going to see both the oil side, the oil producers, the oil and gas producers as well as many of the users, companies like airlines, et cetera, are also under a lot of stress. And so we think that the sales cycle is lengthening in Platts, in particular. There's customers that are already under stress that are approaching us to see if there's ways we can negotiate throughout the year as we look at their contracts, renewals, et cetera.

好的，Michael，我也來回答這題。當我們看訂閱型業務時，當然，訂閱型業務的一個優勢是其表現具有一定的穩定性。你可以看到營收成長相當穩定。你也看到本季以及今年剩餘期間，這些業務呈現較為穩健的走勢。但同時，當你想到客戶目前承受的一些壓力時，以 Platts 為例，你會看到石油端——石油生產商、油氣生產商——以及許多使用端，例如航空公司等，也都承受很大壓力。因此我們認為，特別是在 Platts，銷售週期正在拉長。有些已經處於壓力下的客戶會主動找我們，看看在今年內檢視其合約、續約等事項時，是否有方式可以協商。

In Market Intelligence, we haven't seen as much of the customers coming to us to start ask about considerations on the contracts, but we're expecting it. They also have a lot of corporate customers. They do have oil and gas customers. We have financial institutions customers. And so we're expecting that throughout the year, there could be interaction with the customers that could lead to slower sales to lower renewals. It could flow into later periods this year. It could flow into next year.

在 Market Intelligence 方面，我們尚未看到那麼多客戶開始向我們提出合約條件的考量，但我們預期會出現。他們也有很多企業客戶，也有油氣客戶，還有金融機構客戶。因此我們預期在今年內，與客戶的互動可能會導致銷售放緩、續約率下降。這可能會反映在今年較後期，也可能延續到明年。

In addition, selling by the phone, selling remotely is not as easy. Renewals is not as easy. We also have some types of products which require training or installations, and those are also much harder to do when we're working in this kind of work-from-home environment. But we're very pleased with the performance last quarter. These are strong businesses. We've seen very strong increase in the usage of both Platts and MI over the last few weeks as people are working from home. And they're also looking for knowledge about what they see happening in the markets.

此外，透過電話銷售、遠端銷售並不那麼容易；續約也不那麼容易。我們也有一些產品類型需要訓練或安裝，而在這種居家辦公的環境下，這些工作也更難進行。不過我們對上季的表現非常滿意。這些都是強勁的業務。過去幾週，隨著大家在家工作，我們看到 Platts 與 MI 的使用量都大幅增加；同時大家也在尋找對市場動態的理解與資訊。

But anyway, back to the -- your core question, we do think that there's going to be some slowdown in sales and renewals. It's a longer cycle, and we expect that to flow through the rest of the year.

不過回到——你的核心問題，我們確實認為銷售與續約會有一些放緩。週期更長，我們預期這會在今年剩餘期間逐步反映出來。

Next question comes from Toni Kaplan with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）的 Toni Kaplan。

Congrats on the strong quarter and glad to hear you're all safe. I wanted to ask a follow-up on issuance. On IG, very strong quarter and very strong start to April. I just wanted to understand if you think that there's any sort of pull-forward as companies look to gain liquidity right now and sort of how you see IG strength going forward. And also just from the ratings that we've seen from -- the impact we've seen in the Fed actions, is that already in your Ratings results? Or how much of a tailwind should we expect from that going into the next quarter?

恭喜你們本季表現強勁，也很高興聽到大家都平安。我想追問一下發行量的部分。在投資級（IG）方面，本季非常強勁，4 月初的開局也很強。我想了解你們是否認為，因為公司目前想要取得流動性而出現某種「提前發行」（pull-forward），以及你們如何看待未來投資級的強勢走勢。另外，就我們看到聯準會（Fed）行動所帶來的影響而言，這是否已反映在你們的評級（Ratings）結果中？或者我們應該預期在下一季會有多大的順風？

Yes. So first of all, you saw that the first quarter ended with a really strong issuance from investment grade. In fact, the U.S. investment grade is up almost 50% quarter-on-quarter. Financial institutions is up 40%, while Europe at the time wasn't nearly as strong. Europe corporates were down 16% in the first quarter. But we've seen very strong issuance in investment grade coming back to market in April, and that's partially because of the liquidity facilities from the Fed as well as the ECB in Europe, although Europe isn't as strong as the U.S. We see right now that most of the issuance that's undertaking in the investment-grade space, it's for liquidity purposes. We don't see as much necessarily being used for M&A or as investments as it might be in the future.

是的。首先，你看到第一季在投資級發行方面以非常強勁的態勢作收。事實上，美國投資級發行量季對季成長將近 50%。金融機構成長 40%，而歐洲當時並沒有那麼強；歐洲企業在第一季下滑 16%。但我們看到 4 月投資級發行非常強勁地回到市場，部分原因是聯準會的流動性工具，以及歐洲的歐洲央行（ECB）措施，儘管歐洲不如美國強勁。我們目前看到，投資級領域的大多數發行是為了流動性目的。我們並未看到有那麼多資金被用於併購（M&A）或投資用途，至少不像未來可能出現的情況那樣多。

We did -- as you saw, overall, I can't speak specifically to investment grade, but we do expect the corporate issuance for the entire year will be down for the rest of the year. We do -- as you see in our latest forecast for issuance, we see that investment grade -- corporate investment grade is going to go down for the rest of the year. So I think that when we look at this, we're very conscious that investment grade has been very strong for us this quarter. But overall, though, it's going to be an area that we're watching very closely.

我們確實有——如你所見，整體而言，我無法特別針對投資級發言，但我們預期今年全年的企業發行量在今年剩餘期間將會下滑。我們也——如你在我們最新的發行量預測中所見，我們認為投資級——企業投資級在今年剩餘期間將會下降。所以我認為，當我們看待這件事時，我們非常清楚投資級在本季對我們而言一直非常強勁。但整體來說，這將是我們會非常密切關注的領域。

But one fact, which we can share with you is that in the late -- our most recent surge at the end of March, there are about 20 nonfinancial corporations that issued over $3 billion in March. The total of those 20 companies was $121 billion. And that was twice as much as the debt they had coming due this year. So clearly, if they did raise this for prefinancing, it wasn't -- they raised much more than that. But anyway, investment grade has been on fire. It's been very hot, but we don't expect that for the rest of the year.

但有一個事實我們可以與你分享：在3月底——我們最近一次在3月底的急升中，大約有20家非金融企業在3月發行了超過30億美元。這20家公司的合計為1,210億美元。而這是它們今年到期債務的兩倍之多。所以很明顯，如果它們確實是為了預先融資而籌資，那也不是——它們籌到的金額遠超過所需。不過無論如何，投資級一直非常火熱，熱度很高，但我們不預期這種情況會延續到今年剩餘期間。

Got it. Great. And then just as a follow-up, just wondering how you're thinking about long-term impacts on the business in the aftermath of COVID-19. Would you expect anything to change meaningfully in terms of either industry trends or any changes strategically within your company as a result of the situation? And this could be corporate real estate-related or any sort of other just maybe less obvious changes as well.

了解。很好。接著作為追問，我想請教你們如何看待 COVID-19 過後對業務的長期影響。你們是否預期在產業趨勢方面，或因應這個情勢而在公司策略上會有任何實質改變？這可能與企業不動產相關，或其他一些可能不那麼顯而易見的變化也可以。

Let me start on the business side and then have Ewout address a little bit kind of the real estate and some of the operating aspects to it. On the business side, in fact, we see this as the time when a company like ours can really shine. Clearly, we could be impacted. There's a lot of risks out there and a lot of negative factors which could impact us. But when it comes to the source of knowledge that we're providing about ratings, about the credit markets, about what's happening with oil markets with oil risk, et cetera, we see that our -- that traffic to our websites is way up. We don't see any need for us to pull back on the strategic investments we're making now in China, in Marketplace, in ESG and other technology areas. We think this is a time for us to continue to invest. So we don't see any major impact to our business going forward. In fact, we see this as a time for us to take advantage of the strength of our businesses, the quality of our people and continue to grow and invest.

我先從業務面談起，接著請 Ewout 補充一些不動產以及營運層面的部分。就業務面而言，事實上，我們認為這正是像我們這樣的公司能真正發光的時刻。當然，我們可能會受到影響；外面有很多風險與負面因素可能影響我們。但就我們所提供的知識來源而言——關於評級、關於信用市場、關於油市正在發生什麼、關於石油風險等等——我們看到我們的網站流量大幅上升。我們不認為需要在目前於中國、Marketplace、ESG 以及其他科技領域所做的策略性投資上縮手。我們認為這是我們應該持續投資的時刻。因此，我們不認為未來我們的業務會受到任何重大影響。事實上，我們把這視為一個可以善用我們業務的強勁、我們人才的品質，並持續成長與投資的時機。

Let me hand it over to Ewout because we've also been doing some thinking about what could be some impact on our longer-term operating model.

我把時間交給 Ewout，因為我們也一直在思考，這可能會對我們較長期的營運模式帶來哪些影響。

Yes. Toni, if we'll think about our expense saves, definitely, there is an underlying assumption that going forward, there will be a change with respect to the way we work, behaviors, and the way we need to think about travel going forward and less need for travel, different needs for office space requirements. If you look at the expense saves in the sensitivity table that we showed to you, you see that there is a number that we called permanent incremental. That's actually, in our view, perhaps a modest assumption, a conservative assumption because we have put an assumption in that 15% of our discretionary savings in this period will continue in the future because of the different way of working. But that impact might potentially be larger, depending on how things will play out and the redesign of the company and the way we work and our operational processes and all those elements going forward. So definitely, from that angle, we think there's going to be a permanent benefit that will come out of this.

是的。Toni，若我們思考我們的費用節省，確實有一個基本假設：未來我們的工作方式、行為，以及我們對未來差旅的思考都會改變——差旅需求會降低，對辦公空間的需求也會不同。若你看我們在敏感度表中向你展示的費用節省，你會看到一個我們稱為「永久性增量」的數字。就我們的看法，這可能其實是一個偏溫和、偏保守的假設，因為我們假設在這段期間的可裁量性節省中，有15%將因工作方式的改變而在未來持續存在。但這個影響可能會更大，取決於事情如何發展、公司如何重新設計、我們的工作方式與營運流程，以及未來所有這些要素。因此，從這個角度來看，我們認為這將帶來一個永久性的效益。

Next question comes from Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

下一個問題來自 Barclays 的 Manav Patnaik。

I just -- my first question was to delve in terms of -- at the beginning, you talked a lot about your economic forecast and you mentioned the balance of risks to the downside. And I was just wondering, was that incorporated in your baseline scenario? Or could that -- if that materializes, would that tilt you towards that late 4Q recovery? Just some color on that, please.

我——我的第一個問題是想深入了解：一開始你談了很多你們的經濟預測，並提到風險偏向下行。我想請教，這是否已經納入你們的基準情境？或者如果這些下行風險真的發生，是否會使你們更傾向於你們所說的第四季末復甦？能否請你補充一些說明。

Yes. We decided that it was very important for us to eat our own cooking. And so when we have economists and research analysts that are some of the best in the world, of our U.S. economists, global economists that are doing forecast, our oil economists and other people looking at equity markets and ETF issuance, et cetera, that we wanted to take the best knowledge of that entire team and incorporate that into our forecasting. Ewout's finance team, along with the -- all of the presidents of our businesses and their finance teams, really worked hard to incorporate forecasts. We went back to see what had been some of the impacts on prior periods when we've seen disruptions in the market before. It's rare that we've ever seen so much disruption at once across so many different markets. And so the teams came together with these forecasts.

是的。我們認為對我們而言「吃自己煮的菜」非常重要。因此，當我們擁有一些全球最優秀的經濟學家與研究分析師——包括我們的美國經濟學家、全球經濟學家在做預測，還有我們的石油經濟學家以及其他人在觀察股票市場與 ETF 發行等——我們希望把整個團隊最好的知識納入我們的預測之中。Ewout 的財務團隊，連同——我們各業務的所有總裁及其財務團隊，確實非常努力地把這些預測納入。我們也回頭檢視過去在市場曾出現干擾時，對先前期間造成的影響。很少見到像這次一樣，在這麼多不同市場同時出現如此大的干擾。因此，各團隊共同完成了這些預測。

As the word means, they are forecasts. These are not predictions. And we've put these together in a way that we can understand. It's our best effort to come up with an approach to this. And as we put these together, we've used our own information. But since these forecasts were put together in a way that they have a lot of different assumptions, let me hand it over to Ewout, who can give a little bit more color on the forecasting itself.

顧名思義，它們是「預測」，不是「預言」。我們以一種便於理解的方式把它們整理出來。這是我們盡最大努力提出的一種方法。當我們把這些整理在一起時，我們使用了我們自己的資訊。但由於這些預測包含許多不同假設，我把時間交給 Ewout，他可以就預測本身提供更多說明。

Yes. Manav, I just want to be clear that our updated guidance and baseline is middle of the road. It's a good faith attempt to show you the different sensitivities and the different scenarios. The ranges of outcomes could be either higher or lower. So I don't think you should only look at the downside risk. There are also upside risks. So this is middle of the road, and it could be either higher or lower with the same level of probability. What we have tried to do is clearly show you those sensitivities for the most important assumptions that we put in there but also to make sure that all of our investors can pick and choose the elements they think is most likely. If you believe that certain elements in an early third quarter recovery are more likely or you believe that some late fourth quarter recovery assumptions are more likely, you can take those elements and build your own assumption. But again, with respect to the risks, either higher or lower, I think the probability is even.

是的。Manav，我想先說清楚：我們更新後的指引與基準情境是「中間路線」。這是一個善意的嘗試，向你展示不同的敏感度與不同情境。結果的區間可能更高也可能更低。所以我不認為你只應該看下行風險；也存在上行風險。因此這是中間路線，而以相同的機率，結果可能更高或更低。我們嘗試做的是，清楚地向你展示我們放入其中最重要假設的敏感度，同時也確保所有投資人都能挑選他們認為最可能發生的要素。如果你相信第三季初復甦的某些要素更可能發生，或你相信第四季末復甦的某些假設更可能發生，你可以取用那些要素並建立你自己的假設。但再次強調，就風險而言，不論更高或更低，我認為機率是均等的。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just in terms of your energy exposure across your verticals, you already sort of addressed the customer stress on the Platts side. But I was hoping you'd just help us understand how much in Market Intelligence and Ratings and so forth has that exposure and the risks there, please.

好的，這很有幫助。接著就你們在各垂直領域的能源曝險而言，你們已經在 Platts 端某種程度上談到客戶壓力。但我希望你們能協助我們理解，在 Market Intelligence、Ratings 等方面有多少曝險，以及其中的風險，麻煩說明一下。

I don't have that number off the top of my head. I know that we do have ratings exposure from some. We've got some Market Intelligence, corporate treasurers, CFOs, et cetera. But overall, it's very little. The most important exposure of the company to oil and gas industries in -- is in Platts.

我現在沒有那個數字。我知道我們在評級方面確實有一些曝險；在 Market Intelligence 方面也有一些，例如企業財務主管、CFO 等。但整體而言非常少。公司對油氣產業最重要的曝險——是在 Platts。

And Manav, you may recall back in 2015 and '16 when oil prices declined pretty dramatically, that was a popular question back then. I don't recall the exact percentage, but the reality is from an issuance perspective, there's no one particular sector that's dominant from issuance perspective in the Ratings business either.

Manav，你可能還記得在2015與2016年油價大幅下跌時，這也是當時很常被問到的問題。我不記得確切百分比，但現實是，就發行量角度而言，在 Ratings 業務中也沒有任何單一產業在發行量上占據主導地位。

Next question comes from Alex Kramm with UBS.

下一個問題來自 UBS 的 Alex Kramm。

Just wanted to get a little bit more into the high-yield outlook here. I mean that seems to be, on the Ratings side, the biggest swing factor. So just flesh out a little bit why you're looking for such a significant drop in issuance. I mean if you look at April, high yield actually has come back. There's obviously some of these programs apply to high yield as well. And then obviously, please, also on the leveraged loan side, is that included in your high-yield forecast? Or is this just on bonds? Because if not, can you just talk about the leverage loan side a little bit as well?

我想再更深入了解一下高收益的展望。我是說，在 Ratings 端，那似乎是最大的波動因素。所以請再多說明一下，為什麼你們預期發行量會出現如此顯著的下滑。因為如果看4月，高收益其實已經回來了。顯然其中一些計畫也適用於高收益。另外也請談談槓桿貸款那一端：它是否已被納入你們的高收益預測？還是這只是針對債券？如果沒有納入，能否也談談槓桿貸款端的情況？

Yes. So thanks, Alex. When you look at the high-yield market, I'm going to break it up into 2 pieces. I'm going to oversimplify it. But one is that recently, there were a set of BBB companies that were downgraded into being noninvestment-grades. And so those companies, which are now the single -- BB-range companies have been accepted into liquidity programs by the Fed and the ECB. So for example, last week, Ford issued $8 billion worth of securities. On Monday, Delta -- yesterday, Delta Airlines issued $3.5 billion of bonds and another $1.5 billion of secured loans to the markets. And both of them have recently been downgraded from the BBB range into the BB range. And so that type of high yield is having a lot of activity. It's supported by the ECB and the Fed programs. There's actually a lot of appetite for that risk. It's a similar risk that was priced recently, and now it's at a much higher level. So those types of securities are now being very active.

是的。所以謝謝你，Alex。當你看高收益市場時，我會把它拆成兩個部分。我會把它過度簡化。但其中一部分是，最近有一批BBB公司被降評為非投資級。因此，這些公司現在成為單一——BB區間的公司，已被聯準會與歐洲央行納入流動性計畫。舉例來說，上週福特發行了80億美元的證券。週一，達美——昨天，達美航空向市場發行了35億美元的債券，並另外發行了15億美元的有擔保貸款。而這兩家公司最近都從BBB區間被降到BB區間。因此，這類高收益債目前活動非常熱絡。它受到歐洲央行與聯準會計畫的支持。市場對這種風險其實有很強的胃納。這是一種不久前才被定價過的類似風險，而現在的定價水準高得多。所以這類證券現在交易非常活躍。

Now there's another side of high yield, which is the leveraged loan market. The leveraged loan market has become quite slow. There's very little activity in it right now. We have seen a few days here and there where leveraged loans are moving and there is some leverage loan activity, but it's actually very weak. We're expecting that leveraged loans, which have been very high for a while had been active. And the leveraged loan market had been up, had been quite -- had been very active last year into the first quarter. But right now, the leveraged loan market is really looking for repricing, probably higher level of covenants, maybe more collateral, et cetera. So I think that leveraged loans market is going to be down about 5%. We're seeing that it's a -- the market is probably going to be much weaker. So that's kind of an overall look. I'd split the market into a couple of different pieces.

現在高收益的另一面是槓桿貸款市場。槓桿貸款市場已變得相當遲緩。目前幾乎沒有什麼活動。我們確實看到偶爾有幾天槓桿貸款在波動，也有一些槓桿貸款活動，但其實非常疲弱。我們預期槓桿貸款——過去一段時間一直處在很高水準、也一直很活躍。槓桿貸款市場去年到第一季都相當——都非常活躍。但現在，槓桿貸款市場真的在尋求重新定價，可能需要更高水準的契約條款（covenants）、也許更多擔保品等等。所以我認為槓桿貸款市場大概會下跌約5%。我們看到這是一個——市場可能會弱得多。這就是整體的看法。我會把市場拆成幾個不同的部分來看。

Okay. And then I guess, secondarily, more for Ewout. On the index side, can you just help me a little bit with the cost of that business? I mean at the beginning of the year, you actually raised your margin expansion for that business. But I view that as a pretty fixed cost base. And maybe just remind me if there's some variability in -- on the cost, where it could come from. And in particular, I'm asking because when I look at your scenarios, you're kind of assuming the AUM side is down, but then it's all getting offset by derivatives trading, which obviously we've seen in the first quarter. But there's also the scenario where at some point, trading dries up and you get the double whammy where AUM is low and actually trading slows down, too. We've seen this in some parts already in the second quarter like in VIX. So just curious what opportunities on the index cost side there are if you're getting into a pretty poor revenue environment which could happen.

好的。那我想第二個問題，更多是問Ewout。就指數業務這一塊，你能不能幫我稍微理解一下這個業務的成本？我的意思是，在年初你其實上調了該業務的利潤率擴張預期。但我把它視為一個相當固定的成本基礎。也許你可以提醒我一下，成本端是否有一些變動性——可能來自哪裡。特別是我之所以這樣問，是因為當我看你們的情境假設時，你們某種程度上假設AUM端下滑，但之後都被衍生品交易所抵消，而這顯然是我們在第一季看到的。但也存在另一種情境：在某個時點交易量乾涸，你會遭遇雙重打擊——AUM偏低，而且交易也放緩。我們在第二季某些部分已經看到這種情況，例如VIX。所以我想了解，如果你們進入一個相當差的營收環境（這是可能發生的），在指數成本端有哪些可以著力的空間？

Alex, we definitely have many levers in the index business as well to offset any pressure on the revenue line. So let me first take your question about how much variability is there. There's many different elements there. There's, of course, discretionary spend. There's, of course, a variable spend with respect to cost of sales, to commissions and variable compensation. And then we also have royalties. Royalties are approximately 15% to 17% of the overall expense base. Actually, royalties were the largest driver of the expense increase in the first quarter. So the expenses were up $11 million, of which $3 million were royalties and $4 million was actually a onetime catch-up in royalties that we don't expect to recur due to an administrative matter with one of the partners. So $7 million out of the $11 million in the first quarter was due to royalties. So definitely, the index business is working very hard to offset any revenue pressure on their expense line. We expect a modest reduction in margins during this year as what has been assumed in the scenarios.

Alex，我們在指數業務上也確實有很多槓桿可以用來抵消營收端的任何壓力。先回答你關於成本有多少變動性的問題。這裡有很多不同的要素。當然有可裁量性支出。當然也有與銷售成本相關的變動性支出，包括佣金與變動薪酬。然後我們也有權利金（royalties）。權利金約占整體費用基礎的15%到17%。事實上，權利金是第一季費用增加的最大驅動因素。費用增加了1,100萬美元，其中300萬美元是權利金，另外400萬美元其實是一次性的權利金追溯補提（catch-up），由於與其中一位合作夥伴的行政事項，我們預期不會再發生。因此，第一季1,100萬美元的增幅中，有700萬美元是由權利金造成的。所以指數業務確實非常努力在費用端抵消任何營收壓力。我們預期今年利潤率會小幅下降，符合情境假設中所採用的預期。

With respect to your question about the overall top line and the exchange-traded derivatives. We have, as an assumption in our models, a 30% increase year-over-year. First quarter was 60% up in exchange-traded derivatives. We expect also elevated levels in the second quarter. And then indeed, it will level off in the second half of this year because we don't expect that to be elevated for the full year. So yes, there will be a bit of decline on exchange-traded derivative, but again, we expect that we have many opportunities also to manage the expense line in the index business.

至於你關於整體營收端與交易所交易衍生品（exchange-traded derivatives）的問題，我們在模型中的假設是年增30%。第一季交易所交易衍生品年增60%。我們也預期第二季仍會維持在較高水準。然後確實，如你所說，今年下半年會趨於平穩，因為我們不預期全年都會維持在高檔。所以是的，交易所交易衍生品會有一些回落，但同樣地，我們也預期在指數業務上仍有很多機會來管理費用端。

Next question is from Hamzah Mazari with Jefferies.

下一個問題來自Jefferies的Hamzah Mazari。

I hope you're safe and healthy out there. My first question was just a follow-up on Platts. If you look at the last downturn, it grew in the last downturn but it shaved a couple of basis points off of the growth rate that was coming in, the growth rate that you had going into the downturn. Could you maybe talk about -- could that business be negative this year given this oil downturn seems pretty different? Any thoughts on what your customers are saying today? I know you touched on this a little bit. And also you've diversified that business relative to a few years ago. Does that diversification help you in this downturn or it's just not -- it's still very much levered to petroleum?

希望你們在外面都平安健康。我第一個問題是關於Platts的追問。如果你看上一輪景氣下行，Platts在那次下行中仍然成長，但相較於下行前的成長率，成長率被削掉了幾個基點。你能不能談談——在今年這次油市下行看起來相當不同的情況下，這個業務今年是否可能出現負成長？對於你們客戶目前的說法有什麼想法嗎？我知道你剛才稍微提到一些。另外，相較於幾年前你們已經讓這個業務更多元化。這種多元化在這次下行中是否有幫助，還是其實——它仍然非常依賴石油？

Yes, Hamzah. And I hope you are well and safe, too. With respect to the Platts top line, we have -- about 80% of the top line is subscription-related, 10% is analytics and 10% is global trading services, which actually saw a nice increase of 17.5% in the first quarter. So clearly, because it is largely subscription-based, there is a nice protection with respect to the revenue line for Platts in the near term. So we expect Platts, if you look at the sensitivity table that we provided and the original direction that we mentioned during the fourth quarter earnings call of mid- to high -- sorry, mid-single-digit revenue growth for Platts this year, we're still at a level of mid-single-digit growth in terms of revenue for 2020. And again, that's because of the basis of the revenue components that are largely subscription-based. I do have to say that if the duration of the downturn takes longer that there might be a larger pressure on the revenue line for Platts next year in 2021. But this year, we expect still mid-single-digit revenue line under the assumptions that we have laid out.

是的，Hamzah。我也希望你一切都好、平安。就Platts的營收而言，我們——約80%的營收來自訂閱，10%是分析（analytics），10%是全球交易服務（global trading services），而全球交易服務在第一季其實有不錯的成長，增幅達17.5%。因此，很明顯地，由於它主要是以訂閱為基礎，短期內Platts的營收端有相當好的保護。所以我們預期Platts——如果你看我們提供的敏感度表，以及我們在第四季財報電話會議中提到的原始指引：今年Platts營收成長為中到高——抱歉，是中個位數（mid-single-digit）的營收成長；我們對2020年的營收成長仍維持在中個位數水準。再說一次，這是因為營收組成主要以訂閱為基礎。我必須說，如果這次下行的持續時間更長，明年2021年Platts的營收端可能會面臨更大的壓力。但在今年，在我們所列出的假設下，我們仍預期營收為中個位數成長。

Okay. Very helpful. And just a follow-up question on Market Intelligence, how are you thinking about execution risk in that segment in this environment? There's been a lot of competitive changes in the landscape. You've had a move towards enterprise-wide contracts from a commercial side. You have higher investment spend. Sales cycles pushed out. Is that going to be disruptive at all? Or how are you thinking about just execution risk in that segment in this environment?

好的。非常有幫助。再追問一個關於Market Intelligence的問題：在這種環境下，你們如何看待該部門的執行風險？競爭格局出現了很多變化。從商業端來看，你們已轉向企業級（enterprise-wide）合約。你們的投資支出更高。銷售週期被拉長。這會不會造成任何干擾？或者你們如何看待在這種環境下該部門的執行風險？

Hamzah, we don't see those as factors which could end up slowing down our development and our deployment of the new MI platform. We've got -- our teams are dedicated. As I mentioned in my earlier remarks, we have 99% of our employees working from home. They're very engaged. They're working hard. We've got really good acceptance of our customers of the new systems and new capabilities they -- as they see it. We've been able to move the capabilities of Cap IQ data services modeling, different capabilities over to the MI platform. And we have a plan during the year to be moving over customers so that they can have dual access throughout the year. Our development programming is on track. So we don't have any -- that's not a concern of ours right now.

Hamzah，我們不認為這些因素會導致我們放慢新MI平台的開發與部署。我們已經——我們的團隊很投入。如我先前所提到，我們有99%的員工在家工作。他們非常投入，也很努力。我們的客戶對新系統與新功能的接受度非常好——他們看到之後的反應是這樣。我們已能把Cap IQ資料服務建模、以及不同的功能，轉移到MI平台上。我們也有一個年度計畫，會把客戶逐步移轉，讓他們在全年期間可以同時雙軌存取。我們的開發進度按計畫推進。所以我們目前沒有——這不是我們現在的擔憂。

Next question comes from Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

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

Also glad to hear everybody's doing okay, and I just wanted to thank you all for the detailed guidance. It's actually really appreciated. One of the slides you had in your presentation, I think it was Slide 43, talked about some of the management actions that you've taken and will take. What are you looking for to either increase these kind of actions or, on the flip side, ratchet them down if the environment improves?

也很高興聽到大家都安好，我只是想感謝各位提供如此詳細的指引，真的非常感激。你們在簡報中的其中一張投影片，我想是第 43 張，談到你們已採取以及將採取的一些管理措施。你們會觀察哪些指標來決定要加大這類措施，或相反地，如果環境改善，要如何逐步下調這些措施？

Jeff, most of these actions are already put in place. So obviously, there isn't a lot of travel that anyone can do in the current period of time. We have already stopped hiring, although, of course, currently, interviewing any candidate is also hard to do in a virtual environment. And then several of the other elements as well, all of that is already put in place. So the impact in the modeling and in the sensitivity is really dependent on the duration of the actions. If the duration takes longer, the economic downturn lasts longer, then also the impact is going to be larger for the company.

Jeff，這些措施大多已經到位。很明顯，在目前這段期間，任何人都不太可能有很多差旅。我們也已經停止招募，當然，在虛擬環境下要面試任何候選人也很困難。其他幾個項目也是如此，這些都已經實施。因此，在模型與敏感度分析中的影響，主要取決於這些措施持續的時間。如果持續時間更長、經濟下行持續更久，那麼對公司的影響也會更大。

If you're looking at what does it mean in terms of recovery and when we expect things to start to look better and some of these actions might go away, I think we are looking at restart of economic activity, increase of demand, if we see more people going back to the employment market, drop of unemployment, pickup with GDP, all of these elements we'll look at in terms of when are we going to relax on some of those actions. But otherwise, all of these actions have been put in place.

如果你想了解復甦意味著什麼、以及我們預期何時開始好轉、某些措施可能會取消，我想我們會觀察經濟活動重啟、需求增加、更多人回到就業市場、失業率下降、GDP 回升等因素，並以此判斷何時放鬆部分措施。除此之外，這些措施都已經到位。

If you're asking what could be the next step in terms of layer of actions, we hope we don't need to go there because we believe that with all the actions we have taken over the last few years with respect to productivity programs and efficiency and process automation and capturing the operating leverage, we believe we have already managed the company in a very disciplined way. And we are taking clearly the benefit in current environment out of that.

如果你問的是下一層級可能採取的措施，我們希望不需要走到那一步，因為我們相信，過去幾年在生產力計畫、效率提升、流程自動化以及掌握營運槓桿方面所採取的所有行動，讓我們已經以非常嚴謹的方式管理公司。而在目前的環境下，我們也清楚地正在受益於此。

Okay. Great. That's helpful. And then switching gears, you talked about the strength in both Platts and Market Intelligence being more of a subscription-based focus. Can you just remind us the cadence of subscription renewals when they typically occur throughout the year? Is it back-end loaded? Is it more even? Any color would be great.

好的。很棒。這很有幫助。接著換個話題，你提到 Platts 和 Market Intelligence 的強勁表現更多來自訂閱制的重點。你能否提醒我們，訂閱續約通常在一年中何時發生？是偏向年底集中，還是比較平均？任何補充說明都很有幫助。

Yes, Jeff, this is Doug. The -- yes, the subscription renewals are really throughout the year. They range from 1-year to 2-year to 3-year contracts. There's no rhyme or rhythm that I could really give you about those, they're all -- it's sort of an ongoing process.

是的，Jeff，我是 Doug。是的，訂閱續約其實全年都有。合約期限從 1 年、2 年到 3 年不等。這方面我很難給你一個固定的模式或節奏，因為它們——基本上是一個持續進行的流程。

Next question comes from George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自 Goldman Sachs 的 George Tong。

You expect a mid-single-digit decline in global billed debt issuance volumes this year. Can you talk about how much pricing you expect to add to Ratings revenue performance and also discuss any mix impact from various debt categories that could affect how industry issuance translates into Ratings revenue performance at S&P?

你們預期今年全球計費的債務發行量將出現中個位數的下滑。你能談談你們預期會透過定價為評級（Ratings）營收表現帶來多少貢獻，並說明不同債務類別的組合變化，可能如何影響產業發行量轉化為標普的評級營收表現？

George, we normally don't really speak about pricing for obvious reasons. But I think you can put the elements together if you look at the original guidance that we provided in the fourth quarter earnings call with respect to mid- to high single-digit revenue growth expectation for ratings, the current sensitivity. And then you look at the overall issuance expectation of billed issuance, I think you can probably put those pieces together and make an estimate of that. The other guidance and direction I can provide to you is look at our list pricing that is all being published, and you can take some elements out of that as well. So if you put those pieces together, you'll probably get a good insight in what is assumed with respect to pricing for this year. But specifically, I would like to avoid giving you those numbers at this moment.

George，基於顯而易見的原因，我們通常不會談定價。不過，我想你可以把一些要素拼在一起：如果你看我們在第四季財報電話會議中提供的原始指引，當時對評級業務的營收成長預期是中到高個位數，再對照目前的敏感度分析；然後再看整體計費發行量的預期，我想你大概可以把這些資訊組合起來做出估算。我能提供的另一個方向是，你可以參考我們已公開發布的價目表（list pricing），也能從中推導出一些要素。把這些資訊放在一起，你應該能對今年定價假設有不錯的理解。但就具體數字而言，我目前希望避免提供。

Got it. You've indicated plans to make $150 million in investments in 2020 growth programs. Can you elaborate on which segments and products those growth investments will be going to and when you'd expect to see returns on those investments?

了解。你們提到計畫在 2020 年投入 1.5 億美元於成長計畫。你能否更詳細說明這些成長投資將流向哪些事業部門與產品，以及你們預期何時能看到這些投資的回報？

Yes. George, this is Doug. First of all, the $150 million that we've talked about in the past, this is, for us, we believe, very critical for our long-term growth. It builds the ability to have new products, which are relevant to the marketplace. It also allows us to invest in new technology, which would be a combination of processing, data linking and delivery mechanisms to our clients. They're really spread out across the businesses. China is one of those that we're very pleased with the progress on. That's one that's important, and it's principally right now a Ratings opportunity. There will be some follow-on for Market Intelligence.

是的。George，我是 Doug。首先，我們過去提到的 1.5 億美元投資，對我們而言，我們相信這對長期成長非常關鍵。它能建立推出與市場相關的新產品的能力；也讓我們能投資新技術，這些技術將結合處理能力、資料連結，以及提供給客戶的交付機制。這些投資其實分散在各個業務之中。中國就是其中之一，我們對那裡的進展非常滿意。這是一個重要的領域，目前主要是評級（Ratings）的機會，之後也會有一些延伸到 Market Intelligence。

There's also going to be an investment in ESG. ESG is across all the divisions, all the geographies. And this is one that you saw recently, we completed the integration of the RobecoSAM's business into the Ratings business. So we have a much stronger ESG business there. But all of the businesses benefit from things like RobecoSAM's Ratings business, what we -- when we have Trucost on board, et cetera. So these are intended to be investments that benefit all of our divisions. They benefit all of the geographies and visible ones. But across the board, this is going to be benefiting the entire company.

另外也會投資於 ESG。ESG 橫跨所有事業部門與所有地理區域。你最近也看到，我們已完成將 RobecoSAM 的業務整合進評級業務，因此我們在那裡擁有更強的 ESG 業務。但所有業務都能受益於像 RobecoSAM 的評級業務；以及我們納入 Trucost 等等。因此，這些投資旨在讓我們所有事業部門受益，涵蓋所有地區，而且是可見的。總體而言，這將使整個公司受益。

If I may build on the answer of Doug, approximately half of the investments are going to Market Intelligence. And the returns, we'll see different -- by different category, by different project over time. Some might be more short term, some might be more mid- or long term. Think about China Ratings, we have said from the beginning that, that is a long-term investment. So this will come in at different points in time.

如果我可以在 Doug 的回答上補充，大約一半的投資將投入到 Market Intelligence。至於回報，我們會隨著不同類別、不同專案在時間推移中看到不同的結果。有些可能偏短期，有些可能偏中期或長期。以中國評級為例，我們從一開始就說過，那是一項長期投資。因此，這些回報會在不同時間點逐步顯現。

Our next question comes from Andrew Nicholas from William Blair.

下一個問題來自 William Blair 的 Andrew Nicholas。

This is actually Trevor Romeo on for Andrew. First, I just wanted to ask on Ratings margins in the quarter. I know Ewout called out a couple of factors such as the in-sourcing of IT and the T&E freeze. But just given the magnitude of the improvement there in the quarter, I thought I would just ask if there were any other onetime items that helped such as maybe incentive comp accruals. As in, did the accruals grow less than they might have in a normal environment because of the uncertainty in the outlook for the rest of the year?

我其實是代 Andrew 提問的 Trevor Romeo。首先，我想問一下本季評級業務的利潤率。我知道 Ewout 提到幾個因素，例如 IT 內製以及差旅與娛樂（T&E）凍結。但考量到本季改善幅度之大，我想確認是否還有其他一次性項目提供了幫助，例如可能是獎酬性薪酬（incentive comp）的提列。也就是說，在對今年剩餘期間展望不確定的情況下，提列是否比正常環境下成長得更少？

Trevor, no, there was not an impact in the first quarter with respect to incentive compensation. We are accruing at 100%, the same as a year ago. So that didn't have an impact in terms of the expenses for Ratings during the first quarter. Two main elements I would like to call out, first, the impact of FX. The expenses came down 7%, including foreign exchange. And it was down 2%, excluding foreign exchange. Still 2% down is, of course, a very strong result in terms of expense reduction for Ratings. The other reason is what we already mentioned during the prepared remarks. This was the in-sourcing of certain technology engineering capabilities that were previously outsourced to a provider. We have set up a technology talent center in India. And we are taking there a clear benefit, not only from a talent perspective but also from a cost perspective. So those are the main items. But clearly, I'm happy -- I'm very happy to see the results of the Ratings business in the first quarter. And indeed, the margin improvement is quite impressive.

Trevor，沒有，第一季在獎酬性薪酬方面沒有影響。我們是以 100% 的水準提列，與去年同期相同。因此，這並未對第一季評級業務的費用造成影響。我想強調兩個主要因素：第一，是匯率（FX）的影響。費用下降了 7%（包含外匯影響）；若排除外匯影響，則下降 2%。即便是排除外匯後仍下降 2%，就評級業務的費用降低而言，當然也是非常強勁的成果。第二個原因是我們在事先準備的發言中已提到的：將先前外包給供應商的部分技術工程能力改為內製。我們在印度設立了技術人才中心，從人才面與成本面都獲得了明顯效益。這些是主要項目。不過我也很高興——我對第一季評級業務的結果非常滿意，利潤率的改善確實相當亮眼。

And just to add one quick thing. The point that Ewout was making about the changes in headcount. You may remember on our fourth quarter earnings call, we showed you that slide with headcount and alluded to those changes.

再快速補充一點。Ewout 提到的人力編制變動，你可能還記得在我們第四季財報電話會議上，我們向你展示了那張有人力編制的投影片，並提及了那些變化。

Okay. Great. That's very helpful. And then I just wanted to follow up, I guess, on the index business. I believe you guys recently announced a collaboration with IHS Markit to develop multi-asset class index benchmarks. I was just wondering if you could discuss the strategy there and how that partnership came together, maybe how you view the potential size and growth of the opportunity for multi-asset class indices.

好的。很棒。這非常有幫助。接著我想追問一下指數業務。我相信你們最近宣布與 IHS Markit 合作開發多資產類別的指數基準。我想請你談談那裡的策略、這項合作是如何促成的，以及你們如何看待多資產類別指數機會的潛在規模與成長性。

Trevor, let me -- I'm going to give you a little bit broader answer. Thank you for that. First of all, we have, as you know, the fixed income area and there's other types of blended funds, blended ETFs, blended indices, et cetera. And we felt that IHS Markit, they have some very attractive indices, some data and analytics that were not being deployed into some different types of indices and that we could work together with them to really attack some of the market opportunities that we see emerging in the same way that we have recently signed an agreement last year on Earth Day with BlackRock for ESG indices. So we see that there's many opportunities for us to partner. We don't always have to go alone to build indices and market-relevant products. And so in both cases, with IHS Markit and now with BlackRock on the ESG front, we believe that there's opportunities for us to address market growth and market needs not just on our own. So this was something that we're very pleased with both of those. And something that we're going to be working on. And we'll report going forward how we do.

Trevor，讓我——我會給你一個更廣泛一點的回答。謝謝你。首先，我們如你所知，有固定收益領域，還有其他類型的混合型基金、混合型 ETF、混合型指數等等。我們認為 IHS Markit 擁有一些非常有吸引力的指數、一些數據與分析能力，而這些尚未被運用到某些不同類型的指數中；我們可以與他們合作，以我們近期看到的新興市場機會為目標，像我們去年在地球日與 BlackRock 就 ESG 指數簽署協議一樣。因此我們看到有許多合作機會。我們不一定總是要單打獨鬥去建立指數與具市場相關性的產品。所以在這兩個案例中，與 IHS Markit，以及現在在 ESG 方面與 BlackRock 的合作，我們相信我們有機會不僅靠自己，也能共同滿足市場成長與市場需求。因此我們對這兩項合作都非常滿意，並且接下來會持續推進。我們也會在未來回報我們的進展。

We will now take our final question from Craig Huber from Huber Research Partners.

我們現在將進行最後一個提問，來自 Huber Research Partners 的 Craig Huber。

If I heard you right, I think you said the debt issuance market forecast for yourselves for the year is down mid-single digits. Billed revenues lines up that way, down mid-single digits. I'm curious, embedded within that, what are you expecting the 2 middle quarters to be down year-over-year? And what's the number -- maybe you said this, but what's the number in the first quarter that lines up with that?

如果我沒聽錯的話，我想你說你們對今年的債務發行市場預測是下降中個位數百分比。計費收入（billed revenues）也大致一致，下降中個位數百分比。我好奇的是，在這之中，你們預期中間兩個季度的年對年會下降多少？以及那個數字——也許你已經說過——但第一季度與此相符的數字是多少？

Craig, this is Doug. I don't have something that is by quarter in terms of our issuance outlook. This is something that our teams, our economists and our credit specialists, they go out and they look at what is the amount of debt which is maturing. They look at what's happening in the market with M&A, with debt repayments for bridge loans, companies that want to pay out and pay back drawdowns on revolvers, et cetera. So I don't really have a forecast that I could give you by quarter.

Craig，我是 Doug。我沒有按季度拆分的發行展望。我們的團隊、經濟學家與信用專家會出去看有多少債務到期；他們會看市場上併購（M&A）的情況、過橋貸款的債務償還、公司想要支付並償還循環信貸（revolvers）動用額度（drawdowns）等等。所以我沒有可以按季度提供給你的預測。

You have the number -- the comparable number for the first quarter?

你有第一季度的可比數字——就是那個對應的數字嗎？

The first quarter issuance was up. Let me give you the full precise amount.

第一季度的發行量是上升的。讓我把完整且精確的數字給你。

Yes. Craig, if you're getting to billed issuance, we're not going to share billed issuance numbers with you. We share with The Street the actual issuance numbers, and Doug put that chart out. Billed issuances, this is a onetime shot. We're sharing some information with you, but we're not totally opening the kimono and tell you the billed issuance this quarter or for any quarter. So sorry about that.

是的，Craig，如果你問的是計費口徑的發行（billed issuance），我們不會與你分享計費發行的數字。我們對華爾街（The Street）分享的是實際發行數字，Doug 也把那張圖表展示出來了。計費發行這是一個一次性的切面。我們會跟你分享一些資訊，但我們不會完全掀開底牌，把本季度或任何季度的計費發行告訴你。所以很抱歉。

All right. Fair enough. And then the question I want to ask you, the cost within your Ratings area here, if this environment gets worse, worse than what we're forecasting right now, do you feel there's a lot more cost you can take out there? You gave us a good explanation around what you've done so far. But do you feel there's more leeway on the cost side there?

好吧。可以理解。接著我想問的是，你們評級（Ratings）業務這邊的成本，如果環境變得更糟，比我們目前預測的還要糟，你覺得那裡還能再大幅削減更多成本嗎？你已經很好地解釋了目前為止做了什麼，但你覺得在成本端還有更大的操作空間嗎？

Craig, this is Ewout. Yes, absolutely, because if you look at the expense reduction in Ratings during the first quarter, the impact of the management actions have rather been minimal because most of those management actions have been taken in the month of March. So maybe a little bit of travel benefit has been incorporated in the first quarter, but most of the benefits of those management actions will actually come in during the next few quarters. So from that perspective, very good expense development in Ratings, but that's all based on actions we have taken in the past. And all the good work that has been done in terms of our productivity programs that we have been talking to you about before and the management actions related to COVID, the real benefit will come in, in future. So definitely, there is further opportunity for the Ratings business with respect to their expense line.

Craig，我是 Ewout。是的，絕對可以。因為如果你看評級業務第一季度的費用下降，管理層行動的影響其實相對有限，因為大多數管理行動是在 3 月才採取的。所以第一季度可能只納入了一點差旅費用下降的效益，但這些管理行動的大部分效益其實會在接下來幾個季度體現。因此從這個角度來看，評級業務的費用表現非常好，但那都是基於我們過去已採取的行動，以及我們先前跟你談過的生產力計畫所做的所有努力，還有與 COVID 相關的管理行動；真正的效益會在未來顯現。所以毫無疑問，評級業務在費用線方面仍有進一步的機會。

Okay. Chip, if you don't mind, let me make a couple of closing comments. First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for joining us today on the S&P Global First Quarter 2020 Call and for all of your questions. We know that this is a very difficult time for the markets. Also for everyone on this call, you've had to find new ways to adjust to working from home or some sort of alternative working environment. We were very pleased, though, with our first quarter and, in particular, with the way our employees, working at 99% now at home, have really stepped up to support each other to continue to produce valuable ratings, research and analytics for our customers and for the markets.

好的。Chip，如果你不介意，讓我做幾點結語。首先，我要感謝大家今天參加 S&P Global 2020 年第一季度電話會議並提出所有問題。我們知道這對市場而言是非常艱難的時期。同時，對於在這通電話上的每一位，你們也必須找到新的方式來適應在家工作或某種替代性的工作環境。不過，我們對第一季度的表現感到非常滿意，尤其是我們的員工——目前 99% 都在家工作——確實挺身而出、彼此支持，持續為客戶與市場提供有價值的評級、研究與分析。

But as you saw in the call today, in our prepared remarks and then in our follow-up, we also recognize that the outlook for the next quarter and for the rest of the year is very different than how we started the year. We have incorporated some of the knowledge and research from our own teams and what we're picking up in the markets to come up with a broad set of assumptions that introduced new levels of risk and uncertainty. Those are reflected in what we've given you in guidance for the rest of the year. And obviously, we're going to clearly monitor the market conditions, work very hard to react and to be able to be prepared for what comes up. And we look forward to working with all of you throughout the year.

但正如你今天在電話會議中所看到的，在我們事先準備的發言以及後續問答中，我們也認知到下一季度以及今年剩餘時間的展望，與我們年初的起點已非常不同。我們結合了自家團隊的知識與研究，以及我們在市場中捕捉到的訊息，提出一套廣泛的假設，引入了新的風險與不確定性層級。這些都反映在我們對今年剩餘時間所提供的指引中。當然，我們會清楚地監控市場狀況，努力因應並做好準備以面對接下來可能出現的情況。我們也期待在今年與各位持續合作。

And thank you again for joining the call. I hope everybody stays healthy, stays safe, and we will see you throughout the year. Thank you very much.

再次感謝大家參加這通電話會議。希望大家保持健康、注意安全，我們今年會持續與各位見面交流。非常感謝。

That concludes this morning's call. A PDF version of the presenters' slides is available now for downloading from investor.spglobal.com. Replay 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.

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。整場電話會議的重播將在約 2 小時後提供。含音訊與投影片的網路直播將在 S&P Global 的網站上保留 1 年。僅音訊的電話重播將保留 1 個月。

On behalf of S&P Global, we thank you for participating and wish you a good day.

我謹代表 S&P Global，感謝各位參與，並祝各位有美好的一天。