Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Thomson Reuters Q4 2023 Earnings Call. Today's conference is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加湯森路透 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。

At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Gary Bisbee. Please go ahead, sir.

此時，我想將電話轉給加里·比斯比。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Jennifer. Good morning and thank you, everyone, for joining us today for our fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. I'm joined today by our CEO, Steve Hasker; and our CFO, Mike Eastwood, each of whom will discuss our results and take your questions following their remarks. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你，詹妮弗。早安，謝謝大家今天參加我們的 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。今天我們的執行長 Steve Hasker 也加入了我的行列。以及我們的財務長 Mike Eastwood，他們將在發言後討論我們的結果並回答您的問題。 （操作員說明）

Throughout today's presentation, when we compare performance period-on-period, we discuss revenue growth before currency as well as on an organic basis. We believe this provides the best basis to measure the underlying performance of the business.

在今天的演示中，當我們比較同期業績時，我們討論了貨幣之前的收入成長以及有機成長。我們相信這為衡量業務的基本績效提供了最佳基礎。

Today's presentation contains forward-looking statements and non-IFRS financial measures. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of risks and uncertainties discussed in reports and filings that we provide to regulatory agencies. You may access these documents on our website or by contacting our Investor Relations department.

今天的簡報包含前瞻性陳述和非國際財務報告準則財務指標。由於我們向監管機構提供的報告和文件中討論的許多風險和不確定性，實際結果可能存在重大差異。您可以在我們的網站上或聯絡我們的投資者關係部門存取這些文件。

Thank you, Gary, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. 2023 was a year of continued progress at Thomson Reuters. So let me start by reviewing some of our key accomplishments.

謝謝你，加里，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。 2023 年是湯森路透持續進步的一年。首先讓我回顧一下我們的一些主要成就。

Firstly, we delivered another year of good financial results, meeting or exceeding our key financial targets. Full year organic revenue grew 6% with the fourth quarter growing at 7%. The Big 3 segments also accelerated in Q4, growing 8% versus 7% for the full year. Despite lingering inflationary pressures and heavy investment, our full year adjusted EBITDA margin rose by 420 basis points to 39.3%. And we delivered $1.9 billion of free cash flow, slightly ahead of target.

首先，我們又取得了良好的財務業績，達到或超越了我們的主要財務目標。全年有機收入成長 6%，第四季成長 7%。三大細分市場在第四季也加速成長，成長 8%，而全年成長 7%。儘管通膨壓力揮之不去且投資巨大，我們全年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率仍成長了 420 個基點，達到 39.3%。我們實現了 19 億美元的自由現金流，略高於目標。

Although the macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop remains uncertain, we have many areas of strength in our portfolio. Westlaw Precision's strong performance continues. Our international businesses maintained their growth trajectory in the teens, and we have many other products delivering double-digit revenue growth, including Practical Law, Confirmation, SurePrep and HighQ.

儘管宏觀經濟和地緣政治背景仍然不確定，但我們的投資組合在許多領域都有優勢。 Westlaw Precision 的強勁表​​現仍在持續。我們的國際業務保持了十幾歲的成長軌跡，我們還有許多其他產品實現了兩位數的收入成長，包括 Practical Law、Confirmation、SurePrep 和 HighQ。

2023 saw significant and important progress from an innovation perspective. The clear highlight was our efforts around generative AI, culminating in the November launch of the AI-assisted research capability within Westlaw Precision. But the progress is far broader than just Westlaw. We have integrated our new colleagues from the August acquisition of Casetext, launched CoCounsel Core to extend the reach of Casetext's legal AI assistant offering, and we are working to deliver against a robust product road map that includes several key launches in the next few months.

從創新的角度來看，2023年取得了重大而重要的進展。最明顯的亮點是我們圍繞生成人工智慧所做的努力，最終在 11 月在 Westlaw Precision 內推出了人工智慧輔助研究能力。但進步遠比 Westlaw 更廣泛。我們整合了8 月收購Casetext 時的新同事，推出了CoCounsel Core，以擴大Casetext 法律人工智慧助理產品的覆蓋範圍，並且我們正在努力提供強大的產品路線圖，其中包括未來幾個月內的幾項關鍵發布。

Our capital capacity and liquidity remain a key asset that we are focused on deploying to create shareholder value, and we made strong progress on this during 2023. We monetized nearly $5.5 billion of our stake in LSEG and returned more than $3 billion to shareholders. Since the beginning of 2023, we have invested nearly $2.1 billion in 6 acquisitions, including our purchase of a majority stake in e-invoicing leader, Pagero. These acquisitions bolster key franchises and improve the quality and growth prospects of our portfolio.

我們的資本能力和流動性仍然是我們致力於創造股東價值的關鍵資產，我們在2023 年在這方面取得了巨大進展。我們將LSEG 股份貨幣化了近55 億美元，並向股東返還了超過30億美元。自 2023 年初以來，我們已投資近 21 億美元進行 6 項收購，其中包括收購電子發票領導者 Pagero 的多數股權。這些收購增強了關鍵特許經營權，並提高了我們投資組合的品質和成長前景。

Looking forward, our conviction around the medium-term growth potential for Thomson Reuters is rising. As we stated last quarter, we're accelerating investment in 2024 to take advantage of our potential, particularly around our generative AI offerings and recent acquisitions. As Mike will discuss in more detail, we are guiding for organic revenue growth of approximately 6% in 2024, and we're focused on driving acceleration from that level in 2025 and beyond. To that point, we're also introducing a financial framework for 2025 and 2026 in which we see organic revenue growth of 6.5% to 8%.

展望未來，我們對湯森路透中期成長潛力的信心正在增強。正如我們上季度所說，我們將在 2024 年加速投資，以充分利用我們的潛力，特別是圍繞我們的生成式人工智慧產品和最近的收購。正如 Mike 將更詳細討論的那樣，我們的目標是 2024 年有機收入增長約 6%，並且我們的重點是在 2025 年及以後推動這一水平的加速增長。為此，我們也推出了 2025 年和 2026 年的財務框架，其中我們預計有機收入將成長 6.5% 至 8%。

Now to the results for the quarter. Our fourth quarter organic revenues grew 7%, improving from 6% in recent quarters. Organic recurring and transactional revenue grew 7% and 16%, respectively, while print revenue declined modestly as expected. Reported revenue grew 3% with currency a slight drag in net divestitures having a 4% negative impact.

現在來看本季的業績。我們第四季的有機收入成長了 7%，高於最近幾季的 6%。有機經常性收入和交易收入分別成長 7% 和 16%，而印刷收入如預期小幅下降。報告收入成長了 3%，但淨資產剝離帶來了 4% 的負面影響，貨幣因素略有拖累。

Adjusted EBITDA increased 12% to $707 million, reflecting a 300 basis point margin improvement to 38.9%. The margin expansion was driven by Change Program expenses in the prior year and high margin contribution from Reuters transactional revenue. Adjusted earnings per share grew 31% from the prior year period to $0.98.

調整後 EBITDA 成長 12%，達到 7.07 億美元，利潤率提高 300 個基點，達到 38.9%。利潤率擴張是由上一年的變革計劃費用和路透社交易收入的高利潤率貢獻所推動的。調整後每股收益較上年同期成長 31%，達到 0.98 美元。

Turning to the fourth quarter results by segment. The Big 3 businesses delivered 8% organic revenue growth, an all-time high and up from 7% in recent quarters. Legal organic revenue growth improved to 7% driven by continued Westlaw Precision momentum. Demand for our key offerings remains healthy, led by Westlaw, Practical Law, Casetext and strong performance in our international markets.

轉向按部門劃分的第四季業績。三大企業的有機收入成長了 8%，創下歷史新高，而最近幾季的有機收入成長為 7%。在 Westlaw Precision 持續成長的推動下，合法有機收入成長至 7%。在 Westlaw、Practical Law、Casetext 和我們國際市場的強勁表現的推動下，對我們主要產品的需求依然強勁。

Customer interest in our AI-driven offerings and product road map remains extremely strong with several additional launches coming in the next few months. Corporates organic revenue growth was 7%, in line with the growth last quarter. Both recurring and transactional revenues grew 7%. Practical Law, Indirect Tax, CLEAR and our international regions remain key growth drivers. Tax & Accounting organic revenues grew 10%, driven by recurring and transactional growth of 10% and 14%, respectively.

客戶對我們的人工智慧驅動產品和產品路線圖的興趣仍然非常濃厚，未來幾個月還將推出幾項其他產品。企業有機收入成長 7%，與上季成長一致。經常性收入和交易收入均成長 7%。實用法、間接稅、CLEAR 和我們的國際地區仍然是主要的成長動力。在經常性收入和交易性收入分別成長 10% 和 14% 的推動下，稅務和會計有機收入增加了 10%。

Our Latin America operations, UltraTax and SurePrep each contributed meaningfully to growth. Reuters News organic revenues rose a robust 9%, driven primarily by generative AI-related content licensing revenue that was largely transactional in nature. Sluggish digital advertising and events growth continued amid uneven macro conditions and a change in the timing of events versus last year. And lastly, Global Print organic revenues met our expectations, declining to 4% year-over-year. In summary, we're pleased with our results and the solid momentum in the business.

我們的拉丁美洲業務、UltraTax 和 SurePrep 均對成長做出了有意義的貢獻。路透社新聞的有機收入強勁增長了 9%，這主要是由與人工智慧相關的生成性內容授權收入推動的，而這些收入本質上主要是交易性的。由於宏觀環境不平衡以及活動時間與去年相比發生變化，數位廣告和活動成長持續疲軟。最後，全球印刷有機收入符合我們的預期，年減至 4%。總之，我們對我們的業績和業務的強勁勢頭感到滿意。

Full year organic revenues rose 6%. Reported revenue grew 3% with currency a slight negative impact and net divestitures a 3% drag. Adjusted EBITDA increased 15% to $2.7 billion with a 39.3% margin, up 420 basis points year-over-year. Revenue growth and having Change Program expenses in the prior year drove the margin gain. Adjusted earnings per share for the year was $3.51 compared to $2.62 per share in the prior year. And let me finish on the financials for the full year by noting we met or exceeded all of our 2023 guidance metrics.

全年有機收入成長 6%。報告收入成長了 3%，匯率略有負面影響，而淨資產剝離則拖累了 3%。調整後 EBITDA 成長 15%，達到 27 億美元，利潤率為 39.3%，年增 420 個基點。上一年的收入成長和變革計劃費用推動了利潤率的成長。本年度調整後每股收益為 3.51 美元，上年度為每股 2.62 美元。最後，我要指出我們達到或超過了 2023 年的所有指導指標，以結束全年的財務狀況。

Now I'll spend a few minutes discussing 2023 product highlights and progress executing on our M&A strategy. Product and innovation remains an important focus, and 2023 was a year of tremendous progress for our product and engineering organizations. The emergence of GPT-4, and advanced generative AI technologies, ushered in significant change for our product organization, which had to reprioritize on the fly, reimagine customer experiences and then quickly deliver TR-quality product innovations.

現在，我將花幾分鐘討論 2023 年的產品亮點以及我們併購策略的執行進度。產品和創新仍然是一個重要的焦點，2023 年是我們的產品和工程組織取得巨大進步的一年。 GPT-4 和先進的生成式 AI 技術的出現為我們的產品組織帶來了重大變化，我們必須動態重新確定優先級，重新構想客戶體驗，然後快速交付 TR 品質的產品創新。

Our teams have moved with a speed and decisiveness never seen before at Thomson Reuters, and we're beginning to see tangible results from these efforts. The launch of the AI-assisted research capability within Westlaw Precision in November has gone well. Customer feedback remains positive, and fourth quarter sales set records for the Westlaw franchise. We have also made good progress with Casetext, including the launch of CoCounsel Core, a robust package of legal workflow tools offered through Casetext's legal AI assistant. 2023 also featured a broad range of expanded features, new capabilities and design enhancements across our portfolio, including several listed on the slide.

我們的團隊以湯森路透前所未有的速度和果斷行動，我們開始看到這些努力的實際成果。 Westlaw Precision 於 11 月推出的人工智慧輔助研究能力進展順利。客戶回饋仍然積極，第四季度的銷售額創下了 Westlaw 特許經營權的記錄。我們在 Casetext 方面也取得了良好進展，包括推出了 CoCounsel Core，這是透過 Casetext 的法律人工智慧助理提供的強大的法律工作流程工具包。 2023 年我們的產品組合還出現了廣泛的擴展功能、新功能和設計增強，其中包括幻燈片中列出的幾項。

Looking into 2024, we're excited about our product road map, which includes a series of important launches and capability enhancements. This includes adding generative AI capabilities to Practical Law and Checkpoint and the launch of Practical Law Course Finder, and also an intelligent drafting solution delivered through Microsoft Word. We also plan to bring CoCounsel Core and Westlaw gen AI capabilities to several key international markets and add a number of new skills for the CoCounsel legal AI assistant. We look forward to highlighting a number of our product innovations at our upcoming Investor Day.

展望 2024 年，我們對我們的產品路線圖感到興奮，其中包括一系列重要的發布和功能增強。這包括在 Practical Law 和 Checkpoint 添加生成式 AI 功能、推出 Practical Law Course Finder，以及透過 Microsoft Word 提供的智慧起草解決方案。我們還計劃將 CoCounsel Core 和 Westlaw gen AI 功能引入幾個主要國際市場，並為 CoCounsel 法律 AI 助理添加許多新技能。我們期待在即將到來的投資者日上重點介紹我們的一些產品創新。

2023 was also an eventful year for Thomson Reuters from a capital allocation perspective. I'll leave the discussion of shareholder returns to Mike and focus here on our progress at putting capital to work through acquisitions. Since the beginning of 2023, we have invested nearly $2.1 billion in 6 acquisitions. Through these purchases, we've added important capabilities to each of the Big 3 segments, complemented -- we completed 2 strategic tuck-ins at Reuters News, and taken full control of Westlaw Japan after buying out our former joint venture partner.

從資本配置的角度來看，2023 年對湯森路透來說也是多事之年。我將把有關股東回報的討論留給麥克，並在此重點討論我們透過收購投入資本的進展。自2023年初以來，我們已投資近21億美元進行6次收購。透過這些收購，我們為三大巨頭的每個細分市場增加了重要的能力，補充了我們在路透社新聞中完成的兩次策略性收購，並在買斷了我們前合資夥伴的股份後完全控制了Westlaw Japan。

A few summary thoughts. Casetext added critical capabilities and talent to accelerate our gen AI aspirations in Legal Professionals and over time, more broadly across the entire TR portfolio. SurePrep and Pagero have added leading-edge technology that complements existing capabilities and allow us for truly end-to-end workflow automation solutions for our Tax & Accounting and Corporates markets, respectively. At Reuters, we've added a compelling media asset management technology for our agency business through Imagen and subscription professional content focused on the insurance industry, both aligned with the growth strategy of this business unit.

一些總結性的想法。 Casetext 增加了關鍵能力和人才，以加速我們在法律專業人士中的一代 AI 願望，並隨著時間的推移，更廣泛地覆蓋整個 TR 產品組合。 SurePrep 和 Pagero 增加了領先的技術，補充了現有功能，使我們能夠分別為稅務和會計以及企業市場提供真正的端到端工作流程自動化解決方案。在路透社，我們透過 Imagen 和專注於保險業的訂閱專業內容為我們的代理業務添加了引人注目的媒體資產管理技術，這兩者都與該業務部門的成長策略保持一致。

These acquisitions been our focus on content-enabled technology, which is what we do best. They also continue our efforts to execute the TR acquisition playbook. This entails acquiring high-quality businesses, integrating them into TR's product suite, investing behind their growth and leveraging our extensive distribution and customer relationships to drive profitable, long-term growth. And while it remains early, integration efforts are off to a good start. Customer feedback has been strong, and we are retaining key talent at a very high rate.

這些收購是我們對內容支援技術的關注，這是我們最擅長的。他們也繼續努力執行 TR 收購策略。這需要收購高品質的業務，將其整合到 TR 的產品套件中，對其成長進行投資，並利用我們廣泛的分銷和客戶關係來推動盈利的長期成長。雖然還處於早期階段，但整合工作已經有了一個好的開始。客戶回饋強烈，我們以非常高的比率留住關鍵人才。

When we consider these acquisitions in total, we've added approximately $200 million of revenue growing at strong double digits. This is slightly more than the revenue divested through the sale of a majority stake in Elite, which was not growing. As a result, our portfolio today is stronger, more strategically aligned with better growth prospects than it had 18 months ago.

當我們考慮這些收購的總額時，我們增加了約 2 億美元的收入，並以兩位數的強勁增長。這略高於透過出售 Elite 多數股權而剝離的收入，而該收入並未增長。因此，與 18 個月前相比，我們今天的投資組合更加強大，在策略上更加一致，成長前景也更好。

Let me provide a bit more discussion of the Pagero acquisition. Note that we went into significant detail about Pagero on an investor call on January 19. So I'll just summarize a few points here.

讓我對 Pagero 收購進行更多討論。請注意，我們在 1 月 19 日的投資者電話會議上詳細介紹了 Pagero。因此，我將在此總結幾點。

First, the e-invoicing opportunity is significant, and we see strong growth continuing as planned implementation of digital tax regulations in more than 80 countries brings a wave of regulatory-driven demand growth. Second, Pagero is a market leader with what we believe are differentiated solutions. In addition to offering a single global platform, which is unique in the market, the company's modern technology and robust compliance capabilities are market-leading in our view.

首先，電子發票機會巨大，我們看到強勁的成長仍在繼續，因為80多個國家計劃實施的數位稅收法規帶來了一波監管驅動的需求成長。其次，Pagero 是市場領導者，擁有我們認為的差異化解決方案。我們認為，除了提供市場上獨一無二的單一全球平台外，該公司的現代技術和強大的合規能力也處於市場領先地位。

Third, Pagero is a compelling product fit with Thomson Reuters. The combination of Pagero's e-invoicing compliance offerings with our ONESOURCE Indirect Tax solutions should yield significant benefits for our customers, including enhanced compliance capabilities, better end-to-end workflow automation and global scale through a single trusted vendor.

第三，Pagero 是一款與湯森路透非常契合的引人注目的產品。 Pagero 的電子發票合規產品與我們的ONESOURCE 間接稅解決方案的結合應該會為我們的客戶帶來顯著的好處，包括增強的合規能力、更好的端到端工作流程自動化以及透過單一值得信賴的供應商實現的全球規模。

And fourth, Pagero has an attractive financial model with strong long-term growth and profit potential. The company has a proven track record of double-digit revenue growth and is highly profitable in its scaled markets. We see a pathway to robust overall profitability in the next few years as its investment markets scale up.

第四，Pagero 擁有有吸引力的財務模式，具有強勁的長期成長和獲利潛力。該公司擁有兩位數收入成長的良好記錄，並且在其規模市場中實現了高利潤。隨著投資市場規模的擴大，我們看到了未來幾年實現強勁整體獲利能力的途徑。

And finally, our current ownership of Pagero is approximately 85%. Assuming we acquire 90% or higher ownership by the end of our tender offer period, we will look to undertake a squeeze-out process in order to take full ownership of the business. We'll consolidate Pagero's financials as of January 17, the day we achieved majority ownership of the company.

最後，我們目前對 Pagero 的持股比例約為 85%。假設我們在要約收購期結束時獲得 90% 或更高的所有權，我們將尋求採取擠出程序，以獲得該業務的全部所有權。我們將合併 Pagero 自 1 月 17 日起的財務數據，這一天我們獲得了該公司的多數股權。

Mike, over to you.

麥克，交給你了。

Thank you, Steve, and thanks for joining us today. As a reminder, I will talk to revenue growth before currency and on an organic basis. Let me start by discussing the fourth quarter revenue performance for our Big 3 segments.

謝謝你，史蒂夫，也謝謝你今天加入我們。提醒一下，我將先討論收入成長，然後再討論貨幣成長和有機成長。首先讓我討論一下我們三大業務部門第四季的營收表現。

Organic revenues improved sequentially from 7% in recent quarters to 8% in the fourth quarter, a new high watermark for the Big 3. Total revenue was 3%, excluding the impact of divestitures. Legal Professionals organic revenue grew 7% driven by continued Westlaw Precision momentum. Key drivers from a product perspective remain Westlaw, Practical Law, HighQ and our international businesses with Casetext also contributing. Government grew 7% in the quarter, while FindLaw was a modest headwind to the segment growth rate. We expect good momentum for Legal Professionals to continue into 2024.

有機收入環比從最近幾季的 7% 上升到第四季的 8%，這是三大巨頭的新高水位。總收入為 3%，不包括資產剝離的影響。在 Westlaw Precision 持續成長的推動下，Legal Professionals 的有機收入成長了 7%。從產品角度來看，主要驅動力仍然是 Westlaw、Practical Law、HighQ 和我們的國際業務，Casetext 也做出了貢獻。政府部門在本季成長了 7%，而 FindLaw 對該部門的成長率構成了溫和的阻力。我們預計法律專業人士的良好勢頭將持續到 2024 年。

Our Westlaw Precision AI-assisted research launch in November contributed to another strong quarter for Westlaw Precision sales. I am happy to announce Precision penetration continues to rise, hitting 26% as of December 31, which on a dollar basis is approximately 50% ahead of Edge.

我們在 11 月推出的 Westlaw Precision 人工智慧輔助研究為 Westlaw Precision 的銷售帶來了另一個強勁的季度。我很高興地宣布 Precision 滲透率繼續上升，截至 12 月 31 日已達到 26%，以美元計算，比 Edge 領先約 50%。

In our Corporates segment, organic revenues again grew 7%, driven by 7% growth in both recurring and transactional revenue. Practical Law, CLEAR and our international businesses were key drivers. Tax & Accounting had another good quarter, growing 10% organically. Recurring and transactional revenue grew 10% and 14%, respectively. Latin America remains a key driver for our Tax & Accounting segment. Looking to 2024, we expect transactional revenue growth will continue to outpace recurring revenue as higher-growth products, including Confirmation and SurePrep, are transactional in nature.

在我們的企業部門，有機收入再次成長 7%，這主要得益於經常性收入和交易收入成長 7%。 Practical Law、CLEAR 和我們的國際業務是關鍵驅動力。稅務與會計部門又迎來了一個不錯的季度，有機成長了 10%。經常性收入和交易收入分別成長 10% 和 14%。拉丁美洲仍然是我們稅務和會計部門的主要驅動力。展望2024年，我們預期交易收入成長將持續超過經常性收入，因為包括Confirmation和SurePrep在內的高成長產品本質上是交易性的。

Moving to Reuters News. Organic revenue increased 9% for the quarter, driven primarily by growth from generative AI content licensing revenue. We expect additional licensing revenue in the first quarter of 2024, which will likely drive at least mid-teens growth for the segment in Q1. The revenue from these agreements is largely transactional. Lastly, Global Print organic revenues declined 4%. This was in line with our expectations. On a consolidated basis, fourth quarter organic revenues grew by 7%.

轉向路透社新聞。本季有機收入成長 9%，這主要是由人工智慧生成內容授權收入的成長所推動的。我們預計 2024 年第一季會出現額外的授權收入，這可能會推動該領域第一季的中位數成長至少。這些協議的收入主要是交易性的。最後，全球印刷有機收入下降了 4%。這符合我們的預期。綜合來看，第四季有機收入成長了 7%。

Turning to our profitability. Adjusted EBITDA for the Big 3 segments was $624 million, 1% better than the prior year period with a 43.1% margin declining 80 basis points. The year-over-year decline results from timing normalization of certain expenses, select growth investments and productivity initiatives as well as dilution from 2023 M&A.

轉向我們的獲利能力。三大巨頭的調整後 EBITDA 為 6.24 億美元，比去年同期成長 1%，利潤率為 43.1%，下降 80 個基點。年比下降的原因是某些費用、精選成長投資和生產力計劃的時間正常化以及 2023 年併購的稀釋。

Moving to Reuters News. Adjusted EBITDA was $61 million, up $21 million from the prior year period with a margin of 27.9%. The AI content licensing agreement I mentioned earlier contributed meaningfully to profit growth, adding approximately 6.5% to Reuters segment margin in the quarter.

轉向路透社新聞。調整後 EBITDA 為 6,100 萬美元，比上年同期增加 2,100 萬美元，利潤率為 27.9%。我之前提到的人工智慧內容授權協議對利潤成長做出了重大貢獻，本季路透社部門利潤率增加了約 6.5%。

Global Print's adjusted EBITDA was $55 million with a margin of 36.4%, an increase of 30 basis points. Excluding foreign exchange impacts, segment margins would have eased lower. In aggregate, total company adjusted EBITDA was $707 million, a 12% increase versus Q4 2022. The combination of Reuters AI revenue and a slight favorability in some of our expenses, contributed to a better-than-expected adjusted EBITDA margin for the fourth quarter.

Global Print 調整後的 EBITDA 為 5,500 萬美元，利潤率為 36.4%，成長了 30 個基點。排除外匯影響，分部利潤率將會下降。整體而言，公司調整後EBITDA 總額為7.07 億美元，比2022 年第四季成長12%。路透社人工智慧收入和我們的一些費用略有好轉相結合，導致第四季度調整後EBITDA 利潤率好於預期。

Turning to earnings per share. Fourth quarter adjusted EPS was $0.98, up from $0.75 in the prior year period. Higher adjusted EBITDA, a lower share count and lower interest expense drove the year-over-year growth. Currency had a $0.02 favorable impact on adjusted EPS in the quarter.

轉向每股收益。第四季調整後每股收益為 0.98 美元，高於去年同期的 0.75 美元。更高的調整後 EBITDA、更少的股票數量和更低的利息支出推動了同比增長。貨幣對本季調整後每股收益產生了 0.02 美元的有利影響。

Let me now turn to our free cash flow performance for the full year. Reported free cash flow was $1.87 billion, up 40% from $1.34 billion in the prior year period. Consistent with previous quarters, this slide removes the distorting factors impacting our free cash flow. Working from the bottom of the page upwards, the cash inflow from discontinued operations was $14 million, which is an $81 million improvement from the prior year period. Also in the 12 months, we made $90 million of Change Program payments as compared to $324 million in the prior year period. If you adjust for these items, comparable free cash flow from continuing operations was $1.94 billion, $216 million higher than the prior year period, primarily due to higher EBITDA.

現在讓我談談我們全年的自由現金流表現。報告的自由現金流為 18.7 億美元，比上年同期的 13.4 億美元成長 40%。與前幾季一致，這張投影片消除了影響我們自由現金流的扭曲因素。從頁面底部向上計算，來自終止經營業務的現金流入為 1,400 萬美元，比上年同期增加 8,100 萬美元。同樣在這 12 個月中，我們支付了 9,000 萬美元的變革計畫付款，而去年同期為 3.24 億美元。如果對這些項目進行調整，來自持續經營業務的可比自由現金流為 19.4 億美元，比上年同期增加 2.16 億美元，這主要是由於 EBITDA 增加。

I will now provide an update on our capital structure and several capital allocation items. As you can see, our capital structure and liquidity position remained quite strong as we exited 2023. We had $1.3 billion of cash on hand at December 31. We have an undrawn $2 billion revolving credit facility, and we also have approximately $1.9 billion of availability on our $2 billion commercial paper program.

我現在將提供有關我們資本結構和幾個資本配置項目的最新資訊。正如您所看到的，我們的資本結構和流動性狀況在2023 年結束時仍然相當強勁。截至12 月31 日，我們手頭上有13 億美元的現金。我們有未提取的20 億美元循環信貸額度，而且我們還有大約19 億美元的可用資金我們 20 億美元的商業票據計劃。

Our December 31 leverage ratio was 0.8x, below our 2.5x internal target, as noted in our value-creation model. We will use approximately $800 million of cash on hand to fund the Pagero acquisition, leaving our leverage ratio well below our target.

正如我們的價值創造模型所述，我們截至 12 月 31 日的槓桿率為 0.8 倍，低於我們 2.5 倍的內部目標。我們將使用約 8 億美元的手頭現金為 Pagero 收購提供資金，使我們的槓桿率遠低於我們的目標。

Next, I will provide several updates on our London Stock Exchange Group holding. In 2023, we sold 56 million shares for nearly $5.5 billion of gross proceeds. Of the remaining 16 million shares we own, 2.6 million could be sold through exercise of the call options we sold in September, and we have 6.1 million additional shares that are eligible for sale in 2024. Our tax basis on the remaining 16 million shares is approximately $650 million. For your math, we would assume a 25% capital gains tax rate on gains above $650 million. Lastly, the value of foreign exchange hedges held against our LSEG stake were $26 million as of December 31. We currently have approximately 86% of our remaining LSEG position hedged.

接下來，我將提供有關我們倫敦證券交易所集團持股的一些最新情況。 2023 年，我們出售了 5,600 萬股股票，獲得了近 55 億美元的總收益。在我們擁有的剩餘1600 萬股股票中，260 萬股可以透過行使我們在9 月份出售的看漲期權來出售，我們還有610 萬股額外股票有資格在2024 年出售。我們對剩餘1600 萬股的課稅基礎是約6.5億美元。對於您的數學計算，我們假設對 6.5 億美元以上的收益徵收 25% 的資本利得稅。最後，截至 12 月 31 日，針對我們 LSEG 股份持有的外匯對沖價值為 2,600 萬美元。目前，我們對剩餘 LSEG 部位的約 86% 進行了對沖。

From a liquidity and capital structure standpoint, we remain in an enviable position with below-target leverage and strong cash flow, bolstered by proceeds from the monetization of our LSEG stake. We remain focused on value creation, and we expect to continue with our balanced capital allocation approach that includes annual dividend growth, strategic M&A and capital returns. We have ample capacity to pursue all 3 of these strategies in 2024 and beyond.

從流動性和資本結構的角度來看，我們仍然處於令人羨慕的地位，槓桿率低於目標，現金流強勁，這得益於我們倫敦證券交易所集團股份貨幣化的收益。我們仍然專注於價值創造，並期望繼續採用平衡的資本配置方法，包括年度股息成長、策略併購和資本回報。我們有足夠的能力在 2024 年及以後實施所有這 3 項策略。

Steve touched on our approach to M&A and recent Pagero acquisition, so I will focus on the 2 other key components of our balanced capital allocation approach. We are progressing with the $1 billion NCIB or share buyback we announced last November, having repurchased approximately $500 million worth of our shares as of the end of January. We anticipate completing the program in the second quarter.

史蒂夫談到了我們的併購方法和最近的 Pagero 收購，因此我將重點放在我們平衡資本配置方法的其他兩個關鍵組成部分。我們正在推動去年 11 月宣布的 10 億美元 NCIB 或股票回購計劃，截至 1 月底已回購了價值約 5 億美元的股票。我們預計在第二季完成該計劃。

And finally today, we announced a 10% increase in our annual dividend to $2.16 per share, up $0.20 from $1.96 in 2023. This marks the 31st consecutive year of annual dividend increases for the company and the third consecutive 10% increase. The increase will be effective with our Q1 dividend payable next month.

最後，今天，我們宣布將年度股息增加 10%，至每股 2.16 美元，較 2023 年的 1.96 美元增加 0.20 美元。這標誌著該公司年度股息連續 31 年增加，也是連續第三年增加 10%。此次增加將在我們下個月支付的第一季股息中生效。

Let me conclude with a discussion of our 2024 outlook and a financial framework for our expectations in 2025 and 2026. Starting with 2024, we forecast organic revenue growth of approximately 6%. We see total revenue growth approximately 6.5%, slightly outpacing the organic growth rate due to the benefit from recent M&A, net of the Elite divestiture. We see the Big 3 segments growing revenue by approximately 7.5%, continuing the strong trend of modest acceleration we have seen in recent years.

最後，讓我討論一下我們的 2024 年展望以及我們對 2025 年和 2026 年預期的財務框架。從 2024 年開始，我們預測有機收入成長約為 6%。我們預計總收入成長約 6.5%，略高於有機成長率，原因是近期併購（扣除精英資產剝離）帶來的好處。我們預計三大細分市場的營收成長約 7.5%，延續了近年來看到的適度加速的強勁趨勢。

One point to note on the revenue outlook. It is negatively impacted by accounting for the hyperinflationary environment in Argentina, which dilutes our organic revenue growth calculation by approximately 40 basis points. Absent this impact, our outlook would call for modest organic revenue growth acceleration in 2024, driven by underlying improvement from all gen AI initiatives and acquisitions. M&A is expected to contribute approximately 50 basis points to our 2024 growth.

關於收入前景需要注意的一點。它受到阿根廷惡性通貨膨脹環境的負面影響，這將我們的有機收入成長計算稀釋了約 40 個基點。如果沒有這種影響，我們的前景將是在所有新一代人工智慧計畫和收購的根本改善的推動下，2024 年有機收入成長將適度加速。預計併購將為我們 2024 年的成長貢獻約 50 個基點。

We are forecasting a 2024 adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 38%, down from 39.3% in 2023. Our M&A activity since mid-2023 is expected to be roughly 120 basis points dilutive to 2024 margins, which includes 35 basis points of integration expenses that we expect to fall off within 24 months. As we previewed last quarter, we are choosing to reinvest our underlying operating leverage in 2024 into accelerated organic investments, particularly in the generative AI area. We do not take this decision lightly, but we see significant opportunity through these investments to expand our medium- to longer-term growth profile.

我們預計2024 年調整後EBITDA 利潤率約為38%，低於2023 年的39.3%。我們自2023 年中以來的併購活動預計將稀釋2024 年利潤率約120 個基點，其中包括我們整合費用的35個基點預計24個月內脫落。正如我們上季度所預測的那樣，我們選擇在 2024 年將我們的基礎營運槓桿再投資於加速的有機投資，特別是在生成人工智慧領域。我們不會輕易做出這個決定，但我們看到透過這些投資擴大我們的中長期成長前景的重大機會。

As I mentioned last quarter, we expect our effective tax rate to rise in 2024 driven primarily by the implementation of OECD global minimum tax regulations across several key markets. We now expect an effective tax rate of approximately 18% this year, up from 16.5% in 2023 but below our initial expectation for 19% discussed last quarter.

正如我上季度提到的，我們預計 2024 年有效稅率將上升，這主要是由於經合組織全球最低稅收法規在幾個關鍵市場的實施。我們現在預計今年的有效稅率約為 18%，高於 2023 年的 16.5%，但低於我們上季度討論的 19% 的初步預期。

Moving to capital intensity. We see 2024 accrued CapEx as a percent of revenue of approximately 8.5%. This is broadly a continuation of the level for 2023 with a slight increase related to Pagero. This level of spend includes incremental investments in M&A-related integration and more broadly in product development, including in support of our generative AI product road map. We forecast 2024 free cash flow of approximately $1.8 billion. This includes an expected increase in cash taxes of roughly $90 million, higher year-over-year CapEx of approximately $90 million and lower dividends from our LSEG stake resulting from the 2023 monetizations. For the CapEx increase, note that approximately 2/3 of the increase results from integration costs and growth investments in Casetext and Pagero.

轉向資本密集度。我們預計 2024 年應計資本支出將佔收入的比例約為 8.5%。這基本上是 2023 年水準的延續，與 Pagero 相關，略有增加。此支出水準包括併購相關整合以及更廣泛的產品開發的增量投資，包括支援我們的生成式人工智慧產品路線圖。我們預測 2024 年自由現金流約為 18 億美元。這包括預計現金稅增加約 9,000 萬美元、資本支出年增約 9,000 萬美元，以及 2023 年貨幣化帶來的 LSEG 股份股利減少。對於資本支出的增加，請注意，大約 2/3 的增加來自 Casetext 和 Pagero 的整合成本和成長投資。

Let me call out one other modeling note for 2024. We expect to transition approximately $20 million of revenue from our Global Print business into our Legal Professionals segment in 2024. This content has been added to Westlaw, which we believe will provide customers with a richer experience. We see this transition aiding our Legal Professionals segment organic revenue growth by approximately 80 basis points and reducing the growth rate of our Global Print segment by approximately 400 basis points. This transition is expected to be substantially complete by the end of 2024.

讓我再提一下2024 年的另一份建模說明。我們預計到2024 年，我們的全球印刷業務中約2000 萬美元的收入將轉移到我們的法律專業部門。該內容已添加到Westlaw 中，我們相信這將為客戶提供更豐富的內容經驗。我們認為這項轉變有助於我們的法律專業部門有機收入成長約 80 個基點，並使我們的全球印刷部門的成長率降低約 400 個基點。這項過渡預計將於 2024 年底基本完成。

Turning to the first quarter. We expect organic revenue growth to be approximately 8%, boosted by the expectation for additional AI licensing revenue at Reuters. We see our first quarter adjusted EBITDA margin at approximately 40%, benefiting from normal seasonal strength from our Tax & Accounting Professionals segment and the Reuters licensing revenue, partially offset by M&A dilution and select growth investments.

轉向第一季。我們預計有機收入成長約為 8%，這得益於路透社對額外人工智慧授權收入的預期。我們預計第一季調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率約為 40%，受益於稅務和會計專業部門以及路透社許可收入的正常季節性強勁，但部分被併購稀釋和精選成長投資所抵消。

Looking beyond 2024, we are focused on delivering further revenue growth acceleration and a return to margin expansion. For the 2025 to 2026 period, we forecast an organic revenue growth range of 6.5% to 8% driven by 8% to 9% for the Big 3 segments. We will work to deliver acceleration within this range over the next few years as our gen AI investments pay off and recent M&A scales.

展望 2024 年以後，我們的重點是進一步加速營收成長並恢復利潤率擴張。在 2025 年至 2026 年期間，我們預期有機收入成長範圍為 6.5% 至 8%，其中三大細分市場將成長 8% 至 9%。隨著我們的人工智慧投資得到回報以及最近的併購規模，我們將在未來幾年內努力在這一範圍內實現加速。

For margins, we anticipate delivering 75 basis points of expansion in 2025, followed by at least 50 basis points annually thereafter. I would note this is an organic outlook and could be impacted by future M&A. We expect our capital intensity to remain at approximately 8%, relatively stable with the recent trend, after some of our acquisition integration spending moderates. We expect our free cash flow to remain robust over the next several years, growing to a range of $2 billion to $2.1 billion in 2026. This assumes some further increase in our effective and cash tax rates beyond 2024, stable capital spending and rising margins.

就利潤率而言，我們預計 2025 年將實現 75 個基點的擴張，此後每年至少成長 50 個基點。我要指出的是，這是一個有機的前景，可能會受到未來併購的影響。在我們的一些收購整合支出放緩後，我們預計我們的資本密集度將保持在 8% 左右，與近期趨勢相對穩定。我們預計我們的自由現金流在未來幾年將保持強勁，到2026 年將成長至20 億至21 億美元。這假設我們的有效稅率和現金稅率在2024 年後進一步增加，資本支出穩定且利潤率上升。

We are also providing medium-term targets for several capital strategy-based metrics. This includes maintaining our 2.5x leverage target and a dividend payout ratio of 50% to 60% of free cash flow. We would expect our returns to continue to rise on an organic basis. We look forward to providing more detail around the drivers of this outlook at our planned Investor Day on March 12 in New York City.

我們也為幾個基於資本策略的指標提供中期目標。這包括維持我們 2.5 倍的槓桿目標以及自由現金流 50% 至 60% 的股息支付率。我們預計我們的回報將繼續有機成長。我們期待在計劃於 3 月 12 日在紐約市舉行的投資者日上提供更多有關此前景驅動因素的細節。

With that, I will hand it back to Gary for questions.

這樣，我會將其交還給加里以供提問。

Thank you. Jennifer, we're ready to begin the Q&A.

謝謝。詹妮弗，我們準備開始問答了。

(Operator Instructions) And we'll go first to Scott Fletcher from CIBC.

（操作員說明）我們首先請來自 CIBC 的 Scott Fletcher。

Mike, I appreciate you just mentioned that you'll share some of the drivers at the Investor Day, but I'm wondering if you could -- just looking at the 2025 and 2026 acceleration in organic growth, particularly in the Big 3, could you sort of give us an idea of which segments specifically are going to be driving that acceleration? Is it mostly Legal given that gen AI rollout is first there? Or any color there would be helpful.

麥克，我很感激你剛才提到你將在投資者日分享一些驅動因素，但我想知道你是否可以——只要看看2025 年和2026 年有機增長的加速，特別是在三大巨頭中，就可以您能否讓我們了解哪些細分市場將具體推動這種加速？鑑於第一代人工智慧的推出，這主要是合法的嗎？或任何顏色都會有幫助。

Sure, Scott. Thanks for the question. We see growth acceleration across all the Big 3 segments over the time horizon, '25 to '26. Certainly, to your point, within Legal with gen AI and the road map that we started there, Westlaw Precision with the CoCounsel Core, the as Practical Law AI and the Practical Law Course Finder certainly, Legal has a head start there on the gen AI road map. But just given the opportunities across the horizon, Scott, to achieve that 6.5% to 8% organic growth, we see acceleration across all 3 segments.

當然，斯科特。謝謝你的提問。我們看到，在 25 年至 26 年的時間範圍內，三大巨頭的所有細分市場都在加速成長。當然，就您的觀點而言，在 Legal 與 gen AI 以及我們從那裡開始的路線圖中，Westlaw Precision 與 CoCounsel Core、as Practical Law AI 和 Practical Law Course Finder 當然，Legal 在 gen AI 方面處於領先地位路線圖。但斯科特，鑑於未來有機會實現 6.5% 至 8% 的有機成長，我們看到所有 3 個細分市場都在加速發展。

And I think, Scott, just as a reminder, if you think about that acceleration to 6.5% to 8%, the product road map, the investments we made in '23, the investments in '24, but also the recent acquisitions in the last 13 months with SurePrep, Tax & Accounting, Casetext and Legal and then Pagero within Corporates with the invoicing and Indirect Tax, given that those acquisitions cross the Big 3 segments, that's what gives us the additional confidence that we'll see acceleration across the Big 3, Scott.

我想，史考特，提醒一下，如果你考慮加速到 6.5% 到 8%、產品路線圖、我們在 23 年所做的投資、在 24 年的投資，以及最近在過去13 個月，我們與SurePrep、稅務與會計、Casetext 和法務部門合作，然後是企業內部的Pagero 業務，負責發票和間接稅業務，考慮到這些收購跨越了3 巨頭的細分市場，這讓我們更有信心，我們將看到整個產業的加速發展三巨頭，史考特。

Okay. And then as a follow-up, if we're thinking about that in the Big 3, 8% to 9% organic growth in '25 and '26, is that something you see as sustainable at those levels? Or is that a function somewhat of the price increases rolling out over the contract lengths given you've got sort of 3-year terms that would take you into 2026?

好的。作為後續行動，如果我們考慮 3 巨頭在 25 年和 26 年實現 8% 到 9% 的有機增長，您認為在這些水平上這是可持續的嗎？或者，這是合約期限內價格上漲的函數，因為你的合約期限為 3 年，將持續到 2026 年？

Certainly, as we get into that '25-'26 time horizon, the 8% to 9% for the Big 3 will be sustainable. Price increase is certainly a component of that, Scott. I think I shared in the November earnings call, on a weighted average basis, about $0.035 on the composite, which was up about 30 to 40 basis points versus calendar year '22. The multiyear contracts that you mentioned certainly play a factor into the time of when we increase our prices, but roughly 3.5% for 2023, Scott, on the prices.

當然，當我們進入「25-26」的時間範圍時，三大巨頭的 8% 到 9% 將是可持續的。斯科特，價格上漲肯定是其中的一個組成部分。我想我在 11 月的財報電話會議上分享了按加權平均計算，綜合股價約為 0.035 美元，與 22 日曆年相比上漲了約 30 至 40 個基點。您提到的多年期合約肯定會影響我們提高價格的時間，但斯科特，到 2023 年，價格大約會上漲 3.5%。

Just to -- Scott, it's Steve. Just to add to that, I think the confidence around the sustainability of that elevated growth comes from both our organic investments and inorganic. So on the organic front, what we're starting to see, and it is very early days, is an expanded role in serving the professionals that are in our customer bases. And we think that that's going to make us an even more relevant and larger part of their working lives.

只是——史考特，我是史蒂夫。除此之外，我認為對這種高速成長的可持續性的信心來自我們的有機投資和無機投資。因此，在有機方面，我們開始看到，現在還處於早期階段，是為我們的客戶群中的專業人士提供服務的擴大作用。我們認為這將使我們成為他們工作生活中更重要、更重要的一部分。

And then on the inorganic, I made reference in my remarks to the portfolio shift to some higher-growth assets and businesses. So it's really the combination of those 2 things that gives us confidence around the sustainability of those higher growth rates going forward.

然後在無機方面，我在演講中提到了投資組合向一些高成長資產和業務的轉變。因此，正是這兩件事的結合讓我們對未來更高成長率的永續性充滿信心。

Scott, I might be anticipating questions from you or others. Just a reminder, within the gen AI revenue, I think Gary, Steve and I plan to provide additional metrics as we progress during '24 on that. But the revenue will certainly lag the sales of gen AI, which we anticipate revenue from the gen AI beginning to pick up more in the second half '24, and that goes into 2025, if helpful.

斯科特，我可能期待你或其他人的提問。只是提醒一下，在 gen AI 收入中，我認為加里、史蒂夫和我計劃在 24 年期間在這方面取得進展時提供更多指標。但收入肯定會落後於 gen AI 的銷售額，我們預計 gen AI 的收入將在 24 年下半年開始回升，如果有幫助的話，這種情況會持續到 2025 年。

We'll go next to Drew McReynolds from RBC.

接下來我們將邀請加拿大皇家銀行 (RBC) 的德魯·麥克雷諾茲 (Drew McReynolds)。

Can you hear me?

你聽得到我嗎？

Very well, Drew.

很好，德魯。

Okay. Super. My question is just around the competitive landscape, specifically either new entrants or your peers that are also deploying gen AI. Just would love to get an update on kind of what your assessment of that would be just given the pace of change and everybody kind of launching their own gen AI versions of different products.

好的。極好的。我的問題只是圍繞著競爭格局，特別是新進業者或也在部署新一代人工智慧的同行。只是很想知道您對此的評估的最新情況，考慮到變化的步伐以及每個人都推出了自己的不同產品的一代人工智慧版本。

And then maybe a follow-up to that. Steve, in the past, you've talked a little bit about the end markets that you serve and the transition or transformation that inevitably will be taking place at law firms and tax and accounting firms. What have you seen to date? And presumably not a lot. But if not, when do you think those end markets begin to accelerate their pace of transition?

然後也許是後續行動。史蒂夫，過去，您曾談過一些您所服務的終端市場以及律師事務所、稅務和會計師事務所不可避免地發生的轉型或轉型。到目前為止你看到了什麼？而且大概不是很多。但如果不是，您認為這些終端市場何時開始加快轉型步伐？

Yes. Thanks, Drew. Great questions. So with regard to the competitive landscape, I think we're seeing -- I'm sure you're seeing sort of the flurry of announcements of new entrants of some of our traditional competitors making moves. I can only really comment on the conversations that I have and my colleagues have with our customers, be they existing customers or new prospects. And the feedback we're getting on our both launches to date and our product road map is extremely positive and growing.

是的。謝謝，德魯。很好的問題。因此，就競爭格局而言，我認為我們正在看到——我確信您會看到一些傳統競爭對手宣布新進入者採取行動。我只能對我和我的同事與我們的客戶（無論是現有客戶還是新潛在客戶）的對話進行真正的評論。到目前為止，我們在兩次發布和產品路線圖上獲得的回饋都非常積極，而且還在不斷增長。

And I think that's based on a couple of different things, particularly for those customers who had a chance to really kick the tires on our offerings and test the accuracy and incremental value of our offerings relative to some of the competitors. Our repositories of content are deeper and broader than anyone else in the industries that we serve, particularly in legal. And that is being recognized as a key value component in any gen AI-driven solution.

我認為這是基於幾個不同的事情，特別是對於那些有機會真正試用我們的產品並測試我們的產品相對於某些競爭對手的準確性和增量價值的客戶。我們的內容儲存庫比我們所服務的行業中的其他任何人都更深更廣，尤其是在法律領域。這被認為是任何一代人工智慧驅動解決方案的關鍵價值組成部分。

Secondly, we enjoy but don't take for granted very deep and broad customer relationships, and they're trust-based customer relationships. So in terms of doing it right and predicting client proprietary information and all the sort of data privacy rules that will inevitably come as gen AI evolves, there's a level of trust in TR's plans and exhibition -- and execution, I should say.

其次，我們享受但不認為理所當然的是非常深入和廣泛的客戶關係，它們是基於信任的客戶關係。因此，在正確行事、預測客戶專有資訊以及隨著人工智慧的發展而不可避免地出現的所有資料隱私規則方面，我應該說，人們對 TR 的計劃和展示以及執行有一定程度的信任。

And then thirdly, talent. We've -- as you know, we've put a lot of effort into making sure that we have the best product and engineering and labs teams. And we're just starting to scratch the surface in terms of the results of that. So those 3 things give us a lot of confidence coming out of 2023 into 2024.

第三，人才。如您所知，我們投入了大量精力來確保我們擁有最好的產品、工程和實驗室團隊。我們才剛開始觸及其結果的表面。因此，這三件事讓我們對 2023 年到 2024 年充滿信心。

But I would also say it's early days. I think this sort of gen AI-driven transformation will be a multiyear journey, and we're certainly not going to rest on our laurels based on what we've been able to achieve in the early going. And that sort of, I think, leads to the second part of the question.

但我也想說現在還為時過早。我認為這種由人工智慧驅動的變革將是一個多年的旅程，我們當然不會滿足於我們早期所取得的成就。我認為這引出了問題的第二部分。

The good news is, as we as we explore with our customers, the role of Thomson Reuters content-driven technology in their work lives, we just see that role expanding, as I said, in response to Scott's question. And we see a world in which a customer in a year or two's time, perhaps longer, perhaps shorter, says, well, that was Thomson Reuters, who I traditionally -- my Chief Knowledge Officer or my librarian leaned on for many, many years to provide great content. And now I'm really running my practice, I'm running my business, I'm running my department on their content-driven technology. We see a fairly clear line to that expanded role.

好消息是，當我們與客戶一起探索湯森路透內容驅動技術在他們工作生活中的作用時，正如我在回答斯科特的問題時所說的那樣，我們只是看到這種作用正在擴大。我們看到這樣一個世界，在一兩年後，也許更長，也許更短的時間裡，客戶會說，好吧，那就是湯森路透，我傳統上——我的首席知識官或我的圖書館員——多年來一直依賴湯森路透。提供精彩的內容。現在我真的在運行我的實踐，我正在運行我的業務，我在他們的內容驅動技術上運行我的部門。我們看到了這一擴大的角色的相當清晰的界限。

But your point about adoption, we also see -- as that role expands, we see a greater need for change management at the customer site. And some customers are expecting us to be very much front and center to that change management program, and others are keen to sort of navigate a lot of that themselves.

但我們也看到，您關於採用的觀點 - 隨著角色的擴大，我們看到客戶網站對變更管理的需求更大。有些客戶希望我們成為變革管理計畫的前沿和中心，而其他客戶則熱衷於自己解決其中的大部分問題。

I think it's early days, Drew, in terms of that -- their scoping out of that change management and figuring out what it looks like and what resources will be required over what period of time, but we'll certainly be shoulder to shoulder with them as they figure that out.

我認為現在還處於早期階段，德魯，他們對變革管理進行了界定，並弄清楚它是什麼樣子以及在什麼時間段內需要什麼資源，但我們肯定會並肩作戰當他們弄清楚這一點時。

We'll go next to Kevin McVeigh from UBS.

接下來我們請來自瑞銀集團的凱文‧麥克維 (Kevin McVeigh)。

It's Kevin McVeigh from UBS. I just want to start and just -- I typically don't do this, but just congratulate the execution you folks have had because it's been a major transformation in the business, and it's really gone flawlessly. So I just -- I wanted to call that out because I think it's really important.

我是瑞銀集團的凱文麥克維。我只是想開始——我通常不會這樣做，但只是祝賀你們的執行力，因為這是業務的重大轉變，而且真的非常完美。所以我只是想指出這一點，因為我認為這非常重要。

I don't know if this is for Steve or Mike, but when you think about those medium-term targets kind of going from 6% to 6.5% to 8%, is there any way to think about -- build that up a little bit, how much of that is retention versus pricing? And then you've done a lot of high-growth acquisitions that are in the base now, maybe how that contributes. Because it feels like a first step to me as opposed to a ceiling, if you would. But maybe can we start there?

我不知道這是否適合史蒂夫或邁克，但是當你考慮那些從 6% 到 6.5% 到 8% 的中期目標時，有沒有什麼辦法可以考慮——稍微提高一點位，其中留存率與定價的比例是多少？然後你現在已經在基地進行了很多高成長的收購，也許這是如何做出貢獻的。因為這對我來說就像是第一步，而不是天花板，如果你願意的話。但也許我們可以從這裡開始嗎？

Yes. Can I just -- I'll just make a comment on -- or reaction to Kevin, to your questions and then turn it over to Mike. So thanks for your points about execution, Kevin. We're proud but I hope not arrogant about what we've been able to -- the work we've been able to get through. We were very deliberate back in -- way back in 2020 in saying we're going to go through this Change Program. And in doing so, we'll make a 2-part pivot: first, from portfolio operating; and the second from holding to -- sorry, from holding company to portfolio -- to operating company and then from content to content-driven technology. And we're -- we've achieved a lot in getting through that.

是的。我可以——我只是對凱文、你的問題發表評論或做出反應，然後把它交給麥克。謝謝你關於執行的觀點，凱文。我們很自豪，但我希望不要對我們所取得的成就——我們所完成的工作感到傲慢。早在 2020 年，我們就非常慎重地表示，我們將實施這項變革計畫。在此過程中，我們將進行一個由兩部分組成的支點：首先，從投資組合運作；第二個是從控股到——抱歉，從控股公司到投資組合——到營運公司，然後從內容到內容驅動的技術。我們在解決這個問題方面取得了很多成就。

Kudos to Kirsty Roth and Jason Skava, to Marasco San Mahata and a legion of others who have really driven a lot of that hard work and executed along the way. And as a group, I think we've learned a lot and we're getting stronger and stronger.

感謝 Kirsty Roth 和 Jason Skava、Marasco San Mahata 以及其他許多人，他們確實推動了許多艱苦的工作並一路執行。作為一個團隊，我認為我們學到了很多東西，而且我們變得越來越強大。

As it pertains to some of the key metrics that we're very focused on, like Net Promoter Score and net recurring revenue, the sort of broader set of customer success metrics, we're just getting started. I think there's sort of an appropriate level of modesty as to how much progress we've made and how much upside there is for our Big 3 segments should we be able to accelerate and build more momentum.

由於它涉及我們非常關注的一些關鍵指標，例如淨推薦值和淨經常性收入，這是一組更廣泛的客戶成功指標，因此我們才剛剛開始。我認為，如果我們能夠加速並建立更多動力，那麼對於我們已經取得的進展以及我們的三大細分市場有多大的上升空間，我們應該保持適當的謙虛。

Over to you, Mike.

交給你了，麥克。

Yes. Kevin, you touched on the key building blocks. I would just emphasize retention, price, M&A and new product. In regards to retention as I've shared in prior calls, we're roughly 91% of revenue. That's based on -- I'm sorry, retention. That's based on revenue of total TR. That significantly varies between small customers, midsized customers and large customers, with our largest customers having the largest -- or the highest retention rate.

是的。凱文，你談到了關鍵的組成部分。我只想強調保留率、價格、併購和新產品。至於保留率，正如我在之前的電話會議中分享的那樣，我們大約佔收入的 91%。這是基於——對不起，保留。這是基於總 TR 的收入。這在小型客戶、中型客戶和大型客戶之間存在顯著差異，我們最大的客戶擁有最大或最高的保留率。

I would anticipate pricing being relatively stable over the time horizon. If you look at the recent acquisitions in the last 13 months, SurePrep, Casetext and Pagero, certainly, they are a key component of that acceleration as we go into '25 and '26. I would just call out Dave Wyle, who is the co-Founder, leader, CEO of SurePrep. We're into 14 months now with Dave and incredibly pleased and proud of Dave and the team being part of TR. Then we go to Casetext with Jake Heller and his team. We have 5, 6 months into a great progress there, and then most recently with Pagero. So as we do that Walker build to 6.5% to 8%, those recent acquisitions are certainly key factors.

我預計價格在一段時間內相對穩定。如果你看看過去 13 個月最近的收購，SurePrep、Casetext 和 Pagero，當然，它們是我們進入 25 和 26 年加速發展的關鍵組成部分。我只想提及戴夫·懷爾 (Dave Wyle)，他是 SurePrep 的共同創辦人、領導者兼執行長。我們與 Dave 合作已經 14 個月了，對於 Dave 和團隊成為 TR 的一部分，我們感到非常高興和自豪。然後我們與 Jake Heller 和他的團隊一起前往 Casetext。我們花了 5、6 個月的時間在那裡取得了巨大進展，最近又在 Pagero 上取得了巨大進展。因此，當我們將沃克的股價提高到 6.5% 至 8% 時，最近的收購無疑是關鍵因素。

And then we go to the fourth vector with the new products. We're quite confident, probably more confident than my tenure at TR and our product road map. We've talked a hell of a lot about Legal and Emily Colbert, Mike Dane, Jake Heller, done a great job and others with the product road maps for Legal. But then if you think about Tax & Accounting Professionals, already double digit with Purita and team, leading the product road maps there and in Corporates with Ray Grove and IDT. I think that gives us just the confidence.

然後我們進入第四個向量，其中包含新產品。我們非常有信心，可能比我在 TR 的任期和我們的產品路線圖更有信心。我們已經就 Legal 和 Emily Colbert、Mike Dane、Jake Heller 談論了很多，他們在 Legal 的產品路線圖方面做得很好。但是，如果您考慮稅務和會計專業人員，他們已經與 Purita 和團隊一起兩位數，並與 Ray Grove 和 IDT 一起領導了那裡的產品路線圖以及企業的產品路線圖。我認為這給了我們信心。

If you think about those 4 main levers of retention price, acquisition and new product, it is the combination of those 4, Kevin, that gives us the confidence to achieve that 6.5% to 8%. The one that we will provide you with more visibility on as we progress during 2024 is our gen AI as that evolves and really builds up a lot of momentum, a lot of confidence there, but we'll provide additional quantitative information on gen AI evolution during the course of '24.

如果你考慮保留價格、收購和新產品這 4 個主要槓桿，凱文，正是這 4 個槓桿的結合，讓我們有信心實現 6.5% 到 8% 的目標。隨著我們在2024 年取得進展，我們將為您提供更多的了解，即我們的新一代人工智慧，它不斷發展並真正建立了巨大的動力和信心，但我們將提供有關新一代人工智慧發展的更多定量資訊在 '24 期間。

We'll go next to Tim Casey with BMO.

接下來我們將介紹 BMO 的 Tim Casey。

Can you talk a little bit about your international aspiration? It seems there's more commentary on expanding into international markets on this call. I don't know if I'm overthinking that. But in the past, you've -- I think the strategy has been to grow with your multinational corporates internationally. And now it seems some of the product sets, and certainly Pagero, have a more international footprint. Any thoughts there would be helpful.

您能談談您的國際願望嗎？這次電話會議似乎有更多關於進軍國際市場的評論。我不知道是不是我想太多了。但在過去，我認為策略是與跨國公司一起在國際上成長。現在看來，某些產品系列（當然還有 Pagero）的足跡更國際化。任何想法都會有幫助。

Yes. Thanks, Tim. We -- as you've seen over a number of years now, our international assets are a source of pride in so far as they've been growing in the mid-teens, certainly Latin America higher than that and AEM a little bit lower. And this reflects the focus of [Adrian Fanini] in Latin America and Jackie Rhodes in AEM, where the customers can be basing here in Canada (inaudible) Europe the same.

是的。謝謝，蒂姆。正如您多年來所看到的那樣，我們的國際資產令人自豪，因為它們一直在十幾歲左右增長，當然拉丁美洲高於這一水平，而 AEM 則稍低一些。這反映了 [Adrian Fanini] 對拉丁美洲和 AEM 的 Jackie Rhodes 的關注，其中客戶可以在加拿大（聽不清楚）歐洲也是如此。

So while today, it's around about 20% of our revenues in international. So it's a relatively modest part of the overall. We do see higher growth prospects in those markets. And that really comes from, to say, the opportunity in Corporates to better serve corporations across the world with our legal and our Tax & Risk solutions.

因此，如今，它約占我們國際收入的 20%。所以它是整體中相對較小的一部分。我們確實看到這些市場有更高的成長前景。可以說，這實際上來自於企業透過我們的法律和稅務與風險解決方案更好地為世界各地的企業提供服務的機會。

Pagero is an asset that's heavily focused in the international markets on e-invoicing space. So we see lots of potential, really that as a core driver. And of course, Casetext with its CoCounsel product, that is perhaps not constrained in the same way that traditional research products have been to common law markets and sort of cash flow-precedent market. The CoCounsel skills are just as relevant civil war markets as they are anywhere else. So really on the back of those and the continued performance of the Dominio assets in Brazil, the acquisition of Westlaw Japan, we're increasingly bullish about what we can do in international markets.

Pagero 是一項主要專注於國際市場電子發票領域的資產。因此，我們看到了很大的潛力，尤其是作為核心驅動力。當然，Casetext 及其 CoCounsel 產品可能不會像傳統研究產品在普通法市場和某種現金流先例市場中那樣受到限制。與其他地方一樣，協理律師技能在內戰市場中也同樣重要。因此，在這些以及 Dominio 資產在巴西的持續表現以及收購 Westlaw Japan 的支持下，我們越來越看好我們在國際市場上的表現。

And I would add one other thing, which is the higher those growth prospects become and the more sort of organic and inorganic opportunities we see, I think the more exciting career paths that provides to many of our talented folks who want to spend time in markets and some of the international talent who want to spend time in North America. And certainly, Mary Alison and her team have been very focused on creating those pathways for our people.

我還想補充一件事，那就是成長前景越高，我們看到的有機和無機機會就越多，我認為為我們許多想要在市場上工作的有才華的人提供了更令人興奮的職業道路以及一些想要在北美度過時光的國際人才。當然，瑪麗·艾莉森和她的團隊一直非常致力於為我們的員工創造這些途徑。

Yes. Tim, I would say there are 2 points. Our Latin America revenue has doubled in the last 3-year period driven by Dominio. And at our March 12 Investor Day, McKean, we have a section dedicated to international businesses and international growth aspirations.

是的。提姆，我想說有兩點。在 Dominio 的推動下，我們的拉丁美洲收入在過去 3 年期間翻了一番。在 3 月 12 日的 McKean 投資者日，我們有一個專門討論國際業務和國際成長願望的部分。

We'll go next to George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

接下來我們將討論高盛的喬治唐。

You're guiding to organic revenue growth of 8% to 9% for the Big 3 in '25 and '26, which would be a nice acceleration from [sentiment] and a half this year. Can you provide additional details at the segment level on where most of that growth acceleration should come from?

您指導三大巨頭在 25 年和 26 年實現 8% 至 9% 的有機收入增長，這將比今年 [sentiment] 半年有一個不錯的加速。您能否提供細分市場層面的更多詳細信息，說明大部分成長加速應來自何處？

Yes. George, I think we covered quite a bit of that in the earlier comments. I'll just reemphasize those points. Also during the Investor Day, we will have each of our segment presidents presenting on each of their businesses. And consistent with what we did at the March 2021 Investor Day, whereby we provided organic growth ranges for each of the Big 3 segments, we will once again provide that on March 12 for '25-'26 for each of the Big 3. The core points that we mentioned earlier is our product road map. Significant investments in '23, even more investments in 2024 across the Big 3 segments. So new product introductions, features, capabilities, including gen AI across the Big 3.

是的。喬治，我認為我們在之前的評論中涵蓋了相當多的內容。我將再次強調這些要點。此外，在投資者日期間，我們將邀請每位部門總裁介紹他們的每項業務。與我們在2021 年3 月投資者日所做的一致，我們為三大巨頭的每個細分市場提供了有機增長範圍，我們將在3 月12 日再次為三大巨頭的“25-”26提供有機成長範圍。我們前面提到的核心點是我們的產品路線圖。 23 年將進行大量投資，2024 年將在三大細分市場進行更多投資。新產品的推出、功能、功能，包括三大巨頭的人工智慧。

And then the second big vector, George, is the M&A; SurePrep in Tax & Accounting; Casetext in Legal; and then Pagero within the Corporates, specifically e-invoicing Indirect Tax. So the product pipelines and the M&A, big contributors to our growth profile for '25 and '26. Also back to Kevin's question earlier, retention will certainly play a factor as we expand or increase our retention rates going into '25-'26.

然後第二個大向量，喬治，是併購； SurePrep 稅務與會計；法律案例文本；然後是企業內部的 Pagero，特別是電子發票間接稅。因此，產品管道和併購是我們 25 年和 26 年成長的重要貢獻者。同樣回到凱文之前的問題，當我們在「25-」26 年擴大或提高保留率時，保留率肯定會成為一個因素。

Got it. That's helpful. And then sort of a similar question but around margins. As you look out to 2025-'26, how would you rank order the margin expansion opportunity across Big 3? And do you see any reason why structurally, long-term margin should be different across the Big 3 segments?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後是一個類似的問題，但圍繞著利潤。展望 2025-26 年，您如何排列三大巨頭的利潤擴張機會？您是否認為從結構來看，三大細分市場的長期利潤率應該有所不同？

Yes. We will see some margin expansion across each of our Big 3 segments by the time we reach '25 and '26. I think over the long term, we will continue to see some deltas or differences between margin across the three. Specifically within Legal Professionals, we have Westlaw. Westlaw is about $1.8 billion for total TR, of that about $1.5 billion is within Legal Professionals. So that provides a significant amount of scale if you look at Legal Professionals, which is circa $2.9 billion to $3 billion of current revenue. So I think we -- if you look over the long-term time horizon, we'll continue to see a delta between Legal Professionals & Corporates and also TAP and Corporates. You'll see Legal and TAP with the higher margins long term there.

是的。到 25 年和 26 年時，我們將看到三大細分市場的利潤率擴大。我認為從長遠來看，我們將繼續看到三者之間的利潤率存在一些差異或差異。具體來說，在法律專業人士中，我們有 Westlaw。 Westlaw 的 TR 總額約為 18 億美元，其中約 15 億美元屬於法律專業人士。因此，如果你看看法律專業人士，這提供了相當大的規模，目前收入約為 29 億至 30 億美元。因此，我認為，如果從長遠來看，我們將繼續看到法律專業人士和企業以及 TAP 和企業之間的差異。從長遠來看，Legal 和 TAP 的利潤率更高。

We'll go next to Heather Balsky from Bank of America.

接下來我們將邀請來自美國銀行的希瑟‧巴爾斯基 (Heather Balsky)。

It's Wahid Amin on for Heather. Just wanted to talk more about your M&A. You guys have been pretty aggressive in the last year. So can you just talk about your M&A platform moving forward? And is the strategy still the same as growth for higher-growth companies are going after gen AI-based companies? Or have you exhausted that already?

瓦希德·阿明 (Wahid Amin) 替補希瑟 (Heather)。只是想多談談您的併購。去年你們表現得很激進。那麼您能談談您的併購平台的進展嗎？該策略是否仍與高成長公司追逐基於人工智慧的公司的成長策略相同？或者你已經用盡了嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Wahid. So look, as I remarked, we spent about $2.1 billion over the last 12 or 18 months on half a dozen acquisitions. And they've really sort of met or exceeded our criteria. And we think that criteria is pretty rigorous and robust. So starting with additive to the customer experience, predominantly in the Big 3, but we've also seen a couple of tuck-ins in Reuters, firstly.

是的。謝謝，瓦希德。所以，正如我所說，我們在過去 12 或 18 個月內花費了約 21 億美元進行了六次收購。他們確實達到或超越了我們的標準。我們認為這個標準非常嚴格和穩健。因此，從增強客戶體驗開始，主要是在三大巨頭中，但我們首先也看到了路透社的一些內容。

Secondly, bringing -- not bringing tech debt. So we have a lot of work to clean up our tech debt through the Change Program. We don't plan to add to it. Thirdly, and I think equally importantly, the ability to take a product which is valued highly valued by our customers and prospective customers and really leverage our distribution and our customer relationships to accelerate this growth rate. And that's been a playbook that served Thomson Reuters well, way back to Practical Law -- Westlaw and Practical Law, and certainly been the case with SurePrep. We're optimistic about the likes of Pagero and Casetext against that playbook as well.

其次，帶來——而不是帶來技術債。因此，我們需要做大量工作來透過變革計劃來清理我們的技術債。我們不打算添加它。第三，我認為同樣重要的是，能夠獲得我們的客戶和潛在客戶高度評價的產品，並真正利用我們的分銷和客戶關係來加速這一成長率。這是一本對湯森路透非常有用的手冊，可以追溯到《實用法律》——Westlaw 和《實用法律》，當然 SurePrep 的情況也是如此。我們也對 Pagero 和 Casetext 等公司反對該劇本持樂觀態度。

We also look at the culture of the acquired businesses. And it's not to say that we're not looking to diversify our culture and inject new aspects to it. But we want to make sure that the incentives are right, and that the new team will gel with our existing folks. And that's certainly been the case with these recent acquisitions to date.

我們也關注被收購企業的文化。這並不是說我們不尋求使我們的文化多樣化並為其註入新的方面。但我們希望確保激勵措施是正確的，並且新團隊將與我們現有的團隊融為一體。迄今為止最近的這些收購無疑就是這種情況。

And then last but not least, we want to make sure that there's value creation for our shareholders, not just the selling shareholders. So those deals have very much been against that playbook. And we have a pipeline that we sort of continually clinician and refresh. That's very consistent with that. Some of those potential acquisitions are gen AI-based, but not all of them. But what we do try to make sure is that we're not going to acquire businesses that will be significantly disrupted by AI.

最後但並非最不重要的一點是，我們希望確保為我們的股東創造價值，而不僅僅是出售股東。因此，這些交易在很大程度上違背了這項策略。我們有一個不斷臨床醫生和更新的管道。這與此非常一致。其中一些潛在收購是基於人工智慧的，但不是全部。但我們確實試圖確保我們不會收購會受到人工智慧嚴重干擾的企業。

So for example, if we look at content assets, we want to make sure that it's content that has a relevant and robust valuable role in a large language model environment, not vice versa. So I would say you'll see more of the same over the next year or 2, very -- sort of very much consistent with that playbook, some of which directly leveraging gen AI and some we think will have value in that environment over time.

例如，如果我們查看內容資產，我們希望確保其內容在大型語言模型環境中具有相關且強大的有價值的作用，而不是反之亦然。所以我想說，在接下來的一兩年裡，你會看到更多相同的內容，非常——與該劇本非常一致，其中一些直接利用人工智慧，還有一些我們認為隨著時間的推移將在該環境中有價值。

We'll go next to Manav Patnaik from Barclays.

接下來我們將邀請巴克萊銀行的馬納夫‧帕特奈克 (Manav Patnaik)。

I think we've asked the question on acquisitions a lot, but I just wanted to revisit kind of the portfolio that you saw today. You've done a bunch of divestitures the last 2 years. Just should we be thinking of more coming down the road? I think you might have considered print at some point. So just wanted to address that topic.

我想我們已經問過很多關於收購的問題，但我只是想重新審視您今天看到的投資組合。過去兩年你進行了一系列資產剝離。我們是否應該考慮更多的事情？我想你可能在某個時候考慮過打印。所以只是想談談這個話題。

Yes. Nothing imminent, nothing to announce today, Manav. But look, as you've seen, we're pretty rigorous in sort of going through the portfolio on an ongoing basis and making sure that each of the franchises they're in plays a key role in serving our customers and that the returns on any investment are the best they can possibly be relative to the alternative. So again, nothing to announce today, Manav. But it is an ongoing effort and I think it always will be, to be candid.

是的。馬納夫，今天沒有什麼迫在眉睫的事情，也沒有什麼要宣布的。但是，正如您所看到的，我們非常嚴格地持續審查產品組合，並確保他們所在的每個特許經營權在服務我們的客戶和回報方面發揮關鍵作用。相對於替代方案，任何投資都是最好的。再說一遍，今天沒有什麼好宣布的，馬納夫。但這是一項持續的努力，坦白說，我認為它永遠都會如此。

Got it. And then I apologize if I missed this, but just on the topic of gen AI, just trying to appreciate the feed off between the expenses or the investments versus the growth benefit, I guess, that you're embedding in your '25-'26 guidance. I think you said you'd spend like $100 million a year on gen AI or something like that. Is that still the case? And is the right way to think about it that you've made some of the big investments, acquisitions this year. And so now any growth will just help you leverage to the bottom line, and hence your guidance?

知道了。然後，如果我錯過了這一點，我深表歉意，但只是關於人工智能的主題，只是想了解費用或投資與增長收益之間的反饋，我想，你正在嵌入你的“25-” 26 指導。我想你說過你每年會在人工智慧或類似的東西上花費 1 億美元。現在還是這樣嗎？正確的思考方式是，今年你已經進行了一些大型投資和收購。因此，現在任何成長都只會幫助您提高利潤，從而幫助您實現指導？

Yes. So you're right, with regard to the $100 million investment in '23. We plan to continue about that intensity. We will constantly sort of revisit whether that's the right number and whether we're getting adequate and exciting returns from that. A couple of things, though, and I don't have the split. But it's worth noting that, that pertains to a couple of different things. One is the development of a gen AI platform. So Sean Maharani and his team and Joe Herron have built a gen AI platform that serves, firstly, Westlaw Precision, our research memo; but also the other Legal products, and can and will be extended into other parts of the business, including Reuters News. And so there's a level of sort of common and shared capabilities. It's not discrete products.

是的。所以關於 23 年 1 億美元的投資，你是對的。我們計劃繼續保持這種強度。我們將不斷地重新審視這個數字是否正確，以及我們是否從中獲得了足夠且令人興奮的回報。不過，有幾件事我沒有分裂。但值得注意的是，這涉及到幾個不同的事情。一是開發新一代人工智慧平台。因此，Sean Maharani 和他的團隊以及 Joe Herron 建立了一個 gen AI 平台，首先為我們的研究備忘錄 Westlaw Precision 服務；還有其他法律產品，可以而且將會擴展到業務的其他部分，包括路透社新聞。因此存在一定程度的共同和共享功能。它不是離散產品。

And then, of course, there are the investments required in developing and launching the specific applications like Westlaw AI research memory like Practical Law Course Finder and so forth, some of the things I mentioned. So there's 2 of those things. And the investment in the platform side of things is probably a little heavier in the early going, and then lightens up as we start to start to leverage that across more and more product launches.

當然，開發和啟動特定應用程式也需要投資，例如 Westlaw AI 研究內存，如實用法律課程查找器等，這是我提到的一些事情。所以有兩件事。早期對平台的投資可能會比較重，然後隨著我們開始在越來越多的產品發布中利用這項投資，投資就會減少。

We'll go next to Maher Yaghi from Scotiabank.

接下來我們將前往來自豐業銀行的 Maher Yaghi。

I wanted to go back to one of the slides at the end of your presentation talking about your expected debt leverage over the medium term. You're focusing on 2.5. That's like -- to get there, it's about $4 billion of additional acquisitions. So my question is when we think about return on invested capital for Thomson, how should we think about the movement on that metric as you undertake these kind of significant acquisitions over the medium term?

我想回到您簡報末尾的一張幻燈片，討論您在中期的預期債務槓桿。您關注的是 2.5。就好像——要實現這一目標，需要進行約 40 億美元的額外收購。所以我的問題是，當我們考慮湯姆森的投資資本回報率時，當您在中期進行此類重大收購時，我們應該如何考慮該指標的變動？

And a follow-up question on organic growth for '25-'26. How much of the acceleration in organic growth is coming from adding on these companies that you have been buying recently, like Casetext and Pagero, versus your existing portfolio seeing acceleration in its revenue growth itself?

以及關於 '25-'26 有機成長的後續問題。有機成長的加速有多少來自於您最近購買的這些公司（例如 Casetext 和 Pagero）的加入，而您現有的投資組合的收入成長本身卻在加速？

Break those down in regards to your questions there. I think you're referring to Page 29 and of the presentation. And first, the net debt leverage 2.5x over the long run, those of you who have followed us for many years, we've consistently provided our value-creation model, which reflects that we're currently below 1x.

根據您的問題將其分解。我認為您指的是第 29 頁和簡報。首先，從長遠來看，淨債務槓桿率為 2.5 倍，對於那些關注我們多年的人來說，我們一直提供我們的價值創造模型，這反映出我們目前低於 1 倍。

To your point, Maher, we have significant flexibility, significant optionality. And to Steve's point on his discussions today on M&A, given the opportunities that we see with the pipeline, we have a lot of flexibility. So not much more I can say there that we're going to be very, very prudent in deploying our capital given that we are roughly at 1x today, and 2.5x is our internal target. Our bank covenants provide up to 4.5x, a lot of flexibility.

馬赫，就您的觀點而言，我們擁有顯著的靈活性和顯著的選擇性。對於史蒂夫今天關於併購的討論的觀點，考慮到我們在管道中看到的機會，我們有很大的靈活性。因此，我只能說，考慮到我們今天的資本回報率約為 1 倍，而 2.5 倍是我們的內部目標，我們將非常非常謹慎地部署我們的資本。我們的銀行契約提供高達 4.5 倍的彈性。

On ROIC, additional focus on that in recent years. Certainly, as we make acquisitions, might there be times where you have some ebb and flows given the impact of M&A on the ROIC. But I think over the long run, focusing on 2x (inaudible), we feel very comfortable on achieving recognizing that acquisitions can have some near-term impact on that.

關於ROIC，近年來更加關注這一點。當然，考慮到併購對投資報酬率的影響，當我們進行收購時，有時可能會出現一些起伏。但我認為，從長遠來看，專注於 2x（聽不清楚），我們非常樂意認識到收購可能會對此產生一些短期影響。

Your third question on organic growth for '25-'26. I'll refer back to Kevin's question earlier today. I think '25-'26 revenue growth acceleration, the 4 vectors I mentioned earlier: tension; pricing; the product road map; and then the M&A. You mentioned the M&A specifically in your question. I stated in my prepared remarks about 50 basis points of contribution in calendar year '24. If you look at '25-'26, there will be additional contribution from the M&A.

您關於 25-26 年有機成長的第三個問題。我將回顧今天早些時候凱文的問題。我認為'25-'26收入成長加速，我之前提到的4個向量：緊張；價錢;產品路線圖；然後是併購。你在問題中特別提到了併購。我在準備好的發言中表示，24 日曆年將貢獻 50 個基點。如果你看看'25-'26，併購將會帶來額外的貢獻。

We'll go next to Doug Arthur from Huber Research.

接下來我們將邀請來自 Huber Research 的 Doug Arthur。

Mike, can you hear me?

麥克，你聽得到我說話嗎？

Very well, Doug.

很好，道格。

Just quickly on your margin guidance specifically for 2024. I mean you -- company has been notably conservative in their guidance that far out. What do you see as sort of the main puts and takes? I know you went through the investment emphasis. But where could you be conservative in that margin guide, I guess, is my question.

請快速介紹一下 2024 年的利潤指導。我的意思是，公司迄今為止的指導一直非常保守。您認為主要的看跌期權和看跌期權是什麼？我知道你經歷過投資重點。但我想，我的問題是，在保證金指南中，你可以在哪些方面保持保守。

Yes. The approximately 38% is our best lens, Doug, as of today. I'd just emphasize two points. One, as stated in the prepared remarks, the M&A that we've done recently will dilute our margin by about 120 basis points in calendar year '24. The other point, Doug, I mentioned during the November earnings call, about 75 basis points is the operating leverage contribution for us. If you assume 6% organic growth, 4% increase in our fixed costs, which are 65% and then variable costs flow through, that yields about 75%. So given the M&A dilution of 120 basis points and we're reinvesting the operating leverage, that gets us to that approximately 38%. And if there's any variation there, too, Doug during the course of the year, Doug, we'll keep you posted. But that's our best transparent lens today given those 2 key items.

是的。 Doug，截至目前，大約 38% 是我們最好的鏡頭。我只想強調兩點。第一，正如準備好的發言中所述，我們最近進行的併購將在 24 日曆年將我們的利潤率稀釋約 120 個基點。另一點，道格，我在 11 月的財報電話會議上提到，大約 75 個基點是我們的營運槓桿貢獻。如果假設有機成長 6%，固定成本增加 4%（即 65%），然後變動成本流過，則收益率約為 75%。因此，考慮到併購稀釋了 120 個基點，並且我們正在對營運槓桿進行再投資，這使我們達到了大約 38%。如果一年中也有任何變化，道格，道格，我們會及時通知您。但考慮到這兩個關鍵因素，這是我們今天最好的透明鏡片。

No, it makes sense. Interesting framework.

不，這是有道理的。有趣的框架。

We'll go to Sami Kassab from BNP Paribas.

我們將前往法國巴黎銀行 (BNP Paribas) 的薩米卡薩布 (Sami Kassab)。

Can you hear me?

你聽得到我嗎？

Yes, Sami.

是的，薩米。

We talked a lot about the gen AI contribution to the time. But can you help us understand the cost efficiencies that this technology may help the company achieve in the next 2 or 3 years and perhaps highlight a few initiatives you have ongoing to deploy gen AI internally?

我們談了很多關於一代人工智慧對當時的貢獻。但您能否幫助我們了解這項技術可能有助於公司在未來 2 到 3 年內實現的成本效率，並可能強調您正在內部部署 gen AI 的一些舉措？

Yes. It's great question, Sami. Thank you. So Kirsty Roth and (inaudible) are spearheading an effort to look end-to-end at our core operations and our functions to figure out where we can successfully apply generative AI tools. In some cases, with our Legal department under Norie Campbell's leadership, it will be the internal applications of our own tools. Whereas within the engineering and content and editorial areas, it will be some of the off-the-shelf tools that we're all starting to read about and understand.

是的。這是一個很好的問題，薩米。謝謝。因此，Kirsty Roth 和（聽不清楚）正在帶頭努力端到端地審視我們的核心營運和職能，以找出我們可以在哪裡成功應用生成式人工智慧工具。在某些情況下，我們的法律部門在諾裡·坎貝爾 (Norie Campbell) 的領導下，這將是我們自己工具的內部應用。而在工程、內容和編輯領域，它將是我們都開始閱讀和理解的一些現成工具。

We're not here to quantify what the sort of financial impact of that will be today. But we're pretty excited about the ability to improve employee sentiment, improve the sort of underlying productivity of the various parts of our company and the team as a whole. And ultimately, see some interesting financial benefits. But I think it's too early, Sami, for us to put a stake in the ground. But as we all -- under Mike's leadership, we'll be very focused on ensuring that any investments we make in applying those tools across the company, there's an attractive return for our shareholders.

我們不是來量化這對今天的財務的影響。但我們對改善員工情緒、提高公司各部門和整個團隊的潛在生產力的能力感到非常興奮。最終，看到一些有趣的經濟效益。但薩米，我認為我們現在就在地上立木樁還為時過早。但正如我們所有人一樣，在麥克的領導下，我們將非常專注於確保我們在整個公司應用這些工具所做的任何投資，都能為我們的股東帶來有吸引力的回報。

Great. Thank you. Jennifer, we'll leave it there.

偉大的。謝謝。詹妮弗，我們就把它留在那裡。

Thank you. That does conclude today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。