Verisk Analytics Inc (VRSK) 2017 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Verisk Third Quarter 2017 Earnings Results Conference Call. This call is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加 Verisk 2017 年第三季財報電話會議。本次通話正在錄音。

At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Verisk's AVP of Investor Relations, Mr. David Cohen. Mr. Cohen, please go ahead.

此時此刻，我謹將電話轉交給 Verisk 的投資人關係副總裁 David Cohen 先生，請他致開幕詞並作介紹。科恩先生，請繼續。

Thank you, Ivy, and good day to everyone. We appreciate you joining us today for a discussion of our third quarter 2017 financial results. With me on the call, this morning are Scott Stephenson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Mark Anquillare, Chief Operating Officer; and Eva Huston, Chief Financial Officer. Following comments by Scott, Mark and Eva highlighting some key points about our strategic priorities and financial performance, we will open up the call for your questions.

謝謝你，艾薇，祝大家今天愉快。感謝您今天蒞臨本次會議，與我們共同探討2017年第三季的財務表現。今天早上與我一起參加電話會議的有：董事長、總裁兼執行長 Scott Stephenson；營運長 Mark Anquillare；以及財務長 Eva Huston。在 Scott、Mark 和 Eva 就我們的策略重點和財務表現發表了一些重要評論之後，我們將開放提問環節。

Unless stated otherwise, all results we discuss today will reflect continuing operations. The earnings release referenced on this call, as well as the associated 10-Q, can be found in the Investors section of our website, verisk.com. The earnings release has also been attached to an 8-K that we have furnished to the SEC. The earnings release contains reconciliations of several non-GAAP measures, which we'll reference on today's call. A replay of this call will be available for 30 days on our website and by dial-in.

除非另有說明，我們今天討論的所有業績均反映的是持續經營業務。本次電話會議中提到的收益報告以及相關的 10-Q 表格，可以在我們網站 verisk.com 的投資者關係部分找到。獲利報告也已附在我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的 8-K 表格中。獲利報告中包含幾個非GAAP指標的調節表，我們將在今天的電話會議上提及這些指標。本次通話的錄音將在我們的網站上保留 30 天，也可透過電話撥入收聽。

Finally, as set forth in more detail in yesterday's earnings release, today's call may include forward-looking statements about Verisk's future performance. Actual performance could differ materially from what is suggested by our comments today. Information about the factors that could affect future performance is summarized at the end of our press release, as well as contained in our recent SEC filings.

最後，正如昨天發布的收益報告中更詳細闡述的那樣，今天的電話會議可能包含有關 Verisk 未來業績的前瞻性陳述。實際表現可能與我們今天所作的評論有重大差異。有關可能影響未來業績的因素的資訊已在本新聞稿末尾進行了總結，並包含在我們最近提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中。

Now, I will turn the call over to Scott Stephenson.

現在，我將把電話交給史考特史蒂芬森。

Thank you, David. Good morning all. Reported revenue grew 10% for the quarter. Organic constant currency growth was 7%. We're pleased to have delivered faster organic growth in the third quarter than we saw in the first half of the year, as expected. We remained on track for an acceleration in the second half versus the first half. Profitability remained strong with total EBITDA margins of almost 50%.

謝謝你，大衛。各位早安。本季度報告營收成長10%。有機成長率（以固定匯率計算）為7%。如預期，我們很高興第三季的自然成長速度比上半年更快。我們下半場的加速表現仍然優於上半場。獲利能力依然強勁，EBITDA 總利潤率接近 50%。

We're excited about the addressable markets we serve. Our initiative is to create new solutions and the opportunities to help our customers with decision-making. Combined, insurance organic growth was 9% and excluding the demand due to extreme weather was about 7%. The team continues to do an outstanding job serving our customers and driving growth. Mark will talk about some of the extraordinary effort by our teams to support our customers in responding to the recent hurricanes.

我們對我們所服務的潛在市場感到非常興奮。我們的目標是創造新的解決方案和機會，幫助客戶做出決策。綜合來看，保險業的有機成長率為 9%，若排除極端天氣所帶來的需求，則約為 7%。團隊在服務客戶和推動業務成長方面繼續表現出色。馬克將談到我們的團隊為支持客戶應對最近的颶風所做的一些非凡努力。

At WoodMac, revenue growth continues to improve as the end market has stabilized. The team there is also doing an excellent job, evidenced in part by the 5% plus growth in subscription ACV year-to-date. WoodMac is expanding their addressable markets, and we will demo some of their newer products at our upcoming Investor Day.

隨著終端市場趨於穩定，伍德麥肯茲的營收成長持續改善。那裡的團隊也做得非常出色，訂閱 ACV 今年迄今成長超過 5%，這在一定程度上證明了這一點。WoodMac正在擴大其目標市場，我們將在即將舉行的投資者日上展示他們的一些新產品。

We're very pleased to report a new Argus partnership with TSYS, as announced by their CEO, on their recent investor call. This partnership will allow us to bring a new range of data management and analytical solutions to new banks and markets that are incremental to our core base. This initiative, as well as the other positive developments at Argus, position it to return to solid organic growth in Q4, as expected, and continue to contribute good and accelerating organic growth in 2018.

我們非常高興地宣布，Argus 與 TSYS 建立了新的合作夥伴關係，這是 TSYS 的執行長在最近的投資者電話會議上宣布的。此次合作將使我們能夠為新的銀行和市場帶來一系列新的數據管理和分析解決方案，這些解決方案將擴大我們的核心業務。這項舉措以及 Argus 的其他積極進展，使其有望在第四季度恢復穩健的內生成長，正如預期，並有望在 2018 年繼續貢獻良好且加速的內生成長。

On the capital allocation front, we have been active in M&A throughout 2017 and especially in the third quarter. Many of the acquisitions and companies we have been tracking for years and the timing is mostly a function of the availability of the targets. While the timing has been brisk, the integrations have been smooth and quick, given the nature of our purchases.

在資本配置方面，我們在 2017 年全年，尤其是在第三季度，都積極參與併購活動。許多我們多年來一直在追蹤的收購目標和公司，其時機主要取決於目標公司的可用性。雖然時間安排緊湊，但考慮到我們採購的性質，整合過程卻非常順利且快速。

Our acquisitions in 2017 fall into 3 groups: the first group consists of small product sets with promising characteristics that fall into our existing verticals. The names here are Arium, ENI, Healix, Fintellix and MAKE. Collectively, we paid $94 million for these product sets with run rate revenue at the time of the acquisitions of around $23 million.

我們在 2017 年的收購分為 3 類：第一類是具有良好特性的小型產品集，這些產品集屬於我們現有的垂直領域。這裡提到的公司有 Arium、ENI、Healix、Fintellix 和 MAKE。我們總共為這些產品組合支付了 9,400 萬美元，收購時這些產品的年化收入約為 2,300 萬美元。

Arium provides liability-loss modeling that runs parallel to AIR's property loss modeling. ENI helps insurers determine damage amounts to automobiles for quick claim settlements. And Healix is the leading provider of travel insurance analytics in Europe. Fintellix is a global leader in compliance solutions for banks and seamlessly relates to our transaction-level data integration at Argus while bringing new functionality to our client banks. And MAKE is the global leader in wind generation analytics, integrating seamlessly with our solar generation analytics. In all cases, we have quickly brought these products into our existing channels of distribution with the expectation that all of these product sets will grow at double digits for an extended time and with ramping margins. When we add such products to our platform, they immediately gain profile and credibility in the market.

Arium 提供的責任損失建模與 AIR 的財產損失建模並行運作。ENI 幫助保險公司確定汽車的損失金額，以便快速理賠。Healix是歐洲領先的旅遊保險分析提供者。Fintellix 是全球領先的銀行合規解決方案提供商，它與 Argus 的交易級資料整合無縫對接，同時為我們的客戶銀行帶來新的功能。MAKE 是全球風力發電分析的領導者，可與我們的太陽能發電分析無縫整合。在所有情況下，我們都迅速將這些產品引入我們現有的分銷管道，並期望所有這些產品系列都能在較長時間內保持兩位數的成長，並且利潤率也會不斷提高。當我們把這類產品添加到我們的平台時，它們會立即在市場上獲得知名度和信譽。

The second group was our acquisition of 7 regional remote imaging companies in the United States. We paid $31 million for these companies, who's 2015 revenues were $15 million, as we noted last quarter. Integration of these companies has been smooth and straightforward, led by our Geomni team, which includes experts of operated image capture operations for decades. Their expertise brought real value to customers in the latest storm season.

第二組是我們收購了美國 7 家區域性遙感成像公司。我們為這些公司支付了 3,100 萬美元，而這些公司 2015 年的收入為 1,500 萬美元，正如我們上個季度所提到的。在 Geomni 團隊的領導下，這些公司的整合過程非常順利且直接。 Geomni 團隊擁有數十年的影像擷取操作營運經驗，其中包括經驗豐富的專家。在最近的風暴季中，他們的專業知識為客戶帶來了真正的價值。

Lastly, we bought 3 larger companies in the third quarter, all leaders in their categories. We purchased Sequel, which provides solutions related to complex commercial insurance with a particular focus on the Lloyd's London market, as well as LCI and G2 Web Services, both of which provide distinct solutions for the retail banking world and both of which leverage Argus' distribution as well as enhancing products through overlapping capabilities. Collectively, we paid $583 million for these businesses, whose run rate revenue at the time of the acquisitions was about $78 million.

最後，我們在第三季收購了 3 家規模較大的公司，它們都是各自領域的領導者。我們收購了 Sequel，該公司提供與複雜商業保險相關的解決方案，尤其專注於倫敦勞合社市場；此外，我們還收購了 LCI 和 G2 Web Services，這兩家公司都為零售銀行業提供獨特的解決方案，並且都利用了 Argus 的分銷渠道，並透過重疊的功能來增強產品。我們總共為這些企業支付了 5.83 億美元，而這些企業在收購時的年化收入約為 7,800 萬美元。

Mark will say more about them in a moment but in all 3 cases, we expect them to bring strong double-digit growth with ramping margins. We will provide further detail on these businesses, including their solutions, markets and economics at our upcoming Investor Day in December. While M&A remains our priority for use of free cash, we also repurchased our shares in the quarter through our long-standing program. Year-to-date through September 30, we have repurchased $270 million worth of stock, including $10 million in the third quarter.

Mark 稍後會詳細介紹，但在這 3 個案例中，我們預計它們都將帶來強勁的兩位數成長，利潤率也將持續提高。我們將在 12 月即將舉行的投資者日活動上提供有關這些企業的更多詳細信息，包括其解決方案、市場和經濟效益。雖然併購仍然是我們使用自由現金流的首要任務，但我們也透過長期計畫在本季回購了我們的股票。截至今年9月30日，我們已回購價值2.7億美元的股票，其中第三季回購了1,000萬美元。

At September 30, 2017, we had $366 million remaining under our share purchase reauthorization. Our strong cash-generating capability will bring down our leverage even assuming further capital deployment. We remain confident in the strategy built on the Verisk's distinctives of one, unique data assets; two, deep domain expertise; three, first to market innovations; and four, deep integration into our customer workflows, as you know, with the distinctives come network effects, scale economies and a large percentage of subscription revenue. From this foundation, we are focused on executing on our plans, which include ongoing innovation in serving our customers. As we look ahead, we have a constructive view for all of our businesses.

截至 2017 年 9 月 30 日，我們在股票購買授權續約計畫下還剩餘 3.66 億美元。即使假設進一步投入資本，我們強大的現金流產生能力也將降低我們的槓桿率。我們仍然對基於 Verisk 獨特優勢的策略充滿信心，這些優勢包括：一、獨特的數據資產；二、深厚的領域專業知識；三、率先進入市場的創新；四、與客戶工作流程的深度整合。如您所知，這些獨特優勢帶來了網路效應、規模經濟和大量的訂閱收入。在此基礎上，我們將專注於執行我們的計劃，其中包括不斷創新，為客戶提供更好的服務。展望未來，我們對所有業務都抱持建設性的看法。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Mark for some additional comments.

接下來，我將把發言權交給馬克，請他補充一些看法。

Thank you, Scott. Following up on Scott's comments regarding the 3 August acquisitions. Sequel is a leading insurance and reinsurance software specialist, serving the London market. The acquisition further expands our comprehensive insurance offerings to the global complex commercial and specialty insurance industry, with worldwide premiums larger than the U.S. regulated market, we primarily serve today.

謝謝你，斯科特。接續 Scott 關於 8 月 3 日收購案的評論。Sequel 是一家領先的保險和再保險軟體專家，服務於倫敦市場。此次收購進一步擴展了我們面向全球複雜商業和特殊保險行業的綜合保險產品，其全球保費規模大於我們目前主要服務的美國監管市場。

Sequel's a pioneer in complex commercial and special insurance software innovation with a diverse customer base that includes some of the world's largest specialty insurance players. LCI is an industry-leading provider of risk insights, prediction and bankruptcy management solutions for banks and creditors. We're also confident that the LCI solutions, are applicable beyond the banks to other companies that need to monitor consumer bankruptcy processes. The combination of Argus and LCI will allow us to introduce new and exciting range of insights, proprietary decision algorithms and state-of-the-art risk management workflow solution, aimed at addressing the growing need among our banking clients.

Sequel 是複雜商業和特殊保險軟體創新的先驅，擁有多元化的客戶群，其中包括一些全球最大的專業保險公司。LCI 是業界領先的風險洞察、預測和破產管理解決方案提供商，服務對象包括銀行和債權人。我們也相信，LCI 的解決方案不僅適用於銀行，也適用於其他需要監控消費者破產流程的公司。Argus 和 LCI 的結合將使我們能夠推出一系列令人興奮的新見解、專有決策演算法和最先進的風險管理工作流程解決方案，旨在滿足我們銀行客戶日益增長的需求。

G2 is an industry-leading provider of merchant risk intelligence solutions for acquirers, commercial banks and other payment systems providers. G2 extends Argus's capabilities to mapping bad-actor networks, predicting payment risks and providing clients with the best opportunity to reduce losses and fines due to merchant and business fraud and compliance violations. Fighting fraud is an important theme for Verisk, as you know. And G2 complements our existing capabilities nicely.

G2 是業界領先的商家風險情報解決方案供應商，服務對象包括收單機構、商業銀行和其他支付系統提供者。G2 擴展了 Argus 的功能，使其能夠繪製不良行為者網路圖，預測支付風險，並為客戶提供最佳機會，以減少因商家和企業詐欺以及違規行為造成的損失和罰款。眾所周知，打擊詐欺是 Verisk 的一個重要主題。G2 與我們現有的能力完美互補。

Growth in insurance continue to improve, primarily on the strength of our solutions and customer relationships with some help from the weather. Engagement with our customers is a strong and ongoing focus across our insurance-facing businesses. Last month for example, we had our now annual U.S. Risk and Analytic Summit. We saw record attendance in terms of companies represented and number of attendees. We also had demonstrations of some of our newer and cutting-edge solutions. Feedback was very encouraging with attendees citing engaging and well-informed speakers, examples of benefits from forward-looking companies and thought-provoking panels.

保險業的成長持續改善，主要得益於我們強大的解決方案和客戶關係，天氣也起到了一定的幫助作用。與客戶的互動是我們面向保險業務的持續重點。例如，上個月我們舉辦了現在已成為一年一度的美國風險與分析高峰會。無論從參會公司數量或參加人數來看，我們都看到了創紀錄的出席情況。我們也示範了一些我們更新、更先進的解決方案。與會者回饋非常積極，他們稱讚演講者風趣博學、見解獨到，並舉例說明了具有前瞻性的公司所帶來的益處，以及引人深思的小組討論。

As you know, after an unusually long period of relative calm, we've seen a surge in catastrophes over the past few months. Our Property Claim Services, or PCS business is the industry standard for catastrophe bank designation and share loss estimation in U.S., Canada and Turkey. In one of the most active periods on record, PCS has designated 50 events so far across 3 risk areas with insured loss estimates still developing but likely to exceed $70 billion.

如你所知，在經歷了異常長的相對平靜期後，過去幾個月災難激增。我們的財產索賠服務（PCS）業務是美國、加拿大和土耳其的巨災銀行指定和損失份額估算的行業標準。在有史以來最活躍的時期之一，PCS 已在 3 個風險領域指定了 50 起事件，保險損失估計仍在製定中，但可能超過 700 億美元。

In addition to the major hurricanes in the United States, PCS provided insurance loss estimates on 2 cyber risk loss events, following the launch of PCS Global Cyber in September. Cyber is the latest addition to the growing PCS global specialty lines loss reporting platform, following the PCS Global Marine and Energy launched earlier this year.

除了美國發生的重大颶風外，PCS 還提供了 2 起網路風險損失事件的保險損失估算，這是 PCS 全球網路安全服務於 9 月推出後的另一個舉措。網路保險是 PCS 全球專業保險損失報告平台的最新成員，此前 PCS 全球海事和能源保險已於今年稍早推出。

Our catastrophe modeling business which serves insurers, reinsurers, insurance brokers has proactively provided more than 30 loss estimates since September 1 and real-time alerts for customers on 13 catastrophes happening around the world. With particular note to the hurricanes, AIR clients use the information we provided to assess the potential losses as events were unfolding. And in some cases, to proactively deploy claims adjusters or to notify policyholders.

我們的災害建模業務服務於保險公司、再保險公司和保險經紀人，自 9 月 1 日以來，已主動為客戶提供了 30 多項損失估算，並就世界各地發生的 13 起災害向客戶提供了即時警報。尤其對於颶風，AIR 的客戶會利用我們提供的資訊來評估事件發展過程中可能造成的損失。在某些情況下，也需要主動部署理賠員或通知投保人。

As a reminder, since customers subscribe to AIR solutions, there isn't a real-time revenue benefit. Client feedback has been positive, as our teams have worked, in some cases around the clock to give these reports to the market on a timely basis. We continue to speak with clients on their actual loss experience and plan to continue these dialogues over the coming months as the claims unfold.

再次提醒，由於客戶訂閱了 AIR 解決方案，因此沒有即時收入收益。客戶反饋積極，因為我們的團隊一直在努力工作，有時甚至晝夜不停地工作，以及時向市場提供這些報告。我們將繼續與客戶溝通，了解他們的實際損失情況，並計劃在接下來的幾個月裡，隨著理賠的進展，繼續進行這些對話。

In our repair cost estimating and imagery business, volumes increased meaningfully as a result of the catastrophes. At Xactware volumes were nearly double for the quarter versus the prior year period. As a reminder, many of our contracts are based on minimum volumes. So this volume increased even indirect proxy for revenue growth. It does highlight deep more full integration and the value we provide to our customers.

在我們的維修成本估算和圖像業務中，由於這些災難，業務量顯著增加。Xactware 的季度銷量幾乎是去年同期的兩倍。再次提醒，我們的許多合約都是基於最低數量。因此，銷售成長甚至可以間接反映出營收成長。它確實突顯了我們更深入、更全面的整合以及我們為客戶提供的價值。

One of our newer solutions, Claim Experience proved to be very helpful tool for our customers as they serve their insurance. Claim experience allows our customers' customers to capture images and information from which there, we are able to generate repair cost estimate. As the industry focused on customer service and response times, this new solution is generating a lot of incremental interest.

我們較新的解決方案之一—理賠體驗，已被證明是客戶處理保險事宜的非常有幫助的工具。理賠體驗允許我們客戶的客戶獲取圖像和訊息，從中我們可以產生維修費用估算。隨著業界越來越關注客戶服務和回應時間，這項新解決方案引起了越來越多的關注。

Geomni, our remote imagery business, which we took to a new level of capability in second quarter was able to assist our customers with our cutting-edge technology. We were flying and capturing images 48 hours after Harvey in Texas and as soon as the FAA lifted flight restrictions in Florida. These images, in combination with our computer vision algorithms, automate the repair cost estimate processing, allowing, for example, one of largest insurers in the United States to start paying out claims before their customers could even get back into their homes. We are proud of having been able to help our customers deliver such outstanding service and speed of response at such a critical time for homeowners.

我們的遠端影像業務 Geomni 在第二季提升到了一個新的能力水平，能夠利用我們的尖端技術為客戶提供協助。我們在德州哈維颶風過後 48 小時就開始飛行拍攝，並在美國聯邦航空管理局解除佛羅裡達州的飛行限制後立即開始拍攝。這些圖像與我們的電腦視覺演算法相結合，可以自動處理維修成本估算，例如，這使得美國最大的保險公司之一能夠在客戶甚至還沒來得及返回家中之前就開始支付索賠。我們很自豪能夠在這個對房主來說至關重要的時刻，幫助我們的客戶提供如此卓越的服務和快速的回​​應。

With that, let me turn it over to Eva to cover our financial results in more detail.

接下來，我將把發言權交給伊娃，讓她更詳細地介紹我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Mark. In the third quarter, we again grew revenue and EBITDA while also investing in solutions with meaningful long-term potential revenue streams.

謝謝你，馬克。第三季度，我們再次實現了營收和 EBITDA 的成長，同時也投資於具有有意義的長期潛在收入來源的解決方案。

Growth improved again, consistent with our comments on the last 2 earnings calls. Revenue in the quarter grew 10.2%; organic constant-currency revenue grew 7%. The press release again has a table to help you see the acquisition and currency effects for each of our revenue line. As a reminder, organic constant-currency growth excludes the contribution from recent acquisitions and reflects current period exchange rate applied to prior period revenue. Currency held revenue results in the quarter by about $2 million. And total acquired revenue in the quarter from all deals that haven't moved into organic was $19 million, including partial period contributions from G2, Sequel and LCI. Revenue from the 3 August acquisitions contributed $7.6 million in the quarter.

成長再次改善，與我們在前兩次財報電話會議上的評論一致。本季營收成長10.2%；以固定匯率計算的有機營收成長7%。新聞稿中再次附上表格，幫助您了解我們每項收入來源的收購和匯率影響。需要提醒的是，有機固定匯率成長不包括近期收購的貢獻，並且反映了當期匯率對前期收入的影響。貨幣因素導致本季營收減少約200萬美元。本季所有尚未轉化為自然成長的交易的總收購收入為 1,900 萬美元，其中包括 G2、Sequel 和 LCI 的部分期間貢獻。8 月 3 日的收購為本季貢獻了 760 萬美元的收入。

Within the Decision Analytics segment, revenue increased 12.2%. Organic constant-currency revenue growth was 8.2%. Decision Analytics insurance revenue increased 16.9% in the third quarter and organic constant-currency revenue growth was 13.7%. Growth was led by very strong performance in loss quantification and remote imagery, with good growth in underwriting, catastrophe modeling solutions and claims analytics. The hurricane-related repair cost estimating and imagery-based solution contributed about $8 million in the quarter for Decision Analytics insurance. Energy and specialized markets revenue increased 2.1%. Organic constant-currency revenue increased 2.2%.

在決策分析領域，營收成長了 12.2%。以固定匯率計算的有機收入成長率為 8.2%。決策分析保險業務第三季營收成長16.9%，以固定匯率計算的有機收入成長13.7%。損失量化和遙感成像業務表現強勁，帶動了業務成長，承保、災害建模解決方案和理賠分析業務也實現了良好成長。颶風相關維修成本估算和基於影像的解決方案在本季度為 Decision Analytics 保險公司貢獻了約 800 萬美元。能源和專業市場收入成長2.1%。以固定匯率計算的有機收入成長了2.2%。

On an organic constant-currency basis, Wood Mackenzie revenue grew about 3.3%. We are pleased to see the trends in our subscription business continuing to be positive, complemented by good consulting revenue. The customer environment remained stable and while we continue to finalize certain renewals in 2017 and early 2018, we see an encouraging business trajectory.

以有機成長和固定匯率計算，伍德麥肯錫的收入成長了約 3.3%。我們很高興看到訂閱業務的發展趨勢持續向好，諮詢收入也表現良好。客戶環境保持穩定，雖然我們在 2017 年和 2018 年初仍在完成一些續約工作，但我們看到了令人鼓舞的業務發展軌跡。

Financial services revenue increased 20.2%. Organic constant-currency revenue declined 2% in the quarter. As we've discussed on prior calls, we had several contracts conclude last year, which contributed about $11 million in 2016. We continue to expect to see organic revenue growth in fourth quarter.

金融服務收入成長20.2%。本季有機收入（以固定匯率計算）下降了 2%。正如我們在之前的電話會議中討論的那樣，我們去年簽訂了幾份合同，這些合同在 2016 年帶來了約 1100 萬美元的收入。我們仍然預期第四季度有機收入將實現成長。

Risk Assessment revenue grew 6.9%, including contributions from our recent acquisitions, which are expanding the baseline for future growth. Organic constant-currency revenue growth was 4.9%, reflecting our 2017 invoices and continued contribution from newer solutions.

風險評估收入成長了 6.9%，其中包括我們最近收購的貢獻，這些收購擴大了未來成長的基準。以固定匯率計算，有機收入成長 4.9%，反映了我們 2017 年的發票以及新解決方案的持續貢獻。

Total EBITDA increased 7.5% to $272 million. The combined constant revenue and SG&A increased 4.9% for the quarter and 3.5% year-to-date on an organic basis as we continue to focus on efficiency in our existing businesses and repurposing that spend to fund innovation, acquisitions added to the expenses in the quarter and for the year. EBITDA margins as reported were 49.6%. Margins were reduced by about 230 basis points due to acquisitions and the related fees, an effect that we expect to continue through the year. The acquisitions we are making are close to the core with well-defined paths to top line growth and margin expansion.

總 EBITDA 成長 7.5% 至 2.72 億美元。本季合併固定收入和銷售、管理及行政費用按有機增長計算增長了 4.9%，年初至今增長了 3.5%，因為我們繼續專注於提高現有業務的效率，並將這些支出重新用於資助創新；收購增加了本季度和全年的支出。報告顯示，EBITDA利潤率為49.6%。由於收購及相關費用，利潤率下降了約 230 個基點，我們預計這種影響將持續到年底。我們進行的收購都與核心業務密切相關，並有明確的途徑實現營收成長和利潤率擴張。

Reported interest expense was $30 million in the quarter. Total debt was $2.9 billion at September 30, 2017. Our leverage at the end of the third quarter was about 2.9x. Our strong capital structure is an asset as we continue to explore opportunities to drive growth. Our reported effective tax rate in the quarter was 33.2%. Our tax provision in the quarter of $60 million represented an increase of 34% over 3Q '16, where the tax rate included some onetime benefits. This was a meaningful reason for the adjusted net income growth to be down 2.3% to $141 million and adjusted EPS to be unchanged from the prior period at $0.84.

本季度報告的利息支出為3000萬美元。截至2017年9月30日，總負債為29億美元。第三季末，我們的槓桿率約為 2.9 倍。我們強大的資本結構是一項優勢，我們將繼續探索推動成長的機會。本季度報告的實際稅率為 33.2%。本季我們的稅收準備金為 6,000 萬美元，比 2016 年第三季成長了 34%，當時的稅率包含了一些一次性收益。這是導致調整後淨利成長下降 2.3% 至 1.41 億美元，調整後每股收益與上期持平（0.84 美元）的重要原因。

Normalizing for the $2.4 million of tax, based on applying the third quarter 2017 tax rate to 2016, adjusted EPS growth would have been about 9%.

如果將 240 萬美元的稅款以 2017 年第三季的稅率應用於 2016 年計算，調整後的每股盈餘成長率約為 9%。

Average diluted share count was $168 million in the quarter. We bought about 100,000 shares at an average price of $81.85. Our repurchase program has been successful to date, generating annualized IRRs above our cost of capital. On September 30, 2017, our diluted share count was 167.8 million shares. Net cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations was $592 million for the 9 months ended September 30, an increase of 22.2% versus 2016.

本季平均稀釋後股份數為1.68億股。我們以平均每股 81.85 美元的價格買入了約 10 萬股。到目前為止，我們的回購計畫取得了成功，產生的年化內部報酬率高於我們的資本成本。截至 2017 年 9 月 30 日，我們的稀釋後股份總數為 1.678 億股。截至 9 月 30 日的 9 個月，持續經營活動產生的淨現金流量為 5.92 億美元，比 2016 年成長 22.2%。

Capital expenditures were $114 million for the 9-month period ended September 30, and CapEx was 7.2% of revenue year-to-date including investments supporting our remote imagery business. Free cash flow increased 27.5% to $478 million for the 9-month period ended September. Free cash flow was 61.9% of EBITDA year-to-date.

截至 9 月 30 日的 9 個月期間，資本支出為 1.14 億美元，資本支出佔年初至今收入的 7.2%，其中包括支持我們遠端圖像業務的投資。截至9月的9個月期間，自由現金流成長27.5%，達到4.78億美元。今年迄今為止，自由現金流佔 EBITDA 的 61.9%。

Across the 3 August acquisitions in U.S. dollars and reflecting a purchase accounting revenue haircut at Sequel, revenue in the fourth quarter should be around $17 million and EBITDA should be about $5 million. As you think about your models for 2017, we expect CapEx of about $185 million. CapEx will normalize to about 6% of revenue by 2021 after the initial remote imagery investments in 2017 and '18. Fixed asset depreciation and amortization of $135 million and amortization of intangibles of about $105 million.

以美元計價，8 月 3 日的收購以及 Sequel 的收購會計收入減記，第四季度的收入應在 1700 萬美元左右，EBITDA 應在 500 萬美元左右。當您考慮 2017 年的模式時，我們預計資本支出約為 1.85 億美元。在 2017 年和 2018 年進行初步的遠端影像投資後，到 2021 年，資本支出將正常化至收入的 6% 左右。固定資產折舊攤提 1.35 億美元，無形資產攤提約 1.05 億美元。

Based on our current debt balances and interest rates, we expect interest expense to be around $119 million for the year. This includes noncash amortization of debt issuance to comp. We expect the full year tax rate to be around 33% or possibly a little bit higher. You will note that this implies a higher tax rate in the fourth quarter as we assume a retroactive U.K. tax law change will take effect.

根據我們目前的債務餘額和利率，我們預計今年的利息支出約為 1.19 億美元。這包括向公司發行債務的非現金攤提。我們預計全年稅率在 33% 左右，或者可能會略高一些。您會注意到，這意味著第四季度的稅率會更高，因為我們假設英國稅法的追溯性變更將生效。

In the adjusted net income calculation, we will continue to use 26% for the tax effects on intangible amortization. And finally, we expect a diluted weighted average share count of about 168 million to 169 million shares. We are pleased with the continuing overall improvement in revenue growth we have discussed all year. We think the opportunities for revenue growth, free cash flow generation and prudent capital deployment remained as strong as ever. We have the financial strength and capital structure to support investment for the long term. We continue to appreciate all the support and interest in Verisk. (Operator Instructions)

在調整後的淨收入計算中，我們將繼續使用 26% 的稅率來計算無形資產攤銷的稅務影響。最後，我們預計稀釋後的加權平均股數約為 1.68 億股至 1.69 億股。我們對全年一直在討論的收入成長整體持續改善感到滿意。我們認為，營收成長、自由現金流產生和審慎資本部署的機會依然強勁。我們擁有雄厚的財力和資本結構，能夠支持長期投資。我們衷心感謝大家對 Verisk 的支持與關注。（操作說明）

And with that, I'll ask the operator to open up the line for questions.

接下來，我會請接線生開通提問專線。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Tim McHugh from William Blair.

（操作說明）你的第一個問題來自威廉布萊爾的提姆麥克休的一句話。

First, just wanted to ask on the insurance vertical. The -- excluding the hurricanes, the 7% growth, is that -- can you talk about what, I guess, drove the acceleration in that underlying growth versus kind of, 5%, 6% we had been seeing? And is that sustainable? I know you also mentioned some cyber events. I don't know if that drove kind of short-term revenue. But just talk a little bit about the sustainability of that pace of growth in insurance?

首先，我想問一下保​​險方面的問題。撇開颶風的影響，7% 的成長率——您能談談是什麼因素推動了這一潛在成長的加速，而不是我們之前看到的 5% 或 6% 的成長率嗎？這樣做可持續嗎？我知道你也提到了一些網路事件。我不知道這是否帶來了短期收益。但能否談談保險業這種成長速度的可持續性？

Yes. So in reverse order, Tim, cyber didn't really contribute a lot. It's -- think of it as a new extension of a product set that we've always had. Cyber is a -- cyber insurance is a real thing. On the other hand, it's a fairly small line relative to the others. And most of what we do pricing -- or our revenue is going to relate to the premium, that premium and cyber insurance remains fairly small. I think the way to interpret the third quarter relative to say, the earlier part of the year is the anomaly was more the early part of the year. You'll remember, we described some onetime effects with respect to nonrecurring revenue in '16 that didn't work during the '17, for example. So I think what you're seeing now is more kind of our normal expectations for the insurance vertical. And other than the effects of the catastrophes, there's really not anything to point out that would sort of standout as a unique factor in the quarter that was contributing to the revenues. So we kind of feel like what we're seeing here is, over time, the kind of insurance-facing business that we've got.

是的。所以反過來說，提姆，網路安全方面其實並沒有做出太多貢獻。你可以把它看作是我們一直擁有的產品系列的新擴充。網路安全－網路保險是真實存在的。另一方面，與其他線路相比，這條線比較短。我們大部分的定價工作——或者說我們的收入——都與保費有關，而網路保險的保費仍然相當小。我認為，解讀第三季與今年稍早相比的方式是，異常情況更多地出現在今年稍早。您可能還記得，我們​​曾在 2016 年描述過一些與非經常性收入相關的一次性影響，例如，這些影響在 2017 年並沒有奏效。所以我認為你現在看到的，更像是我們對保險業的正常預期。除了災難的影響之外，本季並沒有什麼特別突出的因素對收入做出了貢獻。所以，我們感覺現在看到的，隨著時間的推移，就是我們所擁有的那種面向保險業務的模式。

Okay. And on the catastrophes, does any of that carry over into the fourth quarter, in terms of impact on claims and kind of a short term boost?

好的。那麼，就災害而言，這些災害的影響是否會延續到第四季度，例如對索賠的影響以及短期提振作用？

Yes, not a lot. Basically, the -- as you would imagine, our customers are very motivated to deal with catastrophe-oriented claims very quickly. And so they do actually tend to get dealt with within days of when the events actually occur. So no, not very much of that.

是的，不多。基本上，正如您所想，我們的客戶非常希望盡快處理與災難相關的索賠。因此，這些事件往往能在事件發生後的幾天內處理。所以，不，這方面不多。

Your next question comes from the line of Jeff Meuler from Baird.

你的下一個問題來自 Baird 公司的 Jeff Meuler。

On Argus, can you just help us understand? Obviously, there's a big improvement in the trend there in the second half. As these new customers come online or the new partnerships come online, is there a meaningful onetime revenue contribution to the second half? Or is this more an increase in the subscription base?

關於 Argus，您能幫我們理解嗎？顯然，下半年的趨勢有了很大的改善。隨著這些新客戶上線或新合作關係上線，下半年是否會有實質的一次性收入貢獻？還是這更多是訂閱用戶數量的成長？

It's both. So I think we've described for you before that there's an interesting quality to the nature of the business related to taking all of the spend analytics we've got and pointing them towards new use cases, for example, looking at media effectiveness. And that is that there is a onetime bit of work that needs to be done to essentially integrate our platform with our customer or partner's platform. And there is revenue associated with that integration. We get paid for that. But then what happens thereafter is a sustaining set of subscription revenues. So it's really at both ends. So yes, there will be moment in time effects associated with bringing on a substantial new customer and many of the customers we bring on are substantial. But at the same time, there is a -- there is an enduring and meaningful tale of subscription revenue.

兩者兼具。所以，我想我們之前已經向您描述過，這項業務的性質有一個有趣的特點，那就是將我們所有的支出分析結果指向新的用例，例如，研究媒體效果。也就是說，我們需要完成一些一次性工作，才能將我們的平台與客戶或合作夥伴的平台整合。而且，這種整合還能帶來效益。我們做這些工作就能獲得報酬。但接下來就會出現持續的訂閱收入。所以，問題其實出在兩端。所以，是的，引進一位重要的新客戶會帶來一些短期影響，而我們引進的許多客戶都是重要客戶。但同時，訂閱收入也蘊含著一個持久而有意義的故事。

But I guess that, the question I'm trying to get at is, is the on-boarding revenue going to create grow-over effects for 2018 that result in Argus growing below trend? Or is -- I mean, you're not quantifying it or calling it out on the call. Is it there but not material enough to have a big impact?

但我想問的是，新用戶註冊帶來的收入是否會在 2018 年產生成長過剩效應，導致 Argus 的成長低於趨勢水準？或者說——我的意思是，你在電話會議中既沒有量化它，也沒有指出它。它存在，但物質條件不足以產生重大影響嗎？

It's not -- I mean, it is there and -- it's a dynamic business where we are adding customers. So there will be an effect in there but relative to the overall performance of the business, I would say, not particularly material. And definitely, we need the business to continue to grow. But there will be something in there. But not...

不是——我的意思是，它確實存在，而且——這是一個充滿活力的業務，我們正在不斷增加客戶。所以肯定會有一些影響，但相對於公司的整體業績而言，我認為影響並不特別顯著。當然，我們需要公司繼續成長。但裡面一定會有東西。但是…

Okay, and then if I can just sneak one more in. On the M&A program. Obviously, you continue to lean into it and see it as a source of potential value add for your shareholders. I think there's some more skepticism from some of your shareholders on the M&A program. Can you just maybe talk about how the board assesses capital allocation in terms of the review of management in your competition programs?

好的，那如果我還能再偷偷加一個就好了。關於併購項目。顯然，您繼續重視它，並將其視為為股東創造潛在價值的來源。我認為你們的一些股東對併購計畫還抱持著一些懷疑態度。您能否談談貴公司在競賽專案中，董事會如何透過對管理階層的審查來評估資本配置？

Yes. I think you actually asked 2 questions in there. So we bring the program of acquisitions to the board. We go in-depth through every opportunity. The effect of the board discussions is not always to affirm what it is that management has been working on, so the board is exercising discretion. With respect to -- I think you were then trying to relate that to how the board interacts with us, maybe particularly me and compensation. The board pays me according to their view of our performance and their primary view of our performance is, "How did we do for our shareholders?"

是的。我認為你實際上問了兩個問題。因此，我們將收購計劃提交給董事會審議。我們會深入探討每一個機會。董事會討論的結果並不總是肯定管理層一直在努力的方向，因此董事會行使的是自由裁量權。關於——我認為你當時是想把這和董事會如何與我們互動聯繫起來，也許特別是和我以及薪酬方面。董事會根據他們對我們業績的看法來支付我的薪水，而他們對我們業績的主要看法是：“我們為股東做了什麼？”

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

你的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的馬納夫·帕特奈克。

I just wanted to clarify, Scott, to the first question I think that it was the $8 million hurricane impact that you were referring to, that does not repeat beyond the quarter. And I was hoping, of that $8 million, I guess how much would you attribute to the remote imagery aspect of it? And just curious why that wasn't an inorganic number, just because -- I understand that it was all the assets that you acquired that allowed you to go do that post hurricane activity?

史考特，我只是想澄清一下你的第一個問題，我認為你指的是颶風造成的 800 萬美元損失，這種情況不會在下一個季度再次發生。我想知道，在這 800 萬美元中，您認為有多少是用於遠端成像方面的？我只是好奇為什麼這個數字不是一個非自然增長的數字，因為——我了解到，正是你收購的所有資產使你能夠進行颶風後的重建工作？

Yes. So first of all, yes. You heard me correctly, the $8 million is not particularly bleeding into the fourth quarter, so period, end of the sentence. Most of that $8 million is related to solution sets that we've had for some time and not the remote imagery activity. And it's very straightforward on the classification of the revenues. The businesses that we acquired did not do anything in the insurance vertical. We acquired infrastructure. But in terms of actually causing business in the insurance vertical, that was entirely Verisk and existing Verisk.

是的。首先，是的。你沒聽錯，這 800 萬美元並不會特別影響到第四季度，所以就此打住，這句話到此為止。這 800 萬美元大部分與我們現有的解決方案集有關，而不是與遠端影像活動有關。而且收入分類也非常簡單明了。我們收購的企業在保險領域沒有任何業務。我們購置了基礎建設。但就實際在保險垂直領域創造業務而言，那完全是 Verisk 和現有的 Verisk 的功勞。

Got it. And then just on WoodMac. I mean, it sounded like there were some positive developments, new products that you're going to show at the Investor Day and so forth. I guess, what I -- my question is more tied to 2.5 years in -- I was hoping you'd give us some commentary on how the sort of revenue synergies between WoodMac and insurance and so forth might be tracking?

知道了。然後就只在 WoodMac 上。我的意思是，聽起來好像有一些積極的進展，例如你們將在投資者日上展示的新產品等等。我想問的是——我的問題更多地與兩年半之後的情況有關——我希望您能就 WoodMac 與保險等業務之間的收入協同效應的進展情況發表一些評論？

Yes, one of the things that you'll see at Investor Day is a synthesis of our Energy data analytics and our insurance data analytics, very exciting new products. It's really kind of in the early stages. So it's not material, where the revenue is concerned right now, but we are really, really excited about it. It's called EPICS, and you'll get a chance to see that.

是的，在投資者日上，您將會看到我們能源數據分析和保險數據分析的綜合展示，這些都是非常令人興奮的新產品。目前還處於早期階段。所以就目前的收入而言，這並不重要，但我們對此真的非常非常興奮。它叫做 EPICS，你將有機會看到它。

Your next question comes from the line of Hamzah Mazari from Macquarie Capital.

你的下一個問題來自麥格理資本的 Hamzah Mazari。

The first question is just on pricing. Could you give us a sense or just an update on whether there's an opportunity to price your book of business? I know you were owned by the insurance companies, and it seems like pricing is still pretty low relative to your market share, and maybe just give us some color how you think about that?

第一個問題只是關於價格的。您能否簡要介紹一下，或提供一些最新信息，說明目前是否有機會對您的業務進行定價？我知道你們以前是保險公司旗下的公司，而且你們的定價相對於市場佔有率來說似乎仍然很低，能不能跟我們說說你們對此的看法？

Yes. Well, I -- the pricing for us is really a proxy for the distinctiveness of our solutions in the amount of value that we're bringing to our customers. Across everything that we do, there would be a pricing effect, which relates the strength of what it is that we do. There are some parts of our business, where the pricing effect is a little bit stronger, for example, our very long-standing industry standard insurance programs and then other parts where it would probably be a little bit less strong because we're more on a transaction basis in our pricing. But there's a price effect everywhere. And that's really no different than it's ever been. I would only -- with respect to price, I would just add that we're in it for the long haul. We are making grounded decisions about how to price our solutions, because we really care about our relationships with our customers, and we want them to endure in a lot of our growth opportunities to bring new solutions, new value to our existing customers. So we feel a great burden to be responsible with how we price our products.

是的。嗯，對我來說，定價實際上反映了我們解決方案的獨特性，以及我們為客戶帶來的價值。我們所做的每一件事都會產生定價效應，這與我們所做的事情的強度有關。在我們的一些業務領域，價格的影響會稍微強一些，例如我們歷史悠久的行業標準保險計劃；而在其他領域，價格的影響可能會稍微弱一些，因為我們的定價更多地是基於交易。但價格效應無所不在。其實情況和以往並沒有什麼不同。關於價格方面，我只想補充一點，我們是著眼於長遠發展。我們正在根據實際情況制定解決方案的定價策略，因為我們非常重視與客戶的關係，我們希望這些關係能持續下去，從而為我們現有的客戶帶來新的解決方案和新的價值。因此，我們深感有責任對產品的定價負責。

Great. And just a follow-up question. Outside of the P&C insurance universe, maybe just give us a flavor of what your exposure is to auto and personal insurance? And whether you see any headwinds in that business, either from autonomous homes or vehicles? Just any sense of how you think about the world outside of P&C and whether that's a growth avenue for you or not really?

偉大的。還有一個後續問題。除了財產保險之外，您能否簡單介紹一下您在汽車保險和人身保險方面的風險敞口？您認為自動駕駛家庭或車輛會為這個行業帶來哪些不利因素？您如何看待財產保險以外的世界？您是否認為那是您職涯發展的途徑？

Well, as I think, most folks know, we principally serve 3 vertical markets, which would be P&C insurance, retail banking and its extensions, including into retail and media effectiveness analytics and then the whole energy complex and natural resources. And the other 2 parts of the business, meaning the non-P&C parts, we're very excited about them going forward. We believe both of them have sustained very strong revenue growth opportunities. I think you were trying to ask also about the effect of, kind of like, personal lines and the way that automobiles are changing and -- with autonomous vehicles and connected vehicles, et cetera. We actually see that as an opportunity. We actually -- we believe, are the leaders in the United States in harvesting data off of connected cars. We've announced partnerships, and we'll have more to announce in the future. And so we -- it's new data basically that we can pull into our analytic methods. So we view it as an opportunity.

嗯，我想大多數人都知道，我們主要服務於三個垂直市場，分別是財產保險、零售銀行及其延伸業務（包括零售和媒體效果分析），以及整個能源綜合體和自然資源。至於業務的其他兩部分，也就是非財產險部分，我們對它們的未來發展感到非常興奮。我們認為這兩家公司都擁有非常強勁的營收成長潛力。我想你還想問的是，個人保險的影響，以及汽車產業的變化，例如自動駕駛汽車和連網汽車等等。我們反而認為這是一個機會。實際上，我們相信，我們是美國在收集連網汽車數據方面的領導者。我們已經宣布了一些合作關係，未來還會宣布更多。因此，這基本上是我們可以引入分析方法的新數據。所以我們認為這是一個機會。

Your next question comes from the line of Arash Soleimani from KBW.

你的下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Arash Soleimani 的詩句。

I wanted to know if you could provide some more detail on the area of imagery opportunities outside of insurance. I know you mentioned insurance was a $200 million market -- addressable market and perhaps how large the addressable market is outside the insurance sector?

我想了解一下您能否詳細介紹一下保險業以外的影像處理機會領域。我知道您提到保險市場規模為 2 億美元——這是一個潛在市場，那麼保險業以外的潛在市場規模又有多大呢？

Yes. The TAM for all of the applications outside of the insurance vertical are about an order of magnitude bigger than the insurance vertical. So we talk about the insurance (inaudible) and that's sort of our home base, that's where we started from. But actually, extensions into other vertical markets are going to be important to us. There is a lot of background noise, maybe somebody's is unmuted.

是的。除保險業以外的所有應用領域的潛在市場規模比保險業大一個數量級。所以我們談到了保險（聽不清楚），這算是我們的大本營，我們就是從這裡開始的。但實際上，拓展到其他垂直市場對我們來說非常重要。背景噪音很大，可能是有人沒開靜音。

(inaudible) I had was, can you just provide a bit more detail about what Sequel does? And does that -- is that a roll up into Decision Analytics?

（聽不清楚）我想問的是，您能否詳細介紹一下 Sequel 的功能？那它是否就等同於決策分析呢？

Yes, this is Mark. Let me just provide you a little bit of insight. One, the suite of solutions that [indiscernible] is really behind the scenes of all the major carriers in London. So a little bit of a nuanced market London and they have captured March there to do everything from what would be the analytics upfront from an underwriting perspective to the policy admin, to the claims even inside the reinsurance world and have a wonderful tool that provides visual representation and a good VI to versus. So there's an analytic aspect as well. What we are going to do is we're get (inaudible) insurance side of things and we think there's great opportunities to use some of those solutions to bring to may be some of our U.S. customers from the analytic back-end, which would be that visual geographic approach to banks as well as the front end, which is the underwriting. We also hope we can kind of supercharge some of their analytics inside the specific solution set. So we're very excited by it. Customers are very pleased, and we've gotten some very good feedback from the market in general. So we're optimistic about what we do with Sequel.

是的，這是馬克。讓我給你一些見解。第一，[聽不清楚]這套解決方案其實是倫敦所有主要業者幕後的運作方式。所以倫敦市場有點微妙，他們已經抓住了三月份的機會，從承保角度的前期分析到保單管理，再到理賠，甚至再保險領域，他們擁有一個很棒的工具，可以提供可視化表示和良好的VI對比。所以這裡也存在分析上的問題。我們將要做的就是從（聽不清楚）保險方面入手，我們認為有很多機會可以利用這些解決方案，從分析後端（即面向銀行的可視化地理方法）以及前端（即承保）為我們的一些美國客戶提供服務。我們也希望能夠增強他們在特定解決方案集中的一些分析能力。所以我們對此感到非常興奮。顧客非常滿意，我們也從市場上獲得了非常好的回饋。所以我們對《續集》的進展持樂觀態度。

Your next question comes from the line of David Togut from Evercore ISI.

你的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 David Togut。

Could you comment a bit on Argus' new contract with TSYS? This looks very intriguing and in particular, I'm wondering if there's any exclusivity here that might preclude you from working with other large card issuer processors like a First Data, a Fiserv, and FIS?

您能否就Argus與TSYS的新合約發表一些看法？這看起來很有意思，尤其是我想知道這裡是否有任何排他性條款，可能會阻止您與其他大型發卡機構（如 First Data、Fiserv 和 FIS）合作？

No exclusivity. And in fact, one of the reasons why folks like TSYS like to partner with us is because of the richness and depth of our ecosystem, which creates a data asset that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. And actually, as the next partner comes in, the ecosystem gets better, so the network effect is there. And the last one to come in knows that and the next one to come in knows that. So no, there's no exclusivity. And basically, it's a way of extending -- first of all, as they say, it improves the data asset. But in addition to that, it actually creates, yet more reach into specific banks that would be a part of TSYS ecosystem. We're very pleased by the partnership, very excited about it.

不設獨家代理權。事實上，像 TSYS 這樣的公司喜歡與我們合作的原因之一，就是我們生態系統的豐富性和深度，它創造了世界上其他任何地方都不存在的資料資產。事實上，隨著下一個合作夥伴的加入，生態系統會變得更好，因此網路效應是存在的。最後進來的人知道這一點，後面進來的人也知道這一點。所以，不存在排他性。從本質上講，這是一種擴展方式——首先，正如他們所說，它改善了數據資產。但除此之外，它其實也進一步拓展了與TSYS生態系中特定銀行的連結。我們對此次合作感到非常滿意，也感到非常興奮。

And just as a quick follow-up, is there any way to dimension the size of this contract with TSYS and potentially the size of this new market opportunity for Argus?

最後再補充一點，有沒有辦法衡量與 TSYS 簽訂的這份合約的規模，以及 Argus 可能面臨的這個新市場機會的規模？

Well, we don't really put out the numbers around individual customer relationships. If you wanted to, sort of, do some work on that, you could sort of figure out what is TSYS' share of the processing world and try to relate that to the size of our -- the business we are already.

我們通常不會公佈有關單一客戶關係的具體數據。如果你想在這方面做些研究，你可以弄清楚 TSYS 在處理領域的份額，並嘗試將其與我們——我們現有的業務規模聯繫起來。

The next question comes from the line of Gary Bisbee from RBC.

下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行的加里·比斯比。

Just wanted to add another question on the Sequel purchase. My sense of your foray into the U.K. is that you bought a bunch of interesting, but yet somewhat, disparate assets in the past and haven't really, completely integrated it all. I wonder given the relationships there, is this an opportunity to go-to-market with a more consolidated or integrated approach and solution? And then as part of that, what's the opportunity to take analytics and things you offer here, layer that in and drive a more meaningful revenue base from the existing customers that, that business has? Or is that not really an opportunity for some reason?

我還要補充一個關於續集購買的問題。我的感覺是，你過去在英國收購了一堆有趣但又有些分散的資產，但並沒有真正地將它們全部整合起來。考慮到雙方的關係，我想知道這是否是一個以更整合或更全面的方式和解決方案進入市場的機會？然後，作為其中的一部分，如何利用您提供的分析和其他資源，為企業現有客戶創造更有意義的收入基礎？或者，出於某種原因，這其實不是一個機會？

Well, to -- let me start with your last question and Mark, maybe you'd like to talk a little bit more about Sequel. I just want to interact with the premise of your question, which is the smaller acquisitions earlier in '17 not being integrated, that's just not accurate. So just to set the record straight on that. But yes, we -- with respect to how we see the business growing globally, you can create your data analytic method pretty much anywhere. What you need to do is to make it relevant for the local market, first, by having local data sets. And second, doing whatever customization you have to do to speak into that market and exactly the way that they want to be spoken to. So that is our view of how to grow our business. And yes, there are things that we do at Verisk today that will compliment Sequel nicely. I'll mention, for example, our Touchstone platform on the catastrophe modeling side and then you've got these accumulation tools on the Sequel side and they really play together very nicely. So that work is already underway. But Mark, do you want to, kind of, pick it up from there?

好的，首先——讓我回答你最後一個問題，馬克，也許你想再多談談續集。我只想就你問題的前提進行一些探討，即 2017 年初的小規模收購沒有被整合，這種說法並不準確。所以，我來澄清一下這件事。是的，就我們對企業全球發展的看法而言，你幾乎可以在任何地方創建你的資料分析方法。首先，你需要做的就是讓它與當地市場相關，方法是擁有本地資料集。其次，要進行必要的定制，以便與目標市場溝通，並準確地按照他們希望的方式與他們溝通。這就是我們對如何發展業務的看法。是的，Verisk 目前所做的一些事情可以很好地與 Sequel 相輔相成。例如，我會提到我們在災難建模方面的 Touchstone 平台，然後 Sequel 方面有這些累積工具，它們真的配合得很好。這項工作已經開始了。但是馬克，你想不想從這裡繼續講下去？

Yes. I think the other thing I'd like to highlight is there are some acquisitions, but I think this program of looking to go global is a combination of build and buy. And we've been spending a lot of time and energy putting a management team in place, putting business development/sales resources that cover the world, and specifically, in kind of the U.K. We've done quite a bit of work with Lloyds. We've done a lot of work with a lot of syndicates. We are building up natural expertise. So we are trying to take a lot of things we do here in the United States, maybe around property, around actual work bring it to the U.K. and maybe an example of this is, one of the earlier acquisitions was in Ireland, it provided some underwriting information. Today, we have significantly grown and brought that to market, a fuller blown, I'll call it ISO-type of loss cause beyond just traditional rating variables. So we've kind of put the Verisk way into Ireland. We're trying to move that type of thinking, that type of approach, augmenting acquisitions along the way to build up a platform that's substantial in the U.K. and beyond into Europe. So that's clearly our strategy and I think you'll see more of that as we progress in coming years.

是的。我想強調的另一點是，雖然有一些收購，但我認為這種走向全球化的計畫是自建和收購相結合的。我們投入了大量的時間和精力來組建管理團隊，並配備業務拓展/銷售資源，覆蓋全球，特別是英國市場。我們與勞埃德銀行進行了大量合作。我們與許多辛迪加合作過。我們正在累積專業技能。所以我們正在嘗試把我們在美國做的很多事情，例如房地產、實際工作等方面的事情，帶到英國來。舉個例子，我們早期的收購之一是在愛爾蘭進行的，它提供了一些承保資訊。如今，我們已經取得了顯著發展，並將這種更成熟的、我稱之為 ISO 類型的損失原因分析方法推向市場，而不僅限於傳統的評級變數。所以我們已經把 Verisk 的模式引入了愛爾蘭。我們正努力將這種思維方式和方法推廣開來，並在過程中持續進行收購，以建立一個在英國乃至歐洲都具有重要影響力的平台。所以這顯然是我們的策略，我認為隨著我們在未來幾年的發展，你會看到更多這樣的策略。

Great. And then a follow-up, there were a series of articles after the hurricanes about insurers using their own drones to go take pictures and assess damage and cut -- reduce the dependence on people in the adjuster role. I guess, is that just a good story that was easy to tell coming out of that? Or do you -- is there some potential risk to whether it's your aerial imagery or some of the other solutions from insurers beginning to do some of this stuff a bit more on their own?

偉大的。隨後，颶風過後出現了一系列後續文章，報道保險公司使用自己的無人機拍照、評估損失並減少對理賠員的依賴。我猜，這只是一個容易說出來的好故事吧？或者，您是否認為—無論是您的空拍影像，還是保險公司開始自行進行的一些其他解決方案，都存在一些潛在風險？

Yes, yes, so the way that the imagery ecosystem works is, first of all, you need to avail yourself as an insurer or an independent adjuster, or an insured, the ability to understand the asset and how it's changed. So one of the things that matters is you're understanding the assets before the events, before the damage. And so one of the things that is necessary is, sort of, a view of truth, which is, what is there before the damage occurs? And that has to be developed both precisely, in terms of the quality of the images, but also efficiently for cost reasons. You cannot do that with a drone. And actually, you can't do that with a satellite either. What you need is aerial imagery. That is the way to create the single view of truth in terms of what is was on the ground. And that we do not see changing. So that is fundamental and foundational. What you do here from some of the carriers is that in the wake of an event, if an adjuster can get to the building because remember, the radius in which you can fly a drone is very limited, then one of the ways that you can assess the property in addition to visually inspecting it as a human being, is to operate a drone. And some of the companies have begun to do that. So they literally would have some of their adjusters driving around with a small drone in their trunk. It's really kind of a technical augmentation of what an adjuster has always done, which is to try to get close to the property and understand what happened to it. It really does not represent very much change. The adjusters may find that using the drone, they could do their work a little bit faster, they can maybe be a little bit more precise. They can drive better images and we're up for it. Actually, we are able to provide a turnkey drone solution to our customers as well. And actually, one where the homeowner is actually sort of operating, if they have access to a drone, they can actually direct and capture the images and get them back to us. So that development is a good one. It's not an overwhelming one. It hasn't really changed the nature of the claims process. Maybe into the future, we'll have somewhat more effects, but the fundamental point is if you're going to do these analytics at scale, you're not going to do them with drones.

是的，是的，圖像生態系統的運作方式是，首先，作為保險公司、獨立理賠員或被保險人，你需要具備了解資產及其變化的能力。所以，關鍵在於你要在事件發生之前、在損失發生之前了解資產。因此，其中一件必要的事情就是對真相的看法，也就是，在損害發生之前存在什麼？而且，出於成本考慮，影像品質必須保證精確性，而效率也必須保證。用無人機是做不到這一點的。實際上，即使是衛星也無法做到這一點。你需要的是空拍影像。這樣才能根據實際情況，形成對真相的統一看法。而且我們看不到這種情況會改變。所以這是根本的、基礎的。有些保險公司的做法是，在事故發生後，如果理賠員能夠到達建築物（因為無人機的飛行半徑非常有限），那麼除了像人一樣進行目視檢查之外，評估財產的方法之一就是操作無人機。有些公司已經開始這麼做了。所以他們真的會讓一些理賠員開車時，後車箱裡放著一架小型無人機。這其實是對理賠員一直以來所做工作的某種技術性補充，理賠員一直以來所做的工作就是盡量靠近受損房產，了解房產發生了什麼事。這其實並沒有代表多大的改變。理賠員可能會發現，使用無人機可以讓他們更快完成工作，也可能讓他們更精準。它們可以帶來更好的圖像，我們很樂意這樣做。事實上，我們也能為客戶提供一站式無人機解決方案。事實上，如果房主能夠操作無人機，他們就可以指揮無人機拍攝影像，並將影像傳回給我們。所以這項發展是好事。這並非一件令人難以承受的事。它並沒有真正改變理賠流程的性質。或許在未來，我們會看到更多影響，但根本的一點是，如果你要大規模地進行這些分析，你不會用無人機來完成它們。

Your next question comes from the line of Bill Warmington from Wells Fargo.

你的下一個問題來自富國銀行的比爾沃明頓。

So a question for you on the EBITDA margins. The guidance had been that the second half margins were going to be flat with Q2 and Q3 it come in 100 basis points ahead of that. I understand, we've had the extreme weather benefit. I just wanted to ask if how we should think about margins heading into Q4 and into 2018.

那麼，關於 EBITDA 利潤率，我有個問題想請教您。先前的預期是下半年利潤率將與上年持平，而第二季和第三季的利潤率將比預期高出 100 個基點。我明白，我們受益於極端天氣。我只是想問一下，我們應該如何看待第四季以及2018年的利潤率問題。

Yes. Thanks, Bill. Well, what -- I think you hit the nail on the head when you talk about the margin in the quarter. And certainly, one of the benefits of our business model is we have nice incremental margins, and certainly, we saw some of that in terms of the storm benefit. We also have the impact on our margins that we've discussed which is around the acquisition. So those will be a little bit of a pull-down on the margins as we think about sort of, the fourth quarter. We have brought in the new acquisitions. We gave you some very specific numbers around how much those will contribute in the 4th quarter. That sort of -- call it roughly, a 30% margin based on what we said. Those margins will scale over time. But I think as you kind of put that all together, I would say that we did have an out-performance versus expectation and largely into the third quarter because of some of the storm benefits. And I would -- as you think about your model for the 4th quarter, I would put those other factors back in and certainly, we love to drive margins, but there will be probably more of a pull-down than a pull-up in fourth quarter.

是的。謝謝你，比爾。嗯，我覺得你談到季度利潤率時說得非常到位。當然，我們商業模式的優勢之一就是我們擁有可觀的增量利潤，而且，我們在風暴帶來的收益方面也看到了這一點。我們也討論了收購對利潤率的影響。所以，當我們展望第四季時，這些因素會對利潤率造成一些拉低。我們已經引進了新的收購對象。我們已經給出了一些非常具體的數字，說明這些項目將在第四季度做出多少貢獻。根據我們先前的說法，大致來說，利潤率為 30%。隨著時間的推移，這些利潤空間將會擴大。但我認為，綜合所有因素來看，我們的業績確實超出了預期，而且很大程度上是因為風暴帶來的一些好處，這種情況一直持續到第三季。而且，當你考慮到第四季的模型時，我會把其他因素也考慮進去。當然，我們喜歡提高利潤率，但第四季利潤率的下降幅度可能大於上升幅度。

And a quick follow-up, if I may. A housekeeping question on the revenue impact from the extreme weather. You had mentioned the $8 million, and having it given a couple point benefit to the insurance piece. I just want to make sure my math is right, if the constant-currency organic for the third quarter was 7.0%, it looked like 160 basis points coming from that extreme weather benefit. So that would mean about 5.4% versus the 4.1% in Q2. Is that about, right?

如果可以的話，我想快速補充一點。關於極端天氣對收入影響的事務性問題。你之前提到過那 800 萬美元，以及它為保險部分帶來的幾個百分點的好處。我只是想確認我的計算是否正確，如果第三季以固定匯率計算的自然成長率為 7.0%，那麼極端天氣帶來的收益似乎達​​到了 160 個基點。這意味著大約為 5.4%，而第二季為 4.1%。大概就是這樣，對吧？

You are spot on, Bill.

比爾，你說得完全正確。

All right. And then the context there is -- should we think that -- should we expect Q4 to be -- the organic growth to be higher versus that 5.4% normalized level?

好的。那麼，問題變成了——我們是否應該認為——我們是否應該預期第四季度的有機成長率會高於 5.4% 的正常水平？

Yes. So as you know, Bill, we don't get into specific quarterly guidance throughout the years we do express in terms of our growth rates. And I think you've seen that so far.

是的。如你所知，比爾，我們多年來不會給出具體的季度業績指引，我們只會用成長率來表達我們的業績。我想你目前已經看到了這一點。

Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Steinerman from JPMorgan.

你的下一個問題來自摩根大通的安德魯·斯坦納曼。

I wanted to jump back and see imaging revenues in the organic for DA insurance. If it wasn't for the hurricane effect, would aerial imaging be moving the revenue needle in the third quarter? And then -- because I thought it's still kind of a nascent business. And then the second part of my question is, you indicated aerial imaging acquisitions added $15 million of revenues. Could you give us a sense of how big your Geomni revenues in total are right now, including your prior internally built base?

我想回顧一下 DA 保險在自然流量中的影像收入情況。如果不是颶風的影響，空拍影像能否在第三季推動營收成長？然後——因為我認為這仍然是一個新興行業。我的問題的第二部分是，您提到空拍影像收購增加了 1500 萬美元的收入。能否簡單介紹一下Geomni目前的總收入規模，包括先前內部累積的收入？

Yes, I think both those questions are aimed at the same point, Andrew. And I'll just say that the Geomni business in the insurance vertical is growing and would have grown even absent the effect of the extreme weather. And growing very, very nicely. So there was a boost in the quarter. As I said before, that $8 million, most of it was not attributable to Geomni but preexisting Verisk solutions. So Geomni is growing nicely. It's sort of getting to a scale where we can almost begin to not call it nascent anymore, even though we're still early in the journey. But it is growing and would have grown and would've grown nicely in third quarter, even absent the extreme weather effect.

是的，我認為這兩個問題都指向同一個問題，安德魯。我只想說，Geomni 在保險領域的業務正在成長，即使沒有極端天氣的影響，它也會成長。而且長得非常好。所以本季業績有所成長。正如我之前所說，那 800 萬美元的大部分並非來自 Geomni，而是來自先前已有的 Verisk 解決方案。所以Geomni發展勢頭良好。它正逐漸發展到某個規模，我們幾乎可以不再稱之為萌芽階段了，儘管我們仍處於發展初期。但它仍在成長，即使沒有極端天氣的影響，第三季也會成長，而且成長勢頭良好。

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

你的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Alex Kramm。

Maybe this actually relates to the prior question. But -- and I've asked this before, but when I look at your Q and the disclosures there about subscription and nonsubscription and Decision Analytics, it continues to stand out that the nonsubscription line is growing really rapidly. I think it was like 38% year-over-year if I back into that right or $27 million. So I guess the question is, one, what is driving that nonsubscription growth? Is it all aerial imagery, for example? And then secondly, can you give a nonorganic -- I'm sorry, can you give an organic subscription number for the quarter in Decision Analytics? Because that continues to look a little bit anemic.

也許這和之前的問題有關。但是——我以前也問過這個問題——當我查看你的問題以及其中關於訂閱和非訂閱以及決策分析的披露信息時，非訂閱業務的增長速度仍然非常快，這一點仍然很突出。如果我按比例計算，應該是年增 38%，也就是 2700 萬美元。所以我想問的是，第一，是什麼因素推動了非訂閱用戶的成長？例如，全部都是空拍影像嗎？其次，您能否提供決策分析領域本季的非自然成長—抱歉，您能否提供自然成長的訂閱用戶數量？因為看起來還是有點單薄。

Yes. So the reason that the growth shows that we're -- or let me make a more general point as we sort of get into this topic, which is that customers often have a preference for how they'd like solutions, particularly new solutions, which is that they prefer to get into it -- in a transaction mode rather than in a subscription mode. Because they don't exactly know how much of it they're going to need. And we're happy to do business that way as we're moving into a category, which is either new for them, or it's at least new for us with respect to serving them. So we don't consider transaction-based revenues to be low-quality revenues because they very frequently mature. They ripen them into subscription agreements. So for example, in the Geomni world, and I'm just taking that as an example, today we're transaction-priced. One of the plans that we have worked on at length has been as our offerings begin to mature, one of the ways that we can offer them to customers would be in more of a subscription mode where you would essentially sort of be -- kind of, find the aerial imagery platform, I guess, is the way I would say it, without respect to any individual property that you want to look at. So that would be an example of -- there would be a progressive movement of what today is booked as transaction revenue into what tomorrow or down the road will be booked as the subscription revenue. So that's a -- and that's kind of a normal effect inside of a data analytic business. It's very common for the customers to want to start out in a transaction mode.

是的。因此，成長的原因表明——或者讓我更普遍地指出一點，當我們深入探討這個話題時，那就是客戶通常對他們想要的解決方案，特別是新解決方案，有偏好，他們更喜歡以交易模式而不是訂閱模式來獲得解決方案。因為他們並不確切知道自己需要多少。我們很樂意以這種方式開展業務，因為我們正在進入一個對他們來說全新的領域，或者至少就服務他們而言，對我們來說是全新的領域。因此，我們並不認為基於交易的收入是低品質收入，因為它們經常到期。他們將這些協議轉化為訂閱協議。例如，在 Geomni 的世界裡（我只是以它為例），如今我們採用的是交易定價。我們一直在努力製定的計劃之一是，隨著我們的產品和服務日趨成熟，我們可以向客戶提供服務的方式之一就是採用訂閱模式，在這種模式下，您基本上可以——我想，應該說，找到航拍圖像平台，而無需考慮您想要查看的任何特定房產。所以，這就是一個例子──今天記為交易收入的收入，將逐漸轉變為明天或將來記為訂閱收入的收入。所以，這在資料分析業務中是一種正常現象。顧客通常都希望以交易模式開始。

Yes. And I'll sort of, just going to add to that. I think when you look at the growth rates, certainly, the transactional growth rates were higher than the subscription growth rates in the third quarter and actually, in the second quarter as well. But if you actually look at the progression in that growth, you would see the subscription -- the relativity subscription growth has accelerated quite a bit as well as has transactional. And remember, because we are 80% subscription, the dollars associated with that, acceleration of subscription growth are really what's meaningfully driving growth. I don't have the organic numbers in front of me. But I would say that generally, some of the businesses that we're bringing in are a lot more transactional in terms of that. So I think if you were to parse that out of your transactional growth rate, back down to organic I think you would see a bit more balance. Although nonetheless, we had storm activity and so transactions, as Scott said, it's good revenue. So we'll take that.

是的。我還要補充一點。我認為，從成長率來看，第三季的交易成長率肯定高於訂閱成長率，實際上，第二季也是如此。但如果你仔細觀察這種成長的進程，你會發現訂閱——相對而言，訂閱成長以及交易成長都加速了很多。記住，因為我們 80% 的收入來自訂閱，所以與訂閱相關的資金，以及訂閱成長的加速，才是真正推動成長的根本原因。我手邊沒有有機產品的具體數據。但我認為，總的來說，我們引進的一些企業在這方面更偏向交易型業務。所以我覺得，如果你把交易成長率從交易成長率分離出來，再還原到自然成長，你會發現平衡性會更好一些。儘管如此，正如斯科特所說，我們還是遇到了風暴活動，交易量也隨之增加，收入不錯。我們就接受這個結果。

That's very helpful color. Just secondly, real quick. You mentioned the hurricane or weather impact will bleed into the fourth quarter, which is good. But how should I be thinking about this more longer term? Because this was, I think, a more extreme event that we've seen in years? Like, where could there be incremental demand longer term, for example, maybe you will see some premium acceleration in some parts of the business, should that drive more or better end market? Will you see more subscription on aerial or maybe some models are changing that people have to purchase? What's the longer-term discussions with customers potentially coming out of this, kind of like very extreme time?

那是一個非常有用的顏色。就第二步，簡單問一句。你提到颶風或天氣的影響會延續到第四季度，這很好。但從長遠來看，我該如何考慮這個問題呢？因為我認為，這是我們多年來所見過的最極端的事件？例如，從長遠來看，哪些方面可能會出現增量需求？例如，某些業務領域可能會出現溢價加速成長，這是否應該推動終端市場成長或提升？你認為未來會有更多人訂閱航拍服務嗎？或是會有一些機型發生變化，需要用戶單獨購買？在這樣非常特殊的時期，我們可能會與客戶進行哪些較長期的討論？

There are three things to keep in your mind. I'll touch on the first 2 and Mark will take up on the third. First of all, we said that the third quarter extreme events don't bleed into the 4th quarter with respect to revenue. So just hopefully, everybody heard that and heard that clearly. The second thing, to just sort of know about our business and obviously, we're talking here about insurance. We are very excited about where we're going in financial services and in the energy complex and I just want to continue to put that out there. But in the insurance space, the anomaly has been the amount of time that has passed since the last major event. So you can basically go back and say you had Sandy in '11 and then you had Katrina. And the unusual thing is sort of the spacing in there actually. So when you think about Verisk, one of the things that you should think about is, that part what we do for our customers has provide a whole suite of solutions which help them to be heartened against major events, major events happen. They happen not every year. We've actually been in an extended period where they didn't really happen with any frequency. But that's the anomaly. And so it is a part of our business. It won't show up every year. We'll see what the pattern is, and by the way, extreme event does not necessarily mean a hurricane. So there's also a sensitivity to, for example, things like major flooding events in the United States but they may not be atmospherically driven in the same way that a hurricane is. So you've got all that. But now, having said those 2 things, I think what we also want you to just understand is sort of the very balanced way in which our insurance-facing business is growing. It's related to a lot of things. Claims and new software platforms and, so Mark, if you want to just talk about that a little bit.

有三件事需要牢記。我將簡要介紹前兩個問題，馬克將負責第三個問題。首先，我們說過，第三季的極端事件不會對第四季的營收產生影響。希望大家都聽到了，而且聽得很清楚。第二件事，就是了解我們的業務，顯然，我們這裡指的是保險。我們對金融服務和能源領域的發展方向感到非常興奮，我只想繼續向大家傳達這一點。但在保險領域，異常之處在於距離上次重大事件發生已經過了很久。所以你可以回顧一下，說2011年發生了桑迪颶風，然後又發生了卡崔娜颶風。不尋常的地方在於其中的間距。所以，當您想到 Verisk 時，您應該想到的一件事是，我們為客戶提供的一整套解決方案，幫助他們應對重大事件，而重大事件總是會發生。這種事並非每年都會發生。事實上，我們已經經歷了一段很長一段時間，在這段時間裡，這類事情並沒有頻繁發生。但這只是個例外。所以，這是我們業務的一部分。它不會每年都出現。我們會觀察其中的規律，順便說一句，極端事件不一定意味著颶風。因此，人們也會對美國發生的重大洪水事件等情況感到敏感，但這些事件可能不像颶風那樣是由大氣因素所驅動的。所以你已經擁有了這一切。但是，說了這兩點之後，我想讓你們也明白，我們面向保險業務的成長方式非常平衡。它與很多事情有關。索賠和新的軟體平台，所以馬克，如果你想稍微談談這方面的話。

I just -- I think to your question, couple of things that typically help us a little bit on -- in the future is an event like these are insurer and reinsurer customers, take some initial thoughts around how and what they can do with regard to cat modeling. So there could be opportunities for AIR down the road, to the extent that someone wants the second model and maybe a more comprehensive suite of solutions, whether it's across perils, or different geographies. That's an opportunity. What we've also talked about sometimes with the catastrophes is that it does help pricing in the industry. From a primary perspective, I don't think we're going to see a big upsurge in pricing from a rate perspective. Reinsurance, it should bolster maybe reinsurance a little bit. That helps their customers who are growing, have more of an appetite to buy things. So that may be just another tertiary benefit to us. But just wanted to share those other observations, I think that's maybe you were searching for as well.

我只是——我認為對於你的問題，有幾件事通常會對我們有所幫助——在未來，如果發生這樣的事件，保險公司和再保險公司的客戶會初步思考一下，他們如何以及可以做些什麼來應對巨災建模。因此，AIR未來可能會有發展機會，如果有人想要第二款車型，以及更全面的解決方案，無論是針對各種風險還是不同的地理。這是一個機會。我們有時也會談到，災難確實有助於產業定價。從根本上來說，我認為利率方面不會大幅上漲。再保險，或許能稍微加強一下再保險業務。這有助於他們不斷成長的客戶群，這些客戶群的購買慾望也會更強。所以這可能只是我們獲得的另一個次要好處。不過，我還想分享其他的觀察結果，我想這可能也是你一直在尋找的。

Your next question comes from the line of Joseph Foresi from Cantor Fitzgerald.

你的下一個問題來自約瑟夫·福雷西（Joseph Foresi）的坎托·菲茨杰拉德（Cantor Fitzgerald）的詩句。

This is Mike Reid on for Joe. We'll just start with some of the production capacity going offline for a little bit from the storms. Could you see that having any impact to Energy CapEx spending at all in '18? If that would have any effect on the business?

這裡是麥克·里德替喬報道。先說說受暴風雨影響，部分產能暫時停產的情況。您認為這會對 2018 年的能源資本支出產生任何影響嗎？這會對公司業務產生什麼影響嗎？

No, no. The nature of the business in the South Central United States is a very engineering-intense way of extracting hydrocarbons from the ground and basically, in the unconventional space, for example. You can get your well established within 3 to 5 days. So it's a blip.

不，不。美國中南部地區的石油開採業務性質決定了其開採方式需要高度的工程技術，尤其是在非常規油氣領域。您可以在 3 到 5 天內完成安裝。所以這只是個小插曲。

Okay, got it. And with all the acquisitions, the leverage ratio is going up a little bit. Do you have a feeling with how high you would go with the leverage ratio to complete the more necessary acquisitions?

好的，明白了。隨著收購的進行，槓桿率略有上升。您認為為了完成必要的收購，槓桿率該達到多高？

So yes, so we have stated curves, and Eva, maybe you just want to describe those?

所以，是的，我們已經列出了曲線，伊娃，也許你只是想描述一下這些曲線？

Yes, I mean, we talked about our reference point being 2.5x debt-to-EBITDA that will go above that to the opportunities. We've done that in the past. The way we really think about it is, we don't really -- we have covenants. Those aren't really the constraints for us. So for us, the measure is really how long does it take us to delever. And I think if you look at our business, especially in Q1, we generate a lot of free cash flow. So I would expect that, that ratio will come down relatively quickly, as such spending that cash on any other opportunity. So we feel very comfortable, we've got a lot of flexibility.

是的，我的意思是，我們討論過將債務與 EBITDA 的比值設定為 2.5 倍，高於這個比值就有機會。我們過去也這樣做過。我們真正的想法是，我們其實沒有──我們有盟約。這些對我們來說並不是真正的限制因素。所以對我們來說，衡量標準實際上是我們需要多長時間才能擺脫槓桿。我認為，如果你看一下我們的業務，尤其是在第一季度，我們會發現我們產生了大量的自由現金流。因此我預計，這個比例會相對迅速地下降，從而可以將這筆資金用於其他任何機會。所以我們感覺很舒服，我們有很多靈活性。

Your next question comes from the line of Jeff Silber from BMO.

你的下一個問題來自 BMO 的 Jeff Silber。

It's Henry Chien on for Jeff. I just had a follow-up on the aerial imagery product or products, I should say. In terms of the timeline of the rollout to customers, I was wondering if you could just give us a sense of that and when we can see, at least a meaningful impact on growth in the insurance segment or business lines.

現在由亨利·錢代替傑夫上場。我剛剛跟進了一下航拍圖像產品（或者應該說是多個產品）。關於向客戶推廣的時間表，我想知道您是否可以大致說明一下，以及我們何時才能看到對保險領域或業務線成長的實質影響。

It's in the market now and impacting our growth rate now.

它現在已經上市，並對我們的成長率產生了影響。

Okay, and in terms of the acquisition multiples, could you give us a sense on what those levels are as for the aerial imagery acquisitions?

好的，關於採集倍數，您能否為我們介紹航拍影像擷取的倍數水平？

I think we're really -- the aerial imagery acquisitions? I mean, I think Eva, remind me, but I think we actually talked about $2-ish million of acquired EBITDA at the time that we bought the 7 smallish regional imaging companies?

我認為我們真正關注的是——航拍圖像的獲取？我的意思是，伊娃，提醒我一下，我記得我們當時收購那7家規模較小的區域影像公司時，好像討論過收購EBITDA約為200萬美元？

Okay, and in terms of the multiples, how they trended so far?

好的，那麼就倍數而言，它們目前的趨勢如何？

So we paid $30 million. Pardon me?

所以我們付了3000萬美元。對不起？

$31 million.

3100萬美元。

$31 million for those businesses.

這些企業將獲得 3,100 萬美元。

Your next question comes from the line of Kevin McVeigh from Deutsche Bank.

你的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的凱文·麥克維。

Just -- post the Equifax breech, are you seeing any step-up in demand around kind of authorization and kind of preapproval as it relates to Argus?

在 Equifax 資料外洩事件之後，您是否注意到與 Argus 相關的授權和預先批准方面的需求增加？

Authorization and preapproval. I'm not quite sure what you're asking.

授權和預先批准。我不太明白你的問題。

Scott, in terms of trying to manage fraud, fraud detection, early kind of -- in a preapproval process or at the point of authorization, are you seeing any potential step-up in demand from clients?

Scott，就努力控制詐欺、及早發現詐欺（例如在預審批流程或授權點）而言，您是否看到客戶對此類措施的需求有任何潛在的成長？

Well, the demand factors for Argus are very good. But that's not -- if I'm understanding your question, that's not really what Argus does.

Argus的需求因素非常好。但是，如果我理解你的問題沒錯的話，Argus 實際上並不是這樣做的。

Right. But as I guess -- so let me ask is that a potentially area that could potentially get into?

正確的。但我想——所以我想問一下，這是否是一個可能涉及的領域？

You mean to help companies -- help banks, for example, with their cyber security?

你是說幫助企業──例如幫助銀行解決網路安全問題？

Yes.

是的。

That is potentially something that we could do at Verisk. That is not something that we do today. We do work on cyber insurance. So we help insurers think about how to manage their insurance products. But actually hardening companies, including banks, against cyber attack is not something that we do today. Though, potentially something that we could consider doing in the future.

這或許是 Verisk 可以做的事情。我們現在不會這樣做了。我們從事網路保險業務。因此，我們幫助保險公司思考如何管理他們的保險產品。但實際上，我們目前並沒有加強包括銀行在內的企業抵禦網路攻擊的能力。不過，這或許是我們未來可以考慮要做的事。

Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Jeffrey from SunTrust.

你的下一個問題來自 SunTrust 銀行的 Andrew Jeffrey。

And I appreciate all the colors on the natural disasters and other events, and so forth. My question is a little more granular on the acquisition strategy, particularly when I look at G2 in long quest. I think a little bit about what the bureaus are doing for banks, and perhaps, TransUnion in particular. And I was just wondering if you can comment on whether or not you think your business is sort of moving into adjacencies to what has been a traditional bureau offering? Or how you think about differentiating your financial services offerings generally?

我欣賞自然災害和其他事件等各種事物所呈現的色彩。我的問題更具體一些，是關於收購策略的，特別是當我長期關注 G2 時。我一直在思考信用評等機構為銀行所做的事情，特別是 TransUnion 信用評等機構。我想問的是，您能否談談您是否認為貴公司的業務正在向與傳統服務機構業務相近的領域發展？或者，您通常如何考慮讓您的金融服務產品脫穎而出？

Yes. I think that -- let me take it in reverse order. So Argus is a beautiful business that is founded on a data set that is utterly unique. And the data set is unique because of the granularity of the data that is being contributed by a wide -- a large, wide and growing number of companies that participate in this consortium where they are contributing data, we do our analysis and decision support and provide it back to them. And so that whole ecosystem is growing and strengthening. And that is the fundamental foundation of the growth of Argus. And we are finding our ways into new use cases related to that content. So for example, when you think about G2, a lot of what G2 does is to diligence merchants. To date, most of the application of the data set has been more about diligencing consumers, the borrower and then to -- and observe what they are doing in terms of their spending using their credit card product, for example, or their debit products. But it's the -- one of the things that you can do when your data set is as comprehensive as ours is, is you can also then sort of pivot and start to try to observe the activities of the merchants where these payment products are being used. That's kind of new business for us relatively. And G2 is already there. And so that's where the synergy occurs on that side. Then with respect to -- looking more at sort of LCI, another thing that you can do when you have comprehensive transaction data, is you can try to understand that as a fraud, which is a really great theme for us, one that's very important for us in the insurance world, for example. That's something that we have already done inside of Argus. It's a smaller part -- it's a small part of what we do at Argus today but it's available. And LCI helps supercharge that. When you move towards -- more towards the sort of the merchant analytics, there is -- there can be a degree of overlap with players out there, including the bureaus. And when you move towards trying to root out fraud, there's kind of a different set of solution providers out there that you might end up overlapping a little bit. But we believe, back to the most important point, we believe we come very equipped for this -- for these new categories, because of the depth of what we've already got. And so we feel advantaged in trying to bring new value to the market with respect to categories like merchants and fraud.

是的。我認為——讓我倒著說。所以，Argus 是一家非常優秀的企業，它建立在一個完全獨特的資料集之上。該數據集的獨特之處在於其數據的精細度，這些數據來自眾多參與該聯盟的公司——數量龐大且不斷增長的公司——它們貢獻數據，我們進行分析和決策支持，並將結果反饋給他們。因此，整個生態系統正在發展壯大。這就是 Argus 發展的根本基礎。我們正在尋找與這些內容相關的新應用程式場景。例如，當你想到 G2 時，你會發現 G2 所做的很多事情都是在對商家進行盡職調查。迄今為止，該資料集的大部分應用都更多是調查消費者和借款人，然後觀察他們在使用信用卡或金融卡等產品時的消費情況。但是，當你的資料集像我們的資料集一樣全面時，你可以做的其中一件事就是，你也可以轉換思路，開始觀察使用這些支付產品的商家的活動。對我們來說，這算是比較新的業務。G2 已經在那裡了。所以，協同效應就體現在這裡。然後，就LCI而言——更多地關注LCI，當你擁有全面的交易數據時，你可以做的另一件事是，你可以嘗試將其理解為欺詐，這對我們來說是一個非常重要的主題，例如，在保險界，這非常重要。這是我們在 Argus 內部已經完成的事情。這部分內容較小——它只是我們Argus目前業務的一小部分，但它是可用的。而LCI則能大幅增強這一點。當你轉向——更傾向於那種商家分析——時，可能會與市場上的其他參與者（包括機構）有一定程度的重疊。當你著手根除詐欺行為時，你會發現市面上出現了一系列不同的解決方案提供商，你最終可能會與他們有一些重疊之處。但我們相信，回到最重要的一點，我們已經做好了充分的準備來應對這些新的類別，因為我們已經擁有了深厚的實力。因此，我們感到在為市場帶來新的價值方面具有優勢，尤其是在商家和詐欺等領域。

Okay. That's helpful. And then Eva, I just missed it. From a housekeeping standpoint, what was the intangible amortization comment for this year?

好的。那很有幫助。還有伊娃，我差點就錯過了。從財務管理角度來看，今年的無形資產攤銷情況如何？

The intangible amortization for this year is $105 million.

今年的無形資產攤銷額為 1.05 億美元。

Your next question comes from the line of Anj Singh from Credit Suisse.

你的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的安吉·辛格。

This is Nicholas Verhein on for Anj. Can you maybe just give us a sense of what the WoodMac contribution was to your Energy and specialized markets revenue growth in the quarter?

這是尼古拉斯·維爾海因為您帶來的安吉報道。您能否簡要介紹 WoodMac 在本季對貴公司能源和專業市場營收成長的貢獻？

I think we put that out there. It was 3.3%.

我認為我們已經把這一點表達出來了。是3.3%。

Okay. I must have just missed that. Can you just maybe then provide an update on maybe some of the customer conversations or maybe some sentiment what it's sort of trending like? And any updated thoughts on what sort of growth of business can aspire to in a sort of stable to low oil-price environment?

好的。我肯定錯過了。那麼，您能否提供一些關於客戶對話或市場情緒的最新信息，以及目前的趨勢如何？在油價穩定或偏低的環境下，企業可以追求怎樣的成長？您對此有何最新看法？

Yes. Well, first of all, just to observe on the environment, I think maybe you noticed that Brent closed at $61-something yesterday. So there's been actually fair progression in terms of the price of the commodity. We've said for some time we just need the environment to be stable for our customers to feel good and to lean in to growing their businesses and doing so, by doing business with us. And we feel like we're now in that environment. So we're actually very pleased about that. Customer conversations are very good. I mean, it's a large global dynamic space and probably every customer of ours in that space has their own story in terms of where are they in their journey towards growth and profitability and part of the reason why we're both a meaningful partner for them and also, we feel like we have really terrific opportunities is that we have these intimate relationships with essentially all of them. And so we're able to turn corners with them, specifically. Where are they trying to get to? And just like everything else we do, our business there also has a motive quality because we have data assets that are absolutely unique. So we feel very strongly about this business and are very excited about where it's going. I said at the time we bought it, and I still say that over intermediate and long periods of time, I'm looking for Wood Mackenzie to grow faster than the average of Verisk. And I -- we believe that's very possible -- probable.

是的。首先，就市場環境而言，我想您可能已經注意到，布蘭特原油昨天的收盤價為每桶 61 美元左右。所以，就商品價格而言，其實已經出現了相當不錯的進展。我們一直強調，我們需要一個穩定的環境，讓我們的客戶感到安心，從而能夠專注於發展他們的業務，並透過與我們開展業務來實現這一目標。我們現在感覺自己就身處在那種環境。所以，我們對此感到非常高興。客戶溝通效果非常好。我的意思是，這是一個龐大的全球動態領域，我們在這個領域的每一位客戶在實現增長和盈利的道路上都有著自己的故事，而我們之所以能成為他們重要的合作夥伴，並且我們感覺自己擁有非常棒的機會，部分原因在於我們與他們中的絕大多數都保持著密切的關係。因此，我們能夠與他們一起扭轉局面。他們想去哪裡？就像我們所做的其他所有事情一樣，我們在那裡的業務也具有動機性質，因為我們擁有絕對獨一無二的數據資產。所以我們對這項業務充滿信心，並且對它的發展方向感到非常興奮。我當時就說過，而且現在仍然認為，從中長期來看，我希望 Wood Mackenzie 的成長速度能超過 Verisk 的平均值。而且我認為——很有可能——極有可能。

Your next question comes on the line of David Ridley-Lane from Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的戴維·里德利-萊恩。

Did want to ask about how renewal rates have trended. And then also, did you offer any price concessions to clients during the downturn as you are doing your planning around next year, are you planning for price increases on those products?

想問一下續約率的趨勢如何。另外，在經濟低迷時期，您是否向客戶提供任何價格優惠？鑑於您正在製定明年的計劃，您是否計劃提高這些產品的價格？

Yes. We've actually talked about this effect before. So just to sort of reprise what we've said before. WoodMac has a -- at WoodMac, we do a mix of 1-, 2- and 3-year subscriptions. So part of what gets reported right at this moment is actually what was said in motion a couple of years ago and there were contracts that were being written and renewed, kind of in the depth of the pressure on the category. So when we report the 5 plus percent ACV progression year-to-date, it actually takes a little while for that to work its way into the reported results. And so as you're watching Wood Mackenzie step-up and we talked about this for several quarters now, it's because these good things that are happening, they just take a while to get expressed into the overall result. So you're seeing WoodMac elevate. I think '18 looks very interesting for WoodMac.

是的。我們之前其實討論過這種效應。所以，我只是想重申我們之前說過的話。WoodMac 提供 1 年、2 年和 3 年的訂閱服務。所以，目前報道的部分內容實際上是幾年前就已經在行動中說過的話，當時正在起草和續簽合同，而當時這個行業正面臨著巨大的壓力。因此，當我們報告今年迄今為止超過 5% 的 ACV 進展時，實際上需要一段時間才能將其反映在報告的結果中。所以，正如你所看到的，伍德麥肯錫公司正在迎頭趕上，我們已經討論這個問題好幾個季度了，這是因為這些好事需要一段時間才能體現在最終結果中。所以你會看到 WoodMac 的業績提升。我認為2018年對於伍德麥肯錫來說會非常有趣。

And then on acquisitions. Understand they are a 230 basis points drag to your EBITDA margins in the quarter. In terms of thinking about a timeline to narrow that gap, is a 2-year period too aggressive? Can you do it faster or slower? What's the rule of thumb to use?

然後是收購方面。要知道，它們會使你本季的 EBITDA 利潤率下降 230 個基點。從縮小差距的時間表角度來看，2 年的時間是否過於激進？你能做得更快還是更慢？有什麼經驗法則可以遵循？

Well, if you were to look at, for example, the 3 acquisitions we did in Q3, which are 75% of the spend that we've done in 2017, I think that you would definitely expect them within 12 to 18 months to essentially be sort of looking like they will look like at their run rates. And in all cases, I think you're then talking about a difference to the corporate margin level, which is much, much lower than that 230 basis point effect that we were -- that we've talked. The 230 basis points, Eva, was trying to help you understand Q4 of 2017. But these are highly profitable businesses.

例如，如果你看一下我們在第三季進行的 3 項收購，這些收購占我們 2017 年支出的 75%，我認為你肯定會預期它們在 12 到 18 個月內基本上會呈現出它們應有的運行速度。在所有情況下，我認為你所說的差異都與公司利潤率水準有關，這遠低於我們之前討論過的 230 個基點的影響。伊娃，這 230 個基點是為了幫助你理解 2017 年第四季的情況。但這些都是利潤非常高的企業。

Yes. I would also add that there are some onetime effects when we acquire businesses. There is some fees associated with that. There's some accounting associated with certain revenues, so that can be a more of a near-term weight on those businesses as well. So I think, as Scott, said before we're positive in terms of those ramping up.

是的。我還要補充一點，收購企業會產生一些一次性影響。這會產生一些費用。某些收入涉及一些會計處理問題，因此這些問題也可能在短期內對這些企業造成一定壓力。所以我覺得，正如史考特之前所說，我們對這些產能提升持樂觀態度。

All 3 of those businesses have the same quality as the rest of Verisk, which is to say, a high degree of fixed costs and some incremental margins, and all of those businesses are really good.

這三家業務都與 Verisk 的其他業務具有相同的質量，也就是說，固定成本較高，利潤率較低，而且這些業務都非常出色。

Okay. Seeing no other questioners on the screen there, I'll just say thank you very much for your time and your interest today. We look forward to seeing you. Hope you can all join us at our Investor Day in December. And as I mentioned right up front, we'll spend even more time on some of these newer parts of the company so that you have a very, very deep understanding of what they are and how they behave in the market and how they behave economically. So hope you can join us then. Thanks for your time today.

好的。看到螢幕上沒有其他提問者，我就簡單地說聲非常感謝您今天抽出時間並對您感興趣。我們期待與您見面。希望大家都能參加我們12月份的投資者日活動。正如我一開始就提到的，我們將花更多的時間研究公司的這些新部門，以便你們能夠非常非常深入地了解它們是什麼，它們在市場上的表現以及它們在經濟上的表現。希望到時候你能加入我們。感謝您今天抽出時間。

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線了。