Verisk Analytics Inc (VRSK) 2019 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Verisk First Quarter 2019 Earnings Results Conference Call. This call is being recorded. At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Verisk's Head of Investor Relations, Stacey Brodbar. Ms. Brodbar, you may begin your conference.

大家好，歡迎參加 Verisk 2019 年第一季財報電話會議。本次通話正在錄音。此時此刻，我謹將電話轉交給 Verisk 的投資人關係主管 Stacey Brodbar，由她來致開幕詞和介紹。布羅德巴女士，您可以開始您的會議了。

Thank you, Natalia, and good day to everyone. We appreciate you joining us today for a discussion of our first quarter 2019 financial results. Today's call will be led by Scott Stephenson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, who will provide a brief overview of the business. In an effort to provide the investment community with a broader perspective on our industry verticals and to offer deeper access to our senior operating executives, Neal Anderson, President of Wood Mackenzie, will then provide an update on our Energy and Specialized Markets segment. Lastly, Lee Shavel, Chief Financial Officer, will highlight some key points about our financial performance. Mark Anquillare, Chief Operating Officer, will join the team for Q&A.

謝謝你，娜塔莉亞，也祝大家今天愉快。感謝您今天蒞臨本次會議，與我們共同探討2019年第一季的財務表現。今天的電話會議將由董事長、總裁兼執行長史考特史蒂芬森主持，他將簡要概述公司業務。為了讓投資界對我們的行業垂直領域有更廣闊的了解，並讓投資者更深入地了解我們的高級營運主管，伍德麥肯茲總裁尼爾·安德森隨後將介紹我們能源和專業市場部門的最新情況。最後，財務長李沙維爾將重點介紹我們財務表現的一些關鍵點。營運長馬克·安奎拉雷將加入團隊進行問答環節。

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. A replay of this call will be available for 30 days on our website and by dial-in.

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。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 today's earnings release, I will remind everyone that 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 contained in our recent SEC filings.

最後，正如今天發布的收益報告中更詳細闡述的那樣，我要提醒大家，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包含在我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中。

Now I'll turn the call over to Scott.

現在我把電話交給史考特。

Thanks, Stacey, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to be able to report that 2019 is off to a solid start at Verisk. The first quarter was marked by solid organic constant currency revenue growth of 6.7%, which remains the most important measure of our vitality as an organization.

謝謝Stacey，大家早安。我很高興地報告，Verisk 的 2019 年開局良好。第一季實現了穩健的有機收入成長（以固定匯率計算）6.7%，這仍然是衡量我們組織活力的最重要指標。

Moreover, our growth was driven by continued broad-based strength across our Insurance vertical and ongoing improvements in Energy and Specialized Markets segment. This growth was a product of our continued efforts to get closer to our customers, to introduce new innovative solutions and to cross-sell existing solutions to help accelerate value creation for our customers.

此外，我們的成長得益於保險業務持續強勁的整體表現，以及能源和專業市場領域的持續改善。這一成長是我們不斷努力拉近與客戶距離、推出創新解決方案以及交叉銷售現有解決方案以幫助加速為客戶創造價值的結果。

With regard to innovation and cross-sell, we are beginning to see early success from the integration of some of our more recent acquisitions into the Verisk family. To that end, we are leveraging technologies and capabilities across all of Verisk to deliver new innovation and leveraging client relationships to drive cross-sell.

在創新和交叉銷售方面，我們已經開始看到，將我們最近收購的一些公司整合到 Verisk 家族中，已經取得了初步成功。為此，我們正在利用 Verisk 的所有技術和能力來實現新的創新，並利用客戶關係來推動交叉銷售。

In the Insurance vertical, we are working with a number of clients in the London market to help them achieve an integrated workflow across a suite of Verisk products, helping them to be more responsive to their clients while at the same time improving the quality of their analytics. As an example, Verisk clients who ensure commercial properties are now able to leverage integrations that we have built between applications from Sequel, AIR and Analyze Re to review exposure accumulations, assess extreme event risk and determine the impact of a policy on the overall portfolio in real time during the quoting process. These integrated products enable insurers to perform such analytics in minutes, where previously it could have taken at least a day. We think this early success with clients can be replicated more broadly within London and the United States.

在保險業，我們正在與倫敦市場的眾多客戶合作，幫助他們實現 Verisk 系列產品的整合工作流程，從而幫助他們更好地回應客戶需求，同時提高分析品質。例如，Verisk 為商業房地產提供保險的客戶現在能夠利用我們在 Sequel、AIR 和 Analyze Re 的應用程式之間構建的集成，在報價過程中即時審查風險敞口累積情況、評估極端事件風險並確定保單對整體投資組合的影響。這些整合產品使保險公司能夠在幾分鐘內完成此類分析，而以前可能需要至少一天的時間。我們認為這種早期在客戶方面取得的成功可以在倫敦和美國更廣泛地複製。

In Energy and Specialized Markets, PowerAdvocate, our marketing cost intelligence solution, is seeing early success expanding out of their core markets of oil and gas utilities into new end markets, including metals and mining, by leveraging Wood Mackenzie's deep customer relationships. Neal will talk to you about these opportunities in more detail.

在能源和專業市場領域，我們的市場成本情報解決方案 PowerAdvocate 透過利用 Wood Mackenzie 深厚的客戶關係，已從其核心的石油和天然氣公用事業市場擴展到包括金屬和採礦在內的新終端市場，並取得了初步成功。尼爾會更詳細地和你談談這些機會。

In the Financial Services vertical, we've integrated LCI's comprehensive bankruptcy data with our proprietary Argus credit card industry consortium data to more accurately predict bankruptcy as much as 6 to 12 months prior to a bankruptcy filing. This should enable our bank customers to significantly reduce bankruptcy losses through the appropriate utilization and credit line management strategies.

在金融服務領域，我們將 LCI 的全面破產資料與我們專有的 Argus 信用卡產業聯盟資料結合，以便在破產申請提交前 6 至 12 個月更準確地預測破產情況。這應該能夠使我們的銀行客戶透過適當的信貸利用和信貸額度管理策略，大幅減少破產損失。

We had a very active quarter with regard to customer engagement. In fact, in the quarter, we hosted 17 customer events and attendance and engagement were very solid. In February, we hosted our Elevate Conference in Salt Lake City. The attendance included almost 1,000 insurance executive claims adjusters, contractors and vendors from the U.S., Canada and Europe.

本季我們在客戶互動方面非常活躍。事實上，本季我們舉辦了 17 場客戶活動，出席率和參與度都非常高。今年二月，我們在鹽湖城舉辦了 Elevate 大會。出席者包括來自美國、加拿大和歐洲的近 1000 名保險公司高管、理賠員、承包商和供應商。

The event focused on artificial intelligence and automation to enhance the claims process and introduce the many enhanced features and new products offered by our claims team. Insurers clearly understand that disruptive innovation is taking place throughout the industry and they are intent on maintaining a competitive advantage. This is driving increased engagement and focus around increased use of data and analytics as well as digital engagement. The conference featured, first, the use of computer vision such as remote imagery and image interpretation to automate the claims cycle; second, utilizing natural language processing to better respond to policyholders through advanced analytics and chatbots to speed the claims process and better digitally engage with customers; and third, product demos of our enhanced solutions and an innovation lab to showcase our cutting-edge InsurTech. The unprecedented interest in these topics resulted in over 150 requests from customers to meet with our product managers, industry experts and account executives. This level of customer engagement positions us well for future growth.

本次活動重點在於人工智慧和自動化技術，旨在改善理賠流程，並介紹我們理賠團隊提供的眾多增強功能和新產品。保險公司清楚地意識到，顛覆性創新正在整個產業發生，他們決心保持競爭優勢。這將推動人們更加關注數據和分析的更多使用以及數位化參與。本次會議重點介紹了以下幾個方面：首先，利用電腦視覺技術（如遠端影像和影像解釋）來實現理賠流程自動化；其次，利用自然語言處理技術，透過進階分析和聊天機器人更好地回應保單持有人，加快理賠流程，並更好地與客戶進行數位互動；第三，展示了我們增強型解決方案的產品演示以及創新實驗室，以展示我們尖端的保險。人們對這些主題的空前興趣導致超過 150 位客戶要求與我們的產品經理、行業專家和客戶經理會面。這種程度的客戶參與度為我們未來的發展奠定了良好的基礎。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Neal to provide some additional insights on our Energy and Specialized Markets segment. Welcome, Neal.

現在我想把電話交給尼爾，讓他為我們的能源和專業市場部門提供一些額外的見解。歡迎你，尼爾。

Thank you, Scott. It's a pleasure to be here this morning to talk to you about our Energy and Specialized Markets business. I will discuss the macro environment in which the energy and specialized vertical operates where the focus on higher businesses are performing. I will also highlight our recent success leveraging the expertise of our PowerAdvocate business and to the extent of Wood Mackenzie energy and mining customer base. And lastly, we'll give you an update on the customer response to Lens, Wood Mackenzie's new data analytic platform.

謝謝你，斯科特。今天早上很高興能來到這裡和大家談談我們的能源和專業市場業務。我將探討能源和專業垂直產業所處的宏觀環境，並著重在業績表現優異的企業。我也會重點介紹我們最近利用 PowerAdvocate 業務的專業知識以及 Wood Mackenzie 能源和礦業客戶群所取得的成功。最後，我們將向您介紹客戶對 Wood Mackenzie 的新數據分析平台 Lens 的回饋情況。

Regarding the macro environment. As you are aware, the oil and gas industry has been through a very challenging time over the last few years due to the falling oil prices. However, the industry in 2019 is in a much better shape than it was prior to the oil price crash in 2015. The oil and gas industry responded with amazing speed and focus to the drop in oil prices, aggressively cutting costs and rebuilding balance sheets, divesting noncore assets, which allowed them to concentrate upon low-cost, long-life things. In turn, free cash flow has become the key financial metric. Indeed, in 2018, free cash flow surpassed the previous peak seen in 2012 when oil prices were above $100 a barrel.

關於宏觀環境。如您所知，由於油價下跌，石油和天然氣行業在過去幾年經歷了非常艱難的時期。然而，2019 年的石油業狀況比 2015 年油價暴跌之前好得多。石油和天然氣產業對油價下跌做出了驚人的快速反應和專注，積極削減成本、重建資產負債表、剝離非核心資產，從而能夠專注於低成本、長壽命的項目。反過來，自由現金流已成為關鍵的財務指標。事實上，2018 年的自由現金流超過了 2012 年的峰值，當時油價超過每桶 100 美元。

In summary, our oil and gas customers are in robust health with their focus now returning to new investments. We estimate future capital investment will exceed $200 billion in the next few years. As a result, we believe the majors will deliver stronger production growth in the coming 5 years, are poised to recover stronger growth for 5 years down the pre-oil price crash.

總而言之，我們的石油和天然氣客戶目前財務狀況良好，他們的重點已重新轉向新的投資。我們預計未來幾年資本投資將超過2000億美元。因此，我們認為未來 5 年大型石油公司將實現更強勁的產量成長，並預計在未來 5 年內恢復到油價暴跌前的水平。

Simultaneously, our downstream and finance platforms team continued strong demand, particularly in emerging markets leading to new investment in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

同時，我們的下游和金融平台團隊持續保持強勁的需求，尤其是在新興市場，這促使我們在中東、非洲和亞洲進行了新的投資。

Our core energy customers are also grappling with opportunities and challenges presented by climate change and the need for an energy transition to lower carbon energy sources. As you are aware, we have established 2 breakout businesses to specially support and advise our customers in these areas, namely chemicals and power and renewables.

我們的核心能源客戶也在努力應對氣候變遷帶來的機會和挑戰，以及轉型為低碳能源的需求。如您所知，我們已成立 2 個專門的業務部門，以在這些領域（即化學和電力及再生能源）為我們的客戶提供專門的支援和建議。

The chemicals business continues to deliver strong double-digit growth as customers recognize that the primary driver of oil demand is likely to become chemical demand over the medium and long term. This is a far cry from the world we've grown up in, where transportation demand was the key driver. Wood Mackenzie's data across the global energy complex helps our customers navigate this.

由於客戶意識到中長期來看，石油需求的主要驅動力很可能轉變為化學品需求，化學業務持續保持強勁的兩位數成長。這與我們成長的世界截然不同，在那個世界裡，交通運輸需求是主要驅動力。伍德麥肯茲在全球能源領域的數據可以幫助我們的客戶應對這項挑戰。

The power and renewables business is also consistently delivering double-digit growth driven by our traditional renewable developers and operators, complemented by strong demand from Wood Mackenzie's core oil and gas customers as they strive to build material positions outside their core business. We believe global investment in power and renewables will continue its nascent, rapid expansion as the energy mix moves from the molecule to the electron.

電力和再生能源業務也持續實現兩位數成長，這主要得益於我們傳統的再生能源開發商和營運商，以及伍德麥肯茲核心油氣客戶的強勁需求，因為他們正努力在核心業務之外建立重要的市場地位。我們相信，隨著能源結構從分子向電子轉變，全球對電力和再生能源的投資將繼續保持其萌芽狀態，快速擴張。

As previously mentioned, the 2015 oil price crash drove a focus on cost efficiency to bring down production breakevens. Our PowerAdvocate business is ideally placed to help customers through applying cutting-edge analytical techniques to diverse spend data sets, allied with unique industry cost benchmarks. Wood Mackenzie has been able to expand PowerAdvocate's customer set beyond its traditional U.S. utilities to the major oil and gas customers and more recently, into the mining and metals sector. As a result, deal sizes have increased significantly as have margins.

如前所述，2015 年石油價格暴跌促使人們更加重視成本效益，以降低生產損益平衡點。我們的 PowerAdvocate 業務擁有得天獨厚的優勢，能夠透過將尖端分析技術應用於各種支出資料集，並結合獨特的行業成本基準，來幫助客戶。伍德麥肯茲已成功將 PowerAdvocate 的客戶群從傳統的美國公用事業公司擴展到主要的石油和天然氣客戶，最近又擴展到採礦和金屬行業。因此，交易規模和利潤率都大幅成長。

Lastly, I would like to talk about the market reaction to our new data analytics platform, Lens. We launched the first release of Lens late last year, namely the Lower 48 upstream that focuses on exploration and production and continue to work alongside customers to develop a unique offering, which is scalable, secure, mobile, dynamic, timely and integrated along the energy value chain. While we're still very much at the start of the journey, we have already secured 29 paying customers with a strong near-term pipeline of opportunities. But what is truly exciting is the quality of the anchor customers which range from the major oil companies through to the leading independents under both bracket bands.

最後，我想談談市場對我們新的數據分析平台 Lens 的反應。去年底，我們推出了 Lens 的第一個版本，即專注於勘探和生產的美國本土 48 州上游市場，並繼續與客戶合作開發獨特的解決方案，該方案具有可擴展性、安全性、移動性、動態性、及時性和貫穿整個能源價值鏈的整合性。雖然我們仍處於起步階段，但我們已經獲得了 29 位付費客戶，近期還有大量的潛在機會。但真正令人興奮的是核心客戶的質量，他們涵蓋了大型石油公司以及兩個價格區間內的領先獨立石油公司。

With that, let me turn the call over to Lee to cover our financial results.

接下來，我將把電話交給李，讓他來介紹我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Neal. First, I would like to bring to everyone's attention that we have posted a quarterly earnings presentation that is available on our website. The presentation provides background, data, trends and analysis to support our conversation today.

謝謝你，尼爾。首先，我想提醒大家，我們已經在網站上發布了季度財報。本次簡報提供了背景資訊、數據、趨勢和分析，以支持我們今天的討論。

One change you may notice in our disclosure is that we are no longer reporting the non-GAAP measures organic or organic constant currency adjusted EBITDA margins. As the differential between our stated and organic margins decreased and given its complexity for investors, we have decided to simplify and just provide a single total adjusted EBITDA margin. We, of course, will continue to provide organic constant currency growth metrics for both revenue and adjusted EBITDA as we believe these are the best measures to evaluate the health of our overall business and are the metrics we use in our own compensation plans.

您可能會注意到，我們的揭露資訊中有一個變化，那就是我們不再報告非GAAP指標的有機或有機固定匯率調整EBITDA利潤率。由於我們公佈的利潤率與有機利潤率之間的差異縮小，並且考慮到這對投資者來說很複雜，我們決定簡化計算，只提供一個總調整 EBITDA 利潤率。當然，我們將繼續提供以固定匯率計算的自然成長指標，包括收入和調整後 EBITDA，因為我們認為這些是衡量我們整體業務健康狀況的最佳指標，也是我們在自身薪資計畫中使用的指標。

Finally, we have adopted the new lease standard, ASC 842, in the first quarter of 2019 and the impact to our income statement was immaterial.

最後，我們在 2019 年第一季採用了新的租賃準則 ASC 842，對我們的損益表的影響微乎其微。

Moving to the financial results for the quarter. On a consolidated and GAAP basis, revenue grew 7.5% to $625 million. Net income increased 1% to $134 million for the quarter. Diluted GAAP EPS was $0.81 for the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 2.5% compared with the same period in 2018.

接下來來看看本季的財務業績。以合併及GAAP準則計算，營收成長7.5%，達6.25億美元。本季淨利成長1%，達1.34億美元。2019 年第一季稀釋 GAAP 每股收益為 0.81 美元，比 2018 年同期成長 2.5%。

GAAP net income and diluted GAAP EPS was impacted in the quarter by increased earnout expense for a number of acquisitions that have been performing well relative to earnout targets.

本季度，由於多項收購項目的獲利支付支出增加，GAAP淨利和稀釋後GAAP每股收益受到影響，這些收購項目的獲利支付業績均優於預期目標。

Let's now focus our quarterly discussion on our organic constant currency results for all year-over-year growth rates and to eliminate the impact of currency fluctuations, recent acquisitions for which we don't have full year-over-year comparisons, nonoperating acquisition-related costs including earnouts and nonrecurring items.

現在，讓我們將季度討論的重點放在所有同比增長率的有機增長（按固定匯率計算）結果上，並消除匯率波動、近期收購（我們沒有完整的同比比較數據）、非經營性收購相關成本（包括盈利能力支付和非經常性項目）的影響。

On an organic constant currency basis, Verisk delivered revenue growth of 6.7% in the first quarter of 2019, reflecting strong organic growth across the Insurance segment and improving results in Energy and Specialized Markets. While below our long-term target for organic constant currency revenue growth, the results reflect the impact of some carryover nonrecurring storm and implementation revenue in the prior year period.

以有機固定匯率計算，Verisk 在 2019 年第一季實現了 6.7% 的收入成長，這反映了保險業務的強勁有機成長以及能源和專業市場業績的改善。雖然低於我們長期有機固定匯率收入成長目標，但該結果反映了去年同期一些結轉的非經常性風暴和實施收入的影響。

Organic constant currency adjusted EBITDA growth was 6.8%, reflecting modest EBITDA margin expansion on an organic basis. Total adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter of 46.7% was up from 46.4% in the prior year period, reflecting the leverage in our business model and cost discipline. This increase in total adjusted EBITDA margin includes both organic and organic revenue and EBITDA. Acquisitions reduced adjusted EBITDA margin by 27 basis points in the period, demonstrating our ability to absorb acquisitions and still expand margins through organic operating leverage.

經固定匯率調整後的有機 EBITDA 成長率為 6.8%，反映出有機 EBITDA 利潤率的溫和擴張。本季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 46.7%，高於去年同期的 46.4%，這反映了我們商業模式的槓桿作用和成本控制。此次調整後 EBITDA 利潤率的增加包括有機和有機收入及 EBITDA。收購導致本期調整後 EBITDA 利潤率下降 27 個基點，這表明我們有能力吸收收購並繼續透過內生經營槓桿擴大利潤率。

Let's turn now to our segment results on an organic constant currency basis. As you see in the press release, Insurance reported 7.3% revenue growth while adjusted EBITDA increased 6.5%, reflecting the impact of some storm revenue in the prior year period.

現在讓我們來看看以固定匯率計算的各業務板塊業績。正如您在新聞稿中看到的，保險業務收入增長了 7.3%，調整後的 EBITDA 增長了 6.5%，這反映了上一年部分風暴收入的影響。

Within our underwriting and rating business, growth was balanced across personal lines and commercial lines. We saw healthy growth in our industry-standard insurance programs, property-specific underwriting and catastrophe modeling solutions revenue. Within claims, the strong growth was driven by solid performance in repair cost estimating solutions, claims analytics and remote imagery solutions. This was offset in part by modest weakness in workers' compensation claim resolution services.

在我們的承保和評級業務中，個人險和商業險的成長保持平衡。我們的行業標準保險項目、特定財產承保和災害建模解決方案收入均實現了健康成長。在理賠領域，強勁的成長得益於維修成本估算解決方案、理賠分析和遠端影像解決方案的出色表現。部分原因是工傷賠償申請處理服務略有疲軟。

Total adjusted EBITDA margin declined 53 basis points to 53.1% from 53.7% in the prior year period. This decline reflects the impact of some higher-margin storm revenue in the prior year period in claims, which reduced current period margin and a negative 30 basis point impact from acquisitions in the quarter offset by an improvement in the underwriting and ratings margin. Our Insurance margins were also negatively affected by increased legacy pension expense related to year-end 2018 market performance.

經調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率從去年同期的 53.7% 下降 53 個基點至 53.1%。這一下降反映了上年同期一些高利潤率的風暴收入計入索賠的影響，這降低了當期利潤率，以及本季度收購帶來的 30 個基點的負面影響，但承保和評級利潤率的提高抵消了這一影響。由於 2018 年底市場表現導致遺留退休金支出增加，我們的保險利潤率也受到了負面影響。

Energy and Specialized Markets delivered revenue growth of 6.7% for the quarter, building on the trend of continuing sequential improvement. Strong growth in marketing cost intelligence solutions and core research revenues drove the growth. We also had positive contributions from our environmental health and safety and global risk analysis business.

能源和專業市場業務本季營收成長 6.7%，延續了持續環比成長的趨勢。市場成本情報解決方案和核心研究收入的強勁成長推動了整體成長。我們的環境健康與安全以及全球風險分析業務也做出了積極貢獻。

As Neal mentioned earlier, we are continuing to drive growth opportunities by leveraging our strong customer relationships in the energy industry across all of our energy businesses as we have the data and solutions that can help our customers be more efficient and effective, driving revenue growth and delivering cost savings.

正如尼爾之前提到的，我們將繼續利用我們在能源行業強大的客戶關係，在所有能源業務中推動成長機會，因為我們擁有可以幫助客戶提高效率和效益的數據和解決方案，從而推動收入成長並節省成本。

Adjusted EBITDA increased a healthy 14.1% despite ongoing investments in breakout opportunities like Lens and our chemicals, subsurface and power and renewables breakouts.

儘管持續投資於像 Lens 這樣的突破性機會以及我們的化學、地下、電力和可再生能源突破性業務，調整後的 EBITDA 仍實現了 14.1% 的健康成長。

Total adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 29.6% from 26.8% driven by strong leverage on revenue growth with margin expansion at WoodMac and the inclusion of PowerAdvocate in the organic results for Energy and Specialized Markets.

受 WoodMac 利潤率擴張以及 PowerAdvocate 併入能源和專業市場有機績效的推動，經調整的 EBITDA 總利潤率從 26.8% 擴大到 29.6%。

Financial Services revenue increased 0.7% in the quarter, led by solid growth in spend-informed analytics and portfolio management, but offset by weakness in our developing enterprise data management solutions. We continue to experience some challenging year-over-year comparisons due to some nonrecurring implementation revenues in the prior year quarter.

本季金融服務營收成長 0.7%，主要得益於支出資訊分析和投資組合管理的穩健成長，但被我們正在開發的企業資料管理解決方案的疲軟所抵銷。由於去年同期存在一些非經常性實施收入，我們仍面臨一些具有挑戰性的年比比較。

Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 7.6%, and total adjusted EBITDA margin declined to 30.8% from 33.5%, also a result of some nonrecurring, high-margin implementation revenues in the prior year period.

調整後 EBITDA 下降了 7.6%，調整後 EBITDA 總利潤率從 33.5% 下降至 30.8%，這也是由於去年同期一些非經常性、高利潤率的實施收入所致。

As we discussed previously, we have been transitioning Verisk Financial Services from a top-down orientation to a bottoms-up approach with an emphasis on steady growth, and this quarter represents both progress in that exercise and reflects the impact of a productivity and profitability review of individual business lines. We expect that investors will more clearly see the underlying growth and potential of the business over time as we continue with this transition.

正如我們之前討論的那樣，我們一直在將 Verisk Financial Services 從自上而下的導向轉變為自下而上的方法，重點是穩步增長，本季度既代表了這一努力的進展，也反映了對各個業務線進行生產力和盈利能力審查的影響。我們預計，隨著轉型工作的持續推進，投資人將逐漸更清楚地看到公司的潛在成長和發展前景。

Reported interest expense was $32 million in the quarter, down 2.7% from the prior year quarter due to the repayment of our $250 million of 4 7/8% senior notes in January 2019 with borrowings from our revolving credit facility.

本季度報告的利息支出為 3,200 萬美元，比上年同期下降 2.7%，原因是我們在 2019 年 1 月透過循環信貸額度借款償還了 2.5 億美元的 4 7/8% 高級票據。

Total reported debt was $2.6 billion at March 31, 2019, down from $2.7 billion at year-end 2018. Our leverage at the end of the first quarter was 2.2x.

截至 2019 年 3 月 31 日，公司報告的總債務為 26 億美元，低於 2018 年底的 27 億美元。第一季末，我們的槓桿率為 2.2 倍。

During the quarter, we successfully issued $400 million of 4.125% 10-year senior notes. The transaction was oversubscribed, reflecting the strong demand for our credit and our ability to easily access the unsecured investment-grade debt capital markets. We used proceeds to repay amounts outstanding under the revolving credit facility and for general corporate purposes.

本季度，我們成功發行了 4 億美元的 4.125% 10 年期高級票據。此交易認購額超額，反映出市場對我們信貸的強勁需求以及我們輕鬆進入無擔保投資等級債務資本市場的能力。我們將所得款項用於償還循環信貸項下的未償款項以及用於一般公司用途。

Our consolidated cash and cash equivalents were $180 million at March 31, 2019.

截至 2019 年 3 月 31 日，我們的合併現金及現金等價物為 1.8 億美元。

Our reported effective tax rate was 21% for the quarter compared to 18% in the prior year quarter, primarily due to a lower level of option exercises. We maintain our estimate of our effective tax rate in the full year 2019 to be between 19% and 21%.

本季報告的實際稅率為 21%，而去年同期為 18%，這主要是由於選擇權行使量較低所致。我們維持 2019 年全年實際稅率的估計，即在 19% 至 21% 之間。

Adjusted net income was $171 million and diluted adjusted EPS was $1.03 for the first quarter, up approximately 10% from the prior year in both cases. This increase reflects organic growth in the business, contributions from acquisitions and lower share count. The benefits were partially offset by an increase in depreciation and amortization expense and a higher effective tax rate.

第一季調整後淨收入為 1.71 億美元，稀釋後調整每股收益為 1.03 美元，兩項數據均比去年同期成長約 10%。這一成長反映了業務的自然成長、收購帶來的貢獻以及流通股數量的減少。收益部分被折舊和攤提費用的增加以及較高的實際稅率所抵銷。

Net cash provided by operating activities was $366 million for the quarter, up 12% from the prior year. Capital expenditures were $45 million for the quarter, up 4.6% from the prior year, reflecting primarily increased software development to promote growth in organic businesses and recent acquisitions. CapEx represented 7.2% of total revenue, reflecting the expected decline in capital intensity as the result of reduced capital spending on the Geomni initiative following its initial ramp-up.

本季經營活動產生的淨現金流為 3.66 億美元，比上年同期成長 12%。本季資本支出為 4,500 萬美元，比上年同期成長 4.6%，主要反映了為促進有機業務成長和近期收購而增加的軟體開發投入。資本支出佔總收入的 7.2%，反映出由於 Geomni 計畫在初期啟動後資本支出減少，資本密集度預期下降。

Free cash flow was $321 million for the quarter, an increase of 13.1% from the prior year.

本季自由現金流為 3.21 億美元，比上年同期成長 13.1%。

During the first quarter, we returned $116 million in capital to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. We repurchased approximately 637,000 shares at a weighted average price of $117.82 for a total cost of $75 million. At March 31, 2019, we had $353 million remaining under our share repurchase authorization. In addition, we initiated a new $50 million accelerated share repurchase to be executed in the second quarter.

第一季度，我們透過股票回購和分紅向股東返還了 1.16 億美元的資本。我們以每股 117.82 美元的加權平均價格回購了約 637,000 股股票，總成本為 7,500 萬美元。截至 2019 年 3 月 31 日，我們的股票回購授權額度還剩 3.53 億美元。此外，我們啟動了一項新的 5,000 萬美元加速股票回購計劃，將於第二季執行。

On March 29, 2019, we paid our first cash dividend of $0.25 per share of common stock. And on April 29, 2019, our Board of Directors approved a cash dividend of $0.20 per share -- $0.25 per share of common stock payable on June 28 for shareholders of record on June 14, 2019.

2019 年 3 月 29 日，我們首次派發現金股息，每股普通股 0.25 美元。2019 年 4 月 29 日，我們的董事會批准派發每股 0.20 美元的現金股利－每股普通股 0.25 美元，將於 6 月 28 日支付給 2019 年 6 月 14 日登記在冊的股東。

Before I conclude and looking ahead to the next quarter, I want to inform you of an accounting impact that will affect our financial results beginning next quarter.

在結束今天的演講並展望下一季之前，我想告知大家一項會計方面的調整，該調整將從下個季度開始影響我們的財務表現。

Based upon the vesting provisions in our share-based compensation plan, GAAP accounting requires that we expense the full impact of share-based compensation in the period for all employees upon the attainment of age 62 instead of amortizing the expense over the vesting term. Scott Stephenson, our CEO, will turn 62 during the second quarter of 2019. And as a result, we will incur non -- we will incur incremental noncash costs of approximately $6 million related to the expensing of a share-based compensation in the second quarter.

根據我們股份支付計劃中的歸屬條款，GAAP 會計準則要求我們在員工年滿 62 歲時，將所有股份支付的全部影響計入當期費用，而不是在歸屬期內攤銷該費用。我們的執行長史考特史蒂芬森將於 2019 年第二季年滿 62 歲。因此，我們將產生約 600 萬美元的非現金增量成本，與第二季以股份為基礎的薪酬費用化有關。

That said, we will see a benefit in the remaining quarters of 2019 and into 2020. Also on an ongoing basis, there will be a discernible concentration of compensation expense and impact on margin in the second quarter as new stock awards are granted, but this will be consistent over time and simply reflect a timing impact.

也就是說，我們將在 2019 年剩餘的幾個季度以及 2020 年看到好處。此外，隨著新股票獎勵的授予，第二季度薪酬支出和利潤率將出現明顯的集中，但這將持續存在，僅反映了時間上的影響。

We are excited about the opportunities to invest in our business and continue to manage capital prudently through internal investment, strategic acquisitions and the return of capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. We remain confident that we have the financial strength and capital structure to support investment for the long term.

我們對投資業務的機會感到興奮，並將繼續透過內部投資、策略性收購以及透過股利和股票回購向股東返還資本來審慎管理資本。我們仍然相信，我們擁有足夠的財務實力和資本結構來支持長期投資。

We continue to appreciate all the support and interest in Verisk. (Operator Instructions) I'll ask the operator to open the line now for questions.

我們衷心感謝大家對 Verisk 的支持與關注。（操作員指示）我現在請操作員開通提問專線。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question is from the line of Gary Bisbee with Bank of America.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自美國銀行的 Gary Bisbee 的線路。

Now the question on the energy business and sort of a 2-parter. Obviously, great margin as you're returning the business to growth, but it also looked like costs didn't grow and that was a sharp slowdown relative to the pace throughout 2018. So is that -- was there anything going on or is that sustainable? And the sort of Part B of that is just can you give us any sense how much you're investing in the newer areas and why we wouldn't see cost growing more quickly as you expand those businesses?

現在來談談能源產業的問題，這個問題可以分成兩個部分。顯然，隨著業務恢復成長，利潤空間很大，但成本似乎也沒有成長，與 2018 年全年的成長速度相比，這是一個急劇放緩。所以，這種情況──到底有沒有發生什麼事，或者說，這種情況能持續下去嗎？第二部分的問題是，您能否告訴我們您在新興領域投入了多少資金，以及為什麼隨著您拓展這些業務，成本成長速度不會更快？

Well, let -- this is Scott. Let me just give you a general characterization, then Lee, maybe you want to -- or excuse me, Neal, maybe you want to jump in with any particular comments. But the way that we are operating in that business, it's a very balanced agenda where we are actually investing a lot in the categories that we talked about before, where you've got Lens, you've got subsurface, chemicals, power and renewables. But then where the rest of the business is concerned, there's been a lot of discipline. And so this is back into say, the core of the research activities that we do and you can just see that in the way that the operation is actually moving forward. So no, it's an investment-minded agenda, but we're being selective about where we're spending. Neal, I wonder if you want to add anything to that.

好了，這位是斯科特。我先為你做一個大致的描述，然後李，也許你想——或者抱歉，尼爾，也許你想插幾句評論。但是，我們在該業務中的運作方式非常平衡，我們實際上對我們之前談到的類別進行了大量投資，包括透鏡、地下、化學品、電力和再生能源。但就業務的其他方面而言，公司一直保持著嚴格的紀律。所以，這又回到了我們研究活動的核心，你可以從實際進行的工作方式中看出這一點。所以，不，這是一個以投資為導向的計劃，但我們對支出方向的選擇很謹慎。尼爾，不知道你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

No. Certainly, Scott. Also on the Lens side, the big focus of Lens is also to drive internal efficiencies, and we're really pleased to see that margin expansion as we roll out Lens.

不。當然，斯科特。此外，Lens 方面，Lens 的主要重點也是提高內部效率，我們很高興看到隨著 Lens 的推出，利潤率有所提高。

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

你的下一個問題來自馬納夫·帕特奈克與巴克萊銀行的合作系列。

Maybe I'll move to another segment on the financial side. I was hoping you could give us a little bit more color and maybe help quantify a little bit what the growth of the underlying businesses that are doing well is. And when do you think the EDM piece stops becoming a headwind to the overall growth?

或許我會轉到金融領域的其他板塊。我希望您能提供更詳細的信息，並幫助我們量化一下那些表現良好的基礎業務的成長。你認為 EDM 元素何時才能不再阻礙整體成長？

So Lee, do you want to start with just kind of -- at the results level and then I can provide a little color on the context?

所以李，你想先從結果層面入手，然後我再補充一些背景資訊嗎？

Yes. Sure. So Manav, thanks for the question. We saw solid growth in that -- the spend-informed analytics and fraud and credit risk management. So we described that as north of 10% year-over-year growth in that. The portfolio management was in the mid-single-digits range. That obviously is kind of the core of the business. And with regard to Enterprise Data Management, that is where we had a year-over-year decline but recognizing that, that reflects some of the implementation revenue in the first quarter. So that effect is concentrated within that sector. And it also continues to reflect across that business, the ongoing development and some of the greater choppiness associated with a new and developing business segment.

是的。當然。馬納夫，謝謝你的提問。我們看到這方面實現了穩健成長——支出資訊分析以及詐欺和信用風險管理。因此，我們將其描述為同比增長超過 10%。投資組合管理水準為個位數中段。這顯然是這項業務的核心。至於企業資料管理方面，我們出現了同比下降，但考慮到這一點，這反映了第一季的部分實施收入。因此，這種影響集中在該領域內。而且，這種趨勢也持續反映在該業務的各個方面，包括新興業務板塊的持續發展以及與之相關的較大波動性。

Yes. No, that's -- and all I would add to that is that's one of those parts of the business where we've given real attention to try to smooth out some of the cycle that can exist there. But it is inherently a little bit lumpy year just because it's moment in time really helping our customers improve their data analytic environment.

是的。不，那是——我只想補充一點，這是我們業務中非常重視的一個方面，我們努力消除其中可能存在的一些週期性波動。但這一年本身就有點起伏不定，因為這是我們真正幫助客戶改善數據分析環境的時期。

Your next question is from the line of Hamzah Mazari with Macquarie.

你的下一個問題與 Hamzah Mazari 和 Macquarie 的關係有關。

I was hoping if you could sort of just quantify or give us a sense of how much elevated investment spend do you have going through your P&L and CapEx? So you talked about Cloud Migration, we talked about Geomni. Just trying to gauge longer term, how should we think about a step change in your free cash flow when this elevated investment spend sort of comes down to a more normalized level? Is there a way to think about that at a high level?

我希望您能量化一下，或者讓我們大致了解一下，在您的損益表和資本支出中，有多少投資支​​出處於較高水平？所以你談到了雲端遷移，我們談到了Geomni。我只是想從長遠角度來評估一下，當這種高額投資支出逐漸恢復到正常水平時，您的自由現金流會發生怎樣的變化？有沒有辦法從更高的層次思考這個問題？

So Hamzah, thanks for the question. I think there is a way to think about it and it is -- it revolves around CapEx. And so a lot of our investment takes the form in -- of internally developed software and so that's captured in CapEx. And as we had discussed previously, a lot of the acceleration was associated with the ramp-up of Geomni and the purchase of planes and sensors to build scale in that business. And while we continue to invest in that business, it is at a lower level on -- proportionally relative to revenues than it had been in the past. And hopefully, as you saw in this quarter, the capital intensity, in other words, the CapEx as a percentage of revenue, showed a decline relative to that level. And you saw in terms of the absolute growth rate a slower level of growth. And so I think that is one way to think about the level of capital intensity within the business. Beyond that, we have OpEx expenses associated with a number of our breakout initiatives and we expect that to continue to grow as we fund these new breakout initiatives across the business. Some of them are profitable, some of them are at an earlier stage where they may be lower-margin or not profitable yet. But across the board, we would expect that investment to continue to expand at a reasonable pace and scaled against our overall operating margin expansion that we seek to achieve.

哈姆扎，謝謝你的提問。我認為可以從一個角度來思考這個問題，那就是──它圍繞著資本支出。因此，我們的許多投資都以內部開發的軟體的形式體現出來，而這些都計入了資本支出。正如我們之前討論過的，這種加速發展與 Geomni 的快速擴張以及購買飛機和感測器以擴大該業務規模有關。雖然我們仍在繼續投資這項業務，但與過去相比，其投資水準（相對於收入而言）已降低。希望正如您在本季度所看到的，資本密集度（即資本支出佔收入的百分比）相對於之前的水平有所下降。從絕對成長率來看，成長速度有所放緩。所以我認為這是思考企業資本密集程度的方法。除此之外，我們還有一些與我們的突破性計劃相關的營運支出，我們預計隨著我們為公司範圍內這些新的突破性計劃提供資金，這些支出還會繼續增長。有些項目已經獲利，有些項目還處於早期階段，利潤率可能較低，或尚未獲利。但總體而言，我們預期這項投資將繼續以合理的速度成長，並與我們力求實現的整體營業利潤率成長保持同步。

Your next question is from the line of Toni Kaplan with Morgan Stanley.

你的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的東尼卡普蘭。

Toni, are you there?

東尼，你在嗎？

Can you hear me?

你聽得到我嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Energy and specialized saw the highest organic growth rate in 3 years and Neal, you talked about how you see stronger growth in the coming 5 years. The data source that I use for industry CapEx trends has been revising down sort of growth rates in the next couple of years. So I wanted to sort of get a sense of, if you have any color on how you're thinking about -- are you outperforming the market because of the products that you're providing? Is your pipeline strong because of your sales process or products? I guess just what's the disparity between maybe some of the data sources and what you're seeing.

能源和專業領域在過去 3 年中實現了最高的有機成長率，尼爾，你曾說過你認為未來 5 年將出現更強勁的成長。我用來了解產業資本支出趨勢的數據來源一直在下調未來幾年的成長率預期。所以我想了解一下，您對於「您提供的產品是否使您的業績優於市場」這個問題有什麼看法？你的銷售管道之所以強大，是因為你的銷售流程還是產品？我想問的是，某些資料來源和您所看到的資料之間可能存在什麼差異。

Neal, do you want to take that?

尼爾，你想拿嗎？

Yes. No, absolutely, Scott. I think first of all, we see modest growth on investment of our key customers over the next 5 years, Toni. As I mentioned in the introduction, folks are now starting to look more at investment rather than being prudent on the cost side, which is a great operating environment for Wood Mackenzie. And as you know, the traditional strengths of Wood Mackenzie is the credibility with the market, our unique data sets, and then we're adding to that in terms of a really intuitive data analytic platform in Lens. And as I mentioned in the introduction, the launch of that in the fall of last year, we already have 29 paying customers. We continue to see that growth going over the medium term.

是的。不，當然，斯科特。東尼，我認為首先，我們預計未來 5 年我們主要客戶的投資將實現溫和成長。正如我在引言中提到的，人們現在開始更專注於投資，而不是在成本方面謹慎行事，這對伍德麥肯錫來說是一個很好的經營環境。如你所知，伍德麥肯茲的傳統優勢在於其在市場上的信譽和獨特的數據集，而我們現在又透過 Lens 這個非常直觀的數據分析平台進一步增強了這些優勢。正如我在引言中提到的，自去年秋季推出以來，我們已經有 29 位付費客戶。我們預計中期內這種成長動能將持續下去。

Hey, Neal, just a thought or really a question for you at the contextual level, is there also some effect in the Lower 48? Maybe it's not so much about CapEx intensity as it is about kind of operating agility and the ability to rebalance your operations very quickly in the unconventionals. I wonder if there's just a little bit of a mix shift there also. Toni is looking at macro data sources. Maybe a little bit of the rebalance towards Lower 48. Maybe that's in the CapEx number a little bit also?

嘿，尼爾，我有個想法或說一個問題想問你，從背景層面來看，美國本土48州是否也存在一些影響？或許關鍵不在於資本支出的規模，而是營運的彈性以及在非常規情況下快速調整營運的能力。我懷疑那裡的成分比例是否也略有變化。托尼正在研究宏觀資料來源。或許會稍微調整一下對美國本土48州的平衡。或許這部分也包含在資本支出裡了？

Yes. No, absolutely, Scott. Toni, I was referring to global CapEx. Scott is absolutely right. What we're starting to see is a little bit more discipline coming into the operators' plane in the Lower 48.

是的。不，當然，斯科特。東尼，我指的是全球資本支出。斯科特說得完全正確。我們開始看到，美國本土48州的業者在飛機運作上變得更加自律了。

Your next question is from the line of Tim McHugh with William Blair.

你的下一個問題來自提姆·麥克休和威廉·布萊爾的對話。

Just wanted to ask on the insurance side. Maybe can you elaborate a little bit more on the claims side of the business? I noticed -- I guess given the tough comp, it seems like Xactware still grew even despite the comparison. So can you talk a little bit about what's driving the growth there? And I think this is one of the first times you -- at least in the presentation, you've highlighted remote aerial or kind of remote imagery solutions. So have you seen a noticeable kind of pickup in adoption of that amongst the client base?

我只是想問一下保​​險方面的資訊。能否再詳細介紹一下理賠方面的業務？我注意到——我想考慮到激烈的競爭，Xactware 似乎即便麵臨這樣的競爭，仍然實現了成長。那麼，您能否談談推動該地區成長的因素是什麼？我認為這是你第一次——至少在這次演講中——重點介紹了遠程航空或遠程圖像解決方案。那麼，您是否注意到客戶群中對這種做法的接受度明顯提高？

Mark, do you want to take that one?

馬克，你想接那個任務嗎？

Sure. So I think you've captured many of the themes. So first of all, I will let you know that across all of the businesses, that would be the Xactware business, where the repair cost estimate continues to be very robust and strong. There was a little bit of storm-related revenue back in 1Q of '18. So we kind of grew over that. Our ClaimSearch or claims analytics business continues to be very well penetrated but very nicely growing. We continue to add new customers outside of insurance as well as some of the analytic solutions. We signed a lot of very large contracts last year, which spurred growth. So those are onboard this year and we continue to do well with those customers. And thirdly, inside that category, Geomni is clearly a contributor to growth from an organic perspective, and we continue to do well in taking customers and expanding the breadth of Geomni in the aerial imagery. So strength across the board.

當然。所以我覺得你已經抓住了許多主題。首先，我要告訴大家的是，在所有業務中，Xactware 業務的維修成本估算一直非常穩健可靠。2018 年第一季曾有一些與風暴相關的收入。所以我們就慢慢克服這個問題了。我們的理賠搜尋或理賠分析業務市場滲透率仍然很高，但成長動能良好。我們不斷拓展保險以外的新客戶，以及一些分析解決方案的客戶。去年我們簽訂了很多大額合同，刺激了公司的發展。所以今年這些客戶都加入了我們，我們與這些客戶的合作也一直很順利。第三，在這個類別中，Geomni 顯然是有機成長的貢獻者，我們在吸引客戶和擴大 Geomni 在空拍影像方面的覆蓋範圍方面繼續表現出色。所以各方面都很強。

Your next question is from the line of Jeff Meuler with Baird.

你的下一個問題來自 Jeff Meuler 與 Baird 的合作計畫。

So as I think about Lens or, I guess, previously WoodMac 2.0 and what was talked about at the time of the acquisition originally, I think part of it, and I think you were referencing this, Neal, was related to the way that data is aggregated and automating that process. So I guess where are you in that journey? Have you largely automated the data aggregation process from the large energy companies that are supplying you with data? And then related to that, are there new fields of data, additional data that you're getting now that the process is aggregated -- or is automated?

所以，當我想到 Lens，或者更確切地說，以前的 WoodMac 2.0，以及最初收購時所討論的內容時，我認為其中一部分（我想你也提到過這一點，Neal），與數據聚合的方式以及自動化該過程有關。所以我想知道你目前處於這段旅程的哪個階段？您是否已基本實現了從向您提供數據的大型能源公司獲取數據的自動化數據聚合過程？與此相關的是，隨著流程的聚合或自動化，您是否獲得了新的資料欄位或額外資料？

Neal, your favorite topic. Have a go.

尼爾，你最喜歡的話題是什麼？試試看。

Thank you, Scott. Absolutely a big win this year in terms of margin expansion was that automation that you referred to. We began the rollout of Lens, which is a truly end-to-end process of reimagining which data sets we want to secure, how we automate the capture and the transformation of that data and then for our analysts in turn to add their interpretation and produce the products for clients. We started an onshore U.S., Lower 48, exploration and production. And we're currently in the process of rolling that out to the global upstream this year. And the second part of the question, we're always looking for new data sets. But the wonderful thing about this automation and bringing on a new Chief Data Officer, Nabeel Azar, is he is tirelessly looking for new data sets, be them in the public domain, be them through partnerships or indeed, other routes.

謝謝你，斯科特。今年在利潤率擴張方面，您提到的自動化絕對是一大勝利。我們開始推出 Lens，這是一個真正的端到端流程，重新構想我們想要保護哪些數據集，如何自動捕獲和轉換這些數據，然後讓我們的分析師添加他們的解釋並為客戶生成產品。我們在美國本土48州開展了陸上勘探和生產業務。我們目前正在推進這項技術於今年在全球上游地區的推廣。至於問題的第二部分，我們一直在尋找新的資料集。但這種自動化以及新任首席數據官納比爾·阿扎爾的加入最棒的地方在於，他孜孜不倦地尋找新的數據集，無論是公共領域的數據集，還是通過合作關係或其他途徑獲得的數據集。

Your next question is from the line of Andrew Steinerman with JPMorgan.

你的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Andrew Steinerman。

It's Andrew. Lee, Verisk [score] reported margin expansion in the first quarter and obviously, you're still investing in key growth initiatives. Higher levels of investment spending was accomplished in 2018. Lee, with that in mind, is Verisk placed to have reported margins to be up directionally this year?

是安德魯。Lee，Verisk [評分] 報告稱第一季利潤率有所增長，顯然，你們仍在投資關鍵成長計畫。2018年實現了更高水準的投資支出。Lee，考慮到這一點，Verisk今年的利潤率是否有可能實現正成長？

So Andrew, I appreciate the question. Again, looking for guidance on margin. We are striving every quarter to increase our revenues at a higher rate than EBITDA. We achieved that this quarter despite investments and we'll continue to work to deliver on that. I think certainly as we said, the growth in this quarter was impacted by some tougher year-over-year comparisons, which I think diminish over time and so that certainly creates an opportunity for us to show some improvement ahead if we're successful there.

安德魯，感謝你的提問。再次尋求關於利潤率的指導。我們每季都在努力實現營收成長高於 EBITDA 成長速度。儘管投入了資金，但我們本季還是實現了這一目標，我們將繼續努力實現這一目標。我認為正如我們所說，本季的成長確實受到了同比數據較為嚴峻的影響，但隨著時間的推移，這種影響會逐漸減弱，如果我們能夠取得成功，這無疑為我們未來的發展創造了機會。

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

你的下一個問題來自高盛的George Tong。

The underwriting and ratings revenue piece of the insurance business grew 6.8% in the quarter, which was slightly slower than claims revenue growth and this is pretty typical. Underwriting typically grows at a slower rate than claims. Can you discuss internal initiatives that maybe accelerate the pace of growth for underwriting to the point where it could potentially surpass the claims growth?

本季保險業務的承保和評級收入成長了 6.8%，略低於理賠收入的成長速度，這種情況相當典型。承保業務的成長速度通常低於理賠業務的成長速度。您能否探討可能加快承保業務成長速度，使其成長速度超過理賠業務成長速度的內部舉措？

Mark, do you want to take that one?

馬克，你想接那個任務嗎？

Sure. So I first need to highlight the -- what we will refer to as our business focused on the pricing and underwriting and its -- the forms and coverage. That's a business that is kind of the foundation of Verisk for many, many years. It provides a very, very solid base. But at the same time, we're well penetrated and it's difficult for that business to grow all that dramatically. So what we've been trying to do is grow around that, and we have added many new products and tried to go international to accelerate that growth. And in those areas, we are seeing very high double-digit growth to accelerate the overall growth of underwriting and rating. So we're pleased with the investment that's being made. We're very pleased with the progress that's happening. But to answer your question, international is kind of one way we're going to try to extend and expand analytics beyond those core solutions, very important. And as I described, inside this category, in the quarter, cat bonds and the cat bond market was a little slow. But nonetheless, our catastrophe modeling continues to, on a baseline, grow nicely with some of those efforts. So I hope I provided you with a little bit of the portfolio and how we think about it to answer your question.

當然。因此，我首先需要重點介紹——我們將稱之為我們專注於定價和承保的業務——以及它的——表格和承保範圍。這項業務多年來一直是 Verisk 的基石。它提供了一個非常非常堅實的基礎。但同時，我們的市場滲透率很高，因此該業務很難實現大幅成長。因此，我們一直在努力圍繞這一點發展壯大，我們增加了許多新產品，並努力走向國際市場，以加速這一成長。在這些領域，我們看到兩位數的高速成長，這將加速承保和評級業務的整體成長。因此，我們對這項投資感到滿意。我們對目前的進展非常滿意。但要回答你的問題，國際化是我們嘗試將分析功能擴展到核心解決方案之外的一種方式，這一點非常重要。正如我之前所描述的那樣，在這個類別中，本季巨災債券和巨災債券市場表現略顯低迷。但儘管如此，在這些努力的基礎上，我們的災害建模總體上仍在穩步發展。所以，我希望我已經向您簡要介紹了我們的作品集以及我們的設計思路，​​以回答您的問題。

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

你的下一個問題來自 Joseph Foresi 與 Cantor Fitzgerald 的傳承。

This is Drew Kootman on for Joe. You guys mentioned that the integration, you guys have been having a lot of success on recent acquisitions. I was hoping you could highlight just a couple of those and discuss the pipeline you're seeing moving forward.

這裡是德魯‧庫特曼替喬報道。你們提到整合方面，而且你們最近在收購方面取得了很大的成功。我希望您能重點介紹其中幾個例子，並討論您看到的後續發展方向。

So Neal talked about some of the ways that we've been able to get the cost intelligence side of the business and the supply side and demand side of the business all synchronized in the marketplace. So that's kind of the view on the energy front, and we also talked about how we pulled together LCI and Argus data sets in order to work on some of the more fraud and bankruptcy-related topics that you got in Financial Services. Mark, anything you want to -- do you want to talk a little bit more about sort of the trifecta, Sequel, AIR and Analyze Re?

所以尼爾談到了我們如何在市場上實現業務成本情報、供應和需求的同步。這就是我們在能源領域的看法，我們也討論瞭如何將 LCI 和 Argus 資料集整合在一起，以便處理金融服務領域中一些與詐欺和破產相關的議題。馬克，你想說什麼？你想再多談談「三部曲」——《續集》、《AIR》和《Analyze Re》嗎？

Yes. I mean referenced kind of in a high level. From an international perspective, I think we found some very nice opportunities in the U.K., specifically in the London market. We are seeing customers who kind of see the vision, like the ability that consumer analytic and data in a way they see most comfortable, but know that we are behind the scenes seamlessly integrating it, which has created an opportunity to walk into a customer, talk about a suite of solutions and them coming to us and saying, "Geez, don't you also have this product? Wouldn't that fit in?" And in a surprisingly and very good way, contracts and opportunities are growing, and I give a lot of credit to the team in the U.K. and how all of our business have really thought about a way to satisfy our customers. That has been reassuring and it continues to show a lot of promise.

是的。我的意思是，從比較宏觀的角度提及一下。從國際角度來看，我認為我們在英國，尤其是在倫敦市場，發現了一些非常好的機會。我們看到一些客戶大致理解了我們的願景，例如以他們最舒適的方式進行消費者分析和數據收集，但他們也知道我們在幕後無縫地將其整合起來，這創造了一個機會，讓我們能夠走進客戶那裡，談論一系列解決方案，然後他們會走過來對我們說：“哎呀，你們不是也有這個產品嗎？”這不合適嗎？ 「令人驚訝的是，合約和機會正在以非常好的方式成長，我非常感謝英國團隊，以及我們整個業務部門如何真正思考如何滿足客戶的需求。這令人感到欣慰，並且它持續展現出巨大的潛力。

And Mark, we said it but just adding on to this. The Sequel tools which relate to understanding exposures and their accumulations, that is sold almost exclusively in Europe today. Yet the integration that you're talking about ties it in with AIR, where a very strong part of our AIR franchise is in the United States. So there's a real pull together there.

馬克，我們之前已經說過，但我只是想補充一點。Sequel 工具用於幫助理解風險敞口及其累積情況，目前幾乎只在歐洲銷售。然而，你所說的整合將其與 AIR 聯繫起來，而我們 AIR 特許經營業務的很大一部分都在美國。所以他們之間確實存在著一種團結一致的精神。

The opportunity is not just the U.K.

機會不僅限於英國。

Your next question is from the line of Oscar Turner with SunTrust.

你的下一個問題來自奧斯卡·特納在SunTrust銀行的表現。

So my question is on Lens. I was wondering, what's the go-to-market for that product? Has the focus been on cross-selling to existing customers? And then can you give some color into what aspects of the product customers have been most excited about?

所以我的問題是關於Lens的。我想知道，這款產品的市場推廣策略是什麼？重點是否放在向現有客戶交叉銷售？那麼，您能否具體說明一下，顧客對產品的哪些面向最感興趣呢？

Neal, do you want to take that one?

尼爾，你想接那個任務嗎？

Yes. No, absolutely. And it's a dual track. We're really excited about Lens both in terms of cross-selling into our existing customer base, and also we've had huge interest from new clients, new logos to Wood Mackenzie. So it's certainly been both. And the feedback that we've got from Lens, and it ranges very much customer by customer, some really love the user experience, how intuitive it is, that they can use it on their laptop, iPhone, iPad. Other folks love the dynamic nature of it. So we have put in various assumptions with our unique data sets. And if they want to change, then they can change that on the fly and recalculate valuations which would have taken minutes before in a matter of seconds. And then other folks really value that true integrated approach along the value chain, which we will continue to build and build and build over time.

是的。不，絕對的。而且它是雙軌的。我們對 Lens 感到非常興奮，不僅因為它能向我們現有的客戶群進行交叉銷售，而且我們也收到了來自新客戶和 Wood Mackenzie 新客戶的濃厚興趣。所以，兩者兼具。我們從 Lens 收到的回饋，因客戶而異，有些客戶非常喜歡它的使用者體驗，覺得它非常直觀，可以在筆記型電腦、iPhone、iPad 上使用它。其他人則喜歡它的動態特性。因此，我們根據我們獨特的數據集做出了各種假設。如果他們想做出改變，那麼他們可以隨時進行更改，並在幾秒鐘內重新計算以前需要幾分鐘才能完成的估值。而其他人則非常重視價值鏈上的這種真正的一體化方法，我們將隨著時間的推移不斷地建構和發展這種方法。

Neal, maybe you comment also on just kind of the -- it's the same sales force that is taking Lens out to the same customers that is already taking all of our other solutions out to market.

Neal，或許你也可以評論一下——是同一支銷售團隊將 Lens 推向了同一批客戶，而這支團隊也已經將我們所有其他解決方案推向了市場。

Yes. No, absolutely. This is just one other avenue for sales force in terms of how they can support and service our customers.

是的。不，絕對的。這只是銷售團隊支援和服務客戶的另一種方式。

The point being that there's leverage here.

關鍵在於這裡有籌碼。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question is from the line of Bill Warmington with Wells Fargo Securities.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自富國證券的 Bill Warmington 的線路。

So I wanted to ask about the 2 motion partnership. Basically, how does having a smartphone telematics platform impact your product capability? And does it let you expand your addressable market? Can you go after segments that you couldn't go after before?

所以我想問一下關於2 Motion的合作關係。從本質上講，擁有智慧型手機遠端資訊處理平台會對您的產品能力產生哪些影響？它能幫助你擴大目標市場嗎？你能去爭取以前無法爭取的份額嗎？

Mark, that's something for you.

馬克，這是給你的。

Sure. So let me try to -- so reminding you, what we have done is we've partnered with a lot of the OEMs, Honda, Hyundai, GM. And from the vehicle, we've harvested data. We're up to 5 million cars, 90 billion miles, and that is helping our insurers do either modeling themselves or use our programs to understand behavior of those drivers so they can get a better price with regard to insurance. There's also some insurance claims use cases where we can help get assistance and actually initiate a claim. What we're trying to do is provide this consortium of all data available around the vehicle to help our customers understand the risk and price it better. So what the mobile devices do is they can provide that same type of information with, by the way, consent from users, so that we have information about distance traveled, information about the quality of the driving, all of that about both the vehicle connected to the driver. In some cases in [idea] identified ways; in other cases, we know the vehicle. So it is a part of a broader strategy to aggregate as much information about a vehicle and about a driver to help the assessment of that risk. So hopefully, you can understand the expansive nature of what can be involved with telematics from the standpoint of the mobile phone as well as telematics from the vehicle itself, harvesting from OnStar, as an example.

當然。所以讓我試著——提醒一下各位，我們所做的就是與許多汽車製造商建立了合作關係，例如本田、現代、通用汽車。我們從車輛中採集了數據。我們已經涵蓋了 500 萬輛汽車，行駛里程達 900 億英里，這有助於我們的保險公司自行建立模型或使用我們的程式來了解這些駕駛員的行為，以便他們能夠獲得更優惠的保險價格。在一些保險理賠案例中，我們也可以提供協助並實際發起理賠。我們正在努力做的，是提供與車輛相關的所有可用數據的集合，以幫助我們的客戶了解風險並更好地定價。因此，移動設備可以提供相同類型的信息，順便說一句，這需要徵得用戶的同意，這樣我們就能獲得有關行駛距離、駕駛質量等信息，所有這些信息都與連接到駕駛員的車輛有關。在某些情況下，我們以某種方式識別[想法]；在其他情況下，我們知道車輛。因此，這是更廣泛的策略的一部分，旨在收集有關車輛和駕駛員的盡可能多的信息，以幫助評估風險。所以，希望您能理解，從手機的角度以及從車輛本身的角度（例如從 OnStar 獲取數據）來看，遠端資訊處理技術所涉及的範圍非常廣泛。

There are no further questions.

沒有其他問題了。

Okay. Well, thanks, everybody, for joining us. We appreciate the continued interest and support. And as you know, we'll be following up with a number of you. So have a great rest of the day.

好的。謝謝大家的收看。感謝大家一直以來的關注與支持。如你所知，我們將與你們中的一些人進行後續聯繫。祝您今天餘下的時間過得愉快。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you all.

謝謝大家。

Thank you.

謝謝。

This concludes today's earnings conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的財報電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。