Verisk Analytics Inc (VRSK) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Verisk First Quarter 2024 Earnings Results Conference Call. This call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

各位好，歡迎參加Verisk 2024年第一季財報電話會議。本次電話會議正在錄音。 （操作員說明）

For opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Verisk Head of Investor Relations, Ms. Stacey Brodbar. Ms. Brodbar, please go ahead.

接下來，我將把電話交給Verisk投資者關係主管Stacey Brodbar女士，請她致開幕詞並進行介紹。 Brodbar女士，請開始吧。

Thank you, operator, and good day, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today for a discussion of our first quarter 2024 financial results. On the call today are Lee Shavel, Verisk President and Chief Executive Officer; and Elizabeth Mann, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝接線員，大家好。感謝各位今天參加我們2024年第一季財務業績討論會。今天出席電話會議的有Verisk總裁兼執行長Lee Shavel和財務長Elizabeth Mann。

The earnings release referenced on this call as well as our traditional quarterly earnings presentation and 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.

本次電話會議中提及的獲利報告以及我們傳統的季度獲利簡報和相關的10-Q表格，均可在公司網站verisk.com的「投資者關係」欄位中找到。該盈利報告也已附在我們提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的8-K表格中。本次電話會議的錄音回放將在公司網站和電話接入平台上保留30天。

As set forth in more detail in today's earnings release, I will remind everyone, today's call may include forward-looking statements about Verisk's future performance, including those related to our financial guidance. 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.

正如今天發布的財報中所詳述的那樣，我在此提醒各位，今天的電話會議可能包含有關Verisk未來業績的前瞻性陳述，包括與我們的財務指引相關的陳述。實際業績可能與我們今天所作的陳述有重大差異。有關可能影響未來業績的因素的信息，請參閱我們近期提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的文件。

A reconciliation of reported and historic non-GAAP financial measures discussed on this call is provided in our 8-K and today's earnings presentation posted on the Investors section of our website, verisk.com. However, we are not able to provide a reconciliation of projected adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin to the most directly comparable expected GAAP result because of the unreasonable effort and high unpredictability of estimating certain items that are excluded from projected non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin including, for example, tax consequences, acquisition-related costs, gain/loss from dispositions and other nonrecurring expenses, the effect of which may be significant.

本次電話會議討論的已報告和歷史非GAAP財務指標的調節表已在我們的8-K表格和今天發佈於公司網站verisk.com投資者關係欄目的盈利演示文稿中提供。然而，由於估算某些已從預期非GAAP調整後EBITDA和調整後EBITDA利潤率中排除的項目（例如，稅務影響、收購相關成本、處置損益和其他非經常性支出）的工作量過大且不確定性較高，我們無法提供預計調整後EBITDA和調整後EBITDA利潤率與最直接可比的預期GAAP結果的調節表。這些項目的影響可能很大。

And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Lee Shavel.

現在，我想把電話交給李沙維爾。

Thanks, Stacey. Good morning, and thank you for participating in this morning's call.

謝謝，斯黛西。早安，感謝您參加今天上午的電話會議。

2024 is off to a solid start at Verisk as we are building upon the strong performance we delivered in 2023. Elizabeth will provide the detailed financials, but I am pleased to share that we delivered 6.9% organic constant currency revenue growth with strong underlying subscription growth of 7.8% that was broad-based across most of our businesses.

Verisk 2024 年開局穩健，我們在 2023 年取得的強勁業績基礎上繼續發展。 Elizabeth 將提供詳細的財務數據，但我很高興地告訴大家，我們實現了 6.9% 的有機固定匯率收入增長，其中訂閱收入增長強勁，達到 7.8%，且這一增長在我們大多數業務領域均得到廣泛體現。

Our focus on cost discipline and operating efficiency produced strong double-digit organic constant currency adjusted EBITDA growth and healthy margin expansion, translating into 26% adjusted EPS growth.

我們注重成本控制和營運效率，實現了強勁的兩位數有機固定匯率調整 EBITDA 成長和健康的利潤率擴張，從而實現了 26% 的調整後每股收益成長。

This quarter's performance was in line with our 2024 guidance. We are driving predictable and consistent growth by harnessing the power of our more integrated insurance-focused company and executing against our strategy to partner with the insurance ecosystem to help all participants address their most pressing challenges.

本季業績符合我們2024年的預期。我們正透過發揮我們更一體化的保險業務的優勢，並貫徹與保險生態系統合作的策略，幫助所有參與者應對他們面臨的最緊迫挑戰，從而實現可預測且持續的成長。

Our execution priorities are unchanged from those that we communicated to you a year ago at Investor Day. We are building on the progress that we made in 2023 as we continue to focus on three key things: one, delivering consistent and predictable revenue growth; two, driving operating efficiency and profitability; and three, allocating our strong free cash flow with discipline and a focus on return on investment.

我們的執行重點與一年前在投資者日上向各位傳達的重點保持一致。我們將繼續鞏固2023年的進展，並專注於三個關鍵方面：第一，實現持續穩定的收入增長；第二，提升運營效率和盈利能力；第三，以嚴謹的態度和對投資回報的關注，合理分配我們強勁的自由現金流。

I've spoken on this call many times about our efforts to engage with our clients on a more strategic level. To that end, in April, we hosted the Verisk Insurance Conference, or VIC as it is affectionately known in the industry, which attracted a record number of attendees from across the global insurance ecosystem, including representatives from the carriers, reinsurers, regulators and our channel partners.

我曾在多次電話會議上談到我們為與客戶建立更具策略性的合作關係所做的努力。為此，我們在四月舉辦了Verisk保險大會（業內簡稱VIC），吸引了來自全球保險生態系統各領域的創紀錄數量的與會者，其中包括保險公司、再保險公司、監管機構以及我們通路合作夥伴的代表。

VIC is our flagship event where we strategically engage with all our ecosystem clients and partners through joint discussions and presentations as an integrated One Verisk.

VIC 是我們的旗艦活動，我們透過共同討論和演講，以一體化的 One Verisk 的名義，與我們所有的生態系統客戶和合作夥伴進行策略性互動。

This year's event featured over 70 different educational sessions and panel discussions on some of the industry's top-of-mind issues, including fairness, generative AI, fraud, climate risk, rate adequacy and social inflation.

今年的活動舉辦了 70 多場不同的教育課程和小組討論，探討了該行業一些最受關注的問題，包括公平性、生成式人工智慧、詐欺、氣候風險、利率充足性和社會通膨。

One of the best attended sessions was a panel discussion about Florida property insurance and featured representatives from key market players, including the carriers, regulators, legislators and Verisk. The discussion focused on lessons learned from the insurance crisis in this important and high-risk market and what other states can learn from this experience.

參與人數最多的環節之一是關於佛羅裡達州財產保險的小組討論，與會者包括來自主要市場參與者的代表，例如保險公司、監管機構、立法者以及Verisk公司。討論的重點是總結了從這個重要且高風險市場的保險危機中學到的教訓，以及其他州可以從中藉鑑的經驗。

The event also featured a solutions gallery that showcased many of our offerings, covering risk, natural perils, commercial property, home and auto as well as several of our key technology ecosystem partners. The event has generated strong collaboration ideas with our clients and partners as well as leads for our sales teams.

活動還設有解決方案展示區，重點介紹了我們涵蓋風險管理、自然災害、商業房地產、房屋和汽車保險等多個領域的眾多產品和服務，以及我們幾家重要的技術生態系統合作夥伴。活動不僅激發了我們與客戶和合作夥伴之間合作的積極性，也為我們的銷售團隊帶來了新的銷售線索。

It also builds upon the goal that we set last year to elevate the strategic dialogue with our clients and continue our path to serve as a data and technology partner to the global insurance ecosystem.

這也鞏固了我們去年設定的目標，即提升與客戶的策略對話，並繼續朝著成為全球保險生態系統的數據和技術合作夥伴的目標邁進。

During the Verisk Insurance Conference, our Extreme Events division unveiled its latest innovation, Next Generation Models or NGM, for insurers, brokers and reinsurers. Verisk is the first firm to release its full suite of over 100 models across all perils and geographies to a next-generation financial modeling framework. And these models are all now accessible via our Touchstone platform.

在 Verisk 保險大會上，我們的極端事件部門發布了其最新創新成果——保險公司、經紀人和再保險公司的下一代模型 (NGM)。 Verisk 是第一個將其涵蓋所有風險和地理的 100 多個完整模型套件發佈到下一代金融建模框架的公司。現在，所有這些模型都可以透過我們的 Touchstone 平台存取。

As the rising cost of catastrophes and an increase in losses from frequency-driven perils such as severe convective storms has challenged the industry, Next Generation Models provide a better quantification of uncertainty and enhanced capabilities to assess insured losses across the insurance industry more accurately.

隨著災害成本的上升以及強對流風暴等頻率驅動型災害造成的損失增加，保險業面臨著嚴峻的挑戰，而新一代模型能夠更好地量化不確定性，並增強評估整個保險業保險損失的能力，從而更準確地評估損失。

With next-generation models, our clients can make better financial assessments of loss potential and more accurately represent the risk to their policyholders, their businesses and their partners. NGM also offers new advantages to support complex insurance policy structures and deal with new terms and conditions that previously went unmodeled. Clients can effectively manage risk, both at the portfolio and individual levels using the NGM suite of models.

借助新一代模型，我們的客戶能夠更準確地評估潛在損失，並更準確地反映其保單持有人、企業及其合作夥伴面臨的風險。 NGM 還提供新的優勢，以支援複雜的保險單結構，並應對以前未納入模型的新條款和條件。客戶可以使用 NGM 模型套件，在投資組合和個人層面有效管理風險。

NGM represents the next step in our journey towards a fully SaaS native platform, underscoring our commitment to continuous investment in advanced data and technologies and capabilities on behalf of the industry.

NGM 代表了我們邁向完全 SaaS 原生平台的下一步，凸顯了我們致力於代表業界持續投資於先進數據、技術和能力的承諾。

Next, I'd like to provide you with an update on our Core Lines Reimagine program. As previously mentioned, we are on a journey to digitize and enhance our essential suite of industry standard solutions to make our forms, rules and loss cost content easier to access, use and customize and provide much needed updates and insights. We have made good progress in modernizing our internal systems and processes for digital-first content creation, enabling us to deliver new client-facing modules.

接下來，我想向您報告我們的核心險種重塑計畫的最新進展。如同先前所提到的，我們正在努力將我們核心的行業標準解決方案套件數位化並加以改進，以便讓用戶更輕鬆地存取、使用和自訂我們的表格、規則和損失成本內容，並提供亟需的更新和洞察。我們在數位化優先內容創建的內部系統和流程現代化方面取得了顯著進展，這使我們能夠推出面向客戶的全新模組。

We recently introduced Filing Intelligence, which is accessible on our new platform. This tool simplifies our filings delivery process by consolidating all necessary documents, forms, rules and loss costs into one accessible interface, eliminating the need for manual review and piecing together multiple documents. Filing Intelligence digitally connects all documents related to each filing, streamlining the process for users and ensuring seamless access to essential information.

我們近期推出了「文件智慧」功能，用戶可透過我們的新平台存取該功能。該工具將所有必要的文件、表格、規則和損失成本整合到一個便捷的介面中，簡化了文件提交流程，無需人工審核和整理多個文件。 「文件智慧」功能將與每次提交相關的所有文件進行數位連接，簡化了使用者的操作流程，並確保使用者能夠無縫存取關鍵資訊。

On the actuarial front, we recently added Actuarial Hub to the new platform. Within the hub, clients can access new insights such as the ISO Experience Index, the loss cost activity dashboard and a new series of actuarial prospective articles. These resources offer deeper insights into our filings and data, empowering our clients to make quicker, well-informed decisions.

在精算方面，我們最近在新平台上新增了精算中心。客戶可以透過該中心獲取新的洞察訊息，例如ISO經驗指數、損失成本活動儀表板以及一系列新的精算展望文章。這些資源能夠更深入地解讀我們的申報文件和數據，幫助客戶更快做出更明智的決策。

Looking ahead, we plan to launch additional customer-facing modules that will provide even more value to our clients by introducing new proprietary analytics, workflow tools and insights to further streamline processes and enhance underwriting accuracy for our clients.

展望未來，我們計劃推出更多面向客戶的模組，透過引入新的專有分析、工作流程工具和見解，進一步簡化流程並提高客戶的核保準確性，從而為我們的客戶提供更大的價值。

Overall, we're excited about the progress of the Reimagine program. This initiative is already driving returns for Verisk as we are receiving positive client feedback and experiencing better price realization in contract renewals.

總體而言，我們對「重塑計畫」的進展感到非常興奮。這項計劃已經為Verisk帶來了回報，我們收到了客戶的積極回饋，並且在合約續約中也實現了更優惠的價格。

Lastly, today is an important day as May 1 is officially Verisk Generative AI day. Our technology teams from across our global offices and business units are gathered at our Jersey City headquarters to collaborate and share best practices and learnings on their work with GenAI for both customer-facing initiatives and internal efficiencies.

最後，今天是個重要的日子，因為5月1日是Verisk生成式人工智慧日。我們來自全球各地辦公室和業務部門的技術團隊齊聚澤西市總部，共同協作，分享他們在面向客戶的專案和內部效率提升方面運用生成式人工智慧的最佳實踐和經驗。

More specifically, all of our divisions have active GenAI pilots running with many other areas in active development. And within our claims business, we have three solutions in production and available today for clients.

更具體地說，我們所有部門都在積極開展GenAI試點項目，其他許多領域也在積極開發中。在理賠業務方面，我們目前已有三項解決方案投入生產，可供客戶使用。

Generative AI continues to be top of mind for our clients and is a topic of much discussion in my conversations with industry executives. One very promising application that I'm seeing is the use of generative AI to gather and predigest massive amounts of information to organize and distill it for the insurance professional, improving and focusing their expertise, not replacing it.

生成式人工智慧一直是客戶最關注的話題，也是我與業界主管交流時常提及的話題。我看到一個非常有前景的應用是，利用生成式人工智慧收集和預處理海量信息，並將其整理提煉，供保險專業人士使用，從而提升和強化他們的專業技能，而不是取代他們。

This is a natural fit and opportunity for the work we do in curating and managing the needs of the global insurance industry to facilitate more effective and efficient workflows. As we have done with other forms of advanced technology, GenAI is an area where we can invest for the benefit of the industry at a lower cost of investment in ownership than any single client can do on their own.

這與我們致力於滿足全球保險業需求、促進更有效率的工作流程的工作完美契合，也是我們把握機會的絕佳機會。正如我們在其他先進技術領域所做的那樣，GenAI 也是一個我們可以投資並造福整個行業的領域，而且我們的投資成本遠低於任何單一客戶自行投資的成本。

With that, I will turn it over to Elizabeth to cover the detailed financial review.

接下來，我將把詳細的財務審查工作交給伊莉莎白。

Thanks, Lee, and good day to everyone on the call.

謝謝李，也祝福所有參加電話會議的朋友們今天愉快。

I am pleased to share that Verisk delivered a solid first quarter of 2024. On a consolidated and GAAP basis, first quarter revenue was $704 million, up 8% versus the prior year, reflecting solid growth in underwriting and more modest growth in claims.

我很高興地宣布，Verisk 2024 年第一季業績穩健。以合併及 GAAP 準則計算，第一季營收為 7.04 億美元，比上年同期成長 8%，反映出核保業務的穩健成長和理賠業務較為溫和的成長。

Income from continuing operations was $219 million, up 12.9% versus the prior year, while diluted GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.52, up 19.7% versus the prior year. This level of EPS growth reflects strong revenue and profit growth, combined with a lower effective tax rate and a lower average share count due to the large accelerated share repurchase program in 2023.

持續經營業務收入為2.19億美元，較上年增長12.9%；持續經營業務稀釋後GAAP每股收益為1.52美元，較上年增長19.7%。這一每股收益成長水準反映了強勁的營收和利潤成長，以及較低的實際稅率和由於2023年大規模加速股票回購計畫而導致的平均流通股數量減少。

Moving to our organic constant currency results for the first quarter. Adjusted for nonoperating items, as defined in the non-GAAP financial measures section of our press release, our operating results demonstrated solid growth for most of our businesses. OCC revenues grew 6.9% with growth of 7.8% in underwriting and 4.7% in claims. This was an acceleration from the fourth quarter in both subsegments and was in line with our expectations and 2024 financial guidance.

接下來來看看我們第一季的有機成長（以固定匯率計算）。在調整非經營性項目（定義見新聞稿中的非GAAP財務指標部分）後，我們的經營業績顯示，大部分業務均實現了穩健成長。 OCC營收成長6.9%，其中核保業務成長7.8%，理賠業務成長4.7%。這兩個子業務板塊的成長速度均較第四季有所加快，符合我們的預期和2024年財務指引。

Our subscription revenues, which comprised 80% of our total revenue in the quarter, grew 7.8% on an OCC basis during the first quarter. We experienced broad-based growth across most of our subscription-based solutions, with strong renewals and expanded relationships with existing customers and solid sales of new solutions.

本季度，訂閱收入佔總營收的80%，以固定利率計算，第一季成長7.8%。我們的訂閱解決方案大多實現了全面成長，續約率強勁，與現有客戶的關係不斷深化，新解決方案的銷售也十分穩健。

The largest contributor to subscription growth was forms, rules and loss costs. We are benefiting from a stronger renewal cycle and improved price realization as we continue to modernize our platform and deliver more value and insights to our clients through our Core Lines Reimagine program that Lee spoke about earlier.

訂閱成長的最大貢獻因素是表單、規則和損失成本。隨著我們不斷推進平台現代化，並透過李先生之前提到的「核心險種重塑計畫」為客戶提供更多價值和洞察，我們正受益於更強勁的續訂週期和更優的價格實現。

In anti-fraud, we experienced underlying strength in the business with growth augmented by the continued benefit from the conversion to subscription from previously transactional customers that we mentioned throughout 2023. Most of our clients have successfully completed this transition. Therefore, the benefit will continue to taper throughout 2024.

在反詐騙領域，我們感受到業​​務的潛在強勁成長，這得益於我們先前在2023年多次提到的，從原先的交易型客戶轉化為訂閱型客戶的持續成長。我們的大多數客戶已經成功完成了這項轉換。因此，這一增長帶來的收益將在2024年逐漸減弱。

And within underwriting data solutions, we are seeing a positive client response to our enhanced commercial lines property solutions, which have benefited from our expanded coverage as our database of commercial property records has grown by over 200% since 2020 and now has over 15.9 million records.

在承保資料解決方案方面，我們看到客戶對我們增強的商業財產保險解決方案給予了積極的反饋，這得益於我們擴大的承保範圍，自 2020 年以來，我們的商業財產記錄資料庫增長了 200% 以上，現在擁有超過 1590 萬筆記錄。

Our transactional revenues, representing 20% of total revenue in the first quarter, increased 3.1% on an OCC basis, reflecting a tough comparison versus the prior year which benefited from the strong auto shopping activity and nonreaction activity. During the quarter, we saw continued growth across our auto suite of solutions, though growth rates have moderated as we expected.

第一季度，我們的交易收入佔總營收的20%，以固定匯率計算成長了3.1%，這反映出與去年同期相比基數較高，去年同期受益於強勁的購車需求和非反應性購車活動。本季度，我們的汽車解決方案組合持續成長，但成長速度如預期般放緩。

Regarding auto, due to recent changes in our data source, we have decided to discontinue our existing telematics offering. The impact of this is immaterial in 2024 with less than $1 million of revenue impact. We do not expect this to have any impact on the remainder of our auto solutions.

關於汽車業務，由於近期資料來源發生變化，我們決定停止現有的遠端資訊處理服務。預計到2024年，此舉對收入的影響微乎其微，不到100萬美元。我們預計這不會對我們其他的汽車解決方案產生任何影響。

Our transactional revenue growth also benefited from double-digit growth within life insurance solutions as we saw strong customer demand for incremental services.

由於客戶對增值服務的需求強勁，我們的交易收入成長也得益於人壽保險解決方案的兩位數成長。

And within our extreme events business, we saw better-than-expected transactional growth driven by securitization. This was offset in part by lower weather-related transaction volumes in property estimating solutions and the impact of the conversion to subscription within our anti-fraud business.

在我們的極端事件業務中，證券化推動了交易量超出預期的成長。但房地產估價解決方案中與天氣相關的交易量下降，以及反詐騙業務向訂閱模式轉型的影響，部分抵消了這一增長。

Moving now to our adjusted EBITDA results. OCC adjusted EBITDA growth was 10.6% in the quarter, while total adjusted EBIT margin, which includes both organic and inorganic results, was 54%, up 180 basis points from the reported results in the prior year.

接下來來看我們調整後的 EBITDA 績效。 OCC 本季調整後的 EBITDA 成長率為 10.6%，而包括內生成長和外延成長在內的調整後總 EBIT 利潤率為 54%，比上年同期報告的業績提高了 180 個基點。

As we've said in the past, the margin rate in any given quarter can be influenced by revenue mix and timing of spending, so we think it's useful to look at our margin on a trailing 12-month basis which, as of March 31, 2024, was 53.9%, up 120 basis points over last year's level. This level of margin expansion reflects the positive impact of sales leverage and cost discipline.

正如我們之前所說，任何季度的利潤率都會受到收入結構和支出時機的影響，因此我們認為查看過去12個月的利潤率更有意義。截至2024年3月31日，我們的利潤率為53.9%，比去年同期成長了120個基點。這種利潤率的成長反映了銷售槓桿和成本控制的正面影響。

We also experienced a modest margin benefit from nonoperating items, including foreign currency changes, but this was largely offset by margin impact from recent acquisitions. Our current margin rate also reflects continued organic investment for future growth, including our Reimagine program, the replatforming of key solutions in extreme events and property estimating solutions, our new financial and human capital systems as well as exploration of advanced technologies like GenAI. We remain confident in our ability to meet our margin expansion targets, while strategically investing in future growth opportunities.

非經營性項目（包括匯率變動）也帶來了一定的利潤率提升，但這很大程度上被近期收購帶來的利潤率影響所抵銷。我們目前的利潤率也反映了我們對未來成長的持續內生性投資，包括我們的「重塑計畫」（Reimagine program）、極端事件和財產評估解決方案關鍵平台的重構、我們新的財務和人力資本系統，以及對GenAI等先進技術的探索。我們仍有信心實現利潤率提升目標，同時對未來的成長機會進行策略性投資。

Continuing down the income statement. Net interest expense was $29 million for the first quarter compared to $26 million in the prior year. The current level of net interest expense reflects interest income on lower cash balances than 1 year previously.

繼續分析損益表。第一季淨利息支出為2,900萬美元，而上年同期為2,600萬美元。目前的淨利息支出水準反映了現金餘額低於一年前的水平，導致利息收入減少。

Our reported effective tax rate was 20.3% compared to 27.1% in the prior year quarter. The year-over-year decrease in the tax rate is primarily due to tax charges incurred in structuring the sale of our energy business last year as well as certain discrete items that we do not expect to repeat in the remaining quarters of the year.

本季實際稅率為20.3%，而上年同期為27.1%。稅率年減的主要原因是去年出售能源業務時產生的稅項支出，以及一些預計在本季度剩餘時間內不會再次發生的個別項目。

We continue to believe that our tax rate for the full year 2024 will be in the 23% to 25% range, so there could be some quarterly variability related to employee stock option exercise activity.

我們仍認為 2024 年全年的稅率將在 23% 至 25% 的範圍內，因此可能會出現一些與員工股票選擇權行使活動相關的季度波動。

Adjusted net income increased 19% to $234 million, and diluted adjusted EPS increased 26% to $1.63 for the quarter. The increase is primarily driven by solid revenue growth, strong margin expansion, a lower effective tax rate and a lower average share count.

經調整後的淨利成長19%至2.34億美元，稀釋後經調整每股收益成長26%至1.63美元。成長主要得益於穩健的營收成長、強勁的利潤率提升、較低的實際稅率以及平均流通股數量的減少。

Our lower average share count reflects the impact of the large accelerated share repurchase program we completed in 2023 using the proceeds from the divestitures. This was partially offset by higher depreciation and amortization and higher net interest expense.

我們較低的平均股份數量反映了我們在2023年利用資產剝離所得資金完成的大規模加速股份回購計畫的影響。這一影響部分被較高的折舊和攤提以及較高的淨利息支出所抵銷。

From a cash flow perspective, on a reported basis, net cash from operating activities increased 1.9% to $372 million, while free cash flow increased 4.2% to $317 million. Both cash flow metrics reflect the impact of our indemnification obligation related to our former financial services business, which we accrued for in 2023.

從現金流角度來看，以報告數據計算，經營活動產生的現金流量淨額成長1.9%至3.72億美元，自由現金流成長4.2%至3.17億美元。這兩項現金流指標均反映了與我們先前金融服務業務相關的賠償義務的影響，該義務已在2023年提列。

It is also important to note that the prior year cash flow figures still include the results of our previously divested energy business. So these growth figures understate the cash flow growth of our insurance-only business.

還需注意的是，上年度的現金流數據仍然包含了我們先前剝離的能源業務的表現。因此，這些成長數據低估了我們純保險業務的現金流成長。

We are committed to returning capital to shareholders. During the first quarter, we initiated a $200 million accelerated share repurchase program, which was completed in April. Our $0.39 per share dividend was up 15% from the prior year. We continue to have $1.4 billion in capacity remaining under our repurchase authorization.

我們致力於向股東返還資本。第一季度，我們啟動了一項2億美元的加速股票回購計劃，該計劃已於4月完成。我們每股派息0.39美元，較上年同期成長15%。我們目前仍有14億美元的回購額度。

We are pleased with our results for the first quarter and reiterate our outlook for 2024. More specifically, we continue to expect consolidated revenue for 2024 to be in the range of $2.84 billion to $2.9 billion.

我們對第一季的業績感到滿意，並重申我們對2024年的展望。更具體地說，我們仍然預計2024年的合併收入將在28.4億美元至29億美元之間。

We expect adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $1.54 billion to $1.6 billion and adjusted EBITDA margin in the 54% to 55% range. We expect our tax rate to be in the range of 23% to 25% and adjusted earnings in the range of $6.30 to $6.60 per share.

我們預計調整後 EBITDA 將在 15.4 億美元至 16 億美元之間，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率將在 54% 至 55% 之間。我們預計稅率將在 23% 至 25% 之間，調整後每股收益將在 6.30 美元至 6.60 美元之間。

A complete listing of all guidance measures can be found in the earnings slide deck, which has been posted to the Investors section of our website, verisk.com.

所有指導措施的完整清單可在收益簡報中找到，該簡報已發佈在我們網站 verisk.com 的投資者關係部分。

And now, I will turn the call back over to Lee for some closing comments.

現在，我將把電話轉回給李，請他做一些總結發言。

Thanks, Elizabeth.

謝謝你，伊麗莎白。

In summary, our execution priorities remain consistent with those communicated at Investor Day, continued focus on revenue growth, operating efficiency and disciplined cash flow allocation. Following a strong 2023, we are pleased to see 2024 off to a strong start with implied growth of 7% in consolidated revenue and 9.5% in adjusted EBITDA, at the midpoint of our 2024 financial guidance.

總而言之，我們的執行重點與投資者日上所傳達的保持一致，即繼續專注於營收成長、營運效率和嚴格的現金流分配。繼2023年的強勁表現之後，我們欣喜地看到2024年開局良好，預計合併營收將成長7%，調整後EBITDA將成長9.5%（取2024年財務指引的中位數）。

Our focus on heightened strategic engagement with clients has strengthened relationships and fostered new product and business opportunities for the industry where we can invest at scale to drive value for our clients, employees and shareholders.

我們專注於加強與客戶的策略合作，從而加強了雙方關係，並為產業創造了新的產品和業務機會，我們可以進行大規模投資，為我們的客戶、員工和股東創造價值。

We continue to appreciate the support and interest in Verisk. Given the large number of analysts we have covering us, we ask that you limit yourself to one question.

我們衷心感謝大家對Verisk的支持與關注。鑑於眾多分析師都在關注我們，請您將問題限制在一個問題內。

With that, I'll ask the operator to open the line for questions.

這樣，我就可以請接線生開通提問專線了。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Andrew Steinerman with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Andrew Steinerman。

How would you assess the health of your clients, meaning the P&C insurance industry now versus 3 or really kind of 6 months ago and how might that impact Verisk this year?

您如何評估您客戶的健康狀況，也就是財產保險業目前的狀況與 3 個月前或 6 個月前相比如何？這可能會對 Verisk 今年產生什麼影響？

Thank you, Andrew. I've assessed the strength of our client as being very solid. And I would say in contrast to, I think, where we were 2 or 3 years ago, you are clearly seeing -- across the industry, and if you follow the quarterly releases of the property and casualty insurers, you are seeing very strong premium growth, which is a reflection of that hard market and the improving profitability as reflected in stronger combined ratios for the business.

謝謝你，安德魯。我評估後認為我們客戶的實力非常穩固。而且，我認為與兩三年前的情況相比，整個行業，尤其是如果你關注財產和意外傷害保險公司的季度財報，都會看到保費增長非常強勁，這反映了市場行情艱難以及盈利能力的提升，而盈利能力的提升則體現在公司綜合比率的改善上。

And so I think the combination of that growth, the improved profitability, some reserve strengthening now beginning to offset some of the heightened cat losses that they've experienced has generally put them in a position where they are feeling positive about the outlook, the -- their ability to achieve better pricing and price adequacy from their standpoint on rate.

因此，我認為，這種增長、盈利能力的提高，以及一些儲備金的加強，現在開始抵消他們所經歷的一些巨災損失的增加，這些因素結合起來，總體上使他們對前景感到樂觀，並且從他們的費率角度來看，他們有能力獲得更好的定價和價格充足性。

There clearly are risks that they continue to face in terms of heightened catastrophic losses or cyber exposure or exposure to increasing casualty losses. But generally, their financial position is stronger and that has, one, both a benefit for us because we do participate to some extent in their overall premium growth, but also, I think, importantly, is that, that financial strength is making them more constructive and engaged in where they can be making investments to improve their business, whether it's on the underwriting side or it's on the efficiency and processing front.

顯然，他們仍然面臨一些風險，例如災難性損失加劇、網路攻擊風險增加或意外傷害損失增加。但總體而言，他們的財務狀況更加穩健，這對我們來說既有利（因為我們在一定程度上參與了他們的整體保費增長），而且我認為更重要的是，這種財務實力促使他們更加積極主動地尋求投資以改善業務，無論是在承保方面，還是在效率和流程方面。

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

你的下一個問題來自 Jeff Meuler 與 Baird 的合作系列。

Yes. So Lee, that all sounds like the industry is going to start to lean in more on marketing, and it seems like we've seen some signs that marketing spend is positively inflecting following a challenging period.

是的。所以，李，聽起來整個行業都將開始更加重視行銷，而且我們似乎已經看到一些跡象表明，在經歷了一段充滿挑戰的時期後，行銷支出正在出現積極的轉變。

But you continue to call out headwinds in your marketing solution revenue. So maybe talk through that and if it's just a lag effect and a pipe is building.

但你一直提到行銷解決方案收入面臨阻力。所以，或許可以討論這個問題，看看這是否只是落後效應，以及營收成長是否正在逐步實現。

Yes. Thank you, Jeff. I think that's an accurate observation. I think we are beginning to see some early signs that marketing is picking up. Within the industry, there is a lag impact. And so we will continue to look forward to hopefully seeing some of that translate into our business. That is a small business, so it may not be discernible overall within our business. But we do think that's a positive trend.

是的，謝謝你，傑夫。我認為你的觀察很準確。我們似乎已經開始看到一些行銷復甦的早期跡象。不過，產業內部存在著一定的滯後效應。因此，我們期待這些變化也能盡快反映到我們的業務中。我們是一家小公司，所以這種變化可能在整體業務中並不明顯。但我們確實認為這是一個正面的趨勢。

I would also note that within that business, it is not entirely insurance for us that we're providing insights to some other legacy industries. And so that may cause a differentiated output. But I think your general observation is true.

我還想指出，在這個行業內部，我們為其他一些傳統行業提供洞察，並不能完全保證我們的業務成功。因此，這可能會導致產出差異化。但我認為您的整體觀察是正確的。

Your next question comes from the line of Ashish Sabadra with RBC Capital Markets.

你的下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的 Ashish Sabadra。

I wanted to focus on the solid sales of new solution. The question there was, Lee, thanks for providing some good details on the GenAI, but I was wondering if you could provide an example of new solutions that are gaining traction.

我想重點談談新解決方案的穩健銷售情況。李，謝謝你詳細介紹了GenAI，但我想請你舉例說明哪些新解決方案正在獲得市場認可。

And then at the Investor Day, the new initiative was expected to generate 150 to 200 basis points of incremental revenue growth going into 2025. And I was just wondering if you could comment on how that's tracking.

在投資者日上，這項新舉措預計將在2025年帶來150至200個基點的增量收入成長。我想請您談談這項舉措的進展。

Thank you, Ashish. Let me take the first question since you're kind of referencing Investor Day, and I'll let Elizabeth add to this if she feels necessary. But what we outlined at Investor Day was incorporated into our guidance in terms of where we felt we could achieve incremental revenue growth.

謝謝Ashish。既然你提到了投資人日，那我就先回答第一個問題吧，如果Elizabeth覺得有必要，我會讓她補充。我們在投資者日上闡述的內容已經納入了我們的業績指引，也就是我們認為可以實現營收成長的領域。

Naturally, we saw the performance in 2023, which was a representative of the -- of achieving those higher growth rates. We're really pleased in the first quarter to be able to similarly deliver strong growth on top of that. And so we have kind of a compounding effect. And I think that reflects in large part, the achievement of some of that revenue growth upside. So I would look to the fact that we are meeting and exceeding the guidance that we set at Investor Day.

當然，我們在2023年就看到了業績表現，這代表了我們實現更高成長率的目標。我們很高興在第一季也能延續這一強勁成長動能。因此，我們實現了某種程度的複利效應。我認為這在很大程度上反映了我們實現了部分營收成長目標。所以，我認為值得關注的是，我們達到甚至超過了在投資者日上設定的業績指引。

Yes, I agree with Lee there. And I think in terms of examples of new products gaining traction, you've heard us talk about them on some of the recent calls, the Discovery Navigator product in claims, which is one that does -- now uses GenAI as well. We've talked about image forensics in the antifraud space and -- as well as a variety of innovations that we talked about in this call on our core products, including Core Lines Reimagine and the Next Generation Models in extreme events.

是的，我同意Lee的觀點。關於新產品獲得市場認可的例子，您在最近的幾次電話會議上也聽到了我們談到的一些產品，例如理賠領域的Discovery Navigator產品，它現在也採用了GenAI技術。我們也討論了反詐騙領域的影像取證技術，以及我們在本次電話會議上提到的核心產品中的各種創新，包括Core Lines Reimagine和極端事件中的下一代模型。

Yes. And if I -- thanks, Elizabeth, for kicking off the first part of the question. We talked with Jeff's question on some of the headwinds we're facing on marketing, but I would also say, in terms of new product adoption in our life insurance offering, we are seeing very strong uptake in that category with the applicability of the low no-code solutions to the life business within our specialty business solutions area where we have seen very strong adoption on some -- from some major industry players onto the white space platform, which is a new product that we are growing.

是的。如果我——謝謝伊莉莎白，你提出了問題的第一部分。我們討論了傑夫提出的關於我們在行銷方面面臨的一些不利因素的問題，但我也想說，就我們人壽保險產品的新產品推廣而言，我們看到該類別的產品接受度非常高，這得益於我們專業業務解決方案領域中低代碼量解決方案在人壽業務方面的適用性。我們看到一些主要產業參與者對我們正在開發的空白平台（一個新產品）的接受度非常高。

And so in -- as well as internationally, as we have been bringing our products into that market, we're seeing the uptake and very strong double-digit growth across those businesses internationally.

因此，在國內以及國際上，隨著我們將產品引入該市場，我們看到這些業務在國際上獲得了認可，並實現了非常強勁的兩位數成長。

And then finally, I would say, I think in terms of new product growth, we should never overlook the benefit or the uptake and receptivity that we are seeing to our existing product investments as with Core Lines Reimagine and other areas that we have been investing in similar to LightSpeed where we have improved those products, we have increased the value to the customer, we're integrating generative AI into a number of those products.

最後，我想說，就新產品成長而言，我們絕不應忽視現有產品投資所帶來的益處或市場接受度和接受度，例如核心產品線重塑以及我們一直在投資的其他領域，類似於 LightSpeed，我們改進了這些產品，提高了客戶價值，並將生成式人工智慧整合到其中許多產品中。

And in a way, that is new product adoption in terms of being able to realize incremental value in our revenues for those products. And I think that is reflected in our overall revenue growth as well here.

從某種意義上說，這體現了新產品的推廣應用，即能夠從這些產品中獲得增量收入。我認為這也反映在我們整體的收入成長中。

Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Nicholas with William Blair.

你的下一個問題源自安德魯·尼古拉斯和威廉·布萊爾的那條線索。

This is Tom Roesch on for Andrew. I wanted to ask about the pricing environment. It sounds like insurers are starting off the year on good footing. So I was wondering just kind of how the pricing environment, how you think about it this year relative to last year? And then also as it relates to those contracts that are tied to prior year net premium, just kind of how you think about those, too, this year.

這裡是湯姆‧羅施，我替安德魯提問。我想問關於定價環境的問題。聽起來保險公司今年的開局不錯。所以我想問您，您如何看待今年的定價環境與去年相比？還有，對於那些與上一年淨保費掛鉤的合同，您今年又是如何看待的？

Sure.

當然。

Thanks, Tom, for the question. Yes, it's good context. You heard Lee talk about the industry and the relative strength in the industry as well as the hard market that we are in. So as he highlighted for our contracts that have a tie to net written premium growth, we're seeing generally positive tailwinds in line -- I would say, in line overall with last year.

謝謝湯姆的提問。是的，這是一個很好的背景資訊。你聽李談到了整個產業及其相對優勢，以及我們目前所處的艱難市場環境。正如他重點提到的，對於與淨保費增長掛鉤的合同，我們看到總體上積極的利好因素，與去年基本持平。

I think what's most important for us from a pricing standpoint is the increased engagement that we are having with our clients, and you're seeing the benefit of the investments that we're putting in our products and those are driving for us strong renewals, strong outcomes on the pricing conversations.

我認為從定價的角度來看，對我們來說最重要的是我們與客戶的互動日益增多，你們也看到了我們對產品進行投資所帶來的好處，這些投資正在推動我們實現強勁的續約率，並在定價談判中取得強勁的成果。

Yes. And Tom, I'd say that on that, we are -- we see a receptive environment because I think the industry is doing well. We're seeing recognition of the value of the products. But I would also mention that I think with some of our efforts to improve our go-to-market strategy, we're seeing a more effective sales organization that is contributing to good outcomes on the pricing side as well.

是的。湯姆，關於這一點，我認為我們看到的是一個積極的市場環境，因為我認為整個產業發展得很好。我們看到產品的價值得到了認可。但我也想提到，我認為隨著我們改善市場推廣策略的努力，我們的銷售團隊也變得更有效率，這在定價方面也取得了良好的效果。

So I think we feel very positive about some of the changes that we put in place in 2024 as a function of a close examination of what we could be doing better there.

因此，我認為我們對 2024 年實施的一些變革感到非常樂觀，這些變革是經過仔細研究，找出我們可以做得更好的地方之後做出的。

Your next question comes 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。

During the prepared remarks, you mentioned you're discontinuing the auto telematic offering. I was wondering, clearly, it's not generating much revenue for you, but was -- what was -- what prompted deciding to discontinue it? Was the data not valuable? Was it costly to maintain? Just any color there.

在事先準備好的演講稿中，您提到您將停止汽車遠端資訊處理服務。我很好奇，顯然這項服務並沒有為您帶來太多收益，但究竟是什麼原因促使您決定停止這項服務呢？是數據沒有價值嗎？還是維修成本太高？我只是想知道具體原因。

Certainly. Thank you, Toni. And the short answer is, and first, it was a small financial impact for us. The simple answer is that the entities that were providing that data to us decided to discontinue collecting that data. And so there was really not sufficient analytical value in that without the data that was being provided. And I think it's fair to assume that it's a function of some of the media attention to collect connected car data. So that really was the simple reason.

當然。謝謝你，托尼。簡而言之，首先，這對我們來說經濟上的影響很小。原因很簡單，就是那些提供我們數據的機構決定停止收集這些數據。因此，沒有了這些數據，分析的價值就不大。而且，我認為可以合理推斷，這與媒體對收集連網汽車數據的關注有關。所以，這就是簡單的原因。

It had been an area where we felt it was worth investing. We do believe in looking at broad data sets that are useful in evaluating driver risk. But I would emphasize that while we have discontinued that operation, and it was immaterial from a financial standpoint, we do continue to serve auto insurers in a significant way with a wide variety of products, including our LightSpeed auto, our coverage verifier, damage assessment from a claims perspective.

我們一直認為這方面值得投資。我們確實相信，廣泛的數據集有助於評估駕駛員風險。但我必須強調，雖然我們已經停止了這項業務，而且從財務角度來看影響不大，但我們仍然透過各種產品為汽車保險公司提供重要的服務，包括我們的LightSpeed汽車服務、保險範圍驗證工具以及從理賠角度進行的損失評估。

So this is a very substantial business for us, and the discontinuation of the Verisk Data Exchange will not have any impact in our legacy auto businesses.

因此，這對我們來說是一項非常重要的業務，Verisk 資料交換的終止不會對我們傳統的汽車業務產生任何影響。

Your next question comes from the line of Faiza Alwy with Deutsche Bank.

你的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Faiza Alwy。

I wanted to talk about subscription growth. You mentioned the stronger renewal cycle and the price realization, but I'm curious if you held this level of subscription growth is normal for this year. And help us better understand some of the factors that can impact us.

我想談談訂閱成長的情況。您提到了更強勁的續訂週期和價格上漲，但我很好奇您是否認為今年的訂閱成長水準屬於正常範圍。也請您幫助我們更了解一些可能影響訂閱成長的因素。

I asked because there has been some quarterly variation here last year, so if there's anything that you would highlight as we look ahead.

我這麼問是因為去年這裡出現了一些季度波動，所以展望未來，您有什麼需要重點強調的嗎？

Yes. Faiza, thanks for the question. In terms of quarterly variations, there can always be minor puts and takes as things move from quarter-to-quarter, but nothing that we see at this point that would indicate significant quarterly changes.

是的，Faiza，謝謝你的提問。就季度波動而言，季度之間難免會出現一些小幅波動，但目前我們還沒有看到任何跡象表明會出現顯著的季度性變化。

The drivers of strength for us this quarter have been really broad-based across the business. Forms, rules and loss cost has been the largest driver as the largest business, and we talked about some of the trends benefiting it there.

本季推動我們業務成長的因素非常廣泛。其中，表格、規則和損失成本業務作為我們最大的業務板塊，是成長的主要驅動力，我們也探討了一些利好該業務板塊的趨勢。

We've had strong strength in the antifraud business. I would call that both absolute strength as well as benefiting from the conversion from transaction to subscription. And the extreme events business actually had strong subscription growth as well given the demonstrated value there.

我們在反詐騙業務方面表現強勁。我認為這既得益於我們自身的絕對優勢，也得益於交易模式轉向訂閱模式的轉變。此外，鑑於極限運動活動業務已展現出的價值，其訂閱用戶成長也十分強勁。

Yes. And Faiza, maybe to add a little additional color, and we use this as an opportunity to say we talked about the environment. We've talked about the benefit of engaging as partners with our leading clients, which I think has helped us on that front, probably most primarily at a senior level to help our clients understand the value that we are providing to them across the enterprise.

是的。還有法伊扎，或許可以補充一些細節，我們藉此機會談談環境問題。我們討論了與重要客戶建立合作關係的好處，我認為這在這方面對我們大有裨益，尤其是在高層層面，這有助於客戶理解我們為他們在整個企業範圍內提供的價值。

But something -- to your question of kind of sustainability and growth, we clearly want to grow the subscription revenues at a higher rate where possible. And coming out of a lot of intense engagement at a senior level in 2023, we have had three clients in different areas, one is an international insurer, one is a large U.S. insurer, one is outside of the insurer, but in a variety of areas, that have come to us with ideas of products that we might jointly develop or distribute with them. And I think it's a reflection of how we can potentially develop new incremental revenue sources.

但關於您提出的永續性和成長問題，我們當然希望盡可能提高訂閱收入的成長速度。 2023年，我們與高層進行了深入的溝通，最終有三家不同領域的客戶——一家是國際保險公司，一家是美國大型保險公司，還有一家是保險公司以外的其他公司，業務範圍也各不相同——向我們提出了產品構想，希望我們能與他們共同開發或分銷。我認為這體現了我們開發新的增量收入來源的潛力。

This was certainly part of our plan originally, but we've been delighted to see that, that engagement has enabled real commercial opportunities that we are in the process of exploring and structuring at this stage. That is certainly a primary path for us to find ways to continue to sustain and grow that subscription growth.

這當然是我們最初計劃的一部分，但我們很高興地看到，這種互動已經帶來了真正的商業機會，我們目前正在探索和建立這些機會。這無疑是我們尋找維持和擴大訂閱用戶成長途徑的主要途徑。

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

你的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Jeff Silber。

I know you talked in the past about three, I guess, buckets of investment. You talked about the Core Lines Reimagine, investing in your sales force and investing in AI. Can we just get a refresh in terms of how much you're thinking of spending in those areas and where we are in that process?

我知道您之前提到過三大投資領域：核心產品線重塑、銷售團隊建立和人工智慧投資。能否請您簡單介紹一下您計劃在這些領域投入多少資金，以及我們目前進展到什麼階段？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Jeff. We don't break out sort of specific areas of investment by element. I think on the last quarter call, I mentioned those as some of the top areas for investment this year. And I think our investment in those areas is pretty much in line with our expectation for the year and embedded in the margin that you're seeing and the guidance for the full year.

是的，謝謝你的提問，傑夫。我們不會依要素細分特定的投資領域。我想在上個季度的電話會議上，我提到這些是今年最重要的投資領域。我認為我們在這些領域的投資基本上符合我們今年的預期，並且已經體現在你看到的利潤率和全年業績指引中。

Your next question comes from the line of Gregory Peters with Raymond James.

你的下一個問題來自格雷戈里·彼得斯和雷蒙德·詹姆斯的合作系列。

So I'm going to focus on the transactional revenue piece because if I look at the quarterly numbers last year, you had some pretty strong results for second and third quarter.

因此，我將重點放在交易收入部分，因為如果我看去年的季度數據，你們在第二季和第三季取得了相當強勁的業績。

Given the conversion of the antifraud business, is it your expectation that the transactional piece of OCC will be having some headwinds for the next couple of quarters? Or any sort of visibility there would be helpful.

鑑於反詐騙業務的轉型，您是否預期OCC的交易業務在未來幾季會面臨一些不利因素？或者，能否提供一些相關資訊以作參考？

Yes. Happy to cover that, Greg. Thanks. You are right that we do see headwinds on the transactional revenue side largely because the comps from last year have been so strong. You saw double-digit transactional growth for about a 1-year period last year.

是的，我很樂意解答這個問題，格雷格。謝謝。你說得對，我們確實看到交易收入方面存在一些不利因素，這主要是因為去年同期的同店銷售額非常強勁。去年，你們的交易收入實現了近一年的兩位數成長。

I think some of the main areas of tough comps have been and will be on the auto transactional shopping activity, which was a real area of strength last year, in addition to the nonrate action activity. And we -- that really picked up in the first quarter of last year.

我認為，去年比較基數較大的領域主要集中在汽車交易活動上，而汽車交易活動是去年的一個強勁增長點，此外還有非利率交易活動。去年第一季度，汽車交易活動確實顯著成長。

So we're starting to anniversary it now. The shopping activity did actually continue strong in the first quarter. But starting next quarter, we really anniversary strong growth there.

所以我們現在開始慶祝週年紀念了。第一季的購物活動確實保持了強勁勢頭。但從下個季度開始，我們才會真正迎來強勁成長的周年紀念。

The other area where it could be tough comps has been on the weather activity. We called out through 2023 the elevated weather patterns that we were seeing. And so that could be a headwind this year.

另一個可能難以比較的領域是天氣活動。我們預測到2023年，我們將會看到一些異常活躍的天氣模式。因此，這可能會成為今年的不利因素。

Securitization activity was very strong last year in extreme events. So that's one that we are also waiting to see. So between those different areas, that's something we're looking at.

去年極端事件發生後，證券化活動非常活躍。這也是我們正在關注的領域。所以，在這些不同領域中，這也是我們正在關注的重點。

I think this quarter is a demonstration of the power of the business model and the bulk of our revenue coming in that subscription revenue, which continues to show very healthy signs of strength -- shows the strength that we can deliver, even compounding those tough comps.

我認為本季充分展現了我們商業模式的強大實力，而我們的大部分收入都來自訂閱收入，這部分收入持續呈現非常健康的強勁勢頭——這表明我們即使在面臨嚴峻的同比數據挑戰時，也能保持強勁的業績。

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

你的下一個問題來自於馬納夫·帕特奈克與巴克萊銀行的合作。

I guess, I'll just ask on capital allocation. It sounds like you guys are starting on the ASR, so that seems to be the priority. But maybe what is the small- to medium-sized kind of M&A pipeline looks like, some of the stuff that you've been doing over the last couple of years?

我想，我就問問資本配置方面的狀況。聽起來你們正在著手進行ASR項目，看來這是當務之急。不過，你們過去幾年在中小規模併購方面都做了些什麼呢？

Thank you, Manav. I think I heard that. I think the focus is on capital allocation and how does the outlook for small- and medium-sized M&A opportunities. I would describe them as they are out there, that I think that valuations remain really high for those entities.

謝謝你，馬納夫。我想我聽到了。我認為重點在於資本配置，以及中小併購機會的前景如何。就目前的情況來看，我認為這些企業的估值仍然很高。

Our focus is always on how can we add value with our distribution, our data, our relationships. That has been a good equation for us. And valuations kind of continue to make that challenging for us to generate attractive returns.

我們始終專注於如何利用我們的分銷管道、數據和人脈關係來創造價值。這對我們來說一直行之有效。然而，估值持續上漲，使得我們難以獲得可觀的回報。

But we are very engaged in that market and always looking for products that have achieved traction with the industry where we think we can accelerate the adoption and deliver value, both to our clients and to our shareholders.

但我們非常關注這個市場，並且一直在尋找那些在業界已經獲得認可的產品，我們認為我們可以加速這些產品的普及，並為我們的客戶和股東創造價值。

Your next question comes from the line of Surinder Thind with Jefferies.

你的下一個問題來自蘇林德辛德 (Surinder Thind) 與傑富瑞 (Jefferies) 的合作。

Just a question around the internal investments. So when we think about the Core Lines Reimagine or replatforming or AI, how should we think about the absolute level of investment from the perspective of how much of this is part of a normal spend cycle? And then maybe how much is maybe a little bit elevated and perhaps how we might expect CapEx to evolve, so far, whether it's this year or the next couple of years?

關於內部投資，我有個問題。當我們考慮核心產品線重塑、平台重構或人工智慧時，我們應該如何看待投資的絕對規模？其中有多少屬於正常的支出週期？有多少可能略微超出預期？我們又該如何預期資本支出在今年或未來幾年內的發展趨勢？

Thanks -- yes. Thanks, Surinder. I can't break it out numerically. I would say that there are -- we've talked about the various projects that we are investing in now. Those are finite projects, which we will finish, and we've talked about the time lines for each.

謝謝——是的。謝謝你，蘇林德。我無法用數字具體說明。我想說的是──我們已經討論過目前正在投資的各個項目。這些都是有限的項目，我們會完成它們，我們也討論過每個項目的進度安排。

There are some elements of those projects that is fixing or reinvesting in technology that has maybe been overdue. And so I would talk about our internal ERP systems as an area of that. Some of the places where we are doing tech replatforming would be those areas. And so those -- that level of investment may be elevated, and we may not need to continue going forward.

這些項目中有些部分涉及技術修復或重新投資，而這些技術可能早就應該投入使用。例如，我們的內部ERP系統就是其中之一。我們正在進行技術平台重構的部分領域就屬於這些。因此，這些領域的投資水準可能會提高，但我們未來可能就不需要繼續投入了。

I would say there will -- we will always be investing in our products to maintain sort of their cutting-edge status. So after we finish Core Lines Reimagine, we will continue to invest and evolve in new projects that we may not know exactly what they are today.

我認為我們會持續投資於產品研發，以保持其領先地位。因此，在完成核心產品線重塑之後，我們將繼續投資並開發新的項目，儘管我們目前可能還不清楚這些項目的具體內容。

And I think what I would add to that, Surinder, is, I think, the short answer is that the ability for us to integrate generative AI technology as an expansion of a new form of artificial intelligence within the existing products is something that our businesses are effectively absorbing into their current financial models and thinking about where they're deploying capital within their own businesses.

蘇林德，我想補充的是，簡而言之，我們能夠將生成式人工智慧技術作為人工智慧新形式的擴展整合到現有產品中，而我們的企業正在有效地將其吸收到當前的財務模型中，並思考如何在自己的業務中部署資本。

There have been, and there may be in the future, areas where we have decided that -- or we have determined that there is a really interesting application in a new product upside that we want to invest heavily in or we want to accelerate, and that will be an opportunity for us to provide a focused amount of capital or investment.

過去，以及將來，我們可能會在某些領域做出決定——或者說，我們已經確定，某個新產品的應用前景非常廣闊，我們想要大力投資或加速發展，這將是我們投入大量資金或進行集中投資的機會。

At this stage, I think there were a couple of opportunities that we evaluated, and we determined kind of just maintaining our natural organic level of investment is the right path at this point. That may change in the future.

現階段，我們評估了幾個投資機會，最終決定維持我們目前的自然投資水準是正確的方向。當然，未來情況可能會有所改變。

But I think Elizabeth's comments, I would just reinforce by saying, right now, we're finding a way to integrate this investment into the businesses and also recognizing that we are making a heightened investment on an ERP upgrade that we think will drive operating efficiencies and informational advantages for us over time.

但我認為伊莉莎白的評論是正確的，我只想補充一點，目前，我們正在尋找一種方法將這項投資融入到業務中，同時也意識到我們正在加大對 ERP 升級的投資，我們認為這將隨著時間的推移提高我們的營運效率和資訊優勢。

And that will be one that, as we're going to finish that level of investment, may free up space, if there are good opportunities for us to invest. Otherwise, we'll return that capital as we always do with our discipline.

隨著我們完成這部分投資，如果出現好的投資機會，可能會騰出一些資金空間。否則，我們將一如既往地秉持嚴謹的投資原則，將這筆資金回饋出去。

Your next question comes from the line of Russell Quelch with Redburn.

你的下一個問題來自 Russell Quelch 與 Redburn 的對話。

You mentioned in the opening remarks, Lee, that you'd rolled out the next-generation nat peril model. I wondered if you could articulate what the additional upside opportunity for Verisk is there given you're already seeing strong subscription revenue growth in the extreme events business.

李，你在開場白中提到你們推出了新一代自然災害風險模型。鑑於你們在極端事件業務中已經看到了強勁的訂閱收入成長，我想請你闡述一下Verisk還有哪些額外的成長機會。

And I just wanted to check as well. You mentioned on pricing that you had been able to realize more pricing on renewals due to the product upgrades. Is that already -- is that as expected and therefore already factored into your guidance for '24? Or does it present a potential upside opportunity on the guidance?

我還想確認一下。您提到，由於產品升級，續訂價格有所提高。這是否符合預期，並已計入您2024年的業績指引？或者，這是否意味著業績指引還有進步的空間？

Yes. Thank you, Russell. So first on the Next Generation Models, I think that this is a major upgrade in terms of the sophistication of the models, allowing our clients to better estimate and quantify the uncertainty of their losses across the industry.

是的，謝謝你，羅素。首先，關於下一代模型，我認為這在模型複雜程度上是一次重大升級，使我們的客戶能夠更好地估算和量化他們在整個行業中損失的不確定性。

And given -- you think about the Next Generation Models, it is taking a variety of the environmental, physical weather risk related and then translating into what are the real costs associated with damage, restructuring and the rest. And so we can take this and apply it to all of our perils and all of our geographies.

考慮到——想想下一代模型，它會考慮各種環境、物理和天氣風險，然後將其轉化為與損害、重建和其他相關的實際成本。因此，我們可以將此應用於我們面臨的所有風險和所有地理區域。

So it is a major enhancement to our portfolio of products, and it's also increased the sophistication of the ability to support complex insurance policy structures and deal with the new terms and conditions that weren't previously effectively captured the model.

因此，這對我們的產品組合來說是一次重大的增強，同時也提高了我們支持複雜保險政策結構和處理以前模型未能有效捕捉到的新條款和條件的能力。

It also is an important step for us to the SaaS model. Getting the next-generation financial model in place was critical, and what we heard from our clients is what they wanted to be addressed first. And now we can improve the functionality and the efficiency of that.

這也是我們轉型為SaaS模式的重要一步。建立下一代財務模型至關重要，而我們從客戶那裡了解到，他們最希望解決的問題正是我們首先要解決的。現在，我們可以進一步提升該模型的功能和效率。

So we do think that this is a substantial opportunity for us to deliver more value to our risk modeling clients. And certainly, our expectations are reflected within our guidance in that regard. But it does, I think, open us up to continue to expand what we do for clients on that front.

因此，我們認為這是一個絕佳的機會，可以為我們的風險建模客戶創造更多價值。當然，我們在這方面的預期也體現在我們的指導方針中。我認為這確實為我們繼續拓展這方面的客戶服務提供了契機。

With regard to your question on is the pricing upside, that is reflected within our guidance. We're pleased with the progress that we're making in the reaction to -- from our clients to the investments that we've made in a variety of our products. And that's reflected in the guidance that we have put forward.

關於您提出的定價上漲空間的問題，這已反映在我們的業績指引中。我們對目前所取得的進展感到滿意，這得益於客戶的正面回饋以及我們對各類產品的投資。這些都已反映在我們發布的業績指引中。

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

你的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Alex Kramm。

Just maybe quickly on the international side. I think 23% growth year-over-year. I know that's not organic, but still pretty impressive. Can you just maybe give us an update where you're seeing the most growth in those businesses?

國際業務方面可能成長很快。我認為同比增長了23%。我知道這並非自然增長，但仍然相當驚人。您能否簡要介紹一下，在這些業務中，哪些業務成長最為顯著？

And then maybe related to that, as historically viewed, those businesses are a disparate collection of different businesses in different regions. So curious if there's any efforts to maybe bring those businesses closer together or if you're already seeing any synergies between those businesses or if it is still just a lot of different disparate things.

或許與此相關的是，從歷史角度來看，這些企業是由不同地區各種不同的業務所組成的。所以我很好奇，是否有任何努力來拉近這些企業之間的距離，或者您是否已經看到這些企業之間存在任何協同效應，又或者它們仍然只是許多各自獨立的實體。

Thank you, Alex. It's a great question. So I think the first question relates to the overall growth. And I think when we look at the businesses on an organic basis, I think we are generally viewed, as we've spoken before, and we continue to believe that they have and will continue to drive double-digit growth within the -- within our business. And so I think that's kind of the baseline. We continue to see opportunity on that front.

謝謝你，Alex。這是一個很好的問題。我認為第一個問題與整體成長有關。如果我們從有機成長的角度來看待業務，正如我們之前所說，我們普遍認為，而且我們仍然相信，我們的業務已經並將繼續保持兩位數的成長。所以我認為這算是基準線。我們仍然看到這方面有機會。

Your question on the coordination, I think, is an important one. And I would say that each of those businesses are serving distinct insurance industry constituencies. And the opportunity, I think, has been less to tie all of those products together from a single client perspective, but to partner more effectively with the U.S. team to mix and the international team to make certain that we are integrating our expertise, our data, some of the investments that we've made in the U.S. to enhance and strengthen those client -- or those product sets.

我認為您提出的關於協調的問題非常重要。我想說的是，這些業務部門各自服務不同的保險業客戶群。我認為，真正的機會不在於從單一客戶的角度將所有產品整合在一起，而在於更有效地與美國團隊合作，整合國際團隊，確保我們能夠整合我們的專業知識、數據以及我們在美國的一些投資，從而提升和加強這些客戶或產品組合。

And so I think we're seeing a heightened level of partnership in that regard, but not so much tying together, for instance, the claims and the underwriting businesses as well.

所以我認為，我們在這方面看到了更高水準的合作，但例如，理賠和核保業務還沒有真正結合起來。

Another dimension, which I referenced earlier is that I think that we are seeing an opportunity to partner with institutions within Europe that see that value and through their existing distribution networks have an ability for us to deliver some of that value in partnership with other players within that market.

我之前提到的另一個方面是，我認為我們看到了一個與歐洲機構合作的機會，這些機構看到了這種價值，並且透過他們現有的分銷網絡，我們能夠與該市場中的其他參與者合作，提供這種價值。

And so that, I think, becomes an enhancement opportunity for those products as well as some of even our U.S.-based products and technology that can be applied there.

因此，我認為這為這些產品以及我們的一些美國本土產品和技術提供了一個提升的機會，這些產品和技術可以應用到那裡。

Your next question comes from the line of Heather Balsky with Bank of America.

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Heather Balsky。

I was really curious about the catastrophe bond piece of your business. There's been some really strong data out there, and it seems like there's some outlook for continuation of that. What's driving that? And can you also remind us just how you benefit from strength in that market?

我對貴公司巨災債券業務非常感興趣。目前有一些非常強勁的數據，而且看起來這種勢頭還會持續下去。是什麼因素推動了這股趨勢？您能否也簡單介紹一下貴公司是如何從這個市場的強勁表現中獲益的？

Yes. Thanks, Heather. Yes, it is a strong market. I think it's -- what's driving it is both the need -- the increased catastrophe risk and the need for diversifying the set of investors in that space of risk. And for new investors, it's their own desire to diversify and find uncorrelated areas of investment. So that's been driving strength in that cat bond market.

是的，謝謝，希瑟。沒錯，這是一個強勁的市場。我認為推動市場上漲的因素有二：一是日益成長的巨災風險，二是投資人需要分散風險。對於新投資者而言，他們本身也渴望分散投資，尋找與當前風險不相關的領域。因此，這些因素共同推動了巨災債券市場的強勁成長。

How we benefit from it is our extreme event business is one of the primary providers of models and assessment of that risk, so that the investors and the issuers of those cat bonds can agree to transact on the pricing by assessing the risk.

我們從中受益的方式是，我們的極端事件業務是風險模型和評估的主要提供者之一，因此，巨災債券的投資者和發行人可以透過評估風險來達成定價交易協議。

And Heather, the -- what we are seeing that is driving that is both demand from investors for noncorrelated returns and interest, particularly in this hard market from an insurance standpoint, what are perceived to be more attractive returns. We're also seeing that in terms of more capital being attracted into excess and surplus lines and reinsurance generally.

希瑟，我們看到推動這一趨勢的因素既包括投資者對非相關性回報的需求，也包括他們對非相關性回報的興趣，尤其是在當前保險市場低迷的情況下，他們認為非相關性回報更具吸引力。此外，我們也看到更多資本被吸引到超額和剩餘險種以及再保險領域。

And it speaks to, I think, the ongoing development and the increasing sophistication of the portfolio -- active portfolio management of the insurance industry that is an opportunity for us given our modeling capabilities, given the loss costs and the rate modeling activities that we have. And that has been something that we have been engaged in thinking about at an enterprise level in terms of how we can support the development of that market.

我認為這反映了保險業投資組合的持續發展和日益複雜化——積極的投資組合管理對我們來說是一個機遇，因為我們擁有強大的建模能力，能夠處理損失成本和進行費率建模。我們一直在企業層面思考如何支持市場發展，這也是我們一直在努力的方向。

One example would be there is a category of insurers that are ILS managers, insurance-linked securities managers. And those have been modeling clients of ours and also represent opportunities for us to build broader relationships and how our suite of products can serve their needs as they manage external sources of capital.

例如，有一類保險公司是保險關聯證券（ILS）的管理人。這些公司一直是我們的客戶，也為我們提供了拓展合作關係的機會，並讓我們有機會了解我們的產品組合如何滿足他們管理外部資金的需求。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自高盛的喬治·唐（George Tong）的線路。

In the early part of last year, subscription revenue growth was in the 9% range. And over the past 2 quarters, growth was in the 7% to 8% range.

去年年初，訂閱收入成長率約9%。而過去兩個季度，成長率則在7%到8%之間。

What's a reasonable and sustainable rate of growth for subscription revenue? And what are the top 1 or 2 factors that you believe will drive either acceleration or deceleration from current levels?

訂閱收入合理的、可持續的成長率是多少？您認為哪些因素（一到兩個）會導致訂閱收入成長加快或放緩？

Yes. Thanks, George. We don't forecast subscription growth for you. We do -- we obviously give our medium-term target range for total revenue growth. That's 6% to 8% organic constant currency, and subscription has historically been 80% of that. So that's kind of what we can say numerally.

是的，謝謝，喬治。我們不負責預測訂閱用戶成長。我們當然會給出中期總收入成長目標範圍，即以固定匯率計算的6%到8%的自然成長，而訂閱收入歷來佔其中的80%。這就是我們能給出的具體數字。

In terms of drivers for acceleration and deceleration, I think all of the things that we've been talking about are investment in our products, our customer engagement and our industry expertise drive strength in the subscription revenue, both from a renewal, from a new customer base and from a pricing perspective.

就加速和減速的驅動因素而言，我認為我們一直在討論的所有因素，包括對產品的投資、客戶互動和行業專業知識，都推動了訂閱收入的成長，無論是續訂、新客戶群還是定價方面。

Headwinds can come with -- we've talked about this before, with potential attrition or industry consolidation or (inaudible).

逆風可能來自——我們以前討論過這個問題，例如潛在的人員流失、產業整合或（聽不清楚）。

Your next question comes from the line of Gregory Peters with Raymond James.

你的下一個問題來自格雷戈里·彼得斯和雷蒙德·詹姆斯的合作系列。

Great. So Lee, in your comments, you talked about the hard market in non-life insurance. And one of the things that's becoming apparent is that the pricing trends are going to begin to moderate.

好的。李，你在評論中提到了非壽險市場的疲軟。而現在越來越明顯的一點是，價格走勢將開始趨於緩和。

So building on Elizabeth's last answer, how does a market that's more normal affect subscription and transactional revenue growth as we look ahead?

那麼，在伊莉莎白上次回答的基礎上，展望未來，一個更正常的市場將如何影響訂閱和交易收入的成長？

Thanks, Greg, and thanks for coming back for seconds. We appreciate it. So I think that we are seeing -- I would first challenge that we are seeing kind of continued pressures on the industry, both in terms of ongoing inflation as well as increased risk that they are experiencing, that seemingly is continuing to support premium growth as well as kind of natural expansion in coverage for the industry.

謝謝格雷格，也謝謝你回來再說一次。我們很感激。我認為我們目前看到的是——首先，我認為我們看到的是，這個行業持續面臨壓力，既包括持續的通貨膨脹，也包括他們面臨的風險增加，這些壓力似乎都在繼續支撐保費增長以及行業承保範圍的自然擴張。

So at this point, based upon the financial reports and our engagement with clients, we have not seen early signs of that market. In fact, a lot of the reading that I have seen has been to a sustained hard market. But we do have to anticipate at some point that there may be some pressure from a margin standpoint.

因此，就目前而言，根據財務報告和我們與客戶的溝通，我們尚未看到市場出現疲軟跡象。事實上，我看到的許多分析都顯示市場將持續走低。但我們必須預料到，利潤率方面可能會面臨一些壓力。

And in that context, our products and services remain critical in achieving a higher level of operational efficiency within the business in order to maintain or improve that combined ratio as well as the efficiency of making good underwriting decisions.

在此背景下，我們的產品和服務對於提高企業營運效率、維持或改善綜合比率以及提高核保決策效率仍然至關重要。

And I would use this as an opportunity to say I think one of the most promising dimensions of generative AI is in gathering and predigesting a lot of the information flow that the insurance industry relies upon to evaluate policy submissions, evaluating adequacy, going into the risk, not replacing the human, but enabling them to focus their expertise on the underwriting decision, the risk and the return decision.

我想藉此機會說，我認為生成式人工智慧最有前途的方面之一是收集和預先消化保險業賴以評估保單申請、評估充分性、深入風險的大量資訊流，而不是取代人類，而是使他們能夠將專業知識集中在承保決策、風險和回報決策上。

We think that, that is a secular trend. As technology improves, as datasets expand, that will continue to provide ample opportunity for us to deliver value to the industry. It's nice to have some premium growth because I think it puts people in a constructive frame of mind. But these issues and challenges that the industry face are going to exist, regardless of whether it's a hard market or a soft market. And I think that's our fundamental opportunity.

我們認為這是一個長期趨勢。隨著技術的進步和數據集的擴展，我們將持續獲得充足的機會，為產業創造價值。獲得一些溢價增長固然可喜，因為我認為這能讓人們保持積極的心態。但無論市場行情如何，產業面臨的這些問題和挑戰都將持續存在。而我認為這正是我們面臨的根本機會。

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. Thank you for your participation. This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，目前沒有其他問題了。感謝各位的參與。今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以掛斷電話了。