Verisk Analytics Inc (VRSK) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

(technical difficulty) conference call. This call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) For opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Verisk's Head of Investor Relations, Ms. Stacey Brodbar. Ms. Brodbar, please go ahead.

（技術難度）電話會議。此通話正在錄音。（操作員說明） 對於開場白和介紹，我想將電話轉給 Verisk 投資者關係主管 Stacey Brodbar 女士。布羅德巴爾女士，請繼續。

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

謝謝您，接線員，大家好。感謝您今天加入我們討論我們 2024 年第二季的財務表現。今天參加電話會議的是 Verisk 總裁兼執行長 Lee Shavel；和財務長伊麗莎白·曼。

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.

本次電話會議引用的收益發布以及我們傳統的季度收益報告和相關的 10-Q 數據可以在我們網站 verisk.com 的投資者部分找到。收益報告也附在我們向 SEC 提供的 8-K 中。本次電話會議的重播將在 30 天內透過我們的網站和撥入方式進行。

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.

正如今天的財報中更詳細地闡述的那樣，我要提醒大家，今天的電話會議可能包括有關 Verisk 未來業績的前瞻性陳述，包括與我們的財務指導相關的前瞻性陳述。實際表現可能與我們今天評論中建議的表現有重大差異。有關可能影響未來業績的因素的資訊包含在我們最近向 SEC 提交的文件中。

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 results 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, gains and losses from dispositions, and other nonrecurring expenses, the effect of which may be significant. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Lee Shavel.

我們的 8-K 和今天在我們網站 Verisk.com 的投資者部分發布的收益演示中提供了本次電話會議中討論的報告和歷史非 GAAP 財務指標的調節表。然而，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較的預期GAAP 結果的對賬，因為對某些項目進行了不合理的努力和高度不可預測性的估計，這些項目被排除在預期的非GAAP 調整後EBITDA 和調整後EBITDA 之外。現在我想把電話轉給 Lee Shavel。

Thanks, Stacey. Good morning and thank you for participating in this morning's call. As we mark the halfway point in 2024, I can confidently say that we are on track to deliver against the strategic, operational, and financial goals that we articulated at Investor Day and in our 2024 full year guidance.

謝謝，史黛西。早安，感謝您參加今天早上的電話會議。在 2024 年即將過去之際，我可以自信地說，我們正在實現我們在投資者日和 2024 年全年指導中闡明的策略、營運和財務目標。

Elizabeth will provide the detailed financials, but at a high level, Verisk delivered solid organic constant currency revenue growth led most importantly by strong subscription growth of 8.3% that was broad-based across most of our businesses. This was partly offset in the quarter by modest declines in our transactional business, related to historically high volumes in auto shopping and elevated weather-related activity in the prior year quarter, which made for tough comparisons to normalized activity this quarter. We also experienced a drag on our transactional growth from the conversion of transaction-based contracts to subscriptions, which enhances the consistency of our growth going forward.

Elizabeth 將提供詳細的財務數據，但在較高層面上，Verisk 實現了穩定的有機固定貨幣收入成長，最重要的是，訂閱成長強勁，成長了8.3%，這在我們的大多數業務中都有廣泛基礎。本季這一損失被我們交易業務的小幅下滑所部分抵消，交易業務的小幅下滑與汽車購物量創歷史新高以及上一年季度天氣相關活動的增加有關，這與本季度正常化的活動進行了艱難的比較。基於交易的合約向訂閱的轉換也拖累了我們的交易成長，這增強了我們未來成長的一致性。

To put this quarter in perspective and minimize the transaction to subscription conversion impact on a two-year compound annual growth rate basis, our total organic constant currency revenue growth has been 8%, at the high end of our Investor Day revenue growth targets. We are driving subscription growth through strong renewals and improved price realization as our customers recognize the innovation and value-added upgrades we have incorporated into existing solutions. This is something that we've heard repeatedly in our renewal discussions with our largest clients.

為了正確看待本季並最大限度地減少交易到認購轉換對兩年複合年增長率的影響，我們的固定貨幣總有機收入增長為 8%，處於投資者日收入增長目標的高端。隨著我們的客戶認可我們在現有解決方案中融入的創新和增值升級，我們正在透過強勁的續訂和提高的價格實現來推動訂閱成長。這是我們在與最大客戶的續約討論中反覆聽到的事情。

Our focus on cost discipline and operating efficiency resulted in healthy organic constant currency adjusted EBITDA growth and strong margin expansion, translating into 15% adjusted EPS growth. We delivered these results while continuing to invest in innovation and technologies that can help our clients improve speed, efficiency, and accuracy through deeper insights, improved data, and increased automation.

我們對成本控制和營運效率的關注帶來了健康的有機恆定貨幣調整後 EBITDA 成長和強勁的利潤率擴張，轉化為 15% 的調整後每股收益成長。我們在取得這些成果的同時，繼續投資創新和技術，透過更深入的洞察、改進的數據和提高自動化程度，幫助我們的客戶提高速度、效率和準確性。

Our strategy is unchanged as we focus on building long-term value for the insurance ecosystem while delivering consistent and predictable growth with high returns on capital for shareholders. The industry backdrop in which we are currently operating is one marked by continued strong premium growth as rate increases continue to earn in.

我們的策略保持不變，我們專注於為保險生態系統創造長期價值，同時為股東提供持續且可預測的成長以及高資本回報。我們目前所處的行業背景是保費持續強勁成長，隨著費率上漲繼續獲利。

In fact, in the first quarter of 2024, industry-wide direct premium growth increased 10%, and Swiss Re's forecast is for 8% growth for the full year. Profitability across the sector has improved, and industry-wide combined ratios have come down, though there is variability by line and geography. Carriers continue to be cautious in an uncertain environment and focused on driving profitability.

事實上，2024年第一季度，全行業直接保費成長了10%，瑞士再保險預測全年成長8%。儘管各行業和地區存在差異，但整個行業的盈利能力有所改善，全行業的綜合比率有所下降。在不確定的環境中，營運商繼續保持謹慎態度，並專注於提高獲利能力。

Specific to the homeowners' line of insurance, 2023 was the worst year on record for catastrophic losses with $15.2 billion in losses, and direct combined ratios in 17 states were above the breakeven threshold of 100. This has driven carriers to restrict underwriting in certain markets and in some cases, exit challenging states and lines of business.

具體到房屋保險險種，2023 年是有記錄以來災難性損失最嚴重的一年，損失達 152 億美元，17 個州的直接綜合成本率高於 100 的盈虧平衡門檻。這促使營運商限制某些市場的承保，並在某些情況下退出具有挑戰性的州和業務線。

We are working with our clients and innovating new solutions that target these problem areas, including introducing new roof analytics that leverage aerial imagery and engaging with the respective departments of insurance in Western states to share the updates we have made to our wildfire solutions. In the near term, these market conditions may present some headwinds for our predominantly subscription property business, but in the longer term, we continue to believe it highlights the need for the most accurate information to best price the risk.

我們正在與客戶合作，針對這些問題領域創新新的解決方案，包括引入利用航空圖像的新屋頂分析，以及與西部各州的相應保險部門合作，分享我們對野火解決方案所做的更新。短期內，這些市場狀況可能會為我們以訂閱為主的房地產業務帶來一些阻力，但從長遠來看，我們仍然認為這凸顯了對最準確資訊的需求，以對風險進行最佳定價。

Technological and regulatory change also continue to challenge the industry structurally. And we continue to partner with clients to help them address the rapid pace of technological change as well as increased regulatory scrutiny on data privacy, fairness, generative AI, and climate risk.

技術和監管變革也持續對產業帶來結構性挑戰。我們繼續與客戶合作，幫助他們應對技術變革的快速發展，以及對資料隱私、公平性、產生人工智慧和氣候風險日益嚴格的監管審查。

As another example of our work to support understanding of broad industry challenges, we recently co-authored a paper along with research organization Rand Corporation analyzing the impact of social inflation in insurance casualty claims payments with a focus on better understanding the trends, impact, and potential structural factors in growing jury verdicts and trial awards. At the center of our growth strategy is our effort to engage with our clients on a more strategic level.

作為我們支持理解廣泛行業挑戰的另一個例子，我們最近與研究機構蘭德公司共同撰寫了一篇論文，分析了社會通貨膨脹對保險傷亡索賠支付的影響，重點是更好地理解趨勢、影響和風險。我們成長策略的核心是我們努力在更具策略性的層面上與客戶互動。

As an example of what I've been hearing recently from clients, I've had conversations with both client CEOs and CIOs about the importance to them of integrating data sets across their enterprise for efficiency and consistency. We are the natural trusted technology partner to help with this data asset convergence as we are best positioned, given our deep data and domain expertise, our position in the industry, and our proven track record of aggregating and integrating industry data at scale. These C-suite level and strategic conversations are opening up broader and enterprise-wide opportunities and applications of our data and analytics with the industry and new avenues for growth for Verisk.

作為我最近從客戶那裡聽到的一個例子，我與客戶的執行長和資訊長進行了對話，討論了在整個企業中整合資料集以提高效率和一致性對他們的重要性。我們是天然值得信賴的技術合作夥伴，可以幫助實現數據資產融合，因為我們處於最佳位置，因為我們擁有深厚的數據和領域專業知識、我們在行業中的地位以及我們在大規模聚合和集成行業數據方面的良好記錄。這些高階主管和策略對話為我們的數據和分析在行業中的應用以及 Verisk 的新成長途徑開闢了更廣泛的企業範圍的機會和應用。

For example, in casualty, an area of focus for carriers due to the rising claim severity, our Liability Navigator is an analytic solution that objectively assesses bodily injury claims to help carriers improve settlement consistency across claim teams. By integrating our proprietary medical provider fraud data and our Discovery Navigator medical record review technology, we transformed previously unstructured and disparate medical data into actionable insights at the point of decision, thus improving efficiency and accuracy in bodily injury claims outcomes.

例如，在傷亡方面，由於索賠嚴重程度不斷上升，承運人關注的一個領域是，我們的責任導航器是一種分析解決方案，可以客觀評估人身傷害索賠，以幫助承運人提高索賠團隊之間的結算一致性。透過整合我們專有的醫療提供者詐欺數據和Discovery Navigator 醫療記錄審查技術，我們將先前非結構化和分散的醫療數據轉化為決策時可操作的見解，從而提高了身體傷害索賠結果的效率和準確性。

Also key to our growth strategy is building upon our 50-plus year history in insurance and our competitive advantages and positioning to serve as a network for the insurance industry. To that end, in our specialty business solutions, we are delivering solid double-digit growth as we build out an interconnected ecosystem built upon the white space platform for the participants in the London market, including brokers, underwriters, and managing general agents.

我們成長策略的另一個關鍵是建立在我們 50 多年的保險歷史以及我們作為保險業網絡的競爭優勢和定位的基礎上。為此，在我們的專業業務解決方案中，我們正在為倫敦市場的參與者（包括經紀人、承銷商和管理總代理）建立一個基於空白平台的互聯生態系統，從而實現穩健的兩位數增長。

We are continuing to win new clients, adding 15 new clients in the quarter, and placement volumes are growing rapidly as the scale of the platform builds. This network effect is also active across our claims platforms as we continue to add new partners to our claims solutions ecosystem. The ClaimSearch partnership enables insurance technology providers to integrate with the ClaimSearch platform, allowing insurers to select the technology that best fits their individual business needs.

我們正在持續贏得新客戶，本季增加了 15 個新客戶，隨著平台規模的擴大，配售量也快速成長。隨著我們不斷為理賠解決方案生態系統添加新的合作夥伴，這種網路效應在我們的理賠平台上也很活躍。ClaimSearch 合作夥伴關係使保險技術提供者能夠與 ClaimSearch 平台集成，從而使保險公司能夠選擇最適合其個人業務需求的技術。

Earlier this year, we announced two new collaborations with FRISS and Globlue Technologies, who are integrating with our ClaimSearch platform. This integration will facilitate advanced fraud analysis and detection, including more complex scoring and triaging to improve decision-making. Additionally, it should minimize the manual fraud detection process, saving valuable time and reducing operational costs for our clients.

今年早些時候，我們宣布了與 FRISS 和 Globlue Technologies 的兩項新合作，它們正在與我們的 ClaimSearch 平台整合。這種整合將促進進階詐欺分析和檢測，包括更複雜的評分和分類以改善決策。此外，它應該最大限度地減少手動詐欺檢測過程，為我們的客戶節省寶貴的時間並降低營運成本。

Finally, we continue to focus on innovation as a key pillar of our growth strategy. To that end, earlier this month, we officially launched ISO Experience Index, a new benchmarking tool which is part of our core lines reimagine initiative. The ISO Experience Index is designed to modernize how actuaries in the insurance industry analyze risk patterns by addressing the increasing volatility and scale of loss patterns in the industry and offering a responsive and up-to-date indicator of observed underwriting experience.

最後，我們繼續專注於創新，將其作為我們成長策略的關鍵支柱。為此，本月早些時候，我們正式推出了 ISO 經驗指數，這是一個新的基準測試工具，也是我們核心產品線重新構想計畫的一部分。ISO 經驗指數旨在透過解決行業中日益增加的波動性和損失模式規模，並提供觀察到的承保經驗的回應性和最新指標，使保險業精算師分析風險模式的方式現代化。

Experience Index empowers our clients to be more responsive to changing conditions across various geographic markets by offering quarterly releases with more frequent updates compared to traditional loss cost reviews. This enables our customers to make more informed decisions in real time. Experience Index is available for the homeowners line and will be expanded over time to other lines of insurance.

與傳統的損失成本審查相比，體驗指數透過提供更頻繁的更新的季度發布，使我們的客戶能夠更好地回應不同地理市場不斷變化的情況。這使我們的客戶能夠即時做出更明智的決策。經驗指數適用於房屋所有權，並將隨著時間的推移擴展到其他保險險種。

Our customers are realizing the value we are delivering through core lines reimagine, and we are benefiting from this investment through better price realization and improved client dialogues. In a recent conversation with the CEO of a national carrier, he expressed appreciation for our quarterly emerging issues updates. These reports are just one example of listening to our customers' requests to not only provide data but to also deliver more valuable and actionable insights. And with that, let me turn it over to Elizabeth for the detailed financial review.

我們的客戶正在認識到我們透過重新構想核心產品線所提供的價值，而我們也透過更好的價格實現和改善的客戶對話從這項投資中受益。在最近與一家國家航空公司執行長的對話中，他對我們季度新出現問題的更新表示讚賞。這些報告只是傾聽客戶要求的一個例子，我們不僅要提供數據，還要提供更有價值和可操作的見解。接下來，讓我將其交給伊麗莎白進行詳細的財務審查。

Thanks, Lee, and good day to everyone on the call. On a consolidated and GAAP basis, second quarter revenue was $717 million, up 6.2% versus the prior year, reflecting consistent levels of growth across both underwriting and claims.

謝謝李，祝大家有美好的一天。在合併和公認會計原則的基礎上，第二季度收入為 7.17 億美元，比上年增長 6.2%，反映出承保和理賠業務的持續成長水準。

Income from continuing operations was $308 million, up 51% versus the prior year, while diluted GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations were $2.15, up 53% versus the prior year. The GAAP figures include a cumulative $102 million net gain associated with retained interest in previously disposed businesses as well as a gain associated with the bond tender transaction we entered in June. The underlying EPS growth reflects strong revenue and profit growth combined with a lower effective tax rate and a lower average share count.

持續經營業務收入為 3.08 億美元，比上年增長 51%，而持續經營業務攤薄後的 GAAP 每股收益為 2.15 美元，比上年增長 53%。GAAP 數據包括與先前處置業務的保留權益相關的累計 1.02 億美元淨收益，以及與我們 6 月進行的債券招標交易相關的收益。每股盈餘的基本成長反映了強勁的收入和利潤成長以及較低的有效稅率和較低的平均股數。

Moving to our organic constant currency results for the second quarter. Adjusted for nonoperating items as defined in the non-GAAP financial measures section of our press release, our operating results demonstrated consistent growth across both underwriting and claims.

轉向我們第二季的有機固定匯率結果。根據我們新聞稿中非公認會計準則財務指標部分中定義的非經營項目進行調整後，我們的經營績效顯示承保和理賠的持續成長。

OCC revenues grew 6%, with growth of 6% in underwriting and 5.8% in claims. This was a slowdown in growth as expected from the first quarter as we overlap the tough comparison to our largest ever transactional revenue dollar quarter in the second quarter of '23.

OCC 收入成長 6%，其中承保成長 6%，索賠成長 5.8%。正如預期的那樣，第一季的成長放緩，因為我們與 2023 年第二季有史以來最大的交易收入美元季度進行了嚴格的比較。

Our subscription revenues, which comprised 81% of our total revenue in the quarter, grew 8.3% on an OCC basis during the second 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.

我們的訂閱收入佔本季總營收的 81%，以 OCC 計算，第二季成長了 8.3%。我們的大多數基於訂閱的解決方案都實現了廣泛的成長，續訂強勁，與現有客戶的關係擴大，新解決方案的銷售穩定。

Our subscription growth also reflects the benefit of conversion to subscription from previously transactional contracts. In some cases, temporary assignments or pilots are converting into longer-term contracts. In other cases, customers are looking to move away from pricing mechanisms tied to volume and instead opting for fixed pricing to give more visibility in their own cost structures. We are experiencing this trend across underwriting data solutions, anti-fraud solutions, casualty and property estimating solutions. And we expect the impact of these conversions to continue for the remainder of the year.

我們的訂閱成長也反映了從先前的交易合約轉換為訂閱的好處。在某些情況下，臨時任務或飛行員正在轉變為長期合約。在其他情況下，客戶希望擺脫與數量掛鉤的定價機制，轉而選擇固定定價，以便更清楚地了解自己的成本結構。我們在承保資料解決方案、反詐欺解決方案、傷亡和財產評估解決方案中都經歷了這種趨勢。我們預計這些轉換的影響將持續到今年剩餘時間。

The largest contributor to subscription growth continues to be forms, rules and loss costs, where we are benefiting from improved price realization in our renewals as we continue to modernize our platform and deliver more value and insights to our clients through features like Experience Index that Lee spoke about earlier.

訂閱成長的最大貢獻者仍然是表格、規則和損失成本，隨著我們繼續實現平台現代化，並透過Lee 的體驗指數等功能為我們的客戶提供更多價值和見解，我們將受益於續訂中價格實現的提高。

In anti-fraud, we experienced underlying strong price realization in the business with growth augmented by strong sales of new solutions, including Claims Coverage Identifier and Claims Scoring, our new real-time monitoring tool that uses both rules-based and predictive models to identify and triage suspected fraudulent claims. And within extreme event solutions, we delivered another quarter of high single-digit subscription growth driven by strong multiyear renewals with existing clients as well as the addition of new logos to Verisk.

在反詐騙方面，我們的業務實現了潛在的強勁價格實現，新解決方案的強勁銷售促進了增長，其中包括索賠覆蓋範圍標識符和索賠評分，這是我們新的即時監控工具，它使用基於規則的模型和預測模型來識別並對可疑的詐欺索賠進行分類。在極端事件解決方案中，我們在現有客戶的多年續訂以及 Verisk 增加新標誌的推動下，又實現了一個季度的高個位數訂閱成長。

Our transactional revenues, representing 19% of total revenue in the second quarter, declined 3% on an OCC basis, reflecting a tough comparison versus the prior year, a drag on growth from conversion to subscription and the impact of more year-over-year weather-related claims activity. This was offset in part by strong growth contribution from our life insurance business and securitization within our extreme events business.

我們的交易收入佔第二季度總收入的 19%，按 OCC 計算下降了 3%，反映出與上一年相比的嚴峻形勢、轉換到訂閱對增長的拖累以及同比增長的影響與天氣相關的索賠活動。這在一定程度上被我們的人壽保險業務和極端事件業務中的證券化的強勁成長貢獻所抵消。

Specific to the tough comparisons, last year, transactional revenues increased 12.4% and included benefits from elevated levels of auto shopping activity as well as the large nonrate action deal we had called out. Our revenue associated with auto shopping did continue to grow in this year's second quarter, but not at the level of the trailing 12 months. We expect those tough comparisons in auto to continue for the balance of the year.

具體到嚴格的比較，去年，交易收入成長了 12.4%，其中包括汽車購物活動水準提高以及我們呼籲的大型非利率行動交易帶來的好處。今年第二季度，我們與汽車購物相關的收入確實持續成長，但未達到過去 12 個月的水平。我們預計汽車產業的這種艱難比較將在今年餘下時間繼續下去。

And with regard to the weather-related claims activity, while frequency of events was up in the second quarter, the severity events and the associated claims volume from those events was down year-over-year from record levels in 2023. It is this volume metric that impacts our transactional revenues within property estimating solutions.

至於與天氣相關的索賠活動，雖然第二季度的事件頻率有所上升，但嚴重事件以及這些事件的相關索賠量較 2023 年創紀錄的水平同比下降。正是這個數量指標影響了我們在房地產估算解決方案中的交易收入。

All that said, we continue to experience a longer-term secular trend of growing weather-related claims across the property sector. And in fact, while 2024 claims volumes are down in the second quarter year-over-year, they are still continuing an upward trend as they are running approximately 20% above the trailing five-year average.

話雖如此，從長期來看，整個房地產行業與天氣相關的索賠不斷增加，這一長期趨勢仍在繼續。事實上，雖然 2024 年第二季的理賠金額年減，但仍持續呈上升趨勢，因為比過去五年平均高出約 20%。

Moving now to our adjusted EBITDA results. OCC adjusted EBITDA growth was 8.5% in the quarter, while total adjusted EBITDA margin, which includes both organic and inorganic results was 55.4%, up 130 basis points from the reported results in the prior year. 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 June 30, 2024, was 54.3%, up 120 basis points over last year's level.

現在來看我們調整後的 EBITDA 結果。OCC 本季調整後 EBITDA 成長率為 8.5%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率（包括有機和無機績效）為 55.4%，比前一年報告的業績成長 130 個基點。正如我們過去所說，任何特定季度的利潤率都可能受到收入組合和支出時間的影響。因此，我們認為查看過去 12 個月的利潤率是有用的，截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日，利潤率為 54.3%，比去年的水準上升 120 個基點。

This level of margin expansion reflects the positive impact of sales leverage, cost discipline, and our global talent optimization efforts. Our margins also reflect a lower level of headcount growth in the quarter. We expect to accelerate hiring in the back half of the year to support our growth investments. For the full year 2024, we continue to expect our margins to be in the 54% to 55% range. We remain confident in our ability to meet our margin expansion targets while strategically investing in future growth opportunities.

這種利潤率擴張程度反映了銷售槓桿、成本控制和我們全球人才優化工作的正面影響。我們的利潤率也反映出本季員工人數成長水準較低。我們預計將在今年下半年加速招聘，以支持我們的成長投資。對於 2024 年全年，我們仍然預計我們的利潤率將在 54% 至 55% 的範圍內。我們對實現利潤擴張目標的能力仍然充滿信心，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 second quarter compared to $32 million in the prior year, reflecting higher interest income on cash balances. During the second quarter, we issued $600 million of senior notes due 2034 and successfully tendered for $400 million of our notes due in 2025.

繼續查看損益表，第二季淨利息支出為 2,900 萬美元，而上年同期為 3,200 萬美元，反映出現金餘額利息收入增加。第二季度，我們發行了 6 億美元 2034 年到期的優先票據，並成功投標了 4 億美元 2025 年到期的票據。

The net effect of these two financing transactions is that the ongoing run rate for net interest expense will be higher in the second half of the year than it was in the first half. That said, we are comfortable with our current leverage, which at 2 times, is at the low end of our targeted range of 2 times to 3 times EBITDA.

這兩筆融資交易的淨效果是，下半年淨利息支出的持續運轉率將高於上半年。也就是說，我們對目前的槓桿率感到滿意，目前的槓桿率為 2 倍，處於我們 2 至 3 倍 EBITDA 目標範圍的低端。

On taxes, our reported effective tax rate was 21.7% compared to 23.8% in the prior year quarter. The year-over-year decrease in the tax rate is primarily due to the timing of certain discrete items that we do not expect to repeat. We believe that our tax rate for the full year 2024 will be at the low end of the 23% to 25% range. There could be some quarterly variability related to employee stock option exercise activity.

在稅收方面，我們報告的有效稅率為 21.7%，而去年同期為 23.8%。稅率年減主要是由於我們預計不會重複的某些離散項目的時間安排。我們認為 2024 年全年的稅率將處於 23% 至 25% 範圍的低端。與員工股票選擇權行使活動相關的季度變化可能存在。

Adjusted net income increased 13% to $249 million, and diluted adjusted EPS increased 15% to $1.74 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. This was partially offset by higher depreciation and amortization expense.

本季調整後淨利成長 13%，達到 2.49 億美元，攤薄調整後每股收益成長 15%，達到 1.74 美元。這一成長主要是由穩健的收入成長、強勁的利潤率擴張、較低的有效稅率和較低的平均股數所推動的。這被較高的折舊和攤提費用部分抵銷。

From a cash flow perspective, on a reported basis, net cash from operating activities increased 10% to $212 million while free cash flow increased 14% to $154 million. This is the first quarter that our cash flow metrics demonstrate the results of our insurance-only business and are reflective of the operating cash flow of the new Verisk.

從現金流角度來看，以報告計算，營業活動淨現金成長 10%，達到 2.12 億美元，而自由現金流成長 14%，達到 1.54 億美元。這是我們的現金流量指標首次展示我們純保險業務的業績，並反映了新 Verisk 的營運現金流。

From an M&A perspective, we did not acquire or dispose of any businesses in the quarter. But we did receive $112 million in cash proceeds related to the prior sales of our healthcare business in 2016 and our specialized markets business in 2022. In both of those cases, we maintained a small-structure equity position, which was monetized in this quarter.

從併購角度來看，本季我們沒有收購或出售任何業務。但我們確實收到了 1.12 億美元的現金收益，這些現金收益與先前在 2016 年出售我們的醫療保健業務和在 2022 年出售我們的專業市場業務有關。在這兩種情況下，我們都維持了小型結構的股權頭寸，並在本季度實現了貨幣化。

As of June 30, we had $632 million in cash on our balance sheet, which gives us the financial flexibility to continue to self-fund the investment back into the business. We are also committed to returning capital to shareholders. During the second quarter, we initiated a $150 million accelerated share repurchase program, which was completed in July. As of June 30, we had $1.3 billion in capacity remaining under our share repurchase authorization.

截至 6 月 30 日，我們的資產負債表上有 6.32 億美元現金，這使我們具有財務靈活性，可以繼續自籌資金回饋業務。我們也致力於向股東返還資本。第二季度，我們啟動了 1.5 億美元的加速股票回購計劃，該計劃於 7 月完成。截至 6 月 30 日，我們的股票回購授權仍有 13 億美元的產能。

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

我們對第二季和上半年的業績感到滿意。我們對 2024 年的展望保持不變。更具體地說，我們繼續預計 2024 年合併收入將在 28.4 億美元至 29 億美元之間。我們預計調整後 EBITDA 為 15.4 億美元至 16 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 54% 至 55%。

Below the line, we expect fixed asset depreciation to be at the high end of the range as we continue to put new projects into service and the tax rate to be at the low end of the range, given certain onetime discrete items for the first half of the year. Combined with the slightly higher net interest expense due to our refinancing, the net result is that we still expect adjusted earnings per share in the range of $6.30 to $6.60.

考慮到上半年的某些一次性離散項目，我們預計，隨著新項目的不斷投入使用，固定資產折舊將處於該範圍的高端，而稅率將處於該範圍的低端。加上我們的再融資導致的淨利息支出略高，最終結果是我們仍然預計調整後每股收益在 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. And now I will turn the call back over to Lee for some closing comments.

所有指導措施的完整清單可以在收益幻燈片中找到，該幻燈片已發佈到我們網站verisk.com 的投資者部分。現在我將把電話轉回李以徵求一些結束語。

Thanks, Elizabeth. In summary, our execution priorities are unchanged as we remain focused on delivering consistent and predictable growth while allocating capital to our highest return on investment opportunities. Our focus on heightened strategic engagement with clients, both large and small, has strengthened relationships and has fostered new product and business opportunities for the industry where we can invest at scale to drive value for our clients, employees, and shareholders. We continue to appreciate the support and interest in Verisk.

謝謝，伊麗莎白。總之，我們的執行重點並沒有改變，因為我們仍然專注於實現持續且可預測的成長，同時將資本分配給我們最高回報的投資機會。我們專注於加強與大大小小的客戶的策略合作，加強了關係，並為產業培養了新產品和商機，我們可以進行大規模投資，為客戶、員工和股東創造價值。我們繼續感謝 Verisk 的支持和興趣。

(Operator Instructions) With that, I'll ask the operator to open the line for questions.

（接線員指示）接下來，我將要求接線員開通提問線路。

(Operator Instructions) Manav Patnaik, Barclays.

（操作員指令）Manav Patnaik，巴克萊銀行。

Thank you. Good morning. Lee, I just wanted to follow up. You talked about the 8% growth on a two-year stack that's above kind of what it used to be. I was just wondering the components of that outperformance; I know you talked about pricing before. I was wondering, this transition from transaction to subscription, if there was a way to quantify how much that might have helped and just the sustainability of this for the next several years.

謝謝。早安.李，我只是想跟進。您談到了兩年堆疊中 8% 的增長，這高於以前的水平。我只是想知道這種出色表現的組成部分；我知道你之前談過定價。我想知道，從交易到訂閱的轉變，是否有一種方法可以量化這可能有多大幫助以及未來幾年的可持續性。

Good morning and thank you, Manav for the question. Yeah. I appreciate the focus on the 8% two-year stack growth rate because I think it does give broader context beyond what we experienced in this quarter. And to answer your question, the drivers of that have been, generally speaking, more demand for our products from the industry as they are facing a variety of challenges in -- on the underwriting side, on the claims side, the value of what we have been providing to them.

早安，謝謝馬納夫提出的問題。是的。我很欣賞對 8% 的兩年堆疊成長率的關注，因為我認為它確實提供了超出我們本季度經歷的更廣泛的背景。回答你的問題，一般來說，其驅動因素是行業對我們產品的需求增加，因為他們在承保方面、索賠方面、我們產品的價值等方面面臨著各種挑戰。

But also, and I think this is the element that is the sustainable aspect of it is the success that we've had in increasing our value capture from the investments that we have made across the business. And this is something I referenced in the earlier comments. We are hearing it repeatedly from clients that they recognize the innovations, the investments that we have made, and that's enabling us in this environment to capture more of that value.

而且，我認為這是永續發展的一個要素，那就是我們在增加我們在整個業務的投資中所獲得的價值方面所取得的成功。這是我在之前的評論中提到的。我們不斷從客戶那裡聽到，他們認可我們所做的創新和投資，這使我們能夠在這種環境下獲得更多的價值。

And we believe that, that is a longer-term trend that will enable us to continue to meet that growth, supplemented by new products and new innovations that we are adding. We continue to see strong growth in our specialty business solutions area, where we've been innovating with our white space platform, which has those very strong network effects.

我們相信，這是一個長期趨勢，將使我們能夠繼續滿足這種成長，並輔以我們正在添加的新產品和新創新。我們繼續看到我們的專業業務解決方案領域的強勁成長，我們一直在利用空白平台進行創新，該平台具有非常強大的網路效應。

We have continued to see growth in our international businesses, which is a penetration opportunity for us and growth in our life insurance business. So as we said at Investor Day, we have core strength where we are adding value and capturing that value in pricing. And that's supplemented by new penetration opportunities that we believe will sustain that growth over time.

我們的國際業務持續成長，這對我們來說是一個滲透機會，也是我們人壽保險業務的成長。因此，正如我們在投資者日所說，我們擁有核心優勢，可以增加價值並在定價中捕獲該價值。我們相信新的滲透機會將隨著時間的推移維持這種成長。

And then I'd finally add that the elevated strategic dialogue that we have accomplished with our clients is opening up new opportunities to provide our products on a broader enterprise and global basis to our clients. Recently, last week, I had two CEO-level calls -- visits, where we spoke about how we can help improve the consistency of the data and the analytics that they are using across their organizations for some portions that aren't utilizing our data or our analytics. And I think that is a structural and relationship benefit that we've been able to achieve, and we'll see continued support on the growth -- in our growth from those aspects.

最後我要補充一點，我們與客戶完成的高階策略對話正在開闢新的機會，以便在更廣泛的企業和全球範圍內向我們的客戶提供我們的產品。最近，上週，我接到了兩次首席執行官級別的電話訪問，我們在會議上討論瞭如何幫助提高數據的一致性以及他們在整個組織中針對未使用我們數據的某些部分使用的分析方法或我們的分析。我認為這是我們已經能夠實現的結構性和關係效益，我們將看到對成長的持續支持——在我們這些方面的成長。

On the trans-sub transition, it's happening in a variety of ways. Some of it is structural. Some of it is episodic. I think that it will be a diminishing impact over time. We had some stronger elements that contributed to that dynamic in this quarter and made for some of the more pronounced differentiation between subscription growth and transaction growth.

在跨子轉型方面，它以多種方式發生。其中一些是結構性的。其中一些是偶發的。我認為隨著時間的推移，影響會逐漸減弱。我們有一些更強大的因素促成了本季的這種動態，並使訂閱成長和交易成長之間出現了更明顯的差異。

Surinder Thind, Jefferies.

蘇林德·辛德，傑弗里斯。

Thank you. Lee, is there any way to characterize the level of transaction activity related to things like weather -- I think you guys mentioned auto remains elevated, but just to get a better sense of how should we think about that on a go-forward basis or maybe a historical context.

謝謝。Lee，有沒有什麼方法可以描述與天氣等因素相關的交易活動水平——我想你們提到汽車仍然處於高位，但只是為了更好地了解我們應該如何在未來的基礎上考慮這一點或也許是歷史背景。

Thank you, Surinder. So I think the thing that I would emphasize is that when you look at the second quarter of 2023 and you see that the 12.4% growth, this is in the investor presentation on -- that we had provided on the website. What we were experiencing was a very high level of shopping activity in auto as a function of rising rates within that business. You can look at the commentary that we had. It was kind of truly exceptional -- an exceptional level of shopping activity that was driving that transaction element.

謝謝你，蘇林德。因此，我認為我要強調的是，當您查看 2023 年第二季時，您會看到 12.4% 的成長，這是我們在網站上提供的投資者簡報中的內容。我們所經歷的是汽車行業的購物活動水平非常高，這是由於該行業的利率不斷上升而導致的。你可以看看我們的評論。這確實是一種特殊的情況——推動交易要素的特殊水平的購物活動。

In addition, as you will see in the description around the claims business, we were experiencing still a high level of weather-related claims activity that was also driving that business. And so that's really what is contributing to what we're -- what we are experiencing as a relatively tough comparison enhanced by some of the transaction to subscription migrations that are more pronounced in this quarter.

此外，正如您將在有關索賠業務的描述中看到的那樣，我們仍然經歷了大量與天氣相關的索賠活動，這也推動了該業務。因此，這確實是對我們做出貢獻的——我們正在經歷一個相對艱難的比較，由於本季度更加明顯的一些交易到訂閱遷移而增強了這一比較。

As we think about that element on an ongoing basis, I think we generally expect that our transactional growth rates are ones that are generally at our broader growth rates to slightly higher because in many cases, they represent some of our higher-growth businesses that tend to have more of a transactional aspect at the early stage. So with that, I'll ask Elizabeth to add some perspective.

當我們持續思考這個因素時，我認為我們通常預期我們的交易成長率通常會在我們更廣泛的成長率上略高一些，因為在許多情況下，它們代表了我們一些高成長業務，這些業務傾向於在早期階段有更多的交易方面。因此，我會請伊莉莎白補充一些觀點。

Yeah. Thanks, Lee, for characterizing the factors that impact our transaction growth, and you can see the historical trends of it in that earnings presentation that he referenced. I think for mechanical reasons -- well, first of all, it is variable over time. It's inherently harder to predict. We don't try to predict the weather.

是的。感謝李描述了影響我們交易成長的因素，您可以在他引用的收益報告中看到其歷史趨勢。我認為出於機械原因——首先，它會隨著時間的推移而變化。它本質上更難預測。我們不會嘗試預測天氣。

But that inherent variability for some of the mechanical factors, for example, the conversion of transactional to subscription, that can have a one year -- that effect can persist for a full year after a subscription locks in. So I just want to flag, we do expect tough comparisons for the balance of the year on that transactional revenue side.

但某些機械因素的固有可變性，例如，交易向訂閱的轉換，可能會持續一年——在訂閱鎖定後，這種影響可能會持續一整年。所以我只想指出，我們確實預計今年剩餘時間在交易收入方面會進行嚴格的比較。

Toni Kaplan, Morgan Stanley.

東尼卡普蘭，摩根士丹利。

Thanks so much. And I sort of wanted to continue on this conversion topic. So I guess over the years, there have been sometimes that I can remember moving some revenue streams to subscription from transaction. And over time, I think that, that makes a lot of sense. In the near term, it creates a little bit of noise, and so I know you said you expect this to continue.

非常感謝。我有點想繼續這個轉換話題。所以我想多年來，有時我記得將一些收入來源從交易轉移到訂閱。隨著時間的推移，我認為這很有意義。在短期內，它會產生一些噪音，所以我知道你說過你希望這種情況繼續下去。

But are there other products that you can think of within the portfolio that you will also pursue this conversion for as well? Like should we expect this to every so often come up as a theme that maybe the growth is a little bit lower in the quarter, but for the long term, we're thinking of moving stuff to subscription? Are there other products that could fall into that as well? Thanks.

但是，您是否可以在產品組合中想到其他產品，您也會追求這種轉換？就像我們是否應該期望這經常出現作為一個主題，也許本季的成長會有點低，但從長遠來看，我們正在考慮將內容轉移到訂閱？有其他產品也可能屬於這種情況嗎？謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Toni. You're right that we have previously talked about this in the context of our Claims Essential bundle, where there was a targeted effort for a certain customer segment. I would say, as you hear us talk now more broadly across the business, we are seeing it in a number of different businesses where customers are on a pilot and choose to lock that in for a longer-term subscription or they have a subscription with overage tiers. And as their business grows, they lock into a higher subscription so that they have more visibility into their own price point.

是的。謝謝你的提問，托尼。你說得對，我們之前在索賠基本捆綁包的背景下討論過這一點，其中針對特定客戶群進行了有針對性的努力。我想說的是，正如您現在聽到我們在整個行業中更廣泛地談論的那樣，我們在許多不同的企業中都看到了這種情況，其中客戶正在進行試點並選擇鎖定長期訂閱，或者他們有訂閱超齡等級。隨著業務的成長，他們會鎖定更高的訂閱量，以便更清楚地了解自己的價格點。

So those are trends that we will continue to see across the business. Over time, you've still seen that subscription-transactional mix of our revenues be fairly steady at 80-20-ish. And probably as some of our transactional customers convert into subscription, at the same time, we will have new and introductory products or new markets that we're entering where it's more common to enter it in a transactional basis. So we will continue to top up, I think, that transactional revenue base as well.

因此，這些是我們將在整個行業中繼續看到的趨勢。隨著時間的推移，您仍然會看到我們的訂閱交易收入組合相當穩定在 80-20 左右。可能隨著我們的一些交易客戶轉變為訂閱，同時，我們將擁有新的和介紹性的產品或我們正在進入的新市場，這些市場在交易的基礎上進入更常見。因此，我認為我們也將繼續充實交易收入基礎。

Ashish Sabadra, RBC.

阿什什·薩巴德拉，加拿大皇家銀行。

Thanks for taking my question. Last quarter, there was also a reference to a double-digit growth within life insurance solutions and benefited the transactional revenue growth. I was wondering if you could highlight what was going on with the life insurance solution, both on the subscription but also transactional side. Thanks.

感謝您提出我的問題。上個季度，人壽保險解決方案也出現了兩位數的成長，並有利於交易收入的成長。我想知道您是否可以強調人壽保險解決方案的進展情況，無論是在訂閱方面還是在交易方面。謝謝。

Yeah. Thank you for the question, Ashish. We do not break out for individual businesses that -- the transactional versus subscription. There are transactional elements for the development opportunities that we have within life. As I indicated earlier in response to Manav's question, that's a business that continues to contribute and add to our growth rate, generally falling into that higher -- the double-digit growth rate that we have for many of our higher-growth businesses.

是的。謝謝你的提問，阿什什。我們不會針對個人企業進行區分－交易與訂閱。我們生活中的發展機會包含交易因素。正如我之前在回答馬納夫的問題時指出的那樣，這項業務繼續為我們的成長率做出貢獻並增加，通常會達到更高的水平——我們許多高成長業務的兩位數成長率。

Andrew Steinerman, JPMorgan.

安德魯‧史坦納曼，摩根大通。

Sure, hi, it's Andrew. Could you quantify if you're willing to how Verisk's auto insurance revenue growth did in the second quarter? And specifically, when thinking about data providers into that end market, does Verisk believe that's gaining, losing or maintaining share currently for auto insurance?

當然，嗨，我是安德魯。您是否願意量化 Verisk 第二季車險收入成長？具體來說，當考慮進入該終端市場的數據提供者時，Verisk 是否認為目前汽車保險的份額正在增加、失去或保持？

Yeah. Thanks, Andrew. Our auto insurance related -- the shopping-related revenue did continue to grow in this quarter. But the year-over-year comp, it means that it's growing off a much higher level. So there's deceleration there. From a market share standpoint, we believe we're generally steady in the market.

是的。謝謝，安德魯。我們的汽車保險相關－購物相關收入在本季確實持續成長。但與去年同期相比，這意味著它的成長水平要高得多。所以那裡有減速。從市場佔有率的角度來看，我們相信我們的市場整體穩定。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Gregory Peters, Raymond James.

格雷戈里彼得斯，雷蒙德詹姆斯。

Hi, good morning, everyone. I might pivot back to your comments, Lee, about strengthening relationships among your customer set. I have no doubt that your focus has really helped with your larger accounts. Maybe you could spend a minute and provide us an update on how you're progressing with your smaller accounts and also speak to potential disintermediation risk that might exist inside the smaller customer set.

嗨，大家早安。李，我可能會回到你關於加強客戶群之間關係的評論。我毫不懷疑，您的專注確實對您的更大客戶有所幫助。也許您可以花一點時間向我們提供有關您的小型客戶的進展情況的最新信息，並談談小型客戶群中可能存在的潛在脫媒風險。

Great. Thank you very much for the question. And I appreciate we have a broad range of clients. Naturally, our largest clients receive a lot of focus because of their sophistication, their specific needs. But to your point, we want to make certain that we are delivering value for the entire insurance ecosystem.

偉大的。非常感謝你的提問。我很高興我們擁有廣泛的客戶。當然，我們最大的客戶因其複雜性和特定需求而受到廣泛關注。但就您而言，我們希望確保我們為整個保險生態系統創造價值。

One thing that I would say kind of specific to the small and the midsized clients is that proportionately, they receive a greater value from the scale that we are able to deliver to them, both from an operational standpoint and from the value of the data that we provide to them, because often, they have a lower share of access to overall loss costs or general information. I think they benefit more from the scale competitiveness that we provide them in a variety of claim solutions.

我要說的是，針對中小型客戶的一件事是，從運營角度和數據價值來看，他們從我們能夠向他們提供的規模中獲得了更大的價值。他們對整體損失成本或一般資訊的了解程度較低。我認為他們從我們在各種索賠解決方案中提供的規模競爭力中受益更多。

And we have not seen any evidence of higher levels of attrition or disintermediation of that range of clients within our business. And that is something that we've watched and we've asked the question around. I think one -- or two points that I would make supplementally is that a lot of our clients, while they are interested in new ideas, the risk of taking on a new, small, private technology vendor is something that they think about very carefully because they have to know that some -- a firm that they can rely on over the long term. This is clearly an advantage for us because of our stability, our reliability.

我們還沒有看到任何證據顯示我們業務中這一系列客戶的流失或脫媒程度較高。我們已經看到了這一點，也提出了這個問題。我認為我要補充的一兩點是，我們的許多客戶雖然對新想法感興趣，但他們會非常仔細地考慮與新的小型私營技術供應商合作的風險。長期依賴的公司。由於我們的穩定性和可靠性，這顯然對我們來說是一個優勢。

And to that end, we have also been working, as we've talked about, kind of most significantly in the claims area of finding ways to deliver some of those new technology providers by integrating them into our systems and platforms so that our clients can receive the benefit of that, but also in -- with greater confidence that we have vetted and are supporting and integrating those products into our overall systems.

為此，正如我們所討論的，我們一直在努力，最重要的是在索賠領域尋找方法來提供一些新技術提供商，將它們整合到我們的系統和平台中，以便我們的客戶能夠從中受益，而且更有信心我們已經審查並支援這些產品並將其整合到我們的整個系統中。

So I really appreciate the perspective. It's not something that we have observed in terms of the behavior of our clients. Obviously, I think a much bigger impact is occasionally, our clients decide to leave a line of business or leave a state. That will have more influence, and we haven't seen any pattern of clients in the small or the midsize that have been leaving to another technology provider.

所以我真的很欣賞這個觀點。這不是我們從客戶行為中觀察到的情況。顯然，我認為更大的影響是偶爾，我們的客戶決定離開某個行業或離開一個州。這將產生更大的影響力，而且我們還沒有看到任何中小型客戶轉移到另一家技術提供者的模式。

Alex Kramm, UBS Financial.

亞歷克斯·克拉姆（Alex Kramm），瑞銀金融集團。

Yes. Hello, everyone. Apologies in advance to harp on the whole subs versus transaction one more time, but clearly, it matters to people and also for the quarter in particular. So maybe you can just help us talk about the impact of the transition in this specific quarter.

是的。大家好。提前道歉，再次反覆討論整個潛艇與交易，但顯然，這對人們很重要，尤其是對本季度而言。因此，也許您可以幫助我們討論這一特定季度的轉型影響。

I know, Lee, you gave the two-year stack. And if you're not willing to be so specific for this year, if I look at what you said, 8% over two years, I think the average of the reported numbers were 8.7. So is it fair that maybe that added 70 bps this quarter and maybe the core growth was more in the mid-7s? Any help would be helpful since people are clearly asking.

我知道，李，你給了兩年的籌碼。如果你不願意對今年說得那麼具體，如果我看看你所說的，兩年多8%，我認為報告數字的平均值是8.7。那麼，本季可能增加了 70 個基點，而且核心成長可能在 7 左右左右，這公平嗎？任何幫助都會有幫助，因為人們明確要求。

Yeah. And Alex, I am -- we're trying to relate the 8.7 that you have and -- the 8% was looking at our total revenue, not a subscription versus transaction. So just kind of taking into account the -- or trying to eliminate the impact of that migration between subs and trans. I wanted to point out that our overall revenue growth over that two-year period at 8% was still at the high end of that range.

是的。亞歷克斯，我 - 我們正在嘗試將您擁有的 8.7 聯繫起來 - 8% 關注的是我們的總收入，而不是訂閱與交易。因此，只需考慮或試圖消除潛艇和跨船之間遷移的影響。我想指出的是，我們兩年期間的整體收入成長率為 8%，仍處於該範圍的高端。

I think, the thing that I would say further is that there was a specific significant contract that as a function of the renewal of that contract and some of the regulatory aspects of how that needed to be approved had to be characterized as transactional in the prior year and was a subscription, is now on the subscription side. So that is an element. We're not going to quantify that within it. But I would characterize that as a kind of a specific situation that added to the weakness in the subscription growth.

我想，我要進一步說的是，有一份特定的重要合同，作為該合約續籤的功能，以及需要如何批准的一些監管方面必須在之前被定性為交易性的。 。所以這是一個元素。我們不會量化其中的內容。但我認為這是一種特殊情況，加劇了訂閱成長的疲軟。

And beyond that, we have other -- I'm sorry, the weakness in the transactional growth there. So this was last year revenue from a contractual standpoint was transactional. And now that, that contract has been confirmed and executed, is now subscription. So that is an element. In addition to what I think, you can look at those historical transactional growth rates in the second quarter of 2023 and see a normalization more to that longer-term growth rate.

除此之外，我們還有其他的——抱歉，那裡的交易成長疲軟。所以從合約的角度來看，去年的收入是交易性的。現在，該合約已經確認並執行，現在正在訂閱。所以這是一個元素。除了我的想法之外，您還可以查看 2023 年第二季的歷史交易成長率，並看到長期成長率更加正常化。

So those are the elements. We don't think it makes sense to break all of those pieces apart. But hopefully, it's clear enough that you had some seasonal highs or cyclical highs in that prior year quarter plus some structural elements that were contributing to an exceptional tough comparison on the transactional revenue growth.

這些就是要素。我們認為將所有這些部分分開是沒有意義的。但希望很清楚的是，去年那個季度出現了一些季節性高點或週期性高點，再加上一些結構性因素，這些因素導致了交易收入成長的異常艱難的比較。

Jeff Meuler, Baird.

傑夫·穆勒，貝爾德。

Yeah, thank you. Good morning. My question is on underwriting, or I guess, slide 8. I'm having trouble connecting the descriptors under business highlights with the line chart showing deceleration. I guess it sounds like core growth is good. Life and SBS remain accretive. And two of the three bullets that you're talking about for transactional headwinds fall into claims. And I think marketing has been weak for a while. So what are the primary factors driving the OCC deceleration in underwriting just beyond the slowdown in auto rate shopping? Thank you.

是的，謝謝。早安.我的問題是關於承保，或者我猜，幻燈片 8。我無法將業務亮點下的描述符與顯示減速的折線圖連接起來。我想聽起來核心成長不錯。Life 和 SBS 仍在增值。您所談論的交易逆風的三顆子彈中的兩顆屬於索賠。我認為行銷已經有一段時間疲軟了。那麼，除了汽車利率購買放緩之外，還有哪些主要因素導致 OCC 承保減速呢？謝謝。

Yeah, Jeff, thanks for the question. To map it in the underwriting solutions, that first descriptor, you've got the underwriting data analytics solutions. That is where the auto insurance shopping activity sits. So that's an element.

是的，傑夫，謝謝你的提問。為了將其對應到核保解決方案中，即第一個描述符，您已經獲得了核保資料分析解決方案。這就是汽車保險購物活動的所在地。所以這是一個元素。

Kelsey Zhu, Autonomous Research.

朱凱爾西，自主研究。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So there's been a lot of discussion around where we are in the cycle for the insurance industry and whether we'll see pricing kind of peaking in 2025. Since 20% to 25% of Verisk revenue comes from contracts that have premium growth as a direct input in price increases but also with a two-year lag, does this basically insulate that into 2027 even if 2025 was kind of the pricing peak for insurance companies? Or how should we think about the cyclical dynamics here?

嗨，早安。感謝您提出我的問題。因此，圍繞保險業所處的周期以及定價是否會在 2025 年達到頂峰，存在著許多討論。由於 Verisk 收入的 20% 至 25% 來自保費增長作為價格上漲的直接投入的合同，但也有兩年的滯後，這是否基本上可以將這種情況隔離到 2027 年，即使 2025 年是保險定價高峰公司？或者我們應該如何思考這裡的周期性動態？

Yeah. Kelsey, thanks for the question, and welcome to the call. On the question of the insurance cycle, look, we've talked over time about being in a hard market broadly in the property and casualty industry. That's hitting different segments certainly at different times. But we know it's not going to last forever. So it's a when, not an if that hard market begins to peak and becomes more competitive. I think one of the strengths of Verisk, you have seen us continue to grow historically through both hard markets and softer markets in the insurance cycle.

是的。凱爾西，感謝您的提問，歡迎來電。關於保險週期的問題，我們長期以來一直在談論財產和意外傷害行業普遍處於艱難的市場。這肯定會在不同的時間衝擊不同的細分市場。但我們知道它不會永遠持續下去。因此，硬市場開始達到頂峰並變得更具競爭力只是時間，而不是是否。我認為 Verisk 的優勢之一是，您已經看到我們在保險週期的硬市場和軟市場中持續成長。

I would not go so far as to say we are insulated. I think the pressure remains on us to continue to deliver value to our clients through all the innovations and product strength that we've talked about on the call. So I think if we continue to do that, we will continue to deliver value to our customers and continue to grow revenue throughout the cycle.

我不會說我們是絕緣的。我認為我們仍然面臨著壓力，需要透過我們在電話會議上討論的所有創新和產品優勢繼續為客戶提供價值。因此，我認為如果我們繼續這樣做，我們將繼續為客戶提供價值，並在整個週期中繼續增加收入。

Jeff Silber, BMO Capital Markets.

Jeff Silber，BMO 資本市場。

Thanks so much. My question is about your outlook. I know you don't give quarterly guidance, but you had some pretty good quarters in the first half of this year from a bottom line perspective. By maintaining your guidance, it implies a pretty slow down in adjusted EPS growth in the back half of the year. I know you called out accelerated hiring. Is there anything going on maybe from a timing perspective? But if you can provide a little bit more insight there, that would be appreciated. Thanks.

非常感謝。我的問題是關於你的看法。我知道你們沒有提供季度指導，但從獲利角度來看，你們今年上半年的業績表現相當不錯。透過維持您的指導，這意味著今年下半年調整後的每股盈餘成長將相當緩慢。我知道您呼籲加快招募。從時間的角度來看，有什麼事情發生嗎？但如果您能在那裡提供更多的見解，我們將不勝感激。謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Jeff. A couple of things. We have historically talked about some of the seasonality in our margin. Any quarter's margin can vary based on revenue mix as well as just the timing of spending. And we've signaled -- we've commented that we intend to invest in the business. So that -- our margin guidance gives you and our EBITDA guidance gives you a good feeling of where we expect to end up on an EBITDA basis. If you look at the EPS rate, in addition, there's the tax rate where we've had certain benefits in the first half of the year that we don't expect to continue in the second half of the year.

是的。謝謝你的提問，傑夫。有幾件事。我們過去曾討論過利潤率的一些季節性因素。任何季度的利潤率都可能根據收入組合以及支出時間而有所不同。我們已經表示，我們已經評論說我們打算投資這項業務。因此，我們的利潤率指引可以讓您清楚地了解我們期望最終在 EBITDA 基礎上實現的目標。此外，如果你看每股收益率，你會發現我們在上半年獲得了一定的稅率好處，但我們預計下半年不會持續這種情況。

Heather Balsky, Bank of America.

希瑟‧巴爾斯基，美國銀行。

Hi, good morning. I just wanted to piggyback on Kelsey's question earlier on pricing and just ask, your net written premiums as we go into next year, I guess, the 2023 net written premiums were quite strong. It sounds like you're seeing very good value realization in terms of pricing from what you're doing in core line.

嗨，早安。我只是想藉用凱爾西早些時候關於定價的問題，問一下，當我們進入明年時，你們的淨承保保費，我想，2023 年的淨承保保費相當強勁。聽起來您在核心產品線的定價方面看到了非常好的價值實現。

As we think about your 3% to 4% pricing target that you said at your Investor Day, do you think you're positioned to be at the higher end of that or even above based on what you're seeing? And how should we think about pricing in the near term? Thanks.

當我們考慮您在投資者日所說的 3% 至 4% 的定價目標時，根據您所看到的情況，您認為您的定位是否處於該目標的較高端，甚至更高？短期內我們該如何考慮定價？謝謝。

Yeah. Thank you, Heather. I appreciate the question. One, I'm not going to go beyond the guidance questions or the guidance statement that we've made, just remaining confident in the guidance that we've provided.

是的。謝謝你，希瑟。我很欣賞這個問題。第一，我不會超越我們所做的指導問題或指導聲明，只是對我們提供的指導保持信心。

I do want to try to address the pricing aspect a little further. And as I mentioned in my earlier comments, the fundamental dynamic, almost -- regardless of the premium growth, which does, I think, influence it, in some cases, directly to a modest impact but also from a psychological standpoint, it's helpful. But even with those two, if we aren't providing value to our clients and they don't perceive that value then that's where we are going to run into challenges in improving pricing and driving the revenue.

我確實想嘗試進一步解決定價方面的問題。正如我在之前的評論中提到的，基本動態幾乎- 無論保費增長如何，我認為這確實會影響它，在某些情況下，直接產生適度的影響，但從心理的角度來看，它是有幫助的。但即使有了這兩者，如果我們沒有為客戶提供價值，而且他們也沒有意識到這種價值，那麼我們在提高定價和增加收入方面就會遇到挑戰。

That's why the value of the investments that we have made in our core lines business and with our reimagine initiative, while one example of how we are driving value is what's critical -- is the most critical factor in what sustains our revenue growth. And that's where we continue to get very strong feedback for how we are helping our clients improve the value of what they're doing.

這就是為什麼我們在核心業務和重新構想計劃中進行的投資的價值，而我們如何推動價值的一個例子是至關重要的 - 是維持我們收入成長的最關鍵因素。這就是我們如何幫助客戶提高其所做工作的價值的持續獲得非常強烈的回饋的地方。

And I'd like to ask Saurabh Khemka, who leads that business and that initiative to share a little bit about what we are hearing from clients and how they perceive the value of the investments that we have made. And hopefully, that will provide more context for how we've been able to overachieve on those -- on that renewal pricing.

我想請負責該業務和該計劃的 Saurabh Khemka 分享一些我們從客戶那裡聽到的信息以及他們如何看待我們所做投資的價值。希望這將為我們如何在續訂定價方面取得超額成就提供更多背景。

Absolutely. Thanks, Lee. Yeah, if you look on the core lines reimagine side, our engagement with our customers has really demonstrated the value of our content, and the upcoming innovations that we have is delivering additional value for them.

絕對地。謝謝，李。是的，如果你從核心線重新構想的角度來看，我們與客戶的互動確實證明了我們內容的價值，而我們即將推出的創新正在為他們提供額外的價值。

So for example, the feedback has been very encouraging across the spectrum of our customers, large and small. They are seeing additional value in the new insights like the Experience Index, the executive insights as well as the new technology innovations that we have around the delivery of our content, which is creating efficiencies for them.

例如，我們的各種客戶（無論大小）的回饋都非常令人鼓舞。他們看到了體驗指數等新見解、高階主管見解以及我們圍繞內容交付的新技術創新的額外價值，這為他們創造了效率。

And so what we are hearing from our customers is these new insights is helping them be better in terms of reacting to market conditions, and these new efficiency tools are helping them to be more efficient in their operations. So it's been very good.

因此，我們從客戶那裡聽到的是，這些新見解正在幫助他們更好地應對市場狀況，而這些新的效率工具正在幫助他們提高營運效率。所以這非常好。

I would also say that we've been flexible in terms of how we deliver our content. So some of our smaller customers like the packaged insights and the turnkey solutions. And our larger customers prefer some of the access to underlying components to our analytics so that they can create more differentiation. And so by being flexible, we're benefiting all our customers.

我還要說的是，我們在提供內容的方式上一直很靈活。因此，我們的一些小客戶喜歡打包的見解和交鑰匙解決方案。我們的大客戶更喜歡存取我們的分析基礎元件，以便他們能夠創造更多差異化。因此，透過保持靈活性，我們將使所有客戶受益。

And Heather, to give you two specific examples, one product innovation has been the update to our Mozart product, which allows our clients to manage their policy forms much more efficiently. Because they have thousands of forms based upon product line and state and different product areas, it is a very time-consuming, laborious process to keep those updated, particularly if they reference our ISO policy forms.

希瑟，給您舉兩個具體的例子，其中一項產品創新就是我們莫札特產品的更新，它使我們的客戶能夠更有效地管理他們的保單表格。因為他們有數以千計的基於產品線、州和不同產品領域的表格，所以更新這些表格是一個非常耗時、費力的過程，特別是當它們引用我們的 ISO 政策表格時。

And so the investment that we've made is effectively in a document management platform that allows them to do that much more easily and more quickly. That's one dimension where they clearly see significant value increase.

因此，我們在文件管理平台上所做的投資是有效的，該平台使他們能夠更輕鬆、更快速地做到這一點。這是他們清楚地看到價值顯著增加的一個維度。

Another as we've talked about is on the Experience Index. This is where they have asked us to move further beyond those traditional loss costs that we provide to them in the underwriting process and give them a more current read on what's happening, what we see evolving. And so we are able to provide them more actionable information on a more timely basis. That provides value to them on the underwriting side, just to kind of tie that down to some specific products that we've been investing in.

我們討論的另一個是經驗指數。這就是他們要求我們進一步超越我們在承保過程中向他們提供的傳統損失成本的地方，讓他們更了解正在發生的事情以及我們所看到的演變。因此，我們能夠更及時地為他們提供更多可操作的資訊。這在承保方面為他們提供了價值，只是為了將其與我們一直投資的某些特定產品聯繫起來。

Russell Quelch, Redburn Atlantic.

拉塞爾·奎爾奇，《雷德本大西洋》。

Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my question. You made a point in the pre-remarks about putting out the fact that you're at the bottom end of the target leverage range. I'm keen to hear your thoughts on future capital deployment and potential use of that debt capacity. I'm wondering if you might look to inorganic growth again soon.

是的，嗨。感謝您提出我的問題。您在前言中指出了您處於目標槓桿範圍底部。我很想聽聽您對未來資本部署和債務能力的潛在用途的想法。我想知道您是否會很快再次考慮無機增長。

You've obviously had a period where you haven't been that active, particularly if rates come down. And if you do, maybe could you talk to what areas you might target for inorganic growth, particularly wondering if there's more you could do, for example, in the life space? That would be great. Thanks.

顯然，您已經有一段時間沒有那麼活躍了，尤其是在利率下降的情況下。如果你願意，也許你可以談談你可能會針對哪些領域進行無機成長，特別是想知道你是否可以做更多的事情，例如在生活領域？那太好了。謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Russell. So yes, as we look at our target leverage range and where we are relative to the 2 times to 3 times, we go back to our capital allocation philosophy. We are willing to deploy capital to support the business. We do remain active in M&A markets and looking at what is available.

是的。謝謝你的提問，拉塞爾。所以，是的，當我們審視我們的目標槓桿範圍以及相對於 2 倍到 3 倍的槓桿範圍時，我們回到了我們的資本配置理念。我們願意部署資金來支援業務。我們確實在併購市場上保持活躍，並尋找可用的資源。

We tend to focus on businesses that are unique in their markets that serve our insurance end market, but for which Verisk has a unique reason to be the right owner of that business. And so those can be data opportunities that we can add to our existing services. They can be customer opportunities or geographic or market expansion.

我們傾向於關注在其市場中為我們的保險終端市場服務的獨特企業，但 Verisk 有獨特的理由成為該業務的正確所有者。因此，這些可以成為我們可以添加到現有服務中的數據機會。它們可以是客戶機會或地理或市場擴張。

George Tong, Goldman Sachs.

喬治唐，高盛。

Hi, thanks. Good morning. Going back to transactional revenue performance, the 3% decline you saw in the quarter, were there any unusual headwinds you would call out that may not persist? Just trying to understand the overall trend since if you look at the quarterly cadence, the swing from plus 3 in 1Q to down 3 in 2Q was quite significant. And I want to understand if that trajectory should be carried forward into future quarters or if the 2Q decline is a reasonable rate to persist into 3Q, which also represents a tough comp if you look at the year-ago period.

你好，謝謝。早安.回到交易收入表現，您在本季度看到的 3% 的下降，是否有任何您認為可能不會持續的不尋常的阻力？只是想了解整體趨勢，因為如果你看一下季度節奏，你會發現從第一季的正 3 到第二季的負 3 的波動非常顯著。我想了解這一軌跡是否應該延續到未來幾個季度，或者第二季度的下降是否是持續到第三季度的合理速度，如果你看看去年同期，這也代表著一個艱難的比較。

Yeah. Thanks for the question, George. So yeah, we always highlight that our transactional revenue does have some variability to it. One important thing that I will point to, of course, from a growth perspective, we always look year-over-year, but it is interesting also to look on a sequential basis this quarter relative to the first quarter. Our total revenues grew relative to the first quarter. And in fact, our transactional revenues also grew relative to the first quarter. So it's just the year-over-year that has that pattern.

是的。謝謝你的提問，喬治。所以，是的，我們總是強調我們的交易收入確實存在一些可變性。當然，我要指出的一件重要的事情是，從成長的角度來看，我們總是逐年觀察，但相對於第一季連續觀察本季也很有趣。我們的總收入相對第一季有所成長。事實上，我們的交易收入相對第一季也有所成長。因此，只有年復一年才具有這種模式。

Now there's some seasonality and things that hit the second quarter typically and that were particularly strong in the second quarter of last year. And the ones that we called out were the weather impact, which was historically strong in the second quarter of last year, the auto shopping activity for which we've anniversaried that tough comp, and then the transition of transactional revenues to subscription.

現在有一些季節性因素和通常會在第二季發生的事情，並且在去年第二季特別強烈。我們指出的是天氣影響（去年第二季的影響是歷史性的），汽車購物活動（我們為此慶祝了艱難的競爭），以及交易收入向訂閱的轉變。

(Operator Instructions) Alex Kramm, UBS Financial.

（操作員指示）Alex Kramm，UBS Financial。

Hey. Thank you for the follow up. Just quickly, and you mentioned, Lee, the Experience Index here just a couple of questions ago. But as an outsider to the industry, I can certainly see the applicability here pretty strongly.

嘿。感謝您的跟進。很快，李，您在幾個問題前提到了經驗指數。但作為該行業的局外人，我當然可以非常強烈地看到這裡的適用性。

So I know it's early days, and it's good to see this finally being launched. But can you just maybe talk about the reception you've seen with that? Because again, it seems like a lot of customers should kind of move to a more real-time index. And if so, is this definitely a new revenue opportunity? Or do you think it's going to get kind of included in upgrades? Thank you.

所以我知道現在還為時過早，很高興看到它最終推出。但你能談談你所看到的反響嗎？因為，很多客戶似乎應該轉向更即時的索引。如果是這樣，這絕對是一個新的收入機會嗎？或者您認為它會包含在升級中嗎？謝謝。

Alex, thanks for the follow-up. I'm going to actually ask Saurabh to talk about that -- addressing your question.

亞歷克斯，感謝您的跟進。我實際上會請 Saurabh 談談這個問題——解決你的問題。

Yeah, absolutely, Alex. So the feedback has been very positive. First of all, as you noted, getting more frequent data and more current data is always helpful to our customers. And this is a tool that helps them very easily benchmark their experience versus the industry. And it becomes an additional input into their own internal decision-making and priorities.

是的，絕對是，亞歷克斯。所以反饋非常正面。首先，正如您所指出的，獲取更頻繁的數據和更新的數據總是對我們的客戶有幫助。這是一個可以幫助他們輕鬆地將自己的經驗與行業進行比較的工具。它成為他們自己的內部決策和優先事項的額外輸入。

So what we're hearing from customers is this is a very good innovation. We've launched it for the homeowners line of business. And the most frequent comment I hear is, when are you going to launch the other lines of businesses? So we're excited about it, and we're going to continue launching other lines of business. And as we get feedback from customers, adding more elements to the Experience Index.

我們從客戶那裡聽到的是，這是一項非常好的創新。我們已經為房主業務推出了它。我聽到的最常見的評論是，你們打算什麼時候推出其他業務線？所以我們對此感到興奮，並且我們將繼續推出其他業務線。當我們收到客戶的回饋時，我們會在體驗指數中加入更多元素。

Yeah. And I think regardless of whether it's priced separately or it's part of the broader element, this is an example of where we expect to capture value from that greater -- the greater currency, meaning kind of recency of that data.

是的。我認為，無論它是單獨定價還是作為更廣泛元素的一部分，這都是我們期望從更大的貨幣中獲取價值的一個例子，這意味著該數據的近期性。

I want to take that, Alex, just given the question and kind of broaden it. We recently did a voice of the customer exercise and isolated three primary asks that we have had from our clients, the first of which the Experience Index addresses is that they wanted more -- they wanted to see greater investment in data, both broadening the data sets that we have and the currency of the data sets that we have. So this is an opportunity to improve the currency and the actionability of that data set.

亞歷克斯，我想接受這個問題，並擴大它的範圍。我們最近進行了一次客戶之聲練習，並分離出我們從客戶那裡收到的三個主要要求，其中第一個體驗指數解決的是他們想要更多——他們希望看到對數據的更大投資，既拓寬數據範圍我們擁有的數據集以及我們擁有的數據集的貨幣。因此，這是提高該資料集的流通性和可操作性的機會。

Now the other thing that's important is that the client is also asking for more data, which means that there's an implicit desire on their part to give us more data so that we can expand and develop it. So that in and of itself creates more value for us. And we've seen a variety of initiatives and appetite from the clients in the excess and surplus area, which for insurance, industry analysts will recognize has been a growing area of the -- of industry underwriting.

現在另一件重要的事情是客戶也要求更多的數據，這意味著他們隱含地希望為我們提供更多的數據，以便我們可以擴展和開發它。因此，這本身就為我們創造了更多價值。我們已經看到了客戶在超額和盈餘領域的各種舉措和興趣，對於保險來說，行業分析師會認識到，這一直是行業承保不斷增長的領域。

The second theme that we heard was more insights. And we talked about the emerging issues, providing greater insights from the data on what the trends are that are taking place. And so that has been a key enhancement.

我們聽到的第二個主題是更多見解。我們討論了新出現的問題，從數據中提供了關於正在發生的趨勢的更深入的見解。所以這是一個關鍵的增強。

And then the final theme that we heard from clients is connecting the ecosystem. They want us to be that central provider, building that network aspect so as to improve the efficiency that the overall system and their ease of operating within that.

我們從客戶那裡聽到的最後一個主題是連結生態系統。他們希望我們成為那個中央提供者，建立網路方面，以提高整個系統的效率以及他們在其中操作的便利性。

So all of these elements, I share because their reflection is not entirely of us saying, this is what the industry needs, but what we are hearing from clients that they expect from us, given our role, given our centrality and the data sets that we have.

因此，我分享所有這些要素，因為它們的反映並不完全是我們所說的，這是行業所需要的，而是我們從客戶那裡聽到的，他們對我們的期望，考慮到我們的角色，考慮到我們的中心地位和數據集我們有。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our Q&A session and today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們先生們，我們的問答環節和今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。