Verisk Analytics Inc (VRSK) 2022 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Verisk First Quarter 2022 Earnings Results Conference Call. This call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

各位好，歡迎參加Verisk 2022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's Head of Investor Relations, Ms. Stacey Brodbar. Ms. Brodbar, please go ahead.

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

Thank you, Justin, and good day, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today for a discussion of our first quarter 2022 financial results. On the call today are Scott Stephenson, Verisk's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Lee Shavel, incoming CEO; Mark Anquillare, Chief Operating Officer and incoming President; and David Grover, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer.

謝謝賈斯汀，大家好。感謝各位今天參加我們2022年第一季財務業績的討論會。今天出席電話會議的有：Verisk董事長、總裁兼首席執行官斯科特·斯蒂芬森；即將上任的首席執行官李·沙維爾；首席營運官兼即將上任的總裁馬克·安奎拉雷；以及財務總監兼首席會計官大衛·格羅弗。

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。

Finally, as set forth in more detail in today's earnings release, I will remind everyone that today's call may include forward-looking statements about Verisk's future performance. Actual performance could differ materially from what is suggested by our comments today. Information about the factors that could affect future performance is contained in our recent SEC filings. I would also like to note that the financial results for recent dispositions of 3D and Verisk Financial Services, are included in our consolidated GAAP result,s, are excluded from all organic constant currency growth figures. A reconciliation is provided in our 8-K.

最後，正如今天發布的盈利報告中更詳細闡述的那樣，我要提醒大家，今天的電話會議可能包含關於Verisk未來業績的前瞻性陳述。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。我還想指出，近期出售3D和Verisk Financial Services的財務表現已計入我們的合併GAAP業績，但已從所有以固定匯率計算的有機成長數據中剔除。相關調整表已在我們的8-K文件中提供。

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

現在，我想把電話交給史考特。

Thanks, Stacey. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. The past 21 years at Verisk have been an incredible and rewarding journey. It's been my absolute privilege to serve as Chairman and CEO during such a transformative time for our company. I'm incredibly proud of the growth that we delivered and the value that we created for customers, employees and shareholders, and we always deliver this value by acting with the highest level of integrity.

謝謝Stacey。大家好，感謝各位參加我們2022年第一季財報電話會議。過去21年在Verisk的經歷令人難忘，也讓我收穫豐富。能夠在公司如此重要的轉型時期擔任董事長兼首席執行官，我深感榮幸。我們所取得的成長以及為客戶、員工和股東創造的價值令我無比自豪，而我們始終秉持最高的誠信標準，為客戶創造價值。

Our company's success has always been a team effort. To that end, I'm delighted we have such a deep bench of talent, including our incoming CEO, Lee Shavel; and incoming president, Mark Avelar, who I know will drive continued growth for our company and lead Verisk towards becoming a global insurance-focused data analytics solution provider. I look forward to seeing the work that all our Verisk teammates will do to drive innovation and growth and long-term success.

我們公司的成功始終離不開團隊的共同努力。為此，我非常高興我們擁有如此強大的人才儲備，包括即將上任的執行長 Lee Shavel 和即將上任的總裁 Mark Avelar。我相信他們將推動公司持續成長，並帶領 Verisk 成為專注於保險業的全球數據分析解決方案提供者。我期待看到 Verisk 所有團隊成員為推動創新、發展和實現長期成功所付出的努力。

As this is my final earnings call, I also wanted to take a moment to thank all the shareholders and analysts that have covered Verisk for your effort and your support over the years.

由於這是我最後一次財報電話會議，我也想藉此機會感謝所有關注 Verisk 的股東和分析師，感謝你們多年來的努力和支持。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Lee.

那麼，我就把電話交給李了。

Thanks, Scott, and good day, everyone. On behalf of the entire Verisk team, Scott, let me thank you for your dedication and service to Verisk. We wish you all the very best in your well-deserved retirement. It has been a privilege to work with you and learn from you over the past 5 years, and I'm fortunate to have your ongoing support and counsel.

謝謝斯科特，大家好。史考特，我謹代表Verisk全體團隊成員，感謝您對Verisk的奉獻與服務。我們衷心祝福您退休生活一切順利，這是您應得的。過去五年能與您共事並向您學習，我深感榮幸，也非常感激您一直以來的支持與指導。

I'm pleased to share that Verisk delivered solid first quarter results. First quarter organic constant currency revenue grew 5.3% and organic constant currency adjusted EBITDA grew 4.1%. Adjusted for the impact of the suspension of our commercial operations in Russia and higher discrete professional fees, organic constant currency revenue grew 5.7% and organic constant currency adjusted EBITDA grew 6.9%.

我很高興地宣布，Verisk第一季業績表現穩健。第一季有機營收（以固定匯率計算）成長5.3%，有機EBITDA（以固定匯率調整後）成長4.1%。剔除俄羅斯商業營運暫停和專業服務費增加的影響後，有機收入（以固定匯率計算）成長5.7%，有機EBITDA（以固定匯率調整後）成長6.9%。

We delivered solid growth across the Insurance segment, with the fastest growth reported in marketing solutions, international specialty business solutions, life insurance, extreme event solutions and claims analytics. We also had solid contributions from our industry standard solutions in underwriting.

我們在保險業務部門實現了穩健成長，其中行銷解決方案、國際專業業務解決方案、人壽保險、極端事件解決方案和理賠分析領域的成長速度最快。此外，我們在承保領域的行業標準解決方案也做出了顯著貢獻。

Within Energy, we continue to see improving results across both subscriptions and consulting, with the strongest growth in the energy transition, chemicals and metals and mining. We did experience softness in certain of our transactional businesses, including workers' compensation, which is experiencing continued weakness, as carriers are adjusting to new regulation within the industry. In addition, our property estimating solutions had weaker transactional growth related to a slower storm season versus last year's ice storms in Texas.

在能源領域，我們的訂閱和諮詢業務均持續成長，其中能源轉型、化學、金屬和採礦業的成長最為強勁。部分交易業務表現疲軟，例如工傷賠償業務，由於保險公司正在適應行業新規，該業務持續低迷。此外，受德州今年風暴季強度低於去年冰暴的影響，我們的財產估價解決方案交易成長也略顯疲軟。

Finally, the auto underwriting business continues to deal with a lower level of shopping activity. Our results also included headwinds from the suspension of commercial operations in Russia, increased cloud costs, higher discrete professional fees in the quarter and the partial normalization of travel and entertainment in the post-pandemic environment. We will provide more details in the financial review section of the call.

最後，汽車保險承保業務持續面臨較低的市場需求。此外，我們的業績也受到俄羅斯商業營運暫停、雲端服務成本上升、本季專業服務費增加以及疫情後旅遊和娛樂活動部分恢復正常等不利因素的影響。我們將在電話會議的財務回顧部分提供更多詳情。

In preparation for officially stepping into the role as CEO, over the last 75 days, we have visited our offices in London; Boston; Lehi, Utah; and of course, Jersey City, to meet with the employees and leadership teams of all our business units. Many of these individuals are long-time colleagues, and I'm excited to build on these relationships going forward.

為了正式就任執行長一職，在過去的75天裡，我們走訪了位於倫敦、波士頓、猶他州萊希以及新澤西州澤西市的辦公室，與各業務部門的員工和領導團隊進行了會面。其中許多人都是我的老同事，我很高興能夠在此基礎上繼續發展這些關係。

In addition, I've had the opportunity to meet with more than a dozen of our most significant customers. Some of whom I've interacted with throughout my tenure here. I've long known the valued role we play as a technology partner to our customers, and I'm more energized than ever about the extraordinary opportunity we have to expand the breadth and the depth of those relationships.

此外，我有機會與十幾位最重要的客戶會面。其中一些客戶在我任職期間就一直保持聯繫。我一直深知我們作為客戶技術合作夥伴所扮演的重要角色，而我們現在擁有拓展和深化這些合作關係的絕佳機會，這讓我比以往任何時候都更加充滿熱情。

Our value proposition is very clear. Verisk strategically invests in data and technology at scale in order to deliver economic value to our customers through operational efficiencies and better decision-making across the industries we serve. In Insurance, our customers look to us to help them better select risks and facilitate the automation of legacy processes to improve efficiencies and underwriting and claims. They also turn to Verisk for support with the digitization of their customer experience, and to enable the use of new data sets and platforms for expanded product lines.

我們的價值主張非常清楚。 Verisk 策略性地大規模投資數據和技術，旨在透過提升營運效率和優化決策，為我們所服務的各行業客戶創造經濟價值。在保險業，我們的客戶希望我們幫助他們更好地選擇風險，並推動傳統流程的自動化，從而提高效率，優化核保和理賠流程。他們也尋求 Verisk 的支持，以實現客戶體驗的數位化，並利用新的資料集和平台拓展產品線。

The development of our Touchstone platform and Extreme Event Solutions, the LightSpeed product suite and underwriting and the development of our life business are tangible examples of what we have delivered to clients.

我們開發的 Touchstone 平台和 Extreme Event Solutions、LightSpeed 產品套件和核保業務以及我們的人壽業務的發展，都是我們為客戶帶來的實際成果。

And in Energy, understanding the complex impacts of the energy transition and the geopolitical events continuing to unfold in Ukraine, on the global energy economy, remain a primary customer focus through strong demand for improved data delivery and analytics, and we continue to deliver on that demand for our customers through our Lens platform. In fact, the first quarter was our fourth consecutive quarter of mid- to high single-digit ACV growth, helped by new multiyear contracts, with material upsell for customers that are adopting Lens as they recognize the value of this new platform delivers.

在能源領域，我們始終將客戶需求放在首位，致力於幫助他們理解能源轉型以及烏克蘭持續不斷的地緣政治事件對全球能源經濟的複雜影響。客戶對更有效率的資料交付和分析能力有著強勁的需求，而我們正透過Lens平台持續滿足這些需求。事實上，第一季是我們連續第四個季度實現中高個位數年度合約價值成長，這得益於新簽訂的多年期合同，以及客戶在認識到Lens平台價值後，透過該平台實現的顯著增值銷售。

In both Insurance and Energy, we benefit from the growing demand for data analytics from our customers, along with their increased ability to ingest and utilize our rapidly growing data sets and technologies to make better decisions and drive operational efficiency. We create lift from these growth engines through the industry scale at which we can deliver greater value per dollar invested that our clients would be able to, individually.

在保險和能源領域，我們受益於客戶對數據分析日益增長的需求，以及他們不斷增強的獲取和利用我們快速增長的數據集和技術的能力，從而做出更明智的決策並提高營運效率。我們藉助產業規模優勢，從這些成長引擎中汲取動力，為客戶提供比單一客戶更高的投資價值。

Growth and returns on invested capital have been and will continue to be the primary driver of value creation for our shareholders over the long term. And my highest priority as CEO will be to continue to deliver on both. We are well-positioned in industries with massive opportunities that will require investment and focus in areas where we can maximize value for our customers. It also requires delivering value for our employees on whom we rely for their talent, commitment and effort. We operate in a highly competitive market for talent and must be sure that Verisk remains a very attractive destination for the best and brightest.

長期來看，成長和投資報酬率一直是並將繼續是我們股東創造價值的主要驅動力。身為首席執行官，我的首要任務是繼續實現這兩方面的目標。我們身處充滿巨大機會的行業，這些行業需要我們投資並專注於能夠最大限度地為客戶創造價值的領域。同時，我們也需要為員工創造價值，因為我們依靠他們的才華、奉獻和努力。我們身處競爭激烈的人才市場，必須確保Verisk始終對最優秀、最聰明的人才具有極大的吸引力。

Moving from our long-term value creation strategy to our near-term focus on the activities we described to drive enhanced shareholder value. I wanted to provide an update on both our progress towards being an insurance-focused data analytics solutions provider, and our commitment to achieving margin expansion. We are making steady progress on the separation of the Energy business. We are actively engaged in a detailed planning and modeling exercise of the financial, legal, tax and operational costs associated with separating the business. This analysis will inform valuation and the transaction structure that we intend to pursue, subject to market conditions and shareholder value considerations. Our timing expectations remain unchanged.

從長期價值創造策略轉向近期重點關注我們先前所述的各項活動，旨在提升股東價值。我想就我們成為專注於保險領域的數據分析解決方案提供者的進展情況，以及我們致力於提升利潤率的承諾，向大家報告一下最新進展。我們在能源業務分拆方面正穩步推進。我們正在積極進行詳細的規劃和建模工作，以評估分拆業務相關的財務、法律、稅務和營運成本。這項分析將為我們未來的估價和交易結構提供依據，具體方案將視市場狀況和股東價值考量而定。我們對交易時間的預期保持不變。

On our EBITDA improvement objective, as Mark will describe in greater detail, though still early, we have identified several areas of organic cost efficiencies at the operating and corporate level to drive margin expansion. These opportunities include the consolidation of certain real estate locations as leases come due or to the extent sublease opportunities are available; the increased usage of our global talent optimization locations for new hires; and more efficient technology investment, including the closure of our on-premise data centers. We will also reduce corporate overhead after we complete the transition services agreements associated with the sale of 3D and Verisk Financial Services.

關於我們提升 EBITDA 的目標，正如 Mark 將詳細闡述的那樣，雖然目前仍處於早期階段，但我們已在營運和公司層面確定了幾個可提高內生性成本效率的領域，以推動利潤率成長。這些機會包括：在租賃到期或有轉租機會時，整合部分房地產辦公地點；更多地利用我們的全球人才優化中心招募新員工；以及更有效率的技術投資，包括關閉我們的內部資料中心。此外，在完成與出售 3D 和 Verisk Financial Services 相關的過渡服務協議後，我們還將降低公司管理成本。

As we previously announced in mid-March, the company continues moving towards the goal of being a global insurance-focused data analytics solutions provider. We expect to deliver 300 to 500 basis points of EBITDA margin expansion in the consolidated remaining insurance-focused business by 2024, against a baseline of 50% to 51% normalized adjusted EBITDA margins on the 55% adjusted EBITDA margin that our Insurance segment delivered in 2021.

正如我們在3月中旬宣布的那樣，該公司正朝著成為全球領先的保險數據分析解決方案提供商的目標穩步邁進。我們預計到2024年，合併後的剩餘保險業務的EBITDA利潤率將提升300至500個基點，基準調整後的EBITDA利潤率為50%至51%，而2021年我們保險業務的調整後EBITDA利潤率為55%。

Indeed, 55% does not represent a normalized run rate for the Insurance business as it does not account for a number of offsets, including: First, corporate overhead costs allocated to other businesses of approximately 200 basis points; second, the impact of 3 strategic insurance-related acquisitions made over the last 2 quarters, approximately 80 basis points; and finally, the normalization for incremental cloud transition and post-pandemic travel and entertainment expenses for a combined approximately 170 basis points.

事實上，55% 並不代表保險業務的正常運作率，因為它沒有考慮許多抵銷因素，包括：首先，分配給其他業務的公司管理費用約為 200 個基點；其次，過去兩個季度進行的 3 項與保險相關的戰略收購的影響約為 80 個基點；最後，對新增和疫情後差旅招待費用的正常化。

In addition, investments in new financial and human capital systems will provide greater efficiency opportunities when fully implemented, but will pressure margins in the near term as well inflationary and competitive compensation pressures, but these effects are all embedded in the 300 to 500 basis point target.

此外，對新的金融和人力資本體系的投資，一旦全面實施，將帶來更大的效率提升機會，但短期內會給利潤率帶來壓力，同時也會帶來通膨和競爭性薪資壓力，但這些影響都已包含在 300 至 500 個基點的目標中。

We should note that 2022 is likely to be quite noisy due to the impact of portfolio changes and implementation costs, as well as the impact of other environmental issues. As such, we expect the margin expansion to be most visible beginning in 2023 as we move past the timing impacts of the portfolio changes and implementation. Based on our work to date, we are very confident in our ability to achieve our stated target for EBITDA expansion by 2024, as we originally disclosed.

需要指出的是，由於投資組合調整和實施成本以及其他環境因素的影響，2022年市場波動可能較大。因此，我們預期利潤率的提升將在2023年開始顯現，屆時我們將逐漸擺脫投資組合調整和實施帶來的時間影響。基於我們迄今為止的工作，我們非常有信心實現先前公佈的2024年EBITDA成長目標。

Before turning it over to Mark, let me provide a quick update on the CFO search. We continue to make progress in our prioritizing public company CFOs with operational efficiency experience. In the meantime, David Grover, Verisk's Controller and Chief Accounting Officer, has been acting as Interim Chief Financial Officer, and is well suited for this job.

在將發言權交給馬克之前，我先簡單報告一下財務長的招募進度。我們持續推進優先考慮具有營運效率經驗的上市公司財務長人選。與此同時，Verisk 的財務總監兼首席會計官大衛·格羅弗 (David Grover) 一直擔任臨時首席財務官，他完全勝任這項工作。

I'll now turn it over to Mark for some more color on the Insurance business.

現在我將把麥克風交給馬克，讓他再詳細說說保險業的狀況。

Thanks, Lee. Before I begin, I also want to take a moment to thank Scott for all that he has contributed to Verisk. The legacy that you're leaving is leading the way our teams innovate and always deliver for our customers. I wish you the very best in your retirement. It has been a pleasure to partner with you for all these years, and I'm excited to build on the strong foundation of success as we move to the next chapter of their story.

謝謝，Lee。在正式開始之前，我也想藉此機會感謝Scott為Verisk所做的所有貢獻。你留下的寶貴遺產將引領我們的團隊不斷創新，並始終為客戶提供卓越服務。祝你退休生活一切順利。這些年來與你合作非常愉快，我很高興能夠在你已取得的輝煌成就基礎上，開啟Verisk的下一個篇章。

I'm pleased to share that the Insurance segment delivered another solid quarter. Across Insurance, we're seeing strong results from both commercial and personal lines and seeing contributions to growth from our newly acquired businesses like Marketing and Life Insurance Solutions. Within our core underwriting and claims solutions, growth is being driven by strong renewal cycles, with existing customers, as well as from the addition of new customers and expanded use cases for our claims solutions.

我很高興地宣布，保險業務部門又迎來了一個穩健的季度。在整個保險業務領域，商業險和個人險均取得了強勁的業績，新收購的業務，例如行銷和人壽保險解決方案，也為成長做出了貢獻。在核心核保和理賠解決方案方面，成長主要得益於現有客戶的強勁續保週期，以及新客戶的加入和理賠解決方案應用場景的拓展。

Within Marketing, we're seeing strong growth driven by continued adoption from P&C carriers using our solutions to optimize lead acquisition programs, build more intelligent marketing segmentation and monitor portfolios from right-timed outreach and for improved customer retention. We're excited about the opportunity ahead as we combine with Jornaya with our newly acquired (inaudible) business to further enhance these capabilities by synergizing products and offerings.

在行銷領域，我們看到強勁的成長勢頭，這主要得益於財產保險公司持續採用我們的解決方案來優化潛在客戶獲取計劃、構建更智能的市場細分、並通過適時觸達客戶來監控投資組合，從而提高客戶留存率。我們對未來的發展機會充滿期待，我們將與 Jornaya 以及​​我們新收購的（聽不清楚）業務相結合，透過產品和服務的協同效應，進一步增強這些能力。

Our Life Insurance Solutions continue to help our life and annuity to customers, along with their digital transformation, all the while delivering very strong growth for Verisk. With the addition of new customers, as well as expansion of relationships with existing customers. Life insurance recognized the benefits of our modular and flexible software solutions and are standardizing on vast platform.

我們的壽險解決方案持續協助客戶實現人壽和年金業務的數位轉型，同時也為 Verisk 帶來了強勁的成長。我們不斷拓展新客戶，並深化與現有客戶的關係。壽險企業充分認識到我們模組化、靈活的軟體解決方案的優勢，並正在廣泛採用 Verisk 的平台。

Within stream events, we're seeing strong growth in our core Touchstone platform, with designing to move customers, as well as expansion of multiyear deals with existing customers. In addition, the catastrophe bond market continued to be strong, with Verisk participating in more than half of the deals placed in the quarter.

在串流媒體活動方面，我們核心的Touchstone平台實現了強勁成長，這得益於我們為吸引客戶而設計的方案，以及與現有客戶簽訂的多年期合約的擴展。此外，巨災債券市場持續強勁，Verisk參與了本季超過一半的交易。

Our sustainability business also had a very strong quarter as demand for our ESG in resilience global risk indices in both the corporate and financial sector grew strong double digits. During the quarter, we launched sovereign ESG ratings, targeting the financial sector and early interest is encouraging as our focus on the risk and unmet need in the marketplace.

我們的永續發展業務本季表現強勁，企業和金融領域對我們ESG韌性全球風險指數的需求均實現了兩位數的強勁成長。本季度，我們推出了主權ESG評級，目標客戶為金融業，初步反應令人鼓舞，這反映了我們對市場風險和未滿足需求的關注。

During the quarter, we experienced recovery in many of our transactional businesses that were negatively impacted by the pandemic, including travel, international auto and claims. This was offset in part by continued weakness in our workers' compensation business, as carriers are adjusting to new regulation within the industry, as well as tougher compares on the storm-related revenue versus last year's ice storms in Texas.

本季度，我們許多受疫情衝擊的交易業務均有所復甦，包括旅遊、國際車險和理賠業務。但部分復甦被工傷賠償業務的持續疲軟所抵消，因為保險公司正在適應行業內的新規，此外，與去年德克薩斯州的冰暴相比，今年風暴相關收入的基數更大。

In our many discussions with our customers, we continually hear the same message. The insurance industry is healthy and focused on becoming more digital, more efficient and more automated. While insurers are experiencing increasing costs related to inflation, rates are hardening, reflecting these inflationary factors. This should lead to faster premium growth. In addition, rising interest rates are helping the investment portfolios of our customers, driving better profitability. All that said, cost efficiency continues to be a big focus of our customers as they work to be quicker, more automated and drive savings.

在與客戶的多次交流中，我們不斷聽到同樣的回饋：保險業發展良好，並致力於數位化、高效率和高自動化。儘管保險公司面臨通貨膨脹帶來的成本上漲，但保費也在上漲，反映出這些通膨因素。這應該會推動保費的更快成長。此外，利率上升也有利於客戶的投資組合，進而提升獲利能力。儘管如此，成本效益仍然是客戶關注的重點，他們正努力提高營運速度、實現自動化並降低成本。

The growing of our data sets has been a strategic focus as we work to further advance our mission to help our customers better select risk. To that end, we've been expanding the data and currency of our commercial property database and now have over 15.4 million properties, up from 12.2 million just a year ago. Growth will become a combination of [onsite] surveys, virtual technologies third-party data sources and our ability to accurately model key characteristics using the data we have to expand and update our databases more frequently. Separately, we've added 10 new data contributors into our core statistical databases for rate making in the first quarter.

為進一步推進幫助客戶更好地選擇風險的使命，我們一直將資料規模的擴大作為策略重點。為此，我們不斷擴充商業不動產資料庫的資料量並提升其時效性，目前已收錄超過1,540萬處房產，而一年前這一數字僅為1,220萬處。未來的成長將透過多種方式實現，包括現場調查、虛擬技術、第三方資料來源，以及利用現有資料精準建模關鍵特徵，從而更頻繁地擴展和更新資料庫。此外，我們在第一季也新增了10家資料供應商，將其納入用於費率計算的核心統計資料庫。

On the client in grade (inaudible) front, this quarter has been wonderful. We successfully hosted hybrid customer events with many in-person sessions. In February, we held our Signature Elevate Conference. And in March, we held our Insurance Fraud Management Conference, both of which successful. Across the 2 events, we had almost 600 attendees in person and another 900 plus through virtual sessions. It was great to be in person with customers again.

在客戶關係方面，本季表現出色。我們成功舉辦了多場線上線下結合的客戶活動。 2月份，我們舉辦了旗艦提升大會；3月份，我們舉辦了保險詐欺管理大會，兩場活動都取得了圓滿成功。兩場活動共吸引了近600名現場與會者，另有900多名與會者透過線上會議參與。能夠再次與客戶面對面交流，真是太好了。

During the quarter, we acquired Opta, Canada's leading provider of property intelligence and innovative technology solutions. The acquisition further expands Verisk's footprint in the Canadian market. It supports Opta in reshaping risk management with valuable business intelligence. As the only organization in Canada regular gathers and validates data through ongoing research, Opta is widely considered the industry standard for valuations, property risk intelligence and loss control services. This transaction offers Verisk immediate expansion into Canada, with the leading provider of underwriting data and analytics to carriers and provides opportunity for product harmonization across the Opta and Verisk portfolio. We're excited to welcome the Opta team to the Verisk family.

本季度，我們收購了加拿大領先的房地產情報和創新技術解決方案提供商Opta。此次收購進一步擴大了Verisk在加拿大市場的業務版圖。它助力Opta利用其寶貴的商業情報重塑風險管理。作為加拿大唯一一家透過持續研究定期收集和驗證數據的機構，Opta被廣泛認為是估值、房地產風險情報和損失控制服務的行業標竿。此交易使Verisk能夠立即拓展加拿大市場，並與領先的核保數據和分析提供商Opta攜手合作，同時也為Opta和Verisk產品組合的整合提供了契機。我們熱烈歡迎Opta團隊加入Verisk大家庭。

Finally, I want to take a minute to add to the comments that we made around operational efficiency. Within the Insurance segment, we have engaged in a detailed study across all our costs throughout our business units. We have identified the areas of expenses to be eliminated without impacting future growth opportunities. Such opportunities exist in real estate, technology infrastructure, increased use of our lower-cost count locations for open positions, improved sourcing and procurement, product optimization, and we will work diligently to realize these cost savings in a timely and efficient manner.

最後，我想花一點時間補充我們之前關於營運效率的討論。在保險業務板塊，我們對所有業務部門的各項成本進行了詳盡的研究。我們已經確定了可以在不影響未來成長機會的前提下削減開支的領域。這些機會包括房地產、技術基礎設施、更多地利用成本較低的辦公地點來填補空缺職位、改善採購流程、優化產品等等。我們將努力及時有效率地實現這些成本節約目標。

Now let me turn the call over to Interim CFO, David Grover, for the financial review.

現在，我將把電話交給臨時財務長大衛·格羅弗，讓他進行財務回顧。

Thanks, Mark. For the first quarter of 2022, on a consolidated and GAAP basis, revenues grew 6.8% to $776 million. Net income attributable to Verisk increased 200% to $506 million, while diluted GAAP earnings per share attributable to Verisk increased 204% to $3.13. Our GAAP results include the impact of a $380 million after-tax gain on the sale of our environmental health and safety business.

謝謝，馬克。 2022年第一季，以合併及GAAP準則計算，營收成長6.8%至7.76億美元。歸屬於Verisk的淨利成長200%至5.06億美元，歸屬於Verisk的稀釋後GAAP每股收益成長204%至3.13美元。我們的GAAP業績包含了出售環境健康與安全業務所得的3.8億美元稅後收益的影響。

Moving to our organic constant currency results adjusted for nonoperating items as defined in the non-GAAP financial measures section of our press release. We are pleased with our operating results, led by continued and consistent growth in our subscription revenues. In the first quarter, organic constant currency revenues grew 5.3% driven by continued strength in our Insurance segment and sequential improvement within our Energy segment. Our subscription revenues increased 6.2%, while transactional revenues increased a more modest 1.3%.

接下來，我們將介紹經非經營性專案調整後的有機成長績效（具體定義請參閱新聞稿中的非GAAP財務指標部分）。我們對經營業績感到滿意，這主要得益於訂閱收入的持續穩定成長。第一季度，有機成長（以固定匯率計算）營收成長5.3%，這主要得益於保險業務的持續強勁成長以及能源業務的環比改善。訂閱收入成長6.2%，而交易收入的增幅則較為溫和，僅1.3%。

Adjusting for $3 million in prior year revenues associated with our Energy business in Russia, organic constant currency revenues would have grown 5.7%. Consolidated OCC adjusted EBITDA growth was 4.1% in the first quarter. Adjusting for expenses related to the suspension of commercial operations in Russia as well as discrete higher professional fees, consolidated OCC adjusted EBITDA growth was 6.9%. Total adjusted EBITDA margin, which includes both organic and inorganic revenues and adjusted EBITDA was 46.3%.

剔除上年同期俄羅斯能源業務相關的300萬美元收入後，以固定匯率計算的有機收入成長率為5.7%。第一季度，OCC合併調整後EBITDA成長率為4.1%。剔除與俄羅斯商業營運暫停相關的費用以及個別增加的專業服務費後，OCC合併調整後EBITDA成長率為6.9%。包含有機和非有機收入及調整後EBITDA在內的總調整後EBITDA利潤率為46.3%。

This level of margin includes the impact of the suspension of Russian operations, approximately 70 basis points of headwind from strategic recent acquisitions, a higher level of professional fees and the return of certain COVID-related costs back into the business. It also includes approximately 90 basis points of headwind from our ongoing technological transformation, including our cloud transition costs, which we absorbed into our cost structure.

這個利潤率水準包含了俄羅斯業務暫停的影響、近期戰略收購帶來的約70個基點的不利影響、更高的專業服務費以及部分與新冠疫情相關的成本重新計入業務的影響。此外，它還包括我們持續進行的技術轉型帶來的約90個基點的不利影響，其中包括我們已納入成本結構的雲端遷移成本。

Finally, this margin also reflected a beneficial timing difference related to executive compensation, which will reverse over the remainder of 2022. On that note, let's turn to our segment results on an organic constant currency basis. In the first quarter, Insurance segment revenues increased 6.1%. We saw healthy growth in our industry standard insurance programs, claims analytics solutions, extreme event solutions, life insurance solutions and international specialty business solutions. Subscription revenues increased 7.2%, while transactional revenues were up 1.3%.

最後，這項利潤率也反映了與高階主管薪酬相關的有利時序差異，這種差異將在2022年剩餘時間內逆轉。接下來，讓我們來看看以固定匯率計算的各業務板塊業績。第一季度，保險業務類股收入成長6.1%。我們的行業標準保險項目、理賠分析解決方案、極端事件解決方案、人壽保險解決方案和國際專業業務解決方案均實現了穩健成長。訂閱收入成長7.2%，交易收入成長1.3%。

Certain of our transactional businesses experienced recovery in the quarter, including international travel insurance solutions and international auto claim solutions, but this was offset by a slower storm season versus last year's Texas ice storms and continued softness in workers' compensation.

本季我們的一些交易業務有所復甦，包括國際旅遊保險解決方案和國際汽車理賠解決方案，但與去年德克薩斯州的冰暴相比，今年的風暴季較為緩慢，以及工傷賠償業務持續疲軟，抵消了部分復甦的勢頭。

Adjusted EBITDA grew 5.5% in the first quarter, while margins declined 240 basis points to 51.5%. These margins reflect a heavier burden from our corporate costs that were previously allocated to businesses that have been disposed, the impact of recently acquired businesses, higher cloud expenses, and the return of travel expense back into the business. This level of margin also includes continued investment in our high-growth areas like life insurance and marketing solutions.

經調整後的EBITDA在第一季成長了5.5%，但利潤率下降了240個基點至51.5%。利潤率下降的原因包括：先前分配給已剝離業務的公司成本負擔加重、近期收購業務的影響、雲端服務支出增加以及差旅費用重新計入業務運營。此外，此利潤率水準也包含了對人壽保險和行銷解決方案等高成長領域的持續投資。

Energy and specialized markets revenues grew 1.9% in the first quarter. Normalizing for the impact of suspending operations in Russia, Energy revenue growth was 4.3%, a solid acceleration from the fourth quarter. The end market continues to be volatile, but has benefited from higher commodity prices. Our customers are in a much stronger financial position than they were just 2 years ago. Our subscription revenues increased 4.8% when adjusted for the Russian impact as we are capitalizing on the increased appetite for advanced analytics.

第一季能源及專業市場營收成長1.9%。剔除俄羅斯業務暫停的影響後，能源業務收入成長4.3%，較第四季大幅成長。終端市場仍波動，但受惠於大宗商品價格上漲。我們的客戶財務狀況比兩年前穩健得多。在調整俄羅斯業務的影響後，訂閱收入成長4.8%，這得益於我們充分利用了市場對高階分析日益增長的需求。

During the quarter, we delivered double-digit growth in energy transition in chemicals research coupled with modest growth in our core research subscriptions. We continue to benefit from strong adoption of our Lens platform through upsell of existing customers and the adoption of new logos as customers are seeing the value of our integrated cloud-based data analytic environment. This is evidenced by material increases in contract size for multiyear contracts that include (inaudible).

本季度，我們在化學研究領域的能源轉型方面實現了兩位數的成長，同時核心研究訂閱業務也實現了穩步增長。我們持續受惠於Lens平台的強勁普及，這得益於現有客戶的追加銷售以及新客戶的加入，因為客戶已經意識到我們整合式雲端資料分析環境的價值。多年合約的合約規模顯著增長也印證了這一點，其中包括（聽不清楚）。

We also had another successful renewal cycle in the first quarter of 2022, resulting in our fourth consecutive quarter of mid- to high single-digit ACV growth. Transactional revenues increased 1.5%, but growth was constrained by resources as we actively are managing to take on only the highest value consulting work. Adjusted EBITDA decreased 4.9% in the first quarter and margins contracted to 130 basis points to 33.1%. This margin includes $1.4 million in incremental expense related to the suspension of operations in Russia.

2022年第一季度，我們再次成功完成續約，實現了連續第四個季度中高個位數年度合約價值（ACV）成長。交易收入成長1.5%，但由於我們積極專注於承接最高價值的諮詢項目，資源限制了成長。第一季調整後EBITDA下降4.9%，利潤率收縮130個基點至33.1%。該利潤率包含了因暫停俄羅斯業務而產生的140萬美元額外支出。

Normalizing for the Russian impact, adjusted EBITDA growth would have been 5.3%. In addition to the Russia expense, this margin level reflects higher cloud expenses and the return of travel expenses back into the business. It also reflected continued investment in Lens as we further build out capabilities to garner maximum value for the platform, including Lens Power, energy transition, chemicals and metals and mining. Looking to the remainder of 2022, the loss of Russian revenues and the adjusted EBITDA will impact each quarter by approximately $4 million per quarter.

剔除俄羅斯業務的影響後，調整後的 EBITDA 成長率將達到 5.3%。除了俄羅斯業務支出外，這一利潤率水準也反映了更高的雲端服務支出以及差旅費用的回升。此外，這也反映了我們對 Lens 平台的持續投資，我們正進一步拓展其功能，以最大限度地發揮該平台的價值，包括 Lens Power、能源轉型、化學、金屬和採礦等領域。展望 2022 年剩餘時間，俄羅斯業務收入的損失以及調整後的 EBITDA 的下降將使每季的業績受到約 400 萬美元的影響。

Financial services were included in our reported numbers, but not within our organic constant currency figures. We closed the sale of VFS to TransUnion on April 8. Our reported effective tax rate was 17.2% compared to 22.5% in the prior year quarter. The quarterly tax rate benefited by over 500 basis points from certain nonrecurring adjustments related to the sale of 3E. Looking ahead to the remainder of 2022, we still expect the tax rate to be between 20% and 22% in each of the next 3 quarters, though there will likely be some quarterly variability related to the [case] of employee stock option exercises.

金融服務業務已計入我們的報告數據，但未計入以固定匯率計算的有機成長數據。我們於4月8日完成了將VFS出售給TransUnion的交易。我們報告的實際稅率為17.2%，而去年同期為22.5%。季度稅率受益於與出售3E相關的某些非經常性調整，降低了500多個基點。展望2022年剩餘時間，我們預期未來三個季度的稅率將維持在20%至22%之間，但員工股票選擇權行使可能會帶來一些季度波動。

Adjusted net income increased 7% to $217 million and diluted adjusted EPS increased 9% to $1.34 for the first quarter of 2022. These increases reflected organic growth in the business, contributions from acquisitions, a lower effective tax rate and a lower average share count. Net cash provided by operating activities was $400 million in the quarter, down 11% from the prior year period, reflecting timing differences for certain of our collections and the impact of the 3E disposition, which closed in the middle of March.

2022年第一季，經調整淨利成長7%至2.17億美元，稀釋後經調整每股盈餘成長9%至1.34美元。這些成長反映了業務的內生成長、收購帶來的貢獻、較低的實際稅率以及平均流通股數量的減少。本季經營活動產生的淨現金流為4億美元，較上年同期下降11%，主要反映了部分款項的收款時間差異以及3E資產處置（已於3月中旬完成）的影響。

Capital expenditures were $60 million for the quarter, up 1.4% versus last year, reflecting increases in capitalized software development, offset in part by savings on third-party hardware and software as we move to the cloud. We continue to expect our capital expenditures to be approximately $280 million to $310 million. This supports our plans to increase our software investment with the acceleration of our pace of development in [monies] and extending software development into core underwriting where we believe there is a similar opportunity for platform enhancement.

本季資本支出為6,000萬美元，較去年同期成長1.4%，主要反映了軟體開發資本支出的增加，但部分被我們向雲端遷移過程中節省的第三方硬體和軟體成本所抵銷。我們仍預期本季資本支出約為2.8億美元至3.1億美元。這符合我們增加軟體投資的計劃，我們將加快[資金]領域的開發步伐，並將軟體開發擴展到核心核保領域，因為我們認為該領域也存在類似的平台增強機會。

Related to CapEx. We now expect fixed asset depreciation and amortization should be within the range of $210 million to $230 million and intangible amortization to be approximately $170 million. Both depreciation and the amortization elements are subject to FX variability, the timing of purchases, the completion of projects and future M&A activity.

與資本支出相關。我們目前預計固定資產折舊和攤銷將在2.1億美元至2.3億美元之間，無形資產攤銷約1.7億美元。折舊和攤銷均受匯率波動、採購時間、專案完成情況以及未來併購活動的影響。

During the first quarter, we've returned $621 million in capital to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends, as our strong cash flow allows us to invest behind our highest growth and highest return initiatives while also returning capital to shareholders consistently. We continue to expect to deploy after-tax proceeds from the sale of our 3E and Verisk Financial businesses for share repurchases in addition to our normal pace of quarterly repurchases, which are generally executed through an ASR program.

第一季度，我們透過股票回購和分紅向股東返還了6.21億美元的資本。強勁的現金流使我們能夠投資於成長最快、回報最高的項目，同時持續向股東返還資本。我們計劃將出售3E和Verisk Financial業務所得的稅後收益用於股票回購，此外，我們還會按季度進行正常的股票回購，這些回購通常透過ASR計劃執行。

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

現在，我將把電話交還給李，請他做些總結發言。

Thanks, Dave. In summary, our businesses are strong, and we are making important progress executing on our strategic and operational initiatives, including the separation of the Energy business and our improvement in margins. As we evaluate options for the Energy business, we will continue to focus on pursuing the most value-creating path for our shareholders and all of Verisk stakeholders. We are confident that the transformation of our portfolio and active cost management, we can return to growth in line with our long-term objectives and deliver OCC-adjusted EBITDA growth ahead of revenue growth in 2022 and beyond.

謝謝戴夫。總而言之，我們的業務表現強勁，在執行策略和營運措施方面取得了重要進展，包括能源業務的分拆以及利潤率的提升。在評估能源業務的各種方案時，我們將繼續專注於為股東和所有Verisk利害關係人尋求最有價值的路徑。我們相信，透過業務組合轉型和積極的成本管理，我們能夠重回成長軌道，實現長期目標，並在2022年及以後實現經OCC調整後的EBITDA成長先於營收成長。

We continue to appreciate the support and interest in Verisk given the large number of analysts we have covering us. (Operator Instructions)

鑑於有大量分析師關注我們，我們非常感謝大家對 Verisk 的支持和關注。 （操作員說明）

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

接下來，我會請接線生開通提問專線。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Alex Kramm from UBS.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Alex Kramm。

So thanks for some of the clarification on the base for the margin upside. I think there's been some confusion. Maybe, just -- and I think you raised through that a little bit, so maybe, I didn't catch this fully, but can you just talk -- remind us of the cadence to get to that 300 to 500 -- sorry, basis point improvement? I think you made some comments about 2023 that you may see some benefits.

感謝您對利潤率提升基礎的澄清。我覺得之前可能有些誤解。也許——您剛才稍微提到過這一點，所以我可能沒完全理解，但您能否再說一下——提醒我們一下實現300到500個基點提升的節奏？我記得您提到2023年可能會有一些收益。

And then maybe, related to that. On 2024, when you talk about 300 to 500, is that really something you see realized in 2024 for the full year? Or is this something that you would achieve by the end of the year, and it's really a 2025 event? So maybe, a little bit more of the cadence would be helpful.

還有一點，關於這一點，您提到的2024年300到500人的目標，是指2024年全年都能實現嗎？還是說這是年底才能達到的目標，實際上是2025年的事？所以，或許更詳細地說明進度會有幫助。

Yes. Thank you, Alex. So yes, I think you have the -- you took the comments accurately in terms of the base rate. And as we indicated, 2022 is going to be noisy. There are a lot of effects, what we are working towards, and I think we remain confident in, is that going into 2023, we will have achieved run rate expenses that demonstrate progress in 2023 on a full year basis. And as we then look to 2024, our expectation is that 2024, on a full year basis, will represent an achievement of that 300 to 500 basis point improvements. And so I think your question, Alex went to, all right, is that something that you're anticipating, exiting 2024 with? No, I think that we believe that achieving that -- our objective for 2024 as a whole is what we are targeting, and we remain confident with.

是的，謝謝你，Alex。是的，我認為你對基準率的評論理解得很準確。正如我們之前提到的，2022年將會充滿變數。有很多因素會影響我們，但我們正在努力實現的目標，也是我們仍然充滿信心的目標，就是在2023年全年實現支出水準的穩定，從而展現出進展。展望2024年，我們預計全年支出水準將達到300到500個基點的提升。所以，Alex接下來的問題是，你預計2024年底能夠達到這個目標嗎？不，我認為我們相信，實現這個目標——我們2024年的整體目標就是我們努力的方向，我們對此充滿信心。

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

你的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的東尼卡普蘭。

It's Greg (inaudible) on for Tony. All the best to Scott. Just want to stick with the margin, the 300 to 500 basis points of expansion. You talked today about doing a deep dive with a review of the cost structure to come up with that number. And does this incorporate all the opportunities you found? I think some of them like, closing down the data centers probably would have happened anyway. And I mean, the backdrop of why I'm asking the shareholder thinks there's potentially a lot more out there. So I don't know if there's a way you can frame the delta here.

格雷格（聽不清楚）代替東尼發言。祝斯科特一切順利。我只想繼續討論利潤率，也就是300到500個基點的成長。你今天提到要深入分析成本結構，得出這個數字。這是否包含了你發現的所有機會？我認為有些機會，例如關閉資料中心，可能無論如何都會發生。我的意思是，我問這個問題的背景是，股東認為可能還有很多其他機會。所以我不知道該如何解釋這個差異。

Yes. Sure, Greg. Thank you. And let me start off. I will ask Mark to supplement my comments, but we have looked comprehensively at all of the suggestions that we have received from shareholders. We have examined those, we have drilled into them, and we've had conversations with the business. And there is -- naturally supporting this, a substantial amount of opportunity that we are going to be pursuing over the next several years.

是的，當然，格雷格。謝謝。首先，我會請馬克補充我的觀點，但我們已經全面考慮了股東們提出的所有建議。我們仔細研究了這些建議，深入分析了它們，並與業務部門進行了溝通。當然，未來幾年我們將抓住大量機會。

And I think it's important to understand that, that 300 to 500 basis points reflects not just quantum of the cost savings, but also, the opportunities for other investment within the business that we think drives stronger growth rates, good returns on those types of investments, from an internal and from an external perspective. And so I think to answer your question, we do see opportunities from a cost savings standpoint that go beyond that, but we are also making certain that we are utilizing, as I've described before, the opportunity for investments, near term, in projects that may have a lower margin, but represent good growth, good return and operating leverage over time.

我認為理解這一點很重要，這300到500個基點不僅反映了成本節約的規模，也反映了我們認為能夠推動更強勁增長、並從內部和外部角度帶來良好投資回報的業務內部其他投資機會。因此，我認為回答您的問題，從成本節約的角度來看，我們確實看到了更多機會，但正如我之前所述，我們也在確保充分利用近期投資機會，投資那些利潤率可能較低但長期來看能夠帶來良好增長、良好回報和運營槓桿的項目。

So hopefully, that gives you a sense of both the scope, the quantum that we are looking at and how it relates to our overall management of the business for growth and return objectives.

希望這能讓您了解我們正在關注的範圍和規模，以及它與我們為實現成長和回報目標而對業務進行的整體管理之間的關係。

Mark, is there anything that you would want to add to that?

馬克，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

No, Lee, I think it was well said. I just will highlight that we have gone across every account, every division, and we've gotten very deep into this. And I think the theme here is a combination of how could we more effective, how can we be more efficient, and that's across a lot of different categories as well as what products may need to be rethought. But I will emphasize, we want to make sure is that we continue to invest in the future, because we are looking to grow and continue to grow as we have and organic growth is key to all this. So it's a delicate bouncing act, but I think we've been making very good progress here, and we're confident.

不，李，我覺得你說得很好。我只想強調一點，我們已經對每個客戶、每個部門都進行了深入調查。我認為，關鍵在於如何提高效率，如何提升效能，這涵蓋了許多不同的品類，也包含哪些產品可能需要重新思考。但我要強調的是，我們希望確保繼續投資未來，因為我們希望像現在這樣持續成長，而有機成長是這一切的關鍵。所以，這是一個需要謹慎權衡的過程，但我認為我們在這方面取得了非常好的進展，我們對此充滿信心。

Your next question comes from the line of Ashish Sabadra from 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 just wanted to focus on the insurance OCC growth of 6%. So the industry background is pretty robust. You talked about strength in several businesses. Obviously, there are some onetime headwinds as well. But I was just wondering, like, the organic growth of 6% continues to stay behind or underperform the longer-term expectation despite a pretty strong demand environment. So how should we think about this growth going forward as we -- as some of these one-off items come off? Can we get back to 7% plus growth in '22? And then, just maybe, mid- to long term as you in the business and as you highlighted, focusing on more efficient growth, can we see an improvement to that growth profile over the midterm?

我只想重點談談保險業的OCC成長率，目前是6%。所以，整個產業的整體情勢相當穩健。您也提到了幾個業務板塊的強勁表現。當然，也存在一些一次性的不利因素。但我只是想知道，儘管市場需求強勁，6%的有機成長率仍然低於或低於長期預期。那麼，隨著一些一次性因素的逐步消除，我們該如何看待未來的成長呢？我們能否在2022年恢復到7%以上的成長率？此外，從中長期來看，正如您在業務中所強調的，如果專注於更有效率的成長，我們能否在中期內看到成長前景的改善？

So Ashish, thank you for the question. I'm going to start off by making a high-level comment with regard to our subscription revenue versus non-subscription revenue in insurance, and then, turn it over to Mark to give some compositional color around that. But to your question, in Dave's comments, we highlighted that for insurance in the first quarter, we achieved 7.2% organic constant currency revenue growth in our subscription revenue.

阿什什，謝謝你的提問。我先就保險業務的訂閱收入和非訂閱收入做一個概括性的說明，然後請馬克詳細說明一下構成方面的內容。關於你的問題，戴夫在發言中提到，我們在第一季保險業務的訂閱收入中實現了7.2%的自然成長（以固定匯率計算）。

And the weaker part of the business is -- was in our non-subscription revenue. And that was a function of within our -- Medicare set aside, some caution with regard to regulatory changes, some hangover from the pandemic pressured some of that transactional revenue. In addition, we continue to see lower auto purchasing activity. And then finally, we had a tougher compare due to the Texas ice storms in the prior year period.

業務的薄弱環節在於非訂閱收入。這主要是由於我們預留的醫療保險資金、對監管變化的謹慎態度以及疫情後遺症對部分交易收入造成的壓力。此外，我們持續看到汽車購買活動下降。最後，由於去年同期德州的冰暴，我們面臨較大的基數效應。

So I think -- not stepping away from the fact that the 6% was below that overall target, in the most important component and the largest component, the subscription revenue growth, we think, was very solid, and we have some near-term transactional revenue that was really, the primary driver of that lower growth rate. But Mark, perhaps within the businesses, you can give some context around the strength on the subscription side and any of the other transactional elements.

所以我覺得——雖然6%的成長率低於整體目標，但最重要的組成部分，也是最大的組成部分——訂閱收入的成長非常穩健。我們有一些短期交易收入，這才是導致整體成長率較低的主要原因。不過馬克，或許你可以從業務角度，具體談談訂閱收入和其他交易收入的成長。

Yes, please. I go back to -- we were just under 7% in '21 from an insurance perspective. As we look forward, I think the 7.2 is a good indication of the strength of the business. I can provide a little color on the ups and downs of some of the non-subs type of revenue. One, storms last year, Texas storms provided a little bit of a headwind in '21, obviously, working against that comp in '22. Two, there still seems to be a quietness, at least, in volumes as a result of pandemic. And we see that in 2 places. One, just people aren't shopping for auto insurance, car insurance is quite as frequent as they once did. I think they're probably content with at least the rates they have now.

好的。我回顧一下—從保險角度來看，我們在2021年的佔比略低於7%。展望未來，我認為7.2%的佔比很好地表明了業務的強勁勢頭。我可以簡單介紹一些非分包收入的波動。首先，去年的風暴，尤其是德州的風暴，顯然為2021年帶來了一定的不利影響，也對2022年的業績造成了一定的影響。其次，受疫情影響，至少在業務量方面，目前仍較低迷。這一點體現在兩個方面。首先，人們購買汽車保險的頻率遠不如以前。我認為他們可能對目前的保費感到滿意。

As inflation hits and rates start to rise, people will, again, begin to shop. And the world of workers' comp claims is just generally down. And at your home, there's just not as many workers' comp claims. We've seen probably a drop of maybe around 20%, and there's been some regulatory changes that have paused some of the activity, with insurers to how they're going to approach those claims.

隨著通膨加劇和利率上升，人們會再次開始購物。而工傷賠償案件則大致減少。就家庭而言，工傷賠償案件的數量確實減少了。我們觀察到工傷賠償案件數量可能下降了約20%，一些監管政策的變化也暫停了部分案件的處理，保險公司在處理這些案件的方式上有所調整。

So those are the specifics with regard to non-subscriptions, but what I'd like to emphasize is the subscription side of things, whether it's from our underwriting and (inaudible) services, the claims analytics business, which is the fraud fighting business, (inaudible), and again, with extreme events, very strong. So I was pleased with the first quarter. And as is the norm, we typically have growth or we have strength as the year progresses with Insurance. So thank you.

以上是關於非訂閱業務的具體情況，但我想強調的是訂閱業務方面，無論是我們的承保和（聽不清楚）服務、理賠分析業務（也就是反詐欺業務）、（聽不清楚），還是應對極端事件的業務，都非常強勁。所以我對第一季的業績感到滿意。而且，按照慣例，隨著時間的推移，我們的保險業務通常會保持成長或強勁勢頭。謝謝。

And Ashish -- thanks for that, Mark. And Ashish, I want to also come back and address your question on the longer-term growth trajectory. Certainly, within our existing businesses, we see a constructive environment and good demand. But one area that I'll be focused on -- and this comes out, I think some of my past experience, as well as conversations with customers, is that the insurance industry, as a whole, continues to look for opportunities to improve their efficiency to take substantial costs out of their operations, to improve the digital experience with their customers.

阿什什——謝謝你，馬克。阿什什，我也想回來回答你關於長期成長軌跡的問題。當然，在我們現有的業務範圍內，我們看到了一個積極的環境和良好的市場需求。但我將重點關注的一個領域——我認為這源於我過去的經驗以及與客戶的交流——是整個保險業都在不斷尋求提高效率、大幅降低營運成本以及改善客戶數位化體驗的機會。

And I think our ability, from where we sit to act as their technology partner, in more of a utility role where we can find solutions for the industry, is a tremendous opportunity for us to think more broadly about what we can do. Because if we are creating value for the industry, we're creating value for our clients, and I think that will naturally drive value for our shareholders.

我認為，我們目前所處的位置，讓我們能夠以技術合作夥伴的身份，扮演更具實用性的角色，為行業尋找解決方案，這為我們提供了一個絕佳的機會，讓我們能夠更廣泛地思考自身可以做些什麼。因為如果我們為產業創造價值，我們就會為客戶創造價值，我認為這自然也會為我們的股東帶來價值。

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

你的下一個問題來自摩根大通的安德魯·斯坦納曼。

I just wanted to talk about that margin expansion. So you're saying the base now is 50% to 51%, going up 300 to 500 basis points to 53% to 56% by '24. Does that include energy? Or does that kind of 53% to 56% margin assume Energy is not part of the business? And then, if you can make a comment on if the tax rate for the Verisk business, meaning ex Energy will be much different than the business is today?

我只是想談談利潤率擴張的問題。您是說目前的利潤率基準是50%到51%，到2024年將上升300到500個基點，達到53%到56%。這個利潤率是否包含能源業務？還是說53%到56%的利潤率是指不包含能源業務的利潤率？另外，您能否談談Verisk業務（不包括能源業務）的稅率是否會與目前的情況有很大不同？

Yes. Thank you, Andrew. And so -- let me first confirm that 300 to 500 basis points off of the 50% to 51% assumes that we have separated Energy. And so what we are trying to do is provide and reference as we did in the original statement what the consolidated insurance-focused business looks like from a margin standpoint. So it explicitly assumes that we have separated energy within that context.

是的，謝謝你，安德魯。那麼——首先讓我確認一下，50%到51%的利潤率下調300到500個基點，是基於我們已經將能源業務剝離的前提。因此，我們試圖做的，正如我們在最初的聲明中所做的那樣，從利潤率的角度來提供和參考合併後的保險業務的概況。所以，它明確地假設我們已經在這個背景下剝離了能源業務。

And with regard to tax rate, I think we are still sorting through that as we look at the complexity of the legal entities that we utilize on a global basis, and we have tried to utilize some of the legal efficiencies in those tax jurisdictions. I don't think at this point, we're anticipating a dramatic change in the tax, but I just want to maintain the fact that we are -- as part of our exercise, trying to get a more precise read on what the tax implications are.

至於稅率方面，我認為我們仍在研究這個問題，因為我們需要審視我們在全球範圍內使用的法律實體的複雜性，並且我們已經嘗試利用這些稅務管轄區的一些法律優勢。我認為目前我們預計稅收不會發生劇烈變化，但我只想強調，作為我們工作的一部分，我們正在努力更準確地了解稅收方面的影響。

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

你的下一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Greg Peters。

So I'm going to focus on Slide 16 of your investor presentation, which is the capital expenditure slide. And I noted the comments regarding guidance around CapEx. So I'm just trying to understand the pieces here and what you're showing us on Slide 16. And specifically, how much of the CapEx expense, over this history, relates to noninsurance-related businesses? And when you set this target of getting to mid-single-digit level over time, I'm trying to foot that with the guidance that you have in CapEx for this year, because that certainly doesn't seem to match. So any additional perspective on CapEx would be helpful.

我將重點放在您投資人簡報的第16頁，也就是關於資本支出的那張投影片。我注意到其中關於資本支出指引的說明。我只是想理解投影片16的內容。具體來說，在過去的這段時間裡，有多少資本支出與非保險業務有關？您設定的目標是隨著時間的推移將這一比例降至個位數中段，但我想看看您今年的資本支出指引是否與此相符，因為兩者似乎不匹配。所以，如果您能提供更多關於資本支出的信息，我將不勝感激。

Yes. Thank you, Greg. I appreciate the question. I know this has been a focus for investors. So the way I would describe it -- and on Page 16, it's important to understand for 2021 that, that does include BFS 3 and Wood Mackenzie. And I would note that if we were looking at this on a segment basis, the -- Verisk Financial Services and with Mackenzie, particularly as a function of the Lens investment that we have made, as well as product enhancements that we were making at Verisk Financial Services, we're operating at a higher CapEx as a percentage of revenue relative to our average. And so if we are looking at an insurance focused on focused entity, while there will continue to be investment opportunities probably most notably, with what we were describing as our 4 lines reimagine that we believe will deliver similar types of benefits to the Lens platform that we did at Wood Mackenzie, that those areas of investment will continue to be important. But overall, across the insurance, that would have been -- and we expect would be below the average rate that we have been operating at over the past 3 to 5 years.

是的，謝謝你，格雷格。我很感謝你的提問。我知道這一直是投資者關注的焦點。所以，我的解釋是──在第16頁，需要注意的是，2021年的情況確實包括BFS 3和伍德麥肯錫。我想指出的是，如果我們從業務部門來看，Verisk Financial Services和伍德麥肯錫，特別是考慮到我們對Lens的投資，以及我們在Verisk Financial Services進行的產品改進，我們的資本支出佔收入的比例高於平均水平。因此，如果我們關注的是一家專注於保險業務的公司，雖然投資機會依然存在，但最值得一提的可能是我們之前提到的“四線業務重塑”，我們相信這將為Lens平台帶來與我們在伍德麥肯錫所做的類似的效益，這些領域的投資仍然非常重要。但總體而言，就整個保險業而言，這將會——而且我們預計將會——低於我們過去 3 到 5 年的平均營運費率。

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

你的下一個問題來自 Baird 公司的 Jeff Meuler。

I guess, I just want to revisit the structural growth -- structure revenue growth answer. And then -- present it this way. You've invested a lot in several new areas, non-U.S. marketing, life, there's been more CapEx. You're talking about the underwriting software platform and tech opportunities in general, not sure to what extent as you do the deep dive on the business, there's incremental pricing or go-to-market opportunities. That sounds like a lot of growth drivers to me. I guess, are those backfilling for maturing growth drivers? Are they incremental? I don't know if you're just not wanting to commit to a new target or if you want to show us the growth first. But if you could just help me understand if there's offsets to what sounds like a lot of growth drivers.

我想再次探討結構性成長——也就是收入成長的結構性問題。然後，換個角度來說，你們在幾個新領域投入了大量資金，包括美國以外的行銷、人壽保險等等，資本支出也增加了。你們提到承保軟體平台和整體技術機遇，但我不確定，隨著你們對業務的深入分析，這些成長點在定價或市場推廣方面有多少。在我看來，這些成長驅動因素很多。我想，這些成長點是為了彌補那些已經成熟的成長點嗎？還是說它們是增量成長？我不知道你們是不想設定新的目標，還是想先向我們展示成長情況。但你們能否幫我理解一下，這些看似很多的成長驅動因素是否有抵銷因素？

Yes. Thanks, Jeff. Look, I appreciate the perspective. And I think that we would agree there are a lot of growth opportunities within the business as we are sorting out the separation of the 2 businesses. Part of that exercise is looking at the overall -- on the overall insurance business and evaluating where there is growth, where there are opportunities to invest, where there are opportunities to de-invest. At this point, given that I think it's early stage in making that assessment, we're not prepared to change the guidance that we have. I think we've demonstrated on the subscription revenue that we have been able to achieve within insurance, that 7% growth. There are transactional revenues that we still are expecting to show recovery. But as we proceed through the separation, my objective would be to give a more thoughtful and fulsome description of how we think about growth going forward as we are thinking about this as an insurance-focused entity.

是的，謝謝傑夫。我很欣賞你的觀點。我想我們都同意，在分拆兩家公司的過程中，業務內部存在著許多成長機會。這項工作的一部分是審視整個保險業務，評估哪些領域存在成長點，哪些領域有投資機會，哪些領域有撤資機會。鑑於目前評估尚處於早期階段，我們暫不打算改變現有的績效指引。我認為，我們在保險業務的訂閱收入方面已經實現了7%的成長。我們仍然預期交易收入會逐步復甦。但隨著分拆工作的推進，我的目標是更深入、更全面地闡述我們作為一家專注於保險業務的公司，對未來成長的規劃。

I take the point, there are a lot of growth opportunities, we're going to be making investments. But at this stage, we haven't reached the point where we're ready to make a change in that long-term guidance. We believe 7% organic constant currency or higher growth for the insurance business is a very solid, respectable target with operating leverage that should drive EBITDA ahead of that. We've made our point in terms of our EBITDA expectations. And hopefully, we'll continue to refine that as we think about where we want to focus, where we want to invest and what we think the growth opportunities are.

我明白您的意思，成長機會很多，我們也會進行投資。但現階段，我們還沒有準備好調整長期業績指引。我們認為，保險業務7%的有機成長率（以固定匯率計算）或更高是一個非常穩健且合理的目標，而且營運槓桿應該能夠推動EBITDA成長超過這一目標。我們已經闡明了我們對EBITDA的預期。希望隨著我們思考未來的發展重點、投資方向以及成長機會，我們能夠繼續完善這些預期。

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

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Heather Balsky。

Just 2 things on the margin outlook. I'd love additional color. The first is in terms of the 300 to 500 basis points, I guess, what gets you to the low end versus the high end of the range? I'd love to better understand that. And second part is, are there any, I guess, onetime cost? Or how should we think about onetime costs as you execute on this plan?

關於利潤率前景，我有兩個問題想請教一下。首先，關於300到500個基點的波動範圍，我想問的是，低端和高端分別是什麼情況？我很想更清楚地了解這一點。其次，是否存在一次性成本？或者說，在執行這項計畫時，我們該如何考慮這些一次性成本？

Yes. Thank you, Heather. So I appreciate the question on the low end versus the high end. I think there are 2 primary dimensions that will influence that. One, it is simply the quantum of opportunity that we identify, and we want to identify as much opportunity as we can that doesn't impact the overall growth level of the business. And so that's -- we are certainly pushing to achieve as much of that margin improvement as we have laid out as possible.

是的，謝謝你，希瑟。我很感謝你提出的關於低端和高端的問題。我認為主要有兩個因素會影響這一點。首先，就是我們所發現的機會規模，我們希望盡可能地發現機會，同時又不影響公司的整體成長水準。因此，我們當然會努力實現我們所設定的利潤率提升目標。

The other side of that is what is the level of investment that we think is necessary to support, expand the overall growth and achieve good returns on that. Now, that is the tension point as I've described before to many of you to many of the investors. Margin is a dynamic element that you have to understand in terms of what is -- what margin expansion is being generated on a pre-investment basis, and then, what do you consume in order to support and expand growth and returns beyond that?

另一方面，我們需要確定必要的投資水平，以支持和擴大整體成長，並實現良好的回報。正如我之前向各位投資者闡述的那樣，這正是關鍵所在。利潤率是動態因素，你需要理解的是，在投資前，利潤率擴張的幅度是多少？然後，為了支持和擴大成長，並在此基礎上獲得回報，你又需要投入多少資金？

And so particularly, as we are going through an environment with higher inflationary costs, with high competition for our talent, we are evaluating those impacts, which I would describe as environmental that we have to take into account. That may influence where we end up in terms of that range. But the primary business tension will be the quantum of cost savings that are not growth impacting as well as our deliberate decision on what we are going to -- where we are going to invest and what the OpEx impact of that will be on our overall margins.

因此，尤其是在當前通膨成本上升、人才競爭激烈的環境下，我們正在評估這些影響，我稱之為我們必須考慮的環境因素。這可能會影響我們最終的預期目標。但主要的業務挑戰在於，如何在不影響成長的情況下節省成本，以及我們慎重決定投資方向，並評估這些投資對整體利潤率的營運成本影響。

But the primary objective, as I mentioned in my comments, that growth and returns are the fundamental foundation for our valuation and -- value creation for shareholders.

但正如我在評論中提到的，主要目標是成長和回報是我們估值和為股東創造價值的根本基礎。

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

你的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的馬納夫·帕特奈克。

I just wanted to focus on all the recent tuck-in acquisitions that you made. It looks like we spent over $600 million or so on acquiring a bunch of these assets. I was just hoping you could help us identify some of the key areas and perhaps, what the total M&A contribution for the year should be? You gave us some help on kind of the margin impact, but just from a revenue perspective, what does that add?

我只想重點談談你們最近進行的那些小型收購。看起來我們花了大約6億美元收購了這麼多資產。我希望你們能幫我們確定一些關鍵領域，以及併購對全年業績的貢獻應該是多少？你們之前幫我們分析過利潤率的影響，但從收入的角度來看，這些收購能帶來多少收益呢？

Manav, thank you for the question. And since -- as you've observed, those have been predominantly, if not exclusively, in the insurance sector, I'm going to ask Mark to talk about the nature of those tuck-in acquisitions, what we expect to achieve from a business standpoint and then Stacey will either now, or in our follow-up calls, provide context around the acquisition impact.

馬納夫，謝謝你的提問。正如你所觀察到的，這些收購主要（如果不是全部）集中在保險業，所以我將請馬克談談這些補充收購的性質，以及我們預期從業務角度實現的目標，然後斯泰西現在或在我們後續的電話會議中，會就收購的影響提供背景信息。

Mark, can I turn it over to you to talk through some of the recent insurance acquisitions.

馬克，我可以把時間交給你，讓你來談談最近的一些保險收購案嗎？

Sure. So let me -- 2 themes that I think you'll spot is, one, we continue to focus on trying to globally grow. So we have this wonderful franchise in the United States, and we've tried to take and extend that into other areas. So, a, Opta provides us with an underwriting base and foundation in Canada, doing many of the same things that Verisk does in the United States around the ability to understand the value of a property, how much it should be insured, the property characteristics. So very nice synergies, very much aligned with what we do, and it takes us into Canada.

當然。那麼讓我來說——我認為您會注意到兩個主題：第一，我們持續專注於全球擴張。我們在美國擁有非常成功的特許經營權，並努力將其拓展到其他地區。 Opta 為我們在加拿大提供了承保基礎，其業務與 Verisk 在美國的業務有很多相似之處，例如評估房產價值、確定保險金額以及了解房產特徵。這與我們的業務高度契合，實現了很好的協同效應，並將我們的業務拓展到了加拿大。

We have a strong claims presence from a repair cost estimating perspective, but limited underwriting. So I hope that's kind of very strategic in that regard. The other international element to this is we bought a business called Acano, which represents a claims business around auto in Germany. So as we try to extend and expand, we've had some wonderful growth and some great synergies in the U.K. market. And this takes us into Germany, but also, provides us an opportunity and a solution set that along with an early acquisition called Validus that helps us also potentially get into Spain and back into the U.K. in this product area.

從維修成本估算的角度來看，我們擁有強大的理賠實力，但在承保方面則較為有限。因此，我希望這在這方面具有重要的戰略意義。另一個國際因素是我們收購了一家名為Acano的公司，該公司在德國從事汽車理賠業務。隨著我們不斷拓展業務，我們在英國市場取得了令人矚目的成長和顯著的協同效應。此次收購不僅讓我們進入了德國市場，也為我們提供了一個機會和解決方案，結合我們早期收購的Validus公司，有望幫助我們進軍西班牙市場，並重返英國市場。

So again, international expansion, the focus. Other theme is really, around marketing. And we've experienced a lot of customers very interested in trying to understand and penetrate the customers that they are trying to segment, the customers they are trying to identify and bring on board. We have some wonderful tools to help them quote that business and identify and select that risk. So think about someone's shopping for homeowners insurance or auto insurance. What to (inaudible) and (inaudible) to give us visibility as to who's literally out there shopping for insurance. It is an ideal lead ID that kind of shares this industry standard that, yes, I'm out there and I've been on these websites and to the extent that now, I have information about that person. We are taking a lot of our underwriting where we've been focused on the asset, meaning the house or the car and trying to extend it into the people and the person and the individual gaining insurance. And we feel that personal side of underwriting and marketing is a very large market opportunity, and we're naturally there ready.

所以，國際擴張仍然是我們的重點。另一個主題是行銷。我們發現很多客戶都非常希望了解並滲透到他們想要細分、想要識別並吸引的客戶群。我們有一些很棒的工具可以幫助他們報價，識別並選擇合適的風險。例如，有人在購買房屋保險或汽車保險。我們需要（聽不清楚）和（聽不清楚）工具來讓我們了解哪些人正在尋找保險。這是一個理想的潛在客戶ID，它符合行業標準，即「是的，我正在尋找保險，我訪問過這些網站，而且我已經掌握了關於這個人的信息」。我們正在將許多以往專注於資產（例如房屋或汽車）的承保工作擴展到投保人本身。我們認為，核保和行銷中的個人層面蘊藏著巨大的市場機遇，而我們早已做好了充分的準備。

So hopefully, that provides a little bit of the strategic context, Lee.

希望這能提供一些戰略背景，李。

Thank you, Mark. And one thing I want to add before Stacey will address the contribution elements, Manav is -- I think one thing that we have been pleased with is the shift that we have made from more of a portfolio orientation from an acquisition standpoint, to a focus on business unit-driven acquisitions is that we have been able to identify where we can have an impact on the business. We have focused on an improved and more intensive integration process. And so with acquisitions like FAST, Jornaya and SQL, for instance, we have been able to demonstrate improved performance against our expectations and really, help accelerate a lot of good technologies that the insurance industry values, but we can really help accelerate their adoption by the industry.

謝謝馬克。在史泰西談到貢獻要素之前，我想補充一點，馬納夫——我們感到欣慰的一點是，我們已經從以投資組合為導向的收購策略，轉向以業務單位為主導的收購。這樣一來，我們就能更精準地找到可以對業務產生影響的領域。我們專注於改善和深化整合流程。例如，透過收購FAST、Jornaya和SQL，我們取得了超乎預期的業績，並真正幫助加速了許多保險業重視的優秀技術的應用。

And Manav, just so you're aware, we break out the contribution from acquisition-related revenue versus disposition in the footnote tables or the non-GAAP reconciliations in our press release. During the quarter, it was about $20 million. On an annualized basis, I think the best way to think about the recent tuck-in acquisitions you're referring to are roughly $100 million in incremental annualized revenue, but you'll just have to phase in the timing for when we close those acquisitions.

還有，Manav，需要說明的是，我們在新聞稿的註腳表格或非GAAP財務報表調整表中，會分別列出收購相關收入和處置相關收入的貢獻。本季度，這部分收入約為2000萬美元。以年計算，我認為你提到的近期小規模收購帶來的年度增量收入約為1億美元，但具體時間還需根據我們完成這些收購的進度來計算。

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

你的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Jeff Silber。

I'm apologizing for going back to a margin question. And I just want to focus on the Insurance segment. I know you said this year is going to be noisy, I completely understand it. But if we look at the first quarter, your Insurance segment, margins went down by about 240 basis points. I know there were a number of items in there. Is that the kind of run rate we should use for the rest of the year in terms of the year-over-year decline that we should be expecting in this segment?

很抱歉我又問到利潤率的問題了。我只想重點談談保險業務。我知道您說過今年市場波動較大，我完全理解。但如果我們看一下第一季度，保險業務的利潤率下降了約240個基點。我知道其中包含一些因素。就年減幅度而言，這是否是我們應該用來預測今年剩餘時間該業務板塊預期利潤率下降幅度的標準？

Yes. So Jeff, thanks for that. A couple of things. One, I think that what's important to understand on that decline is that the primary contributor to that is the reallocation of expenses to the insurance and the energy sector. And so -- and if we achieve that separation with energy, that will be a further allocation. That's what gets you to that 50% to 51% level. Now, there are going to be effects within that quarter that influence it, for instance, we have the discrete professional costs. We've mentioned in that quarter, there was a benefit from some compensation elements that we'll reverse, but I think that, that primary impact of the reallocation of the expenses, is a good starting point for understanding kind of what our normal run rate expenses will be over the course of the year.

是的。傑夫，謝謝你的解釋。有幾點要說明。首先，我認為理解這一下降趨勢的關鍵在於，其主要原因是費用重新分配到保險和能源領域。如果我們能夠實現與能源領域的剝離，費用分配將會進一步增加。這就能使費用佔比達到50%到51%。當然，該季度內也會有一些因素影響最終結果，例如，我們需要考慮一些獨立的專業費用。我們之前提到過，該季度部分薪酬項目帶來了一定的收益，但我們會將其調整回原先的收益。不過，我認為費用重新分配這個主要影響因素，是理解我們全年正常營運費用水準的一個很好的切入點。

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

你的下一個問題來自高盛集團的喬治唐（George Tong）的言論。

Going back to your margin expansion target, can you elaborate on your strategies for balancing cost takeout with growth investments for us not to starve the business of growth capital? And related to that, what are your targets for the amount of growth investment spend over this time horizon through 2024 and which areas will future growth investments focus on?

回到您先前提到的利潤率擴張目標，您能否詳細說明您在成本削減和成長投資之間取得平衡的策略，以避免業務成長資金短缺？另外，您預計到2024年期間的成長投資金額是多少？未來的成長投資將重點放在哪些領域？

Yes. Thank you, George. I appreciate the question, and I'll start by saying first, from a process standpoint, obviously, we are in -- the business is operating on a real-time basis. We are making investments. And so on those, we are maintaining what we believe was the right investment approach going into 2022 -- and so within our budget. And so those are the types of investments that you want to maintain. We will look, as we go into 2023, where the trade-offs are from a growth standpoint relative to the expense savings. And this is actually kind of the typical year-end discussion that Scott and Mark and I would have to evaluate what is the level of investment that we believe is advisable in the business to sustain, to expand the growth opportunity, what is the margin impact, what are the returns for all of those. And we look at those options across all of the businesses and then determine what we think is the best and the most supportive.

是的，謝謝你，喬治。感謝你的提問。首先，從流程角度來看，顯然，我們的業務是即時運作的。我們正在進行投資。在這些投資方面，我們堅持了我們認為在2022年就正確的投資策略，並且控制在預算之內。這些就是我們希望維持的投資類型。進入2023年，我們將從成長的角度出發，權衡成本節約與投資之間的利弊。這實際上是斯科特、馬克和我每年年底都會討論的話題：評估我們認為對業務而言合適的投資水平，以維持業務發展、擴大成長機會、評估利潤率影響以及所有這些投資的回報。我們會對所有業務進行評估，然後確定我們認為最佳且最有效的方案。

And so as we -- we're near term focused on achieving the cost savings, identifying, implementing those over the course of 2022. And then as we proceed and think about where we want to focus our investment on an ongoing basis within that business, we will look at those trade-offs. There is not a monolithic across the business perspective on this is what we are going to invest in growth, because almost by necessity, it needs to be a project-by-project and business-by-business determination that we evaluate through our budget and our long-range planning.

因此，我們近期的重點是實現成本節約，並在2022年期間確定並實施這些措施。之後，當我們考慮如何在業務中持續投資時，我們會權衡各種利弊。我們不會從單一角度來決定整個業務的成長投資方向，因為幾乎必然需要逐一專案、逐一業務地進行評估，並透過預算和長期規劃來做出決定。

So that's probably the best answer that I can give you, but we are always trying to, one, prioritize growth in returns while achieving the margin expansion objectives that we've outlined.

所以這可能是我能給你的最好答案了，但我們始終努力做到：一方面，優先考慮收益成長，另一方面，實現我們制定的利潤率擴張目標。

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

你的下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Andrew Jeffrey。

I appreciate you squeezing me in here. I wanted to ask a question about the cloud investment and the cloud transition. To me, it seems like there will be some longer-term expenses associated with that you contemplate in your sort of steady state insurance margins. I assume there are some go-to-market product development NPI benefits, though, too. Can you just talk about the specific ROI that you expect from your cloud transition efforts?

感謝您抽空接待我。我想問一個關於雲端投資和雲端轉型的問題。在我看來，雲端轉型似乎會帶來一些長期成本，而您在考慮穩定狀態保險利潤率時也考慮到了這些成本。不過，我猜想雲端轉型也會帶來一些產品上市開發的效益。您能否具體談談您預期從雲端轉型中獲得的投資報酬率？

Sure. Thank you, Andrew. So the first point that I want to make is that as we, I think, detailed in our last call, from an economic standpoint, we are achieving a benefit from our transition to cloud, meaning that our investments in that cloud migration have generated OpEx savings and CapEx savings across the portfolio that we have made. And it's important to understand that you have to look at both dimensions of that to see the economic value, but it does entail, naturally, an effective transition of what were formally CapEx expenses into OpEx expenses in terms of our cloud-based expenses.

好的，謝謝你，安德魯。我想說的第一點是，正如我們在上次電話會議中詳細闡述的那樣，從經濟角度來看，我們向雲端轉型是有利的，這意味著我們在雲端遷移方面的投資已經為我們整個投資組合帶來了營運支出和資本支出的節省。重要的是要理解，要了解其經濟價值，必須同時考慮營運支出和資本支出這兩個方面，但這自然意味著將原本的資本支出有效地轉化為基於雲端的營運支出。

And so firstly, that investment is generating economic value and is generating a high double-digit plus return on the capital that we invested within that. And I say that on the basis of having looked at the projects of where we've made those investments and then, what we've achieved from an OpEx and a CapEx savings standpoint. So we do believe that it is contributing both economic value and returns.

首先，這項投資正在創造經濟價值，並為我們投入的資本帶來了兩位數以上的高報酬率。我之所以這樣說，是基於我們對已投資項目的考察，以及從營運支出和資本支出節省的角度來看待這些項目所取得的成果。因此，我們確實相信這項投資能夠帶來經濟價值和回報。

Your broader question, as I understand it, is to understand the benefits from a business standpoint. And we do believe that the migration of that data -- those data sets into the cloud -- of the applications into the cloud, facilitate more coordination and integration of the analytics that are able to draw from that consolidated data set.

據我理解，您更廣泛的問題是想了解從商業角度來看的益處。我們確實相信，將這些資料（即資料集）以及應用程式遷移到雲端，能夠促進更協調和整合基於這些整合資料集的分析。

And in a way, the Lens experience that we've had is a demonstration of that. First and probably, most immediately in terms of the ease with which our customers access data, utilize data, integrate it into their processes, improve their efficiency because we aren't sourcing from multiple systems or from legacy systems. And much of what we want to accomplish in our core lines reimagine moves in that direction as well. Process efficiency first, but we're also improving the environment where we can associate data sets more effectively. But that is, I think, more of a second-stage achievement. We're focused first on the economic value that we can achieve, the process improvements for our clients and then ultimately, the improved analytical opportunity.

從某種意義上說，我們體驗到的 Lens 系統正是這一點的體現。首先，也是最直接的，是客戶能夠更輕鬆地存取資料、利用資料、將資料整合到他們的流程中，從而提高效率，因為我們不再需要從多個系統或遺留系統中獲取資料。我們希望在核心業務線的重新構想中實現的許多目標也朝著這個方向發展。流程效率固然重要，但我們也努力改善資料關聯環境，使其更有效率。不過，我認為這更多的是第二階段的成果。我們首先關注的是能夠實現的經濟價值，也就是為客戶帶來流程改進，最終目標是提升分析能力。

There certainly may be overlap, but generally, that's the process. And to date, I would say on that data benefit, that is still largely unrealized. In certain areas, I think we've achieved it, but in terms of the broader opportunity, I think there is still much more for us to do. And it ties into, I think, this broader infrastructure or utility opportunity that we see for the industry as a whole. As that data becomes consolidated in a more consistent architecture, it facilitates broader industry process improvements.

當然，其中可能存在重疊，但總體而言，這就是流程。就目前而言，我認為數據帶來的好處在很大程度上尚未實現。在某些領域，我認為我們已經取得了一些成果，但就更廣泛的機會而言，我認為我們還有很多工作要做。我認為這與我們看到的整個行業更廣泛的基礎設施或公用事業機會息息相關。隨著數據在更一致的架構中整合，它將促進更廣泛的行業流程改進。

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

你的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Faiza lLwy。

Lee, I wanted to ask a few follow-ups. Maybe, a follow-up to George's question. Are you able to (inaudible) and talk about the specific cost savings? So maybe, how much of your cost savings are related to real estate? How much is related to cost? How much is related to sort of employees in other locations? And maybe, if you could talk about the operating leverage that you expect in the business?

李，我想問幾個後續問題。或許可以作為喬治問題的後續。能否（聽不清楚）談談具體的成本節約情況？比如說，您的成本節約有多少與房地產相關？有多少與成本相關？有多少與其他地方的員工有關？另外，您能否談談您預期業務的營運槓桿效應？

And lastly, you've made a few acquisitions that have impacted margins. And I'm curious, as you think about your longer-term growth rate, do you need to make more acquisitions and whether the potential margin impact of those future acquisitions is included in your long-term margin target.

最後，你們進行的一些收購對利潤率產生了影響。我很好奇，在考慮長期成長率時，你們是否需要進行更多收購，以及這些未來收購可能對利潤率產生的影響是否已納入你們的長期利潤率目標。

Yes. So Faiza, thanks. It's a lot of questions to throw at me, but we'll try to knock them down one by one. So at this point, the dollar detail, as we are developing this, as we are anticipating what we can achieve over the course of 2022, we aren't at the stage where we are ready to provide a dollar breakdown on the expense.

是的。法伊扎，謝謝。您問了我這麼多問題，我們會盡量逐一解答。目前，關於美元方面的細節，由於我們正在製定方案，並預測2022年能夠取得的成果，所以我們還無法提供具體的美元支出明細。

And with regard to your question on operating leverage. Operating leverage is really the key element that I focus on, and I am -- we do embrace the fact that this opportunity to rethink our cost base fundamentally improves our operating leverage. We've always been focused on businesses that have solid operating leverage and that as we drive strong organic growth into the business that, that magnifies the EBITDA growth and that naturally produces margin expansion offset by our level of investment.

關於您提出的經營槓桿問題，經營槓桿確實是我關注的關鍵要素。我們非常重視重新檢視成本結構，因為這能從根本上提升我們的經營槓桿。我們一直專注於那些擁有穩健經營槓桿的企業，隨著我們推動業務強勁的內生成長，這將放大 EBITDA 的成長，並自然地​​帶來利潤率的提升，而這會被我們的投資水平所抵消。

The last question or element of the question related to the impact of M&A. And there, our focus is on generating growth and returns. I think, embedded in your question is, do we rely on acquisitions to maintain our growth rate. I think the short answer is no. we do look for businesses that we can create value from, that are higher growth and represent opportunities for us to accelerate and to generate returns. But we believe that our internal opportunities to grow, and as we demonstrated in a variety of areas, including with our LightSpeed products and within our claims business with a number of the products that we've added there, within our extreme event solutions businesses, those have all been strongly performing growth businesses for us.

最後一個問題或問題要素與併購的影響有關。在這方面，我們的重點是創造成長和回報。我認為，您問題的核心在於，我們是否依賴收購來維持成長率。簡而言之，答案是否定的。我們確實會尋找能夠創造價值、成長潛力更大、能夠為我們加速發展並創造回報的企業。但我們相信，我們內部的成長機會也同樣重要，正如我們在多個領域所展現的那樣，包括我們的LightSpeed產品、我們新增的理賠業務產品以及我們的極限運動解決方案業務，這些業務都取得了強勁的成長。

Looking ahead, we obviously can't anticipate the acquisitions that may become available to us. Our acquisitions are typically for smaller, higher growth businesses that do have lower margins. And if we do see acquisitions that we think are value creating, we will pursue those, and they may have a negative margin impact. In fact, they're probably likely to have a negative margin impact that would be outside of our overall objectives here, but they're fundamentally focused on value creation through our ability to accelerate and drive both growth and returns.

展望未來，我們顯然無法預測未來可能出現的收購機會。我們的收購目標通常是規模較小、成長速度較快但利潤率較低的企業。如果我們發現有能夠創造價值的收購機會，我們會積極爭取，但這些收購可能會對利潤率產生負面影響。事實上，這些收購很可能會對利潤率造成負面影響，這或許與我們的整體目標有所衝突，但其根本目的在於透過我們加速和推動成長及回報的能力來創造價值。

So our analysis is based on the business as it is right now, that we can achieve that against that insurance-focused consolidated business, but we aren't making any assumptions in terms of what our future acquisitions are. Those have to be opportunistic and based upon our discipline.

因此，我們的分析是基於公司目前的業務狀況，即我們能夠透過與專注於保險業務的整合企業競爭來實現這一目標，但我們不會對未來的收購做出任何假設。未來的收購必須基於機會主義和我們一貫的嚴謹作風。

Your next question comes from the line of Hamzah Mazari from Jefferies.

你的下一個問題來自傑富瑞集團的哈姆札·馬扎里。

This is Hans Hoffman filling in for Hamzah. Can you just walk us through your pricing model and how much is price running today? And maybe, any changes relative to history on how you price? I know you guys have talked about value-based pricing in the past.

我是漢斯·霍夫曼，代替哈姆札發言。能為我們介紹一下你們的定價模式以及目前的定價狀況嗎？另外，你們的定價策略與以往相比有什麼改變嗎？我知道你們之前討論過基於價值的定價策略。

Yes. Hans, let me ask Mark to provide a high-level view. We obviously have hundreds of products with different pricing dimensions. So again, it's not a monolithic business. But Mark, perhaps, you can offer some perspectives on how we think about that value -- our value-based pricing model.

是的。漢斯，我請馬克從宏觀角度談談。我們顯然有數百種產品，定價策略各不相同。所以，這並非一個單一的整體。馬克，或許你可以從我們的角度談談我們如何看待價值——也就是我們基於價值的定價模式。

Yes, super. So first of all, naturally, the way we kind of align our value add to our customers' needs is typically tied to some element of how big they are, which is usually, in the form of premium. So it doesn't necessarily tie year after year to premium, but we try to sync it up to how they're using basically our core products or our claims analytics products to the extent you think about some of the solutions on the repair cost estimating side, some at times into the number of claims.

是的，太好了。首先，我們根據客戶規模（通常是保費）來調整自身價值，這自然與客戶需求掛鉤。雖然這不一定與每年的保費直接相關，但我們會盡量根據客戶使用我們核心產品或理賠分析產品的情況來調整，例如，在維修成本估算方面，有時還會考慮理賠數量。

So I think what we've typically tried to do is set up a process by which we kind of size the overall relationship. based upon premium or claims or -- And then, inside of that, we are trying to create a holistic solution. So we are trying to bundle solutions together. So we provide a holistic solution set to them. And the -- I think the opportunity there is that, one, they have the ability to bundle the products, they get kind of a value price. And we try to include some increase or inflation in years 2 and 3. Usually, these are 3-year contracts, and they kind of come renew in year 4. Sometimes, they're 5-year contracts.

所以我認為我們通常的做法是建立一套流程，透過這套流程來評估整體合作關係，例如保費、理賠情況等等。然後，在這個基礎上，我們努力打造一個整體解決方案。我們嘗試將各種解決方案捆綁在一起，為他們提供一套完整的解決方案。我認為其中的機會在於，首先，他們能夠捆綁產品，從而獲得更優惠的價格。我們會在第二年和第三年考慮一定的漲幅或通膨因素。通常情況下，這些合約是三年期的，第四年續約。有時也會有五年期的合約。

But I hope that gives you a little bit of color. 85% of the revenue is subscription based, typically, it's these 3-year contracts. And I think the relationship is strong. So we're always able to add new solutions or maybe, they want to add a different subsidiary to the mix, and that gives us continued upsell and opportunities inside what is a very existing, very big existing customer base.

但我希望這些資訊能讓您更清楚地了解情況。我們85%的收入來自訂閱，通常是三年期的合約。我認為我們與客戶的關係非常牢固。因此，我們總是能推出新的解決方案，或者他們可能希望增加一家子公司，這讓我們能夠在現有龐大的客戶群中持續獲得追加銷售和發展機會。

Your next question comes from the line of Kevin McVay from Credit Suisse.

你的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的凱文麥克維。

I want to go back to the CapEx slide on '16. Is there any way to desegregate kind of how much it sits within energy versus insurance? And to the extent something happens with the energy business, should we expect that to go down? And then as you further transition in the cloud journey, does the internally-developed software start to scale down as well? Or is that going to be a structural part? I know the CapEx over time kind of declines, but how should we think about kind of cloud versus internally-developed software?

我想回到2016年的資本支出幻燈片。有沒有辦法區分能源業務和保險業務的資本支出比例？如果能源業務出現問題，我們是否應該預期資本支出會下降？隨著雲端轉型進程的推進，內部開發的軟體是否也會開始縮減規模？或者說，內部開發的軟體會成為結構性調整的一部分？我知道資本支出會隨著時間推移而下降，但我們應該如何看待雲端業務和內部開發的軟體之間的關係？

Yes. Thank you, Kevin. So the first comment is as we are kind of looking at the separation, I would just kind of leave it at right now, the investment on the Energy side relative to revenue would be above that average driven by that level of Lens investment in 2021 and 2022. And so we would expect that there would be an improvement on that, but we want to look at that separation before we evaluate changing that guidance, which we still adhere to.

是的，謝謝你，凱文。首先，鑑於我們正在分析業務拆分情況，我目前只想說，能源方面的投資佔收入的比例將高於平均水平，這主要得益於Lens在2021年和2022年的投資規模。因此，我們預期這一比例會有所改善，但在評估是否需要調整績效指引（我們目前仍堅持這項指引）之前，我們希望先分析業務拆分情況。

The second part of your question is, one, yes, we are seeing that CapEx savings, as you can see on that slide, but that internally-developed software will continue to be an important component of the way that we invest to deliver value to our clients. It is creating platforms for the data, it is creating software automation solutions for our clients and that will continue to be an important component for the way that we either improve efficiency or make better decisions within our business as a whole.

您問題的第二部分是，首先，是的，正如您在幻燈片中看到的，我們確實看到了資本支出的節省，但內部開發的軟體仍將是我們投資為客戶創造價值的重要組成部分。它為數據創建平台，為客戶創建軟體自動化解決方案，這將繼續是我們提高效率或在整個業務範圍內做出更明智決策的重要組成部分。

Our business is becoming more software intensive, and we think that's a good thing because of the value that we can create for them, one, from a process standpoint, but also, recognize that in a lot of the software businesses that we have and have acquired are essentially networks of participants in the insurance ecosystem. Our SQL business -- our specialty business solutions is probably the best example of that. And that creates opportunities for us to utilize that data to create analytics and to provide new functionality that supports the ecosystem. And so that's why it's so important.

我們的業務越來越依賴軟體，我們認為這是一件好事，因為我們可以為他們創造價值。一方面，這體現在流程方面；另一方面，我們也意識到，我們擁有和收購的許多軟體業務本質上都是保險生態系統參與者的網絡。我們的 SQL 業務——我們的專業業務解決方案——或許就是最好的例證。這為我們提供了利用這些數據進行分析並提供支援生態系統的新功能的機會。因此，這至關重要。

In a way, with that software, we are able to recreate in other markets of the network effect that we have enjoyed, historically, within our domestic business. And I would also note, when you look at our acquisitions, FAST, SQL, Jornaya, they are more software-intensive and are associated with that higher growth rate. So that will be an ongoing and important component.

從某種程度上說，借助這款軟體，我們能夠在其他市場重現我們在國內業務中歷來享有的網路效應。我還想指出，縱觀我們的收購案例，FAST、SQL 和 Jornaya 等公司都更依賴軟體，並且與更高的成長率相關。因此，這將是一個持續且重要的組成部分。

So with that, I think that is our final question. Thank you for your time today. Thanks again to Scott for all of his contributions, and we look forward to the ongoing dialogue with all of you as we proceed. Have a good day.

那麼，我想這就是我們最後一個問題了。感謝各位今天抽出時間。再次感謝Scott的貢獻，我們期待與各位繼續保持對話。祝大家今天愉快。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以斷開連線了。