Willis Towers Watson PLC (WTW) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Welcome to the WTW second-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Please refer to the wtwco.com for the press release and supplemental information that were issued earlier today.

早安.歡迎參加 WTW 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。請參閱 wtwco.com，了解今天早些時候發布的新聞稿和補充資訊。

Today's call will be available for the next three months on the WTW's website. Some of the comments in today's call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995.

今天的電話會議將在未來三個月內在 WTW 網站上發布。今天電話會議中的一些評論可能構成 1995 年《私人證券改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述。

These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed today, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these statements unless required by law.

這些前瞻性陳述存在風險和不確定性。實際結果可能與今天討論的結果有重大差異，除非法律要求，否則公司不承擔更新這些聲明的義務。

For a more detailed discussion of these and other risk factors, investors should review the forward-looking statements section of the earnings press release issued this morning as well as other disclosures in the company's most recent Form 10-K, and in other filings the company has made with SEC.

如需對這些及其他風險因素進行更詳細的討論，投資者應查看今天上午發布的收益新聞稿中的前瞻性陳述部分以及該公司最新的10-K 表格以及該公司其他文件中的其他披露信息。

During the call, certain non-GAAP financial measures will be discussed. For reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures as well as other information regarding these measures, please refer to the earnings press release issued this morning and other materials in the investor relations section of the company's website.

在電話會議期間，將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。有關非公認會計原則措施的調節以及有關這些措施的其他信息，請參閱今天上午發布的收益新聞稿以及公司網站投資者關係部分的其他資料。

I will now turn the call over to Carl Hess, WTW's Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

我現在將把電話轉給 WTW 執行長卡爾赫斯 (Carl Hess)。請繼續。

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for WTW's second-quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me today is Andrew Krasner, our Chief Financial Officer.

大家早安。感謝您參加 WTW 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。今天加入我的是我們的財務長安德魯‧克拉斯納 (Andrew Krasner)。

We delivered a strong second quarter, headlined by 240 basis points of year-over-year adjusted operating margin expansion, adjusted diluting earnings per share of $2.55, a 24% increase over prior year, and $361 million of free cash flow.

我們第二季業績強勁，調整後營業利潤率年增 240 個基點，調整後稀釋每股收益為 2.55 美元，比上年增長 24%，自由現金流為 3.61 億美元。

These healthy bottom line results were the product of our continued robust organic growth, growing operating leverage across our businesses and the ongoing success of our transformation program.

這些健康的利潤結果是我們持續強勁的有機成長、各業務營運槓桿不斷增長以及轉型計劃持續成功的結果。

We are very pleased with our sustained momentum from the success of our strategic initiatives alongside continuing favorable market conditions. Our 6% organic revenue growth in the quarter represents the value proposition of our business, the impact of our investments in talent and technology and the markets we have prioritized.

我們對策略性舉措的成功以及持續有利的市場條件所帶來的持續動力感到非常高興。本季 6% 的有機收入成長體現了我們業務的價值主張、人才和技術投資的影響以及我們優先考慮的市場。

Based on our strong first half performance and our continued confidence in our outlook and execution, we have raised the low end of our 2024 adjusted operating margin and adjusted EPS target ranges to 23.0% to 23.5% and $16 to $17 of EPS, respectively.

基於我們上半年的強勁表現以及對前景和執行力的持續信心，我們已將2024 年調整後營業利潤率和調整後每股收益目標範圍的下限分別上調至23.0% 至23.5% 和每股收益16至17 美元。

In addition, thanks to the success and momentum of our transformation program, we've been able to identify additional savings and accordingly, are raising our cumulative run rate transformation savings target from $425 million to $450 million by the end of 2024. We continue to expect mid-single-digit organic growth to achieve revenue of $9.9 billion plus.

此外，由於我們轉型計畫的成功和勢頭，我們已經能夠確定額外的節省，因此，到 2024 年底，我們將累積運行率轉型節省目標從 4.25 億美元提高到 4.5 億美元。將實現收入99 億美元以上。

I'm pleased with our colleagues' focus and dedication in executing our strategic priorities. Our results and outlook reflect their hard work in delivering for our clients and driving improved productivity and efficiency. With that in mind, let me share some specifics on our recent progress and the opportunities ahead of us.

我對我們的同事在執行我們的策略重點方面的專注和奉獻感到高興。我們的業績和前景反映了他們為客戶提供服務並推動生產力和效率提高的辛勤工作。考慮到這一點，讓我分享一些有關我們最近取得的進展和我們面臨的機會的具體資訊。

As I mentioned, our rising productivity drove greater operating leverage this quarter, significantly bolstering our bottom line performance. Our transformation efforts also contributed substantially to margin expansion. We achieved $24 million of incremental annualized savings this quarter, bringing the total to $394 million in cumulative annualized savings since the program's inception.

正如我所提到的，我們不斷提高的生產力推動了本季更大的營運槓桿，顯著提高了我們的獲利績效。我們的轉型努力也為利潤率擴張做出了重大貢獻。本季我們實現了 2,400 萬美元的增量年化節省，使自該計劃啟動以來累計年化節省總額達到 3.94 億美元。

As we near the end of our three-year transformation program, we're confident that the program has positioned us for further margin expansion over the long term. We now have the organization, processes and capabilities in place, to further optimize our cost structure, increase operational effectiveness, and improve profitability on an ongoing basis.

隨著我們的三年轉型計劃即將結束，我們相信該計劃使我們能夠在長期內進一步擴大利潤率。我們現在擁有適當的組織、流程和能力，可以進一步優化我們的成本結構、提高營運效率並持續提高獲利能力。

In HWC, we continue to harness the strength of our portfolio to drive growth. We captured demand and added new clients in each of our core businesses, made many smart connections to better serve our clients' needs across different areas, and introduce new breakthrough solutions. That combination enabled us to achieve 5% organic revenue growth in the quarter, delivering accelerated growth across the health, wealth and career businesses, as we consciously manage BD&O growth to optimize earnings and cash flow.

在 HWC，我們繼續利用我們產品組合的優勢來推動成長。我們在每項核心業務中捕捉需求並增加新客戶，建立許多智慧連接以更好地滿足不同領域客戶的需求，並推出新的突破性解決方案。這種組合使我們在本季度實現了 5% 的有機收入成長，加速了健康、財富和職業業務的成長，同時我們有意識地管理 BD&O 成長以優化收益和現金流。

Growth was led by our health business, which generated 9% organic growth. Across the segment, we continue to see good levels of demand driven by health care inflation, strong employment, elevated pension fund status, new legislative and regulatory requirements, and other complexities in the macro environment.

我們的健康業務帶動了成長，實現了 9% 的有機成長。在整個細分市場，我們繼續看到醫療保健通膨、強勁就業、退休基金地位提高、新的立法和監管要求以及宏觀環境中的其他複雜性推動的良好需求水平。

Our deep expertise and rich experience, combined with our data analytics and software solutions position us well to help clients navigate the dynamic environment. from managing total rewards costs to derisking pension plans.

我們深厚的專業知識和豐富的經驗，再加上我們的數據分析和軟體解決方案，使我們能夠很好地幫助客戶駕馭動態環境。從管理總獎勵成本到降低退休金計劃風險。

Our teams have successfully generated buildable upticks in a number of areas. We've added several new global benefits management appointments with organizations that want to better manage costs and also improve their employees' experience. With a favorable interest rate environment, we've helped more clients initiate pension derisking processes through both sums in the US and the newly buy-ins and buyouts in Great Britain.

我們的團隊已在多個領域成功實現了可建立的提升。我們與希望更好地管理成本並改善員工體驗的組織增加了幾項新的全球福利管理任命。在有利的利率環境下，我們透過美國的資金以及英國的新買入和買斷幫助更多的客戶啟動了退休金去風險流程。

As we've helped guide clients on the implications of new pay transparency and equity requirements to the EU, more companies have engaged us for broad-based award projects. In response to the strong employment market, we sold more compensation benchmarking surveys and more licenses to embark our employee experience portable.

由於我們幫助指導客戶了解新的薪酬透明度和公平要求對歐盟的影響，越來越多的公司與我們合作進行廣泛的獎勵項目。為了因應強勁的就業市場，我們出售了更多的薪酬基準調查和更多的許可證，以實現我們的員工體驗便攜式。

And our LifeSight master trust in Great Britain continues to grow, having just exceeded GBP 20 billion in assets under management.

我們在英國的 LifeSight 主信託持續成長，管理資產剛超過 200 億英鎊。

Our focus on smart connections across HWC has also continued to pay dividends. This past quarter, we worked with a large airline, which was already a global benefits management client of our health business. This client sponsored a large number of pension plans in multiple countries and needed to help keeping these plans compliant, competitive, and well run.

我們對 HWC 智慧連結的關注也持續帶來回報。上個季度，我們與一家大型航空公司合作，該航空公司已經是我們健康業務的全球福利管理客戶。該客戶在多個國家贊助了大量退休金計劃，需要幫助維持這些計劃的合規性、競爭力和良好運作。

Our GBM team introduced the claim to our retirement team, which was able to provide a complete solution tailored to their retirement needs. Our strong existing relationship together with our smart connections mindset, helped us win a multiyear contract, and gave our client a more developed service proposition with flexible pricing options.

我們的 GBM 團隊向我們的退休團隊介紹了這個主張，該團隊能夠提供適合他們退休需求的完整解決方案。我們牢固的現有關係加上我們的智慧連結思維，幫助我們贏得了多年期合同，並為我們的客戶提供了更完善的服務主張和靈活的定價選項。

Another example involves a large automotive retailer, where we secured a health and benefits consulting and brokerage relationship. To improve how their employees value and utilize their benefits, we introduced our employee experience team, who presented a personalized digital approach to communication that helped the plan members break through the complexity of the health care environment.

另一個例子涉及一家大型汽車零售商，我們在那裡建立了健康和福利諮詢和經紀關係。為了改善員工對福利的重視和利用，我們引入了員工體驗團隊，他們提出了個人化的數位溝通方法，幫助計畫成員突破醫療保健環境的複雜性。

This generated an interest in learning how we could help them simplify the administration of their benefit plans. And after hearing how our teams could also collaborate to deliver insights to improve the plant's effectiveness and help them reduce overall health care costs, they appointed us as their benefits outsourcer.

這引起了人們對了解我們如何幫助他們簡化福利計劃管理的興趣。在聽到我們的團隊如何合作提供見解以提高工廠的效率並幫助他們降低整體醫療保健成本後，他們任命我們為他們的福利外包商。

In a third example, our segments collaborated when a team at CRB reached out to our health and benefits and retirement experts. Our CRB team who've been helping a client assess and manage integration risks in a newly acquired business recognized that the client needs beyond property casualty risks to also include people risks requiring employee benefits expertise across multiple countries.

在第三個例子中，當 CRB 的一個團隊聯繫我們的健康、福祉和退休專家時，我們的部門進行了合作。我們的 CRB 團隊一直在幫助客戶評估和管理新收購企業的整合風險，他們認識到，客戶需要的不僅僅是財產傷亡風險，還包括需要跨多個國家的員工福利專業知識的人員風險。

We secured this win by offering complete M&A guidance, including strategic planning and brokerage services covering both corporate risk and employee benefits.

我們透過提供完整的併購指導來確保這項勝利，包括涵蓋企業風險和員工福利的策略規劃和經紀服務。

We've previously highlighted how HWC has developed breakthrough solutions that are leading the market and delighted to share two more breakthroughs this quarter.

我們之前曾重點介紹 HWC 如何開發出引領市場的突破性解決方案，並很高興在本季度分享另外兩項突破。

First, knowing how highly employees value flexibility, members of our US retirement team helped one of our clients find a way through complex regulations, and potentially challenging administrative requirements, to introduce a new pension plan feature to help employees better manage their financial situation.

首先，我們的美國退休團隊成員了解員工對靈活性的高度重視，因此幫助我們的一位客戶找到了一種方法，透過複雜的法規和可能具有挑戰性的管理要求，引入新的退休金計畫功能，以幫助員工更好地管理其財務狀況。

Also, our investments team launched our first ever dedicated private equity pools fund. The fund's innovative semi-liquid structure and nature will be open to wealth and defined contribution plans.

此外，我們的投資團隊推出了我們第一個專門的私募股權池基金。該基金創新的半流動結構和性質將對財富和固定繳款計劃開放。

In risk and broking, our focus on specialization, investments in talent and technology and top quality client service continues to sustain client retention rates in the mid-90s, and generate substantial growth opportunities. This is evidenced by the segment's organic revenue growth of 10% for the quarter, fueled by our specialty businesses, which continued to outpace the growth of the rest of the segment.

在風險和經紀領域，我們對專業化、人才和技術投資以及高品質客戶服務的關注繼續將客戶保留率維持在 90 年代中期，並創造了大量的成長機會。在我們的專業業務的推動下，該部門本季的有機收入成長了 10%，這一點證明了這一點，該部門的成長繼續超過了該部門其他部門的成長。

All of this is the product of our differentiated service offerings and ability to adapt to our clients' changing and complex risks. Our R&D specialization strategy is about delivering tailored solutions that address industry-specific risks and optimizing our client outcome.

所有這一切都是我們提供差異化服務以及適應客戶不斷變化和複雜風險的能力的產物。我們的研發專業化策略是提供客製化解決方案，解決產業特定風險並優化客戶成果。

One of our client wins this quarter included the insurance placement for an energy supplier who had a challenging loss record and complex risk profile, and was under severe time constraints for securing an insurance solution. Thanks to our deep expertise in the natural resources sector across multiple geographies, we were able to provide the company with complete coverage in just one month.

我們本季贏得的客戶之一包括為能源供應商提供保險，該能源供應商的損失記錄具有挑戰性，風險狀況複雜，並且在確保保險解決方案方面受到嚴格的時間限制。憑藉我們在多個地區自然資源領域的深厚專業知識，我們能夠在短短一個月內為該公司提供完整的覆蓋範圍。

We continue to make good progress with Verita, our open market MGU in North America. Submission volume continues to increase each month as the brand has expanded across the US, with broad opportunities from different brokers.

我們繼續與我們在北美的開放市場 MGU Verita 取得良好進展。隨著該品牌在美國各地的擴張，以及來自不同經紀人的廣泛機會，提交量每個月都在持續增加。

The team continues to evaluate and add new products to the platform to further accelerate revenue growth in the second half of the year and beyond.

該團隊繼續評估並在平台上添加新產品，以進一步加速下半年及以後的收入成長。

As we've mentioned, investments in our R&D talent base have also been a significant revenue growth driver for the segment. After a focused effort to replenish our talent base over the past few years, these new hires have become increasingly productive and are contributing to our strong organic growth in this segment.

正如我們所提到的，對研發人才基礎的投資也是該領域收入成長的重要推動力。經過過去幾年的集中努力補充我們的人才基礎，這些新員工的生產力越來越高，並為我們在該領域的強勁有機成長做出了貢獻。

Our recent hiring efforts have been more opportunistic and strategic with the goal of enhancing our ability to achieve sustainable, profitable growth and create value.

我們最近的招募工作更具機會主義和策略性，目標是增強我們實現永續獲利成長和創造價值的能力。

Lucy Clarke, who's recently joined us is one example of this type of strategic hire, Lucy's commitment to specialization, data and analytics and exceptional client service makes her a perfect fit to lead risk and broking.

最近加入我們的露西·克拉克（Lucy Clarke）就是此類策略招募的一個例子，露西對專業化、數據和分析以及卓越客戶服務的承諾使她非常適合領導風險和經紀業務。

We expect that our market presence, proven track record and focus on talent will help further drive organic growth and margin expansion in the segment, building on the excellent work Adam Garrard has accomplished over the last 5 years.

我們預計，在 Adam Garrard 過去 5 年所取得的出色工作的基礎上，我們的市場影響力、良好的業績記錄以及對人才的關注將有助於進一步推動該領域的有機增長和利潤率擴張。

We are confident that our strategic investments in talent and technology, along with our specialization strategy, is leading to increased engagement with both new and existing clients. This heightened activity is crucial for driving our organic revenue growth and expanding margins for the rest of the year and beyond.

我們相信，我們對人才和技術的策略性投資以及我們的專業化策略將增加與新客戶和現有客戶的互動。這種活動的加強對於推動我們的有機收入成長和擴大今年剩餘時間及以後的利潤率至關重要。

In conclusion, I'd like to thank our colleagues for their unwavering commitment to WTW and to our clients, which helped us to achieve another solid quarter. We continue to effectively execute on our strategic priorities, setting us up to achieve our objectives for the year.

最後，我要感謝我們的同事對 WTW 和我們客戶的堅定承諾，這幫助我們實現了另一個穩健的季度。我們繼續有效地執行我們的策略重點，為實現今年的目標做好準備。

I'm enthusiastic about our opportunities in the second half of the year, and have confidence that we are on the right path to achieving our goal for 2024. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Andrew.

我對今年下半年的機會充滿熱情，並相信我們正走在實現 2024 年目標的正確道路上。

Thanks, Carl. Good morning, and thanks for joining us today. In the second quarter, we delivered organic revenue growth of 6% and drove adjusted operating margin expansion of 240 basis points, resulting in adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.55, an increase of 24% over the prior year.

謝謝，卡爾。早安，感謝您今天加入我們。第二季度，我們的有機收入成長了 6%，調整後營業利潤率擴大了 240 個基點，調整後稀釋每股收益為 2.55 美元，比上年增長 24%。

As Carl mentioned, thanks to our solid results for the past two quarters, and our confidence in what we expect to achieve in the second half of the year, we have raised the low end of our 2024 financial targets for adjusted operating margin and adjusted EPS, bringing the target ranges to 23% to 23.5% and $16 to $17, respectively.

正如卡爾所提到的，由於我們過去兩個季度的穩健業績，以及我們對下半年預期實現的目標的信心，我們提高了調整後營業利潤率和調整後每股收益的 2024 年財務目標的下限，使目標範圍分別達到23% 至23.5% 和16 至17 美元。

In addition, we have been able to identify additional transformation savings and are raising our cumulative run rate target from $425 million to $450 million by the end of 2024. The total cost to achieve these savings is now estimated at $1.175 billion. These additions to the transformation program will help us drive further efficiencies as we remain focused on a strong finish to the program.

此外，我們已經能夠確定額外的轉型節省，並計劃在 2024 年底將累積運行率目標從 4.25 億美元提高到 4.5 億美元。轉型計劃的這些補充將幫助我們進一步提高效率，因為我們仍然專注於該計劃的順利完成。

Next, I'll spend some time reviewing our segment results. Note that to provide comparability with prior periods, all commentary regarding the results of our segments will be on an organic basis, unless specifically stated otherwise.

接下來，我將花一些時間回顧我們的細分結果。請注意，為了提供與前期的可比性，除非另有明確說明，否則有關我們分部業績的所有評論都將基於有機基礎。

Health, wealth and career generated revenue growth of 5% compared to the second quarter of last year, in line with our expectations of mid-single-digit organic revenue growth for the segment for 2024. We noted last quarter that we expected health revenue growth to accelerate. And indeed, the business generated revenue growth of 9% for the quarter in comparison to 3% growth in Q1.

與去年第二季相比，健康、財富和職業收入成長 5%，符合我們對該細分市場 2024 年中個位數有機收入成長的預期。事實上，該業務本季的營收成長了 9%，而第一季的成長為 3%。

North America generated strong growth as a result of increased project work. In addition, international and Europe delivered double-digit growth driven by strong client retention, new local appointments and the continued expansion of our global benefits management client portfolio.

由於專案工作的增加，北美地區實現了強勁的成長。此外，在強勁的客戶保留、新的本地任命以及我們的全球福利管理客戶組合的持續擴張的推動下，國際和歐洲業務實現了兩位數的成長。

Wealth grew 5% in the second quarter, driven by strong growth in our retirement business due to new client acquisitions and increased project work including pension derisking work in North America and additional work required in a peak valuation year in Great Britain.

第二季財富成長了 5%，這得益於新客戶收購和專案工作的增加，包括北美退休金去風險工作以及英國估值高峰年所需的額外工作，導致我們的退休業務強勁成長。

We also delivered solid growth in our Investments business due to improvements in capital markets and growth from our LifeSight solution.

由於資本市場的改善和 LifeSight 解決方案的成長，我們的投資業務也實現了穩健成長。

Career delivered 4% revenue growth in the quarter, primarily driven by broad-based compensation assignments in working rewards in North America and Europe, as well as projects related to communication work and employee experience.

Career 在本季度實現了 4% 的收入成長，主要受到北美和歐洲工作獎勵中廣泛的薪酬分配以及與溝通工作和員工體驗相關的項目的推動。

We also saw growth in our product revenue with more sales of Embark, our employee experience portal. Our compensation benchmarking participation continues to be elevated over 2023, which should lead to accelerated growth in the second half of 2024.

隨著我們的員工體驗入口網站 Embark 銷售量的增加，我們的產品收入也有所成長。 2023 年，我們的薪酬基準參與度持續提高，這應該會導致 2024 年下半年加速成長。

Benefits Delivery & Outsourcing was flat for the quarter. solid growth in outsourcing from increased project work more than covered the revenue headwind related to the client we mentioned last quarter, who insourced its health and other benefits administration.

本季的福利交付和外包持平。專案工作增加帶來的外包業務的穩健成長足以彌補與我們上季度提到的客戶相關的收入逆風，該客戶將其健康和其他福利管理外包。

This growth was offset by a decrease in our Medicare-related business, where we deliberately moderated growth to reflect market developments, maximize profitability and improve free cash flow outcomes. Said differently, we do not simply chase growth at any cost in this business. HWC's operating margin was 21.9%, an increase of 360 basis points compared to the prior year second quarter, primarily driven by operating leverage and transformation savings.

這一成長被我們的醫療保險相關業務的減少所抵消，我們故意放緩成長以反映市場發展、最大化獲利能力並改善自由現金流結果。換句話說，我們不會不惜一切代價簡單地追求這項業務的成長。 HWC 的營業利潤率為 21.9%，與去年第二季相比增加了 360 個基點，這主要是由營業槓桿和轉型節省所推動的。

Moving to risk and broking, revenue was up 10% on an organic basis for the second quarter with no meaningful impact from book of business activity. Interest income was $29 million for the quarter, up $14 million from the second quarter last year.

轉向風險和經紀業務，第二季營收有機成長 10%，業務活動帳面沒有產生重大影響。該季度利息收入為 2,900 萬美元，比去年第二季增加 1,400 萬美元。

Corporate risk and broking had another exceptionally strong quarter with organic growth of 11%, primarily driven by higher levels of new business, strong client retention and renewal increases across all geographies.

企業風險和經紀業務又經歷了一個異常強勁的季度，有機增長了 11%，這主要是由於新業務水平的提高、所有地區的客戶保留率和續訂量的增長。

Our specialty lines continue to be major contributors to the strong growth performance, led globally by our facultative, construction, crisis management and financial solutions teams. Growth across CRB in Europe was led by financial solutions, facultative, FINEX and crisis management.

在我們的教職、建築、危機管理和金融解決方案團隊的全球領導下，我們的專業產品線仍然是業績強勁成長的主要貢獻者。歐洲 CRB 的成長由金融解決方案、臨時性、FINEX 和危機管理引領。

North America CRB had solid growth, driven by new business and higher renewal business from crisis management, natural resources, construction, real estate, hospitality and leisure as well as health care and life sciences.

北美CRB在危機管理、自然資源、建築、房地產、酒店和休閒以及醫療保健和生命科學等新業務和更高更新業務的推動下實現了穩健增長。

Our international region had double-digit organic growth across all subregions, led by countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.

我們國際區域的所有次區域均實現了兩位數的有機成長，其中中東歐、中東、非洲和拉丁美洲國家為首。

In terms of rates, we see a continued improving landscape with favorable outcomes for clients. We see a stabilizing and softening market in some of our largest lines of business, such as property, caused by the increasing supply of capacity from insurers. The market for financial lines continues to soften, albeit with slower rate reductions in the past quarter.

就費率而言，我們看到情況持續改善，為客戶帶來了有利的結果。我們看到，由於保險公司產能供應的增加，我們一些最大的業務領域（例如房地產）的市場趨於穩定和疲軟。儘管上個季度降息速度較慢，但金融產品市場仍繼續疲軟。

An exception to that is cyber where the market is softening faster. Across those specialty lines, we see a mix, for example, in political risks and trade credit, the market is stable with some small premium rises.

網路領域是個例外，市場的疲軟速度更快。在這些專業領域，我們看到了混合風險，例如，在政治風險和貿易信貸方面，市場穩定，保費略有上升。

The same in casualty where the market remains challenged for primary risks, especially those with North America exposures. Insurance consulting and technology revenue was flat compared to prior year due to temper demand mainly in the consulting business in North America and the UK.

傷亡事故也是如此，市場仍然面臨主要風險的挑戰，尤其是那些有北美風險的市場。保險諮詢和技術收入與前一年持平，主要是由於北美和英國諮詢業務的需求不振。

However, we have taken corresponding expense actions to protect our margins. We expect ICT to achieve mid-single-digit growth for the full year.

然而，我們已採取相應的費用行動來保護我們的利潤。我們預計 ICT 全年將實現中個位數成長。

RMB's operating margin was 20.6% for the quarter, a 450 basis point increase over the prior year second quarter primarily due to operating leverage driven by solid organic revenue growth in CRB, disciplined expense management, interest income, and transformation savings.

人民幣本季的營業利潤率為 20.6%，比去年第二季度增長 450 個基點，這主要是由於 CRB 穩健的有機收入增長、嚴格的費用管理、利息收入和轉型節省推動的營業槓桿。

Now let's turn to the enterprise level results. At the enterprise level, adjusted operating margin for the quarter was 17%, a 240 basis point increase over the prior year, primarily driven by greater operating leverage and the benefits of our transformation program.

現在讓我們轉向企業級結果。在企業層面，本季調整後營業利潤率為 17%，比前一年增加 240 個基點，這主要是由於更大的營業槓桿和我們轉型計畫的好處所推動。

We had $24 million of incremental annualized transformation savings, bringing the total to $394 million of cumulative savings since the program's inception. The program continues to better position us to drive operating leverage going forward.

我們的年度轉型節省增量為 2,400 萬美元，使自該計劃啟動以來累計節省總額達到 3.94 億美元。該計劃繼續幫助我們更好地推動未來的營運槓桿。

Our unallocated net was negative $106 million for the second quarter and reflects the inclusion of a $13 million provision for significant litigation.

第二季我們的未分配淨額為負 1.06 億美元，反映出為重大訴訟提列了 1,300 萬美元的準備金。

We continue to expect the full year 2024 balance to be relatively consistent with 2023. Foreign exchange was a headwind to adjusted EPS of $0.03 for the quarter. At current spot rates, we expect foreign exchange to be a headwind of approximately $0.10 on adjusted EPS for the year.

我們繼續預期 2024 年全年餘額將與 2023 年相對一致。按照目前的即期匯率，我們預計外匯將對今年調整後每股盈餘產生約 0.10 美元的阻力。

Our US GAAP tax rate for the quarter was 15.6% versus 19.8% in the prior year. Our adjusted tax rate for the quarter was 22.6% compared to 23.7% for the second quarter of 2023. We continue to expect our adjusted tax rate for the year to be close to our 2023 rate, excluding the onetime items we mentioned at year-end.

本季美國 GAAP 稅率為 15.6%，而去年同期為 19.8%。我們本季調整後的稅率為 22.6%，而 2023 年第二季為 23.7%。 我們繼續預計今年調整後的稅率將接近 2023 年的稅率，不包括我們在年底提到的一次性項目。

During the quarter, we returned $290 million to our shareholders via share repurchases of $200 million and dividends of $90 million. We continue to view share repurchases as an attractive use of capital to create long-term shareholder value, and be the central focus of balanced capital allocation.

本季度，我們透過 2 億美元的股票回購和 9,000 萬美元的股息向股東返還 2.9 億美元。我們仍然認為股票回購是一種有吸引力的資本利用方式，可以創造長期股東價值，並且是平衡資本配置的核心焦點。

We continue to expect share repurchases to total approximately $750 million in 2024, subject to marketing conditions and other relevant factors.

我們仍預期 2024 年股票回購總額約為 7.5 億美元，具體取決於行銷條件和其他相關因素。

We generated free cash flow of $361 million for the six months ended June 30, an increase of $11 million from prior year, primarily driven by operating margin expansion, partially offset by cash outflows related to transformation and discretionary compensation payments.

截至6 月30 日的六個月，我們產生了3.61 億美元的自由現金流，比上年增加了1,100 萬美元，這主要是由於營業利潤率的擴張，部分被與轉型和酌情補償支付相關的現金流出所抵銷。

The free cash flow results for the quarter are in line with our expectation, as free cash flow margin was not intended to be linear for the year. We continue to be confident in our expectations of year-over-year improvement in our full year free cash flow margin.

本季的自由現金流結果符合我們的預期，因為今年的自由現金流利潤率並不是線性的。我們仍然對全年自由現金流利潤率同比改善的預期充滿信心。

Our strong top line and bottom line performance this quarter reflects our ongoing momentum, and the exemplary efforts of our colleagues to drive greater productivity and efficiency.

本季我們強勁的營收和利潤表現反映了我們持續的勢頭，以及我們的同事為提高生產力和效率而做出的模範努力。

We expect this to continue into the second half of the year and are confident in achieving our 2024 targets. With that, let's open it up for Q&A.

我們預計這種情況將持續到今年下半年，並對實現 2024 年的目標充滿信心。接下來，讓我們開始問答。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Elyse Greenspan, Wells Fargo.

伊麗絲‧格林斯潘，富國銀行。

Thanks, good morning. My first question, just as we think about the updated '24 guidance, what do you guys think is the biggest swing factor on just being able to exceed the EPS guidance you've outlined for '24?

謝謝，早安。我的第一個問題，正如我們思考更新的 24 年指導方針一樣，你們認為能夠超過你們為 24 年制定的 EPS 指導方針的最大搖擺因素是什麼？

Good morning, Elyse. I guess I'd look at it this way. We're really pleased with our execution in the first half of this year, and we remain optimistic on where we're tracking within the updated guidance.

早安，愛麗絲。我想我會這樣看。我們對今年上半年的執行情況感到非常滿意，並且我們對更新後的指導方針中的追蹤情況保持樂觀。

We do see some opportunities for stronger performance relative to our margin guidance. For example, a better-than-expected productivity from our investment in talent. The timing of transformation savings could have an effect.

相對於我們的利潤指引，我們確實看到了一些表現更強勁的機會。例如，我們對人才的投資帶來了超乎預期的生產力。轉型節省的時機可能會產生影響。

We are continuing to find opportunities to trim expenses without impacting growth and productivity, and then, I guess, fourth, maybe I'd identify the potential for rebounding global M&A activity. That creates opportunities for both of our segments, so all these are factors that could potentially lead to some outperformance.

我們正在繼續尋找在不影響成長和生產力的情況下削減開支的機會，然後，我想，第四，也許我會發現全球併購活動反彈的潛力。這為我們的兩個細分市場創造了機會，因此所有這些因素都可能導致業績優異。

Thanks. And then my second question is on free cash flow. Carl, you mentioned consciously managing BDO growth, right, to optimize free cash flow. When I look at the cash flow for the quarter, and I kind of adjust for transformation spend, which should be winding down, the conversion was at 21% of revenue, a little bit lower for the first half of the year, given that cash users are higher in Q1.

謝謝。我的第二個問題是關於自由現金流。 Carl，您提到有意識地管理 BDO 成長，以優化自由現金流。當我查看本季度的現金流時，我對應該逐漸減少的轉型支出進行了調整，轉換率為收入的 21%，考慮到現金，上半年略低一些第一季的用戶數量更高。

But it seems like you guys are on your way to being above that 16% target. Am I correct in that assessment, and when we get through transformation spend, is kind of the free cash flow conversion is expected to perhaps be greater than what you've outlined to the street?

但看來你們正在努力實現 16% 的目標。我的評估是否正確？

Yes, hi Elyse, it's Andrew. The free cash flow margin target of 16% plus was a longer-term target, not something necessarily tied to 2024. We're really pleased with the progress that we continue to make there.

是的，嗨，愛麗絲，我是安德魯。 16% 以上的自由現金流利潤率目標是一個長期目標，不一定與 2024 年掛鉤。

And again, the levers there that will get us to that 16% plus over time are the expansion of the operating margin, I think, which we've demonstrated quite well this quarter. And we'll continue to do that, not just through transformation and operating leverage but also by developing businesses in more profitable markets.

再說一次，我認為，隨著時間的推移，讓我們達到 16% 以上的槓桿是營業利潤率的擴大，我們在本季度已經很好地證明了這一點。我們將繼續這樣做，不僅透過轉型和營運槓桿，而且透過在利潤更高的市場中發展業務。

The second item is going to be the abatement of the transformation-related cash outlays, which you mentioned, which we would expect through the beginning of 2025. And then, of course, the improved cash conversion in our TRANZACT business, which we're managing the growth profile there to maximize profitability and cash conversion. So we think all of those things taken together put us on a really solid path to get into that 16% plus over time.

第二項是減少與轉型相關的現金支出，正如您所提到的，我們預計到 2025 年初。提高獲利能力和現金轉換率。因此，我們認為所有這些因素加在一起，讓我們走上了一條真正堅實的道路，隨著時間的推移，我們將達到 16% 以上。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Gregory Peters, Raymond James.

格雷戈里彼得斯，雷蒙德詹姆斯。

Good morning, everyone. So for the first question, I'm going to focus on organic revenue growth. And in both your comments, you called out some, I'd call it, good guys that helps boost organic revenue growth in the second quarter career project for capital markets, bulk lump sum.

大家早安。因此，對於第一個問題，我將重點放在有機收入成長。在您的兩篇評論中，您都提到了一些我稱之為好人，他們有助於推動資本市場第二季度職業項目的有機收入增長，一次性付清。

So I guess my question on organic is how much of the result from the second quarter and through the first half is sustainable versus onetime in nature? Or put it another way, just trying to figure out what type of recurring aspect of the organic results will continue through next year and beyond.

所以我想我關於有機的問題是第二季和上半年的結果有多少是可持續的，而不是一次性的？或者換句話說，只是想弄清楚有機結果的哪些類型的重複方面將持續到明年及以後。

Hi, good morning Greg, it's Carl. So let me start with HWC, right? As I mentioned in the prepared remarks, we expect tailwinds that will help sustain us regarding helping clients navigate the current economic environment. That includes work surrounding pension derisking and managing total awards, as you cited.

嗨，早上好，格雷格，我是卡爾。那麼就讓我從 HWC 開始吧？正如我在準備好的演講中提到的，我們預計順風車將有助於維持我們幫助客戶應對當前經濟環境的能力。正如您所提到的，這包括圍繞退​​休金去風險和管理總獎勵的工作。

We see the increased compensation benchmarking participation that we're getting, and that continues to be elevated over the prior year. That creates a pipeline for accelerated growth in the latter half of this year, and our smart connection strategy continues to lead to increased cross-selling opportunities. I highlight a few of those in the prepared remarks.

我們看到薪酬基準參與度增加，並且比前一年繼續提高。這為今年下半年的加速成長創造了管道，而我們的智慧連結策略將繼續帶來交叉銷售機會的增加。我在準備好的發言中強調了其中的一些內容。

Moving over to R&B. We're really pleased with the 10% organic growth we delivered in R&B for the quarter, and we continue to expect mid-single digit or better growth for that segment in the full -- for the full year. We're seeing increased contributions from our strategic investments in talent and platforms, and as we continue to pursue opportunities in line with our specialty strategy.

轉向 R&B。我們對本季度 R&B 業務實現 10% 的有機成長感到非常滿意，我們繼續預計該細分市場將全年實現中個位數或更好的成長。隨著我們繼續尋求符合我們專業策略的機會，我們在人才和平台方面的策略投資做出了越來越多的貢獻。

So we're confident we can achieve our 2024 revenue goals with the growing momentum we have with our clients as well as our expected pipeline for the rest of the year. Our client retention rates are strong.

因此，我們有信心，憑藉我們與客戶的不斷增長勢頭以及今年剩餘時間的預期管道，我們能夠實現 2024 年的收入目標。我們的客戶保留率很高。

Our book gain activity has normalized down to very manageable levels, and so we're pleased with the organic growth results from this past quarter. They are directly in line with our expectations that we laid out at year-end, right? With mid-single-digit growth at the enterprise level and in HWC and mid-single digit and better growth in R&B.

我們的帳面收益活動已正常化至非常易於管理的水平，因此我們對上個季度的有機成長結果感到滿意。它們直接符合我們在年底制定的預期，對吧？企業級和 HWC 實現中個位數成長，R&B 實現中個位數成長。

While some businesses are seeing lower growth, others are seeing higher than planned growth, and overall, we're comfortable regarding our revenue expectations. Look, we've had a lot of positive momentum in our business, largely due to the investments we've made in talent and technology, as well as our growth initiatives focused on specialization and smart connections.

雖然有些企業的成長速度較低，但其他企業的成長速度高於計劃，整體而言，我們對收入預期感到滿意。看，我們的業務取得了很多積極的勢頭，這主要歸功於我們在人才和技術方面的投資，以及我們專注於專業化和智慧連結的成長計畫。

The strategic investments we've made across the business position us, we think very well to pursue opportunities globally, that offer the greatest potential for profitable growth. And as these investments take shape, we expect greater top line contributions.

我們在整個業務領域進行的策略性投資使我們能夠很好地在全球範圍內尋求機會，從而提供最大的獲利成長潛力。隨著這些投資的形成，我們預計會有更大的收入貢獻。

Okay. For the second question, I'm going to pivot to the slide on the transformation program savings. And I'm citing the last bullet point where you said we're focusing on building an infrastructure from which to drive further efficiencies from. So I mean, we're getting to the point where the transformation program is going to sunset.

好的。對於第二個問題，我將轉向有關轉型計劃節省的幻燈片。我引用了最後一個要點，您說我們正在專注於建立基礎設施，以進一步提高效率。所以我的意思是，我們已經到了轉型計畫即將結束的地步。

You've obviously looked like you're in a position to do really well and get your objectives. But I want to look out beyond that in '25 and '26. And I'm curious what you meant by the statement drive further efficiencies because you put it in bold.

顯然，你看起來能夠做得很好並實現你的目標。但我想在 25 和 26 年展望更遠的目標。我很好奇你所說的「提高效率」是什麼意思，因為你把它加粗了。

Sure, Greg. I mean now that WTW is on more stable footing, and some of the simpler parts of the program, like real estate rationalization are mostly behind us. The technology modernization and process optimization phases are our primary focus now.

當然，格雷格。我的意思是，現在 WTW 的基礎更加穩定，該計劃中一些更簡單的部分，例如房地產合理化，大部分已經過去了。技術現代化和流程優化階段是我們現在的主要關注點。

We expect these actions are going to yield efficiencies as we move forward, and we expect most of the transformation savings from this year will not have a meaningful impact until 2025.

我們預計這些行動將在我們前進的過程中提高效率，我們預計今年的大部分轉型節省直到 2025 年才會產生有意義的影響。

And to bring this a bit to life, right? Some examples include cloud initiatives like migration from data centers and servers and more reliability and cloud-based operations, centralizing and right-shoring support to delivery centers, reducing our application portfolio, renegotiating contracts, and reducing consultant spend.

並將其帶入生活，對嗎？一些例子包括雲端計劃，例如從資料中心和伺服器遷移以及更高的可靠性和基於雲端的營運、對交付中心的集中和右岸支援、減少我們的應用程式組合、重新談判合約以及減少顧問支出。

A lot of these types of undertakings have always been a part of the program, but we've been able to identify additional savings by applying these sort of plans to additional areas in our business. I mean, ultimately, these actions are about simplifying our environment, making it easier to manage, and that will enable us to take advantage of streamlining, automization, and digitization.

許多此類任務一直是該計劃的一部分，但我們已經能夠透過將此類計劃應用於我們業務的其他領域來確定額外的節省。我的意思是，最終，這些行動是為了簡化我們的環境，使其更易於管理，這將使我們能夠利用精簡、自動化和數位化的優勢。

That allows us to automate processes, to remove duplication, and operate more efficiency, right, by reducing manual effort, creating faster turnaround times, and these updates will not only reduce costs, but allow us better leverage data, and that, in turn, provides more role in advice and work targeted strategy for our clients and that will drive revenue growth as well, right?

這使我們能夠實現流程自動化，消除重複，並透過減少人工工作、創造更快的周轉時間來提高營運效率，這些更新不僅會降低成本，而且使我們能夠更好地利用數據，反過來，在為我們的客戶提供建議和工作目標策略方面發揮更多作用，這也將推動收入成長，對嗎？

So what we've been doing is laying a solid foundation going into the post the end of the 2024 transformation program. And we think that gives us momentum to continue to drive efficiencies in organization by taking advantage of what we've been able to construct during this period.

因此，我們一直在做的就是為 2024 年轉型計畫結束後奠定堅實的基礎。我們認為，這給了我們動力，利用我們在此期間所建立的成果，繼續提高組織效率。

Rob Cox, Goldman Sachs.

羅布·考克斯，高盛。

Hey, thanks. So yes, I just wanted to ask about transformation cash spend. So it looks like with the updated guide, if I've got my numbers right, that there's a little more than $160 million in cash restructuring charges left under the program. Do you expect the majority of those cash payments to occur in the back half of 2024?

嘿，謝謝。所以是的，我只是想問轉型現金支出。因此，根據更新後的指南，如果我的數字正確的話，該計劃下還剩下略多於 1.6 億美元的現金重組費用。您預計大部分現金支付將在 2024 年下半年發生嗎？

And just given that there was over $250 million of cash spending in the back half of 2023, I just want to confirm that, from this point forward, cash restructuring spend is likely to be a year-over-year tailwind to free cash flow?

鑑於 2023 年下半年現金支出超過 2.5 億美元，我只想確認，從現在開始，現金重組支出可能會成為自由現金流的逐年推動力？

I think that's generally -- I would flip that the other way, and don't forget, we're going to have some of that bleed over into 2025 as well, in terms of when the cash goes out the door, versus when it's incurred from a transformation program perspective.

我認為一般來說，我會反過來說，不要忘記，我們也會有一些流失到 2025 年，就現金流出的時間而言，與現金流出的時間相比，我們也會有一些流失。計劃的角度來看。

Okay, got it. And then just going back to the moderated growth in individual marketplace, and how it was intentional. Can you just give us a little more color on why you did that in the quarter? Your updated expectations on growth in the back half for this business and the impact that that could have on free cash flow.

好的，明白了。然後回到個別市場的溫和成長，以及它是如何有意為之的。您能否進一步說明一下您在本季這樣做的原因？您對該業務下半年成長的最新預期以及這可能對自由現金流產生的影響。

Yes, sure. So as we said in our remarks, we deliberately moderated growth in our Medicare-related businesses to reflect market developments, maximize profitability, and improved free cash flow outcomes. And we do remain focused on navigating the guardrails between growth, profitability and free cash flow there. We're not chasing growth in this business and are being thoughtful about acquisition costs.

是的，當然。因此，正如我們在演講中所說，我們刻意放緩了醫療保險相關業務的成長，以反映市場發展、最大化獲利能力並改善自由現金流結果。我們仍然專注於在成長、獲利能力和自由現金流之間找到平衡。我們並不追求這項業務的成長，而是正在考慮收購成本。

At the moment, we're seeing some media buying costs increase, and that's really driven by US election media buying, and it's also causing a bit of consumer distraction. So we wanted to make sure we thoughtfully navigated that.

目前，我們看到一些媒體購買成本增加，這實際上是由美國大選媒體購買所推動的，也造成了一些消費者的注意力分散。所以我們想確保我們深思熟慮地解決這個問題。

The decrease in our Medicare-related businesses was partially offset by solid growth in outsourcing within that line of business, and that was driven by increased project work, which more than covered the decrease in revenue related to the client we mentioned last quarter, who insourced his health and other benefits administration. But overall, we're still confident in our pipeline in HWC, and continue to expect that segment to have mid-single-digit organic revenue growth for the full year.

我們的醫療保險相關業務的下降被該業務線內外包的穩健增長所部分抵消，這是由項目工作增加推動的，這超出了我們上季度提到的客戶相關收入的下降，該客戶外包他的健康和其他福利管理。但總體而言，我們仍然對 HWC 的管道充滿信心，並繼續預計該細分市場將全年實現中個位數的有機收入成長。

Paul Newsome, Piper Sandler.

保羅‧紐瑟姆，派珀‧桑德勒。

Good morning and thanks for the call. I was hoping you could give us some thoughts on the sort of the issue of the day, which is the outlook for the property and casualty market environment and the problems we've seen in casualty. It seems like pricing is basically kind of moderating in property and kind of not doing much in casualty.

早安，感謝您的來電。我希望您能就今天的問題給我們一些想法，即財產和傷亡市場環境的前景以及我們在傷亡方面看到的問題。看起來房地產的定價基本上是溫和的，而在傷亡方面則沒有太大作用。

From your advantage point, what do you think is happening, and what do you think might change?

從你的優勢角度來看，你認為正在發生什麼，以及你認為可能會改變什麼？

Sure. I guess I look at it this way, right? Overall, we're seeing a stabilizing to softening market and with some differentiation that I'll elaborate a bit on. For property, the global trend is stabilizing to softening, though there was a large amount of nat cat losses in the first half of the year, such as US storms, flooding in Europe, the earthquake in Taiwan.

當然。我想我是這樣看的，對嗎？總體而言，我們看到市場從穩定到疲軟，並且存在一些差異，我將對此進行詳細說明。房地產方面，儘管上半年出現大量自然災害，如美國風暴、歐洲洪水、台灣地震等，但全球趨勢正在穩定到疲軟。

Natural catastrophe capacity is no longer the main driver of premium increases in this space. But in the casualty market, there's reduced capacity and higher pricing. Looking at financial lines, we do see them continue to soften, but the rate reductions have slowed down this quarter. Although in cyber, the market is softening faster because insurers have been widening their appetite and new capacity entering the market.

自然災害承保能力不再是該領域保費上漲的主要驅動力。但在傷亡市場，容量減少，價格上漲。從金融貸款來看，我們確實看到它們繼續疲軟，但本季降息速度已經放緩。儘管在網路領域，市場的疲軟速度更快，因為保險公司一直在擴大他們的胃口，新的容量進入市場。

We see marine is stable to softening. But geographically, right, there's a softening market in Asia, Australia, LatAm. In Europe, we see generally flat, same true for the UK, and premium rises in North America have slowed to stable.

我們看到海洋對於軟化是穩定的。但從地理上看，亞洲、澳洲和拉丁美洲的市場正在疲軟。在歐洲，我們看到整體持平，英國也是如此，北美的保費上漲已放緩至穩定。

Many of the current rate increases have been driven by complex risks such as social inflation, geopolitical conflicts, natural disaster. All of this impacts our casualty lines, especially in North America, and globally, with political violence and terrorism.

目前的許多升息都是由社會通膨、地緣政治衝突、自然災害等複雜風險所推動的。所有這些都影響著我們的傷亡人數，特別是在北美和全球範圍內，政治暴力和恐怖主義。

Looking at it in terms of our results, we don't view rate as a significant tailwind or headwind across our R&B portfolio in terms of how it impacted to our results this past quarter. Our growth was primarily driven by high retention rates and new business as well as the investments we've made over the last few years, and the reorientation of the R&B business towards specialization. We think that's really made a difference for us, and it's going to continue to differentiate for us.

從我們的業績來看，就其對上個季度業績的影響而言，我們並不認為利率是我們 R&B 投資組合的重大順風或逆風。我們的成長主要是由高保留率和新業務以及過去幾年的投資以及 R&B 業務向專業化方向的重新定位所推動的。我們認為這確實對我們產生了影響，並將繼續使我們與眾不同。

Thank you very much. (inaudible) I'll let other people ask questions. Appreciate the help as always.

非常感謝。 （聽不清楚）我會讓其他人提問。一如既往地感謝幫助。

Andrew Kligerman, TD Cowen.

安德魯·克里格曼，TD·考恩。

Morning. I'd like to follow up on an earlier question about organic revenue growth. You did 9% in health and then on the other side, in CRB did 10%. So I think about the exceptional talent that you've hired and they really are exceptional. And the numbers have brought the count up.

早晨。我想跟進之前有關有機收入成長的問題。你在健康方面做到了 9%，然後在另一邊，在 CRB 中做到了 10%。所以我想到了你們僱用的傑出人才，他們確實非常出色。數字已經增加了計數。

So when I think of those two low double, high single-digit numbers in health and CRB. How much of that -- and then I put that next to your guidance of mid-single digit or higher in terms of your objective for growth.

因此，當我想到健康和 CRB 方面的兩個低兩位數、高個位數數字時。其中有多少——然後我將其與您的成長目標中個位數或更高的指導放在一起。

Should I think about most of that outsized growth as just kind of the tailwinds of the new talent, and then it just kind of eases into mid-single digit or higher, or do you think those high numbers in those two material subsegments will continue?

我是否應該將大部分超額成長視為新人才的推動力，然後它只是緩和到中個位數或更高，或者您認為這兩個物質細分市場的高數字會持續下去嗎？

Well, I mean, as I've said before, Andrew, right, we do have some positive momentum that results not just from the investments we've made in talent, but what we think is a differentiated strategy that enables that talent to best succeed in the marketplace.

嗯，我的意思是，正如我之前所說，安德魯，對，我們確實有一些積極的勢頭，這不僅來自我們對人才的投資，而且來自我們認為能夠使人才發揮最佳作用的差異化戰略。在市場上取得成功。

We do think that we still have more productivity we can get from the cohorts of talent we've brought on board over the last several years, and we continue to look for talent out in the marketplace who view WTW as the best place they can use to leverage what they can bring to their client base.

我們確實認為，我們仍然可以從過去幾年引進的人才群體中獲得更高的生產力，並且我們將繼續在市場上尋找將 WTW 視為他們可以使用的最佳場所的人才充分利用他們能為客戶群帶來的東西。

So we think that there's momentum in those businesses. We think our strategy helps us succeed, and we are optimistic that there is continued progress we can make.

所以我們認為這些業務有發展動能。我們認為我們的策略有助於我們取得成功，並且我們對我們能夠持續取得進展感到樂觀。

That's awesome. And in ICT, so that was flat. And you said it was tempered demand for discretionary services. And I think Andrew said that he expects a pickup in the second half in that area. Could you talk specifically about some of those services that are big at ICT, and why you think that will pick up in the second half?

太棒了。在資訊通信技術領域，情況持平。你說這是對自由裁量服務的需求減弱。我認為安德魯說他預計下半年該地區會有所回升。您能具體談談 ICT 領域的一些重要服務嗎？

Yes, sure. ICT comprises about 10% or roughly $400 million of R&B's annualized revenue, and that's split roughly 50-50 between software sales and consulting revenue. Given its size, a few million dollars in either direction can have an impact on the organic growth rate for the period of a couple of sizable contracts have modified timing period-to-period.

是的，當然。 ICT 約佔 R&B 年化收入的 10%，約 4 億美元，其中軟體銷售收入和諮詢收入的比例約為 50-50。考慮到其規模，任何一個方向的數百萬美元都可能對幾個相當大的合約期間的有機成長率產生影響，這些合約已經改變了時間週期。

In the first half of the year, we saw some of those large consulting projects being postponed. However, we recognize that the environment for certain advisory work within ICT, they continue to be challenging. So we moderated our growth expectation there accordingly, along the lines of mid-single-digit growth for ICT.

今年上半年，我們看到一些大型顧問項目被延後。然而，我們意識到，ICT 領域某些諮詢工作的環境仍充滿挑戰。因此，我們相應地調整了對 ICT 的中個位數成長的成長預期。

So it's really around the timing of some software sales, which can be chunky from time to time, as well as some of the discretionary spend related to the consulting side of the business and the timing of those projects.

因此，這實際上是圍繞著一些軟體銷售的時間安排（有時可能會很大），以及與業務諮詢方面和這些項目的時間表相關的一些可自由支配支出。

Mike Ward, Citigroup.

麥克沃德，花旗集團。

Thanks. Good morning. Carl, you mentioned the opportunity to do -- potentially do outperform some of the guidance on the margin. I was wondering if you could quantify potential upside at all to margins.

謝謝。早安.卡爾，你提到有機會——可能會超越一些邊際指引。我想知道您是否可以量化利潤率的潛在上漲空間。

Yes. We're not going to quantify any potential upside, but I think if I think about how the rest of the year could play out. Obviously, we're very pleased with the 240 basis points of margin expansion we had this quarter. That gives us the confidence in the outlook for the full year, hence the increase in the target range to 23% to 23.5% for the year.

是的。我們不會量化任何潛在的上行空間，但我想如果我考慮今年剩餘時間會如何發展。顯然，我們對本季 240 個基點的利潤率擴張感到非常滿意。這讓我們對全年前景充滿信心，因此將全年目標範圍提高至 23% 至 23.5%。

And if you just think about some of the puts and takes for the rest of the year, we expect the run rate transformation savings to be spread ratably over the year. We also anticipate operating leverage on a full year basis as we continue to drive organic growth as well as focusing on cost discipline and operating efficiency.

如果你只考慮今年剩餘時間的一些看跌期權和看跌期權，我們預計運行率轉型節省的費用將在一年內按比例分佈。隨著我們繼續推動有機成長並專注於成本控制和營運效率，我們也預計全年的營運槓桿。

And just as a reminder, the pacing of book gains and interest income in the comparable period, some of those things may cause the scale of margin expansion to vary quarter-by-quarter. But as you heard me mention, and as Carl mentioned earlier, we do see opportunities to potentially outperform.

提醒一下，可比較時期的帳面收益和利息收入的節奏，其中一些因素可能會導致利潤率擴張的規模按季度有所不同。但正如你聽到我所提到的，正如卡爾之前提到的，我們確實看到了潛在超越市場的機會。

Okay. Thank you. And then for CRB, we've seen a divergence in the pricing environment for large accounts versus middle market or smaller. I was hoping you could talk about what you're seeing in terms of pricing across your customer segments within CRB overall, I guess?

好的。謝謝。然後對於 CRB，我們發現大型客戶與中型市場或更小型客戶的定價環境有差異。我想，我希望您能談談您在 CRB 整個客戶群的定價方面所看到的情況？

Yes, sure. I think I talked a little bit about this when I discussed rate a question or two ago. There's certainly more differentiated depending on the nature of the risk and what the performance has been over time where, for instance, cat exposed and cat hit property is clearly a more challenged environment than clients who been relatively loss-free records.

是的，當然。我想我在討論一兩個問題之前討論過這個問題。根據風險的性質和一段時間內的表現，當然會有更多的差異，例如，與相對無損失記錄的客戶相比，貓暴露和貓擊中的財產顯然是一個更具挑戰性的環境。

So there is clearly, I think, a desire by markets to continue to differentiate on the pricing that they offer our client base. But we're not seeing the difficulty we might have had a few years ago with capacity in various markets. We're able to achieve, I think, quite good results for our clients. Anticipate that will be the case going forward.

因此，我認為，市場顯然希望繼續為我們的客戶群提供差異化的定價。但我們並沒有看到幾年前我們在各個市場的產能上可能遇到的困難。我認為，我們能夠為我們的客戶取得相當好的結果。預計未來的情況將會如此。

Mike Zaremski, BMO.

邁克·扎倫斯基 (Mike Zaremski)，BMO。

Back to the discussion on what was excellent -- continues to be excellent organic growth in R&B. Just looking through kind of past transcripts and what you said this quarter, you mentioned client retention in the mid-90s, the past couple of quarters and the quarter before that, you've said that retention improved and increased.

回到關於什麼是優秀的討論——R&B 仍然是優秀的有機成長。只要瀏覽一下過去的記錄和您本季所說的內容，您就提到了 90 年代中期的客戶保留率，過去幾個季度和之前的季度，您說過保留率有所改善和增加。

Is it fair to kind of assume that retention continues to be a driver of some of the outsized growth? Or am I reading into things too?

假設留存率繼續成為某些超額成長的驅動力，是否公平？還是我也在解讀事物？

I mean, retention continues to be in the mid-90s, which is a level we're very pleased with that business you keep is less business you have to replace.

我的意思是，保留率仍然保持在 90 年代中期，我們對此非常滿意，因為您保留的業務比您需要替換的業務更少。

We think that's a result of the excellent client service we deliver as well as the insights we're able to provide our client base with our risk analytics that we feel are unmatched in the industry. So no question that the retention rates we have are ones we'd like to keep more persistent going forward.

我們認為，這是我們提供的卓越客戶服務以及我們能夠透過風險分析為客戶群提供洞察力的結果，我們認為這在行業中是無與倫比的。因此，毫無疑問，我們希望未來能更持久地維持現有的留存率。

Got it. So that is kind of a, you're at a normalized retention rate, should have been more clear today?

知道了。那麼，您現在處於標準化保留率，今天應該更清楚嗎？

Yes. I mean we're certainly at levels that are consistent with where we were a number of years ago before some of the disruption we had, and the stabilization of the talent base is at the fundamental debt.

是的。我的意思是，我們現在的水平肯定與幾年前受到一些幹擾之前的水平一致，而人才基礎的穩定取決於基本債務。

Okay, great. My follow-up, just sticking on the R&B segment. Margins improvement was excellent as well. I heard some of the comments, but just want to make sure there's kind of nothing. It was really mostly operating leverage? Or is there something that was onetime?

好的，太好了。我的後續，只是堅持 R&B 部分。利潤率的改善也非常好。我聽到了一些評論，但只是想確保沒有任何內容。真的主要是經營槓桿嗎？或是有什麼曾經發生過的事嗎？

Or something that was cut in terms of expenses that we should just be careful with run rating? And I know you obviously have guidance out there on the margin, but just curious, just the extent of the margin beat was so much. Thanks.

或者在費用方面削減了一些我們應該小心運行評級的東西？我知道你顯然有關於利潤率的指導，但只是好奇，利潤率超出的程度是如此之大。謝謝。

Yes, there was nothing unusual. It was all driven by transformation savings, and operating leverage, and of course, focusing on prudent expense management as part of that.

是的，沒有什麼異常。這一切都是由轉型節省和營運槓桿推動的，當然，其中還包括注重審慎的費用管理。

Yaron Kinar, Jefferies.

亞倫·基納爾，傑弗里斯。

Thank you. Good morning. I wanted to circle back to the guidance, the updated guidance, specifically the margin guidance. So I think at the midpoint, the new guidance would suggest material slowdown in margin expansion in the second half. Can you maybe talk about that a little bit?

謝謝。早安.我想回到指導，更新後的指導，特別是保證金指導。因此，我認為在中期，新的指引將顯示下半年利潤率擴張將大幅放緩。你能談談這個嗎？

Yes, sure. I think I would bring you back to Carl's comments earlier about sort of continuing to drive operating leverage, transformation program continuing to hit and where we think we might land within that range and the level of optimism around that.

是的，當然。我想我會讓你們回到卡爾早些時候的評論，關於繼續推動營運槓桿、轉型計劃繼續發揮作用，以及我們認為我們可能會落在這個範圍內以及圍繞這個範圍的樂觀程度。

So we feel really comfortable about where we're going to land within that range given the industry dynamics as well as our progress on transformation and operating leverage. And again, we do see the -- yes, sorry, go ahead.

因此，考慮到產業動態以及我們在轉型和營運槓桿方面的進展，我們對將在這個範圍內實現的目標感到非常滿意。再次，我們確實看到了——是的，抱歉，請繼續。

I was just going to say, with that comment of kind of the continued kind of fruits of the transformational program coming through and the scale, why would we see a meaningful slowdown in margin expansion in the second half of the year? Kind of year-over-year relative to where it's been in the first half.

我只是想說，隨著轉型計劃持續取得成果和規模的評論，為什麼我們會看到下半年利潤率擴張明顯放緩？與上半年的情況相比，有點同比。

Yes, so we do see the opportunity to outperform that range that we put out there, and Carl went through some of the puts and takes of that earlier about how we might get there around better-than-expected productivity from investment in talent, the timing of the transformation savings, continuing to focus on prudent management of expenses without impacting growth, and then some business factors as well, which could provide some incremental tailwinds.

是的，所以我們確實看到了超越我們所設定的範圍的機會，卡爾早些時候討論了一些關於我們如何透過人才投資、轉型節省的時機，繼續關注在不影響增長的情況下謹慎管理費用，然後還有一些業務因素，這可能會帶來一些增量的推動力。

Got it. So it's a potential upside to that guidance. And my second question, Andrew, you talked about the Medicare-related business. Can you maybe offer some additional color on what you might [buy from] the market developments?

知道了。因此，這是該指導的潛在好處。我的第二個問題，安德魯，你談到了與醫療保險相關的業務。您能否就您可能從市場發展中[購買]的產品提供一些額外的資訊？

And do you still consider this an attractive long-term business? And maybe, I apologize for throwing in a lot here, but also, what's allowed Willis and TRANZACT to succeed where we've seen a growing list of competitors stumble?

您仍然認為這是一項有吸引力的長期業務嗎？也許，我很抱歉在這裡投入了很多，但同時，是什麼讓 Willis 和 TRANZACT 在我們看到越來越多的競爭對手陷入困境的情況下取得了成功？

Well, let me address the latter, right? I mean, I think we run a business that's got a couple of differentiating features to it. One is the diversification we've got between product and lead type. And second, I'd probably identify a bit of discipline.

好吧，讓我談談後者，對嗎？我的意思是，我認為我們經營的業務有幾個與眾不同的特點。一是我們在產品和銷售線索類型之間實現了多樣化。其次，我可能會確定一些紀律。

Historically, many of our competitors have gone for growth at all costs, where we've always, I think, tried to pursue a path that looks at growth and profitability and cash spend and try and balance all three for sustainable margins and revenue growth.

從歷史上看，我們的許多競爭對手不惜一切代價追求成長，我認為，我們一直試圖走一條關注成長、盈利能力和現金支出的道路，並嘗試平衡這三者，以實現可持續的利潤和收入增長。

And we've got a management team that I think has been very effective over prior years at being able to manage all that. And so there's a certain discipline we've approached that business that hasn't been necessarily present throughout the industry.

我認為我們的管理團隊在前幾年在管理所有這些方面非常有效。因此，我們在開展這項業務時遵循了一定的紀律，但整個行業不一定存在。

Looking forward a bit, right, there's no question that there's, you know, we've seen any share of headlines regarding what's going on here. We've seen the proposed Medicare Advantage rates and what they could have in the business.

展望未來，對吧，毫無疑問，我們已經看到了有關這裡發生的事情的任何頭條新聞。我們已經了解了擬議的 Medicare Advantage 費率以及他們在業務中可能擁有的內容。

That's regarding what sort of commissions that carries data brokers for selling policies. There continues to be some uncertainty on how that's going to play out with the carriers. But I think speculating as to the potential impact on our business regarding commissions be really premature.

這涉及到數據經紀人在銷售保單時收取什麼樣的佣金。營運商將如何應對這一情況仍然存在一些不確定性。但我認為猜測佣金對我們業務的潛在影響還為時過早。

We've been managing regulatory changes and their impact over prior years. We've been successfully navigating those changes in the past, and I think we're going to continue to do so.

過去幾年我們一直在管理監管變化及其影響。我們過去已經成功地應對了這些變化，我認為我們將繼續這樣做。

Carriers have a lot of options for managing their profitability, and while broker commissions could be a lever, there are other options that are going to be far more impactful for them like benefit changes and premium tweaks.

營運商有很多選擇來管理其盈利能力，雖然經紀人佣金可能是一種槓桿，但還有其他選擇對他們影響更大，例如福利變化和保費調整。

And turning to the final CMS rule for 2025 that addresses marketing of Medicare Advantage plans, that was reduced in early April. The final rule was less onerous than the proposed rule in a number of ways. There's still some uncertainties about how that's all going to be implemented.

轉向 2025 年最終 CMS 規則，該規則涉及 Medicare Advantage 計劃的營銷，該規則於 4 月初有所減少。最終的規則在許多方面都比擬議的規則寬鬆。這一切將如何實施仍存在一些不確定性。

But right, the US courts have stayed part of this role, which means the terms may not -- sorry, will not take effect this year. We remain actively engaged with the carriers in the space.

但是，美國法院保留了這一角色的一部分，這意味著這些條款可能不會——抱歉，今年不會生效。我們仍然積極與該領域的運營商合作。

They have reiterated the important role we play in the distribution of Medicare insurance solutions, and the valuable services we provide to beneficiaries.

他們重申了我們在分發 Medicare 保險解決方案方面發揮的重要作用，以及我們為受益人提供的有價值的服務。

So I guess, in sum, we remain confident we'll be able to work effectively with carriers to deliver services, and be compensated fairly as long as we bring value.

因此，我想，總而言之，我們仍然有信心與營運商有效合作提供服務，並且只要我們帶來價值，就能獲得公平的補償。

David Motemaden, Evercore ISI.

大衛·莫特馬登，Evercore ISI。

Good morning. I had a question just on the head count growth within R&B. It sounds like the productivity enhancement has been exceeded expectations, but I'm wondering as we sort of sunset that or that moderates as employees ramp how you guys are thinking about head count growth within R&B compared to the 2% head count growth in R&B you had in 2023?

早安.我有一個關於 R&B 內部員工人數成長的問題。聽起來生產力的提高已經超出了預期，但我想知道，當我們日落時，或者隨著員工人數的增加，你們如何看待 R&B 的員工數量增長，與 R&B 2% 的員工數量增長相比，你們2023年有嗎？

So I mean, after a focused effort over the past few years, we think we've replenished our talent base. We've seen the new hires begin to contribute to our organic growth, as I discussed earlier.

所以我的意思是，經過過去幾年的集中努力，我們認為我們已經補充了我們的人才基礎。正如我之前討論的，我們已經看到新員工開始為我們的有機成長做出貢獻。

We've had several waves of hiring over the past few years, and so we still have a bit more to go as these cohorts mature to peak productivity.

在過去的幾年裡，我們經歷了幾波招募浪潮，因此，隨著這些群體成熟到達到最高生產力，我們還有更多的工作要做。

Currently, our hiring efforts are more opportunistic. They were strategic with a goal of enhancing our ability to achieve sustainable and profitable growth and create value, right?

目前，我們的招募工作更加重視機會主義。它們具有策略性目標，旨在增強我們實現永續獲利成長和創造價值的能力，對吧？

Our hiring of Lucy Clarke that I talked about during prepared remarks is one example of this sort of strategic hire. We've recently announced a few other strategic hires to support our industry verticals and Verita as well.

我在準備好的演講中談到的我們對露西·克拉克的聘用就是這種戰略聘用的一個例子。我們最近宣布了一些其他策略招聘，以支持我們的垂直行業和 Verita。

With respect to our expense rate base, any incremental investments, whether they're in talent or technology are not going to prevent us hitting our 2024 margin targets, and as Andrew has alluded to, we expect to be toward the higher end of our target margin range in 2024 and expect margin expansion in both segments.

就我們的費用率基礎而言，任何增量投資，無論是在人才還是技術方面，都不會阻止我們實現 2024 年的利潤率目標，正如安德魯所暗示的那樣，我們預計將實現目標的高端2024年的利潤率範圍，並預計這兩個領域的利潤率都會擴大。

Got it. Thank you. And then just my follow-up, Wondering if I could get just a little bit more detail on Verita in terms of just how big it is and how fast it's growing. Any sort of numbers you can put around it would be helpful because it sounds like it's been fairly successful.

知道了。謝謝。然後是我的後續行動，想知道我是否能獲得有關 Verita 的更多詳細信息，例如它的規模和增長速度。你可以在它周圍添加任何類型的數字都會有幫助，因為聽起來它相當成功。

Yes. We're very pleased with the growth that we've seen since launching the platform. It's done better than we had initially expected. However, given the overall size of the R&B business, still relatively small and not necessarily moving the needle from an organic growth perspective at this point in time.

是的。我們對自推出該平台以來所看到的成長感到非常滿意。它做得比我們最初預期的要好。然而，考慮到 R&B 業務的整體規模，其規模仍然相對較小，目前從有機成長的角度來看並不一定會帶來推動作用。

Mark Marcon, Baird.

馬克馬爾孔，貝爾德。

Good morning and thanks for taking my questions. Andrew, one quick question and then a follow-up for Carl. On the unallocated costs, obviously, they jumped up. You mentioned that there was the legal fee. You did say that for the full year, we should be roughly equal to the level that we saw in 2023. Is that correct?

早安，感謝您提出我的問題。安德魯，一個簡短的問題，然後是卡爾的後續問題。顯然，在未分配成本方面，他們的股價上漲了。你提到有律師費。您確實說過全年應該大致等於 2023 年的水準。

Yes, that is correct. So unallocated net was $106 million for the quarter, which, that's an increase from the $52 million in the prior year. And it does include that $13 million provision that you referenced.

是的，這是正確的。因此，本季未分配淨額為 1.06 億美元，比前一年的 5,200 萬美元增加。它確實包括您提到的 1300 萬美元撥款。

Year-to-date, we're at $162 million. We think that's a more meaningful comparison point given that expectation that '24 should be relatively consistent with the '23 balance, which is about $296 million.

年初至今，我們的營收為 1.62 億美元。我們認為這是一個更有意義的比較點，因為預計 24 年應該與 23 年餘額（約 2.96 億美元）相對一致。

Great. And then, Carl, we take a look at all the various segments. And with the exception of TRANZACT, which you're moderating on purpose, it seems like the momentum is quite solid.

偉大的。然後，卡爾，我們來看看所有各個部分。除了您有意調節的 TRANZACT 之外，勢頭似乎相當強勁。

Obviously, you've got a differentiated strategy. You've made some talent hires. But I'm also wondering, when you internally monitor engagement within the more than 40,000 professionals that you have within the organization.

顯然，你有一個差異化的策略。您聘用了一些人才。但我也想知道，當您在內部監控組織內 40,000 多名專業人員的敬業度時。

After several years of change, do you feel like morale engagement has improved significantly. And some of the productivity improvements that we're seeing are basically just due to a widespread increase in terms of confidence and things being more settled?

經過幾年的改變，您是否覺得士氣投入有了顯著的提升？我們看到的一些生產力的提高基本上只是由於信心的普遍增加和事情變得更加穩定？

I don't want to give any impression that we're sitting there and thinking we solved everything, that we are arrogant. But I do think organizationally, we're dealing with 46,000 people who got their mojo back, and it shows.

我不想給人留下任何印象：我們坐在那裡，認為我們解決了一切，我們很傲慢。但我確實認為，從組織角度來看，我們正在與 46,000 名重新找回魔力的人打交道，這表明了這一點。

And when I walk the halls of an office, whether it's here today in New York or London or Paris or Hong Kong, people like where they're working and they're enthusiastic about our prospects. And that's a wonderful thing to say.

當我走過辦公室的大廳時，無論是在紐約、倫敦、巴黎或香港，人們都喜歡他們工作的地方，並對我們的前景充滿熱情。這是一件很棒的事。

Meyer Shields, Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods.

邁耶·希爾茲、基夫、布魯耶特和伍茲。

Thanks. I have two quick questions. I guess the first, because of the strangeness of TRANZACT accounting, can you help us think about how impactful moderating growth could be to the fourth quarter organic growth in Health, Wealth and Career?

謝謝。我有兩個簡單的問題。我想第一個問題是，由於 TRANZACT 會計的奇怪之處，您能否幫助我們思考成長放緩對第四季度健康、財富和職業的有機成長有何影響？

Yes, sure. If we do continue to see that moderation of growth within the Medicare-related businesses, it could temper some growth within the overall HWC segment. However, we continue to focus on the strong pipeline that we do have in the other businesses there.

是的，當然。如果我們確實繼續看到醫療保險相關業務成長放緩，則可能會抑制整個 HWC 領域的成長。然而，我們繼續關注我們在其他業務中擁有的強大管道。

It is a portfolio of businesses and believe that I think Carl mentioned earlier, for example, the pipeline and survey work that we expect to take hold as well as some of the project-based work in North America within health. So we're really confident about delivering the mid-single-digit growth for the segment overall for the year.

這是一個業務組合，我認為卡爾之前提到過，例如，我們期望開展的管道和調查工作，以及北美健康領域的一些基於專案的工作。因此，我們對今年該細分市場整體實現中個位數成長充滿信心。

Okay. That's helpful. Second question, maybe bigger picture. Can you give us a sense of what Lucy Clarke's priorities are as she comes in, like for the first 12 to 18 months?

好的。這很有幫助。第二個問題，也許是更大的圖像。您能否讓我們了解一下 Lucy Clarke 上任後（例如前 12 到 18 個月）的優先事項是什麼？

Lucy's priorities, sorry, you got a little garbled there for a second. I guess I'd look at it this way, right? I mean we're incredibly excited about Lucy's joined us. She is a perfect fit to accelerate our existing strategy and lead R&B. She's got deep experience in specialization. She's got a proven track of attracting and developing top-tier talents, and she's got a well-honed ability to execute.

露西的優先事項，抱歉，你剛才有點混亂。我想我會這樣看，對嗎？我的意思是，我們對露西的加入感到非常興奮。她非常適合加速我們現有的策略並領導 R&B。她在專業領域擁有豐富的經驗。她在吸引和培養頂級人才方面擁有成熟的經驗，並且擁有經過磨練的執行能力。

Her background is well aligned with our focus on specialization, and our investments in talent and technology. I think Lucy's just joined us this week, right? She's surveying the landscape of the R&B business.

她的背景與我們對專業化的關注以及對人才和技術的投資非常一致。我想露西這週才加入我們，對吧？她正在調查 R&B 行業的前景。

I expect you'll affirm what's working well, use the benefit of her decades of experience in other organizations to see what else we could be doing to modify our approach. But the reason she's joined us is that she believes in our strategy, and I expect that we're looking at fine-tuning that wholesale revolution.

我希望您會肯定哪些方法行之有效，並利用她在其他組織數十年的經驗來看看我們還可以做些什麼來修改我們的方法。但她加入我們的原因是她相信我們的策略，我希望我們正在考慮對這場大規模革命進行微調。

Mark Hughes, Truist Securities.

馬克休斯，Truist 證券公司。

Good morning. Andrew, anything you can say about the trajectory of unallocated into 2025?

早安. Andrew，對於 2025 年未分配的軌跡，您有什麼想說的嗎？

We're not giving any guidance or financial perspectives for 2025 yet. But again, for 2024, we do expect the balance to be relatively similar to where we landed the year for 2023.

我們尚未給出 2025 年的任何指導或財務前景。但同樣，我們確實預期 2024 年的平衡情況將與我們在 2023 年實現的目標相對相似。

And then any specifics on the cash spend on the transformation in the second half, and then how much goes into 2025?

那麼下半年轉型的現金支出有什麼具體情況嗎？

Yes. So we do expect some of the transformation cash spend to bleed over into 2025, and expect some payments to be made from an account of cash basis perspective throughout the third and fourth quarters.

是的。因此，我們確實預計部分轉型現金支出將持續到 2025 年，並​​預計部分付款將在第三和第四季從現金收付制角度支付。

Thank you. This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn it back to Carl Hess, WTW's Chief Executive Officer.

謝謝。問答環節到此結束。現在我想把它轉回 WTW 執行長卡爾赫斯 (Carl Hess)。

Thank you once again for joining us today for our second quarter earnings conference call. I deeply appreciate the dedication of our WTW colleagues worldwide who have made this strong quarter possible. Additionally, I extend my gratitude to our shareholders for their ongoing support.

再次感謝您今天參加我們的第二季財報電話會議。我深深感謝 WTW 全球同事的奉獻精神，是他們讓這個強勁的季度成為可能。此外，我對股東的持續支持表示感謝。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了該程式。您現在可以斷開連線。