Equifax Inc at RBC Capital Markets Global Technology, Internet, Media and Telecommunications Conference (Virtual) Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Maybe I'll just kick it off with the discussion of the LTFF, particularly the revenue growth. When I -- my question there was, you provided the organic and reported, but how do we think about the core growth? And the core growth was 21% in 2021, and it's expected to be like 14% in '22. So is it fair to assume that you've baked in conservatism in your LTFF, and we should see a much faster growth in the near and midterm? Thank you, Mark.

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Yes, John?

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : That's very helpful color, Mark and John. And absolutely, as you pointed out, there are a lot of great things that have happened over the last several years. So one thing, in particular, I do want to focus on is the cloud and NPI. That's driving 200 to 300 basis point of incremental growth, that 150-plus NPI, annually going forward. Can you just elaborate where you think you could see business segments or growth areas where we could see potentially higher contributions from the NPI?

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Very helpful color. A lot of good points you brought up, and we would love to get into more details on those. But before I do that, I just had a quick question on the margins as well in the LTFF, long-term framework. Obviously, a very strong 500 basis point of margin expansion from...

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : 4 years, that's right, and we're going to see a big step up in '22. Question was, as we think about from '22 to '25, the 300 to 350 basis points, is there -- could we potentially see another step-up from '22 to '23 as we come -- as we complete the cloud migration? Or how should we think about that trajectory for the next 3 years?

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. No, that's very helpful. And maybe just drilling down further on the EWS. As you mentioned, Mark, it has been a phenomenal growth driver in terms of number of records. It's very impressive on how many records you've added over the last several years. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 17, 2021 / 3:55PM, EFX.N - Equifax Inc at RBC Capital Markets Global Technology, Internet, Media and Telecommunications Conference (Virtual) A question we get from investors always is, how do we think about the record growth going forward? Is it driven by signing up one employer at a time or just adding more payroll providers that may not have shared their employment records so far? Or also, how do you go beyond the core traditional employers and go, as you mentioned, into the pensioner -- people who are on pensions and other gig economy contractors, all of those things?

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Very helpful color, Mark and John. And actually, that was going to be my next question, but I think you might have already answered it, is just if you could talk about the competitive environment there and the moat around the business. If you could just provide some more color on that front.

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Absolutely. Absolutely. And then switching gears, talking about digital identity. As you mentioned, identity is a large $19 billion addressable market. Kount was such a great acquisition. I was wondering if you could talk more about your identity offering. But also, are you predominantly focused on fraud? Or is there an opportunity to also leverage the assets that you have for helping your customers with marketing? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 17, 2021 / 3:55PM, EFX.N - Equifax Inc at RBC Capital Markets Global Technology, Internet, Media and Telecommunications Conference (Virtual)

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. And it's definitely an area which is growing really fast, plus with the data and the assets that you have a very strong moat around that business. Just switching gears and talking about USIS. You mentioned the opportunity with unbanked, underbanked customers. Can you talk about that opportunity and how big that could be?

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. No, that's helpful. And maybe just to segue into my next question would be leveraging this alternate data assets for fintech customers. So historically, and this is prior to your tenure, I believe Equifax didn't have as much presence with the fintech customers.

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Obviously, with technology transformation, that's changed. So can you just talk about how you've -- the technology transformation plus alternate data has helped you gain greater access to fintech customers? And then maybe, if I can just add BNPL on top of it, if you could help explain how the BNPL credit decisioning differs and what the role that you play in that process.

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : That's very helpful color, John. And maybe that's a great segue to my next question around international. Again, here pretty strong long-term financial framework of 7% to 9% growth, but it's modestly lower than your prior guidance. Again, is that baking in conservatism as we see the benefit of this technology transformation, all the incremental data element? Could we see that growth accelerate as well going forward?

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. And maybe just a follow-up question here would be, we haven't really talked about free cash flow. But on the -- at the Analyst Day, you talked about the solid free cash flow generation plus your ability to take on more -- like get into the 2 -- stay in the 2.5x leverage. So how should we think about use of cash? And is that -- could be a catalyst also to further accelerate growth as you buy growth accretive acquisition or acquisitions which have huge revenue synergies with the core business?

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Absolutely. That's a lot of cash then to be deployed, which is great news. And then maybe just -- I know we are on top of the 30 minutes, so any closing comments, Mark and John?

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst : Thank you. And absolutely very exciting story going forward, so thank you. Thanks, Mark. Thanks, John.