S&P Global Inc Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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

Question: Toni Kaplan - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : Thanks so much. Congratulations on the Mobility announcement. I was hoping you could just give some color on timing. So why now? And then maybe the implementations for RemainCo, are there any data sets that you'll continue to try to license from the spun entity once that happens? And then I know it's early, but any initial thoughts on dissynergies? Thanks.

Question: Faiza Alwy - Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. - Analyst : Yes. Hi. Thank you so much. I wanted to ask about Market Intelligence and your confidence in the ability to accelerate revenue as we go through the year. Maybe you can comment on what you're hearing from your customers, how bookings have trended, and any other color around the end markets. Thank you.

Question: Surinder Thind - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Thank you. Eric, could you maybe talk about the levers as you guys talk about managing expenses and/or some of the puts and takes might be in the range of expectations?

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets - Analyst : Thanks for taking my question. On the issuance guidance, thanks for providing that incremental color on M&A assumptions. My question was the flat issuance assumptions for the back half of the year. Does that include any kind of pull forward, or what are your assumptions around high-yield spreads as well as rate volatility? Thanks.

Question: Andrew Steinerman - JPMorgan - Analyst : Two quick ones. One, what's the share count implied in the '25 guide? And did it change since February? And secondly, you talked a lot about the strong balance sheet and the share buyback activity. What's the view on S&P's M&A ambitions at this point?

Question: Scott Wurtzel - Wolfe Research, LLC - Analyst : Hey. Good morning, guys, and thank you for taking my question. I just wanted to touch on the topic of private credit and wondering if you can share how that performed on the rating side relative to expectations during the quarter and maybe talk about what you're assuming in terms of growth contribution from private credit for the balance of the year. Thanks.

Question: Alex Kramm - UBS - Analyst : Yes. Hey. Good morning, everyone. I'm going to have another boring cost question, but it is Eric's first call, so I think it's okay. It sounds like you mentioned that all the work on the cost base so far has been more as a do we need to pull any sort of levers to show margin expansion, et cetera, if the environment is a little bit tougher. Just wondering how you think about the cost base holistically. I know it's only been a couple of months for you, but obviously, you come from a lower margin company. And I think if you compare some of the peers, in particular, Market Intelligence, the margins don't compare as well anymore for S&P Global. So given that you have a history of cost programs in a couple of years, you did a big transaction a few years ago, I was just wondering if there's room for maybe a more holistic rebasing of the cost program and where that will come from? Thank you.

Question: Manav Patnaik - Barclays - Analyst : Good morning. Martina, I just wanted to confirm, I mean, it sounds like from everything you're saying, you're not yet seeing any major changes in your customer behavior. So I was just hoping you could just help elaborate on that, maybe focusing more on the MI and subscription businesses really.

Question: George Tong - Goldman Sachs & Company, Inc. - Analyst : Hi. Thanks. Good morning. You mentioned you're not seeing any major changes in customer behaviors. Can you talk a little bit more about what you're seeing with pipeline performance and sales cycles?

Question: Tom Roesch - William Blair & Company - Analyst : Hi. Good morning. This is Tom Roesch on for Andrew Nicholas. I was wondering if you could touch on the Commodity Insights end markets and kind of what you're seeing there. And then also, are you expecting any pressure from tariffs such as trade war in general in that segment on the end markets? Thank you.

Question: Craig Huber - Huber Research Partners - Analyst : Thank you. Just want to get back, if I could, on Mobility question in the whole why-now and stuff. I mean, obviously, in the past, you guys have talked about it being a core part of operations. It's done really well underneath S&P. I'm just wondering, again, just elaborate a little bit further, what's changed here why you want to spin it off now and stuff? I mean in the past, you said it was core. Now, it's not core. I'm just trying to understand better. Obviously, your stock has moved in line, right in line with the S&P 500 here over the last 24 months. I mean, a lot of stocks would love to have that sort of performance. I mean, just what's changed? A little bit more there. Thank you. (technical difficulty)

Question: Owen Lau - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. - Analyst : Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I actually have two quick questions here. The first one is, could you please talk about how do you bridge the flat billed business, the 0% to 4% Ratings revenue growth. Is it mainly driven by pricing, or there's another -- like some mix shift going on that we should be aware of? And then the second part is about the sale of OSTTRA. Could you please talk about how do you plan to use the proceeds? And if there's additional buyback, have you baked that into your guidance? Thanks.

Question: Jeff Silber - BMO Capital Markets - Analyst : Thank you so much. I had a question on your guidance, specifically looking at the free cash flow. I realize you reduced guidance slightly for revenue growth and operating profit margin. But it looks like the reduction in guidance for free cash flow is in excess of that despite the fact that you're also expecting about $10 million less in CapEx. Is there something going on in the free cash flow line that's different from three months ago that we should be aware of? Thanks. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. APRIL 29, 2025 / 12:30PM, SPGI.N - Q1 2025 S&P Global Inc Earnings Call

Question: Shlomo Rosenbaum - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. - Analyst : Hi. Thank you for taking my question. Martina, maybe you could give us a little bit of inside baseball on how you kind of set the guidance. It seems like the changes are in Ratings and Indices, which are already seeing some impact from the environment, but the other ones you're leaving it the same. Is leaving it the same just because you have not seen an impact yet? Or is leaving the guidance in the other divisions because you are looking at the range of outcomes and the kind of net back to neutral? I'm just trying to understand your thinking over there.

Question: Russell Quelch - Redburn Atlantic - Analyst : Hi. Good morning. I appreciate the impact of the lower equity markets have on Indices revenue outlook. I wanted to pick up on the 9% growth in data and customs subscription revenues in Q1 within the Index business. That looks like the highest print you've ever reported in that line in terms of growth. So are you managing to drive competitive displacement in benchmark Index subscriptions. If so, maybe what areas? Or is that more pricing? And maybe could that help offset some of the pressure on asset-linked fees as we look out for the rest of the year? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. APRIL 29, 2025 / 12:30PM, SPGI.N - Q1 2025 S&P Global Inc Earnings Call

Question: Jason Haas - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC - Analyst : Hey. Good morning, and thanks for taking my question. I'm curious if you talk about the sensitivity of the Mobility business to auto tariffs. Have you seen any impact that so far, the conversations with your customers changing at all? How do you expect that to trend going forward? Thank you.

Question: Jeff Meuler - Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. - Analyst : Yeah, thank you. Maybe just taking a step back as the portfolio gets to steadier state just given the number of divestitures, including some of the smaller businesses within the segments and the forced divestitures. I guess what are the -- how would you summarize the most important capabilities acquired at this point from the IHS Markit acquisition? And where do they show up the most in financials? I'm guessing private markets and energy transition growth are in part enabled by that, but just how would you summarize that overall? Thank you.

Question: Sean Kennedy - Mizuho Securities USA - Analyst : Good morning. Congrats on the results. So I was wondering how a sustained period of lower oil and other energy prices might affect Commodity Insights growth and how it may be different versus the last period of lower energy prices in 2020? Thank you. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. APRIL 29, 2025 / 12:30PM, SPGI.N - Q1 2025 S&P Global Inc Earnings Call

Question: Joshua Dennerlein - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Yeah. Hey, everyone. Martina, you briefly touched on it, but it'd be great to hear a bigger update on the Chief Client Office role and how those conversations are progressing with clients. And then any kind of early wins you can share from that office?