S&P Global Inc at William Blair Growth Stock Conference Transcript

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

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Before digging into the individual segments, I was hoping you could just start by walking us through the different actions the company has taken in the current environment to prepare for what seems to be a wide variety of economic scenarios. And how did you approach scenario planning? What cost actions did you take? And how much flexibility do you have kind of left to flex up and down spending through the rest of the year?

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Great. Great. And one of the assumptions, obviously, that everyone's kind of focused on is the assumption of the guidance embedded in -- from a global build sequence perspective. I think you guided to mid-single-digit decline for the full year. I was hoping you could just unpack the different components of that a bit further and, maybe more importantly, speak to how the debt markets have performed relative to those expectations thus far in the quarter and maybe even over the last month. I know that there's been quite a bit of issuance -- record-level issuance in some of the higher-rated debt. So any additional context would be helpful. without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. 'Thomson Reuters' and the Thomson Reuters logo are registered trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies. JUNE 10, 2020 / 3:00PM, SPGI.N - S&P Global Inc at William Blair Growth Stock Conference

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Yes. Makes sense. I mean do you have an opinion like in terms of how -- if there could be a structural shift in terms of how corporations are thinking about leverage or broader debt levels and maybe not the very near term but medium term? Or does that still kind of fall into the too hard pile?

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Yes. Makes sense. Makes sense. Sticking in Ratings but maybe a different component of it. You've talked about ESG a lot in the past, and I think S&P as a whole is really excited about that opportunity. I'm trying to get a better sense for how you're monetizing that capability within Ratings. I think it's pretty easy for me to understand the packaging it up in Market Intelligence as a data feed, as an example, or scoring or incorporating it in an index. But in terms of that opportunity within Ratings, can you kind of just walk through what that opportunity looks like and what the use cases might be?

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Great. Great. Yes. I would imagine the deep dives in the Ratings business is certainly synergistic to the data in the other spaces, and that makes a whole lot of sense, so I appreciate that. Switching up gears a little bit to Market Intelligence. You issued a press release a couple of weeks back announcing the launch of your Marketplace data platform. Can you talk a bit more about what that platform is, how it sets you up to compete with some of the other offerings in the marketplace? And then maybe more broadly, kind of how Market Intelligence is poised to capitalize on the growing demand for data from a variety of different organization types? without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. 'Thomson Reuters' and the Thomson Reuters logo are registered trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies. JUNE 10, 2020 / 3:00PM, SPGI.N - S&P Global Inc at William Blair Growth Stock Conference

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Great. And I would imagine this is another kind of way for you to take a look at what investors are, or end users, are interested in and potentially leverage that information to build new data sets yourself or potentially even buy them if prices were attractive.

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Got it. Makes sense. Kind of switching gears again to the energy segment or the Platts segment. Obviously, the market backdrop there is a bit challenged right now. But by and large, the nature of your offerings are such that Platts has been or should be relatively insulated. That being said, and we know there are a lot of factors at play outside of the level of oil prices, for example, but what type of dynamics should we be aware of that could potentially play out or metrics to keep an eye on that would signal that the potential for more elevated attrition in the mid- or large-size customer base could occur to an extent that would potentially move the needle for the segment? without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. 'Thomson Reuters' and the Thomson Reuters logo are registered trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies. JUNE 10, 2020 / 3:00PM, SPGI.N - S&P Global Inc at William Blair Growth Stock Conference

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Got it. Got it. Turning a little bit more to some growth opportunities. I know we have a handful of minutes left. I just want to make sure I touch on a few more. Specifically in index, what are the largest opportunities or adjacent opportunities for that business, in your view, specifically as it relates to new product development? I think indexing and ETF space is generally one where money goes to the first-mover. So just kind of thinking about what are the areas that you're not as big in now or that you potentially are targeting that could be primed for indexation that you can address given the information and data you have.

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Perfect. And I think we only have a couple of minutes left. I just want to ask a high-level question about growth opportunities more broadly. I think if I -- if we were to fast forward 5 years from now, what's the one part of your business you're investing in today that you're most excited about being a material growth contributor? And I know we've talked quite a bit about ESG. So I would imagine that's one. But if there's anything else outside of that, that comes to mind as a real needle-mover 5 years from now, what would you say that would be? without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. 'Thomson Reuters' and the Thomson Reuters logo are registered trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies. JUNE 10, 2020 / 3:00PM, SPGI.N - S&P Global Inc at William Blair Growth Stock Conference

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Great. Well, I think that is a good place to wrap up as we're running out of time. Thank you very much, Ewout, for your time. And have a great rest of the day.