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 : So with all that in mind, maybe just to start with a high-level introductory question is just a lot has happened with the business here over the past couple of years. On March 1, you officially closed the transaction with IHS Markit. So Ewout, if you could just start with kind of a high-level overview of kind of the business as it stands today, and then we can kind of get into the individual segments and that sort of thing.

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : That's great. I think we'll hopefully touch on a lot of those different kind of use cases and revenue opportunities as we move through. But before we even get there, I was hoping you could spend a little bit of time on kind of the integration and the execution of a merger of this size. Obviously, I think you've talked in the past about an integration management office. Can you talk about kind of how you take 2 large companies with a ton of over -- well, overlap is maybe overstating it, but a lot of cross opportunities and execute not only in the kind of the next 3 to 5 years, but even long term, organizationally, making sure that all these different teams are working together to the same goals.

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : What about for the sales force? Obviously, you have 2 large sales organizations combined, different go-to-market strategies in some instances. Can you talk a little bit about that integration and how you're managing that from an organization perspective?

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Sure. And you also have leadership role in the engineering business, if I'm not mistaken?

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : You're welcome. Maybe we start there. I think that's one that often gets forgotten because it is a little bit smaller relative to the other 5. But you want to talk a little bit about the engineering business and the growth opportunity?

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Sure. Before getting into a few of the other segments, I just want to take a step back and talk about capital allocation. I think one of the things that's quite attractive about the post-merger company is the amount of free cash flow you can generate. So if you could just kind of outline for everybody in the audience what the capital allocation strategy looks like and how you plan to leverage capital?

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Perfect. You mentioned briefly suspending guidance. I do want to touch on Ratings here in a second. But maybe one more question before we get there would just be to talk about kind of cyclicality and cyclical exposure in the whole outside of Ratings. I know that there's -- within the Index business, there's a little bit of mark-to-market on the asset-based fees. But I mean, how do you think about maybe potential offsets to that factor and also the resilience of some of your other businesses being primarily subscription-based in a lot of cases.

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Very well done, the perfect transition to my next question, which is just if you could kind of speak to the decision to suspend guidance last week. And I think included in that release, some sensitivity around what could happen if year-to-date issuance trends were to persist through the remainder of the year. If you could just spend a little bit of time kind of level setting there, and then we can dig in a bit more.

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : And can you spend a little bit of time, maybe giving a little bit more context about what is happening in the high-yield market right now, the bank loan market that's negatively impacting issuance? Obviously, there's a lot of geopolitical factors at play. But just kind of speak to what's happening under the hood and maybe what the prospects would be towards normalization in your view. Understanding that timing is impossible to predict, but what kind of are you looking for in those markets to have some sense of normalization?

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Perfect. All right. Let's kind of switch gears here. And this is a growth conference, let's talk more about growth. I do want to spend some time on ESG. I think you've outlined growth targets for that business over a multiyear period that are pretty strong, I think, 46%, 40% plus. Can you talk about kind of your right to win in that market, the assets that you have to bring to that market? And then maybe -- I know this is a multipart question, but you've seen a lot of buzz from the SEC around kind of regulating investment disclosure around ESG. Is that a tailwind? Is that something that you think would further support that growth? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JUNE 07, 2022 / 5:40PM, 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. We do have a minute here. Can't cover all the growth opportunities, but if you have a 45-second answer on maybe another growth opportunity that you're particularly excited about. You've talked about private data. You've talked about a bunch of different opportunities. So if there's one other item that you'd like to cover and squeeze in here, go for it.

Question: Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division - Analyst : Great. Thanks so much for joining us, and everyone in the room for joining us. We'll move to Maher, I think it's how it's pronounced, for a breakout session in a few minutes here. So thank you.