MSCI (MSCI) official guidance

To provide more color on the elevated expense items in 2026, acquisitions are expected to add roughly $20 million of additional expenses this year.

We also narrowed the tax rate guidance for the full year to 18%-19.5%.

The reason why we keep the full year guidance and we're confident about the outlook is the collections have been strong.

The incremental accruals of performance stock options, which are mostly driven by higher than expected AUM growth in products linked to our indexes, and the strong business momentum are expected to add roughly $15 million-$20 million of non-cash expenses, and severance is expected to be roughly $10 million-$15 million higher than originally planned, reflecting the acceleration of efficiencies and the AI transformation across the organization.

As we mentioned last quarter, the pressures on parts of the sustainability franchise are expected to continue through the fourth quarter. We expect the sustainability and climate reporting segment to have recurring net new sales that are roughly flat to slightly positive in the fourth quarter.

The incremental accruals of performance stock options, which are mostly driven by higher than expected AUM growth in products linked to our indexes, and the strong business momentum are expected to add roughly $15 million-$20 million of non-cash expenses, and severance is expected to be roughly $10 million-$15 million higher than originally planned, reflecting the acceleration of efficiencies and the AI transformation across the organization.

| Capital Expenditures | $160 to $170 million | $160 to $170 million |

| Depreciation & Amortization Expense | $195 to $205 million | $195 to $205 million |

| Interest Expense (including amortization of financing fees)1 | $288 to $291 million | $282 to $286 million |

| Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities | $1,655 to $1,705 million | $1,655 to $1,705 million |

| Adjusted EBITDA Expense | $1,340 to $1,370 million | $1,340 to $1,370 million |

| Operating Expense | $1,535 to $1,575 million | $1,535 to $1,575 million |

Between the significant emerging opportunities and the pressure on parts of the sustainability franchise, we expect recurring net new sales to be roughly zero to slightly negative for the combined sustainability and climate reporting segment across the next two quarters.

Upon the close of the acquisition in Q3, we would expect First Street to add about $10 million of subscription run rate to the S&C reporting segment.

I would highlight our effective tax rate outlook for 2026 is unchanged, and for Q2, we expect to have an effective tax rate between 18%-20%.

For Q2 2026, we currently expect Analytics year-over-year revenue growth to be roughly 5% for the quarter.

We are moving locations there, and we'll have meaningful CapEx around that build-out, which will amount to about $25 million of occupancy CapEx.

Just given the interest payment schedules on those, we had no cash interest payments in 2025, so there's going to be a meaningful step-up in the cash interest expense in 2026 to the tune of $90 million.

Free cash flow guidance reflects the expectation of approximately $100 million of higher expected cash taxes in 2026 compared to 2025, due to various one-time discrete tax benefits in 2025 and the timing of cash tax payments between 2025 and 2026.

But I would highlight that we are projecting strong double-digit collection growth with stable working capital dynamics.