Info/Commercial Weekly

Research evidence excerpt

Info/Commercial Weekly

RBC Capital Markets, LLC

Ashish Sabadra (Analyst)

(415) 633-8659,

ashish.sabadra@rbccm.com

David Paige (Analyst)

(646) 703-1063,

david.paige@rbccm.com

William Qi (AVP)

May 22, 2026 (646) 618-6963,

Info/Commercial Weekly william.qi@rbccm.comRESEARCH EXPN Earnings Recap; ECL CFO Meeting and NRA Takeaways

EXPN earnings recap; Ecolab investor meetings with CFO and National Restaurant Association (NRA)

Show key takeaways.

• EXPN 2H26 Results: Conservative Guide Likely Set Up for a Beat. Experian guided to 6-8% organic

growth for FY27, a modest midpoint step-down from 9%/8% in 4Q/FY26 and below expectations

of 7-9% organic growth. However, the outlook appears conservative with potential upside from

easing Middle East tensions, accelerating AI product adoption, and/or a rebound in the NorthEQUITY American consumer marketplace as credit card client caution recedes. The company expects 50bps

of margin expansion—at the top end of its 30-50bps mid-term guidance range—driven by dual-run

cost elimination (~20bps) and AI-driven productivity gains trimming labor costs by 300bps+ over two

years. See note for details.

• ECL CFO Investor Meetings Takeaways: We marketed with CFO Scott Kirkland in Toronto where the

conversations focused on ECL's growth engines, which will account for 25% of revenues post CoolIT

acquisition, growing mid-teens. The One Ecolab initiative should unlock cross-selling opportunities

and drive an inflection in volumes in the core business. ECL remains comfortable with HSD commodity

cost increases in 2Q26/2H26. Energy surcharge pricing began rolling out starting in April and is

expected to offset headwinds by end of 2Q/early 3Q, which should help return to 12–15% EPS growth

starting 3Q26. See note for details.