Morning, and welcome to S&P Global's 2019 Annual Shareholders Meeting. The meeting is being conducted at the company's offices in New York City. I'd like to inform you that this call is being recorded for broadcast. All participants are in a listen only mode. This call is also being webcast from S&P Global's website and will be available for replay about 2 hours after the end of this meeting, both by phone and the web.
To access the webcast and slides, go to www.sdglobal.com and click on the link for the Annual Share Meetings webcast. Please stand by. The meeting will begin momentarily.
Ladies and gentlemen, Tasha Matharu.
Good morning. My name is Tasha Matharu, and I'm the Corporate Secretary of S&P Global. It is my pleasure to welcome you to our 2019 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The Annual Meeting is also being made available by teleconference and by audio webcast. To minimize interference with the teleconference and webcast, we ask that those of you joining us here in the room today, please turn off all electronic devices for the remainder of the meeting.
In today's presentation, we are providing adjusted financial information. This information is provided to enable investors to make meaningful comparisons of the Corporation's operating performance between periods and to view the Corporation's business from the same perspective as that of management. The earnings releases for Q4 2018 and Q1 2019 contain exhibits that reconcile the non GAAP measures and comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with U. S. GAAP.
Before we begin the formal part of today's meeting, let me provide certain cautionary remarks about forward looking statements that may be made during this annual meeting and during our CEO, Doug Peterson's remarks. Except for historical information, the matters discussed during today's meeting may contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including projections, estimates and descriptions of future events. Any statements are based on current expectations and current economic conditions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward looking statements. We direct listeners and the audience to the cautionary statements contained in our periodic reports filed with the U. S.
United States Securities and Exchange Commission. I would also like to call your attention to European regulation. Any investor who has or expects to obtain ownership of 5% or more of S and P Global should call Chip Merritt, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations at +12-438-4 321 or chip. Meritspglobal.com to better understand the impact of this legislation on the investor and potentially the company. Please be advised that we have certified lists of the shareholders of record as of the close of business March 18, 2019, who are entitled to vote at this annual shareholders meeting.
Such lists have been opened for inspection by shareholders. We also have a copy of the notice of the meeting, proxy materials, the annual report and affidavits of mailing related to this meeting. The affidavits will be filed with the records of the annual meeting. The Board of Directors Paul Lamanti, a representative of Computershare Trust Company, is Paul Amanti, a representative of Computer Trust Company is here with us today. Mr.
Amanti has been sworn in and his oath will also be filed with the records of the Annual Meeting. In addition, shares of common stock representing approximately 88% of the outstanding shares of S and P Global and representing more than a majority of votes entitled to be cast at this annual meeting are represented either in person or by proxy. Mr. Chairman, the Annual Meeting has been duly convened, a quorum is present, and the business of the Annual Meeting may proceed. Ladies and gentlemen, our Chairman, Mr.
Ed Holderman.
Thank you, Tasha, and good morning. My name is Ed Haldeman, Chairman of S&P Global. With a quorum present, I call the meeting to order. Before we begin the formal part of today's meeting, I would like to introduce you to your directors. We have an outstanding Board, whose expertise, global perspective, diversity and leadership are a tremendous source of pride for the corporation.
First, I would like to introduce Doug Peterson, seated at the table, who is President and CEO of the Corporation as well as a Director. Next, I would like to introduce the 10 independent directors who will stand for election today along with Doug and me. I am pleased to introduce one of these directors for the first time today. I would ask each director to stand as I say their name and to remain standing. Please hold your applause until all have been introduced.
Bill Amelio, Chief Executive Officer, Avnet Inc. Bill Green, Former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Accenture Stephanie Hill, Deputy Executive Vice President, Rotary and Mission Systems of Lockheed Martin Rebecca Jacoby, Former Senior Vice President, Operations of Cisco Systems Monique LaRue, Chair, Investissement Quebec and Quebec Economic and Innovation Council Maria Morris, Former Executive Vice President, Global Employee Benefits of MetLife Ed Rust, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, State Farm Kurt Schmoke, President of the University of Baltimore Dick Thornburg, Former Vice Chairman, Credit Suisse Group. In addition, Marco Avelra, Chief Executive Officer of Snam SPA could not be with us today due to a pre existing business commitment, your Board of Directors. It is clear we have a world class Board. All of our directors have broad experience, excellent judgment and take their fiduciary responsibilities very seriously.
The appointments of 5 new Directors over the past 3 years, including the addition of Bill Emilio in March have further strengthened our talented Board and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to bring leaders of diverse backgrounds, perspectives and experiences into the Board room. At this time, I also want to acknowledge Sir Michael Rake, who is retiring from the Board today and will not stand for reelection. Sir Michael joined the Board in 2007. He is a highly accomplished business leader with invaluable expertise in financial accounting and corporate finance as well as extensive international business experience. Sir Michael has served as Board Chairman on a number of major public company boards in industries ranging from oil and gas, financial services and communications to accounting.
Sir Michael continues to serve as Chairman of Phoenix Global Resources Plc and New Day Limited. I want to thank Sir Michael for his distinguished service and innumerable contributions to this company over many years. He has served the company and our shareholders with extraordinary integrity and commitment. We also have a number of executives with us this morning as well. You have already been introduced to Doug Peterson, our CEO and Tasha Mathura, our Corporate Secretary.
We will now proceed to the formal business of our annual meeting, the purpose of which is to 1, elect 12 directors 2, approve on an advisory basis the executive compensation program for the company's named executive officers 3, approve the company's 2019 stock incentive plan 4, approve the company's director deferred stock ownership plan as amended and restated 5, ratify the selection of Ernst and Young LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for 2019 and 6, take up any other business matter that may properly come before this meeting. Ballots will be distributed to those who want to vote in person on any of the proposals. Those desiring ballots, please raise your hands. I would remind you that if you have sent in a proxy or voted by telephone over the Internet, it is not necessary to vote here in person. After all the items have been voted upon, we will collect the ballots for tabulation by the expector of election.
Would anybody like a ballot? Thank you. Time will be provided for specific questions relating to each of the proposals as they are introduced. Doug Peterson will offer remarks immediately following the business portion of the meeting. Further time will be provided following Doug's remarks for questions on other matters.
In order for remarks from the floor to be heard clearly by everyone, we have ushers with handheld microphones available on each side of the room. I ask that each shareholder who wishes to ask a question or make a statement use one of these microphones by raising their hand and waiting until one of the ushers provides the microphone. If you have a question or remark, please state your name and whether you are a shareholder yourself or represent a shareholder. As a matter of courtesy, please limit yourself to one question or remark until everyone who wishes to do so has an opportunity to ask a question or make a statement. The first item to be voted upon is the election of 12 directors.
The names of the 12 directors nominated for election are Marco Alvera, William J. Emilio, William D. Green, Charles E. Haldeman, Jr, Stephanie C. Hill, Rebecca Jacoby, Monique F.
LaRue, Maria R. Morris, Douglas L. Peterson, Edward B. Russ Jr, Kurt L. Schmoke, Richard E.
Thornburg. The floor is now open for questions or comments regarding the election of these 12 directors. Since there is no further discussion on this proposal, I declare the voting closed on this item. The second item to be voted upon is the proposal to approve on an advisory basis, executive compensation program for the company's named executive officers. The floor is now open for questions or comments relating to this item.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Chairman, my name is Gerald Matthews. I represent Fund that holds shares in S and P Global. The Carpenter Pension Funds collectively have assets of $60,000,000,000 and they 209,000 shares of your company's common stock. Mr.
Chairman, on the say and pay vote, as the say and pay vote is taken, I would like to make a comment on executive compensation. When you look at the option exercises and stock vested in 2018 table on Page 90 of the proxy statement, it seems fair to say that the CEO and the other named executive reflected in the 2018 summary compensation table on Page 85 of the proxy statement. I understand the timing issues associated with these calculations, but with a CEO pay ratio of 462:one, it is hoped that the compensation committee factors into consideration these realized numbers when they set total compensation opportunity targets going forward. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for your comment and thanks for being a shareholder. Are there any other questions or comments? Since there is no further discussion on this proposal, I declare the voting closed on this item. The 3rd item to be voted upon is the approval of the company's 2019 stock incentive plan. Floor is now open for questions or comments relating to this item.
Since there is no further discussion on this proposal, I declare the voting closed on this item. The 4th item to be voted upon is the approval of the company's Director Deferred Stock Ownership Plan as amended and restated. The floor is now open for questions or comments relating to this item. Since there is no further discussion on this proposal, I declare the voting closed on this item. The 5th item to be voted upon is the ratification of the selection of Ernst and Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2019.
Ken Marshall, Ray Mikovitz and Marnae Grobler, the partners of Ernst and Young responsible for the S and P Global account are present today at our meeting and will be available for questions. Could you 3 please identify yourselves stand and identify yourselves? Thank you. The floor is now open for questions or comments relating to this item. Since there is no further discussion on this proposal, I declare the voting closed on this item.
This concludes the voting on all formal business items. Anyone voting in person may now turn in their ballots. Okay. These preliminary tally of votes by the Inspector of Elections shows that, one, the 12 persons nominated as Directors of S&P Global Inc. Have been elected 2, the proposal to approve on an advisory basis the executive compensation program for the company's named executive officers has been approved 3, the proposal to approve the company's 2019 stock incentive plan has been approved 4, the proposal to approve the company's director deferred stock ownership plan as amended and restated has been approved 5, the ratification of the selection of Ernst and Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2019 has been approved.
The certificate of the Inspector of Election will be filed with the records of the meeting and the final results will be available on or before May 14 in a Form 8 ks filing. The meeting is now open for any other questions or comments concerning any subject that should properly come before this meeting. Questions, comments? Questions, comments? Since there are no further questions, let me take a moment to thank our shareholders for their support.
The number of shares voted and the support demonstrated for the slate of directors is very much appreciated. There being no further business, I will now entertain a motion that the meeting be adjourned. All in favor? Opposed? This concludes the formal part of our annual meeting.
I declare this meeting to be adjourned. With that, let me turn the floor over to Doug Peterson, who will offer a few remarks regarding all that the company accomplished in 2018 and its prospects for continued growth. It is now my pleasure to introduce Doug.
Good morning. Thank you, Ed. I want to welcome everyone here at our global headquarters in New York and all of those listening on the webcast. Thank you for being with us and your continued support of our company. I'm delighted to be here to review our strong performance in 2018 and explain why I'm so excited about our possibilities to power the markets of the future.
We will then open up the meeting to your questions and comments. Let me begin by acknowledging our operating committee, who are here with us this morning. They do a great job and I'm very proud of working alongside them and our 21,000 colleagues around the globe. Their talents, creativity and commitments have produced excellent results. We reported solid financial performance in 2018 despite market volatility during the Q4.
You can see, organic revenue increased 3%. We achieved a 230 basis point improvement in our adjusted operating profit margin and adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 23%. These results are testimony to our diversified businesses and the value we bring to customers in the face of decline in global bond issuance in the weak markets in the Q4. Based on these results and our optimistic view of the future, we continue to deliver long term shareholder value. Let's take a look at our record on this front.
Last year returned over $2,000,000,000 to shareholders through share repurchases and dividend repayments. Under 2017, our target is to return to shareholders at least 75% of our annual free cash flow. Last year, I'm pleased to report we exceeded that target by returning 108% through share repurchases and dividends. And in January, the Board elected to increase the regularly quoted cash dividend by 14% to an annualized rate of $2.28 per share. Are proud of our record, but we are not focused on the past.
We are also looking ahead to move forward. A little over a year ago, we announced our plan for S&P Global to power the markets of the future with our essential intelligence. This is the way we express our vision, our long term strategy and the trusted management framework we use to set our goals, allocate resources and hold ourselves accountable. Six foundational capabilities support this strategic approach and each is critical to our future success. The first is global.
China represents an excellent example of our planning for the future with a global focus today. In March, I was in Beijing with John Beresford to launch the 1st internationally owned credit rating agency to serve China's domestic bond markets. The very strong market interest we receive enforces my belief that we are in a great position to meet the demands of issuers and investors for credit ratings and research. Platts is also working to expand its commercial operations in Asia and market intelligence team has a transparency and effective functioning of the capital markets. The second area is customer orientation.
We're addressing a growing need in the market for ESG data, benchmarks and analytics. Just last month, we launched 2 exciting new products, the S and P 500 ESG Index and Ratings ESG Evaluations. Last year, the Ratings business also introduced Ratings 360 to facilitate better communication and knowledge transfer with rated issuers. We now have over 5,000 clients on ratings 360. These developments are very exciting and underscore our customer focus.
The 3rd component of our strategy is technology. We're adding investments to continue the development of data science, AI, cloud, machine learning and robotics tools. As you know, we're including the acquisition of Kensho and Panjiva in these initiatives. As we've said, we have more than doubled the amount of technology investment devoted to change the business initiative. The 4th category is innovation.
We know we need to keep innovating to sharpen our competitive edge. That's one of the reasons we established a rapid innovation group to help identify breakthrough projects. Through this program, Platts is planning to introduce the next generation of real time analytics to help inform commodity trading decisions. The 5th capability is operational excellence. Data, technology, risk and compliance all come together to form the backbone needed to operate effectively, reliably and consistently.
Our agile framework, automation and other operational improvements are helping us achieve the $100,000,000 3 year productivity target we announced in 2018. We estimate that on a run rate basis $60,000,000 in savings was achieved by the end of 2018. And the 6th area is people. They're the foundation of everything we do. That's why we continue to invest in them.
We're providing their technology acumen through a multitude of training programs and introducing more progressive benefits. To support all of these plans in 2019, we expect to invest $90,000,000 to $110,000,000 in new projects to fuel additional future organic growth. This is an increase over the $60,000,000 we invested in 2018. As we look out to the rest of the year, our 2019 guidance calls for mid single digit revenue growth and adjusted diluted EPS is expected to be in the range of $8.95 to $9.15 producing another year of earnings growth and another year that's very solid for S&P Global. Thank you for allowing me to share some of the stories that enable our company to power the markets of the future.
In closing, I want to thank my fellow directors for their independent judgment, guidance and leadership. I thank our outstanding employees and valued partners for all they do. And I thank you, our shareholders, for your ongoing trust. With that, we'll now open up the question the meeting to questions with any questions or comments from the floor. Yes.
And please identify yourself.
My name is Wayne Brazil. I'm a shareholder and delighted to be here today. And I was just curious, have you found it necessary to spend more on data security or cyber security in last year or 2?
Yes. Thank you for that question. If you met with our Board of Directors or our operating committee, we would have cyber security at the top of our list of key risks that we're managing for and we have increased our investment as well as our practices across the entire company to control for cyber risk. And thank you for the question.
Hi, good morning. My name is Monica Penaig. Can you please repeat the amount that you saved in 2018?
Under the program we announced in 2017, we at the end of the year, we were at a $60,000,000 run rate. So throughout 2018, we didn't achieve the full $60,000,000 but that was the run rate that we started 2019 with. Seeing that there are no further questions or comments, we thank you for your time today and being part of this meeting. As you've heard, we're excited about our ability to power the markets of the future. I'm confident that we move forward with this Board of Directors and this management team that will deliver for our customers, for you our shareholders and for all of our stakeholders.
That concludes this morning's call. A PDF version of the presenter slides is available for downloading from investor. Spglobal.com. A replay of this call will be available in about 2 hours. The replay will be maintained on S&P Global's website for 12 months from today and for 1 month from today by telephone.
On behalf of S&P Global, we thank you for participating and wish you a good day.