Company Description

We work for a safer world. Our mission drives our actions, inspires our employees and is the key to our success. We strive to be our customers’ most trusted science-based safety, security and sustainability partner. We are a global safety science leader that provides independent testing, inspection and certification (“TIC”) services and related software and advisory (“S&A”) offerings to customers worldwide. Our history dates back to our founding in 1894 as part of the nonprofit Underwriters Electrical Bureau, a predecessor to UL Research Institutes, UL Standards & Engagement and UL Solutions. As the largest TIC services provider headquartered in North America (by revenue) with a global network of laboratories, we provided a comprehensive set of product safety, security and sustainability solutions to more than 80,000 customers across over 110 countries in 2023. Our distinguished heritage and our long history of operating at the forefront of safety science enables us to achieve and maintain more than 650 technical accreditations and 83 commercial software solutions, and to remain active in over 1,300 standards panels and technical committees globally, which underpins the expertise we offer to our customers. Furthermore, we offer over 450 independent third-party conformity assessment services around the world and are capable of testing and certifying against over 4,000 global standards, which affords us vast insight into the safety of products across a wide range of end markets and geographies. We are the owner of the iconic UL-in-a-circle certification mark (“UL Mark”) that appears on billions of products around the world. We offer our customers global market access services that help them ensure the safety and quality of their products while also supporting their efforts to manage the broader risks they face throughout their product lifecycle processes. We believe our extensive knowledge of, and expertise in, global safety science provides us with a strong competitive advantage relative to other global TIC service providers. People are at the core of who we are and what we do for our customers. Our technical team of more than 9,900 scientists, engineers and other specialized technical and regulatory experts has been nurtured and developed over many years and is a differentiator of our business. This deep and highly trained talent pool, and our strong technical laboratory capabilities, enable us to serve as a trusted and independent partner to our diverse array of global customers. We serve our customers through two complementary businesses, TIC and S&A. Our TIC business is made up of two segments, Industrial and Consumer, which provide comprehensive testing, inspection and certification services to customers across a broad array of end markets. Our S&A business is a global provider of software, data and advisory solutions, enabling our customers to manage complex regulatory requirements, deliver supply chain transparency and operationalize sustainability. We generate revenue in these segments and the following service categories: Certification Testing; Ongoing Certification Services; Non-certification Testing and Other Services; and Software. As the global economy continues to evolve and becomes more digital and inter-connected, our customers continue to seek ways to bridge traditional TIC needs with next generation cloud-based software and services to better mitigate risk and enhance their business performance. We believe that our complementary TIC and S&A offerings position us to capitalize on this market need and better serve our customers, of which we had more than 80,000 in 2023. In 2023, approximately 70% of our global and strategic accounts utilized both TIC and S&A services. The scope of our global and strategic accounts is primarily based on two factors: (1) each customer’s current spend with us and (2) an estimate of each such customer’s potential future spend with us. The scope is then further revised based on regional priorities, emerging trends and recent changes in each customer’s spend. Given the nature of our services, we are continuously engaging and working side-by-side with our customers. On any given day, throughout the world, our teams can be found in more than 1,500 of our customers’ global manufacturing locations inspecting products, facilities, processes and systems and interacting with our customers. Similarly, many of our customers spend time in our laboratories observing the testing of their products, or spend time in their workplaces using our proprietary software and material and chemical databases to share information across their value chains. Our strong customer relationships, coupled with the essential nature of our core testing, inspection and certification services, drive high customer retention; in 2023, we achieved an approximately 99% customer retention rate amongst our 500 largest customer accounts from each of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. We calculate our customer retention rate as the percentage of our top 500 customers in a given year that generate revenue with us in subsequent years, and we measure this metric at the parent level; therefore, a customer for this purpose may be comprised of several subsidiaries and independent businesses. Our attractive business model has allowed us to deliver a long track record of stable growth and profitability. Underlying demand for our services is largely driven by a combination of regulatory requirements and evolving customer and consumer preferences, providing strong stability and visibility to our financial profile. We have made significant investments in our people, laboratories and digital capabilities over many decades, allowing us to execute our growth strategy and meet the increasingly complex needs of our customers. We supplement our organic growth with acquisitions, having successfully completed and integrated 54 acquisitions since 2010. As a result of our organic and inorganic growth, we are the number one TIC services provider for products and a top ten TIC provider globally as measured by revenue, with a compound annual revenue growth rate of approximately 7% over the last 12 years. --- In 1894, William Henry Merrill, Jr. founded Underwriters Electrical Bureau, an electrical testing laboratory to insurance underwriters. In 1901, Underwriters Laboratories, the predecessor to UL Research Institutes, was incorporated in the state of Illinois as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of safety standards, publishing its first standard in 1903, “Tin Clad Fire Doors.” The first UL Mark for use outside of the United States was introduced in 1992 for the Canadian market. For 130 years, UL Research Institutes has engaged, including through controlled affiliates, in four principal activities: (1) conducting and disseminating scientific research on public safety issues, (2) engaging in education and outreach activities to promote public safety, (3) developing standards for public safety and (4) testing, inspecting and certifying products to safety standards. UL Solutions Inc., the registrant, was incorporated as Underwriters Laboratories (USA) Inc. in 2008 and changed its name to UL Inc. in 2011. In 2012, UL Research Institutes transferred its testing, inspection and certification activities to UL Inc. In 2021, UL Research Institutes transferred its Standards Activities to UL Standards & Engagement, pursuant to the Reorganization, and on June 16, 2022, the Company filed an amendment to its restated certificate of incorporation changing the Company’s name to UL Solutions Inc. UL Research Institutes remains a tax-exempt nonprofit organization and continues to engage in scientific research activities. UL Solutions Inc. remains an indirect subsidiary of UL Research Institutes, with the same goal of advancing public safety. Our corporate headquarters are located at 333 Pfingsten Road, Northbrook, Illinois 60062. Our telephone number is (847) 272-8800. Our principal website address is www.ul.com.