View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2012/08/08/258747.htm
Marsh & McLennan Companies reported on Tuesday $329 million net profit for its 2012 second quarter, a 17 percent increase from $282 million reported a year earlier.
“Our outstanding second quarter results successfully built on our strong first quarter. We produced revenue growth in each of our operating companies as well as excellent growth in operating income in both risk and insurance services and consulting, with meaningful margin improvement,” said Brian Duperreault, CEO of the N.Y.-headquartered Marsh & McLennan Companies.
Duperreault said Marsh, the risk management and insurance brokerage services division, continued its strong performance, including underlying revenue growth across all geographies and excellent new business development. Guy Carpenter, a global risk and reinsurance intermediary division, produced impressive results, he added, continuing its long-term trend of underlying revenue growth driven by international operations.
“Our consulting segment produced underlying revenue growth, with a strong increase in profitability. Both Mercer and Oliver Wyman contributed to the segment’s double-digit growth in earnings and improved margins,” he said.
Overall, Marsh & McLennan Companies’ consolidated revenue in the second quarter was $3 billion, a 3 percent rise from the same period one year ago.
The second-quarter revenue from the risk and insurance services segment (which includes Marsh and Guy Carpenter) was $1.7 billion, an increase of 5 percent. Operating income rose 12 percent to $401 million, compared with $356 million in last year’s second quarter.
Marsh’s second-quarter revenue rose 4 percent to $1.4 billion. Its international operations reported underlying revenue growth of 7 percent in the second quarter, reflecting growth of 14 percent in Latin America, 10 percent in Asia Pacific, and 5 percent in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). In the United States/Canada division, underlying revenue grew 4 percent. Guy Carpenter’s second quarter revenue was $275 million, an increase of 7 percent.
Consulting segment’s second-quarter revenue was $1.3 billion, an increase of 2 percent. Operating income increased 13 percent to $172 million, compared with $152 million in the prior-year period. Human resources and investment consulting subsidiary Mercer’s revenue was $960 million, an increase of 2 percent. Management consulting subsidiary Oliver Wyman’s revenue increased 2 percent to $381 million in the quarter.
Investment income — including mark-to-market gains in private equity investments — was $4 million in the second quarter, compared with an investment loss of $6 million one year ago.