WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Insurance brokerage Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC) reported Tuesday a higher first-quarter profit, reflecting about 6 percent growth in revenues. Adjusted earnings and revenues topped analysts' expectations.
Marsh said it saw strong new business development and higher client revenue retention rates, which contributed to underlying revenue growth across all geographies.
Marsh revenues from Europe, the Middle East and Africa or EMEA grew 5 percent and Asia Pacific revenues climbed 14 percent. In Latin America, the growth was 22 percent. Total International revenues increased 8 percent from a year ago. Revenues from the U.S./Canada improved 7 percent from the prior year.
Brian Duperreault, president and CEO of the company said, 'Our performance in the first quarter continues to build on the strong momentum achieved by the Company over the past two years. This performance reflects revenue growth from each of our operating companies, as well as continued strong growth in adjusted operating income across both our Risk and Insurance Services and Consulting segments.'
In the first quarter, net income attributable to the company increased to $347 million or $0.63 per share from $325 million or $0.58 per share reported a year ago.
Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter rose to $0.63 from $0.56 in the prior year. On average, 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.61 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenues for the quarter climbed 6 percent to $3.05 billion from $2.88 billion in the previous year, which also was above analysts' estimate of $3.04 billion.
Total Risk and Insurance Services revenue grew 7 percent to $1.75 billion. Consulting segment revenue was $1.31 billion, an increase of 4 percent from the prior year.
Adjusted operating margin was 17.4 percent, compared to 16.4 percent last year.
MMC is currently trading at $33.98, up $0.53 or 1.58 percent, on a volume of 763 thousand shares on the NYSE.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2012 AFX News
