While carriers' second-quarter results largely declined due to catastrophe losses, three brokerages recently reported growth during the quarter, led by Aon Corp.'s 69 percent increase in net income.
Chicago-based Aon says second-quarter net income was $258 million, up $105 million from a year ago. The brokerage attributed the growth to new business and the integration of Hewitt into its consulting business.
During a conference call with financial analysts, Greg Case, president and CEO, said Aon was able to achieve growth despite "soft pricing, excess capital and fragile economic conditions globally."
He says the brokerage captured more than $240 million in business during the period, noting growth in China, Africa, Australia, Italy, Denmark and U.S. retail.
Aon, as a whole, reports organic growth of 1 percent. Its risk-solutions business, which includes retail brokerage and reinsurance brokerage, saw organic growth of 2 percent. Retail brokerage had organic growth of 3 percent, while reinsurance brokerage came in at minus-2 percent.
Regarding the integration of Hewitt into its consulting business, Aon spent $31 million under its restructuring program on lease consolidation and workforce reduction. The workforce reduction is expected to eliminate a total of around 1,500 jobs.
BB&T, the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based bank, says it continues to see growth in its insurance-brokerage business, reporting a 4 percent growth in income for the 2011 second quarter compared to the same period a year before. BB&T says insurance income was $299 million for the quarter, and that growth was "primarily due to a seasonally stronger second quarter."
London-based Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) says net income grew by 8 percent for the first half of the year despite challenges from the continued soft market. The brokerage says net income grew more than £6 million ($10 million at the current exchange rate) to £80 million ($132 million). Total revenue grew 9 percent, or £34 million ($56 million), to £411 million ($676 million).
"Our emphasis on being a client-first organization is clearly serving us well as demonstrated by our strong organic-growth record," says Dominic Burke, JLT's CEO, in a statement. "We continue to invest in people, technology and business acquisitions across the group to support our future growth."
The firm reports that its risk and insurance segment produced organic growth of 8 percent, underscored by strong performance in its combined retail operations around the world that generated organic growth of 14 percent.
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