NU Online News Service, Feb. 14, 11:23 a.m. EST
Professional services firm Marsh & McLennan Cos. reports 2011 fourth quarter net income increased 26 percent, as both its risk and insurance and consulting divisions reported positive growth.
"We had an outstanding year last year," Brian Duperreault, president and chief executive officer of Marsh & McLennan told analysts during a conference call.
The parent company of insurance broker Marsh and reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter reports net income of $256 million in the fourth quarter of last year, an improvement of $53 million over the prior year.
Revenues rose 4 percent, or $123 million, to $2.9 billion.
For the year, net income increased 16 percent, or $138 million, to $993 million. Revenues increased 9 percent, or $976 million, to $11.5 billion.
Fourth quarter revenues at Marsh rose 6 percent with organic growth of 4 percent. Revenues rose $78 million to $1.4 billion. For the year, revenues rose 10 percent, or $469 million, to $5.2 billion with organic growth of 4 percent.
Guy Carpenter's revenues rose 5 percent, or $9 million, to $193 million and organic growth of 5 percent for the fourth quarter of last year. On the year, revenues rose 7 percent, or $66 million, to more than $1 billion, with organic growth of 5 percent.
This was the first time Guy Carpenter passed the $1 billion mark in revenues, notes Duperreault.
The company says it had an investment loss in the fourth quarter of $4 million, compared to investment income of $19 million for the prior year.
For the year, investment income was $9 million, a drop from the previous year's investment income of $43 million.
During the conference call with analysts, Peter Zaffino, president and CEO of Marsh, was asked about the firm's acquisition pipeline related to its agency subsidiary Marsh & McLennan Agency. He says the firm is careful about the opportunities that it is examining and is aiming at making acquisitions for either geographic or product line expansion. He adds that there is no time line for any acquisition activity and that the pipeline for candidates remains robust.
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