Brown & Brown Q3 Profit Jumps 14.7%; Northeast Property Rates Up 2-8%

Florida-based insurance intermediary Brown & Brown says third-quarter net income increased 14.7 percent to about $57.75 million.

CFO Cory T. Walker says commissions and fees for the third quarter were up 18.5 percent to $358.2 million from last year’s third-quarter total of $302.3 million.

The insurance intermediary expensed $1.3 million during the third quarter to pursue a “very large acquisition, which we were not the winners,” Walker says during a conference call, adding that the acquisition of Beecher Carlson in July “had a slow start due to some acquisition transition issues.”

CEO J. Powell Brown says Northeast property rates are up 2-8 percent.

“Property continues to see changes in the underwriting criteria, particularly in coastal areas—New Jersey in particular,” he observes. “Some habitational writers are looking very closely at their property and [general liability] rates, particularly in New York City. Some are getting off and some are just increasing the prices significantly.”

Southeast coastal property rates are up 5-10 percent but in Florida, rates are flat to “up slightly or down slightly within a couple points,” he says, adding that more property capacity is headed into Florida.

Brown says the broker is seeing more construction accounts—for insureds and on a project basis with builders’ risk policies.

General liability and excess or umbrella coverage for contractors in New York are experiencing upward pressure on rates, adds Brown.