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Willis Towers Watson second-quarter revenue edges up

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Willis Towers Watson P.L.C. reported revenue of $1.99 billion in the second quarter of 2018, up 2.6% compared with the same quarter last year, excluding the effect of recent accounting changes.  

Organic growth for the quarter was 3%, said John Haley, Willis Towers Watson’s CEO, speaking on the company’s earnings call Thursday morning.

“We experienced growth in all of our segments this quarter,” Mr. Haley said. International led growth at 7%, followed by North American at 4%, Western Europe at 3%, he said.

Like several other insurance brokers, Willis Towers Watson adopted new accounting rules from the Financial Accounting Standards Board in 2018 that affect when certain revenues are recognized in financial results. The brokerage provided figures that exclude the effect of the change in revenue standards when comparing with prior year results.

The broker’s corporate risk and broking segment, its main commercial property/casualty broking unit, saw organic growth of 2% in second quarter, Mr. Haley said. For the first half, the unit reported 4% organic growth.

Increased construction and cyber insurance business helped drive 3% growth in the unit’s North American business and international reported faster growth at 8%, Mr. Haley said.

Net income excluding the effect of the new revenue standard was $82 million, a 148% increase compared with the same period last year.  

Looking forward, “for the company, we continue to expect organic growth to be approximately 4%,” said Mike Burwell, chief financial officer, speaking on the call.