Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

Marsh & McLennan posts strong results, adds 6,000 employees

Reprints
Dan Glaser

Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. Thursday reported a 16% increase in total revenue in the fourth quarter and organic revenue growth of 10% on the back of continued firm pricing and improving macroeconomic conditions.

The company added a net 6,000 employees in 2021, as it took advantage of disruption in the broking sector, its top executive told analysts on an earnings call.

“We invested more heavily in hiring in 2021 than at any other time in our 150-year history,” said Dan Glaser, president and CEO.

Despite some moderation in insurance rates in the fourth quarter, property/casualty pricing conditions remain “firm” and cyber rates have doubled, due to the rising frequency and severity of ransomware claims, Mr. Glaser said.

Marsh & McLennan reported fourth-quarter revenue of $5.14 billion, up from $4.42 billion in the same period in 2020.

Net income for the fourth quarter more than doubled to $803 million, from $374 million in the year-earlier period.

“The global macroeconomic outlook remains positive even if there continues to be uncertainty due to the omicron variant, geopolitical pressures, supply chain challenges, inflation and tightening monetary conditions,” Mr. Glaser said.

Risk and insurance services, its insurance and reinsurance broking business, reported fourth-quarter revenue of $3.05 billion, up 20% and a 9% increase on an underlying basis.

Marsh LLC, its commercial insurance unit, reported $2.88 billion in revenue, a 22% increase over 2020’s fourth quarter and up 9% on an underlying basis.

Marsh’s U.S. and Canadian underlying revenue rose 11%, while revenue in Europe, the Middle East and Africa grew 5%. Revenue from Latin America grew 14% on an underlying basis, while Asia Pacific saw underlying growth of 10%.

Guy Carpenter & Co. LLC, the company’s reinsurance brokerage, reported $170 million in fourth-quarter revenue, up 5% on an underlying basis.

The Marsh Global Insurance Market Index showed price increases of 13% year over year, its 17th consecutive quarter of rate increases, Mr. Glaser said.

Global property insurance was up 8%, and global financial and professional lines were up 31%, “driven by cyber rates more than doubling in some geographies,” he said. Global casualty rates were up mid-single digits on average.

“At January renewals, capacity in most areas was available, although insurers pushed for price increases and in some cases coverage changes and tighter terms and conditions,” Mr. Glaser said.

Reinsurers also adjusted their risk appetite and pricing thresholds for certain sectors in response to ongoing challenges, such as the frequency and severity of catastrophe losses, core inflation, social inflation and underlying rate increases, he said.

“We continue to see a good runway for growth, given the outlook for above-average GDP growth, sustained firm property and casualty pricing conditions, the inflationary impact on exposures, further opportunities from distraction in the broking sector, and the benefit of our recent organic investments,” Mr. Glaser said.

The brokerage predicts it will sustain momentum to achieve mid-single-digit or higher growth this year.

Full-year revenue rose 15% in 2021 to $19.82 billion, or 10% on an underlying basis. Net income for the full year was $3.14 billion, a 56% increase from $2.02 billion in 2020.