Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford reports $69m underlying earnings

Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford’s maintained strong underlying earnings at $69m during 2011 as the company focused on growing its Latin American and European businesses.

That compares to $68m last year.

The global wholesale and reinsurance broking group’s fees and commissions also remained little changed at $344m (2010: $340m).

The company maintained its 20% EBITDA margin despite tough trading conditions and a period of significant investment in the business.

It also reported 5% organic revenue growth on a like-for-like basis, and 21% revenue growth in merging markets and 10% revenue growth in mature London and European territories.

CGSC chief executive Toby Esser said: “2011 was the first full trading year for CGSC and the results were encouraging with an overall turnover of $344m and EBITDA of $69m. During the period we also saw our Latin America business grow significantly by more than 20%, with Europe and London increasing by more than 10%.

“Despite the considerable market losses in 2011, trading conditions across the year were still tough with pricing subdued.  This was most notable in the US although we did see some pricing improvement in the latter part of the year. Our business has therefore shown great resilience in the face of these challenges and following a period focused on integration we are now looking outwards for the next substantial step forward for CGSC.”