Marsh parent’s broking profit up 24%

Marsh & McLennan Companies’ risk and insurance services unit made an operating profit of $925m for the first nine months of 2010.

This is a 24% increase on the $747m operating profit the division made in the same period last year.

The unit, which comprises insurance broker Marsh and reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter, saw  total revenues increase 11%to $4.7bn for the first nine months of 2011 (first nine months of 2010: $4.3bn). The organic growth rate for the period was 5%.

For the third quarter, risk and insurance services operating profit increased 31% to $186m (Q3 2010: $142m), while revenues rose 11% to $1.5bn ($1.3bn).

“All of our businesses continued to generate revenue growth and double-digit growth in profitability,” said Marsh & McLennan chief executive Brian Duperreault in a statement. “Marsh’s high client revenue retention rates and new business development produced underlying revenue growth across all geographies. Guy Carpenter produced strong results, continuing a long-term trend of underlying revenue growth.”

Marsh alone also enjoyed an 11% nine-month revenue increase to $3.8bn (first nine months of 2010: $3.5bn). The increase was 5% on an organic basis. The EMEA division of Marsh reported a 9% increase in revenues to $1.4bn (first nine months of 2010: $1.3bn).

Net profit for Marsh & McLennan Companies as a whole, which includes consulting businesses Mercer and Oliver Wyman, increased 13% to $737m (first nine months of 2010: $652m).

In the third quarter alone, however, net profit dropped 23% to $130m (Q3 2010: $168m). This was partly because of a $72m charge related to the early repayment of debt and a reduction in after-tax profit from discontinued operations to $2m from $43m.