During the last three months of 2018, Gallagher Group globally completed 19 acquisitions, bringing in almost $90m of new revenue

Fresh from agreeing to buy Stackhouse Poland, Gallagher has posted strong financial results for both Q4 2018 and the full year.

“We finished 2018 with a fantastic fourth quarter,” said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., chairman, president and chief executive.

Full year

In December, Morgan Stanley predicted Gallagher would finish the year (up to 31 December) with approximately 5% organic growth. The broker has outperformed that prediction by reporting 5.9% of organic revenue growth, and 10.8% total revenue growth.

Net earnings grew 37% to $573.2m in 2018 from $414.7m the year before , EBITDAC grew 13% and adjusted EBITDAC grew 12%.

Throughout the year globally, Gallagher completed a total of 48 acquisitions, bringing in an estimated annual revenue of $340m.

Q4 2018

In the last three months of the year, revenue grew 11.1%, while net earnings grew by almost half (47%) and adjusted EBITAC improved by 12%.

A total of 19 acquisitions were completed in this time globally, bringing in an estimated annual revenue of $90m.

Gallagher, Jr continued.: ”A great performance by the team in the face of a tough comparison from last year’s fourth quarter.”

The UK

“Outside the US, growth was excellent in Australia and in the UK. We completed a merger in the UK where we brought in a UK-based provider of property repair services. This is an example of the kind of specialist partners we are attracting to Gallagher Bassett.”

Looking forward

Gallagher said that it hopes to continue growing both organically and through acquisitions and has already put that into practice by announcing early in the year that it has agreed to buy Stackhouse Poland, a deal that is still subject to regulatory approval but is expected to be completed within Q1 2019.

And last year, UK chief executive Michael Rea spoke to Insurance Times where he explained that we can expect many more acquisitions in 2019.