Willis Group Reports Earnings Rise
By Susanne Sclafane
NU Online News Service, April 30, 12:26 p.m. EST?Reporting a 20 percent jump in revenues for Willis Group Holdings Limited, today Chairman Joe Plumieri attributed the increase to a "sales culture" that will endure in both hard and soft markets.
Revenues for the London-based broker in the quarter were $451 million, with $436 million of that amount coming from commission and fee income.
First-quarter net income rose 74 percent to $68 million, or 43 cents per share, compared to $39 million, or 30 cents per share in first-quarter 2001.
"We set a very clear vision for this company, Mr. Plumieri said, adding that the vision?to "deliver global resources on a local basis"?remains intact. He also said that results reflect a strategy devoted to being "pure brokers."
"We don't underwrite. We don't do a lot of things that other people do, because we want to concentrate efforts on taking care of our clients," he said.
As evidence that Willis' sales culture will perform in both hard and soft markets, Mr. Plumieri noted that only 39 percent of the 20 percent increase in revenue was attributable to higher insurance rates. The remaining 61 percent, he said, reflected the broker's ability to increase the amount of business its doing through cross-selling efforts and the ability to open more accounts than it loses.
"We're opening at a clip of two to every one we're losing," he reported.
"If you're simply opening more accounts than you're losing, then it doesn't matter what the rate environment is," he said.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
