Revenues rose 23 percent, or $104 million, for the period, going from $451 million in 2002 to $555 million.

Willis continued its aggressive debt reduction, reporting long-term debt has dropped $268 million, going from $767 million to $499 million. A year ago, the firm's long-term debt stood at close to a billion dollars.

In an analyst's conference call, Joseph Plumeri, chairman and chief executive officer of the firm, said the company's success has been achieved through long-term business growth without acquisition. He said that 70 percent of the firm's revenue growth was from new business.

"The way you build a long-term business is to create value in the client's mind that you can do something that they don't do or they don't want to do; that is something that creates a great business," said Mr. Plumeri. "We do business because we bring something of value [to our clients] and that is very important to us."

He said the firm's objective is to sustain earnings per share growth of 15 percent or better a year.

The firm is aggressively looking into acquisitions, though it has yet to make one, said Mr. Plumeri, because the "environment is a bit pricey, but becoming reasonable."