“MMC reported another messy quarter this morning,” said David Small, an analyst for Bear Stearns, in an investor's note. “Profitability in insurance brokerage was significantly lower than expected.”

“The quality [of the earnings] was weak, even allowing for the one-time items, as revenue and margins in the flagship brokerage segment accounted for the bulk of the miss,” wrote Morgan Stanley in its note.

While reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter's revenues grew by 12 percent, or $22 million, to $214 million, Marsh stumbled with a loss of 6 percent, or $66 million, to $1.1 billion. Total risk and insurance services were down 5 percent, or $70 million, to $1.35 billion.

Kroll, investigative and consulting services, grew 14 percent, or $34 million, in the quarter to $275 million. Mercer Consulting services were up 8 percent, or $76 million, to more than $1 billion, while investment services Putnam slid 10 percent, or $38 million, to $339 million.

“We knew it would take more than 18 months to return MMC to the consistent, high performance we expect to achieve,” said Mr. Cherkasky, referencing the firm's agreement to drop contingent commissions as part of a settlement to end New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigation into illegal kickbacks and bid-rigging.

“The second quarter was another step forward, a better performance than last year, but not as big a step as we had hoped,” said Mr. Cherkasky.

While the company has rebuilt its brokerage business in the United States, it is still working to do the same globally, he said, and it has made some management changes in Europe to achieve that goal.

He pointed to the naming of Alex Moczarski, a 12-year veteran of Marsh, to the position of president and CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa as part of the effort toward change.

Mr. Cherkasky indicated that a significant portion of business problems overseas is internal conflict where managers are resisting changes to a uniform practice. He said managers in France and Italy were replaced because of these conflicts.

In response to a question about splitting the company up to increase shareholder value, Mr. Cherkasky flatly rejected the idea, saying “it is too early in the recovery process for us to discount what are substantial advantages to being one company.”

“This is the first quarter of the six I've done where I am disappointed that we didn't do better,” he added.

However, Mr. Cherkasky said he remained optimistic about the future direction of the company.

“We are headed in the right direction; we're going to continue to get better. We're confident about that,” he said. “We are still confident about where we are going to end up.”