Mr. Cherkasky pointed to signs of stability which included overall improvement in the company's net income, up 107 percent for the nine months. He said new business and retention of business at the firm's flagship business, insurance broker Marsh, improved 5 percent in the quarter and is up 9 percent for the nine months.

The figures indicated that MMC is on the move to drive growth in all lines of business, the CEO said.

MMC touted the flat results in its risk and insurance segment, which includes Marsh and reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter, as proof that the company is on a turnaround.

Overall, the segment's revenues were down 1 percent in the quarter, or $12 million, from $1.28 billion to $1.27 billion.

A closer look at the figures showed insurance services revenue (Marsh) down 2 percent, or $19 million, from $1.03 billion to $1.01 billion. However, reinsurance services (Guy Carpenter) rose 3 percent, or $7 million, from $207 million to $214 million.

In its other business segments, consulting (Mercer) rose 13 percent, or $126 million, to $1.07 billion. Risk consulting and technology (Kroll) was up 4 percent, or $9 million, to $251 million. The investment management operation (Putnam) was down 8 percent, or $29 million, to $342 million.

"We see this as the first report with more meat for the bulls than the bears," declared Morgan Stanley's Marc Serafin in an analyst's note. "Investors should be happy with flat organic growth at the brokerage and in-line to slightly better-than-expected results at the other operating segments."

"The majority of the better-than-expected result came from higher revenue for the consulting division, better-than-expected profitability at Putnam, and a lower tax rate," said Bear Stearns' David Small in his analyst note.

Despite the result, Mr. Small said investors' focus will be on the sale of Putnam, which Mr. Cherkasky declined to discuss during the conference call.

Mr. Cherkasky did say there is more capital flowing into Putnam than it has seen in the last few years and that all signs are pointing to improvements in that end of the business.

MMC said globally, new business has increased 11 percent at Marsh, while new business at Guy Carpenter "increased by double digits."

Mr. Cherkasky declined to give specifics during the analysts' call on where the firm's retention rate stands, but said it was up from where it had been and that was "one of the critical indicators of our rebound." He added, "It is historically lower than in the hard market."

However, Matthew B. Bartley, MMC's chief financial officer, said, "We are still a few percentage points shy of retention rates where we would like to be at in a soft market," adding that the retention rate is expected to grow, and in turn, grow revenues.

On insurance pricing affecting revenues, Mike Bischoff, head of investor relations, said the soft market has affected earnings negatively by 3-to-4 percent. He added that the European market is much softer than the United States.

After laying off hundreds of employees, MMC is now looking to aggressively hire people for Marsh, said Mr. Cherkasky. He added that employee departures diminished during 2005, with "less people going to our competitors."