Q1 2024 Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc Earnings Call

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Operator: Welcome to Marsh & McLennan's Earnings Conference. This call is being recorded.

Speaker Change: Welcome to Marsh Mclennan as earnings Conference call today's call is being recorded.

Operator: 1st Quarter 2024 Financial Results and Supplemental Information were issued earlier this morning. We are available on the company's website at marshmclennan.com. Please note that remarks made today may include forward-looking statements. Statements are subject to risk and uncertainty. A variety of factors may cause actual results to differ from those projected. Transcribed by https://otter.ai For a more detailed discussion of those facts, visit http://www.

Speaker Change: First quarter 2024 financial results and supplemental information.

Speaker Change: Earlier this morning.

Speaker Change: Available on the company's website at Marsh Mcclennan dotcom.

Speaker Change: Please note that remarks made today may include forward looking statements.

Speaker Change: Looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and a variety of factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such statements.

Speaker Change: Detailed discussion of those factors please refer to our earnings release for this quarter.

Speaker Change: Most recent SEC filings, including our most recent Form 10-K, all of which are available on the Marsh Mclennan website.

Speaker Change: During the call today, we may also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures for a reconciliation of these measures to the most closely comparable GAAP measures. Please refer to the schedule in today's earnings release.

Operator: And to our most recent SEC filings, including our most recent Form 10-K, all of which are available on the Marsh & McLennan website. We may also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, The Bulletproof Executive 2013 The Most Closely Comparable Gap, Referred to the schedule in today's earnings. If you have a question, please press star one one on your touchtone phone. [inaudible] Star 1-1, Speakerphone; you may need to pick up the handset.

Speaker Change: If you have a question. Please press star one one on your Touchtone phone.

Speaker Change: Wish to be removed from the queue. Please press star one again.

Speaker Change: If youre using a speakerphone you may need to pick up the handset before pressing the numbers. Once again, if you have a question. Please press star one one on your Touchstone phone.

Speaker Change: I will now turn this over to John Doyle, President and CEO of Marsh <unk> Mclennan.

Speaker Change: Good morning, Thank you for joining us to discuss our first quarter results reported earlier today I'm, John Doyle, our president and CEO of Marsh Mclennan.

John Quinlan Doyle: On the call with me is Mark Mcgivney, our CFO and the Ceos of our businesses Martin South of Marsh team conserve Guy Carpenter next.

Operator: This is a production of WGBH. We are the World Bank. Again, if you have a question... Please press star 1-1 on your touch-tone phone.

Speaker Change: Nick Studer of Oliver Wyman, and Pat Tomlin set of Mercer, who is joining us joining this call for the first time welcome Pat.

Speaker Change: Also with US today is Sarah Dewitt head of Investor Relations.

Speaker Change: Marsh Mclennan had a strong start to 2024, our first quarter results were excellent and we are well positioned for another good year.

Speaker Change: Topline continued with 9% underlying revenue growth, which was on top of 9% growth in the first quarter of last year.

John Quinlan Doyle: We will now turn this over to John Doyle, President and CEO of Marsh & McLennan. Good morning.

Sarah Dewitt: All of our businesses had strong revenue growth with Marsh Mercer and Oliver Wyman accelerating growth from the fourth quarter.

Sarah Dewitt: We grew adjusted operating income by 11% from a year ago.

John Quinlan Doyle: Thank you for joining us to discuss our first quarter results, which were reported earlier today. I'm John Doyle, President and CEO of Marsh & McLennan. On the call with me is Mark McGivney, our CFO, and the CEOs of our business. Martin South of Marsh, Dean Klisura of Guy Carpenter, Nick Studer of Oliver Wyman, and Pat Tomlinson of Mercer, who is joining us for the first time. Welcome, Pat.

Sarah Dewitt: Our adjusted operating margin expanded 80 basis points compared to the first quarter of 2023.

We had adjusted EPS growth of 14%.

Sarah Dewitt: And we completed $300 million of share repurchases in the quarter.

Sarah Dewitt: In addition, we continued to add to our talent capabilities and scale through acquisitions.

Sarah Dewitt: These investments will help strengthen our strategic position.

Sarah Dewitt: Sustained top line growth for.

Sarah Dewitt: For example, Mercer completed the purchase of Vanguard's, OCI O business, which expands our reach into the endowments and foundations segment.

Sarah Dewitt: MMA acquired two leading agencies in Louisiana.

John Quinlan Doyle: Also with us today is Sarah DeWitt, Head of Investor Relations. Marsh & McLennan had a strong start to 2024. Our first quarter results were excellent, and we are well-positioned for another good year. The top line continued with 9% underlying revenue growth, which was on top of 9% growth in the first quarter of last year.

Sarah Dewitt: And Oliver Wyman and closed the acquisition of C Tech, which extends our capabilities in the aviation transportation and defense industries.

At Marsh <unk> Mclennan, we bring together specialized capabilities and perspectives across risk strategy and people to help clients make critical decisions with confidence.

Sarah Dewitt: For example in the area of supply chain risk.

Sarah Dewitt: We developed a solution called centrist, which draws on the perspective and capabilities of Marsh and Oliver Wyman to identify key risks and our clients' supply chains using this framework, we create a digital twin model of a client supply lines.

John Quinlan Doyle: All of our businesses had strong revenue growth, with Marsh, Mercer, and Oliver Wyman accelerating growth from the fourth quarter. We grew adjusted operating income by 11% from a year ago. Our adjusted operating margin expanded 80 basis points compared to the first quarter of 2023. We had adjusted EPS growth of 14%, and we completed $300 million of share repurchases in the quarter.

Sarah Dewitt: Which provides for a scenario based vulnerability assessment to help manage risk.

Sarah Dewitt: This product is already helping clients across multiple sectors, including in the banking manufacturing aviation and defense industries.

Sarah Dewitt: As we noted last quarter Marsh Oliver Wyman in Guy Carpenter develop the unity facility.

Sarah Dewitt: A public private insurance solution that enables grain shipments from Ukrainian ports.

Sarah Dewitt: In the first quarter, we worked with Ukrainian government easy.

Sarah Dewitt: Z Bank, Lloyds and others to expand that facility to all ships carrying non military cargo this will help support.

Sarah Dewitt: Support Ukraine's economic resilience in time of war.

Okay.

Sarah Dewitt: In the health care sector Marsh and Mercer are working together to help clients evaluate connections between talent retention patient safety and the cost about practise insurance Marcia.

John Quinlan Doyle: In addition, we continue to add to our talent, capabilities, and scale through acquisition. These investments will help strengthen our strategic position and sustain top-line growth. For example, Mercer completed the purchase of Vanguard's OCIO business, which expands our reach into the endowments and foundations segment. MMA acquired two leading agencies in Louisiana.

Sarah Dewitt: <unk> risk assessment capabilities, and Mercer has extensive health and human capital expertise combined with our rich datasets are creating new highly valued perspectives in the health care sector.

Sarah Dewitt: These are just a few examples of how we're applying our unique expertise to address pressing challenges and deliver significant value to clients.

Sarah Dewitt: Recently, we released our annual ESG report.

Sarah Dewitt: The report includes enhanced disclosure on our ESG efforts and underscores how the actions we're taking.

Sarah Dewitt: And on behalf of our clients also have a positive impact on the communities, where we live and work let me share some examples.

Sarah Dewitt: We collaborated with the center for NYSE neighborhoods to launch a community based catastrophe insurance program.

John Quinlan Doyle: And Oliver Wyman closed the acquisition of Sea-Tech, which extends our capabilities in the aviation, transportation, and defense industries. At Marsh & McLennan, we bring together specialized capabilities and perspectives across risk, strategy, and people to help clients make critical decisions with confidence. For example, in the area of supply chain risk. We developed a solution called Centris, which draws on the perspective and capabilities of Marsh and Oliver Wyman to identify key risks in our client's supply chain. Using this framework, we create a digital twin model of a client's supply line, which provides for a scenario-based vulnerability assessment to help manage risk.

Sarah Dewitt: This parametric insurance program helps finance emergency grants to community members following an event with funds reaching households within days of a catastrophe.

Sarah Dewitt: And cyber we developed a global personal micro insurance solution.

Sarah Dewitt: To protect against threats like online identity theft viruses, cyber bullying and failure to deliver purchase goods.

Sarah Dewitt: With regard to sustainability, we are supporting the Dubai energy and water authorities commitment to provide 100% of its energy from clean sources by 2050.

Sarah Dewitt: As part of this work we conducted a client a climate resilience assessment of one of the world's largest solar parks.

Sarah Dewitt: We modeled the site's ability to withstand future climate conditions and proposed adaptation measures to mitigate extreme risks.

Sarah Dewitt: We continue to improve sustainability in our own operations as well for example in 2023, we expanded the use of renewable electricity across our U S offices and in our largest UK locations.

Sarah Dewitt: We submitted our climate targets for validation as part of our goal to achieve net zero globally by 2050.

Sarah Dewitt: We remain committed to generating exceptional financial performance and returns for shareholders and we also recognize that the successful outcomes, we help enable for our clients and our own actions can have a lasting positive effect on communities around the world.

John Quinlan Doyle: This product is already helping clients across multiple sectors, including in the banking, manufacturing, aviation, and defense industries. As we noted last quarter, Marsh, Oliver Wyman, and Guy Carpenter developed the Unity Facility, a public-private insurance solution that enables grain shipments from Ukrainian ports.

Sarah Dewitt: Shifting to the macro picture, we see significant opportunity to get helps clients navigate the range of outcomes driven by a more complex environment.

Sarah Dewitt: The geopolitical backdrop remains unsettled with multiple major wars and rising tensions globally.

Sarah Dewitt: More than half the world's population will go to elections in 2024.

And the economic outlook remains uncertain as well.

Sarah Dewitt: Despite this uncertainty the environment is supportive of growth in our business in general we see continued economic growth in most of our major markets.

Inflation and interest rates remain elevated.

John Quinlan Doyle: In the first quarter, we worked with the Ukrainian government, DZ Bank, Lloyd's, and others to expand the facility to all ships carrying non-military cargo. This will help support Ukraine's economic resilience in a time of war. In the healthcare sector, Marsh & Mercer are working together to help clients evaluate connections between talent retention, patient safety, and the cost of malpractice insurance. Marsh's risk assessment capabilities and Mercer's extensive health and human capital expertise, combined with our rich data sets, are creating new, highly valued perspectives in the health care sector.

Sarah Dewitt: Labor markets are tight.

Sarah Dewitt: The cost of risk is up and healthcare costs continue to rise.

Sarah Dewitt: We have a strong record of performance across economic cycles due to the resilience of our business and demand for our advice and solutions.

Sarah Dewitt: Turning to insurance and reinsurance market conditions primary insurance rates increased with the Marsh global insurance market index up 1% overall in the quarter.

Sarah Dewitt: Property rates increased 3% versus 6% in the fourth quarter.

Sarah Dewitt: Casualty was up 3% in line with last quarter workers.

Sarah Dewitt: Workers compensation decreased mid single digits.

Sarah Dewitt: While financial and professional liability rates were down 7%.

Sarah Dewitt: And cyber pricing decreased 6%.

Sarah Dewitt: Reinsurance market conditions remain stable.

Sarah Dewitt: With increased client demand and adequate capacity.

Sarah Dewitt: In the April renewal period U S property cat reinsurance rates were flat with some decreases for accounts without losses.

Sarah Dewitt: Loss impacted accounts averaged increases in the 10% to 20% range.

Sarah Dewitt: The U S casualty reinsurance market was challenging but rates were in line with January renewals.

John Quinlan Doyle: These are just a few examples of how we're applying our unique expertise to address pressing challenges and deliver significant value to clients. Recently, we released our annual ESG report. The report includes enhanced disclosure on our ESG efforts and underscores how the actions we're taking on behalf of our clients also have a positive impact on the communities where we live and work.

Sarah Dewitt: In January April one property cat rates overall were down slightly on a risk adjusted basis.

Sarah Dewitt: Early signs for June one, Florida cat risk renewals point to improved market conditions for seasons.

Sarah Dewitt: Increased reinsurance appetite for growth should be adequate to meet higher demand.

Sarah Dewitt: As always we are helping our clients navigate these dynamic market conditions.

Sarah Dewitt: Now, let me turn briefly to our first quarter financial performance, which Mark will cover in detail.

Sarah Dewitt: We generated adjusted EPS of $2, 89, which is up 14% versus a year ago.

Sarah Dewitt: Revenue grew 9% on an underlying basis with 9% growth in both RIS and in consulting.

Sarah Dewitt: <unk> was up 8%.

Sarah Dewitt: Guy Carpenter grew 8% Mercer, 6% at Oliver Wyman was up 13%.

Sarah Dewitt: Overall in the first quarter, we had adjusted operating income growth of 11% and our adjusted operating margin expanded 80 basis points year over year.

Sarah Dewitt: Turning to our outlook, we are very well positioned for another good year in 2024.

John Quinlan Doyle: We collaborated with the Center for NYC Neighborhoods to launch a community-based catastrophe insurance program. This parametric insurance program helps finance emergency grants to community members following an event with funds reaching households within days of a catastrophe. In cyber, we developed a global personal micro-insurance solution to protect against threats like online identity theft, viruses, cyberbullying, and failure to deliver purchased goods.

We continue to expect mid single digit or better underlying revenue growth another year of margin expansion and strong growth in adjusted EPS.

Sarah Dewitt: Our outlook assumes current macro conditions persist however, meaningful uncertainty remains in the economic backdrop can be materially different than our assumptions.

Sarah Dewitt: In summary, the first quarter was a great start to the year for Marsh Mclennan our.

Sarah Dewitt: Our business delivered strong performance and we continued to execute well on our strategic initiatives I am proud of the focus and determination of our colleagues and the value they deliver to our clients and shareholders.

Sarah Dewitt: With that let me turn it over to Mark for a more detailed review of our results.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Thank you John and good morning.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our first quarter results were outstanding and represent an excellent start to the year.

Mark Christopher McGivney: We saw continued momentum in underlying growth strong margin expansion and double digit growth in adjusted EPS.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our consolidated revenue increased 9% first quarter to $6 5 billion underlying growth of 9%.

John Quinlan Doyle: With regard to sustainability, we are supporting the Dubai Energy and Water Authority's commitment to provide 100% of its energy from clean sources by 2050. As part of this work, we conducted a climate resilience assessment of one of the world's largest solar parks. We modeled the site's ability to withstand future climate conditions and proposed adaptation measures to mitigate extreme risk. We continue to improve sustainability in our own operations as well. For example, in 2023, we expanded the use of renewable electricity across our U.S. offices and in our largest U.K. location, and we submitted our climate targets for validation as part of our goal to achieve net zero globally by 2050.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Operating income was $1 9 billion and.

Mark Christopher McGivney: And adjusted operating income increased 11% to $2 billion.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our adjusted operating margin increased 80 basis points to 32% and we expect higher margin expansion for the rest of the year, particularly in the second half.

Mark Christopher McGivney: GAAP EPS was $2 82.

Mark Christopher McGivney: And adjusted EPS was $2 89 up 14.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Last year.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Okay.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Looking at risk and insurance services first quarter revenue was $4 3 billion up 9% compared with a year ago on both a reported and underlying basis.

Mark Christopher McGivney: This result marks the 12th consecutive quarter of 8% or higher underlying growth in RIS. It continues the best stretch of growth in two decades.

Mark Christopher McGivney: RIS operating income was $1 6 billion in the first quarter. Adjusted operating income was also $1 6 billion up 11% over last year and our adjusted operating margin expanded 50 basis points to 39, 1%.

Mark Christopher McGivney: At Marsh revenue in the quarter increased 9% to $3 billion or 8% on an underlying basis.

Mark Christopher McGivney: This comes on top of 9% growth in the first quarter of last year.

Mark Christopher McGivney: In U S and Canada underlying growth was 8% for the quarter, reflecting solid renewal and new business growth.

In international underlying growth was strong at 8% and comes on top of 10% in the first quarter last year.

Mark Christopher McGivney: EMEA was up 9% Latin America grew 8% and Asia Pacific was up 6%.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Guy Carpenter's revenue was $1 1 billion up 7% or 8% on an underlying basis driven by growth across most regions and global specialties.

John Quinlan Doyle: We remain committed to generating exceptional financial performance and returns for shareholders. And we also recognize that the successful outcomes we help enable for our clients and our own actions can have a lasting positive effect on communities around the world. Shifting to the macro picture, we see significant opportunity that helps clients navigate the range of outcomes driven by a more complex environment. The geopolitical backdrop remains unsettled, with multiple major wars and rising tensions globally. More than half the world's population will go to the polls in 2024.

Mark Christopher McGivney: This was the fifth straight quarter of 8% or higher underlying growth at Guy Carpenter.

Mark Christopher McGivney: In the consulting segment first quarter revenue was $2 2 billion up 9% on an underlying basis.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Consulting operating income was $432 million and adjusted operating income was $444 million up 9%.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our adjusted operating margin in consulting was 27% in the first quarter, an increase of 40 basis points.

Mark Christopher McGivney: <unk> revenue was $1 4 billion in the quarter up 6% on an underlying basis.

Mark Christopher McGivney: This was mercury's 12th straight quarter of 5% or higher underlying growth and continues the best run of growth in 15 years.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Health underlying growth was 10% and reflected strong momentum across all regions.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Wealth grew 5% driven by growth in both investment management NPV consult.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our assets under management were 489 billion at the end of the first quarter up 17% sequentially and up 38% compared to the first quarter of last year.

John Quinlan Doyle: And the economic outlook remains uncertain as well. Despite this uncertainty, the environment is supportive of growth in our business. In general, we see continued economic growth in most of our major markets. However, inflation and interest rates remain elevated.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Year over year growth was driven by our transactions with Westpac and vanguard rebound in capital markets and positive net flows.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Career revenue increased 1%, reflecting a tough comparison to a period of strong growth last year as well as softness in the U S.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Oliver Wyman revenue in the first quarter was $789 million up 13% on an underlying basis from the slow start we had in the first quarter of last year and reflected strength across all regions.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Foreign exchange had very little impact on earnings in the first quarter.

John Quinlan Doyle: Labor markets are tight. The cost of risk is up, and health care costs continue to rise. However, we have a strong record of performance across economic cycles due to the resilience of our business and demand for our advice and solutions. Turning to insurance and reinsurance market conditions, primary insurance rates increased, with the Marsh Global Insurance Market Index up 1% overall in the quarter.

Assuming exchange rates remain at current levels, we expect FX to be a <unk> headwind in the second quarter and a further <unk> <unk> headwind in the second half.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Total noteworthy items in the quarter were $49 million. The majority of these items were restructuring costs, mostly related to the program. We began in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our other net benefit credit was $67 million in the quarter for the full year, we expect our other net benefit credit will be approximately $265 million.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Interest expense in the first quarter was $159 million up from $136 million in the first quarter of 2023, reflecting higher levels of debt and higher interest rates.

Based on our current forecast, we expect $158 million of interest expense in the second quarter and approximately $620 million for the full year.

John Quinlan Doyle: Property rates increased 3% versus 6% in the fourth quarter. Casualty was up 3% in line with last year. Workers' compensation decreased mid-single digits.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our adjusted effective tax rate in the first quarter was 23, 9% compared with 25% in the first quarter of last year.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our tax rate benefited from favorable discrete items, the largest of which was the accounting for share based compensation similar to a year ago.

John Quinlan Doyle: While financial and professional liability rates were down 7%, and cyber pricing decreased 6%, reinsurance market conditions remain stable, with increased client demand and adequate capacity. In the April renewal period, U.S. property CAT reinsurance rates were flat, with some decreases for accounts without losses.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Excluding discrete items, our adjusted effective tax rate was approximately 26, 5%.

Mark Christopher McGivney: When we give forward guidance around our tax rate, we do not project discrete items, which can be positive or negative.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Based on the current environment, we continue to expect an adjusted effective tax rate of between 25, five and 26, 5% for 2024.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Turning to capital management, our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with total debt of $13 5 billion.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our next scheduled debt maturity is in the second quarter was $600 million of senior notes mature.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our cash position at the end of the first quarter was $1 5 billion.

John Quinlan Doyle: Loss-impacted accounts averaged increases in the 10-20% range. The U.S. casualty reinsurance market was challenging, but rates were in line with January renewal. On January 1, April 1, property cat rates overall were down slightly on a risk-adjusted basis.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Uses of cash in the quarter totaled 1 billion and included 354 million for dividends $347 million for acquisitions and 300 million for share repurchases.

Mark Christopher McGivney: We continue to expect to deploy approximately $4 5 billion of capital in 2024 across dividends acquisitions and share repurchases.

Mark Christopher McGivney: The ultimate level of share repurchase will depend on our M&A pipeline develops.

Mark Christopher McGivney: While there continues to be uncertainty in the outlook for the global economy, we feel good about the momentum in our business in the current environment remains supportive of growth.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Overall, our strong start leaves us well positioned for another good year in 2024 based on our outlook today for the full year. We continue to expect mid single digit or better underlying growth margin expansion and strong growth in adjusted EPS with that I'm happy to turn it back to John.

John Quinlan Doyle: Early signs for June 1 Florida Cat Risk Renewals point to improved market conditions for seed, and increased reinsurance appetite for growth should be adequate to meet higher demand. As always, we are helping our clients navigate these dynamic market conditions. Now let me turn briefly to our first quarter financial performance, which Mark will cover in detail. We generated adjusted EPS of $2.89, which is up 14% versus a year ago. Revenue grew 9% on an underlying basis, with 9% growth in both RIS and in consulting. Marsh was up 8%. Guy Carpenter grew 8%, Mercer 6%, and Oliver Wyman was up 13%.

John Quinlan Doyle: Thank you Mark Andrew we are ready to begin Q&A.

John Quinlan Doyle: Certainly we will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Please press star one one on your Touchtone phone.

John Quinlan Doyle: And wished to be removed from the queue. Please press star one one again, if youre using a speakerphone you may need to pick up the handset before pressing the numbers. Once again, if you have a question. Please press star one one on your Touchtone phone.

John Quinlan Doyle: In the interest of addressing questions from as many participants as possible, we ask that participants limit themselves to one question and one follow up question.

John Quinlan Doyle: Moment, please for our first question.

John Quinlan Doyle: Okay.

John Quinlan Doyle: And our first question comes from the line of David <unk> with Evercore ISI.

David: Hi, Thanks, good morning.

David: My first question is just on the Marsh growth.

David: Yes.

David: John I call, what you said on the global pricing index, which move down or decelerated a little bit.

David: <unk> to 1% from 2% last quarter.

David: But the March organic growth accelerated to 8%.

Speaker Change: This quarter from 6% last quarter. So I'm, hoping you can help me bridge the gap between accelerating growth and the decelerating pricing.

John Quinlan Doyle: Overall, in the first quarter, we had adjusted operating income growth of 11%, and our adjusted operating margin expanded 80 basis points year over year. Turning to our outlook, we are very well positioned for another good year in 2024. We continue to expect mid-single-digit or better underlying revenue growth, another year of margin expansion, and strong growth in adjusted EPS. Our outlook assumes current macro conditions persist, however, meaningful uncertainty remains, and the economic backdrop could be materially different than our assumptions.

John Quinlan Doyle: Thanks, David for the question and good morning.

Speaker Change: We worked very hard not to be an index.

Speaker Change: DNC pricing great. It's an element, it's a macro factor that obviously does have some impact but less.

Speaker Change: Less than half of Marsh's revenue is exposed to to P&C pricing what I would also say to you is that.

Speaker Change: Where we're most exposed to commission is in the middle market are index skews to larger account data.

Speaker Change: Pricing is up a bit more in the middle market than it is in the large account segment.

Speaker Change: Typically is less cyclical than what you see in the large account market.

Speaker Change: But.

Speaker Change: Yes.

Speaker Change: Just talk about growth overall is very pleased with the start to the year, 9% on top of 9% last year and accelerated growth from the fourth quarter of 7% as I mentioned Marsh Mercer and Oliver Wyman at all had accelerated growth from the fourth quarter. The macros continue to be supportive David.

Speaker Change: Solid GDP growth in most major markets, although it's under a bit of pressure inflation and interest rates remain elevated as tight labor markets as I said before a rising healthcare cost. The overall cost of risk continues to increase and demand remains very strong.

Speaker Change: Not not long out of the pandemic of course, we've got a couple of global Wars.

John Quinlan Doyle: In summary, the first quarter was a great start to the year for Marsh & McLennan. Our business delivered strong performance, and we continue to execute well on our strategic initiatives. I'm proud of the focus and determination of our colleagues and the value they deliver to our clients and shareholders. With that, I'll turn it over to Mark for a more detailed review of our results. Thank you, John, and good morning.

Speaker Change: Happening.

Speaker Change: Apply chain stress, our clients are showing broader risk awareness, we're talking to them about that and really trying to help them find better balanced between resilience and efficiency.

Speaker Change: And we continue to invest through this cycle talked.

Speaker Change: <unk> talked about a couple of the acquisitions we did.

Speaker Change: We're improving our mix of business as well.

We sold some admin businesses at Mercer in the quarter and I'm very very pleased with how our colleagues are executing to.

Speaker Change: <unk> been working on our client engagement model and improving that continue to invest in sales operations.

Speaker Change: And as I've talked about over the course of the last year, we're collaborating more than ever it starts with the talent that we have we have the best talent in the markets that we operate in we're of course not immune to the macros, including pricing on some level, but we're we're a resilient business and we're quite excited about 2024.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Our first quarter results were outstanding and represent an excellent start to the year. We saw continued momentum and underlying growth, strong margin expansion, double-digit growth, and adjusted EPS. Our consolidated revenue increased 9% in the first quarter to $6.5 billion, with an underlying growth of 9%. Operating income was $1.9 billion.

Speaker Change: Do you do you have a follow up.

Speaker Change: Thank you and thanks, Thanks for that answer that's helpful.

Speaker Change: I guess, just specifically zeroing in on the U S and Canada within Marsh that had a nice acceleration.

Speaker Change: In the quarter.

Speaker Change: Could you talk about the drivers specifically for that business wasn't middle market was it.

Speaker Change: Capital markets activity coming back and sort of your outlook on the sustainability further recovery in growth there sure.

Speaker Change: Sure sure, Yes marsh in the U S got off to a terrific start USA and Canada, I would point out and Martin maybe you could give David a little bit more color. Yes. It wasn't just the U S and Canada. It was great balanced growth across the business, but I'll take it into the U S. A little bit and give you some color on some of the drivers of growth there and it's really been a product of a lot of work in that.

Mark Christopher McGivney: An adjusted operating income increased 11% to $2 billion. Our adjusted operating margin increased 80 basis points to 32%, and we expect higher margin expansion for the rest of the year, particularly in the second half. Gap EPS was $2.82, and Adjusted EPS was $2.89, up 14% over last year. Looking at risk and insurance services, first quarter revenue was $4.3 billion, up 9% compared with a year ago, on both a reported and underlying basis.

Speaker Change: Last few years to get where we answer.

Speaker Change: The overall growth of 8% our businesses mid market business MMA had a terrific start to the year.

Speaker Change: Growth in that business is driven both by renewal and fantastic New business Victor.

Speaker Change: Victor.

Speaker Change: MGA business rebounded.

Speaker Change: A great performance very strong performance in Canada.

Speaker Change: They had a tough year last year it bounce back.

Speaker Change: And the core business in the U S grew nicely. So very good that the drivers really particularly in the specialty areas construction was very strong in the first quarter.

Speaker Change: MMP business was strong our advisory business in the U S was very strong as part of the risk adviser of the future to the tip of the spear. It makes our relationship much stickier.

Mark Christopher McGivney: This result marks the 12th consecutive quarter of 8% or higher underlined growth in RIS and continues the best stretch of growth in two decades. RIS operating income was $1.6 billion in the first quarter. The adjusted operating income was also $1.6 billion, up 11% over last year.

Speaker Change: So our renewal growth was good and our loss business rate was down so we feel very good about all the areas that we've been focusing on that client relationship specialization industry focus advisory all these things that the drivers for growth. So we feel we feel very good about things.

Speaker Change: Martin David I would add.

Speaker Change: <unk>.

Speaker Change: Bang out quarter in terms of M&A activity.

Speaker Change: In our transaction risk business, but it's a smaller part of our.

Speaker Change: A smaller part of our business now.

A little feedback there and it's a smaller part of our business. After the slowdown so the impact was less but but we did see some volume and M&A activity pick up during the quarter, which of course is.

Mark Christopher McGivney: And our adjusted operating margin expanded 50 basis points to 39.1%. At Marsh, revenue in the quarter increased 9% to $3 billion, or 8% on an underlying basis, coming on top of 9% growth in the first quarter of last year. In the US and Canada, underlying growth was 8% for the quarter, reflecting solid renewal and new business growth. In international, underlying growth was strong at 8% and comes on top of 10% in the first quarter last year.

Speaker Change: Is encouraging so thank you for your questions. Andrew next question. Please.

Speaker Change: Certainly our next question comes from the line of Jimmy <unk> with Jpmorgan.

Jimmy: Hey, good morning.

Jimmy: Was wondering if you could just elaborate on the comment John.

Jimmy: John has had on <unk>.

Jimmy: The reinsurance market and it seems like things the market is less tight than it was over the past year, but what are you seeing in terms of buyer behavior.

Jimmy: Cedent trying to buy more given that pricing come in a little bit or are they trying to save money and keep sort of coverage levels consistent with what they've had the past year.

Speaker Change: Sure Jimmy Thanks for the question, maybe I'll elaborate a little bit on some of my prepared remarks, and then ask Dean to talk a bit about the about the reinsurance market, but I think both markets continue to stabilize on average in the quarter and again I would remind everyone. It's a collection of markets not a single market.

Mark Christopher McGivney: EMEA was up 9%, Latin America grew 8%, and Asia Pacific was up 6%. Guy Carpenter's revenue was $1.1 billion, up 7% or 8% on an underlying basis, driven by growth across most regions and global special... This was the fifth straight quarter of 8% or higher underlying growth at Guy Carpenter. In the consulting segment, first quarter revenue was $2.2 billion, up 9% on an underlying basis.

Speaker Change: That stabilization is good for our clients and in some cases, a better market has led to increased demand in both insurance and reinsurance.

Dean: I'd also point out that in recent years, we've had higher premium growth and the captives that we manage at March compared to the premium flow into into the traditional market that may change a bit now we'll see.

Speaker Change: Yes.

Speaker Change: As markets stabilize and our our clients can adjust to what the market looks like going forward I mentioned earlier, our index skews to major accounts, so pricing in the middle market.

Speaker Change: <unk> continues.

Speaker Change: <unk> continues to move up a bit more than than the data points I mentioned earlier, but.

Speaker Change: I would also.

Say that insurers and reinsurers are cautious about that rising cost of risk environment that I mentioned as well and so while it's David again, a stabilizing market is better for our clients overall.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Consulting Operating Income was $432 million, and Adjusted Operating Income was $444 million, up 9%. Our adjusted operating margin in consulting was 20.7% in the first quarter, an increase of 40 basis points. Mercer's revenue was $1.4 billion in the quarter, up 6% on an underlying basis.

Speaker Change: I don't expect.

Speaker Change: Specced.

Speaker Change: That relative stability to change anytime soon given some of the rising cost of risk issues.

Speaker Change: The insurance community is confronting so dean maybe you can talk a little bit more about what's happening in reinsurance, yes, thanks, John and Jimmy I'll give you a little bit more color on the April one reinsurance renewal that would be helpful.

Dean: John noted we saw continuation of market conditions that we experienced at January one.

Speaker Change: As John noted market conditions are stable, but we're definitely seeing increased client demand.

Dean: Additional property cat limit, particularly at the top end of programs that was very pronounced throughout the first quarter at one one through the quarter and certainly that trend continued on April one.

Mark Christopher McGivney: This was Mercer's 12th straight quarter of 5% or higher underlying growth and continues the best run of growth in 15 years. Health underlying growth was 10% and reflected strong momentum across all regions. WealthGroove underlying growth was 5% driven by growth in both investment management and DV consulting. Our assets under management were $489 billion at the end of the first quarter, up 17% sequentially and up 38% compared to the first quarter

Dean: Strong capital inflows into the reinsurance market driven by strong reinsurer returns double digit returns in 2023, we talked about last that last quarter on the call.

Dean: Reinsure appetite has increased for property cat.

Dean: An inflow of capital and capacity.

Dean: Competition at the top end of programs, it's been good for both buyers and sellers.

Dean: The marketplace, specifically to property cat in the U S at April one.

Speaker Change: As I said.

Speaker Change: Capacity was strong as John noted the market was generally flat to down incrementally for clients without cat losses.

Speaker Change: Accounts with cat losses saw 10% to 20% kind of rate increases, but keep in mind, we give you right adjusted figures, but when you factor in inflation exposure growth value growth premiums on these cat programs are still increasing year over year. It continues.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Year over year growth was driven by our transactions with Westpac and Vanguard, rebounding capital markets, and positive net flows. Career revenue increased 1%, reflecting a tough comparison to a period of strong growth last year as well as softness in the U.S. Oliver Wyman's revenue in the first quarter was $789 million, up 13% on an underlying basis from the slow start we had in the first quarter of last year and reflected strength across all regions. Foreign exchange had a very little impact on earnings in the first quarter.

Speaker Change: To be a tailwind for guy Carpenter in the marketplace.

Speaker Change: And as I said, there's a lot of competition for cat business.

Speaker Change: U S casualty as John noted was challenging just as challenging on April one as it was at the January one renewal.

Speaker Change: Reinsurers are exerting pressure on pricing and terms and conditions.

Speaker Change: Ceding commissions are facing downward pressure from reinsurers on certain quota share contracts, particularly financial lines, which Martin has talked about in the past.

Speaker Change: Excess of loss contracts are seeing rate increases across the board in some cases double digit.

Speaker Change: However, there was adequate casualty capacity in the marketplace at April one and all of the programs that we placed got completed in fall.

Speaker Change: But I would balance that against continued reinsurer concern with adverse development, driven by social inflation and increasing loss cost trends.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Assuming exchange rates remain at current levels, we expect FX to be a 2 cent headwind in the second quarter and a further 1 cent headwind in the second half. Total noteworthy items in the quarter were $49 million. The majority of these items were restructuring costs, mostly related to the program we began in the fourth quarter of 2022. Our Other Net Benefit Credit was $67 million in the quarter. For the full year, we expect our Other Net Benefit Credit will be approximately $265 million. Interest expense in the first quarter was $159 million, up from $136 million in the first quarter of 2023, reflecting higher levels of debt and higher interest rates.

Speaker Change: I think thats a good summary of where we were in the U S market.

Speaker Change: Just a note on Japan.

Speaker Change: Big April one cap date in Japan, a very orderly market.

Speaker Change: Sufficient capacity mini cat programs were oversubscribed, we didn't observe any structural tank changes attachment point stayed where they were from a year ago.

Speaker Change: And again it was a market that was down on average 5% from a rating perspective.

Speaker Change: And we didn't really observe any rate impact from the January earthquake in Japan overall, a very orderly market at April one in Japan.

Speaker Change: <unk>. Thank you.

Speaker Change: Jimmy do you have a follow up.

Jimmy: That's an income it was flat sequentially and lower than CQ I'm, assuming that's more seasonality, but if you could just talk about your expectation for that given.

Jimmy: Short term rates are currently.

Jimmy: Mark you want to jump on that one Jimmy.

Jimmy: There is a little seeds as you pointed out there is a little tends to be a little seasonality in our fiduciary balances.

Mark: In Q1, and Q4 tend to be seasonal lows modestly.

Mark: So that that would explain that in terms of outlook.

Mark: We'll see what happens to the rate environment.

Mark: Interest fiduciary interest income is going to be a function of balances and rates.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Based on our current forecast, we expect $158 million of interest expense in the second quarter and approximately $620 million for the full year. Our adjusted effective tax rate in the first quarter was 23.9% compared with 25% in the first quarter of last year. Our tax rate benefited from favorable discrete items, the largest of which was the accounting for share-based compensation, similar to a year ago. Excluding discrete items, our adjusted effective tax rate was approximately 26.5%.

Mark: We've got about $11 5 billion of balances so depending on what you want to assume for the trajectory of rates the math is pretty pretty straightforward.

Speaker Change: Thank you Mark and thank you Jimmy Andrew next question. Please.

Speaker Change: And our next question comes from the line of Elyse Greenspan with Wells Fargo.

Elyse Beth Greenspan: Thanks. Good morning. My first question was on the margin guidance you guys said more margin expansion in the back half of the year.

Elyse Beth Greenspan: What's driving that is there just more investment in the first half more savings falling in the second half or something else. That's.

Elyse Beth Greenspan: Driving the seasonality within the margin expansion this year.

Speaker Change: Good morning Elyse.

Speaker Change: We expect again good margin expansion in 2024, and as you pointed out and Mark noted, we expect the second half to be better than the first half we have some expected headwinds not really seasonality but.

Mark Christopher McGivney: When we give forward guidance around our tax rate, we do not project discrete items which can be positive or negative. Based on the current environment, we continue to expect an adjusted effective tax rate of between 25.5 and 26.5% for 2020. Earnings Capital Management or Balance. At the end of the quarter, with total debt $13.5 billion. Our next scheduled debt maturity is in the second quarter when 600 million senior notes mature. Our cash position at the end of the first quarter was $1.5 billion. Uses of cash in the quarter totaled $1 billion and included $354 million for dividends, $347 million for acquisitions, and $300 million for share repurchase.

Speaker Change: But really driven from a higher merit pool, a year ago, some acquisition related costs and some higher reimbursable expenses, but.

Speaker Change: I want to remind everybody.

Speaker Change: Not to focus on any one particular quarter again margins the outcome of really.

Speaker Change: Really how we run the business.

Speaker Change: It's not a primary objective of ours again, having said that we see opportunity for margin improvement continued margin improvement, but we're going to continue to make attractive investments to support the medium to long term growth of the business we.

Speaker Change: Have.

Speaker Change: A number of different efforts underway.

Ongoing workflow and automation efforts at Marsh Mercer and Guy Carpenter.

And we continue to press for opportunities to improve efficiency at the intersections of our of our businesses as well. So so we see opportunity.

Speaker Change: And as we pointed out we expect the second half to be better than the first.

Speaker Change: Do you have a follow up.

Speaker Change: Thanks, and then my second question on <unk>.

Speaker Change: <unk> recently launched its wholesale venture Victor access I know, it's early days, but what was the impetus for this strategy and is there any reason why the majority of the wholesale risk currently placed by Marsh with third party wholesalers could it potentially be internalized to Victor overtime.

Speaker Change: So let me be clear at least we're not looking to build a third party wholesale business.

Speaker Change: Theres, obviously been considerable growth in the in the wholesaler to the E&S market.

Mark Christopher McGivney: We continue to expect to deploy approximately $4.5 billion of capital in 2024 across dividends, acquisitions, and share repurchase. The ultimate level of share repurchase will depend on how our M&A pipeline develops. While there continues to be uncertainty in the outlook for the global economy, we feel good about the momentum in our business, and the current environment remains supportive of growth. Overall, our strong start leaves us well-positioned for another good year in 2024. Based on our outlook today, for the full year, we continue to expect mid-single-digit or better underlying growth, margin expansion, and strong growth in adjusted EPS. With that, I'm happy to turn it back.

Speaker Change: Over the course of the last several years.

Speaker Change: We want to bring the best solutions in the marketplace to our clients generally we're preferring admitted solutions for our clients not that there arent good things that happened in the E&S market of course, there are in innovation is one of the areas where the E&S market.

Speaker Change: Is important but we want to access as much of that E&S market directly we actually access.

Speaker Change: Most of our E&S market solutions directly today.

Speaker Change: But we want to continue to press on and make sure that we can access as much of that market directly. So it's client driven and it's about us managing the client outcomes client experience is really as directly as possible.

Speaker Change: <unk> said that we'll continue to use wholesalers for niche expertise.

Speaker Change: They serve us very well and our clients very well.

Speaker Change: Those cases, they also have strong program businesses as well so.

Speaker Change: So anyway.

Speaker Change: That's what it's about it's just again, making sure we can directly access as much capital directly as possible for our clients.

Speaker Change: Okay.

Speaker Change: Thank you for that Andrew next question.

Speaker Change: Our next question comes from the line of Greg Peters with Raymond James.

Greg Peters: Good morning, everyone.

Greg Peters: I'd like to pivot to the first question pivot to the consulting business, which had a nice quarter.

Greg Peters: I'm wondering if you can provide some additional color around how the different pieces are moving I know some of the management consultancy pre announced that theyre going to be cutting staff. This year.

Greg Peters: Not really seeing any signs of weakness in your pipeline, but maybe you could give us some color because forecasting itself seems to be a little bit of black box.

John Quinlan Doyle: Thank you, Mark. Andrew, we are ready to begin Q&A. [inaudible] We will now begin the question and answer session. Question. Press star 1 1 on your touch tone phone.

Speaker Change: Okay. Thanks, Greg Yes, we are.

Speaker Change: Very pleased to the start to the year.

Speaker Change: Recall of course, Oliver Wyman had a slow start to the year in 2023.

Speaker Change: A nice year overall growth.

Speaker Change: It's going to be a bit more volatility to revenue growth at Oliver Wyman, but we also expect better growth on average from Oliver Wyman over the over the medium to longer term, Nick maybe you can share with Greg some some color on.

Operator: [inaudible] Start 1-1 again. Using a speakerphone, you may need to pick up the handset before pressing the number. Again, if you have a question... Press 11 on your touch-tone phone. Transcripts provided by Transcription Outsourcing, LLC. And one follow-up question. One moment. The first question comes from the line of David Motemaden. Hi, thanks. Good morning.

Nicholas Mark Studer: On the demand in the in the first quarter.

Nicholas Mark Studer: Thank you John and thank you Greg.

Nicholas Mark Studer: Yes, 13% is a very pleasing thought for the year. It makes a marvelous headline.

Nicholas Mark Studer: I'm very very proud of our goods thoughts on what as you noted is a tough environment for many in our profession.

Nicholas Mark Studer: <unk> already given the caution about taking the two year view.

Speaker Change: So property benefited from a few little timing benefits or things that might have shown up in Q2 my understanding.

Speaker Change: Q1.

Speaker Change: And we still very much give guidance for the through the cycle. This would be a mid to high single digit business.

And you noted the sort of forecast thing it out is a tricky challenge that is true because we have a relatively short backlog the nature of our work is such that when clients need assistance they need it quickly.

Speaker Change: And so we are always ready to move very very nimbly gives you a little bit more color.

Speaker Change: We grew pretty strongly across all the full reasons of our management consulting business and our economic research business narrow also grew very strongly.

John Quinlan Doyle: My first question is just on the marsh growth. You know, Jon, I caught what you said on the global pricing index, which moved down or decelerated a little bit to 1% from 2% last quarter. But the marsh organic growth accelerated to 8% this quarter from 6% last quarter, so I'm hoping you can help me bridge the gap between accelerating growth and decelerating growth. Thanks, David, for the question, and good morning.

Speaker Change: <unk> in the middle East, but in the double digits, we're very close to double digits in all three of the other major regions we have.

Speaker Change: And.

Speaker Change: Secondarily it was also fairly broadly spread.

Speaker Change: Communications media and technology team grew well healthcare grew well banking.

Speaker Change: Seeing a rebound in private capital work.

Speaker Change: As I've noted on previous calls has been pretty robust even in the face of obviously.

Speaker Change: Much lower deal market.

Speaker Change: Our work on portfolio company performance.

Speaker Change: It has helped us.

Speaker Change: And insurance also growing quite broad vehicles, but capabilities that we bring to bear as well. So we think we're in a good position.

Speaker Change: We're very confident we gained share over the last few years.

Speaker Change: But it is tough consulting environment.

Speaker Change: <unk> indicates that that mid to high single digit growth environment growth forecast is how we think about this business through the cycle.

Speaker Change: Yes.

Speaker Change: Thank you Nick.

John Quinlan Doyle: You know, we work very hard not to be an index on P&C pricing, right? It's an element, it's a macro factor that, you know, obviously does have some impact, but less than half of Marsh's revenue is exposed to P&C pricing. What I would also say to you is that where we're most exposed to commission is in the middle market. Our index skews to, you know, larger account data.

Speaker Change: Thats very helpful.

Greg maybe I'll ask Pat Tomlinson also to share.

Pat Tomlinson: Sure some thoughts just on the first quarter at Mercer, given our consulting operations, there and Pat while you have the floor as I mentioned, obviously youre joining this call for the first time, maybe you could talk a bit about your priorities at Mercer.

Pat: Sure. Thanks, John.

Pat Tomlinson: We are pleased with our Q1 2024 underlying growth as Mitch mentioned earlier of 6%. It was our 12 consecutive quarter with 5% or more growth.

Pat: Especially the breadth across the practices health another impressive quarter with 10% growth in Q1 that growth was.

Pat: As with double digit growth nearly across all regions and it comes on the back of investments in hiring new talent focus on thought leadership.

John Quinlan Doyle: Pricing is up a bit more in the middle market than it is in the large account segment and typically is less cyclical than what you see in the large account market. But, you know, I want to just talk about growth overall. I was very pleased with the start to the year, you know, 9% on top of 9% last year and accelerated growth from the fourth quarter of 7%. As I mentioned, Marsh, Mercer, and Oliver Wyman all had accelerated growth from the fourth quarter. The macros continue to be supportive, David. You know, solid GDP growth in most major markets, although it's under a bit of pressure. Inflation and interest rates remain elevated.

Pat: And given the digital tools and really focusing in on client segmentation trying to match.

Pat: And health care needs based upon industry segment size.

Pat: The innovative and adaptive solutions that we have so really trying to meet clients, where they are we certainly benefited from strong retention, we had good renewal growth.

Pat: Insurer revenue and medical cost inflation is an impact there.

Pat: We see significant demand for digital solutions in the innovative benefits that are kind of underscoring the value that we're providing to clients.

Pat: The pivot over to wealth.

Pat: We grew 5% in Q1, there was good balanced equally strong performance in DD&A and IMS, we see DB plans funding status is continue to benefit from elevated interest rates.

Pat: That's driving an increase in risk transfer over the last couple of years as well as we have some regulatory requirements and demands that are creating some project work.

Pat: You're adding some capital some volatile capital markets.

Pat: Driving strong demand for both our actuarial and our investment solutions business speaking of investment solutions in Ohio, We.

Pat: We benefited from some transactions and Westpac and Vanguard Mark mentioned that earlier, but also good net new inflows and capital markets provided us.

Pat: Some revenue lift in Q1.

Pat: From a career perspective.

Pat: <unk> growth was muted to 1% for the quarter, but we're following a period of strong growth over the past several years.

John Quinlan Doyle: There are tight labor markets, and as I said before, rising healthcare costs. The overall cost of risk continues to increase.

Pat: Including a challenging 12% comparable last year.

Pat: The growth was strong in international is very broad across all practices and regions. We did see as was mentioned some softness and U S career, specifically in rewards in the transformation space as I would say clients are starting to navigate some of the macro conditions right. So let me highlight the career practices coming off that.

John Quinlan Doyle: And demand remains very strong. Not long out of the pandemic, of course, we've got, you know, a couple of global wars happening, supply chain stress, our clients are showing broader risk awareness, we're talking to them about that, and really trying to help them find a better balance between resilience and efficiency. And we continue to invest through this cycle, right? I talked about a couple of the acquisitions we did. We're improving our mix of business as well. We sold some admin businesses at Mercer during the quarter.

Pat: Very long period of high growth as I mentioned double digits.

Pat: For the past eight quarters.

Pat: Driven in large part I would say by inflation and employee attrition. If we all remember the great resignation back coming out of the pandemic, which drove a lot of labor shortages and.

Pat: And really created a lot of demand for projects with clients as they were trying to think about the rewards and had to pay people to keep them retained the skills that they might need if they had to pivot because they didn't have the right resources and also starting to think about transformation.

Pat: They were having less resources to work within their innovation and technology as we've all talked about AI.

Pat: In the past.

Pat: <unk> clients through those so certainly I think from that perspective, we feel.

Pat: We feel good that there's good breadth of our solutions and demand in the market as we go ahead and fill those needs.

John Quinlan Doyle: And I'm very, very pleased with how our colleagues are executing too. We've been working on our client engagement model and improving that, and we continue to invest in sales operations. And, as I've talked about over the course of the last year, we're collaborating more than ever. It starts with the talent that we have.

Pat: John quickly asked me to talk a little bit about how I think about the business and the priorities too.

Speaker Change: So obviously my first call on April one I got to step in and begin this opportunity.

Speaker Change: Our lifetime, leading Mercer and our 21000 colleagues from around the world.

Speaker Change: As we are focused on creating brighter futures for our clients and for their people I am extremely humbled and honored to be the CEO of this fantastic firm and personally I really want to think.

Speaker Change: Martin <unk> for a very smooth transition.

Speaker Change: For the growth momentum and culture that she helped to create here priority.

Speaker Change: Priority wise I wouldn't accelerate that momentum from.

Speaker Change: The impact that we're having to clients to the fantastic careers. We built for colleagues here the collaboration amongst our colleagues across Marsh Mclennan.

Speaker Change: We can leverage new technologies.

Speaker Change: And we performed really purpose driven work and can have a positive impact on our communities as well I think we're very well positioned.

John Quinlan Doyle: We have the best talent in the markets that we operate in. We're, of course, not immune to macros, including pricing on some level, but we're a resilient business, and we're quite excited about 2024. Do you have a follow-up? I do, and thanks for that answer.

Speaker Change: As we've been.

Speaker Change: Repositioning ourself over the last several years reshaping our portfolio Mark mentioned the divestitures, we've been divesting government practices, we've been building capabilities and reach and global benefits in Ohio, We've been accelerating acquisitions and were really just creating more value for clients at scale and that's what we've been focused in on so I'm very optimistic about our future.

Speaker Change: Thank you Pat we're excited to have you at this table, Greg do you have a follow up.

John Quinlan Doyle: That's helpful. I guess just specifically zeroing in on the US and Canada within March that had a nice acceleration, uh... in the quarter. Would you talk about the driver specifically for that business? Was it the middle market? Was it capital markets activity coming back? sort of your outlook on the sustainability of the recovery and growth there. Sure, sure. Yeah, Marsh in the U.S. got off to a terrific start in the U.S. and Canada, I would point out. And Martin, maybe you could give David a little bit more color.

Greg Peters: Thanks for the detail on that answer.

Greg Peters: I want to pivot to M&A.

Greg Peters: Specifically, Mark I think you mentioned.

Greg Peters: The interest expense outlook for the company and we know that.

Greg Peters: The higher interest rate cost debt thats being issued versus that which is being paid off so im curious if theres been any.

Greg Peters: Follow through on those higher costs in terms of valuation of transactions that youre looking at.

Greg Peters: And I'm also curious if theres any valuation difference between larger properties versus smaller properties that youre looking at in the M&A market. Thank you.

Speaker Change: Yes, Thanks, Greg.

Speaker Change: I would say is we remain quite active in the market there is.

A good we have a good strong pipeline as I've talked about in the past we have an excellent reputation.

Speaker Change: In that marketplace as being a good owner as well. So we're excited about the deals we did in the first quarter.

Martin C. South: Yeah, it wasn't just the U.S. and Canada. There was great balanced growth across the business. But I'll dig into the U.S. a little bit and give you some color on some of the drivers of growth there. And it's really been a product of a lot of work in the last few years to get where we are. So in the overall growth of 8%, our businesses, the mid-market business, MMA, had a terrific start to the year.

Speaker Change: And again, we're going to continue to remain active in the market I think valuations have remained stubbornly high I would say.

On the other side of things and.

Speaker Change: And while we might expect that for top quality assets I would also point out that some.

Speaker Change: Lesser quality assets have traded at.

Speaker Change: Some very very high multiples of late and so we're going to be picky, we're looking for.

Speaker Change: Well led businesses with <unk>.

Speaker Change: Strong growth fundamentals.

Speaker Change: That make us better.

Martin C. South: The growth in that business is driven both by renewal and fantastic new business. Victor, our MGA business rebounded, had a great performance, very strong performance in Canada. They had a tough year last year, but it bounced back. And the core business in the U.S. grew nicely. So, very good that the drive was really particularly in the specialty areas. Construction was very strong in the first quarter.

Speaker Change: And are a good cultural fit for our for our organization, we have been very successful at it.

And again as Mark pointed out we expect to continue to deploy capital in the market going forward.

Speaker Change: Okay.

Speaker Change: Thank you Greg Andrew next question. Please.

Speaker Change: And our next question comes from the line of Michael Rimsky with BMO capital markets.

Michael David Zaremski: Hey, great good morning.

Michael David Zaremski: Probably for Mark on the.

Michael David Zaremski: The margins in.

Michael David Zaremski: On the expense buckets.

Michael David Zaremski: Look over the last year.

Michael David Zaremski: <unk> plus.

Michael David Zaremski: Margin improvements come.

Michael David Zaremski: Much more so from the.

Michael David Zaremski: General and other bucket rather than comp in band.

Michael David Zaremski: It looks like.

Martin C. South: Our M&B business was strong, and our advisory business in the U.S. was very strong. It's part of the risk advisor of the future at the tip of the spear and makes our relationship much stickier. So our renewal growth was good, and our lost business rate was down. So we feel very good about all the areas that we've been focusing on client relationships, specialization, industry focus, and advisory. All of these things are the drivers for growth. So we feel very good about it. Thanks, Martin.

Michael David Zaremski: They flipped a little bit that relationship desk.

Michael David Zaremski: This quarter.

Michael David Zaremski: Correct.

Michael David Zaremski: <unk>.

Michael David Zaremski: Changing there given the expense management programs here just in terms of how we should think about where the margin improvements coming from on a go forward basis.

Speaker Change: Thanks, Mike Mark do you want to.

Mark: I think it is.

Mark: Great.

Mark: It's a great point that you're making and I think it reflects the.

Mark: The strategy of the company. We've said we've continually continually invest in positioning ourselves for the future and over the last several years, we've talked about the heavy investments we've made organically.

Mark: Talent and so I think we've done a terrific job.

Mark: <unk> really being thoughtful about all of our other operating expenses functional costs, how we're leveraging things across the firm <unk>, yes.

Mark: Really some of the gains we made in the pandemic, we've harvested them. So as you pointed out a lot of our margin expansion over the last five years has come from.

Mark: Being really disciplined on things far away from the client investing heavily and in client facing talent and so I think that is a factor in our growth and I think all.

John Quinlan Doyle: You know, David, I would add, you know, it wasn't a bang-out quarter, you know, in terms of M&A activity, you know, and in our transaction risk business, but it's a smaller part of our business now. A little feedback there. It's a smaller part of our business, you know, after the slowdown, so the impact was less, but we did see some volume in M&A activity pick up during the quarter, which is, of course, encouraging. So thank you for your questions.

Mark: Also as we look forward, there's going to be leveraging those investments.

Mark: Which is why we are optimistic about margins going forward.

Speaker Change: Thank you Mike.

Speaker Change: Do you have.

Mark Christopher McGivney: A quick follow up and I know you gave a lot of commentary on that.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Commercial primary insurance pricing power you tell us the Marsh index declined a bit just just curious if you can offer any more context, 1% kind of feels like a.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Market number.

Mark Christopher McGivney: What is it.

Are you seeing just.

Mark Christopher McGivney: But returns on behalf of your carrier partners being kind of excellence.

Speaker Change: Got it.

Driving the.

Speaker Change: Pricing power downwards in light of kind of what still seems like.

Speaker Change: Inflationary trends or just any more color there on kind of what's what's causing the diesel I know you gave us by line commentary.

Operator: Andrew, next question, please. Certainly. Our next question comes from the line of Jimmy Buhler with J.P. Good morning. So I was wondering if you could just elaborate on the comments Jon made on the reinsurance market. And it seems like the market's less tight than it was over the past year. But what are you seeing in terms of buyer behavior? Are seeders trying to buy more, given that prices have come down a little bit? Or are they trying to save money and keep sort of coverage levels consistent with what they've had the past year? Sure, Jimmy. Thanks for the question.

Speaker Change: I don't know it up more to add.

Speaker Change: Yes.

Speaker Change: Mike I would say that.

Speaker Change: I mean, it doesn't feel like a soft market to our clients.

Speaker Change: After five years of.

Of price increases and as I noted our index skews to larger accounts.

Where there's a bit more volatility typically throughout the cycle.

Speaker Change: I expect cycles.

Speaker Change: To be shorter and narrower than what they've been in the past right.

Speaker Change: Yeah.

Speaker Change: Better data better technology on the underwriting underwriting front capital moves so much more quickly in and out that's part of the E&S market dynamic that you all have observed over the course of the last several years so.

Speaker Change: I expect kind of more relative stability and.

Speaker Change: From time to time of course.

Speaker Change: Certain areas of risk.

John Quinlan Doyle: Maybe I'll elaborate a little bit on some of my prepared remarks and then ask Dean to talk a bit about the reinsurance market. I think both markets continue to stabilize on average in the quarter. And again, I would remind everyone it's a collection of markets, not a single market.

Speaker Change: Things will change in some meaningful way and that that will.

Speaker Change: Maybe bounce a particular product outside of.

Speaker Change: Normal our normal cycle.

Speaker Change: Sure.

Speaker Change: And reinsurer underwriting results have improved.

Speaker Change: In the aggregate over the course of the last couple of years.

Speaker Change: I think most feel good about how their book.

Speaker Change: How their portfolios are positioned.

Speaker Change: It's not all one result of course, you know we saw some reserve additions.

Speaker Change: In the fourth quarter results overall.

Speaker Change: As I mentioned on our call in the first quarter.

Speaker Change: The great unknown is casualty loss costs right, there's lots of emerging data that's troubling for our entire ecosystem for our client.

John Quinlan Doyle: That stabilization is good for our clients, and in some cases, a better market has led to increased demand for both insurance and reinsurance. I would also point out that in recent years, we've had higher premium growth in the captives that we manage at Marsh compared to the premium flow into the traditional market. That may change a bit now.

Speaker Change: Contributes to that rising cost of risk that I mentioned earlier.

Speaker Change: Yes.

Speaker Change: And maybe I should also point out and Dean touched on this a little bit that are index.

Speaker Change: Just for limit.

Speaker Change: Exposure attachment point and it includes new business you see.

Speaker Change: Some other indices that are out in the market.

Speaker Change: That don't necessarily adjust for all of those factors.

Speaker Change: And maybe the last point Mike.

Speaker Change: I would make is that that number doesn't necessarily correlate directly with what.

John Quinlan Doyle: We'll see as markets stabilize and our clients can adjust to what the market looks like going forward, continuing to move up a bit more than the data points I mentioned earlier. But, you know, I would also say that insurers and reinsurers are cautious about that rising cost of risk environment I mentioned as well. And so while, again, a stabilizing market is better for our clients overall, you know, I don't expect that relative stability to change anytime soon, given some of the rising cost of risk issues that the insurance community is confronting.

Speaker Change: The premium growth is in the market right because at the end of the day I mean, it might be at <unk>.

Speaker Change: Have less of an increase you might have certain clients buying more I think that's most prevalent in the reinsurance market at the moment, but we're seeing that in some cases at marsh as well where clients again, having adjusted to.

Speaker Change: The new market pricing at new market equilibrium.

Speaker Change: Has led to a higher level of demand for coverage from from our clients.

Speaker Change: So anyway, I hope that I hope that's helpful.

Andrew: Andrew next question please.

Andrew: Our next question comes from the line of your own Qunar with Jefferies.

Yaron Joseph Kinar: Thank you good morning.

Yaron Joseph Kinar: Two questions on Marsh and the market environment Youre seeing there.

Qunar: First of all maybe ties a lot so to your last comments Sean.

Qunar: Are you surprised to see casualty rates only up 3% just given the loss trends I guess I'd love to hear your views.

Qunar: The CEO of Marsh, but also maybe as a former underwriter.

Qunar: [laughter].

Qunar: It's a.

Speaker Change: Actually it is.

Speaker Change: Very very hard.

Speaker Change: Right now as I am.

Speaker Change: Mentioned earlier.

Speaker Change: There is some troubling data points right and thrown in there.

John Quinlan Doyle: So, Dean, maybe you could talk a little bit more about what's happening in reinsurance. Yeah, thanks, Jon. And, Jimmy, I'll give you a little bit more color on the April 1 reinsurance renewal. That would be helpful.

Speaker Change: Over the last several accident years of course, a couple of years of the impact of the pandemic right and so.

Speaker Change: Just on the.

Speaker Change: The clients were.

Speaker Change: Yes.

Speaker Change: We help them larger clients with big risk management programs that have a level of frequency.

Dean M. Klisura: You know, as Jon noted, we saw a continuation of market conditions that we experienced on January 1. Market conditions are stable, but we're definitely seeing increased client demand to buy additional property cap limits, particularly at the top end of programs. That was very pronounced throughout the first quarter at 1.1 percent through the quarter.

Speaker Change: It's very very difficult to project, where where loss costs are.

Speaker Change: But as I said, the underwriting community is better than it's ever been better data better technology.

Speaker Change: But there again are some troubling signs it is not just increased frequency.

Not just kind of nuclear verdicts that term gets kind of thrown around or even some of the bigger settlements as a frequency of larger events.

Speaker Change: See the Francis Scott Key bridge as an example, that'll be a big loss in the market, maybe not as much a casualty loss, but but a big loss in the market.

Speaker Change: But even in a commercial auto and <unk>.

Dean M. Klisura: And certainly that trend continued on April 1. You know, strong capital inflows into the reinsurance market driven by strong reinsurer returns, double-digit returns in 2023. You know, we talked about last quarter on the call, reinsurer appetite is increased for property cap. You know, there's an inflow of capital and capacity competition at the top end of programs. It's been good for both buyers and sellers, you know, in the marketplace, specifically the property cap in the U.S. at April 1. As I said, capacity was strong.

Speaker Change: Certainly seen.

Speaker Change: That play out in the personal lines auto market.

Speaker Change: Kind of more of a frequency type events, just costing more to get resolved and so we're putting our efforts to helping our clients think through how to better run off liabilities that they assume an even transfer into the market and the insurers are investing quite a bit in their claims capabilities as well to try to get.

Speaker Change: Ahead of this but I think we're all pointing to again, some flashing yellow signals out there about the rising costs overall.

Speaker Change: Do you have a follow up.

Speaker Change: Yes, I do and thank for the color there.

Speaker Change: So and Marsh orgs.

Speaker Change: Organic obviously was strong and then we certainly saw a very nice results in U S and Canada I guess, the only place I can maybe poke a little bit if I if I were to.

Speaker Change: Try it would be Asia Pacific, where we saw a step down.

Speaker Change: That is there a timing issue there with some one offs I know you had a very very strong 123, there, but anything you could point to in terms of the organic results in Asia Pacific would be helpful.

Dean M. Klisura: As Jon noted, the market was generally flat to down incrementally for clients without cap losses. Accounts with cap losses saw 10 to 20% kind of rate increases, but keep in mind, we give you rate-adjusted figures, but when you factor in inflation, exposure growth, and value growth, premiums on these cap programs are still increasing year over year. It continues to be a tailwind for Guy Carpenter in the marketplace, and as I said, there's a lot of competition for cap this year. You know, U.S. casualty, as Jon noted, was challenging, just as challenging on April 1 as it was on January 1.

Speaker Change: Yes.

Speaker Change: No no one offs are major issues there just on top of a couple of years of very very good comps and strong growth we love how we're positioned.

Speaker Change: In Asia.

Speaker Change: Big protection gaps throughout Asia, we have really strong.

Our country our in country operations all throughout the region. So we're not just a regional center, we're in country and working very very closely.

With our clients there.

Speaker Change: As we've said to you in the past I Wouldnt look at any one particular quarter.

Speaker Change: And again, it's on top of whats been some outstanding growth in Asia over the last couple of years. So so we feel good about about where we're headed in Asia overall.

Andrew: Andrew next question please.

Andrew: Certainly one moment please.

Andrew: Our next question comes from the line of Meyer Shields with J B W.

Meyer Shields: Great. Thanks, I was hoping to discuss the competitive environment in RIS, maybe from two perspectives.

Meyer Shields: First.

Meyer Shields: Wondering whether there is a difference in the market share gain potential when youre in a rising rate environment and an enormously fragmented.

Meyer Shields: Brokerage world.

Meyer Shields: We bought a company that just don't have the resources to help.

Meyer Shields: Clients manage.

Meyer Shields: Higher insurance costs as successfully as the company with margins resources, how much of a difference does that make.

Speaker Change: Yes, it's a good question Meyer, we're very very focused on trying to bring scale benefits to our while to all of our key stakeholders right.

Speaker Change: <unk> our colleagues right, we want them when they work here, we want them to feel like they have nearly 90000 folks helping support them.

Dean M. Klisura: Reinsurers are exerting, you know, pressure on pricing and terms and conditions. Seating commissions are facing downward pressure from reinsurers on certain quota share contracts, particularly financial lines, which Martin has talked about in the past. Excessive loss contracts are seeing rate increases across the board, in some cases, double digits, you know. However, you know, there was adequate casualty capacity in the marketplace at April 1, and all of the programs that we placed got completed in full.

Speaker Change: With learning and development and data and analytics market access that you might not have.

Speaker Change: Should you choose to work somewhere else in our industry.

Speaker Change: We certainly think about it from the colleague perspective, we think about it from a client perspective, and we think about it from an investor point of view as well.

Speaker Change: What I would say.

Speaker Change: From a client perspective broadly speaking again and this is maybe a bit more upmarket than some of the fragmented segments that you've talked about before our clients are more risk aware than they've been in the past I think we are I think we have had a role to play in that and trying to make them more risk aware.

Speaker Change: Some better risks and again recent events have certainly helped heightened that but it's incumbent upon us to bring those scale benefits to the market.

Dean M. Klisura: You know, but I would balance that against continued reinsured concern with adverse developments driven by social inflation and increasing loss cost trends. I think that's a good summary of where we are in the US market. Just a note on Japan, you know, big April 1 cap date in Japan, a very orderly market, sufficient capacity, many cap programs were oversubscribed, we didn't observe any structural changes, attachment points stayed where they were from a year ago, and again, it was a market that was down, on average, 5% from a rating perspective, and we didn't really observe any rate impact from the Japanese side. January earthquake in Japan Terrific team, thank you.

Speaker Change: And not just scale benefits in terms of data analytics or market access, but different types of solutions I mentioned earlier, our captive business. We're the largest captive manager in the world and Thats been a meaningful outlet for our clients to.

Speaker Change: To manage risk in the rising rate environment over the course of the last several years so.

Speaker Change: So yes scale matters I would also tell you that it plays a role.

Speaker Change: For some of the sellers in the market as well as we we talked through with potential M&A targets.

Speaker Change: Why they may.

Speaker Change: While they may look to sell at the moment at times.

Speaker Change: It's regarding scale type scaled up type capabilities that we have that are difficult for them to to.

Speaker Change: To replicate.

Speaker Change: And so as I said earlier, we're looking for well led businesses with <unk>.

Speaker Change: Really solid growth fundamentals, but we know we can make them better too.

Speaker Change: And that's that's the exciting part for us.

Speaker Change: Do you have a follow up.

Speaker Change: I do but I want to thank you for that that was very thorough.

Speaker Change: When we look at the parts of the brokerage market that are more concentrated here I guess I'm thinking reinsurance or fortune 100 type accounts.

In your view is competitive.

Speaker Change: Competitive.

Speaker Change: Our competitors fighting at full strength are they all the competition right now is intensive that normally occur in any differences.

Speaker Change: From a longer term norms.

Speaker Change: Yes.

Speaker Change: I mean.

Speaker Change: In both of the segments you mentioned it is a highly competitive market and we love competition. There is nothing that gets me more fired up and getting out in front of clients and and of course, winning ultimately.

Speaker Change: Our team is the same way we are passionate about the value that we try to deliver to our clients.

Speaker Change: And so as I mentioned earlier, we're collaborating more than ever and in those particular segments. You mentioned I think it's been particularly meaningful over the course of the last year or so our efforts to bring a broader set of capabilities.

Operator: Jimmy, do you have a follow-up? Unknown Executive, Jon Newsome, Robert Cox, Meyer Shields, Martin South, Unknown Executive, Jon Newsome, Robert Cox, Meyer Shields, Martin South, Unknown Executive, Jon Newsome, Mark, you want to jump on that one? Yeah, Jimmy.

Speaker Change: To that client set but no.

Speaker Change: It is.

Speaker Change: No.

Speaker Change: It's a very very competitive market and we well committed it makes us better.

Speaker Change: Thanks Meyer Andrew next question, maybe the last one.

Speaker Change: Our next question comes from the line of Robert Cox with Goldman Sachs.

Robert Cox: Hey, thanks.

Robert Cox: Our prepared remarks.

Robert Cox: There is some comments on health care costs, continuing to rise I was I was hoping you guys could talk about what youre seeing there and maybe parts of the business.

Mark Christopher McGivney: There is a little seasonality, as you pointed out. There tends to be a little seasonality in our fiduciary balances. Q1 and Q4 tend to be seasonal lows, modestly.

Robert Cox: Maybe between brokerage and consulting that are generating the strongest organic growth growth in that 10% organic and health.

Speaker Change: Sure. Thank you Robert Health.

Speaker Change: Health care in the health care industry is a big part of our business overall.

Speaker Change: And I don't think its any secret that.

Speaker Change: Medical inflation and health care related cost inflation as it is a major pressure point.

Mark Christopher McGivney: You know, so that would explain that in terms of outlook. You know, we'll see what happens to the rate environment, the interest, our fiduciary interest income is going to be a function of balances and rates, and we've got about 11 and a half billion in balances. So depending on what you want to assume for the trajectory of rates, the math is pretty straightforward.

Speaker Change: For our clients in many markets really around the world. It's been a big driver of growth for us and we continue to invest in it I talked about in my prepared remarks, some of the collaboration between Marsh and Mercer to try to bring some sort of relief.

Speaker Change: And angle of cost pressure in that marketplace, but but Pat maybe you could talk a talk about the growth we're seeing in some of the cost inflation as well sure. So the way that healthcare inflation.

Impacts the business varies based upon the area of the world the RIN.

Pat: In certain areas of the world were predominantly fee based it's more large market that would predominantly be from a merger perspective inside like the U S and some of our more mature larger markets and then a lot of the markets. We are a little bit more brokerage base towards base that way.

Mark Christopher McGivney: Thank you, Mark. And thank you, Jimmy. Andrew, next question, please. And our next question comes from the line of Elyse Greenspan. Thanks. Good morning.

Pat: But let me be clear, even the spots, where we're a fixed fee.

Pat: Healthcare inflation drive significant increased cost of clients. So it does create a lot of it creates demand for work for US a lot of project work. So we will see projects out of that health care inflation, it's not necessarily directly driven that way and even if there is healthcare inflation and the other areas, where it's brokerage it's not a linear type activity from a commission perspective, because we are <unk>.

John Quinlan Doyle: My first question was on the margin guidance. You guys said more margin expansion in the back half of the year. What's driving that? Is it just more investment in the first half, more savings falling in the second half, or you know, something else that's driving the seasonality within the margin expansion?

Pat: <unk> cost is flowing through to the client P&L, we're always out there doing.

Pat: Planned redesign.

Pat: For a client to help make sure that that full cost of healthcare inflation is not flowing through their P&L right because they really don't that's one of the larger costs. If they don't control themselves based upon the activity that they've had so that's really where a lot of the inflation helps us part of it is is increased activity and project work occasionally it does create higher.

Pat: Rates that flows through in brokerage, but many times those higher rates were still doing planned design with the client to try and mitigate the impact that is going to have on the client P&L, even in a spot where it's straight commission based brokerage we're trying to mitigate those costs.

John Quinlan Doyle: Good morning, Elyse. As you pointed out, Mark noted, we expect a second and a half to be better than the first half. You know, we have some expected headwinds, not really seasonality, but really driven from a higher merit pool a year ago, some acquisition-related costs, and some higher reimbursable expenses. But, you know, I want to remind everybody not to focus on any one particular, but really how we run the business. It's not a primary objective of ours.

Pat: Rising health and benefit costs, and a tight labor market again as a pressure point and another example of where again, we can bring scale and a broader set of capabilities to the market that our clients appreciate.

Speaker Change: So a follow up Robert.

Robert: Yeah very helpful. Thank you.

Robert: Maybe just last question.

Robert: On the wealth segment.

Robert: Correct me, if I'm wrong, but I think last year, probably the pension business was growing stronger than your an investment business did that occur as well in the first quarter here.

Robert: Both of them kind of similar to the 5% organic growth that was achieved in wealth.

John Quinlan Doyle: You know, again, having said that we see opportunity for margin improvement, continued margin improvement, but we're going to continue to make attractive investments to, you know, support the medium to long-term growth of the business. We have a number of different efforts underway, ongoing workflow and automation efforts at Marsh Mercer and Guy Carpenter. And, you know, we continue to press for opportunities to improve efficiency at the intersections of our businesses as well. So, we see opportunities. And as we pointed out, we expect the second half to be better than the first. Do you have a follow-up, Elyse? Yes, thanks.

Speaker Change: Yes, we had we had good solid growth across the investment management and defined benefits as Pat mentioned.

Our DB business in this period of elevated interest rates have seen a bit more.

Speaker Change: Bit more growth in.

Speaker Change: We expected over the course of the last couple of years, but but good growth in our <unk> business and our our broader set of consulting.

Speaker Change: Capabilities inside of our investment business. So chips, we felt good about that.

Speaker Change: Thank you Robert.

Speaker Change: Andrew Thank you.

Speaker Change: I would now like to turn the call back over to John Doyle, President and CEO of Marsh <unk> Mclennan for any closing remarks.

John Quinlan Doyle: Alright, Thank you Andrew and I want to thank everyone for joining us on the call. This morning in closing I want to thank our colleagues for their hard work and dedication I also want to thank our clients for their continued support. Thank you all very much and I look forward to speaking with you again next quarter.

John Quinlan Doyle: And then my second question is on Marsh, which recently launched its wholesale venture Victor Access. I know it's early days, but what was the impetus for this strategy? And is there any reason why the majority of the wholesale risk currently placed by Marsh with third-party wholesalers couldn't potentially be internalized through Victor over time? So, you know, let me be clear, Elyse, we're not looking to build a third-party wholesale business. There's obviously been considerable growth in the wholesaler to ENS market over the course of the last several years.

Speaker Change: This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating and you may now disconnect.

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John Quinlan Doyle: We want to bring the best solutions in the marketplace to our clients. Generally, we prefer admitted solutions for our clients. Not that there aren't good things that happen in the E&S market. Of course, there are, and innovation is one of the areas where the E&S market is important. But we want to access as much of that E&S market directly as possible. We actually access most of our E&S market solutions directly today. But we want to continue to press on and make sure that we can access as much of that market directly. So it's client-driven.

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John Quinlan Doyle: It's about us managing the client outcomes and client experiences really as directly as possible. Having said that, we'll continue to use wholesalers for niche expertise. They serve us very well and our clients very well in those cases. They also have strong program businesses as well. So, anyway, that's what it's about.

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Operator: It's just, again, making sure we can directly access as much capital directly as possible for our clients. Thank you for that. Andrew, next question. Our next question comes from the line of Greg Peters with Raymond James. Good morning, everyone.

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John Quinlan Doyle: I'd like to pivot to, for the first question, pivot to the consulting business, which had a nice quarter, and provide some additional color around. I'm not really seeing any signs of weakness in your pipeline. Okay, thanks, Greg.

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John Quinlan Doyle: Yeah, we are, you know, very pleased with the start to the year. As you recall, of course, Oliver Wyman had a slow start to the year in 2023, but had a nice year overall of growth. There's going to be a bit more volatility to revenue growth at Oliver Wyman. But we also expect better growth on average from Oliver Wyman over the medium to longer term. Nick, maybe you can share with Greg some some color on on demand in the first quarter.

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Nicholas Mark Studer: Thank you, John. Thank you, Greg. Yeah, 13% is a very pleasing start to the year. It makes a marvelous headline. And we're very, very proud of a good start on what, as you noted, is a tough environment for many in our profession. John's already given us the caution about taking the two-year view.

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Nicholas Mark Studer: We also probably benefited from a few little timing benefits of things that might have shown up in Q2 might have shown up in Q1. And we still very much give guidance that, through the cycle, this should be a mid-to-high single-digit business. And you noted that sorting it out is a tricky challenge. That is true because we have a relatively short backlog. The nature of our work is such that when clients need assistance, they need it quickly. And so we are always ready to move very, very nimbly.

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Nicholas Mark Studer: To give you a little bit more color, we grew pretty strongly across all the four regions of our management consulting business. And our economic research business, Nira, also grew very strongly, fastest in the Middle East, but in the double digits or very close to the double digits in all three of the other major regions we have. And sectorally, it was also fairly broadly spread.

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Nicholas Mark Studer: Our communications, media, and technology team grew well, healthcare grew well, banking, and we saw a rebound in private capital work, which I've noted on previous calls has been pretty robust, even in the face of, obviously, a very much lower deal market. But our work on portfolio company performance has helped us there. And insurance is also growing, and quite broadly across the capabilities that we bring to bear as well. So we think we're in a good position.

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Nicholas Mark Studer: We're very confident that we have gained share over the last few years, but it's a tough consulting environment, and our pipeline indicates that that mid to high single-digit growth environment growth forecast is how we think about this business through the cycle. Thank you, Nick. That's very helpful.

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John Quinlan Doyle: You know, and Greg, maybe I'll ask Pat Tomlinson, you know, also to share some thoughts on the first quarter at Mercer, given our consulting operations there. And, Pat, while you have the floor, you know, as I mentioned, obviously, you're joining this call for the first time. Maybe you could talk a bit about your priorities at Mercer.

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Pat Tomlinson: Sure. Thanks, Jon. Yes, we are pleased with our Q1 2024 underlying growth, as mentioned earlier, of 6%. It was our 12th consecutive quarter with 5% or more growth, especially in the breadth across the practices. Health, another impressive quarter with 10% growth in Q1. That growth was really double-digit growth nearly across all regions. And it comes on the back of investments in hiring new talent, focus on thought leadership, creating digital tools, and really focusing in on client segmentation, trying to match client healthcare needs based upon industry segment size with the innovative and adaptive solutions that we have. So really trying to meet clients where they are.

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Pat Tomlinson: We certainly benefited from strong retention; we had good renewal growth, insurer revenue, and medical cost inflation had an impact there. We see significant demand for digital solutions and innovative benefits that are kind of underscoring the value that we're providing to clients. If I pivot over to wealth, we grew 5% in Q1. There was good, balanced, and equally strong performance in DB&A and IMS.

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Pat Tomlinson: We see DB plans' funding statuses continue to benefit from elevated interest rates. That's driving an increase in risk transfer over the last couple of years, as well as some regulatory requirements and demands that are creating some project work. If you add in some capital, some volatile capital markets, it's driving strong demand for both our existing and our investment solutions business. Speaking of investment solutions, at OCIO, we benefited from some transactions in Westpac and Vanguard.

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Pat Tomlinson: Mark mentioned that earlier, but also good net new inflows and capital markets provided us with some revenue lift in Q1. From a career perspective, growth was muted to 1% for the quarter, but we're following a period of strong growth over the past several years, including a challenging 12% comparable last year. The growth was strong in international, and was very broad across all practices and regions.

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Pat Tomlinson: We did see, as was mentioned, some softness in US career, specifically in rewards in the transformation space, as I would say clients are starting to navigate some of the macro conditions, right? So let me highlight the career practices coming off that very long period of high growth, as I mentioned, double digits into the past eight quarters, driven in large part, I would say by inflation and employee attrition. If we all remember the great resignation back coming out of the pandemic, which drove a lot of labor shortages, and really created a lot of demand for projects with clients, as they were trying to think about the rewards and how to pay people to keep them retained, the skills that they might need if they had to pivot because they didn't have the right resources, and also starting to think about transformation, as they were having less resources to work with, and there was innovation in technology, as we've all talked about AI, over in the past, and helping clients through those.

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Pat Tomlinson: So certainly, I think from that perspective, we feel good that there's a good breadth of our solutions and demand in the market as we go ahead and fill those needs. Jon quickly asked me to talk a little bit about how I think about the business and the priorities, too.

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Pat Tomlinson: So, you know, obviously, on April 1st, I got to step in and begin this opportunity of a lifetime leading Mercer and our 21,000 colleagues from around the world, as we are focused on creating brighter futures for our clients and for their people. I am extremely humbled and honored to be the CEO of this fantastic firm. And personally, I really want to thank Martine Ferland for a very smooth transition and for the growth momentum and culture that she helped create here. Priority-wise, I want to accelerate that moment.

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Pat Tomlinson: From the impact that we're having on clients, to the fantastic careers we build for colleagues here, the collaboration amongst our colleagues across Marsh & McLennan, we can leverage new technologies, and we perform really purpose-driven work and can have a positive impact on our communities as well. I think we're very well positioned as we've been repositioning ourselves over the last several years, reshaping our portfolio. Mark mentioned the divestitures. We've been divesting admin practices.

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Pat Tomlinson: We've been building capabilities and reach and global benefits in OCIO. We've been accelerating acquisitions, and we're really just creating more value for clients at scale, and that's what we've been focused on. So I'm very optimistic about our future. Thank you, Pat.

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John Quinlan Doyle: We're excited to have you at this table. Greg, do you have a follow-up? I do. Thanks for the detail on that answer. I want to pivot.

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John Quinlan Doyle: M&A and specifically, Mark, I think you mentioned the interest expense outlook for the company and we know, The Bulletproof Executive 2013 Cost of Death. So, I'm curious if there's been any... Follow through on those higher costs in terms of value. Transcription by CastingWords. I'm also curious if there's any valuation difference between larger properties.

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John Quinlan Doyle: Yeah, thanks, Greg. You know, what I would say is we remain quite active in the market. There's a, you know, a good, strong pipeline. As I've talked about in the past, we have an excellent reputation in that marketplace, you know, as being a good owner, as well. So, you know, we're excited about the deals we did in the first quarter.

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John Quinlan Doyle: And, you know, again, we're going to continue to remain active in the market. I think valuations have remained stubbornly high. I would say, on the other side of things, and, and, while we might expect that for top quality assets, I would also point out that, you know, some lesser quality assets have traded at, you know, some very, very high multiples of late. And so, you know, we're going to be picky; we're looking for well-led businesses with real strong growth fundamentals that make us better and are a good cultural fit for our organization. We've been very successful at it. And again, you know, as Mark pointed out, we expect to continue to deploy capital in the market going forward. Thank you, Greg.

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John Quinlan Doyle: Andrew, next question, please. And our next question comes from the line of Michael Zaremski with BMO Capital Markets. Hey, Greg, good morning.

Dan.

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Mark Christopher McGivney: Probably for Mark on the margins and the expense buckets. If I look over the last year plus, the margin improvements come much more so from the general and other buckets rather than comp and band. It looks like they've flipped a little bit their relationship this quarter, if I'm correct.

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Mark Christopher McGivney: Changing their given the expense management programs are just in terms of how we should think about where the margin improvements are coming from and go for it. Thanks, Mike. Mark, you want to...

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Mark Christopher McGivney: I think it's a great point that you're making, and I think it reflects the strategy of the company. You know, we've said we've continually, continually invested in position ourselves for the future. And over the last several years, we've talked about the heavy investments we've made organically in talent.

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Mark Christopher McGivney: And so I think we've done a terrific job, really being thoughtful about all of our other operating expenses, functional costs, how we're leveraging things across the firm, T&E, you know, really some of the gains we made in the pandemic have been harvested. So, as you point out, a lot of our margin expansion over the last five years has come from being really disciplined on things far away from the client and investing heavily in client-facing talent.

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Mark Christopher McGivney: And so I think that is a factor in our growth. And I think also, as we look forward, there's going to be leverage in those investments. Which is why we're optimistic about margins going forward. Thank you, Mike.

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John Quinlan Doyle: A quick follow up, and I know you gave a lot of commentary on, Unknown Executive, Jon Newsome, Robert Cox, Meyer Shields, Martin South, Unknown Executive, thriving, you know, pricing power downwards in light of kind of what still seems like inflationary trends or just any more color there on kind of what's causing the diesel price increase. I know you gave us line by line commentary. Yeah, so I don't know what I have.

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John Quinlan Doyle: Yeah, um, Mike, I would say that it doesn't feel like a soft market to our clients, you know, after five years of price increases. And, you know, as I noted, our index skews to larger accounts and, you know, where there's a bit more volatility typically throughout the cycle. I, you know, I expect cycles to be shorter and narrower than they've been in the past, right?

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John Quinlan Doyle: Better data, better technology on the underwriting front; capital moves so much more quickly in and out. That's part of the E&S market dynamic that you all have observed over the course of the last several years. So, you know, I expect kind of more relative stability.

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John Quinlan Doyle: And, you know, from time to time, of course, certain areas of risk, you know, things will change in some meaningful way. And that, you know, that will maybe bounce a particular product outside of, you know, normal, a normal cycle, ensure, you know, and reinsure underwriting results have improved, in the aggregate, over the course of the last couple of years. And, you know, I think most feel good about how their books, how their portfolios are positioned.

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John Quinlan Doyle: It's not all one result, of course, you know; we saw some reserve additions. In the fourth quarter results, you know, overall, and, you know, as I mentioned on our call in the first quarter, the great unknown is casualty loss costs, right? Lots of emerging data that's troubling for our entire ecosystem for our clients, you know, and it contributes to that rising cost of risk, you know, that I mentioned earlier.

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John Quinlan Doyle: You know, I maybe should also point out, and Dean touched on this a little bit, that our index adjusts for limit, exposure, attachment point, and it includes new business, right? You see some other indices that are out in the market, you know, that don't necessarily adjust for all those factors.

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John Quinlan Doyle: And maybe the last point, Mike, that I would make is that that number doesn't necessarily correlate directly with what the premium growth is in the market, right? Because at the end of the day, it might be at, you might have less of an increase, you might have certain clients buying more. I think that's most prevalent in the reinsurance market at the moment. But we're seeing that in some cases in March as well, where clients, again, have adjusted to, you know, the new market pricing and new market equilibrium, which has led to, you know, a higher level of demand for coverage from, you know, our clients. So, anyway, I hope that's, I hope that's helpful. Andrew, next question, please. Our next question comes from the line of Yaron Kinar. Thank you. Good morning.

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John Quinlan Doyle: Two questions on Marsh and the market environment you're seeing there. And I think the first one maybe ties well to your last comments, John. Are you surprised to see casualty rates only up 3% just given the lost trends? And I guess I'd love to hear your views, both as the CEO of Marsh but also maybe as a former underwriter. It's a, you know, I actually, you know, it's very, very hard

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John Quinlan Doyle: You know, right now, as I mentioned earlier, there are some troubling data points, right? And thrown in, you know, in the mix of the last several accident years and, of course, a couple of years of the impact of the pandemic, right? And so, you know, just on the clients where we help them larger clients with, you know, big risk management programs that have a level of frequency, it's very, very difficult to project where loss costs are. But as I said, the underwriting community is better than it's ever been. They have better data and better technology.

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John Quinlan Doyle: You know, but there, you know, there again are some troubling signs. It's not just increased frequency. It's not just kind of nuclear verdicts, you know, that term gets kind of thrown around, or even some of the bigger settlements are frequency of larger events, you know, see the Francis Scott Key bridge, you know, as an example. That'll be, you know, a big loss in the market, maybe not as much a casualty loss, but, but, but a big loss in the market.

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John Quinlan Doyle: But even in, you know, like commercial auto, and you've, you know, you've certainly seen that play out in the personal lines, auto market, just, you know, kind of more frequent type events, just costing more to get resolved. And so we're putting our efforts to help our clients think through how to better run off liabilities that they assume and even transfer into the market. And the insurers are investing quite a bit in their claims capabilities as well to try to get ahead of this. But, you know, I think we're all pointing to, again, some flashing yellow signals out there about the rising costs overall. Do you have a follow-up question? Yes, I do. And thanks for the color there.

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John Quinlan Doyle: So in Marsh, organic, obviously, was strong. And then we certainly saw a very nice result in the US and Canada. I guess the only place I could maybe poke a little bit if I were to try would be Asia Pacific, where we saw a step down. Is there a timing issue there with some one-offs?

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John Quinlan Doyle: I know you had a very, very strong 1Q23 there, but anything you could point out in terms of the organic results in Asia Pacific would be helpful. Yeah, you know, I don't know, no one officer or major issues there just, you know, on top of a couple of years of very, very good comps and strong growth. We love how we're positioned in Asia, you know, big protection gaps throughout Asia, you know, we have really strong countries, in-country operations all throughout the region.

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John Quinlan Doyle: So, you know, we're not just a regional center; we're in-country and, you know, working very, very closely with our clients there. You know, as we've said to you in the past, I wouldn't look at any one particular quarter.

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John Quinlan Doyle: And again, it's on top of, you know, what's been some outstanding growth in Asia over the last couple of years. So, we feel good about where we're headed in Asia overall. Andrew, next question, please. Unknown Speaker Sure. Our next question comes from the line of Meyer Shields with KBW. Great, thanks.

Okay.

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John Quinlan Doyle: I was hoping to discuss the competitive environment in RIS, maybe from two perspectives. First, I'm wondering whether there is a difference in the market share gain potential when you're in a rising rate environment. And the enormously fragmented broker world includes a lot of companies that just don't have the resources to help clients manage higher insurance costs as successfully as a company with Marsh's resources. How much of a difference does that make?

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John Quinlan Doyle: It's a good question, Meyer. We're very, very focused on trying to bring scale benefits to all of our key stakeholders, right, including our colleagues, right? We want them, when they work here, we want them to feel like they have nearly 90,000 folks helping support them with learning and development, data and analytics, and market access that, you know, you might not have should you choose to work somewhere else in our industry.

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John Quinlan Doyle: So we certainly think about it from the colleague perspective, we think about it from the client perspective, and we think about it from an investor point of view as well. What I would say, you know, from a client perspective, broadly speaking, again, this is maybe a bit more upmarket than some of the fragmented segments that you talked about before. Our clients are more risk aware than they've been in the past.

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John Quinlan Doyle: I think we have, I think we have had a role to play in that in trying to make them more risk-aware of some better risks. And again, recent events have certainly helped, you know, highlight that. But it's incumbent upon us to bring those scale benefits to the market, and not just scale benefits in terms of data analytics or market access but different types of solutions. I mentioned earlier that our captive business, we're the largest captive manager in the world, and that's been a meaningful outlet for our clients to manage risk and, you know, the rising rate environment over the course of the last several years. So, yes, scale matters.

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John Quinlan Doyle: I would also tell you that it plays a role for some of the sellers in the market, you know, as well as we, we talked through with potential M&A targets, you know, why they may, why they may look to sell at the moment at times, you know, it's, it's regarding, you know, scale type, scaled up type capabilities that we have that, you know, are difficult for them to, to replicate. And, and so, as I said earlier, we're looking for well led businesses with really solid growth fundamentals, but we know we can make them better too. And that's, you know, that's the exciting part for us. Do you have a follow up? I do.

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John Quinlan Doyle: But I want to thank you for that. That was very thorough. When we look at the parts of the brokerage market that are more, here, I guess I'm thinking reinsurance or Fortune 100 type accounts. In your view, is the competitiveness, Are competitors fighting at full strength? Are they all, is the competition right now as intense as it normally is or in any way?

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John Quinlan Doyle: From the longer term, No, I mean, in both of the segments you mentioned, it is a highly competitive market. And we love competition.

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John Quinlan Doyle: There's nothing that gets me more fired up than getting out in front of clients and, and, of course, winning, ultimately. And our team, you know. We're passionate about the value that we try to deliver to our clients. And so, you know, as I mentioned earlier, we're collaborating more than ever. And in those particular segments you mentioned, I think it's been particularly meaningful, you know, over the course of the last year or so, our efforts to bring a broader set of capabilities to that client set. But no, it's, it's, you know, It's a very, very competitive market, and we welcome it, you know; it makes us better. Thanks, Meyer.

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John Quinlan Doyle: Andrew, next question, maybe the last. Our next question comes from the line of Robert. Goldman Sachs, Hey, thanks. In the prepared remarks, there were some comments on health care costs continuing to rise. I was hoping you guys could talk about what you're seeing there, and maybe parts of the business, maybe between brokerage and consulting, that are generating the strongest organic growth in that 10% organic growth in health. Thank you, Robert.

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John Quinlan Doyle: You know, healthcare and the healthcare industry are a big part of our business overall. And, you know, I don't think it's any secret that, you know, medical inflation and healthcare-related cost inflation are a major pressure point for our clients in many markets around the world. It's been a big driver of growth for us, and we continue to invest in it. I talked about in my prepared remarks some of the collaboration between, you know, Marsh & Mercer to try to bring some, you know, some relief to some of the cost pressure in that marketplace.

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John Quinlan Doyle: But, Pat, maybe you could talk about the growth we're seeing and some of the cost inflation as well. Sure. So the way that healthcare inflation impacts the business varies based on the area of the world that we're in. In certain areas of the world, we're predominantly fee-based, it's a larger market, that would predominantly be from a Mercer perspective inside like the US and some of our more mature, larger markets. And then in a lot of the markets, we are a little bit more brokerage-based, or it's based that way.

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Pat Tomlinson: But let me be clear, even the spots where we're fixed fee, healthcare inflation drives significant increased costs to clients. So it does create a lot of demand for work for us, a lot of project work. So we will see projects out of that healthcare inflation; it's not necessarily directly driven that way. And even if there's healthcare inflation in the other areas where it's brokerage, it's not a linear activity from a commission perspective, because once that cost is flowing through to the client P&L, we're always out there doing plan redesign for a client to help make sure that that full cost of healthcare inflation is not flowing through their P&L Right, because they really don't control that; that's one of the larger costs that they don't control themselves, based upon the activity that they've had.

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Pat Tomlinson: So that's really where a lot of the inflation helps us. Part of it is increased activity and project work. Occasionally, it does create higher rates that flow through in brokerage, but many times those higher rates, we're still doing plan design with a client to try and mitigate the impact that is going to have on the client and P&L. Even in a spot where it's straight commission-based brokerage, we're trying to mitigate those costs.

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John Quinlan Doyle: So, rising health and benefit costs in a tight labor market are another pressure point and another example of where, again, we can bring scale and a broader set of capabilities to the market that, you know, our clients appreciate. Do you have a follow-up, Robert? Yeah, very helpful. Thank you. Maybe just one last question on the wealth segment. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think last year, probably the pension business was growing stronger than your investment business. Did that occur as well in the first quarter here? Or were both of them kind of similar to the 5% organic growth that was achieved in wealth?

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John Quinlan Doyle: Yeah, we had, you know, good solid growth across investment management and defined benefits, as you know, as Pat mentioned. Our DB business in this period of elevated interest rates has seen a bit more growth than we expected over the course of the last couple of years, but good growth in our OCIO business and our broader set of consulting capabilities inside of our investment business. So, yeah, we felt good about that. Thank you, Robert. Andrew.

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John Quinlan Doyle: Thank you. Now I'd like to turn the call back over to John Doyle, President and CEO of Marsh & McLennan, for any closing remarks. All right, thank you, Andrew.

John Quinlan Doyle: And I want to thank everyone for joining us on the call this morning. In closing, I want to thank our colleagues for their hard work and dedication. I also want to thank our clients for their continued support. Thank you all very much, and I look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

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Operator: Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent, https://www.youtube.com.au [inaudible] , , , , , , , , , Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent. [inaudible] http://www.youtube.com [inaudible] Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

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[inaudible] Copyright © 2021 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent. [inaudible] , , , , , , , [inaudible] www.mytrendyphone.co.uk, Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent. Yaron Kinar, Ryan Tunis, Scott Heleniak, Yaron Kinar, Martin South, Unknown Executive, [inaudible] WESTON BLOOMER, YARON KINAR, JARED R. TUNIS, MARK MCGIVNEY, LORENZ LISTER, DAVID MOTEMADEN, ANDREW KLISURA, SCOTT HELENIAK, UNKNOWN EXECUTIVE, JON NEWSOME, MARTIN SOUTH, SCOTT HELENIAK, YARON KINAR, JON LISTER, LORENZ LISTER, ANDERY KLISURA, YAN HONG, UNKNOWN EXECUTIVE, DAVID MOTEMADEN, ANDERY TUNIS, JOHN DOYLE, STANLEY HOLMES, DAVID MOTEMADEN, ANDREW KLISURA, ANDERY TUNIS, ANDREW KLISURA, ANDY TUNIS, ANDERY TUNIS, ANDREW KLISURA, ANDERY TUNIS, ANDY TUN [inaudible] , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , [inaudible] Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent, http://www.youtube.com.uk

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