Patrick Gallagher
Analyst · Wells Fargo. Please proceed with your question
Thank you, Donna. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our second quarter 2016 earnings call. With me this morning is Doug Howell, our Chief Financial Officer, as well as the heads of our operating divisions. Today, we're going to touch on four key components of our strategy to drive shareholder growth, organic growth, merger growth, improving our quality and productivity which Doug will spend most of his time on, and fourth, maintaining our unique culture. We have excelled on all four, year-to-date. First, let me talk about organic growth. In our brokerage segment, after a terrific first quarter of 4.8% organic growth, we posted 2.2%. But that was marked by the loss of a large account that we discussed at our June investor meeting. Excluding the large account, we would have been closer to 2.5%. So for the first half, brokerage organic was 3.6% which in retrospect is darn good based on how I felt coming into the year, especially in this environment. Looking towards the second half of the year, I see our organic somewhere between our second quarter and year-to-date numbers. So I see an improvement going forward. Let me break down our organic around the world. I'm extremely pleased, every single division posted positive organic growth in the quarter. Our sales culture is alive and well. Domestically, in the United States, we saw about 3% organic growth. Rate and exposure had little over 1 point of negative impact on our domestic PC renewal result in the second quarter. Most of that was property which for us is proportionally higher in our second quarter. Domestic casualty line's pricing remained similar to last year, where we're seeing a slight downward pressure. We're seeing a modest growth in exposure units overall. This remains an environment where our production teams can grow and outperform. Our domestic employed benefit consulting business also posted about 3% organic and is seeing a tremendous amount of new business opportunities. Our teams are showing new prospects in our vast array of services, tools and insight that they need to navigate a tight multi-generational labor market, rising healthcare costs and increasing regulatory complexities related to the ACA. Our smaller competitors are falling behind each and every day. This business typically grows more in the second half of the year and it seems to me that will be the case again this year. Let me move to our international brokerage operations. Since our last call, I've spent a significant amount of time in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. These teams are doing great. In fact, they're on a roll. After just 24 months of being part of the Gallagher family, I'm really pleased with how well we're working together, how our sales plans are becoming integrated and how our culture is thriving. All together, ex the one large account, our international operations posted about 2% organic growth in the second quarter, even with rates and exposures that are softer internationally that we see here domestically. I'm pleased that our teams are growing through those headwinds and the results are solid. As a side note, it was really interesting been in the UK and Europe during Brexit. Remember, we don't have much business at all for mainland Europe. Insurance has been flowing in and out of London for over 300 years, long before the EU was formed. So other than a possible recession hitting the UK and the other EU countries and your guess about that is about as good as mine, I don't see it as a worrisome event for us in the near term. Longer term, I think we, in the industry, will successfully navigate any potential changes to the European insurance landscape. Next, let me move to merger and acquisition growth. Over the past two years, we've returned to our focus on smaller tuck-in mergers. The average size for the 13 acquisitions this quarter was $3 million of revenue and an average of 7 times EBITDAC. So we're still finding really good opportunities at fair prices in the competitive merger environment, year-to-date 21 acquisitions which should add about $70 million of annualized revenue. We see a stronger second half of the year for acquisitions. Our pipeline is outstanding. There are a lot of really talented, independent, family-owned sales and consulting professionals out there. They have excellent relationships with their clients. They have strong sales skills. They have a very strong entrepreneurial bent. They create value by joining Gallagher, where they have full access to our capabilities, expertise and resources. I've said for 30 years, pick your partners that have a culture similar to Gallagher and look out. One plus one together does make three, four and five. I'd like to thank all of our new partners for joining us. I extend a very warm welcome to our growing Gallagher family of professionals. So to wrap up my comments on the brokerage segment, halfway through the year, we've posted 10% total revenue growth, of which 3.6% is organic. Adjusted EBITDAC growth of 13%. Adjusted EBITDAC margin expansion of 60 basis points. Integration costs are starting to wind down. We have an excellent M&A pipeline and fair multiples, truly excellent results through the first half. Next, I'd like to move to our risk management segment which is primarily Gallagher Bassett. Risk management had a more challenging organic quarter. But I'm really pleased that we proactively managed expenses and exceeded our 17% margin target. Second quarter organic was challenged for three reasons. First, as we discussed at our Investor Day, we're seeing a bit of a lull in new business inception dates. Second, we experienced fewer new claims in the final two months of the quarter within the U.S. Third, we recently learned that we're not likely to earn a large performance bonus award from our participation in an Australian work cover program, where we're one of five providers. For the fiscal year ended June 30, the program paid performance fees using 20 different criteria and several of the metrics had a big stretch. Unfortunately, we fell short. You'll see in the organic table on page 6 of the earnings release that we earned nothing here in the second quarter in 2016. We believe the other providers fell short too, but let me be clear, I'm disappointed. Going forward, we will return to positive organic growth in the third and fourth quarter. Our client value proposition of delivering superior claim outcomes is stronger than ever. In fact, we've recently renewed a big program in Australia and had two nice new business wins, one in Australia, one in the UK. Our domestic new business pipeline is solid. Let me move to clean energy. Once again, we had a great quarter. The corporate segment earnings came in above the midpoint of the guidance range we previously provided. We're well on our way to delivering nearly 15% growth in annual after-tax earnings. Lastly, on our culture, over the past three months, as I said, I have visited the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I could tell you that our unique Gallagher culture is thriving and strong across our entire global footprint. This includes the over 300 promising college students globally learning about the greatest business on earth in our internship program. We're just wrapping up the 51st year of the Gallagher summer intern program. We believe the two-month program is an important investment in our future, as we like growing our own. So we've delivered an excellent first half of the year. The fundamentals of our business remain strong. We think the second half will even be a bit stronger. Over to you, Doug.