Jeffrey T. Bowman
Analyst · SunTrust
Thanks, Bruce. Overall, Crawford has seen strong case growth over the past several quarters, both due to the continued success of Contractor Connection and strong growth in the number of high frequency, low severity claims we are handling. To some extent, these more frequent claims have offset the low level of catastrophe claims in the first quarter, but they typically have lower fees associated with them. At the same time, overall revenues have been steadily pressured over the past year as large projects like Thailand flooding and Deepwater Horizon have wound down. Our challenge, as results for the first quarter make abundantly clear, is to drive replacement revenue for these projects as they roll off, even if the transition to new business is not as smooth as we would like it. We are encouraged of pipeline opportunities that we see emerging over the remainder of the year, and I will touch on those in a moment.
At the same time, our focus is on managing costs to anticipated run rates and in areas where these volumes will take a longer time to replace to move swiftly to manage margin performance as successfully as possible.
So let me turn to the performance of each of our business units, starting with the Americas segment, which represented 32% of our overall total consolidated revenues for the 2014 first quarter.
Overall performance in both revenue and operating earnings were supported by strength in our Canadian and Contractor Connection operations, as I mentioned earlier. We continue to emphasize with our clients that we have a unique cross-border capability within our Americas segment, which is a way we differentiate Crawford from our competitors and give carriers who have limited capacity, the ability to service their clients.
Growth in revenue reflect gains in case volumes in both the U.S. and Canada despite the impact of Superstorm Sandy claims carried over from year-end 2012 into the first quarter of 2013. Severe winter weather in North America and expansion of the Contractor Connection network were a significant portion of that incremental volume in the 2014 period.
Contractor Connection grew 22% in assignments and 73% in revenue over the first quarter of 2013, with both current and new insurer and consumer services plans being contracted.
Canada also continues to benefit from this business line, which is a strong growth platform, an area of continued strategic focus. We have seen strong growth in cases received during the quarter, in part to the success of Contractor Connection and an increasing number of high frequency, low complexity claims.
In the second quarter, we expect to benefit from activity tied to severe weather in the U.S. and Canada, and we are actively reducing costs in our U.S. property and casualty field offices as we redefine our service offerings.
The EMEA/AP operations represent 29% of our consolidated revenues for the first quarter of 2014. We have discussed declining claims volume in Thailand, but we also saw declining volume in the U.K. and Australia due to benign weather for the quarter. The decrease in cases in the U.K. was also aggravated by a continued decline in the general property market due to a number of factors.
The decline in operating earnings was also due to expenses in 2014 related to the continuing investment in the startup operations of our specialty market service line that commenced in the 2013 third quarter. We view Crawford specialty markets as an investment in high-margin claims, and we expect it to gain traction as the year progresses.
Looking forward, we are encouraged by increased case volumes in CEMEA, and we also expect to realize additional revenues in the second quarter from winter storm activity. We continued to gain ground in the TPA revenue as well. However, until these revenue streams are realized, we will be reducing costs through staff reductions across the business segments to reflect current revenue levels and restore margin performance.
This early in the year, we have been pleased with the improved execution of our sales and marketing plans in our Broadspire operation, which represented 24% of our consolidated revenue for the 2014 first quarter. Broadspire reported an increase in revenue and delivered a fourth consecutive quarter of positive operating earnings. We are seeing client gains and a very strong sales pipeline. Our retention rate for the quarter continued at an excellent rate.
We continue to see overall case volumes increase through new client wins and a stronger workers' compensation environment. Opportunities continue to emerge in the area of medical management. We are gaining efficiencies from investment in technology that should continue to support profitability going forward. We also see growth in Broadspire as employers adjust to an improving employment market, reflecting the latest data putting the U.S. unemployment rate at 6.3%.
We believe strongly that Broadspire's solid market position, integrated service model and quality of service offer the market a truly competitive product, and we expect both revenue growth and improved margins as we move through 2014.
Legal Settlement Administration represented 15% of our 2014 quarter revenue. Following the first quarter results, Legal Settlement Administration is focused on improving both revenue replacement and operating margin performance. Volume declines should slow in the second and third quarter from first quarter rates. We expect to see margins recover in this segment as volumes stabilize. And as such, we expect to see stronger margin performance from GCG for the rest of the year.
GCG is actively building its pipeline to maintain a stable top line and consistent margin performance. We continue to build our Mass Tort business and a number of new products in the bankruptcy and class action are coming onstream.
Our backlog at the end of the first quarter was $101 million compared to $135 million at the close of the first quarter last year.
That concludes my initial comments on our business segment. Let me now turn to the guidance and our 2014 focus.
Based on our current projection, we are revising full year 2014 guidance as follows: consolidated revenues before reimbursement between $1.08 billion and $1.12 billion; consolidated operating earnings between $84 million and $98.5 million; consolidated cash provided by operating activities between $50 million and $60 million; net income attributable to shareholders of Crawford & Company on a GAAP basis between $46.5 million and $54 million or diluted earnings per share of $0.84 to $0.99 for CRDA and $0.80 to $0.95 for CRDB shares.
Whilst our 2014 quarter was not as expected, our management efforts are currently focused on 2 areas: first, we will be working actively to deliver new and incremental revenue in all of our business segments. I think I've touched on some of these opportunities in my comments thus far, and we are encouraged by the opportunities we are seeing there. Second, we have in place cost management initiatives in EMEA/AP and U.S. property and casualty to ensure the overhead is balanced with revenue performance and margin gains are available. These initiatives also detail our intent to enhance our data management and analytical capabilities to further improve efficiency and flexibility of our claims management services to develop new lines of business and ultimately, to enhance our service to clients. With these actions, we expect to offer meaningful rewards to our shareholders as the year unfolds.
Thank you for your time, and we look forward to your questions. Operator, will you please explain the process for asking questions to our audience?