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Insurance News & Views - IA Magazine
April 15, 2005
The soft market continues to impact the results of publicly
traded insurance brokers. Organic revenue growth rates (revenue growth excluding
the effect of acquisitions and currency fluctuations) continued to trend
downward in the fourth quarter of 2004, reveals Broker Insights, published
by WFG Capital Advisors LP, a leading investment banking firm to the insurance
industry and Big "I" Virtual University Expert.
Insurance agencies and
brokerages’ owners and principals may wonder if the soft market,
along with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s
investigations, has caused acquisition activity to die down.
Based on announcements by many of the publicly traded insurance
brokers, it appears to be business as usual as they remain on
the lookout for high-performing firms to acquire.
Broker Insights contains additional statistical
information such as average price/revenue multiples paid for
acquisitions by these firms. Owners and principals of insurance
agencies and brokerages can use the organic revenue growth rates
of the publicly held firms as a proxy for how the industry is
doing and to compare how their firms are performing in relation.
Insurance brokers, both large and small, face significant
headwinds going into 2005, and no one is immune to the effects
of the softening marketplace. Statistics on rate changes by
various lines of business (i.e. commercial property, general
liability, umbrella, etc.) are also included in Broker
Insights. To get a copy of the latest "Broker
Insights,"
click here or call
717-780-7800.
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