Aon reported pretax profit of $300m for the quarter ending 31 March 2004, up 12% on the $268m reported for the first quarter of 2003. After tax, profit was $170m, up 12% on the $152m for 2003.
The first quarter results included a $37m pretax unusual charge for the World Trade Center, said Aon.
Revenue for the group’s risk and insurance brokerage services grew 8% to $1.5bn, with pretax profits up 4% to $243m for the quarter.
Aon said its insurance underwriting revenue increase 10% when compared with the previous year, reaching $781m.
Pretax profit for its insurance underwriting fell by $10m, to $63m for the quarter. Aon said the results of the business were hit by underperformance in certain warranty, credit and P&C lines, some of which are now in run-off.
Aon chairman and chief executive officer Patrick Ryan, said: “We are making good progress toward our margin goals in the brokerage segment.
He added: “We are committed to achieving margin improvement in our brokerage business by leveraging our global resources to drive sales, improving expense management and refining our compensation plans to track more closely with bottom line profitability.
