Broking group Willis made a profit of $119m in the first half of 2011, down 59% in the $293m it made in the first half last year.
Contributing to the reduction were an $81m operational review charge, an $11m fine from the UK FSA for lax overseas payment controls and a $124m charge related to the repurchase of senior debt.
Without the charges, Willis would have made a $331m profit for the first half.
The FSA fined Willis last month for having inadequate controls against bribery when making payments to overseas third parties.
Some $23m of the charges took effect in the second quarter – the $11m FSA fine and $12m of the review charge – cutting second quarter profit to $85m (H1 2010: $89m).
Willis first-half 2011 revenues increased 6% to $1.9bn (H1 2010: $1.8bn). Commissions and fees were up by the same amount, but on an organic basis were up 3%. The other 3% of growth was caused by foreign currency movements.
“We continued to deliver on our plan in the second quarter, recording much of the remaining charge associated with our 2011 operational review and focusing on the implementation of growth initiatives,” said Willis chief executive Joe Plumeri in a statement. “The strength of our diversified global business was again shown by our solid 3% organic growth in commissions and fees even with continued global economic pressures and little change in the overall rate environment.”
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