Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MRSH) reported third-quarter revenue growth and double-digit adjusted earnings-per-share growth, while increasing the savings target for its Thrive efficiency program and outlining additional investments in artificial intelligence, sales capacity and client services.
Chief Executive Officer John Doyle said the company’s consolidated revenue increased 8% to $6.9 billion during the quarter, or 5% on an underlying basis. Adjusted operating income rose 6%, while adjusted EPS increased 10% year over year to $2.03. GAAP EPS was $1.69.
Segment Performance
Risk and Insurance Services revenue increased 7% to $4.2 billion, representing 3% underlying growth. Marsh’s risk business produced $3.7 billion in revenue, up 10% on a reported basis and 5% underlying. Underlying growth was 4% in U.S. and Canada and 6% internationally, including 7% growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Mark McGivney said new business and sales growth remained solid despite softer commercial insurance pricing. The company cited digital infrastructure and transactional risk as areas supporting demand.
Reinsurance revenue declined 6% to $374 million, both reported and underlying. McGivney said the results reflected continued softness in property reinsurance rates and a difficult comparison with the prior-year quarter, which included non-recurring items. Through the first nine months of 2026, underlying reinsurance revenue was down 1%.
Consulting revenue rose 9% to $2.7 billion, or 8% underlying. People and Investments revenue rose 5% on an underlying basis, led by 8% growth in Investments and Retirement and 5% growth in Health and Benefits. Management Consulting revenue increased 14% to $1 billion, supported by broad demand and AI-related work.
Management Consulting CEO Ted Moynihan said the Quotient AI transformation platform was the fastest-growing part of the business. He also said the quarter benefited from the timing of success fees that had been expected in the fourth quarter. McGivney said Management Consulting remains on track for high-single-digit growth for the full year, implying roughly flat revenue in the fourth quarter due partly to that timing effect.
Thrive Target Raised to $600 Million
The company raised its Thrive savings target to $600 million from $400 million. McGivney said the company expects to take the vast majority of actions by the end of 2028, with savings realized relatively evenly over the program’s three years. Costs associated with generating the savings are expected to total about $750 million.
Thrive has generated savings from organizational simplification, right-shoring actions and efficiencies within Business and Client Services, or BCS. Doyle said BCS is building shared services in areas including client onboarding, data ingestion, commercial enablement and operational processes, while also moving work to capability centers.
The additional savings are intended to provide capacity for investment in sales, technology, new capabilities and the Marsh brand. Doyle said the company is hiring producers and consultants in areas with the greatest growth opportunities, while harvesting some attrition in mid- and back-office roles as it automates processes and redesigns workflows.
AI Products, Consulting and Digital Infrastructure
Doyle said AI is already affecting the company’s client relationships, operations and employee workflows. Marsh has deployed AI-enabled client products, including Marsh Risk Companion, an analytics suite designed to provide insights for client risk programs and help model risk scenarios.
The company is also expanding work with clients undergoing AI transformations. Moynihan said clients are increasingly using Management Consulting for AI strategy, cost transformation, agentic commerce and technology transformation, particularly within private-equity portfolio companies.
Doyle highlighted digital infrastructure as another growth area. Marsh launched the Stratus Exchange, which provides up to $10 billion in property coverage for the operations of digital facilities. The offering follows the company’s Nimbus insurance facility, which provides $2.7 billion of coverage for construction risks.
In its U.K. wholesale operation, the company launched Broker WorkBench during the quarter. Doyle said the platform uses data and analytics to speed risk placement, and that 93% of wholesale trading in London is now digital. He said processing times have declined from two to four weeks to a matter of hours for placements using the platform.
Market Conditions and Capital Deployment
According to the Marsh Global Insurance Market Index, global commercial insurance rates decreased 5% in the third quarter, following a 6% decrease in the second quarter. Global property rates fell 10%, while financial and professional liability rates declined 3% and cyber rates declined 4%. Casualty rates increased 1% globally, with U.S. excess casualty rates rising 13%.
Doyle said property catastrophe reinsurance remains soft because of abundant traditional and alternative capital, and the company expects those conditions to persist through the Jan. 1 renewal season.
The company repurchased $500 million of shares during the quarter, bringing year-to-date repurchases to $2 billion. Quarterly cash uses also included $476 million for dividends and $288 million for acquisitions. Marsh expects to deploy about $5.5 billion of capital during 2026 across dividends, acquisitions and share repurchases, though McGivney said the eventual buyback level will depend on the development of its acquisition pipeline.
Marsh ended the quarter with $20.5 billion in total debt and $1.8 billion in cash. The company said it expects full-year underlying revenue growth similar to 2025 levels, another year of margin expansion and solid adjusted EPS growth, subject to changes in economic, geopolitical and market conditions.
About Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MRSH)
Marsh & McLennan Companies, now operating under the name Marsh McLennan, is a global professional services firm that provides advice and solutions in risk, strategy and people. The company serves businesses, governments and institutions through four principal businesses: Marsh, Guy Carpenter, Mercer and Oliver Wyman.
Marsh is an insurance brokerage and risk adviser that helps clients identify, manage and transfer risk. Guy Carpenter provides reinsurance brokerage and advisory services to insurance companies.
