Organic growth for private agencies and brokerage firms dropped nearly a percentage point from 2013, new analysis finds.

Insurance agents and brokers reported median organic growth of 6 percent for the third quarter of 2014, down from 6.8 percent for the third quarter of 2013, according to new analysis from Reagan Consulting.

"The year 2014 is turning out to be a solid but not spectacular year for agents and brokers," said Kevin Stipe, president of Reagan Consulting, a management consulting and merger-and-acquisition advisory firm for the insurance distribution system. "Organic growth is a bit slower than a year ago, and concerns about a softening market in commercial property and casualty insurance are building."

"The third-quarter commercial P&C pricing survey from the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers indicates that we are currently in an ebb tide. Rates are neither increasing nor decreasing," Stipe said.

Still, despite declining growth, survey participants expressed optimism. Brokers project a 7 percent organic growth rate in 2014, which would be the highest level in the survey's seven-year history.

"Despite missing 7 percent in each of the first three quarters, brokers maintain their full-year forecast," Stipe said.

For its analysis, the firm surveyed some 150 mid-size and large agencies and brokerage firms.

Profit margins, as measured by median EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), increased to 22.4 percent in 3Q 2014 from 22.1 percent in 3Q 2013, according to Reagan.

Last month, the firm released research that found that independent insurance brokers have been struggling to hire new employees, posting a 56 percent success rate in broker hiring. Especially troubling, Reagan noted, 55 percent to 60 percent of firms are "under-hiring," meaning they are not hiring enough new brokers to achieve their growth objectives or allow them to successfully perpetuate their business.

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