Dark clouds
The first benefits firm to post financial results for the first quarter says business was fine.
Marsh — a giant insurance broker and benefits consulting firm — reported $1.1 billion in net income for the quarter on $7.6 billion in revenue, compared with $1.4 billion in net income on $7.1 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2025.
Both the revenue and net income figures were in line with what Marsh and securities analysts had been forecasting, and Mercer health revenue increased 6%, to $661 million, after adjusting for the impact of currency fluctuations, business acquisitions and business sales.
Revenue at the career unit, which provides recruiting services and other human resources services, fell 2%, to $248 million.
John Doyle, the company's chief executive officer, said during a conference call the company held to go over its earnings with the analysts that the main challenge is worries about how the war in the Middle East might affect the broader economy.
But Marsh has been busy helping companies respond to concerns about geopolitical risk, the impact of artificial intelligence systems on their operations and strategy, and pressure to increase productivity.
"We're off to a solid start, despite challenging market conditions," Doyle said.
Most of the conversation during the Marsh call focused on geopolitical risk, falling prices for property and casualty insurance, and company efforts to use AI technology and help clients use AI technology.
Pat Tomlinson, the CEO of the Mercer unit, which handles health benefits consulting, said an AI benefits modeling system has been helping the firm's consultants give clients better, faster analyses of benefits trends.
The consultants can use the AI tool to show companies how benefits trends are affecting employees in different geographic regions, using the companies' own plan population and claims data, Tomlinson said.
"This is differentiating us in the market," Tomlinson said.
What it means: For a company that works with big, multinational employers, the level of concern about the future has been high, but earnings have been strong.
The backdrop: Other executives have also talked about seeing resilience in the U.S. economy and labor market, in spite of gloomy headlines about layoffs and long job searches.
The CEO of a major competitor, Gallagher, said in March that he saw no signs of serious weakness in the U.S. labor market.
Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, said Wednesday that unemployment claims are still comparable to what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
"Until those move, I don't see anything that interrupts the actual spending capability of the consumers," Moynihan said. "I'm giving what we see today in the spending, in early April. And that's the critical thing: What they do, not what they say they're going to do."
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