Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Unidentified Analyst: This is Charlie on for Mike. I guess, first, in human capital, organic growth has been really strong for many quarters now. Wondering what the pipeline looks there. Amid macro uncertainty and comps being challenging. And you mentioned tech talent in your opening remarks, is that business benefiting from some of the job market dislocation in tech?

Eric Andersen: So why don’t I take the first one. Certainly, human capital has been a very robust business for us over the last 24 months. And it’s still — we still see it. The data sales, the information around comp the competitive talent engagement assessment also very critical to the agendas of our clients. So we feel really good about that business and what it’s done over the last 24 months and are confident about it literally over the next 12 to 24 months as well.

Greg Case: And on the tech talent side — go ahead, Christa. Please go ahead.

Christa Davies: All right. On the tech talent, we’ve got one of the most fabulous brands in the tech space, Radford. And that was the example I gave on the opening remarks around using AI to actually be able to match and find the optimal tech talent at the right price, anywhere around the world. And then to be able to also figure out where your tech talent is within your existing organization to be able to optimize your workforce. And so we do see that the tech dislocations being a fabulous time to utilize this AI technology to get — to make sure that our clients get access to the best talent and optimize it in the right way.

Unidentified Analyst: Got it. And then you mentioned cyber pricing kind of being more an equilibrium now. Wondering how Aon’s role in the marketplace has evolved over time as that market has grown a lot over the last several years?

Eric Andersen: Listen, I think the cyber market is continuing to evolve and we’ll continue to do so as the threat actors change over time. I would say we’re a leading provider of both risk management. When you think about data security and the strategy to prevent cyber attack, certainly with our Stroz Friedbeg client — brand, very strong in terms of its work with clients and then obviously, the risk transfer aspect. I would say when you think about the cyber market today and where it’s going, I would say the insurers have actually gone back to basics. The way the quality of the underwriting, the in-depth understanding of what the real cyber exposures are have allowed them to price it better to understand the real risk. And frankly, it’s allowed us to distinguish and differentiate our clients and the work that they’re doing around cyber protection to be able to bring them to market in a way that gives them individual views but it’s become quite a market in terms of size, probably approaching about $10 billion of premium and both from an insurance and a reinsurance side, I consider Aon a market leader in the space.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Derek Han with KBW.

Derek Han: So my first question is on buybacks. It looks like buybacks slowed a little bit in the fourth quarter. Was there anything unusual driving that? I was a little surprised just given the strong operating cash flows.

Christa Davies: No, we would just say that we continue to see across the firm that we deploy cash based on the highest return on capital opportunity. Buyback is top of the list even at today’s prices, Derek. And so we — that’s why we bought $3.2 billion back in calendar year 2022. And we expect buyback to remain the highest return on capital opportunity going forward.

Derek Han: Got it. That’s helpful. And then my second question is on M&A. We’ve heard chatter about the M&A market kind of cooling a little bit. Are you kind of seeing that in the market? And — how does that impact your M&A appetite for this?

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