Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

John Q. Doyle: It’s a mix of impacts, of course. So, it’s difficult to say, with real precision, Mike. But again, you’ve started to see inflation come down here in the United States. You saw — and in many markets you’re seeing GDP growth slow, P&C pricing moderated a bit in the quarter as well, tight labor markets though remain a positive factor. And overall, at least compared to the 2010 to 2020 decade, it’s certainly — we have more tailwinds than headwinds. But again, we’ve been working quite aggressively to shift our mix and to improve the growth profile of the company and not just be a passive index candidly on GDP or for that matter P&C pricing. So again, we’re pleased — I forgot to mention when, Jimmy asked the question too, I talked about the economy a bit, but the geopolitical environment remains a risk as well, right?

So again, just trying to thread the needle between what’s been obviously a terrific first half of the year and what we think is a terrific outlook for revenue growth in the second half, but there’s macro risk as well.

Michael Zaremski: Okay. That’s helpful. My follow ups on — if you look at cash flow from operations, net of CapEx, if I’m doing the math right, it looks like it’s growing at a pretty big clip. Do you expect free cash flow at this point to grow faster than earnings and any comments, if that’s the case, your cash flow conversion will take a step up this year?

John Q. Doyle: It could be a bit lumpier than earnings growth as we pointed out in the past and have demonstrated in the past, but maybe I’ll ask, Mark to talk about the outlook for free cash flow growth.

Mark McGivney: Yes, thanks Mike. I — we’ve, as I consistently say, we really try not to emphasize focusing too much on free cash flow growth in any quarter or even a year, it can be really volatile. Yes, as you point out in the second quarter, free cash flow was up quite nicely. If there is, we have to be careful especially early in the year for us, because it’s a bit of a low base issue, with our cash flows tend to be lower early in the year, as you know then later in the year. But look, we’ve had a terrific run over a long period time of double digit free cash flow growth that has tracked pretty closely to our run of double-digit earnings growth last decade and as we’ve talked about, we’re confident in our outlook for continued strong earnings growth and what we would expect that our free cash flow growth in the future would track that as well.

John Q. Doyle: Thank you, Mike. Operator, next question?

Operator: Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Robert Cox with Goldman Sachs.

Robert Cox: Hey, thanks for taking my question. Just thinking about the Marsh business, and I realize growth has been strong both domestically and internationally. But, if you look at those domestically and internationally, if you look at those two areas over the next say, the next year and the next five years, which are you most excited about?

John Q. Doyle: Well, we’re not going to give revenue guidance past, what we’ve given today past this year. But as I said, we’re performing well. We’re well-positioned. I think we have the best talent in the market, and I do believe we are capturing share, but maybe I’ll ask, Martin to talk a little bit about the growth, so far this year and what you see for the rest of the year. Martin?