Robert Cox: That’s great. Yes. So, just for a follow-up, maybe going back to the health space, I think you guys have discussed how you’re largely compensated on a fee per employee basis, and employment growth is much lower than the 9% organic you achieved in the quarter. So, I was just wondering if you could help me understand, is this more consulting, new business opportunities out there? Are you raising fees and maybe is brokerage growing at a similar pace to the headline 9% organic?
John Doyle: Yes. it’s I think all of the above, but good sales and a value proposition to clients and prospects that they appreciate very much. I don’t know, Martine, do you have anything to add to that?
Martine Ferland: Yes. Well, first a correction. The large part of our business is actually consulting fees. It’s not fees per member, as you mentioned, Robert. So, just to be clear about that. There’s a small portion of the business in the US that is fee per participant, but that’s the business that we divested. It’s more in a (NIM) business. It’s how those businesses are usually paid out. So, the bulk of our business, some of it is based on the commission, but as I said, clients are really trying to control costs. So, there’s not a direct link to inflation in premium there, because they would change the attachment point, as my colleagues in reinsurance like to talk about. They would vary the benefit programs, et cetera. And there’s a large part that is project-based.
And to your point, our growth has been in part full employment because there’s much more work to be done to cover the employee population. But there’s also a lot of change. High cost of prescription drugs, for example, accessibility through different means, technology coming into the space to help out people choose the right providers, the right programs, and we’re there with them helping them design those programs, communicate them to employees, measure them in terms of efficacy, but also cost, et cetera. So, that’s what’s been – and you know that the health space everywhere is also seeing lots of change, lots of pressure on cost. So, I don’t see us being not busy anytime soon. Nothing climbs through that.
John Doyle: Thank you, Martine. Thank you, Robert. Andrew, next question please.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Meyer Shields with KBW.
Meyer Shields: Great, thank you. Two quick questions. First, can you give us a sense of the seasonality of the reinsurance acquisition that contributed so much to this quarter’s growth?
John Doyle: Mark, maybe you can?
Mark McGivney: Meyer, what you’re seeing – I think you’re referring to the underlying growth schedule and what looks like a large acquisition in Guy Carpenter, is actually that column is acquisitions, dispositions, and other adjustments. And we had a – in my prepared remarks, I mentioned a legal settlement that we had, a noteworthy item in the quarter. So, that’s what’s running through that schedule. It wasn’t a large – not M&A for Guy Carpenter.
Meyer Shields: Oh, okay. Thank you.
John Doyle: You have a follow-up, Meyer?
Meyer Shields: Yes, a quick one. When you’ve got the flood claims revenues in last year’s I guess US and Canada operations with risk and insurance services, did that have any impact on last year’s margins or the year-over-year progress?
John Doyle: Well, we don’t report margins by business, but you saw a good margin expansion during the course of the year. And again, our outlook for 2024 is for 17th year in a row to expand margins yet again. So, it wasn’t material. We managed through it. There are parts of our business that are lumpy, right? That’s why we caution everybody not to get too worked up about growth rates in a particular quarter. And the flood claim activity was largely related to Hurricane Ian-related work that we did at that time last year. Thank you, Meyer. Andrew, next question, please.
Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Brian Meredith with UBS.
Brian Meredith: Hey, thanks, John. Just quickly and kind of following on Rob’s question a little bit. If we look at the middle market space, there are some kind of larger competitors of yours that are going through some transitions, be it being acquired, maybe being acquired, not sure, all sorts of stuff. Is that creating maybe another opportunity here for you to kind of ramp up talent acquisition? You obviously were really successful a couple of years ago doing that. Is that opportunity out there you think again?
John Doyle: Yes. Look, Brian, what I would say first and foremost about talent acquisition is that we are very, very focused. I mentioned this in my prepared remarks about building a culture that attracts and retains the best in our work. The way we frame it, and we talk about being at your best at Marsh McLennan, right? How can we – for those that want to commit their career to risk strategy and people-related work, how is it that being at Marsh McLennan, you can be your best? And we frame those programs around learning and development, mobility, various aspects of wellness. And you get to do really purposeful work here. I mentioned the Ukraine work as an example earlier. You get to work with exceptional talent, and it’s a collaborative environment and a learning environment.
