There’s not much on the M&A pipeline in those markets that we like. We are confident that we can build our businesses organically. And the differentiation of having global service and our global capabilities is really well sought out to by our clients.
John Doyle: Yes, thanks, Andrew, and Martin, for that. We continue to be excited about how we’re positioned in those markets. Andrew, next question, please.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Bob Huang with Morgan Stanley.
Bob Huang: Hi. I only have one major question. So, this regarding MMA. So, just curious, how much did MMA contribute to the overall revenue for 2023? And as we move into 2024, how should we think about the trajectory for MMA? Is it like, should we continue to expect it to further outgrow the broader business as a whole, or how should we think about just the competitive dynamic overall as well?
John Doyle: So, we obviously don’t separately report MMA’s results, but it’s an important part of our business in the United States, and it continues to perform exceptionally well. We couldn’t be more pleased, as I mentioned earlier. And as I also said, I think we’re just getting started, right? So, and what I would also say is that the broader Marsh has learned a great deal from MMA about what it takes to win in the middle market. And Martin and the team apply those lessons as we expand in the middle market all over the world and where possible even deploy inorganic investment like we did in in the case of Honan in Australia. But our business at MMA also benefits from being part of Marsh. They’re excellent at really mining Marsh for content and capability that can enable them to show up with scale in local markets in a way that really distinguishes themselves from others.
So, as I mentioned earlier, we’ve been methodically building out MMA over the course of the last 12 years piece by piece and A+ asset by A+ asset. And so, we couldn’t be more excited, and we think there’s a long road ahead of us. Do you have a follow-up, Bob?
Bob Huang: No, I think I’m good. Thank you.
John Doyle: Okay. Thank you, Andrew. Next question, please.
Operator: One moment, please. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Ward with Citi.
Michael Ward: Thanks, guys. Good morning. Just on the capital deployment target, I think it was up over 10%. I was just wondering if that’s a function of the cost savings program rolling off or anything else.
John Doyle: No, but Mark, maybe you could just talk generally about our approach.
Mark McGivney: We had a, if you saw, a strong year of free cash flow generation. We have significant financial flexibility. Our balance sheet is strong. And so, it’s just really a reflection of the growth in our outlook for capital – cash generation.
Michael Ward: Okay. And then any kind of update on the progress with synergizing the various business sales efforts together?
John Doyle: Yes, thanks, Mike, for that question. One of the things that I think makes us a better business is we’re working better together than we ever have, right? And we have shared with you where we are on the expense side of things, but we’re showing up together in front of clients and prospects. As I mentioned earlier, the strength of our individual business propositions will continue to drive the growth of our business overall. But more and more, we can show up in a very, very unique way. And so, we made good progress during 2023. We’ve certainly learned a great deal. We’ve done some testing, and we’ll continue to refine that. But we have a number of global growth opportunities where we’re showing up in front of clients and prospects together.
And what we really did was create a framework for our folks in the field. As you’ll recall, we appointed Marsh McLennan leaders in each of the regions. And so, a big part of their day is making sure that we’re bringing our collective capabilities to market at a local level where it makes sense. So, we continue to be excited about what that’ll mean to future growth.
Operator: Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to John Doyle, President and CEO of Marsh McLennan, for any closing remarks.
John Doyle: Thanks, Andrew, and I want to thank you all for joining us on the call this morning. In closing, I want to thank our colleagues for their hard work and dedication. I also want to thank our clients for their continued support. Thank you all very much, and we look forward to speaking with you again next quarter.
