Reagan Consulting: Agent/Broker Organic Growth Reaches 5.9% in Q2 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Kevin Stipe (404) 869-2532; [email protected]
ATLANTA (August 10, 2015) – Independent insurance agents/brokers posted median organic growth of 5.9 percent for the second quarter of 2015, slightly higher than 5.8 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2015 and second quarter of 2014, as measured by the Reagan Consulting Organic Growth and Profitability (OGP) quarterly survey.
“Industry organic growth has now been in a relatively tight band of five percent to seven percent for 14 consecutive quarters,” commented Kevin Stipe, president of Reagan Consulting, a management consulting and merger-and-acquisition advisory firm for the insurance distribution system. “Times are good for insurance brokers.”
Continued strong organic growth boosted profitability to 24.6 percent in Q2 2015, the highest second-quarter performance since the survey launched in 2008. Reagan noted that margins typically are inflated by cash-basis recognition of contingent income during the first half of each calendar year.
The second quarter also marked the first time in four years that group benefits – with a 6.8 percent rate — “outgrew” commercial lines (5.4 percent). Softening pricing in commercial lines affected that line for the second straight year, Reagan reported.
Reagan expects “more and potentially deeper softening” in commercial property/casualty pricing going forward, signaled by P/C insurers’ historically strong net income during the first quarter of this year as recorded by the Insurance Services Office. “If this happens, commercial lines growth will likely decelerate further and pull agency-wide organic growth down,” Stipe said. Commercial lines represents more than two-thirds of the revenue of the approximately 130 mid-size and large agencies and brokerage firms in the Organic Growth and Profitability survey group.
Source: Reagan Consulting
The quarterly survey also found:
- The median “Rule of 20” score was 19.0, the highest second-quarter mark in the seven years of the survey. Reagan’s Rule of 20 is a benchmark that correlates with shareholders returns – a score of 20 or higher is indicative of outstanding shareholder returns. It is calculated by adding half of an agency’s EBITDA margin to its organic growth rate. Nearly one-third of OGP participants expect to reach a score of 20 or higher this year.
- Personal lines growth slipped to 1.8 percent versus 2.2 percent in Q2 2014.
- Agents and brokers project a 20.0 percent EBITDA margin and a 6.7 percent organic growth rate for the full year.
Transaction activity, while not measured by the OGP survey, is on a record pace in 2015, noted Reagan, driven by investors’ desire for investment return, low interest rates, and strength in market prices of publicly traded brokers. More than 200 deals were announced, and five of the top 100 insurance brokers were acquired in the first two quarters of the year.
Reagan Consulting has conducted its quarterly survey of agency growth and profitability since 2008, using confidential submissions from approximately 130 mid-size and large agencies and brokerage firms. Nearly half of the industry’s 100 largest firms participated in the most recent survey. Median revenue of the firms completing the survey is approximately $17 million.
For further information and commentary, contact Kevin Stipe of Reagan Consulting at (404) 869-2532 / [email protected].
Each participating agency receives a customized, confidential report of its performance compared with the overall survey results, as well as Reagan’s quarterly commentary of industry trends impacting agents and brokers. For information on participating in the OGP survey, contact Michelle Appelbaum at (404) 233-5545 or by email to [email protected].
About Reagan Consulting: Reagan Consulting is a management consulting firm providing strategic consulting, valuation, and merger-and-acquisition (M&A) services to the independent insurance distribution system. The firm’s services include appraisals of fair market value, strategic planning, M&A advisory, ownership perpetuation planning, key employee compensation and equity plans, and agency performance benchmarking. Reagan Consulting co-developed the well-known Best Practices study and produces the quarterly Organic Growth & Profitability benchmark survey.
(404) 233-5545
Reagan Consulting
One Piedmont Center, Suite 500
Atlanta, Georgia 30305
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