Willis Towers Watson gets ready for M&A action

After consolidating and streamlining the business on the back of the merger of Willis Group Holdings and Towers Watson, Willis Towers Watson is again getting ready for merger & acquisitions (M&As), CEO John Haley said during the first quarter results conference.

Willis Group Holdings and Towers Watson completed a $17 billion merger deal on Jan. 4, 2016. Since then, Willis has been working on creating synergies in revenues, cost and tax savings.

Deals and mergers become more likely during in 2019 and 2020 as Willis Towers Watson puts behind a complicated merger, Haley said. “The first few years after that, mergers are relatively unlikely and so each year you go further out it [other M&A activity] becomes more likely,” Haley explained.

In the first quarter of 2018, Willis Towers Watson reported a 6 percent year on year increase in organic revenues on a like-for-like basis. Overall, revenues grew 10 percent year on year to $2.6 billion over the period. Net Income increased 27 percent year on year to $447 million.

During 2018 Haley believes that market growth will be somewhere in the 3 percent to 4 percent range. “We expect to be growing at least as fast as the market,” Haley said.

Chief financial officer Mike Burwell added that he is particularly pleased with developments in the international operations. “[We] continue to win more than our fair share in my view and that's because we're still retaining clients and winning more and more business,” Burwell said.

“We feel good about what's happening at the top line,” Burwell added.

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